The religion of Jesus Christ is not a theory. It is not merely a code of morals. It is a life to be lived. It is the life of God dwelling in and with the believer. And he who knows not the Saviour as Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us, knows him not in the only way which can bring salvation to the soul.
The Presence of God before the Fall.
In the first free breath of earth's morning, Creator and created, the Almighty God and his son Adam, walked side by side among the aramanthine flowers of the Edenic garden. They talked together as Father and son. God's presence was no myth to the father of the human family. It was something real.
God was just as really present to Adam as was ever his wife. Adam saw God, he asked him questions, and he received answers. This is clearly shown by the eighth verse of the third chapter of Genesis:—
“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.”
They hid themselves, their persons, their bodies, amongst the trees. Why did they do this?—Because of sin. The presence of God was to them something real. It was something tangible. Knowing that they had disobeyed, they wanted to hide.
A beautiful thought may be garnered here. It was not God who hid himself from sinful man. It was sinful man who hid himself from God. The High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity came to the garden the same as ever to visit his wayward son and daughter. Even to-day God does not hide himself from fallen humanity. But sin has caused her children to hide themselves from the sinless One.
The Presence of God with the Patriarchs.
Six short verses in the book of Genesis, one in the epistle to the Hebrews, and two in the letter of Jude, together with a mention of his name in the genealogy of Christ, is all that the Bible tells concerning the life of Enoch, one of the best men that ever lived on earth. Of him it is said that he “lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah.” This is all that is known of the first six and a half decades of a noble life. No remarkable achievements or experiences are recorded. It is simply related that “he pleased God.” This story should be a comfort to every trusting Christian. Our lives may be uneventful, they may not be marked by any wonderful experience, and yet they may please God.
After Enoch had lived sixty and five years, it is written of him that he “walked with God . . . three hundred years.” Another translation puts it that he walked habitually with God. Surely the presence of God was with him. This walk was not in a trance8 (680)or a vision, but in all the duties of his daily life.
Nowadays we are inclined to look upon the patriarchs as being naturally possessed of characters above the human. In the minds of the present generation they are often dispossessed of the frailties of the flesh. We are apt to look upon them in perhaps the same light as many a schoolboy looks upon the heroes of Greece and Rome, as subjects of verbs in the nominative or objects in the accusative case. But the patriarchs were men “subject to passions like as we are.”
Enoch was not a monk, dwelling in the cloister of a cathedral. He was the father of a family, being obliged to make a living to support his wife and children. He mingled with ungodly men in the ordinary business of life. But in and through it all “Enoch walked with God.” God was ever present in his thoughts. The deeper the iniquity around him, the higher his experience in God. His body was on this dark and dreary earth, but his soul was dwelling amid the realms of light. “For three centuries he had walked with God. Day by day he had longed for a closer union; nearer and nearer had grown the communion, until God took him to himself. He had stood at the threshold of the eternal world, only a step between him and the land of the blest, and now the portals opened, the walk with God so long pursued on earth, continued, and he passed through the gates of the holy city, the first form among men to enter there.”
Abraham.
“He believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” These words are powerful when read in their first untarnished freshness, but they gain tremendously in their original language, to which neither Greek nor German, Latin nor English, can furnish any full equivalent. “He supported himself, he built himself up, he reposed as a child in its mother's arms.” Such seems to be the force of the Hebrew word.
In the New Testament Abraham is called “the friend of God.” The meaning in the word “friend” is deep. Dr. Young translates Isa. 41:3, “Abraham, My lover.” The Lord treated Abraham as a friend, as a lover. “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” asks the Almighty. How often do we find the words, “And the Lord said; . . . and Abraham answered.” The Bible portrays the two as talking and walking together.
The Secret of It All.
In Amos 3:3 the secret of the walk with God is revealed: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Enoch, and Abraham, and Moses agreed with God. When God whispered in the listening ear, My son, you did wrong in this, these holy men would breathe, Amen, Lord; thou art even right; I ask forgiveness, and will make amends.
The path which leads to life eternal is very, very narrow. But on its rugged way two can walk abreast, the Saviour and the sinner who agrees that God knows best. This agreement must not be merely passive; it must be active; it must lead to obedience. Without this it is useless.
For What Is the Presence of Christ?
It is to save from sin. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins.” By his Spirit Christ is with the believer all the time. He can not save us when absent from us. He has promised to baptize us with his Holy Spirit. The word translated “baptize” literally means “immerse.” He therefore has promised not only to be with us, but to immerse us in his Spirit. Just as the yielding wave entirely surrounds the one who is being baptized, so that if seen at all, he is seen through the water, in like manner the Christian is to be immersed in the Master's Spirit, so that every word and act can only be seen as it is in Jesus.
Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He can not take away our sins unless he is with us. It is a personal matter, a real transaction. The sinner must abide in Christ and Christ will abide in the sinner. Wherever the Master is, there sins are being removed and his righteousness substituted in their place. “Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the world.” The realization of this promise is the true doctrine of the “real presence.” The Lord said to Moses, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Now mark the answer made by the man who was very meek, above all the men: “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” It is the presence of God that separates from the world. The divine presence cleanses the sin from the Christian's heart, and it is this absence of sin that makes him different from those who serve not God.
Said the man of Tarsus, “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” The word “mortify,” as here used, signifies “make to die.” It is from the same Greek word which in Matt. 26:59 is translated “to put to death.” Now, how are the deeds of the body to be put to death?—By the Spirit. The presence of God through the Holy Spirit causes death to the sin. But, O, joy of joys, whilst it kills sin, it does not kill the sinner! This is the beauty and the benefit of the presence of God.
His Presence Then.
When Christ shall come again the second time, the righteous will be caught up to meet him in the air. His presence by his Spirit will have cleansed away all their sin. But at that time his presence will not only destroy sin, but will destroy the sinner with it. This is the fundamental difference betwixt “now” and “then.”
The space allotted to the second part of this paper may not seem to give to it a due amount of prominence. But we are living “now” and not “then.” If his presence is sought now, it will be then. It is only those who have known Jesus in the Spirit who will welcome him when he comes in person.