THE PRESENT LORD
‘And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man.’
This vision of St. John in Patmos, granted to him ‘on the Lord’s day,’ brings before us—
I. A living Lord.—It is not a mere historical personage, to whose great deeds we look back with admiration, that we call Master. It is He Who is alive for evermore, Who has the keys of Hades in His own royal hand. We do not think and speak of our Divine Head as of One that was, but as of One that is.
II. A present Lord.—He is in the midst of the Churches: not removed by immeasurable space from where we are living and labouring, but in the midst of us; quite near to us, accessible at every hour, observant of every action and of all endurance.
III. A reigning Lord.—This One Who is in the midst of the golden candlesticks is He Who ‘holdeth the seven stars in His right hand’ (Revelation 2:1). It is He Who has all power given to Him in heaven and on earth.
IV. A gracious Lord.—‘One like unto the Son of Man’; He therefore Who was once clothed in our humanity, once was partaker of our flesh and blood, once lived our human life; He Who has looked on all things through human eyes, and weighed all things by human measures; He Who has actually experienced human hopes and fears, human joys and sorrows, human gratifications and disappointments. This is a living Lord, of whose tender sympathy we may be always sure, upon whose willing strength we may always lean, on whose gracious considerateness we may always count.
V. A Lord Whose presence is the one true bond of union.—‘In the midst of the Churches’; each one of them is therefore closely and vitally related to Him. They may not be organically connected with one another, but every one of them is directly related to Him.
ST.