THE CONSTANT VISITOR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26631, 29 November 1947, Page 2

THE CONSTANT VISITOR

Written for the Otago Daily Times By Rev. Gardner Miller It has always been a strength to my thinking to recall that this lovely and terrible world in which we live is of very special interest to God. Whether any other planet is inhabited I know not, but I know that this speck we call earth has been the home of man for thousands of years. It was here, and nowhere else, that Christ was born; it was here that the poets and philosophers and prophets sang their songs, sought out principles and declared truth as they found it. And so when I hear men and women to-day speak fearfully about the future of the world and the race, I tell myself—and them —that the ultimate responsibility for both is God’s and that surely we can trust Him.

And I like to think, too, that every now and then a door in history opens and God steps in to encourage our hearts and to indicate the direction we are going. To us, God comes in Christ; only in Him can we find the clue to the meaning of history, only in Him can we be sure that' the future will not be out of control. Every Divine visit to the world has left some great truth, revealed some beauty, unveiled some goodness that redeems human life from the low and the mean. Think, for instance, what Christ has meant, what He has revealed, in the matter of time So marvellous and important was His visit, as a Child, that from then time has been divided into B.C. and A.D. I read somewhere recently that in case we felt inclined to pose as though we were important people we should remind ourselves that God becafne *a baby.

And then in the realm of thought and in our ideas of God, the coming of Christ has had such influence that both in thought in general (including speech) and in our thought of God in particular, we owe more to Him than can ever be repaid. I love to think that Christ is a constant visitor to the world for which He died. To think of what His previous visits meant to us is to thrill the heart with anticipation of what His next visit may mean —and bring. The New Testament shows us the door of history being opened again and again. I can only mention one or two —but how significant is each one! The Common Touch

I believe a door opened in history on the day Jesus was baptised by John in the river Jordan. There can be only one meaning to his answer to John that “thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,’’ namely, that •Jesus was deliberately identifying Himself wijh sinful men and women. The birth of Jesus is the first movement in the Incarnation; the baptism is the second and, the glory of it is that it is conscious on His part. He became one of us, though sinless. Surely here is cause for wonder and rejoicing! A Breath of new life was sweeping through the national life then, and Jesus gave it His seal. The common touch with us makes Him approachable. The door of His humanity has never been closed. Do you remember the old Scottish paraphrase? Though now ascended up on high. He bends on earth a Brother’s eye; Partaker of the human name, He knows the frailty of our frame. In every pang that rends the heart The Man of Sorrows has a part; He sympathises with our grief, And to the sufferer sends relief. It was a never-to-be-forgotten day in human history when Jesus was baptised and voluntarily shared our common lot. And that same common touch is further revealed in that vivid little sketch John gives us in the nineteenth chapter of his Gospel. The disciples are behind closed doors, closed doors not only in the physical sense, but also in the mental, for they were shut in by fear and alarm. “Then cometh Jesus”—and 10, everything becomes different. I live these three words. To look them up in a concordance and to follow them, and their variants through the pages of the gospels is to feel your pulses quicken and to experience a sense of His nearness that is almost physical. “Then cometh Jesus,” and the door opened. Of course, it did. And what did this visit mean? It meant a revelation, a picture, of a new relationship between them and Himself that had now no need of sight or hands. It meant that now He had proved for ever that neither death nor the grave could hold anyone captive. It meant that fear had been driven out, because it was now conquered by His continual spiritual presence. To sit down and contemplate all that this visit meant to the disciples then, and to all His followers since, is almost beyond human accounting. And after sitting for a while at this open door, have a glimpse at that door opened in the story of the two men on the way to Emmaus.— (Luke 24.) There you have Him revealing the possibility of our having Him with us along the road of our daily experience. He comes every now and then to us in the things, small and great, that go to make up our daily round and common task. The Coming Visit One day He will again open the door of history, and it will be His last visit to this world, which He has always loved. “ I will come again.” When that day will be, I know not, and I refuse to make guesses. But I believe there must be a day of fulfilment, otherwise the purpose of history will prove a delusion. Events to-day seem to be rushing to a consummation. We need not be afraid. Neither our world nor we ourselves will be torn out of His hands. To be found quietly serving God and our fellows will surely be the loveliest way of meeting Him when He comes.