SIN SORROW & SILENCE

SIN SORROW & SILENCE

"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Mark 15:34

With sorrowful silence and fearfulness of utterance we approach the deepest darkness. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34) These words reveal a mystery, and represent in mystery a revelation. To them we turn for a theory of the Atonement, only to discover that theorizing is impossible. Alone in the supreme hour in the history of the race, Christ uttered these words, and in them light breaks out, and yet merges, not into darkness, but into light so blinding that no eye can bear to gaze. The words are recorded, not to finally reveal, but to reveal so much as it is possible for men to know, and to set a limit at the point where men may never know. The words were uttered that men may know, and that men may know how much there is that may not be known. In that strange for cry that broke from the lips of the Master there are at least three things perfectly clear. Let them ne named and con­sidered.

1. It is the cry of One Who has reached the final issue of SIN.
2. It is the cry of One Who has fathomed the deepest depth of SORROW.
3. It is the cry of One Himself overwhelmed in the mystery of SILENCE.

SIN, SORROW, SILENCE. Sin at its final issue, sorrow at its deepest depth, silence the unexplainable mystery of agony, and agony of mystery. These are the facts suggested by the actual words. In that order let them be pondered reverently.

"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The logical, irresistible, irrevocable issue of sin is to be GOD-FORSAKEN. Sin in its genesis was rebellion against God. Sin in its harvest is to be God-abandoned. Man sinned when he dethroned God and enthroned himself. And that began with Adam. He reaps the utter harvest of his sin when he has lost God altogether. That is the issue of all sin. It is the final penalty of sin, penalty not in the sense of a blow inflicted on the sinner by God, but in the sense of a result follow­ing upon sin, from which God Himself cannot save the sinner. Sin is alienation from God by choice. Hell is the utter realization of that chosen alienation. Sin therefore at last is the consciousness of the lack of God, and that God-forsaken condition is the penalty of the sin which for­sakes God. Now listen solemnly, and from that Cross hear the cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” That is hell. No other human being has ever been God-forsaken in this life. Man by his own act alienated himself from God, but God never left him. He brooded over him with infinite patience and pity, and took man back to His heart at the moment of the fall, in virtue of that mystery of Calvary which lay within the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, long before its outworking in the history of the race. What explanation can there be of this cry from the lips of Jesus? None other is needed than that declared by His herald three years before, and considered in previous articles. "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) He has taken hold upon sin. He has made it His own. He has accepted the responsibility of it. He has passed to the ultimate issue. There is a statement in the writings of Paul, to my own mind the most overwhelming, the most profound of the New Testament: "Him Who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21) We end up as He said was true of His Father. (Matt. 5:48) Reverently hear the strange and inspiring words, "Him Who knew no sin He made sin." A man says, I do not understand that. Neither do I. But there is a declaration, and in the hour of the Cross is the fact. On that Cross He was made sin, and therein He passed to the uttermost limit of sin's outworking. He was God-forsaken. He knew no sin. He was made sin. He was forsaken of God. Because He knew no sin there is a value in the penalty which He bore, that He does not need for Himself. Whose sin is this that He is made, and for which He is forsaken of God? My sin. I can say no other in the presence of that awe-inspiring miracle. Each must for himself stand there alone,—my sin. He was made my sin. If in passing to the final issue of my sin, and bearing its penalty, He created a value that He did not need for Himself, for whom is the value? It also is for me. “He bore my sin in His body upon the tree." (1 Peter 2:24)

And yet the broader fact must be stated. He bore the sin of the world. Himself knowing no sin, by such bear­ing He created a value which He did not require. For whom then is the value of that awful hour? For the whole world, whose sin He bore. Behold Him, on the Cross, bending His sacred head, and gathering into His heart in the awful isolation of separation from God, the issue of the sin of the world, and see how out of that acceptance of the issue of sin He creates that which He does not require for Himself, that He may distribute to those whose place He has taken.

Finally turn for one brief moment only to the next fact, closely allied to that already considered, never be separating in the final thought, and only now taking separately for the sake of examination and contemplation. This cry is not merely that of One Who has reached the final issue of sin, but it is therefore, and also, the cry of One Who has fath­omed the deepest abyss of sorrow. Sorrow is the conscious­ness of lack.

What is the sorrow a sickness but the con­sciousness of lack of health?

What is the sorrow of bereavement but the consciousness of the lack of the loved one?

What is the sorrow of poverty but the consciousness of the lack of the necessities of life?

What is the sorrow of loneliness but the consciousness of the lack of companionship?

All sorrow is lack. Then it follows by a natural sequence of that, that the uttermost depth of sorrow is lack of God. There is no sorrow like it. There is no pain comparable to it. The human heart through the infinite mercy of God has never in this life really known this uttermost reach of sorrow. There are moments in life when it would seem as though God had hidden. His face as men pass through dark ex­periences, but if He had actually withdrawn Himself, the sorrow of the hiding of His face would have been as noth­ing, to the sorrow of the actual absence from Him. In this hour when Jesus was made sin, and was therefore God­forsaken, He knew as none had ever known the profundi­ties of pain. The vision that had been His light through all the dark days in the thirty-three years was lost. The strength of that fellowship with the Father which had been His on every rough and rugged pathway was withdrawn. In perfect harmony with the purpose of God He passed into the place of separation from God, and in the awful cry which expresses His loneliness, there is revealed the most stupendous sorrow that has ever been witnessed through the ages.

I THIRST

I THIRST

 "I thirst." John 19:28

The word of the physical agony, "I thirst." (John 19:28) What can any say concerning that? Is it not rather subject for lonely contemplation and meditation? It is hardly possible to approach it without fearing lest the approach may be that of sacrilegious curiosity. From such we would utterly be delivered, and therefore I do not propose to dwell for a single moment upon the actual physical pain of Jesus. The whole of it surges out in that cry, "I thirst." To know all that was behind those words, rather recall briefly, quietly, and slowly, almost without comment, the facts that had immediately preceded the Cross:

The night watches in Gethsemane.

The flash of the light of the torches upon the darkness of the night.

The kiss of the traitor.

The arrest.

Still in the darkness of night, the arraignment before the high priests.

The hours of waiting, and of tension.

The appearance in the morning before the high priests and the council.

The palace of the Roman governor with that strange interview between Jesus and Pilate, withdrawn from the rabble into some quiet apartment.

The journey from the house of Pilate to the palace of Herod.

The first and final meeting with Herod, the corrupt and the depraved Herod who had so often sought an interview with Him, and had never obtained it until that last hour, Herod who never heard the voice of Jesus, for to his curios­ity Christ offered no single word.

The rough handling of Herod's brutal soldiery.

The journey back to Pilate.

The awful scenes through which Pilate strove to save Him, while priests and people clamored for His blood.

The scourging.

The pathway to the Cross.

The crucifixion.

Hours into which eternities were compressed! Through all in silence He endured the Cross, despising the shame; in silence, with no word of complaint and no word ex­pressive of pain, "as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." (Isa. 53:7) In the hours of darkness, of the three words breathing tender interest and infinite love, one outcry of the spirit, and then, not so much a wail as a smothered sob of pent-up human agony, "I thirst"; the very ex­pression of human agony, dignified, neither complaint nor appeal, but simply the statement, a terrible revelation of such suffering as is beyond explanation.

And now let it be remembered that all this is outward and physical, and human, and is but the symbol of the in­ward, and spiritual, and Divine. If in loneliness we pass over this pathway, and consider these scenes in regret and tears, we have not then reached the heart of the mys­tery. Beyond all these stretch the infinitude's of suffering.

THE MYSTERY OF HIS PAIN

THE MYSTERY OF HIS PAIN

There is no subject more mysterious and yet more sacred in the whole realm of revealed truth than this. This is the heart of that mystery of the love and wisdom of God, which wrought towards, and made possible the salva­tion of man. At the commencement of this article I would place on record not idly, and not for the mere sake of doing so, but under the urgency of a great conviction, that I am deeply conscious of approaching things too high, and too profound for any finality of statement. Person­ally I increasingly shrink from any attempt to speak in de­tail of the great fact of the Cross. This is not because I am growing away from it, but rather on account of the fact that I am more deeply conscious every day of my need of all it stands for, and as I have pressed closer to its heart, I have become almost overwhelmed with its unfathomable deeps, and its infinite majesty.

It is impossible, however, that any consideration of the mission of Jesus should be complete, if this subject were omitted. Let all therefore who approach the subject do so with abandonment to that Spirit of God Who "searches all things, yea, the deep things of God," (1 Cor. 2:10) praying earnestly to be led, so far as it is possible, to see and understand THE MYSTERY OF HIS PAIN.

In the light of the earlier articles, it may here and now be stated that the Cross solves two problems that seem to be unsurmountable that have found solution nowhere else. These problems may thus be stated.

First, how can God be just and justify the sinner?

Second, how can righteousness of conduct be made possible to those who are poisoned and paralyzed by sin?

As to the first it must be remembered that the word “justify" means the clearance of the soul from guilt. Justification must be infinitely more than forgiveness. Sin must be put away, and made to be as though it had not been. For justification the soul must be put into a place of purity, so restored that there shall be no spot, or blemish, or stain, not merely upon the record, but what is of in­finitely deeper significance, upon the character. To be justified before God is to be put into such condition, that no trace remains of the guilt of sin. That is the problem which is solved in the Cross. How can God be just, that is, true to Himself in nature, and yet justify the sinner, that is, receive him upon the basis of freedom from sin?

The second problem touches practical life, and deals with an actual condition, rather than a relative one. How can righteousness of conduct be made possible to those who are poisoned and paralyzed by sin (Matt. 5:48)? The difficulty of the problem is at once discovered if the impossibility of producing right conduct in man is thought of apart from the subject immediately under consideration, that, namely, of the Cross. It is a problem that has never been solved in the past; neither can it be at the present hour. Right conduct can only issue from right character, and therefore is not possible to man whose whole nature is poisoned and paralyzed by sin.

These are the problems with which the Cross is ap­proached.

1.Can a man be justified before God, and sancti­fied in his own actual experience?

2. Can a sinner be so cleared from guilt that he may have a conscience void of offence?

3. Can a man, whose powers have become paralyzed by the virus of sin, be so changed as to enable him to do the things he cannot do?

4. Can a man be made able to translate the vision of an ideal into the actuality of daily life? These problems baffle all the wisdom of man apart from the Cross, and still defy all attempts at solution. These are the problems solved by the mystery of Christ’s sufferings.

The present article is not directed to an examination of the results of the Cross, but to A REVERENT CONTEMPLATION OF THE WAY BY WHICH THEY WERE MADE POSSIBLE.

It is impossible to follow the Lord into the place of His mightiest work. Alone He entered and wrought. No man followed Him, nor could follow Him at all, in help, or in sympathy, or in understanding. Fallen man was de­graded in WILL, EMOTION, AND INTELLIGENCE, and therefore was not able to help, or sympathize, or understand. From that inner mystery, therefore, man was excluded.

Tracing the Lord through the three years in which He was constantly conscious of the Cross, it will be noticed how gradually and yet surely, He moved out into the loneliness of the final fact of His work. While living in Nazareth He was a favorite. He "advanced in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:52) At the commencement of His public ministry both the rulers and the multitudes gathered round Him. The men of light and leading were at least interested in Him, and ready to listen to Him, and more than inclined to patronize Him. They were among the first to fall back from Him. As He, in the great progress of His teaching, uttered deeper and yet deeper truths, men who were merely curious became excluded, and only His own disciples remained in anything approaching close association with Him. Yet Further On The Ranks Of The Disciples Were Thinned. After the discourse recorded in John 6, in which He declared He would give His flesh for the meat, and His blood for the drink, of the world, many went back and walked no more with Him. Without closely following the details, it will be seen that His approach to His Cross is marked by constant withdrawals until at last the nearest flee, the story of their going being recorded in one tragic sentence, "Then all the disciples left Him.” (Matt 26:56)

He passed into the actual place of His passion, the region of that mystery of pain through which He was about to solve these problems, IN UTTER LONELINESS. No man could help, no man could sympathize, no man could understand. Let this always be kept in mind when His suffering is followed and contemplated.

Men may gather reverently to the place of the passion, but can only know of it from what is revealed in the words that fell from His own lips. That should be accepted as a canon and principle of interpretation concerning the suf­ferings of Christ. What others may think or say, can only be of value as it harmonizes with, and expresses the meaning of the words He Himself uttered. Nothing can be known of that mystery of pain except from Himself. Any attempt to go beyond this limit is a mistaken attempt, and borders upon the realm of unholy intrusion. The sub­ject had infinitely better be left where He left it, considering reverently, and only, His own words.

Of these there have been recorded SEVEN several utter­ances. The first three manifest His keen and marvelous insight, even on that Cross of shame, into the deepest things and simplest necessities of human life. The last four are expressions of His own Spirit's experience in utter loneliness, and come out of that awful isolation.

The first three: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"; (Luke 23:34) "Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise;" (Luke 23:43) "Woman, behold, thy son! Behold, thy mother!" (John 19:26-27) In these is evident His pity for men in the issue of their sin, His power towards those believing in Him, and His provision for those upon whom His love is set.

Then the last four: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Mark 15:34) "I thirst"; (John 19:28) "It is finished"; (John 19:30) "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit." (Luke 23:46) Here man stands in the presence of the process of His mightiest work, through strife and suf­fering to the consciousness and calm of victory.

I repeat emphatically that beyond what these words reveal of the Cross, man has neither ability nor authority to go.

From the present article the first three sayings are elimi­nated, and except for a final moment, the last two also. Thus two words are left which express all that man can ever hope to know of the sufferings of Christ. First, the spiritual anguish, expressed in the cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34) and second, the physical agony revealed in the brief but awful exclamation, "I thirst." (John 19:28)

While believing that this was the true order of the say­ing, that the physical pain was not mentioned until after the cry of the spiritual anguish had been uttered, I propose to notice, first, the words "I thirst," (John 19:28) considering them in few words, remembering ever, that silence is often the most perfect exhibition of true understanding and deep sympathy; and then to attempt a somewhat closer examination of that awful cry of the spiritual anguish, which revealed all that man may ever know of the mystery of that pain by which He redeemed the lost.

FULL CONSCIOUSNESS

FULL CONSCIOUSNESS

"a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Isa. 53:3

There is no necessity to do more than tabulate these occasions which have been referred to at the beginning, as the mountain peaks of FULL CONSCIOUSNESS. For the most part they have been considered in connection with their proper setting, and it is not necessary therefore to do more now than indicate them as the occasions upon whirl. Jesus seems to have come through some special circumstance face to face with the fact of His Cross.

The first of these occasions is the BAPTISM. Then, as has been seen, His very consent, no but His request for baptism, and His insistence upon it, was the outward symbol of His identification with sinners and therefore, moreover, of His identification with all that sin meant. For Him the whelming in the water foreshadowed the passion-baptism. (Matt. 3:15)

The second occasion was that of PETER'S CONFESSION, when, having consummated the teaching required to reveal to His disciples His Messiahship, in a few words, startling and comprehensive, He declared the whole pathway to and through the Cross. “From that time began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up." (Matt. 16:21)

The third instance of this clear consciousness of, and consent to, the Cross is to be found in HIS TRANSFIGURA­TION. While the light of His human victory illumined the darkness of the night, and He held familiar converse with the lawgiver and the prophet, it was of His Cross and resurrection that they spoke. (Luke 9:31)

Again for the fourth time at THE COMING OF THE GREEKS with their request to see Him, it is evident that the sense of the Cross, as one of great sorrow, was upon Him, for He de­clared that His soul was troubled. Here again, however, He deliberately chose and asked that His Father's name should be glorified, whatever the cost might be to Him­self, and then declared His conception of what the Cross would mean. (John 12:28)

And lastly in THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, having passed outside the last limit of human comradeship, in awful lone­liness He looked into the heart of the great passion, and trembling at the prospect, yet with a strength of purpose that astonishes, and fills man with deep reverence, He chose the will of God, including, as it did, the empty­ing of this cup of all its bitterness, that He might fill it with the wine of life for the sons of men. (Luke 22:39-44)

Thus in deepest sense He is seen to have been "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." (Isa. 53:3) Yet though His whole life was based upon conformity to the Divine purpose and will, even though He knew its issue was this mystery of deep pain, He nevertheless exercised a ministry of beneficence which was ever a magnificent prophecy of final victory by the way of the Cross.

HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE CROSS

HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE CROSS & MORE

In the first place then an examination of the words of His, which while not immediately revealing the fact of the Cross, do yet conclusively prove that it was present to His mind, in the midst of all the ceaseless activity of three years of public ministry.

There is a notable silence concerning it as to open declaration until the moment when His Messiahship was confessed by Peter. He then began to speak plainly of the Cross, but yet during all that period of preaching and teaching, it was present to His mind, and is the only explanation of certain things He did, and words He uttered.

In such an article as this, the principal factor is that of careful attention to the Master's own words. Comments upon them are of minor importance, and will only be made in an attempt to indicate their true meaning.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." (John 1:51)

The Lord had spoken of Nathanael as “an Israelite indeed." (John 1:47) In response to his evident wonder He makes a statement closely connected with His declaration that this man was a true child of Israel. It calls to mind the reve­lation made to the patriarch concerning the communication existing between heaven and earth by the ladder, and the ascending and descending angels, and of the fact that in the King of Israel there shall be the fulfillment of all that was suggested by that dream. How were these words of Jesus fulfilled? Only by the way of HIS CROSS, and RESUR­RECTION, and ASCENSION.

“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." (John 2:4)

This is the first of a series of references in the Gospel of John to an hour yet to come. A comparison of them will show that they all refer to the Cross. His mother evidently thought that now at the commencement of public ministry, He would demonstrate His Divine calling, and accomplish His work, and in the first fact she was cor­rect, but her understanding was limited. He wrought the miracle she suggested, and it was His first sign, but His words prove His understanding of the fact that His mightiest work could only be accomplished by the way of the Cross.

"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19)

The Pharisees demanded His authority for cleansing the temple, and His answer, which was utterly misunderstood at the time, declared HIS CROSS and RESURRECTION to be the authority.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in Him have eternal life." (John 3:14)

Utterly perplexed by the strange words that have fallen upon his ear, Nicodemus at last said, “How can these things be?" that is to say, granting the truth of the asser­tion made, by what process can there be accomplishment? The reply of the Lord, almost certainly not then under­stood by Nicodemus, yet reveals His clear understanding, that life could only be communicated through His UPLIFTING in the sorrows of death.

"My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work." (John 4:34)

In the absence of the disciples He had been dealing with a lost woman, and winning her back with inimitable strength and tenderness to the pathway of virtue. When they, returning, offered Him food, He declared that the very suste­nance of His highest life consisted in the doing of the will, and the accomplishment of His work. How evidently here His mind was dwelling upon that mighty work by which He would seek and save the lost.

“The Son of Man both authority on earth to forgive sins." (Matt. 9:6. See also Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24)

Here by a miracle of healing, He demonstrated to His critics His power to forgive sins, while His very claim to be able to do this, proves His consciousness of the fact that "His own self bare our sins in His body upon the tree," (1 Peter 2:24) for by this bearing of sin alone has He the power to forgive.

“Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast." (Matt. 9:15. See also Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35)

In astonishment at the absence of fasting in the lives of His disciples, men contrasted this fact with the fasting of the disciples of the Baptist, and asked His explanation. In answer He declared that while He was with them, there was no room for mourning, and then there is evident His consciousness of the coming Cross, as He declared that when the bridegroom should be taken away, the sons of the bride-chamber would mourn.

“Even so the Son also giveth life to whom He will." (John 5:21)

In controversy with His foes He made this inspiring as­sertion of His power to give life to those who are dead, an assertion He could only make in view of His victory over death through THE CROSS and RESURRECTION.

"And he that doth not take his cross and follow after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that finds his life shall lose it; and he that loses his life for My sake shall find it." (Matt. 10:38-39)

In these words, uttered when first He commissioned the twelve, there is a meaning far deeper than they then understood, or were intended to understand. They were to take up the Cross and follow after Him, and as He uttered the words, most surely there was present to His

mind His own Cross. And yet He declared that “he that finds his life shall lose it; and he that loses his life for My sake shall find it." He knew how afterwards such declaration would find its full explanation and vindication by the way of that CROSS, in which He found His life by losing it, and lost His life to find it.

"As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. 12:40; See also Luke 11:30)

In answer to the scribes and Pharisees, who sought a sign, He declared that He would give them none except that of Jonah, but He linked that with a coming fact, namely, that of HIS CROSS, and BURIAL, and RESURRECTION. He under­stood perfectly that no sign He wrought would be final, except that mightiest of all, of a man cast out in death, yet winning his victories by return to life.

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field; which a man found, and hid; and in his joy he goes and sells all that he hath, and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls; and having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it." (Matt. 13:44-46)

In the midst of the parables of the kingdom, these have evident reference to His coming passion. The popular interpretation of them fails to discover this, in supposing that lost man sells all to buy the field, and possess the pearl. That is an utter failure to appreciate the essential value of the parable. What has man to sell to buy the pearl of price? He is a bankrupt beggar on life's high­way, and nothing that he has to sell will purchase for him the field of the world, or the pearl of price. It is Christ Who sold all to possess the pearl, and in that double declaration of the cost at which He purchased the field of the world, and the pearl which is the Church, there was evidently present to His mind His Cross. We “were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold . . . but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ." (1 Pet. 1:18-19)

"I am the living Bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever: yea and the bread which I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove one with another, saying, How can this Man give us His flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood; ye have not life in yourselves. He that eats My flesh and drinks My blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." (John 6:51-56)

In this memorable discourse on the true sustenance of man's spiritual life, while not declaring in detail, no argu­ment is needed to prove that He was speaking out of the consciousness of that CROSS by which He would give His flesh for the meat, and His blood for the drink of the world.

So far the references have been indirect, proving the consciousness of the Cross in His own mind. Those which follow are clearer, because they come after Peter's confession, and are subsequent therefore to His clear an­nouncement of the Cross as the issue of His work, to His own disciples.

"If any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, Both he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the mountains, and seek that which goes astray?” (Matt. 18:12)

In this most wonderful chapter which deals with the child and the Church, these words clearly reveal His conscious­ness of the long journey into the uttermost darkness that He must take for the finding and restoration of that which had gone astray.

“Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but Me it hates, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up unto this feast; because My time is not yet fulfilled." (John 7:6-8)

Here is another reference to the hour that had not yet come, this time spoken to His brethren, as at the first it was addressed to His mother. They were urging Him to manifest Himself, and accomplish something. He declared that the supreme moment had not arrived, knowing per­fectly that between Him and any manifestation of real power, there lay the Cross.

"Jesus therefore said, Yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto Him that sent Me. Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me : and where I am, ye cannot come." (John 7:33-34)

To the officers sent to arrest Him, He uttered these words, and in common with all those of a like nature, spoken to those outside the immediate circle of His dis­ciples, they prove His consciousness of the Cross, while not openly declaring it.

“Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself, but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things." (John 8:28)

Here again is the consciousness of limitation until the Lifting up of the Cross, after which men shall know.

“I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven." (Luke 10:18)

At the return of the seventy, as they recounted the story of their journeying and their work, He uttered these most wonderful words, which, while variously interpreted, certainly indicate the discomfiture and defeat of the enemy which was only wrought in the Cross. The words there­fore prove the Lord's consciousness of that Cross.

“We must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." (John 9:4)

This declaration of Christ has very often been taken out of its setting and its relation, and has been made to teach that which is undoubtedly true, but what is not here de­clared. Through John, as has been seen, there is a refer­ence to an hour which was coming. It was to be an hour of darkness, of night; and here He said to His disciples in connection with the healing of the man born blind, "We must work," and then declared that shortly the night was coming in which no man could work. His mind was almost certainly fixed upon that deep, dense, dark night, in which man should be excluded, and God alone should accomplish the redemption of the lost race.

“I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep. . . . I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:11, 17-18)

No comment is necessary here to prove the Lord's con­sciousness of His Cross.

"But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" (Luke 12:50)

Here is an almost startling declaration of His sense of limitation of the work of preaching, and miracle working. He seems to have gazed on towards the dark and awful passion-baptism with eagerness for it, that He might be no longer straitened, but able to accomplish all that could only be accomplished through its mysterious experiences.

“Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures to-day and tomorrow, and the third day I am perfected." (Luke 13:32)

How closely this follows upon, and adds emphasis to, the last quotation. The Pharisees were warning Him of Herod's hatred and opposition, and in calm and dignified language He declared His present work, and that soon He would be perfected. He looked towards the perfecting by the way of HIS CROSS and RESURRECTION.

"Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:27)

Here is another instance similar to that recorded in Matthew (Matt. 10:38) in which the value of His word, as subsequent events would prove, was created by the fact of His own Cross.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing." (Luke 15:4-5)

In this wonderful parable of the lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, the lost man, a parable thus indicating the order of the Divine plan of salvation, is the whole gospel of redemption; the saving of the sheep, illustrative of the work of Jesus; seeking for the silver, illustrative of the work of the Church indwelt by the Spirit, and the welcome of the prodigal, illustrative of the attitude of God to man. At the first in His declaration concerning the Shepherd seek­ing the wanderer, one finds His Cross and passion.

"Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world." (John 11:9)

The Master proposed to go to Jerusalem that He might wake Lazarus from sleep, and His disciples protested be­cause of the opposition that had been stirred up against Him, and the certainty they felt that men would lay hands upon Him to kill Him. To their objection He replied in words that are in harmony with some already considered in this Gospel of John, which show His consciousness of a working day, merging into a terrible night; and while His attitude is a revelation of His sense of security based on the plan until the day's work be over, it also clearly indicates His conscious­ness of the Cross.

“But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation." (Luke 17:25)

"Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and scribes; and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him unto the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify: and the third day He shall be raised up." (Matt. 20:18-19; See also Mark 10:33-34; Luke 18:31-33)

"But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" (Matt. 20:22; See also Mark 10:38)

"Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mark 20:28; See also Mark 10:45)

Upon these no comment is necessary. Here He was teaching His disciples that second lesson, which they utterly failed to learn, until the accomplishment of the facts.

“For in that she poured this ointment upon My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial." (Matt. 26:12; See also Mark 14:8; John 12:7)

Mary, conscious of some dark sorrow settling over His life, with the keen intuition of a great love, perceiving the very shadow of death upon Him, anointed His feet; and in His recognition of the gracious action there is a revelation of the overwhelming consciousness of THE CROSS, which was yet unappreciated by the many, and discovered only by Mary.

"But afterwards he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But the husbandman, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. . . . Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures,

The stone which the builders rejected,

The same was made the Head of the corner: This was from the Lord,

And it is marvelous in our eyes?

Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And he that falleth on this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust." (Matt. 21:37-44; See also Mark 12:6-10; Luke 20:13-18)

Thus, in what was probably Christ's last appearance in the temple, in a parable and an application of Scripture, He openly declared the issue of His ministry to be the Cross.

“Ye know that after two days the Passover cometh and the Son of Man is delivered up to be crucified. . . . My time is at hand; I keep the Passover at thy house with My disciples. . . . Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me." (Matt. 26:2, 18, 21; See also John 14-17)

These Scriptures are the records of His last messages to His disciples, all of them delivered under the very shadow of His Cross, the fact of which is evident today; and yet though openly declared to them, it seems as though they had no clear understanding of its nearness.

Thus we have, in hurried fashion passed over a wide field, and consequently nothing is perfect except the actual Scriptures as recorded. Enough though has surely been done, to show that from the moment when His public ministry began, there was present to His mind its consum­mation in THE CROSS. In great love and tenderness He hid it from His disciples until they had learned the first lesson, that, namely, of His Messiahship. And even then, appreciating their weakness and inability to perfectly under­stand, He seems to have spoken to them seldom concern­ing it. The pathway of the three years was a pathway ever resolutely trodden towards  the Cross and while the consciousness of its pain was forever upon Him, so was also the  sense or its value, for upon the triumph there to be won, He based His authority for all the wonders which He wrought, and the blessings which He scattered were in His view made possible thereby.

PERFECT CONSCIOUSNESS

PERFECT CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE CROSS

There is considerable divergence of opinion as to whether Jesus was conscious of the full meaning of His mission during the days of His boyhood and young manhood. A full discussion of this subject is not here attempted. Neither recorded word of His, nor clear statement of scrip­ture; give any decisive declaration on the point. Believing in the perfection of His unfallen human nature, it would seem as though all the probability were in favor of the opinion that He saw the Cross, and knew through all the quiet processes of preparation, that therein lay the final fact of His wondrous work.

His COMMUNION with His Father was PERFECT, and in un­clouded intelligence He would understand the meaning of the sacred writings of His people. It is unthinkable that He shared their blindness as to that portion of the prophetic writings, which had reference to the suffering of the Messiah. His first utterance declares His consciousness of relation to His Father, and understanding of the fact. This in itself would seem to warrant belief that He realized the fact of His Messiahship. If this be so, then there can be no doubt that He also knew that the pathway of the Messiah to the throne was the pathway of suffering and the Cross.

This position is strengthened by His accurate appre­hension of the meaning of the symbolism of the Hebrew worship. All the types and shadows of the ceremonial law were luminous to Him. The very calendar of the feasts must have spoken to His heart its true message. His intelligence was perfect and unclouded and hard for us to imagine His comprehension was unclouded also.

From this study of the approach of Jesus to His Cross, eliminating any further reference to the early years, and confining attention to those of the public ministry, there is no longer room for doubt or uncertainty. It is perfectly certain that from the commencement of His public ministry HE WAS PERFECTLY CONSCIOUS OF THE CROSS. Through the three years of preaching, of working of miracles, of conflict, and of training of His own, He moved with quiet dignity, and set determination, towards the Cross of His passion.

The present article is an attempt to demonstrate this con­sciousness by an examination of many of the things He said, which while not revealing the fact of the Cross to the men of His age, clearly prove His consciousness of it, in the light of subsequent events. Behind all the teaching and activity of the Master there is evidently a sub-con­sciousness of the Cross, and on at least five occasions this flames out, declaring itself in unmistakable ways. These may safely be spoken of as the lowlands of sub-conscious­ness, and the mountain peaks of immediate consciousness. A consideration of each will now be attempted.

HOLD YOUR TONGUE

HOLD YOUR TONGUE

"Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen from the dead." Matt. 17:9

It is most interesting to trace what happened as these men left the mount. First, notice that as they were coming down with Him, their same Lord and Savior, the One they had known so well during the three years of ministry, He charged them that they should tell the vision to no man, and there is deepest significance in the command. He enjoined silence upon them because it would be im­possible for them to tell aright the story of the things they had seen, for such visions always transcend explanation, There was a limit put upon their silence; "Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen from the dead." (Matt. 17:9) The real reason, undoubtedly, was that these men were to wait for the Holy Spirit Himself should equip them for the telling of that story.

But other things lay within that injunction of silence. The theme for the coming days was not to be the theme of glory, but of the Cross; and Matthew inserts here the fact that He told them again the story of the Cross that had so alarmed Peter six days before the transfiguration, The vision of the glory had its place and purpose, but it must pass away. The multitudes were waiting, the lunatic was in the valley, and the Cross and the exodus were before Him. The mountain was the place of vision, but yonder lay the pathway of accomplishment, and in order that His heart might be set upon His exodus, and that they might come as much as possible into comradeship with Him in His great work, nothing was to be said of this vision. It was to be one of the sealed stories during the days of suf­fering. After the triumph of His resurrection and ascen­sion, then it might be remembered, understood, and told in all its meaning with the help of the Spirit of God.

Probably there was another reason why silence was en­joined on these men. Visions are of no value except to those who see them. No help comes from a recital of some vision granted to another child of God. There is a Divine intention and purpose in that fact. The fact of the vision is not denied. What is affirmed is this, that the vision given to one is not for another, and the repetition of it cannot help another man. The vision of God granted immediately to the soul of man is for the man to whom it is granted. No man can tell his own vision and help another as that vision helped him, so it is infinitely better to be silent about the deepest things that God says to the heart. Each must for himself have the vision, if it is to be of use and of blessing. Peter and James and John were taken to the mount of transfiguration for a set purpose, in order that their conception of death might be changed and altered, that these men who boasted or feared might come to see—as they had seen in the house of Jairus and as they were to see in the garden of Gethsemane,—HIS OUTLOOK UPON DEATH. The telling of that story of transfiguration to others would not be a help to them, until the Holy Spirit should take the story up and make it part of the unveiling of the glory of the Christ, then out of it should come help for all the Church to the end of the age.

Now they have reached the valley, and there are two things to be noticed. First, THE GROUP AROUND THE LUNATIC; and second, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE SHEKEL.

There is a touch of great beauty in Luke's account of the man who brought his son to Jesus, not to be found in Matthew or Mark, which flings a wonderful light upon the whole picture. Luke records that the man said to Jesus, not only "This is my son," but "mine only child," (Luke 9:38) and the Greek word is “my only begotten son," the very word that is used of Christ's relation to God; and here it is used of this devil-possessed child.

It seems to have been a symbolic moment, proving the necessity for the descent from the mount and the approach to Calvary. There in the valley, foremost in the scene, was the father with his boy, his only begotten child; roundabout were the disciples, defeated, absolutely unable to do anything with such a case as this; and around the disciples was a circle of skeptical scribes ready to taunt these men with their failure. It was a picture of the human race the only begotten child of man, mastered by evil, and no one to deliver. A father's love was unable to break the slavery; the loyalty of disciples as disciples merely was quite helpless; the cheap cynical sneer of the unbeliever did nothing to relieve the suffering of the devil-possessed boy. Such was the scene in the valley and the scene of many today.

Looking upon it one seems to see approaching, the Only begotten of the Father in Whom He is well pleased, Who speaks with the voice of the authority of heaven, Who will act with all the power of the Godhead behind Him; and the only begotten child of man, beaten, bleeding, and bruised upon the highway and none to deliver.

Hear the words of Christ, which come as a rebuke to the faithless generation,—"Bring him hither to Me." (Matt. 17:17) For that moment He left the mountain, for that work He turned His back for the second time upon the glory, for that need He declined to have tabernacles made which would detain Him on the mount, while here in the valley humanity was suffering.

“Bring him hither to Me." Now mark His mastery over all things. “Bring him hither to Me "—MASTER OF MEN. He rebuked the devil, "and the demon went out from him: and the boy was cured from that hour." (Matt 17:18) MASTER OF DEMONS. The only begotten son of a man was cured by the only begotten Son of God; and Peter, James, and John and the rest stood round and saw the wondrous work that never could have been performed had Jesus stayed upon the mount of vision.

Then note what follows. They went down to Caper­naum, and the men who were gathering the shekel for the Temple came to Peter. It is quite a mistake to imagine that the men who asked for this money were collecting a tax for the Roman power. What they were collecting was the half-shekel for the support of the Temple, which according to the old Mosaic economy, was paid at the taking of the census. But gradually it had become an an­nual payment, and it was for this purely voluntary tax that the Temple authorities came to Peter and said, “Doth not your Teacher pay the half-shekel?" and he answered, "Yea" (Matt. 17:24) It has been suggested that he made a mistake, but no doubt he simply stated a fact. Most probably that half-shekel had been paid during the three years that had passed whenever it had been demanded. Yet Christ had a lesson to teach, and speaking to Peter said, "The kings of the earth, from whom do they receive toll or tribute? From their sons or from strangers?" And when Peter said, "From strangers," Jesus said unto him, "Therefore the sons are free." (Matt. 17:25-26) He meant to teach Peter by this that He was what Peter, but a few days ago, had said He was, the Son of God. He was the King's Son, the Prince of the Temple. There was no need for Him to pay the half-shekel. By His nature and position He was exempt from this contribution to the Temple, nevertheless—and whatever else is forgotten in this study, catch this thought,—"Lest we cause them to stumble," (Matt. 17:27) I will pay it. The word is “lest we become a scandal to them." These men would not understand His claim of freedom from the payment of the half-shekel, and rather than cause them to stumble He forfeited His personal right.

Then mark what He said, "Go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a shekel." A shekel? But they wanted a half-shekel. "That take, and give unto them for Me and thee." There are no sweeter words in the gospel than these, "for Me and thee,"--COMRADESHIP, COMPANIONSHIP, FELLOWSHIP with Peter, even to the contribution to the Temple.

Oh, how wondrously was Peter discovering his Master, and how when the Spirit came, and lit up these events, did he love Him and worship Him! King of glory on the mount, Master of human life and of devils in the valley, Comrade of every child of His love, sharing responsibility even to the payment of taxes. He need not have paid the shekel, but He did so with Peter for two reasons: first, not to be misunderstood of the men who collected the tax; and secondly, that He might enter into companionship to the last detail of the commonplaces of daily life with His own disciples. These are the things that follow the mount.

In closing these articles there yet remain one or two infer­ences worth gathering. Although only three disciples saw the transfiguration, while eight others who were loyal in their love and service were shut out, yet not one of these eight was excluded from that which remained when the transfiguration glory had passed. “Jesus only" was not only for Peter, James and John, but for all the rest, and by this time they have seen Him in His glory, so the vision was only postponed.

And concerning these men, the words of the Master in another connection have application: "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:29) There are still those to whom no visions come, no moments upon the mount bathed with a glory that never was on land or sea. Let such not envy the men of vision. It may be that the vision is given to strengthen a faith that else were weak. It is to the people who can live along the line of what others call the commonplace, and yet trust, that the Master says, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." The morning will reveal the reason why visions are given to some and not to others, but if tempted to wish for such an experience as these men had; let it never be forgotten that the majority of the apostles had no share in it, and yet they fulfilled His will and reached His home, and their names also flash with splendor from the foundations of the city that God is building. Let those who have had no vision trust Him still. Let such as have seen a vision walk in its light, but remember that more precious than the vision is that which remains when the vision passes, the common heritage of all the disciples,—"Jesus only."

Lastly, it is all-important to remember that all mounts of vision, except the last, must be left, for the valleys. In the valleys today are men possessed of devils; and the skepticism of cheap literature, of which there is much abroad, never took a devil out of a man. It is all in suc­cession to the sneer of the scribe and Pharisees. Jesus Christ standing in the valley today can say as He said then, "Bring him hither to Me."

It is the challenge of His might and the voice of His love, and the business of the disciples is to bring such to Him. He will still cast out the demon as He ever did. Men must leave the mountain for the valley, but they can carry the mountain with them into the valley. They who visit the mount may pass back into the commonplaces of life in new power, taking with them the truth, that behind the commonplace lies the light that flashed upon the mount of transfiguration. Happy are the men who can say with Peter on the mount, “Lord, it is good to be here"—and then, with not a word about the tabernacles, pass to the valley with Him; there they will see Him casting out a demon, and repeat, “Lord, it is good to be here also." Then, returning to the commonplace, to the payment of taxes, they will hear Him say, “For Me and thee"; and will reply, "Lord, it is good to be here also." Whether on the mountain, in the valley, or in the home, wherever He is, it is good to be there. No house is common where He dwells, no valley is dark and hopeless through which He passes, and no solitary mountain height on which He stands is without possibility of vision. Man's one safety lies in being with, and listening to "Jesus only."

From the resplendent glory of this Crisis in which, in the fulfillment of His human life, He has faced anew the fact of His dying, the Christ passes on towards the Cross, with the tread of One Who having conquered goes forth to yet sterner battles, and more glorious triumphs.

GOD'S PERFECT SPEECH

GOD'S PERFECT SPEECH

“Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus only." Matt. 17:8

The transfiguration had been a night scene, and the whiteness of the light radiating from the Person of Christ had been more brilliant and glorious than the dazzling splendor of the snows on Hermon; but the light had passed, and morning was breaking in the eastern sky, with its sug­gestion of the coming day. But a few moments ago Jesus seemed to be no longer Jesus of Nazareth, but the veritable Son of God—God the Son. But a few moments ago Moses and Elijah were there. But a few moments ago was heard the incoherent suggestion of Peter—"Let us make here three tabernacles." All this has now passed, and waiting in the quiet hush of the solemn morning hour, upon the mount, see WHAT FOLLOWS THE TRANSFIGURATION.

Moses and Elijah have gone, gone also is the flashing splendor that lit the night, silenced is the speech that fell upon the astonished ears of Peter, James, and John.

Imagine the disciples for a moment as they looked around them,—the silence after the speech, and the loneliness after comradeship with celestial visitors, and the usualness of everything. “Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus only." (Matt. 17:8)

It was a solemn moment. Moses and Elijah had passed, the glory had vanished, the heavenly voice was silent, and they saw “Jesus only." He was the same Jesus that they had known. Oh, the exquisite beauty of the statement. “Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid." (Matt. 17:7) It was the old familiar touch, the same touch that they had felt so often before. Who shall say that when talking with them, His hand had not rested upon them; or walking with them, His hand had not arrested them, and stayed them for a moment while He spoke to them? The old touch, the human touch of the Son of Man, a Man among them once again, just as they had known Him. It was the old familiar voice, the same Jesus, “Jesus only."

The same, but yet so utterly different! "Jesus only," containing in His own Person as now they knew, a glory that was hidden, a veiled splendor that at any moment might flash out, yet hidden for some inscrutable reason. How strangely these men were perplexed will be gathered from all the history of the days that followed the transfig­uration until Calvary was reached. They never could think of Him again as they had thought of Him before. For once they had been permitted to look at Him changed, altered, transfigured, shining with all the splendor of that indwell­ing glory; and even though He had come back to the old form, and the voice of their Friend and Teacher, and the touch of the Man Jesus, they knew that underneath the veil of that humanity there was hidden a radiant splendor.

In those last days how they would watch Him, and won­der whether at some moment the glory would not flame again in the sight of men. He was never the same again because they had seen more of Him. He was to them "Jesus only," forevermore the Center of all things. He remained; the One Who fulfilled the promises of the past, and realized all the hopes created by the messages of God. And not merely was He the One in Whom all past history culminated, but the One from Whom all future history should take its form. From that moment until today every upward movement, every movement that has had for its issue the bettering of human condition, the ennobling of the race, all have found their inspiration in the thought, teaching, character, and Person of Christ. He was the es­sential Light of men, the Light of the world, and all the men who have flung light across the pathway of human life from that moment until now have not been the Light, but light-bearers, and they have lit their torches from the Light, the Son of God.

“Jesus only"—finality, GOD'S PERFECT SPEECH. All the new in the future will be but the more perfect comprehen­sion of Him, and the great ones of all the coming days will learn what He meant, when in simple speech He spoke great eternal truths, which the listening ears of men did not at the time perfectly understand.

If the first impression produced upon the minds of the apostles as they looked around them was that of silence, now that the voice had ceased; and loneliness, now that Moses and Elijah had gone; and the usualness of every­thing, now that the unusual had passed away; the answer to that first impression was found in the presence of "Jesus only," for if no heavenly voice sounded, His speech was heard. If Moses and Elijah had passed, He remained, the perpetual Comrade of saintly souls for all the future. If the unusualness had ceased, they began to find that they were now in the company of One Who could transmute the usual into the unusual, Who could pass with them into the valley, into the home life, into the service of all the coming years until the end; and touching the common­places of life, make them flash with splendor, as His body of humiliation shone with glory upon that mount of transfiguration. This was the first thing that these men realized as they rose from their overcoming fear. The vision had passed, Moses and Elijah had gone, the voice was silent, "Jesus only" remained.

THE THINGS THAT REMAINED

After some heavenly vision it is fit that a pause should be made, and the question asked, what is left when the actual vision has passed, and what is the result of the vision? After the bright cloud that interrupted the ignorant speech of the disciples and after the heavenly voice had ceased, what happened? When the cloud overshadowed them, and they heard the voice of God, they fell on their faces in fear. When they opened their eyes and looked around, what was left? The answer to that question is to be found in a few minutes pause on the mountainside, whence the glory had passed away, and then in a descent from the mountain in the company of Jesus. All the truth they had heard and been taught now had a way of comprehension.

IDENTIFICATION SATISFACTION AND INJUNCTION

IDENTIFICATION SATISFACTION AND INJUNCTION

Matthew describes the cloud which overshadowed the mount as a bright cloud. Darkness glorified, shadow illuminated! Wherever there is a bright cloud, the bright­ness is proof of the light behind. Who has not seen the clouds piled mountain high on the horizon, lit with gorgeous splendor? Only the clouds are seen, but the lights upon them speak of the sun shining in power behind them. A bright cloud overshadowed them, a symbolic cloud. The transfiguration is passing, the outshining of the splendor of His presence is to cease, and the clouds are gathering over the green hill far away, but they are enamored through and through with light. It is impossible to hide the glory again from these men. They will never again wholly forget the radiant vision. James will pass to his martyr baptism with that glory still upon his mind, and that holy mount will abide with Peter until, his work ended, he, too, shall enter the cloud, and beyond it, find the never-fading light.

It was indeed a bright cloud, but it overshadowed them while yet Peter was speaking. It interrupted and silenced the speech of earth, that the speech of heaven might be heard. What Peter would have said had he been allowed to proceed, none can tell. While he was yet speaking the cloud came. This blundering speech of men must be in­terrupted, this gross misunderstanding of the Divine will must be corrected, this incoherent prayer of a disciple but half awake, must be hushed.

Out of the bright cloud came the heavenly voice, and there are THREE MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE to notice in the words spoken. First, THE IDENTIFICATION OF THIS MAN Who has been seen in resplendent glory, "This is My beloved Son"; secondly, the ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DIVINE SATISFAC­TION—"In Whom I am well pleased"; and thirdly, THE INJUNCTION LAID, UPON THESE MEN, AND UPON THE CHURCH and all the ages through them—"Hear ye Him." (Matt. 17:5) The Lord and Master (John 13:13).

First, IDENTIFICATION—"This is My beloved Son." Moses and Elijah were servants, this is the Son. The messages of the economies of the past were for the unfold­ing of the law, He and His message constitute the epiphany of grace.

Then THE STATEMENT OF DIVINE SATISFACTION—"In Whom I am well pleased." God had said this before at the bap­tism in Jordan, when the private life of Christ drew to a close, and His public life was beginning. And now that the second stage had come to an end, when the  public life was closing, and the sacrificial and atoning work beginning, as He was about to pass from the culminating glory to take His way into the shadows and into death, again God said "I am well  pleased." Satisfied with the private life in Nazareth, with the honest toil of the carpenter's shop, with the years of public ministry, with the deeds of love that had been scattered over all the pathway, the whole life of Jesus from beginning to end had given satisfaction to the heart of God.

Then THE INJUNCTION—"Hear ye Him." Moses and Elijah have passed. Let there be no tabernacle built for Moses; his mission is ended. "This is My Son." Let there be no attempt to retain the fiery reformer; Elijah's work is over. "This is My Son." "God, having of old, time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son,” (Heb. 1:1, 2) “Hear Him.” No other voice is needed. Let them be hushed in silence. Let Moses and Elijah pass back to the upper spaces. The dwellers upon earth have the speech of the Son and noth­ing else is needed—"Hear Him,"

It was a word of rebuke silencing the blunder of Peter. It was a word of comfort by which God attested the value and virtue of Christ. It was a word of encouragement, for if the speech of Moses and Elijah were over, and their presence had passed within the veil, the Son is to abide, and through all the exigencies and intricacies of the coming days His voice, sweet as the music of heaven, clear as the voice of a brother man, shall lead through the mists to the dawn of the eternal light.

What wonderful effect was produced upon these men by this scene. James died sealing his testimony with his blood, a martyr. Nothing more is recorded of him. John takes his way to long life, and in his writing, says, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) The parenthesis follows as a flash of glory from his pen, as he remembered the mount, he wrote, "We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father." John can never forget. Peter in his last epistle wrote, "We did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there was borne such a voice to Him by the Majestic Glory, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: and this voice we ourselves heard borne out of heaven, when we were with Him in the holy mount." (2 Pet. 1:16-18)

Thus Peter and John to the end of their ministry were influenced by the vision of that wonderful night, and in­fluenced completely by the speech of heaven and the bright cloud that overshadowed them.

To many there comes no Mount of Transfiguration, but there is for all the speech of the Son. If the majority are not called to some mount of vision where they may behold the glory as these three men beheld it, yet to every soul amid the multitudes of the redeemed He speaks in every passing day. God forbid that the babel of earth's voices should drown the accents of His still small voice. To His children He speaks softly and sweetly in the innermost re­cesses of the heart day by day, saying ever, "This is the way, walk ye in it," (Isa. 30:21) and out of God's heaven God's mes­sage forever speaks, "This is My Son, hear ye Him." (Matt. 17:15)