Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
But at any rate there will be antagonism. You young men in your
warehouses, you men that go on 'Change', we people that live by our
pens or our tongues, and find ourselves in opposition to much of the
tendencies of the present day--we have all, in our several ways, to
bear the cross. Do not let us be ashamed of it, and, above all, do not
let us, for the sake of easing our shoulders, be unfaithful to our
Master. 'In the world ye have tribulation'; and the Christian man's
peace has to be like the rainbow that lives above the cataract--still
and radiant, whilst it shines above the hell of white waters that are
tortured below.
III. Lastly, notice the courageous confidence which comes from the
Lord's victory.
'Be of good cheer!' It is the old commandment that rang out to Joshua
when, on the departure of Moses, the conduct of the war fell into his
less experienced hands: 'Be strong, and of a good courage; only be thou
strong and very courageous.' So says the Captain of salvation, leaving
His soldiers to face the current of the heady fight in the field. Like
some leader who has climbed the ramparts, or hewed his way through the
broken ranks of the enemies, and rings out the voice of encouragement
and call to his followers, our Captain sets before us His own example:
'I have overcome the world,' He said that the day before Calvary. If
that was victory, what would defeat have been?
Notice, then, how our Lord's life was a true battle. The world tried to
draw Him away from God by appealing to things desirable to sense, as in
the wilderness; or to things dreadful to sense, as on the cross; and
both the one and the other form of temptation He faced and conquered.
It was no shadow fight which evoked this paean of victory from His
lips. The reality of His conflict is somewhat concealed from us by
reason of its calm and the completeness of His conquest. We do not
appreciate the force that drives a planet upon its path because it is
calm and continuous and silent, but the power that kept Jesus Christ
continually faithful to His Father, continually sure of that Father's
presence, continually averse to all self-will and selfish living, was a
power mightier then all others that have been manifested in the history
of humanity. The Captain of our salvation has really fought the fight
before us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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