Hebrews 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. I. WHAT IS THIS VIRTUAL SEEING OF HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE? Jesus says of him that loveth Him, "I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him." How? asks Thomas. "If a man love Me, he will keep My words," is the reply. So, while the world sees Me no more, ye see Me; the Holy Ghost teaching you all things, and bringing all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you; all My sayings which you lovingly keep. May not this conversation throw some light upon the inquiry — What is this seeing? Moses seeing, as it were, or feeling as if he saw, Him who is invisible? One thing, at all events, is very clear. The object of it is a real and living person. And it is a person who has entered into personal dealing with Moses: a person whom Moses personally knows; whose personal acquaintance Moses has made. Of course, it is but few of those who walk with God who have been thus favoured. They were necessarily few from the first. The general body of the Lord's people must be content to take what He says at second hand, from the reports of patriarchs and prophets; or by hereditary tradition; by psalms and songs; or ultimately by the surer method of transmission in written documents and printed books. If that is my position, how am I to be as one seeing Him who is invisible? Nay, there is really no practical difference here. It is the same exercise of faith in both cases. In both cases alike and equally there is an "as if," or "as it were"; not literal seeing, but "as" seeing. But the "as if," or "as it were," is not pure fiction or fancy in either case. A real fact underlies and upholds it. The actual, present personality apprehended and identified through speech, is not ideal, but real. It is altogether matter of faith to both of us. It is faith coming by hearing, and growing into a sort of sight. The incarnation, issuing in the resurrection and ascension, facilitates this exercise of faith. It must have done so in the case of those who saw the Lord in the body. They might well feel, and live ever after, as if still seeing Him who had become invisible. But Paul had no such advantage, any more than Moses had. He saw the risen Lord; but only according to the ancient fashion, in the blaze of the Shechinah glory, and in visions by night. Even that amount of actual seeing you have not. There are, however, considerations which may counterbalance this disadvantage; such as these three — 1. Was ever man portrayed so graphically as Jesus is in those wonderful biographies of the four Gospels; the joint productions of the Holy Ghost and the evangelists; Divinely inspired, and yet so intensely and livingly human? His frame and features, what He was like as to His outer man, His gait and carriage, you have no means of guessing. But otherwise you have Him all before you. 2. You have the full benefit of sharing with them in that better seeing of their Master which they obtained when His own promise was fulfilled, and on His departure the other Comforter came. They themselves impart to you all that they were then taught as to the high and deep meanings, and the manifold bearings on the character and government of God, of that human history, that human experience, which, while they were eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of it, was in many particulars so incomprehensible. 3. For it is not to be overlooked that the same Spirit who taught and moved them to realise the Lord's presence as if they still both heard and saw Him, is dwelling and working in you. To you, as to them, He testifies of Christ, taking of what is His and showing it to you. You gaze on His face, you lean on His bosom, you whisper in His ear, as John the beloved did at the supper. You rest and rejoice, as seeing Him who is invisible. II. This JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH. Not only at the communion table do you rest, but in the field of toil or of battle you endure, as seeing Him who is invisible. So Christ Himself, the man Christ Jesus, endured. The secret of His endurance was, that with the eye of faith He always saw the Father. And now He says to you, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," and is therefore in the very same position in which I was when I endured as seeing the unseen Father Far when the Holy Spirit opens the eye of your faith, it is not I alone who will manifest Myself to you, but the Father also. What a source of strength! There is a triple rope to hold you fast and firm! The Holy Ghost shows you Christ; Christ shows you the Father! The Holy Ghost strengthens you to endure as seeing the unseen Saviour, even as He strengthened Him to endure as seeing the unseen Father! It is in the felt and realised presence of a Divine person, unseen in one sense, but in another virtually and vividly seen, that your strength to endure lies. And He is to be seen by you, not merely as an object of contemplation in a leisure hour, but as, in the time of danger, standing beside you; at your right hand; holding you up; speaking to you; conversing with you; calling you by name, and bidding you be strong and of a good courage. The Lord would have you to endure, as seeing Him thus by faith, faith coming to be all but sight, in every aspect of His relation to you. As your Surety, to answer for you, He would have you to see Him, though invisible, at your right hand. Thus only you can endure, when you have to stand either before God or before man. You have to stand before God. A sense of sin unnerves you. But endure as seeing Him who is invisible. See him near you, sprinkling you with His own blood; clothing you with His own righteousness; strengthening you by His own Spirit; and assuring you that He is here to answer for you in the judgment. Standing again before your fellow-men, to testify and plead; to defend yourself, to commend Christ, to persuade them; you are disconcerted. How weak are you, and how vacillating! How slow of speech and full of misgivings! If they knew all, how might they turn upon you with the taunt, "Physician, heal thyself!" You feel as if you could not confront or face them. But still endure, as seeing beside you Him who is invisible. He knows all. And knowing all, He will not be ashamed of you before the angels, if you are not ashamed of Him before men. As your Lord and Master, your Guide and Example, He would have you to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. To endure — what? Whatever He may appoint; whatever trial of your faith or patience or love; whatever sacrifice of self for God or for man. To endure — how? As seeing Him who is invisible; for He tells you how He, in your circumstances, would have endured; and how He can and will make you endure, as He would have endured, in the like case, Himself. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. |
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