In the discourse of
our Lord to His apostles the evening before His crucifixion (John 14-16), He contemplated His Church as
being left here on this earth for a considerable period: the instruction then
given for its guidance during such an interval, and the mission of the Holy
Ghost, as the other Paraclete, was for the right endowment of such to live and
act in the circumstances. Our Lord Jesus tells them in the beginning of this
discourse, what their hope should be: “I will come again and receive you unto
myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (14:3). So that every direction, every warning, and every promise
of support, would relate to persons thus waiting. From this we may draw the
instruction, that it is thus, and in no other way, that we are called to wait.
One thing especially which the Lord promised to His disciples was suffering: “If
the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you...if they have
persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (15:18,20). “They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the
time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (16:2). The whole of the three chapters
may be taken as containing proof after proof, not only that there would be (as
we know that the facts have shown) a long interval between the departure of the
Lord and His personal return, but that they were taught that such an interval
would be; so that they knew that the Lord's coming could not take place until
certain things had occurred, and until certain moral features of opposition
between the Church and the world had displayed themselves.
Persecution is here one of the significant tokens; and
this, too, had been specified particularly in Matthew 24: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake: and then
shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and hate one another”
(Verses 9,10). This shall be the treatment received by the Church from without;
but will all be truth and peace within its professing pale? “Many false prophets
shall arise, and shall deceive many; and because iniquity shall abound, the
love of many shall wax cold” (11,12). In all this a course of time is
distinctly marked out, as that which must elapse before Christ should come to
receive His people to Himself.
In every place in
which the commission to preach the Gospel is stated, it is very clear that a
sufficient length of time is supposed during which it would go forth into the
different spheres of testimony. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth; go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world [age]” (Matthew 28:18-20).
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). “Ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of
the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The Church was
taught that she was called to a place of service, and also of trial: the hope
of the coming of her Lord was that by which she was to be animated in the one,
and sustained in the other. She knew that certain moral signs should precede
that coming; she knew also that certain definite occurrences should first take
place; but, resting on the word of her Lord, it was her calling to look onward,
even though the interval were of necessity long. The Lord showed His grace in
instructing His people by His truth. Had He held out different expectations,
might it not have seemed as if He had indeed given a hope that must make
ashamed?
