December 19

Every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life. - John 6:40.

OBSERVE, first, The nature of this manifestation. We cannot suppose it to be a corporeal one. If so all that he addressed were saved. But he did not speak of the eye of the senses, he spoke of the eye of faith, and therefore “to them that believe he is precious.” For love enters by the eye, and faith is the eye of the soul. There is a Spiritual discovery made of him to every believer-a perception of his excellencies. This manifestation of himself by his Spirit is distinguishable from all that knowledge which the world possesses, and also from a mere theoretical knowledge of religious truth. It is accompanied with a discernment not only of Spiritual blessings, But of their excellency and glory.

There is a great difference here: a man may believe there is such a thing as holiness, but this is not seeing the beauty of holiness and loving it. A man may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and the only way, the truth, and the life, and yet may feel no regard for him. But the knowledge which the Holy Ghost communicates descends from the head always into the heart, and then it gets out from the heart into the life, and walks abroad; and appears in all the relations, all the conditions, and in all the circumstances of human life.

Observe, secondly, What will be the consequences of this manifestation? There will be a high estimation of him. “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not; lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Hence to such he has no “form nor comeliness nor any beauty that they should desire him.” But when we do thus behold him we shall say,

“All over glorious is my Lord,

Must be beloved and yet adored,

His worth, if all the nations knew,

Sure the whole earth would love him too.”

He is “altogether lovely.” “This is my Beloved; this is my Friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.” If we have this manifestation of the Son, then we shall apply to him. This is the very end of the manifestation. If we see him as the “Refuge” set before us, we shall flee to him. If we see him as the “Foundation laid in Zion,” we shall build upon him. If we see him as “the Lord, our righteousness, and strength,” we shall therefore rejoice in him. If we thus see the Son as the consequence of the manifestation, we shall be sure to resemble him and to “walk even as he also walked.”

Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we shall be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” There are some who boast of knowing, and in a very superior way, while in their opinion others remain partially in the dark; but where do we discover in them the meekness and gentleness of Christ, and the mind that was in Christ Jesus? Where in them do we see a deadness to the world, and a living unto God with “their conversation in heaven?” If we thus see the Son, and he is thus manifested to us, self will be annihilated, at least it will be greatly subdued.

Thus it was with Job. He said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee.” And what was the consequence? “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes:” and “Behold I am vile.” And what an influence had it upon Isaiah also: “Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts.” The world also will lose its attractions. The enjoyment of the greater weakens, more than anything else, our attachment to the less. Those who have tasted the grapes of Eschol will no longer sigh after the leeks, and onions, and garlick of Egypt.

“When I can say my God is mine,

When I can feel his glories shine,

I tread the world beneath my feet,

And all that earth calls good or great.”