2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which has loved us… The religion of Jesus Christ is one of consolation. It comes with sunshine, with help, with hopefulness. It is declared on many a page of Scripture, as in the letter of St. Paul, to be full of eternal consolations — consolations taken from that aspect of life which is afforded by looking at it from the immortal and spiritual side. Look then, at some of the elements of this eternal consolation which God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ minister to us in our sorrow. I. OUR SORROW IS GREATLY ENHANCED BY THE MYSTERY OF LIFE. If we could only understand the reason of it, it would be easier to bear; but the tears seem to be so unnecessary, the wounding so needless, the pain and anguish so inexplicable! Life is a tangled skein, and we can get no clue. Whence we came, why we are here, what there is yet to come, we cannot comprehend. In this mystery and perplexity there comes One who says, "Trust Me. He does not, indeed, throw scientific light on the mystery of life; He does not tell us what life. means; but He says, Trust Me." And we look up into chat face, and that which looks down into ours inspires us with confidence; and we lay hold of that hand, and the grasp of that hand makes the thrill and throb of faith run through the very nerves of our being; and though we do not understand, and are still perplexed, yet we drink in confidence through the bright eyes that look into ours, and through the strong hand that grasps ours. It is not a philosopher who speaks to us, who has seen a little deeper into life than we have; nor is it a poet who speaks to us, who has gotten a little deeper insight into it than we have: it is the Witness-Bearer, who out of the eternal life has come, and into the eternal life is going. His is the witness; and in this is the root and ground of all that Christianity has offered us — faith, not in a philosopher, a poet, a theologian even, but in a Witness-Bearer. II. BUT THIS MYSTERY OF LIFE DOES NOT SO GREATLY ENHANCE THE PAIN OF LIFE AS THE FRAGMENTARINESS OF IT. It is not without semblance of reason, at least, Chat the broken column is put up in our graveyard — life seems to be such a series of separated fragments, so broken, so discordant I We look up the mountainside, and we see not only the top enfolded in the cloud, but all above is thunder and lightning. And here Christ comes to us, and brings us this further message: "Life is not fragmentary: there is no break. You see the river flowing till it reaches the cleft in the mountain, but it goes on: you see your companion entering the dark cavern of the mountainside; it is but a tunnel; presently he will emerge into a fairer, brighter land beyond." Life is like a song; and the singer goes from us, and the song grows dimmer and more indistinct, and then fades away; but the singer has not stopped his singing, though our eyes cannot follow him into the unknown whither he has gone. We get heartbroken, until we turn and find here this word brought to us — "That loved one has gone to the mountains, where there is neither pain, nor sorrow, nor temptation, but the everlasting sunlight and the undying song: follow thou on." Instead of the long, long wail of despair, this message of the ever-living Christ has put the throb of exhilaration and the song of triumph! III. BUT THE MYSTERY AND FRAGMENTARINESS OF LIFE ARE NOT SO HARD TO BEAR AS THE INJUSTICE OF IT. The best men suffer most, and the worst men suffer least. From the days of David down, men have looked thus at life, and felt the cruelty and seeming wickedness of it. So they have thought life ruled by a demoniac spirit — the god of this world; or life made up merely of the conflicting forces of human life, ruled by chance, with might makes right, and the strongest is the best, and a survival only of the fittest; or that it is ruled by cruel wrath and hate and jealousy — furies that pursue men, and are let loose upon them, because the gods are envious of their prosperity and their happiness; at all events, that life is a chaos over which there broods no Spirit of God bringing forth light, but only a spirit of darkness bringing forth darkness. But He who has shed on the mystery of life the light of trust, and He who has shed on the fragmentariness of life the light of hope, sheds on this awful unfaith in God — this awful sense of injustice and wrong against which we protest in vain endeavour, the light of love; for this is Christ's declaration everywhere and ever — the devil is not the master of this world, nor furies, nor a god of cruelty, but Infinite and Eternal Love is working out the web of human destiny. There is a higher and better life. The very thought of it is heaven. Blessed be God, even our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (L. Abbott, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, |
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