Matthew 18:20

Matthew 18:20

Christ with Us.

I. In considering this subject, we must bear in mind that the human nature of our blessed Lord and Master must be subject to those laws of nature which He, as God, hath ordained and decreed. The human nature, being a created nature, cannot be omnipresent; nor is this asserted. But the omnipresence of His human nature is not implied in the promise of our text, although its presence in various places is. It is a presence promised to His Church and people wherever they may be; but this is to be distinguished from that universal presence of the Absolute which is a mystery incomprehensible by the intellect of the creature.

II. Had our Lord remained upon earth, His presence could have been vouchsafed to only a few. When he commissioned His Apostles he breathed upon them, but the breathing of grace is requisite on every soul that it may live, and for that reason our Lord was elevated and placed on His throne of glory. He ascended to that place in the kingdom of heaven, that from thence, the Day-star on high, he might pour down the rays of grace, and through them be present wherever two or three are gathered together in His name.

III. The beams that flow down from the Sun of righteousness are not created beams; they are the sanctifying influences of God the Holy Ghost. Only let us remember that when by the mighty operations of God the Holy Ghost a new light dawns upon the understanding, and a new warmth glows in the heart, and a new power is given to the will, and a new tenderness softens the conscience, and a new creature rises from the putrefying mass of human corruption, susceptible of holy impressions and capable of spiritual affections, it is through the medium of the ever-present Saviour, the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, that the Spirit of God, sent by the Father, passeth into the hearts of His people, to be their Guide and support, their Sanctifier, their Comforter, their Paraclete.

W. F. Hook, Parish Sermons,p. 253.

References: Matthew 18:20. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxx., No. 1761; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xv., p. 140; H. Wace, Expositor,2nd series, vol. ii., p. 202; B. F. Westcott, The Historic Faith,p. 115; J. B. French, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxxi., p. 269; C. Girdlestone, Twenty Parochial Sermons,1st series, p. 261; G. Huntington, Sermons for Holy Seasons,vol. i., p. 111.