Chapter 14

That hand that was pierced, which has been to you so tender and warm, and in its clasp so expressive of this wondrous friendship--that hand now leads you where you had not thought of going. _And you go_,--aghast almost at first at the radical change in your carefully worked out plans, losing your breath for a moment as you wonder what "they" _will_ think (though "they" never will _understand_, unless--ah, yes, unless they see _Him_). That hand reaches in where your life touches others, in the family, the business circle, the social circle, and moulds you over anew in the old relationships, not taking you away from them (though there may be some partings), but making you a new presence in the midst of them.

That hand reaches into your pocket, and your safety-deposit box, in among the title papers and securities, and shakes off the dust and rust, and sends them out on an errand after the others. That fire--Himself--draws all into the smelting-pot. Its alchemy transmutes possessions into lives, redeemed, sweetened, Jesus-touched, Christ-renewed lives, made like Himself. And the sweet music of their new lives comes up into _His_ gladdened ears, and a few of the strains come to cheer you. One may have at first a strange feeling of bareness, for things that we've always clung to as essential have gone out from us to others. But with the outgoing of things has come an incoming of _Himself_, in greater abundance than we dreamed possible. He, within, completely overbalances what He has sent out from us into use. _He_--He is _everything_.

The usual word for all this is "service," a blessed word. Yet service seems to suggest your doing something for Him among others. This is quite different. It is _His_ doing something _with_ you for others. The thing itself is so much more than any word. Christ is so much more than anything you say about Him. The truth is always less than Himself. But one never understands how much that means till he has seen Christ. Have _you_ seen Christ? Then others shall see Him, too, in you, and through you.

This is the glory of the goal--face to face with Himself. It begins now. It is a very real thing. This is a bit of the meaning of that mountain beatitude, "the pure in heart ... shall _see God_." Yet only he who sees understands what seeing means. The subtle intensity of God's presence cannot be explained, only understood by the purified in heart. Only the opened eyes see.

But this is only a beginning. There will be the far greater glory of the final goal, as we come into His immediate presence, literally face to face. That may be when we are called away from the lower road up to the higher reaches, above the clouds and the blue, the glory-reaches, up where He now sits. It may be by that goal coming nearer, by Himself actually coming on the clouds in great glory, for His own and for the next chapter in His great world-plan. Then we shall be caught up into His presence. Then we shall be fully like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

And we shall be sharers in His glory, in the Kingdom time of glad earth service. But we shall be thinking only of Himself--face to face.

Footnotes

[1] John i. 1, 2, 14, 18; Colossians i. 15; II Corinthians iv. 4; Philippians ii. 6; Hebrews i. 3.

[2] John xv. 15; Psalm xxv. 14; Isaiah xli. 8; II Chronicles xx. 7; James ii. 23.

[3] Matthew iv. 4; where the emphatic word is "man," standing in contrast with "Son of God" in verse 3.

[4] Acts xvii. 28; Job xii. 10; Daniel v. 23 l.c.; Psalm cxxxix. 1-16.

[5] Philippians ii. 6-8.

[6] Romans xii. 19; Deuteronomy xxxii. 35; Psalm xciv. 1; Proverbs xx. 22; I Peter ii. 23; I Corinthians xiii. 5, second clause.

[7] John xi. 41, 42; xii. 27, 28; Luke x. 21.

[8] Deuteronomy viii. 17, 18.

[9] Matthew v. 3.

[10] John viii. 28, 29.

[11] Genesis i. 26-28.

[12] 1 Philippians ii. 8; Hebrews v. 8; Romans v. 19 l.c.; John x. 18 l.c.

[13] Hebrews ii. 18.

[14] Hebrews xii. 29.

[15] Romans iii. 26, latter half; free reading--"that He (God) might be seen to be just and righteous in forgiving a man's sin when he trusted in Jesus."

[16] Eden: delight.

[17] Genesis ii. 8-20.

[18] Genesis iii. 8, 9

[19] Genesis iv.-vi.

[20] Genesis vi. 6; Deuteronomy v. 29; Psalm lxxxi. 13; Isaiah xlviii. 18.

[21] Mark xii. 1-8; II Chronicles xxxvi. 15, 16--These passages, and many similar, while speaking directly of the one nation Israel, are giving a picture of the heart of God toward all men, and His habit of action. Israel itself was the messenger-nation, whose life was meant to be God's message of love to all the race.

[22] John i. 1-18, especially verses 1-5, 14.

[23] John i. 14 f.c.

[24] Matthew ii. 22, 23.

[25] John i. 19-28.

[26] E. C. Clephane.

[27] Psalm xl. 8 f.c.; John iv. 34; Hebrews xii. 2.

[28] Matthew xi. 28.

[29] Matthew iv. 19, with Luke v. 1-11.

[30] Matthew xi. 29, 30.

[31] John xiii. 31-xvi. 33.

[32] John xx. 21.

[33] Matthew xxviii. 18-20.

[34] John i. 35-42.

[35] Matthew iv. 18-22, with Luke v. 1-11.

[36] Matthew x. 1-5; Mark iii. 14-19; Luke vi. 12-17.

[37] Matthew xvi. 13-28.

[38] Matthew xvi. 24; Mark viii. 34; Luke ix. 23.

[39] Matthew xxvi. 58.

[40] John xxi. 15-19.

[41] Acts v. 41.

[42] I John.

[43] Acts i, 1.

[44] Luke xiv. 25-35.

[45] Mark x. 17-22.

[46] In "Other Sheep," by Harold Begbie.

[47] Luke xiv. 25-35, with Matthew v. 13.

[48] Luke xxi. 28.

[49] Mark x. 17-22.

[50] Acts xxii. 11, with ix. 1-9.

[51] Luke xxiv. 40; John xx. 20.

[52] John i. 19-28.

[53] Romans viii. 34; Hebrews vii. 25.

[54] I John ii. 1; Hebrews ix. 24.

[55] Isaiah xi 2; lxi. 1, with Luke iv. 18-21.

[56] Psalm xxv. 3 f.c.

[57] John iii. 34 f.c.

[58] Isaiah xliv. 3; John vii. 37-39.

[59] Acts viii. 4-8, 26-40.

[60] Matthew v. 42.

[61] Isaiah xxxviii. 17, margin.

[62] Matthew iv. 23; ix. 35.

[63] Luke v. 15, 16. The language underneath here suggests a habitual going aside to pray, as an offset to the work with the crowds.

[64] Matthew xxv. 40.

[65] James i. 2, 3.

[66] Matthew vi. 13.

[67] James i. 13.

[68] Matthew xxvi. 41.

[69] John xiii., xiv.

[70] John xv., xvi.

[71] John xvii.

[72] Lucy Rider Meyer.

[73] Exodus xxxii. 31, 32

[74] Romans ix. 1-3.

[75] II Corinthians iv. 12.

[76] Colossians i. 24.

[77] I Corinthians xv. 3, 4.

[78] Acts i. 1.

[79] Matthew xxvii. 59, 60.

[80] Matthew xxvii. 62, 66.

[81] John xii. 24.

[82] John xii. 20-32.

[83] Isaiah v. 20.

[84] Matthew xvi. 21-28.

[85] John xv.

[86] Hebrews xii. 2.

[87] II Corinthians iii. 18.

[88] Romans viii. 11.

[89] II Corinthians iv. 11. "Dying" in these two passages does not mean being in the process of dissolution, but that the body is subject to death.

[90] Ephesians i. 20, 21; Acts ii. 33; John xiv. 12, 13; Romans viii. 34; Hebrews vii. 25; ix. 24.

[91] Colossians iii. I; Ephesians ii. 6.

[92] Psalm xxii. 8, 9.

[93] Revelation ii. 26, 27; v. 10; xx. 4.

[94] Psalm lxxxiv. 11.

[95] Anonymous, in "Egyptian Mission News," copied from S. M. Zwemer's "Unoccupied Fields of the World."

[96] Hebrews x. 12, 13.

[97] Revelation ii., iii.

[98] Numbers xiv. 24 xxxii. 12; Deuteronomy i. 36; Joshua xiv. 8, 9, 14.

[99] Matthew xvi. 24.

[100] John xii. 26.

[101] John vi. 70.

[102] Matthew xix. 27.

[103] Luke ix. 51-54.

[104] Genesis xvi.

[105] Galatians ii 11-14.

[106] Luke ii. 49.

[107] Zechariah xiv. 4.

[108] Hebrews xiii. 20, 21.

[109] Exodus xxxii. 31, 32.

[110] Romans ix. 1-3.

[111] Psalm xlix. 7.

[112] Genesis iv. 12-16.

[113] Genesis vi. 17, 18.

[114] Hosea i. 2-9; iii 1-3.

[115] Isaiah vii. 3-17.

[116] Isaiah viii. 1-3.

[117] Isaiah xx. 1-4.

[118] Jeremiah xvi. 1-4.

[119] Ezekiel xxiv. 15-19.

[120] Psalm xvi. 8.