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FAITH SEEING THE INVISIBLE GOD
NOT any one of all the catalogue of worthies in the Old Testament, not even Abraham himself, stands higher than Moses; who, when possessed of all that rank and affluence could confer on man, abandoned it all, that he might participate the lot of his oppressed and persecuted brethren. He was assured, indeed, that God would compensate to him all the losses which he sustained; and “he had respect to the recompence of that reward.” But he would not have been able to maintain his stand as he did, if he had not found a present support from God. On his first attempt to deliver Israel, about forty years before, he had failed, partly through precipitation, in killing the Egyptian, and partly through fear, in fleeing from the grasp of his enraged enemies. But now he maintained his steadfastness, and executed his commission with undaunted courage; because he saw, by faith, that God who is invisible to the eye of sense: “he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.”
This remarkable expression will lead me to shew,
I. The peculiar faculty with which believers are endowed—
By nature, they possess no other faculty than is common to the unregenerate world: and to represent piety as proceeding from, or as indicative of, a new sense, is to open a way for the grossest enthusiasm, or rather for the entire exculpation of all who do not possess it: for, a man who never possessed the sense of seeing or hearing could contract no criminality whatever by acting as one who was blind or deaf. Yet, if I may be allowed to follow the paradoxical expression of my text, the believer has a faculty peculiar to himself, a faculty of “seeing” an object that is invisible, even “God himself, who is invisible.”
Believers do see the invisible God—
[God, it is true, is, in his essence, invisible: “he dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto; and no man hath seen him, or can see.” Yet does faith bring him so powerfully before the mind of believers, that they may be said to “see” him; because they are as much assured of his presence, as if they beheld him with their bodily eyes. We all know the effect of glasses of different forms; either as magnifying an object, so as to make it visible, notwithstanding its smallness; or as bringing it near to us, notwithstanding its vast distance, within the reach of our visual organs. I mean not to say that there is any just comparison between these artificial aids and faith; but, when we consider what we ourselves can effect by such helps, we may, without any great difficulty, imagine the power which God himself has given to faith.]
They have a realizing sense of his presence with them—
[It is manifest that Moses saw God with him, just as Elisha “saw the chariots of fire and horses of fire” that encompassed him. Thus does every believer, in proportion as his faith is lively and operative, view God present with him. God is with his people, as a witness, to observe their conduct: he is with them, as a protector, to deliver them from danger: he is with them, as a provider, so that, “though lions do lack and suffer hunger, they that serve him shall want no manner of thing that is good.” He is with them, too, as a comforter, who will make their consolations to abound above all their afflictions: and as a rewarder will he recompense into their bosom all that they either do or suffer for him. In all these views, Moses, no doubt, beheld him: and to the very end of time will he thus reveal himself to all his believing people.]
This being their exclusive privilege, I will proceed to state—
II. The advantage they derive from it in the divine life—
From this realizing view of the Divine presence, believers obtain,
1. Firmness in acting—
[Moses was undaunted by the menaces of Pharaoh [Note: Exo_10:28-29.]. Nay, more: he, in his turn, warned Pharaoh, that all the first-born of Egypt, even of Pharaoh’s own household, should die that very night; and that the very courtiers around the throne should come bowing to him, and entreating him with all the children of Israel, to depart out of the land: and that then he would go, whether Pharaoh should consent to it or not [Note: Exo_11:4-8.]. Such is the firmness which a sense of the Divine presence will give to every believer. Whoever it be that threatens him, or whatever the threat contain, his answer will be, “Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but do the things which God has required of us [Note: Act_4:19-20.].” Thus it was that faith operated in the Hebrew Youths. In vain was the furnace lighted before them: they could not be diverted from their purpose to serve the Lord. Their reply to the enraged monarch was decisive: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods [Note: Dan_3:17-18].” Trials to the same extent are not at this day experienced amongst us: but there will be enough to prove the courage of all who profess to serve the Lord: and whilst the unbelieving are intimidated and turned back, the true believer will “endure, as seeing Him that is invisible.”]
2. Composure in suffering—
[It was no grief to Moses that he had given up all the treasures of Egypt, or that he had undertaken to “suffer affliction with the people of God.” “The yoke of Christ to him was both light and easy.” And thus it is to every true believer. The Apostles, when beaten for their fidelity to Christ, “rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his sake [Note: Act_5:41.].” And Paul and Silas, with their feet in the stocks, and their backs torn with scourges, “sang praises to God at midnight [Note: Act_16:25.].” Thus, in all cases where a man has a realizing sense of the Divine presence, the cross which he has to bear, is rather a ground of glorying than of complaint [Note: Gal_6:14.], and causes him to “rejoice and leap for joy [Note: Mat_5:12.].” The light of God’s countenance lifted up upon him, infinitely more than counterbalances any bodily pains; so that, however his afflictions may abound, his consolations outweigh them all.]
3. Confidence in conflicting—
[Moses, as we have seen, had no doubt about the issue of the contest between him and Pharaoh. And to every true believer this will be a self-evident truth: “If God be for me, who can be against me [Note: Rom_8:31.]?” Extremely animated is the prophet’s description of this state of mind: “The Lord God will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint; and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me: who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me: who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old like a garment; the moth (the weakest creature in the universe) shall eat them up [Note: Isa_1:7-9.].” To this effect St. Paul speaks at large, defying all the creatures in the universe to separate him from the love of Christ [Note: Rom_8:33-39.]. So, let the weakest of true believers be able to say, “I have set the Lord always before me;” and he may confidently add, “Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved [Note: Psa_16:8.].”]
Let me now address,
1. The timid—
[“ Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker [Note: Isa_51:12-13.]!” Is he not present with you, as well as with others? or, “Is his ear heavy, that he cannot hear; or his hand shortened, that it cannot save?” Dishonour him not by unbelief. Consider how awful will be the fate of “the fearful and unbelieving, when they shall take their portion in the lake of fire and brimstone [Note: Rev_21:8.]:” and “fear not him who can only kill the body, and after that has no more that he can do; but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him [Note: Luk_12:4-5.].”]
2. The enduring saint—
[How was God glorified in Moses, when he thus braved the wrath of Pharaoh, and took on him the charge of carrying the whole nation of Israel to the promised land! His extremities were great: but was he ever forsaken? Was not the sea opened for him; and manna rained down from heaven; and water given him from the stricken rock? Go ye then forward; and know, that “your strength also shall be according to your day [Note: Deu_33:25.].” Your trials may succeed each other, like the waves of the sea: but “he that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved [Note: Mat_24:13.].”]