1. When he fled into the land of Midian, where he was a stranger and a shepherd for many years.
2. When he brought Israel out of Egypt, Whether of these is here intended? Some think the former; some the latter; some both. Yet, whether it be one or both, it is certain both that he did leave Egypt and that he did leave it in this manner. In the former departure he fled to avoid danger: in the latter he marched out like a prince and general with a mighty host.
II. THE REASON OF THIS BOLDNESS WAS HIS FAITH, WHEREBY HE ENDURED AS SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE, WHICH IS THE SECOND PROPOSITION.
1. He that was invisible was God, who is said to be the eternal, immortal, invisible God (1Ti_1:17), whom no man hath seen nor can see 1Ti_6:16), and the invisible God (Col_1:15).
2. The act of his faith was that whereby he, as it were, and in some manner, saw this invisible God, he saw Him, not by his senses, nor by the natural light of reason, but by a diviner and more excellent visive faculty, to which He did represent Himself in His wisdom, almighty power, promise, and fidelity, with all which He was engaged in this act. This sight of Him made Pharaoh, though a king of mighty power, as contemptible in his eyes. So glorious did He appear that all the power and princes of the world were nothing to him.
3. The immediate effect was that he so seeing Him as though He were present, marching in the van, bringing up the rear, and guarding Israel on every side, did endure, not only with a patient but a constant and undaunted mind, the wrath of the king, whom he feared. He strengthened and hardened himself, and resolved to carry Israel out of Egypt, and rescue them from the Egyptian bondage and tyranny. This was an act of faith, of strong faith; and this instance doth teach to fortify and embolden our hearts by faith in God against all fears of the greatest, most cruel, and enraged enemies. (G. Lawson.)
An heroic frame of mind
I. In all duties, especially such as are attended with great difficulties and dangers, it is the wisdom of believers to take care, not only that the works of them be good in themselves, BUT THAT THEY HAVE A JUST AND DUE CALL TO THEIR PERFORMANCE. When they have so, and are satisfied therein, there is nothing that faith will not conflict withal and conquer. But if they are weak in this foundation of duty, they will find that faith will not be engaged to their assistance.
II. EVEN THE WRATH OF THE GREATEST KINGS IS TO BE DISREGARDED IF IT LIE AGAINST OUR DUTY TOWARDS GOD (Dan_3:13-18).
III. THERE IS AN HEROIC FRAME OF MIND AND SPIRITUAL FORTITUDE REQUIRED TO THE DUE DISCHARGE OF OUR CALLINGS IN TIMES OF DANGER, WHICH FAITH IN EXERCISE WILL PRODUCE (1Co_16:13).
IV. THERE IS NOTHING INSUPERABLE TO FAITH WHILE IT CAN KEEP A CLEAR VIEW OF THE POWER OF GOD AND HIS FAITHFULNESS IN HIS PROMISES. And unless we are constant in this exercise of faith we shall fail in great trials and difficult duties. From hence we may fetch revivings, renewals of strength, and consolations on all occasions, as the Scripture everywhere testifieth (Psa_73:25-26; Isa_40:28-30). (John Owen, D. D.)
Forsaking Egypt
I remember, when visiting the national museum at Naples, and standing in the corridor of marble sculptures, surrounded on every side by colossal forms of Zeno and Socrates, and Plato, and Sophocles, and Homer, and hundreds of the wise and great of other days, it seemed as though I were transported back to an earlier age; and I never read this eleventh chapter of the Hebrews without feeling as though I stood in a gallery of statuary, and were gazing on the sculptured figures of a distinguished group, long since passed into the heavens, of whom the world was not worthy. The first form that arrests my eye is that of a young man standing by a kind of rude altar, with an innocent lamb by his side, and I say, “That is Abel.” Then a little to the right I notice a man with dignified and heavenly mien, apparently holding close communion with his Maker, and I say, “That is Enoch.” A few steps further, and I see, carved in elaborate sculpture, a shipbuilder of no common ambition, his plans and his tools beside him, and timber for such a vessel as had never floated on the sea. “Noah! “ I at once exclaim, and the whole story of the Deluge instantly flashes before my mind. And so I walk round the gallery, and quickly recognise such eminent figures as Abraham, and Jacob, and Gideon, and David, and Samuel, and many others; but, amongst them all, there is not one, perhaps, to compare in grandeur of character with him of whom my text tells us.
I. You MUST FORSAKE EGYPT. There we have all been born. Just as Canaan represents the state of rest and liberty which we enter and enjoy when we become the people of God, so Egypt stands, in Scriptural symbolism, for carnality and spiritual bondage. This is the two-fold thought which “Egypt” expresses.
1. First, a mere fleshly or animal existence. Living for the gratification of our lower nature. Asking, “What shall we eat?” and “What shall we drink?” and “What clothes shall we wear?” and “What worldly delights shall we enjoy? “The food of Egypt was not only plentiful, but it was gross and stimulating. It pampered the body. It inflamed the passions. To young men, Egypt, in this sense, often presents special charms. The power of sin lies in its pleasure. But then, remember, the pleasures of the sensualist are the preludes of a misery that words cannot paint. There was a young medical student who went out to prosecute his studies in Paris. He caught the moral infection of its licentiousness and infidelity. There was an inward struggle between the conscience and the flesh. “Shall I forsake Egypt?” was the question. The flesh prevailed, and he said “No.” Here are his very words: “I know that I can enjoy life in my own way about so many years. I shall parcel out my money to last so long a time, and no longer. When my time is up my revolver shall end all.” His prediction was but too true; and when, within but a few years, his pale and breathless form was one day found lying in his own blood, one could almost have believed that a voice was whispering, “The way of transgressors is hard.” The great thing which a young man needs in a crisis of temptation is instant decision for the right. If you tamper and hesitate the game is half lost. Leave no time for temptation to accumulate. “Forsake Egypt.” You must surely have noticed that, in relation to all sins of this character--sins of the flesh--St. Paul’s counsel is, “Flee!” It may seem like cowardice, but it is true heroism. “Flee youthful lusts.” Like Joseph, hasten instantly out of the way of the tempter; saying, as Moses did to Pharaoh, “Thou shalt see my face no more!”
2. But, secondly, it is also a state of bondage. It is slavery of the worst kind. There are fetters of the soul, moral chains, forged of such material, and riveted with such strength, that he who wears them, though his comrades call him a free lance, and a dashing blade, is unspeakably more a bondman than the convict in his cell. There is no greater slavery than that of the man over whom his own passions and vile habits domineer. Can he be called his own master who is always at the bidding of some imperious lust, or ungovernable appetite? Do you call that man free, for example, who lately came to my door, and in desperation asked me what was to be done, because no power on earth could keep him back from drink? It is idle to talk of liberty whilst you are the servants of the devil. If you spare sin it will not spare you.
II. You MUST DEFY THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS. There are thousands of young persons who are more than half-inclined to become Christians, but are kept back from a full decision by certain fears that stand in their way. How many, for example, are in mortal dread of being laughed at, ridiculed by their ungodly associates? Old John Trapp has a quaint remark somewhere, to the effect that if we can bear taunts and jeers for Christ’s sake, it argues we mean to stick to Him; just as among the Jews, by Moses’ law, the servant that was content to be “bored in the ear with an awl,” signified that nothing would tempt him away from his master. Whenever you are chaffed or ridiculed for your religion, then, just think that if you can endure such “boring,” it speaks well for your attachment to Christ. Then some are deterred from a decided Christian life by the dread of the inward conflict they will have, as they think, to undergo; the bitterness of true repentance; by the thought of the sinful pleasures they must forego, the giddy company they must abandon, and the responsibilities they must assume. Not a few are frightened away from personal religion by the idea that if they become Christians they must give up all kinds of social enjoyment. Others have frankly told me that the reason they keep aloof is that it is now impossible for them to shake themselves loose from certain habits that would be inconsistent with a life of piety. “I forsake Egypt! I become a devout believer, and live a holy life! The thing is impossible. My habits are too confirmed, my feelings too blunted; the enemy has got too strong a hold upon me for that.” These are a few of the bugbears with which the devil seeks to frighten you! Oh, my friend! come away out of Egypt at once, and do not “fear the wrath of the king.” Ninety-nine reasons out of every hundred that frighten people against religion are utterly false and baseless. Christ’s is not a hard hand, nor a sour and gloomy face. To become a believer is to come into the land of gladsome sunshine and of glorious liberty. If you have served the devil for twenty years, don’t serve him a day longer. God’s grace is all-sufficient.
III. You MUST FIX YOUR EYE ON THE UNSEEN GOD. YOU must “endure as seeing Him who is invisible.” Your minds are entirely occupied with the visible and the concrete; with matters of the shop, the office, or the household; with your stock-in-trade; with buying and selling, lending and borrowing, bargaining and investing; with pounds, shillings, and pence; with bonds, and shares, and debentures; with pound weights and pint measures; with webs of cloth, and reams of paper, and hags of rice, and boxes of tea, and casks of sugar, and waggons of coal; with accounts and invoices; from day to day, from week to week, looking only to what is “seen and temporal,” devoting the powers of an immortal soul to the interests of a dying world, with the almost certainty of continuing so to do till fever or paralysis throw you on your back, and you wake up, too late, to discover that your soul has never pierced through the veil of flesh, and gazed on “Him who is invisible”! Ah! you will never “endure” with a life like that! “Can thine heart endure, saith the Lord, or can thine hands be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee?” Thank God, some of you have had your eyes opened to a new world altogether. Even the simplest mind is raised and expanded, by converse with eternity, and fellowship with God. But your contemplation of the invisible must not be a mere abstract dreamy devotion, a waiting afar off on Heaven’s eternal glorious King. There must be a personal surrender of yourselves to God, founded upon a living and intelligent faith. A man whose business affairs are all in a muddle will never be a successful man; and it is just as true, that if the interests of your soul are all in a muddle, there is little hope of your wearing the eternal crown. Oh, clear up the whole matter now; come and get salvation on God’s terms. Turn your back on Egypt, and your face toward Canaan; and keep your eye fixed on Him who is invisible. So shall you endure to the end, and, enduring to the end, shall be saved. (J. T. Davidson, D. D.)
Fearlessness in fear through the vision of the invisible:
The contradiction between these two passages is sufficiently apparent. No sooner do we bring them together than we detect it, and ask ourselves, How could the same man at the same moment, in the same act, both fear and not fear the anger of the incensed king? Must we, then, reject the one passage or the other as obviously inaccurate? Must we even pare down and modify the one till we can force it into some kind of agreement with the other? By no means. These apparent contradictions, which abound in Scripture, as they do in all books which treat the highest themes wisely, are of the utmost value. They strike and rouse the mind; they quicken thought and stimulate inquiry: they even confirm the truth of the Divine Record. For no two men give precisely the same account of any fact or transaction they have witnessed. If they are honest, if they use their own eyes and look on each from his own point of view, they are sure to disagree in detail, even when they agree in substance. It is only false witnesses, witnesses who have preconcerted, and perhaps rehearsed, their evidence, that are found to be in unbroken accord. There is no difficulty whatever in reconciling the apparently contradictory reports of the two passages before us, when once we remember the different points of view from which the men who wrote them regarded the flight of Moses, and the different objects which animated them as they wrote. Moses did fear the wrath of the king, or he would not have fled from it; but, as he fled, he was saved from all fear by a faith which taught him that the wrath of Pharaoh was impotent against, the protecting shield of God. The Jewish historian, dealing only with overt facts and their historic causes, narrates the flight and the fear which prompted it; the Christian evangelist, concerning himself mainly about spiritual experience and the inward processes of thought and emotion, speaks of that vision of the invisible which was vouchsafed to Moses as he fled, and shows us faith evolving fearlessness out of fear. There is no real contradiction between them, but only such a discord as, first, makes us listen, and, then, while we listen, passes into a harmony all the more profound for the very discord which introduced it. And surely we cannot wonder to find some discrepancy in the record of a fact so suggestive of the strangest paradoxes. Most of us, I suppose, see but little heroism in running away; and yet it is precisely the flight of Moses which is selected as one of the most heroic events in his eventful career: and when, in addition, we read of a fearless fear, and learn that this fearless fear was caused by a vision of the invisible, we must confess, I think, that here are paradoxes enough to demand some pains of thought before we can hope to comprehend them. (S. Cox, D. D.)
A godly fearlessness:
Mr. Samuel Wesley, the father of the celebrated Mr. John Wesley, being strongly importuned by the friends of James II., to support the measures of the court in favour of popery, with promises of preferment, absolutely refused even to read the king’s declaration; and though surrounded with courtiers, soldiers, and informers, he preached a bold and pointed discourse against it from these words: “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (K. Arvine.)
Prince of Conde and Charles IX.:
The prince of Conde being taken prisoner by Charles IX., king of France, and put to his choice whether he would go to mass or be put to death, or suffer perpetual imprisonment, his noble answer was, that by God’s help he would never do the first; and for either the second or the last, he left it to the king’s pleasure and God’s providence. (K. Arvine.)
A noble fearlessness:
You have often heard of Martin Luther’s speech when they warned him not to go to Worms, that he would go there if all the tiles on the roofs of the houses were devils. Yes, but he said a better thing than that, which is not often quoted, because people are not so much afraid of devils, especially in that quantity; they seem to be too many to be up to much. But they said, “You must not go, Martin Luther; for if you do Duke George will arrest you on the road.” There are many persons who are much more afraid of Duke George than they are of the devil; but said Luther, “I tell you if it were to rain Duke Georges for nine days as hard as it could, I would, and I will go, in God’s name.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fearlessness respected:
Men reverence those who have got over fear, which is so general a weakness. (Dr. Johnson.)
Endured as seeing Him who is invisible
Moses:
He endured: I like those words in which Scripture sums up all the life of Moses. They offer a striking contrast to all that we see nowadays. This century surprises us by its recantations; discouragement is one of the dominant notes which is breathed from contemporaneous souls, and never were so many suicides seen than since man was taught that the present life embraced all his destiny. Well, feeble children of an enervated period, here is before us the example of a man of God who endured, of a man to whom it has been given, as if to show in his works the dominant trait of his character, to found here below the most resisting and most tenacious thing which the world has ever seen--I mean the Jewish people. Think of it! History offers nothing similar. Nothing has been able to weaken this prodigious vitality. Babylon and Nineveh, Alexandria and Athens, Rome and Constantinople have fallen. It has survived all the ruins of the past, as it will survive all those of the present. Always the same in its distinctive features, it bequeaths to each of its children an indelible type. Now, if we ask Moses what was the secret of his strength, he will tell us that with him it was not a fruit of nature, nor even a conquest of the will. Timid, and little formed for such an enterprise, he recoiled before his task and accepted it only with trembling. His strength did not come to him “ from flesh and blood,” it came to him from Divine grace, and he found it by faith. “He endured,” the Scripture says, “as seeing Him who is invisible.” Oh, you who have received from God the mission of directing men, leaders of people, magistrates, chiefs of industry, or pastors of souls, have you understood what such an example ought to teach you? What is the situation, however humble it be, where one does not feel weighing on himself the burden of some soul which must be guided, some life which must be saved? Fathers and mothers of families, teachers on whom rests the noble task of educating the young, you all who know what it costs to exercise with devotedness this thankless mission but so great, learn from Moses to endure, seeing Him who is invisible. Oh! how great the duty appears, and how dignified the most humble ministers, when, instead of seeing an entirely human obligation, a Divine investiture is recognised, a priesthood which comes from above. In this spirit we must strive here below, serving those to whom God sends us, but seeking from higher than they the approbation which upholds us and the rule for our conscience. Let us thoroughly understand our mission. We must prove to this positive century that it is the invisible alone which can save the world. This century boasts of believing only what it can see and touch. Proud of its progress and of its conquests, intoxicated with the triumphs of science, it sees reality only there; for it, all the rest is a chimerical and vain dreaming. To know the visible, that is its wisdom; to act on the visible, that is its work; to enjoy the visible, that is its happiness. Beyond that everything disappears from its eyes. Hear with what proud and mocking accents it speaks of supernatural doctrines which, according to it, have for a long time led humanity astray and paralysed its progress. If it supports religion it is entirely for a utilitarian end, with an eye to weak minds and disinherited classes who may find some consolation therein, and, moreover, it wishes to accept the practical side only; willingly would it reduce the Church to no more than a vast association of philanthropy. All that goes beyond that plane is, in its eyes, only reverie and sterile additions. It seems that, relieved of this heavy burden, humanity henceforth would walk more proudly to the conquest of the future. Well, we must say boldly, we must unfalteringly repeat, that if some eternal principle, some consolation, some strong hope is preserved on our poor earth, we owe it to those who, like Moses, have walked by faith and not by sight. (E. Bersier, D. D.)
The sense of the presence of God
I. CAN THE FINITE COMPREHEND THE INFINITE? Can the arm of man embrace the image of Divinity. Nay. But we know that if the arm of man cannot embrace the image of God, it can at least put its hand into His palm. We know that if the heart of God is larger and kinder than the heart of man, that the throbs of human emotion are, at least, suggestions of the great love which beats for man, as the crimson flushing of the dawn is a token of the meridian glory. “Where is the air?” might sing the bird to his mate. “Where is the water?” might ask the fish in his school. Where is God? “In Him we live and move and have our being.”
1. This sense of the presence of God is made known to us in nature,
2. So, too, in the deep experiences of human life do we become conscious of the presence of God.
II. How EASY IT IS TO DISTURB AND TO DESTROY THIS SENSE OF THE NEAR PRESENCE OF GOD. The sense of the Divine presence as it is reflected in the soul of man, may by a single gust of passion, by a habit of self-indulgence, by a thought of impurity moving lightly over its surface, be either distorted into cruel ugliness or shivered into a useless ruin.
III. We now pass to consider more definitely THE RESULTS OF THE HAVING OF THIS SENSE OF GOD.
1. This sense of God elevates life. The man having it lives a life higher and nobler. He gains a wider prospect. He rises nearer heaven. He breathes a purer and more bracing atmosphere. The Waldenses had as their watchword “In His name.” It was their greeting and their farewell. They spoke it at the wedding altar, at the bier, and at the baptismal font. They thought it as they ploughed the fields and plucked the purple clusters in their vineyards. It ennobled and gave dignity to their life; it strengthened them to endure persecution for the truths which they loved, and to lay down their lives on the “Alpine mountains cold.” Thus the sense of the near presence of God transforms and ennobles life. It hushes life’s jarring, clashing notes into music. It puts the cipher of our individual existence on the right side of the figure of life and gives to life a tenfold value.
2. This sense of God is a shield from sin. It repels evil. Dannecker, the German sculptor, who died a generation ago, left statues of Ariadne and Sappho and a colossal figure of Christ. His early fame he won for works connected with Greek and Roman mythology. When he had laboured two years upon his statue of Christ, the marble was apparently finished. He called a little girl into his studio. Pointing to the form of the Christ he asked, “Who is that?” “A great man,” was her reply. He was for a time hopeless. He had failed. Only a great man. Again he commenced labour. For six years he cut and carved the marble. Again he called a child and put her before the finished piece. “Who is that?” he asked. Her reply was, “Suffer little children to come unto Me.” It was the belief of the sculptor that for the execution of his task he had seen a special vision of Christ. At one time he attracted the eye of Napoleon. “Come to Paris,” said the Frenchman, “make me a statue of Venus for the Louvre.” “No,” he replied, “a man who has seen Christ would commit sacrilege if he should employ his art in the carving of a pagan goddess. My art is henceforth a consecrated thing.” So for the man who feels the near presence of God to commit sin would be more than a sacrilege. He cannot commit sin. It is an armour which no arrow of temptation can pierce.
3. This sense of God is a spur to grand moral and spiritual endeavour. It is an inspiration to work for God and for man. Would that various movements for the reformation of humanity were more worthy of confidence. Free religious associations and ethical societies cherish a noble purpose. They write upon their flag, “Man.” They fasten their colours to the staff of their conscience. But the canvas is so heavy their arms cannot raise it; their feet cannot bear it forward; their hands cannot unfurl it to the breeze. Only as God strengthens man for his work for man can man lift up and carry forward the symbols of that work. There is an old legend that “ when the Empress Helena went to the Holy Land in search of the true cross, excavations and great researches were made, and at last three crosses were discovered; but how were they to decide which was the true cross? They approached a dead body and laid one cross after another on it, and when the cross of Jesus touched the cold, lifeless form, it at once sprang up in new life and vigour.” Upon the dead body of modern society you may lay the cross of moral reform and it does not lift a finger; upon it lay the cross of human purity, and not an eyelash quivereth; upon it lay the cross of Christ, and it springeth to its feet, vigorous and strong. Thus fill man with the sense of the near presence of God, let him see Him who is invisible, and he becomes a crusader of the nineteenth century. So let any one of us, who holds a command of God for the deliverance of any soul from the pursuers of fiery and maddened passions, from its own blind and blinding sin, to the gateway of a perfect life, let each one of us so command, and each is so commissioned, possess a sense of God’s presence as did he who saw Him who was invisible: thus we may lead that soul to the gateway of a perfect life. (C. F. Thwing.)
Seeing the invisible God
I. THE INVISIBILITY OF GOD. This is one of the attributes of the Divine Being; it is usually called, and properly, one of the negative attributes of God. The averment is that He is not something. Unchaage-ableness, unsearchableness, irresistibleness, invisibility, are all negative attributes of God. God is invisible. We have not many Scriptures which teach this expressly and formally, but those which teach it are so clear and strong, and there are so many others which imply and involve it, that there cannot be the doubt of a moment what the doctrine of Scripture is (Job_23:8,Deu_4:12; Deu_4:15; 1Ti_6:16; Joh_1:18), The same truth is implied when our Saviour teaches that “ God is a Spirit.” He could not be a Spirit in the sense meant if He had dwelt from eternity in any material form, or if there were any material form necessary to His existence; and if God were not a Spirit, invisible, He would not be perfect. He is a portion so--He would not be a portion else! What I can see can never be a portion to my immortal soul; a spiritual substance requires a spiritual portion; the child-spirits need the Father of spirits. It is the grand discovery of the Scriptures, and the good message of salvation, that God only is enough for man, Spirit for spirit--Creator for creature--the Invisible for the invisible. We have never seen our own souls, we shall never see their portion. We feel, although we do not see ourselves, and in our best moments rejoice with great joy in our own existence! We feel in our spiritual sense--although we do not see--our God, and in our best moments we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, that He is our all-sufficient, unchanging, everlasting portion.
II. THE SEEING OR THE INVISIBLE GOD. When it is said of Moses that “he endured as seeing,” the meaning is, not that he acted as if he could see Him, well knowing all the while that he could not, for that would be a mental fiction. The meaning is that he really did see God by soul sight, or, as we say, by faith. He believed in His actual presence in the world, in human life, in human affairs. In particular, he believed that He would be with him, according to His express promise, to cheer his heart, to guide his way, and to confirm his work to the end. The meaning is not only that he believed in God’s presence with him, but that he relied on His strength. God’s presence was to him an actual power on which he could lean. Thus he endured to the end. By just such seeing of the invisible God are we to endure through our life, and to triumph at last.
1. We shall endure when all that is visible threatens, None of us, perhaps, is so important as to have to hope for the smiles, or “ fear the wrath “ of a king; but wrath may be out against us for all that, and it may take many forms. It may take the form of strong injustice, or of petty annoyance; of irritating persecution, or of ungenerous rivalry; of bitterness and evil-speaking, or it may spring from honest misjudgments. When life thus assumes a threatening aspect, it is well to be able to flee to the shadow of this great rock.
2. We shall endure when all that is visible allures. Moses defied the wrath of the king, but I do not know if that was his greatest trial and his greatest triumph. Egypt had its allurements as well as its terrors. Honour! Wealth! Pleasure! Those were the three chief sirens who wished to sing the man away from his best convictions; away from the high, although hard, path of duty. They sang, and he listened--and went away while he listened--from Egypt where they were singing, to the wilderness where he was safe, and where they could be heard no more. Those old sirens are singing still! Like Jezebel they paint their faces so as to seem young. They look out of the windows of palaces, and shops, and pleasure-houses, and sing to the guests, and travellers, and passers-by! Are you listening to the song? Are you running into the net? You will unless you can “ endure us seeing Him who is invisible.” That will change all! That will reveal something of the haggard misery which lies underneath the paint and glitter of the siren faces! That will make the lust of the flesh--pleasure, the lust of the eyes--wealth, and the pride of life--honour, seem as poor as they are. Thenthe allurement of evil things is strong sometimes just in proportion to the smallness of the evil that is in them. If the evil were more, the allurement would be less. As of old, the border line between different countries was the scene of frequent strife; the battle raging now here, now there, but never far from the border; so the border line between the right and wrong of actual life is the place where consciences are tested, where wills are put to the strain, where hearts long, and sigh, and tremble; where the battle of the good and evil powers is hottest, and where victory easily sways from side to side! But victory never passes from the soldier who endures and fights as seeing Him who is invisible; and, on the other hand, never sits on the plume of any one who does not see Him.
3. We shall endure when everything visible decays, changes, passes away. With Him if we live, with Him we shall die, and to Him in His fuller presence ascend; for “when flesh and heart fail, God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.” (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
The sight of the invisible the true inspiration of human life
1. It furnishes the necessary antidote and correction of sense. Ten to one the beggar who was at your door last winter begging for bread will be there again this winter. And yet, between these two winters, there have been many possibilities within the reach of the humblest. These possibilities came with the spring, with the May-flowers in these shapes: first, of reduced necessities; secondly, of opportunity for working. Why, then, will the beggar of last winter be the beggar of this winter? What causes this continuity of incapableness? The answer is, “These poor creatures live without forethought.” Through the long summer months they lie in the sun as though there never was to be another winter. But we need not stay in this low region of illustration. Up above the truth is still the same. Nothing differentiates men so much as this power to see the invisible. Call it what you will, genius, long-headedness, foresight, there is such a quality in human nature; and there is its opposite, shortsightedness, and inability to pierce the future by a single shaft of thought or purpose. And men lose through this latter, and they win by the former. And as it is in the material, so is it in the moral realm. Here, also, the absorbing power of sense, the inability or the failure to take hold on the future, is man’s greatest danger. Thousands all around us are living altogether forgetful, just as though there was no such thing as death or judgment or heaven or hell; and for no other reason than because these things are in the future. And this, which is the ruin of so many, is the danger of us all. The tendency of each one of us is to forget the great future in the little present, to live for this world alone. Hence it happens that we so often succumb to temptation. Such being our danger, from whence shall come our safety? With this dangerous tendency, whither shall we look for a corrective as strong and as constant as is our perilous inertia? The text says, To the Invisible. The record of those who have conquered says, To the Invisible. Reason says, To the Invisible. We must come to take hold of unseen reality. We must come to walk by faith, to steer our lives by the polestar of God’s infinite throne. And this will save us. Thinking of coming death, we shall prepare to meet it. Living as before God, we shall live unto God. In a word, seeing Him who is invisible, we shall endure as Moses endured, and conquer as Moses conquered. But we need more than remembrance, more than forethought here.
2. We need besides knowledge, motive; besides light, we must have incentive. And this, again, comes from seeing the Invisible. The same paradox here is the law. I suppose the strongest of all cases. Proffered success as brilliant as may be, abundant wealth, the ambition of your manhood, honour so great that the sight of it dazzles, pleasure so sweet that it sets the blood on fire. And all this yours, if only you are willing to lay aside your integrity. What is your safety in such a crisis? It is a glance upward to the invisible God. It is to hear Him as He says unto you, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” This will save you. It will make you strong to endure. But the human life needs more than knowledge, more than motive even.
3. It also needs encouragement, that encouragement which brings peace and makes duty a joy. This also comes from seeing Him who is invisible. In the hour of its danger the human heart needs to hear a voice saying unto it, “Be of good cheer: victory waits for you, and the crown is ready.” I know that men perish for lack of understanding. I remember that human lives perish for lack of motive. But even more perish for lack of sympathy in the hours which make up the crisis of their immortality. Over many a one who has thus gone down in this world might be written this epitaph, “I looked around me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.” But if, at such a time, the endangered ones could only have looked upon the Invisible. If they could have looked into a realm of purity. If they could have seen the invisible God, and by His side the Son who overcame through the Cross. This sight would have saved them. Sympathetic chords would have reached from the Eternal Throne to their failing faith and weakening hope, and along these would have flashed these words of encouragement and strength, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne.”
4. I must also add, that this sight of the invisible One must be the true inspiration, because of the immortality of human life. It isn’t here that we reap any more than the first-fruits of our harvest. No! Ours is the endowment of an endless life, and the stake with us is not time, but eternity. It must be, therefore, that we need, that we cannot do without, the inspiration which comes from the unseen realm--from the invisible God. We, who are going unto God, cannot safely guide our lives save by the sight of God. Inferential truths.
(1) A warning to the life of sense. While God lives and rules no creature life can afford to ignore Him. While human life continues to be assaulted by the world, the flesh, and the devil, it is not possible to endure, save by a sight of Him who is invisible. While shoals and rocks threaten, no man can steer safely over the sea of life, unless he daily takes his observation in the light which falls from the throne of the invisible God.
(2) How reasonable is that life of which faith is the dominant principle! Is it not true that death is to confer upon us citizenship in the invisible world? What, then, more reasonable than that we should anticipate and prepare for this our sublime majority? Is there not a living and reigning God upon the infinite throne? And shall we not look upward? (S. S. Mitchell, D. D.)
The power of the invisible presence:
What is the moral value of a biography? There is nothing more likely to make the narrative impressive to us than to close the book and spend some time in meditating on the means by which the subject of the life became great. Here, we say, is a man who has attained; how did he attain? what was the mental method by which he became strong and successful? what were the steps by which he reached that elevated seat of power? I am not going to review the life of Moses, but to point to the great principle of his actions, in the life, passed in the loving presence of the unseen God.
I. And first, the word “INVISIBLE.” Consider the power of invisible facts. Why should it be thought “a thing incredible” to any mind that the Invisible should exercise imperial dominion over us? The sceptic, who refuses his credence to the great realities of faith, is a most unreasonable man. Why, the Invisible rules us all. You cannot but have noticed how small a portion of the universe the eye of the senses sees. If we only believed in the world of the Materialist, how little we should behold! But there is a power by which I am able to live in or with the absent, the distant, and the dead; and even in the unknown. If the sceptic replies to me, that all this is the mere vividness of the cultured and informed fancy, I should stilt ask him again, what is fancy itself but the lowest form of moral sympathy, of which imagination and affection are the highest regions and noblest moods? But it is so in all things. The Invisible is our life. As Turgot said of Columbus,” He was not so great because he discovered America, as because he set sail in the faith that there was such a continent to discover.” His faith made him great: “he went out, not knowing whither he went.” Light, which makes all things clear, is to us invisible. And whether colour is a quality in bodies, or merely an appearance imparted to bodies, is, and must remain to me a matter of doubt. We breathe air; it is to us a life-giving existence; but who ever saw it?
II. Thus, from the consideration of that which is invisible, we come to “HIM who is invisible”; and I remark now that this is the great foundation of moral character, and that God is the sustainer of all great minds; that all great minds are powerful to perform as they are absorbed by the idea of God. I say the idea of God; but I do not mean by that the mere cold abstraction of the metaphysical law, but that vast thought which is embodied in the text as a real apprehension of an infinite personality--“the enduring as seeing Him who is invisible.” There is a world of invisible beings around me; the presence of such invisible beings has been recognised by illustrious and open souls in all ages, as a grand motive to action and to emulation. The invisible dead salute us and inspire us in all our selectest hours; they walk by us in the twilight, in solitude; they come to us in moods of that holy sorrow which calms and chastens, when the grief ceases to be a passion, and becomes a quiet power; they animate--they sustain. Invisible beings tempt us. It is awful when we are brought into their centre. But, ah! how the thought rises and intensifies when it is no longer merely the image of the invisible dead, but the invisible God! Ah! what a state of heart and mind is that in which God is beheld everywhere “stilling the noise of the waves, and the tumults of the people”; making “ the outgoings of the morning and the evening to rejoice”; when the pomp and the majesty of the rolling clouds and the swell and deep organ-tone of the winds are Something more than the mere phantasmal gleams and tones playing round some central law; when they all are beheld as what in truth they are--ideas of the infinite but invisible God; and when the spirit passes through them all, as through the curtain spread round His pavilion, it bows before the innermost glory of the Shekinah, not content to realise merely “the clouds which are the dust of His feet,” without the burst of praise to our common Father--“the Lord, the Lord of Hosts is His name.”
III. Now I will ask you if yon think it possible that this state of existence, in the presence of the Eternal Reality of the universe, can be WITHOUT IMPARTING TO THE WHOLE CHARACTER AND BEARING OF THE BELIEVERS AN ERECTNESS AND DIGNITY UNKNOWN TO THOSE TO WHOM SUCH POWER IS NOT PRESENT. Man is only great as he stands humbly but most believingly in the presence of God; and then he becomes great indeed. Oh I what grandeur invests human action--what royalty impels and crowns human passion--what sublimity wings the human conception--what a Divine fire burns through the human world, where, in everything, the acting, speaking man beholds “Him who is invisible” standing in his path! And oh, how mean, too, is everything divorced from God! “There is nothing great,” said the greatest preacher of France, “there is nothing great but God!” True; but relationship to Him imparts something of His greatness to the relationship, and hallows it with the grandeur and benignant beauty of His own character. And God, who knows so well the necessities of our human nature, and that even faith itself needs some help from sight to intensify and foca-lise its vision, has condescended to make Christ the voice and the shape of that which must have been, but for Him, an eternal silence. Hence, since Christ came to the world, there has been given a dignity, a freedom, an elasticity and spring to the attemptings and efforts of the human mind unknown before. It is my belief that all things languish as they are removed from the sensible presence of “Him who is invisible.” This is greatness--residence beneath the conscious love and smile of the Invisible. This makes prayer a reality and a power. This it is that sheds a sanctity and a charm over the homeliness and commonplace of daily life. I walk with “Him who is invisible.” He is with me in Cheapside and on the Exchange; He is with me in the field, and in the chamber; He is with me in the library and the garden. “Thou God seest me.” “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
IV. “HE ENDURED as seeing Him who is invisible!” That which I have set before you as the true crown of character--that life in the presence of an invisible God and Saviour--has been the life, and power, and lustre of the Church in all ages, and of all the men of the Church. Wonderful in all ages has been the missionary’s intrepidity and zeal, the martyr’s abandonment, and the hero’s energy. But they “ endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” “He endured as seeing Him who is invisible! Here is greatness I here is heroism! And yet this is the idea so ridiculed. “What do you believe?” a celebrated writer makes one of his heroes inquire; and the reply was, “I believe in that,” stamping his foot on the solid earth. Oh, it is a sorry world if man can only believe in that, only in that which is beneath him; for then all must be dead--the whole world may go in mourning; no chivalry, no honour, no trust between man and man; and none between man and God. Nay, you will have no fact and no science if you attempt to blot the Invisible from life. Oh, take care of the Invisible! oh, cleave to the Invisible! it sits at either extreme of our character; both holy and unholy passions are far removed from the calm world of prudence. (E. P Hood.)
As seeing God:
Take notice particularly that it is said, “He endured,” not because he saw, but “as seeing Him who is invisible.” No one sees God, no one ever has seen Him, in this life. God, to everybody, is but an idea--an idea which, with our ignorant minds, we fashion and project into some external form. The mode of forming this idea is that which makes the difference between savage and semi-civilised or civilised men. The stage of one’s development is shown by the form of the idea which he works out. Some do it by one method, and some by another. Some do it with base materials, representing the passions of men, and some with higher materials, representing men’s higher faculties--representing the true Christian notion of God and His magisterial and paternal character. Paternity is the highest conception that the human mind is capable of forming. Under the elements of Divine paternity, justice and power and wisdom rank themselves subordinate, love being the highest quality, and of that quality paternal love being the highest form. This idea is composite and constructive. In connection with it we have a sense of personality. If we are to have a God who is of use to us, He must be a person; for though there may be some imaginative men who can conceive of a pantheistic God, yet personality is indispensable to any practical use of that conception. The usefulness to us of the Divine attributes will depend upon what we have been accustomed to ascribe to the highest good. First, we form a notion of a person. Then we gather around that person certain attributes. We then give to these a function, or a scope of government. Then we add to all a disposition. And though these are based upon wise instruction, yet in the process of using them each man will colour and shape by his own nature and experience what that Being is who is made up of attributes, who has functions, and who bears a disposition. It was in the presence of such thoughts of God as these--thoughts of His vastness, of His power, of His endurance from age to age, of the smallness of the world, of its people, and of their forces in His sight, and of His tenderness, His love, and His sacrifice for them; it was in the presence of such thoughts as these that Moses dwelt; and the effect was, that by his daily companionship with such a Being, and by the legitimate influence of a constant contemplation of His character he was clothed with a power such as has been seldom vouchsafed to man, and never probably in administrative realms; and the effect upon his mind, doubtless, would be to create a wholesome fear of God as the supereminent Magistrate, so that he would maintain in himself caution as to the use of the power which was put into his hands. So, too, a strong trust was begotten in him. The sense of God present in His own world; the faith that things are not in the hands of chance, but are under an intelligent Providence that controls them, are essential elements of support in the affairs of kingdoms and of nations; and Moses, who had a people that would have vexed his nature to death if he had not had some such support, looked up to the Providence in which inheres the Divine nature; and day by day he felt that God was his counsel, his strength, his companion, his trust. Then there was a companionship of love, and of worship as well; but that which I wish more especially developed of the influences that made Moses what he was, is the measurement which was furnished to him by the nature, the government, the existence of God. Men look around and say, “If I were such a one it would not be difficult for me to be a saint; if I were relieved from the million grinding necessities of poverty, it would not be difficult for me to live in a spirit of benevolence; if I could put down my rivals, and triumph over my enemies, I would not be envious”; but a multitude of fortuitous elements come in and determine what men are, and what right they have to happiness; and there ought to be for every man such a standard that the world shall not have power over him, and that he can say, “Years, and days, and hours; the seasons--winter, spring, summer, and autumn--they are my servants. I extract that of good which they bring to me, and I reject the imperiousness by which they attempt to govern me.” This is what every man should say in himself--“I am a son of God; I live as seeing Him who is invisible; and I take God as the standard by which to measure myself, my success, and my surroundings. Whatever life has for me of joy or sorrow, that I measure by this standard, and say, “I am adequate to every emergency. I am never surprised. I am not taken captive. I am cast down, but not destroyed.” We live here for what there is in the other life. We are perpetually meeting the events in this life as though they were the only events that are to befall us, whereas they are merely auxiliary to the real purpose for which every man lives. We do not live here to rear families; we do not live here to enjoy riches simply, though we take these on the way to the realm beyond. We come to our home in heaven through the passage of death, every one of us; and we live for that which is invisible. In the other sphere, our manhood is being taken. We sit here, but the colours which make the portrait dispose themselves beyond--in the other land. There the true likeness and lineaments of every man’s soul are projected. Who are the great men? They have as often sat on dungeon floors as upon the throne of dominion. Who are the persons of prosperity? They have as often been found in the homes of poverty as in the mansions of the rich. Who are the happy men? Not they who succeed in the things which men seek, but those who by unsuccesses succeed--those who by disappointment in outward things are forced upon that God, that manhood, and that sense of immortality in which all true manly success lies. Who are they that are blest? They that mourn. Who are they that have power? They who are empty, that the excellency of their power may be of God and not of men. Who are they that are instructed of God? Those that are weak--weak of the flesh; weak in the mere secular elements of power, but strong in the invisible elements of hope, and of faith, and of God-likeness. (H. W.Beecher.)
Enduring as seeing the invisible One
I. WHAT IS THIS VIRTUAL SEEING OF HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE? Jesus says of him that loveth Him, “I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him.” How? asks Thomas. “If a man love Me, he will keep My words,” is the reply. So, while the world sees Me no more, ye see Me; the Holy Ghost teaching you all things, and bringing all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you; all My sayings which you lovingly keep. May not this conversation throw some light upon the inquiry--What is this seeing? Moses seeing, as it were, or feeling as if he saw, Him who is invisible? One thing, at all events, is very clear. The object of it is a real and living person. And it is a person who has entered into personal dealing with Moses: a person whom Moses personally knows; whose personal acquaintance Moses has made. Of course, it is but few of those who walk with God who have been thus favoured. They were necessarily few from the first. The general body of the Lord’s people must be content to take what He says at second hand, from the reports of patriarchs and prophets; or by hereditary tradition; by psalms and songs; or ultimately by the surer method of transmission in written documents and printed books. If that is my position, how am I to be as one seeing Him who is invisible? Nay, there is really no practical difference here. It is the same exercise of faith in both cases. In both cases alike and equally there is an “as if,” or “as it were”; not literal seeing, but “as” seeing. But the “as if,” or “as it were,” is not pure fiction or fancy in either case. A real fact underlies and upholds it. The actual, present personality apprehended and identified through speech, is not ideal, but real. It is altogether matter of faith to both of us. It is faith coming by hearing, and growing into a sort of sight. The incarnation, issuing in the resurrection and ascension, facilitates this exercise of faith. It must have done so in the case of those who saw the Lord in the body. They might well feel, and live ever after, as if still seeing Him who had become invisible. But Paul had no such advantage, any more than Moses had. He saw the risen Lord; but only according to the ancient fashion, in the blaze of the Shechinah glory, and in visions by night. Even that amount of actual seeing you have not. There are, however, considerations which may counterbalance this disadvantage; such as these three
1. Was ever man portrayed so graphically as Jesus is in those wonderful biographies of the four Gospels; the joint productions of the Holy Ghost and the evangelists; Divinely inspired, and yet so intensely and livingly human? His frame and features, what He was like as to His outer man, His gait and carriage, you have no means of guessing. But otherwise you have Him all before you.
2. You have the full benefit of sharing with them in that better seeing of their Master which they obtained when His own promise was fulfilled, and on His departure the other Comforter came. They themselves impart to you all that they were then taught as to the high and deep meanings, and the manifold bearings on the character and government of God, of that human history, that human experience, which, while they were eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of it, was in many particulars so incomprehensible.
3. For it is not to be overlooked that the same Spirit who taught and moved them to realise the Lord’s presence as if they still both heard and saw Him, is dwelling and working in you. To you, as to them, He testifies of Christ, taking of what is His and showing it to you. You gaze on His face, you lean on His bosom, you whisper in His ear, as John the beloved did at the supper. You rest and rejoice, as seeing Him who is invisible.
II. This JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH. Not only at the communion table do you rest, but in the field of toil or of battle you endure, as seeing Him who is invisible. So Christ Himself, the man Christ Jesus, endured. The secret of His endurance was, that with the eye of faith He always saw the Father. And now He says to you, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” and is therefore in the very same position in which I was when I endured as seeing the unseen Father Far when the Holy Spirit opens the eye of your faith, it is not I alone who will manifest Myself to you, but the Father also. What a source of strength! There is a triple rope to hold you fast and firm! The Holy Ghost shows you Christ; Christ shows you the Father! The Holy Ghost strengthens you to endure as seeing the unseen Saviour, even as He strengthened Him to endure as seeing the unseen Father! It is in the felt and realised presence of a Divine person, unseen in one sense, but in another virtually and vividly seen, that your strength to endure lies. And He is to be seen by you, not merely as an object of contemplation in a leisure hour, but as, in the time of danger, standing beside you; at your right hand; holding you up; speaking to you; conversing with you; calling you by name, and bidding you be strong and of a good courage. The Lord would have you to endure, as seeing Him thus by faith, faith coming to be all but sight, in every aspect of His relation to you. As your Surety, to answer for you, He would have you to see Him, though invisible, at your right hand. Thus only you can endure, when you have to stand either before God or before man. You have to stand before God. A sense of sin unnerves you. But endure as seeing Him who is invisible. See him near you, sprinkling you with His own blood; clothing you with His own righteousness; strengthening you by His own Spirit; and assuring you that He is here to answer for you in the judgment. Standing again before your fellow-men, to testify and plead; to defend yourself, to commend Christ, to persuade them; you are disconcerted. How weak are you, and how vacillating! How slow of speech and full of misgivings! If they knew all, how might they turn upon you with the taunt, “Physician, heal thyself!” You feel as if you could not confront or face them. But still endure, as seeing beside you Him who is invisible. He knows all. And knowing all, He will not be ashamed of you before the angels, if you are not ashamed of Him before men. As your Lord and Master, your Guide and Example, He would have you to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. To endure--what? Whatever He may appoint; whatever trial of your faith or patience or love; whatever sacrifice of self for God or for man. To endure--how? As seeing Him who is invisible; for He tells you how He, in your circumstances, would have endured; and how He can and will make you endure, as He would have endured, in the like case, Himself. (R. S.Candlish, D. D.)
Faith the secret of endurance
I. THE GRACE OF SPIRITUAL ENDURANCE.
1. Endurance is strength.
2. Endurance contains the element of continuance.
3. Endurance implies the idea of passivity.
II. ENDURANCE POSSIBLE THROUGH SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE. Naturally Moses was timid; there are Scripture hints of that. What made the change? A realisation of God. When God is real to us we shall endure.
1. Loneliness is endurable by a sight of God’s sympathy.
2. Opposition is endurable by a sight of God’s presence.
3. Temptation is endurable by a sight of God’s majesty.
4. Hardship is endurable by the sight of God’s love.
III. HE WHO IS INVISIBLE SEEN BY FAITH.
1. Reverent contemplation of God creates faith.
2. Personal intercourse with God feeds faith.
3. A good conscience toward God keeps faith unveiled. (C. New.)
Seeing the Invisible:
In speaking of the missionaries’ reception by one of the African tribes, Dr. Livingstone once reported to this effect: “They listen with some attention to our discourse, but when we kneel down to pray, to what appears to them to be nothing, our posture and our praying appear to them to be so ridiculous that they burst out into laughter.”
The face of God:
Faber asks, with mingled beauty and force, “What is it that will make us real?” and answers, “The face of God will do it.” (J. Clifford, D. D.)
General Gordon’s sense of God’s presence
I knew Gordon. More than in any one, you felt when you were with him that there was One always closer to him than any one with him, in whose immediate presence he always lived. This was the secret of his life. (Florence Nightingale.)
The thought of God ennobles life:
“Why carve you so carefully the tresses at the back of this statue’s head?” asked one of an ancient sculptor. “The statue will be placed high up on the temple wall, and with its back to the wall, and none will ever see it.” “But God will see it,” was the noble answer. It was the spirit of sacrifice. It was the spirit which in this (Westminster) Abbey made the Gothic sculptor carve so elaborately the feathers on the wings of the angels who swing the banderoles in the spandrels of the transept as he carved the sweet and calm faces which were to be on the level of the eye. (F. W. Farrar, D.D.)
Seeing God:
He who, with the confiding disposition of an affectionate child, sets God always before him, goes on easily; not so easily he who regards Him only as a stern Lawgiver and Judge. A traveller over the Alps does not find it needful to be incessantly contemplating the precipices or perils he sees around him; he keeps his eye upon the track at his feet, and proceeds in safety. (A. J. Bengel.)
