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
My time will not allow me to expand these thoughts as I would have
done; let me put them in the briefest outline. Christ is the medium of
all communication between heaven and earth, inasmuch as He is the
medium of all revelation. I have spoken incidentally about that in the
former part of this sermon, so I do not dwell on it now. Christ is the
ladder between heaven and earth, inasmuch as in Him the sense of
separation, and the reality of separation, are swept away. Sin has shut
heaven; there comes down from it many a blessing upon unthankful heads,
but between it in its purity and the earth in its muddy foulness 'there
is a great gulf fixed.' It is not because God is great and I am small,
or because He is Infinite and I am a mere pin-point as against a great
continent, it is not because He lives for ever, and my life is but a
hand-breadth, it is not because of the difference between His
Omniscience and my ignorance, His strength and my weakness, that I am
parted from Him. 'Your sins have separated between you and your God,'
and no man, build he Babels ever so high, can reach thither. There is
one means by which the separation is at an end, and by which all
objective hindrances to union, and all subjective hindrances, are alike
swept away. Christ has come, and in Him the heavens have bended down to
touch, and touching to bless, this low earth, and man and God are at
one once more.
He is the ladder, or sole medium of communication, inasmuch as by Him
all divine blessings, grace, helps, and favours, come down angel-like,
into our weak and needy hearts. Every strength, every mercy, every
spiritual power, consolation in every sorrow, fitness for duty,
illumination in darkness, all gifts that any of us can need, come to us
down on that one shining way, the mediation and the work of the
Divine-Human Christ, the Lord.
He is the ladder, the sole medium of communication between heaven and
earth, inasmuch as by Him my poor desires and prayers and
intercessions, my wishes, my sighs, my confessions rise to God. 'No man
cometh to the Father but by Me.' He is the ladder, the means of all
communication between heaven and earth, inasmuch as at the last, if
ever we enter there at all, we shall enter through Him and through Him
alone, who is 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account