The Silent Looks of Christ.
I. The Lord is always looking. He looketh from heaven and beholdeth the children of men. The Lord looked to see if there were any that feared Him and that honoured His name. There is no protection from His eye. This is a terrible statement to be delivered to the bad man! You are never alone. When you think you are alone, your solitude is but relative. "Whither shall I flee from Thy presence?" The question is unanswered and unanswerable. God fills the universe, overflows infinitude, and thou canst not escape His eye. The eyes of the Lord are very terrible, flames of fire are the only symbols by which they can be likened among us; but they are also gentle, melting with dewy tenderness, yearning with unutterable pity; looking out for us; watching our homecoming, looking over the hills and along the curving valleys, if haply they may see somewhat of the shadow of the returning child.
II. If such be the looks of the Father and the Son, how should we returnlooks that are so full of significance and purpose? Hear the word of the Lord: " Lookunto Me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth." How? Look not with the eyes of the body, not with curiosity; but with reverence, with eagerness of heart, with determination of love, with all the urgency and importunity of conscious need. He asks us to look; to look at Himself; not on the throne of judgment, but in His capacity as Redeemer and Saviour of the world. We shall have to look; the only question is, How? Are we prepared for His coming? How are we prepared for His fan? By going to His cross. He proposed that we should meet Him in His weakness. He appoints the place. He says, "Meet Me where I am weakest; where My right hand is maimed, and my left; where My feet are pierced with iron, and My side is gashed with steel, and My temples are crushed with cruel thorns meet Me there!" Then, having met Him there, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him, He will be the same Saviour, as gentle and as pitiful as ever. And now the Lord's hands are His again, He will use them for the opening of the door of His kingdom, and the lifting up of all who put their trust in Him.
Parker, The Ark of God,p. 180.