Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIV — John Shaqi
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIVMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIV
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
Then there is another thought here. This invitation of the Master is
also a very distinct call to a firsthand knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Andrew and John had heard from the Baptist about Him, and now what He
bids them to do is to come and hear Himself. That is what He calls you,
dear brethren, to do. Do not listen to us, let the Master Himself speak
to you. Many who reject Christianity reject it through not having
listened to Jesus Himself teaching them, but only to theologians and
other human representations of the truth. Go and ask Christ to speak to
you with His own lips of truth, and take Him as the Expositor of His
own system. Do not be contented with traditional talk and second-hand
information. Go to Christ, and hear what He Himself has to say to you.
Then, still further, in this 'Come and see' there is a distinct call to
the personal act of faith. Both of these words, '_come_' and '_see_,'
are used in the New Testament as standing emblems of faith. Coming to
Christ is trusting Him; trusting Him is seeing Him, looking unto Him.
'Come unto Me, and I will give you rest,' 'Look unto Me, and be ye
saved, all ye ends of the earth.' There are two metaphors, both of them
pointing to one thing, and that one thing is the invitation from the
dear lips of the loving Lord to every man, woman, and child in this
congregation. 'Come and see!' 'Put your trust in Me, draw near to Me by
desire and penitence, draw near to Me in the fixed thought of your
mind, in the devotion of your will, in the trust of your whole being.
Come to Me, and see Me by faith; and then—and then—your hearts will
have found what they seek, and your weary quest will be over, and, like
the dove, you will fold your wings and nestle at the foot of the Cross,
and rest for evermore. Come! "Come and see!"'
III. So, lastly, we have in these words a parable of the blessed
experience which binds men's hearts to Jesus for ever. 'They came and
saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day, for it was about the
tenth hour.'
'Dwelt' and 'abode' are the same words in the original. It is one of
John's favourite words, and in its deepest meaning expresses the close,
still communion which the soul may have with Jesus Christ, which
communion, on that never-to-be-forgotten day, when he and Andrew sat
with Him in the quiet, confidential fellowship that disclosed Christ's
glory 'full of grace and truth' to their hearts, made them His for
ever.
If the reckoning of time here is made according to the Hebrew fashion,
the 'tenth hour' will be ten o'clock in the morning. So, one long day
of talk! If it be according to the Roman legal fashion, the hour will
be four o'clock in the afternoon, which would only give time for a
brief conversation before the night fell. But, in any case, sacred
reserve is observed as to what passed in that interview. A lesson for a
great deal of blatant talk, in this present day, about conversion and
the details thereof!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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