JESUS LOCKED OUT by H. A. St. John

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 8, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 10.

JESUS LOCKED OUT.

By H. A. St. John

BY H. A. ST. JOHN.

IT was Sunday night in Jerusalem, long centuries ago. A company of disciples of Jesus were locked in an upper room. They were utterly disheartened, hopeless, faithless, filled with doubts and fears.

Suddenly there came a knock on their door. Trembling with fear they felt that they must be careful about unlocking the door. Perhaps it is our enemies, they thought, coming to bear us away to the same cruel treatment and end that befell Jesus last Friday. Cautiously they approached the door, and quietly inquired who was there. Two disciples, your brethren; good news for you, was the response. They were cautiously and quietly admitted, and began at once to dispel the gloom, sadness, and doubt that rested like an ill-omened cloud upon the hearts of the disciples. Jesus is risen; the women told the truth this morning when they said He was risen, and that they had seen Him. We, too, have seen Him, and we know He is risen. And with glad hearts and great joy these two disciples related the story of the manifestation of Christ to them, on their way to Emmaus, and in their humble home. But this was not all.

No sooner had these happy disciples delivered their joyful message to their fellows, than lo, Jesus manifests Himself to the amazed disciples, and dissipates all their doubts and sorrows, and fills them with faith and hope.

The same door that was unlocked and opened to let the disciples in, let Jesus in, also, and they did not know it. But no sooner had the disciples fulfilled their mission, than the blessed, risen Jesus manifested Himself to them. Through the same door that was unlocked and opened to admit the disciples, Jesus entered, and at the same time.

Here is a wonderful lesson for us. Jesus teaches that we should love one another as He has loved us. If we love not our brethren whom we see, how can we love God whom we have not seen? If we thus love one another, we will be keeping the commandments of Jesus, and He says that all such love Him, and He further says that He will love them, and will manifest Himself to them. John 14:21.

Let the poor Laodiceans, both preachers and people, who have been engaged in evil speaking, backbiting, murmuring, fault-finding, criticizing, and thus biting and devouring one another with their unclean lips, cease this evil work by true repentance, unlock and open the door of their hearts, and let their brethren in, and thus love one another with pure hearts, fervently, and very soon they will find that the same unlocked and opened door by which they let their brethren in, will be entered by the blessed and risen Jesus. He will manifest Himself to them as He does not to the world,

and their souls will be filled with hope, faith, courage, zeal, and a joy unspeakable and full of glory. All such will be filled with a burning desire to tell others what a dear Saviour they have found. Let us love one another as He hath loved us, and as He has commanded us; then we shall all be of one accord, and in one place spiritually, and nothing can prevent the heavenly dove of divine power from descending and abiding upon us and in us. Then will the Gospel of the kingdom very soon be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and the end come, when we shall see Jesus as He is, be made like Him as He is, and forever dwell with Him where He is.