03.01. "Behold the Bridegroom"
"Behold the Bridegroom" The End of the Voyage. — The Holy Spirit’s Chief Work.
"Be ye also ready." — Luke 12:40. As the mist lifted from the horizon, our port came into view; rising up from the sea the Table Mountain reared its head to the sky and Capetown stretched itself out at the foot of it, as though proudly secure beneath the shadow of a mighty protector. Most of us were glad that we had reached the end of the voyage, but there were two of our fellow passengers who interested me more than the rest, and whose feelings as the good ship steamed into the bay, must have been as different as it was possible for them to be. One was a bride-to-be, the other a criminal, in charge of the police. The bride was eager and expectant as she leaned over the rail of the vessel and scanned the jetty through borrowed binoculars in search of the man she loved and trusted; and it was easy to see when she had got sight of him, for the glasses were dropped suddenly and the handkerchief was waved excitedly. The criminal stood back from the crowd with the handcuffs upon his wrists, a dejected figure. The end of the voyage meant hopes realized, a husband, and gladness and home for the bride; it meant a judge, and conviction, and punishment to follow for the criminal.
We are all moving on to the end of the voyage, the mists that veil the future will lift from our eyes soon. Shall we behold the Saviour as our heavenly Bridegroom? Shall we in that hour come to the realization of that blessed hope? Or shall we meet Him as the Judge, who with divine and inexorable justice will deal with our guilty lives and condemn them? It must be one or the other. Those who have believed the gospel, who have come as sinners to the feet of the great Saviour, and there heard His voice of pardon, shall meet Him as the Bridegroom when He comes, but those who have refused His mercy, and loved their sins rather than God’s salvation, shall meet Him as the Judge. There can be no escape from this; whether living or dead they shall meet Him as the Judge, for "He hath commanded us to preach and to testify that this is He who shall be judge of quick and dead." My book is for those who are saved, for those who can say the Son of God "loved me and gave Himself for me." I have good news for them, the best of news — it is that the Saviour, who died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures, and ascended to the right hand of God in the sight of His disciples, is coming again. Yes, Jesus is coming again, and you are to meet Him as the Bridegroom. The cry has gone forth, "Behold the Bridegroom, go ye out to meet Him." THE HOLY SPIRIT’S CHIEF WORK "The Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me." — John 15:26.
Every one who has believed the gospel of our salvation has been sealed by the Holy Ghost (Ephesians 1:13). He dwells in each one, and by His indwelling He has bound them all together into one indivisible body, and this Holy Ghost indwelt body is to be the bride, the wife of the Lamb. This is really the subject of my book, and my desire in issuing it is that the hearts of many may be filled with hope, and be stirred up and eager for the end of the voyage, for the coming of the Bridegroom.
I have been asking myself why the blessed hope of the coming again of the Lord Jesus seems to move the hearts of Christians so little. Many believe it as a doctrine — they know that it must be so, because the Bible so clearly speaks of it, but that is all. It does not stir them and change them, they are not like unto men that wait for their Lord. What is the reason? I believe it is because the Holy Ghost is greatly hindered in His greatest work within them. He has been given to us, not in the first place to enable us to be free from the dominion of sin, or to give us power for service — He can and will do both — but there is something greater than these great things; they will be the natural consequence of His chief work in us if He is not hindered in it. What is that work? It is to make Christ supreme in the affections, to make Him everything to us. Let us learn this from the Lord’s own words in the Gospel of John. He said, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26). And again, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, HE SHALL TESTIFY OF ME" (John 15:26). And again, "Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. HE SHALL GLORIFY ME: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you" (John 16:13-15). In this little book, reference is made to Abraham’s servant, who went into the distant land to bring back from it a wife for his master’s son. The friends of the damsel besought him that she might remain with them for a little while. They were ready to acknowledge that it would be good for her to go, but they were against undue haste, they were not exactly enthusiastic about the matter, it was not all-important in their view of things. The servant’s answer to their request was peremptory and final, "Hinder me not," he said. He would not loiter uselessly or waste his time in that distant land. The joy of his master and his master’s son was before him; and the supreme matter in his thoughts was to fulfil his mission faithfully. To them who were awaiting the success of his mission he would hasten the bride. Have we learnt that to gather out of the world a bride for Christ and to lead her home to Him is the supreme work of the Holy Ghost? If those who are saved have more heart for the world and for earthly things, than they have for the Lord and His things, the Holy Ghost is hindered in His great work. If we are inclined to loiter on the homeward way, or if going forth to meet the Bridegroom is not the all-important thing with us, we might well hear a grieved Holy Spirit saying to us, "Hinder Me not." We cannot separate the bright hope of the coming again of the Lord Jesus from the work of the Holy Spirit within us; we shall not be eager to see Him as He is, if we have not ears to hear what the Spirit has to say to us. He has come to: —
"Speak of Jesus and His love,
Passing all bounds of human thought."
He has come to unfold the glories of the Son of God to our souls. He wants our whole hearts for Christ and is delighted when He gets them; He is grieved and hindered when He does not.
It is remarkable that the last mention of the Holy Spirit in Holy Scripture is in the last chapter of the Bible, where we read, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." It shows us the end and the climax of the Spirit’s work. Here we have "the unity of the Spirit" in practical manifestation, for here we see the hearts of the saints bound together in one great desire for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. For this the Spirit of God is labouring. He is taking the things of Christ and showing them to the saints of God, and in this way He is tuning their hearts into full unison with His own, so that the Lamb may hear at last the music of this prayer from the heart of the bride, "EVEN SO, COME, LORD JESUS."