James Nisbet Commentary - Revelation 1:7 - 1:7

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James Nisbet Commentary - Revelation 1:7 - 1:7


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

BACK TO CHRIST

‘Behold, He cometh.’

Rev_1:7

These words give us an Advent message. ‘Back to Christ,’ that is the motto of to-day. We commemorate in the Advent season that the Lord has come, that the Lord will come, that the Lord is here. Many have been His comings since He came a child to Nazareth, many they will be before He comes in that last wonderful way of which we know not how to speak, except in such parables as He Himself has given.

I. Imparting gifts.—The message of Advent links itself with the message of St. Andrew’s Day, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ So spoke St. Andrew to his brother Peter; and that, again, is linked with that other saying that follows it so closely of Philip, ‘Come and see’ (the Christ). For why do we wish that Christian missions should go out? Is it not because we have something so precious that it must be given away? It is the nature of all the precious things upon earth that they must not be kept, but given away. Nothing is too precious to give away. That which you want to have for yourself, that which you cannot enjoy with another, is not precious. Think what are the most valuable things. Take two only:—

(a) The gift of knowledge. What do you want to do when you know? To impart. And why? Because in teaching you know that you know much better than you thought, and because you have the sympathy of another who knows; but best of all because knowledge is too good a thing to keep to yourself.

(b) The gift of love. What does love consist of but giving love? And love grows by being given away. These two things, knowledge and love, they are what we have of Jesus Christ, and so the Divine call ‘Back to Christ’ is linked with the call of St. Andrew’s Day, ‘Come and see.’ So it is that we want to teach, or to cause other people to teach, because we have something so precious that we must give it away.

II. Back to Christ.—Are there any hearts here which are not stirred, are there any hearts here which do not know that Christ is so precious, that the knowledge and love of Christ are such precious things that they must needs publish them, that they must needs give them to others? Let me be a missionary to these hearts for one or two moments. Let me ask them humbly to go back to Christ.

(a) Back to Christ as He was, as you may read of Him, as you may almost follow His steps up and down the country of Galilee, as you may hear Him speak, as you may see Him die. Go back to him and see what kind of friend He was. Understand, again, what it was in Him that saved men and women, how He would never despair of any one who had despaired of themselves, of any one who would come and not place the confidence of their heart where they had so often placed it and misplaced it before, upon their own hopeless frailty, but upon His strength. ‘Believe in Me,’ He said throughout His life, ‘and thou shalt be saved.’ What is the message for men and women who despair, what is the message for men and women who are tired of their perpetual shortcomings? Not in yourself, but in the power which is outside you and yet which is so near, so near that from the outside it can come into the inside and there reanimate you. That is the message which He brought when He came to give life, namely, His own life, that men might live by it as He lived.

(b) And then again, as you come back to Christ, you see how, partly in condescension to our frailty, partly because of our Lord’s prevision of the dulness of human nature to understand mere words, partly because He knew that no language could convey what was meant as a simple symbol might, He enshrined that very truth, that very promise, that very essence of His healing power, in the simplest of symbols, the symbol, namely, of our eating and drinking, by which our bodily life is sustained. He handed down, for all those who followed Him to hand on, this great truth enshrined in the Sacrament, so much more expressive than any words, that by Him we live.

(c) Go back to Christ and learn at the altar that by Him you may live and live His life. And why? Because last of all He claimed—and He has substantiated His claim in all these thousands of years and millions of believers—He claimed that in Him dwelt the Godhead, and He was one with the Father.

Bishop E. J. Palmer.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

LOOKING FOR THE LORD’S RETURN

Who are they that are looking for their Lord? Who are they that are really watching for Him and that are expecting Him?

I. They are those who are so impressed with the persuasion of their Lord’s being at hand as to keep on the look-out.—They are as faithful servants listening for their Master’s knock. Soon, they exclaim, will He be here, either to require my soul in death, or to call me with the millions of my fellow-men before His judgment throne. Their hearts, therefore, are wakeful. They are observant of the times and seasons. They are attentive to events and providences. They seem to hear His voice in almost everything which happens to them. ‘Prepare to meet thy God,’ and they hearken to that voice, spoken to them as it is both by Providence and Scripture. Christ is their Way, their Truth, and their Life, and they seek no other way of access to the Father but by Him.

II. How earnest are they for the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; and for that new heart which He creates! Anxious are they to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God, and through the grace bestowed on them, their desire is not in vain. They do exercise themselves in these blessed fruits of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Their expectation of their coming Lord has an influence on their earthly dealings and transactions.

III. They who look for Christ are those who love His appearing.—We may expect things and prepare for things which we earnestly desire may never happen. It is not so with the man who looks for Christ. It is altogether otherwise; he looks for his Lord as longing for his Lord’s arrival. He is like one who is expecting the approach of him whom he dearly loves. That man, you know, will count the hours. He will think that time runs slowly till his friend is at his doors. So they who look for Christ anticipate the joyful moment of His coming, and are glad of everything which seems to promise it.

Rev. Dr. E. J. Brewster.

Illustration

‘Said the brave old Rabbi, “Bury me with my sandals on and my staff beside me, that I may be ready when Messiah comes.” ’