December 11

He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. - John 14:21.

WE may judge of the state of our Lord’s disciples when, he announced his approaching departure from them. They were as wanderers without a guide, as sheep having no shepherd, as a family without a head. Sorrow, therefore, filled their hearts. But Jesus said unto them, “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” This regards a peculiar manifestation of Jesus to his own disciples, and he did this in two ways.

First, by the exhibition of his person after he was risen from the dead. He appeared to them, “showing himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” He appeared unto some of them alone, and to several of them when together. And it is said, “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.” It was not unto the world. No; he said, “The world seeth me no more.” The last time the world saw him was on the cross, where they suspended him. But they were to see him no more till they see him on his great white throne. But he showed himself to Peter though he did not to Pilate, to Thomas though not to Caiphas. He showed himself to his disciples, though not to his enemies. His disciples had their infirmities, but they were sincere, and were open to conviction; whereas his enemies could not see; they closed their eyes, and God was not obliged to force them open.

The second way in which he manifested himself to them was by the mission of his Spirit. This he had promised; for, says he, “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” Now, though the Spirit here promised as to his agency is in one view extraordinary and miraculous, it was not exclusively so. They wanted the Holy Spirit, not only to speak with new tongues, but also to enlighten their minds, to strengthen their faith and their hope, to purify their hearts more from the love of the world, and to enable them more entirely to dedicate themselves to his service and to his glory. Thus the manifestations of Christ by his Holy Spirit, instead of being confined to them, continue to the end of the world.

Hence believers are said to have “an unction from the Holy One, and know all things.” “And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”