Christ Revealed to The Soul

Some people are blessed with clearer and stronger manifestations of Christ than others. Why? This is simply one of the mysteries of God's kingdom, that will not be explained until the day of judgement. 

However, the following reflections may possibly cast some light on that dark subject, and help us to say, He does all things perfectly. 

External vs Internal 

Our Lord suits the manifestations of himself to the various states of the Church. Under the Mosaic dispensation, which consisted mostly in externals, Divine manifestations had, generally, some external circumstances.

But the Christian Church, being formed upon a more spiritual plan, is favoured with revelations of a more spiritual and internal nature. 

Times and Seasons

The Lord considers us as rational creatures in a state of probation. Were he to indulge us with powerful, constant, overwhelming discoveries of himself, this would be more force than the gentle leading into repentance and obedience. 

Every day is not a day of pentecost. 

Soon after the Son of God had seen the " heavens open," he was " led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil ;" and so is the church after him (Hosea 2:14). 

Paul, by observing that he was " not disobedient to the heavenly vision," and that he " kept his body under lest he should become a castaway," intimates that his bright manifestation was not of such continuance and force but he might have disobeyed, as Jonah did in a similar case. 

Some have, in fact, resisted bright manifestations in their day; Cain, Judas, Balaam, Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Israelites who perished in the wilderness. 

Therefore just as there is a time of trial for faith, hope, and patience, there is also a time for the power which attends Divine manifestations.

Capacity of the Soul

Our wise God proportions the means to the end. If the effect of a manifestation of his love is to be exceeding great, the manifestation must be exceeding bright. 

Suppose the burden of guilt and hardness, temptation and sorrow, under which one groans, is ten times greater than that which oppresses another, it is plain, the manifestation which is needed to remove that greater weight is going to have to be ten times stronger. 

The same rule holds also with regard to sufferings and labours. 

The hotter the fight of afflictions which God's children are to go through, the stronger and the brighter also is the celestial armour put upon them at the revelation of the Captain of their salvation.

Neither can it be doubted, but that our good God, in fixing the degree of Divine manifestation, hath a particular respect to the state and capacity of the souls to whom he reveals himself. 

The deeper sinners mourn for him the deeper he makes them drink of the cup of salvation at his appearance. ‘Blessed are they that’ greatly ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’ for their souls are greatly enlarged to receive the oil of gladness and the wine of the kingdom. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit;’ those whose souls are empty as the vessels of the desolate widow in the days of Elisha; when the heavenly prophet shall visit them, the streams of his fullness will certainly flow according to the degree of their emptiness.

A skilful physician prescribes weaker or stronger medicines, according to the state of his patients. So does the Physician of souls: he weighs, if I may so speak, every ounce of the heavenly power in the scales of goodness and wisdom. He knows what quantity of the heavenly light our spirits can bear, and will not, without the greatest care, put the strong wine of his powerful love into a weak vessel. 

He sees that as some persons can stand, for a time, the sight of the blazing sun, when others are hurt by the first appearance of a glimmer, so some Christians can bear the strong beams of his gracious presence, while others are almost overpowered by his fainter rays.

Why Some Do Not Receive 

If some people live and die without any manifestations of the Redeemer's love and glory, the reason for it could possibly be found in the depths of his justice and goodness. It could be they ‘grieve’ and ‘quench the Spirit’ that ‘convinces the world of sin’: and it is very fit they should not have him as a ‘Comforter,’ whom they consistently reject as a ‘reprover.’ 

In addition to this, the Lord foresees that if such people were favoured with tokens of his more distinguishing condescension they would only abuse them as Cain and the Pharisees did, he puts them not to the trial, nor suffers them to enhance their guilt by trampling richer mercy and love under foot; so that this seeming severity is in fact real grace. 

Bodily Strength

The Lord not only proportions the degree of his powerful appearance to the weakness of our souls, but also to that of our bodies. He knows what we are made of, and remembers that we are but flesh. 

If the natural sun, that glorious emblem of our Christ, were to approach as near our earth, and shine as bright as possible, the insufferable blaze and heat would instantly blind and consume us. 

Were our bright Son of righteousness to manifest his unclouded glory, or to appear without the tempering medium of his manhood, no flesh could support the sight. 

The brain is unable to bear the high operations of the soul and would turn away; the heart of the wicked, swelled with intolerable pangs of fear, and that of the righteous dilated by overwhelming 'transports of joy, would instantly burst. God, therefore, says, ‘No man can see my face,’ without some dimming veil, and live. 

Patience 

This may, perhaps, help us to account why the Lord still hides his face from some of his sincere seekers. They sit begging by the way of his ordinances, and yet he does not pass by so as to restore to them their spiritual sight, that they might know him. In all probability he designs them such a bright manifestation as they are not yet able to bear. When their hearts are strengthened for the heavenly vision, it will come. Let them only wait for it. 

‘Let patience have her perfect work,’ and faith in the word be tested to the greatest degree; and ‘he that comes, will come, and will not wait.’ He will bring ‘his reward with him’. It will all be worth it for a moment in his presence is worth the waiting of a lifetime. 

Were he to appear to some before they are prepared by the humiliation of repentance and the patience of hope, they would find themselves in the case of those carnal Israelites, who, far from being able to commune with God, could not so much as speak to Moses when he came down from the mount, without first asking him to put a veil over his shining face.

Peter, James, and John were, it seems, the apostles with the most spiritual strength and boldness; nevertheless, the manifestation they had of Christ on the mount almost overwhelmed them. Their bodies sank under the weight of his glory, and when they came out of their sleep or trance, they could not recover themselves, ‘they knew not what they said.’ 

And the beloved apostle John, when he saw his Saviour with some additional beams of glory, fell at his feet as dead. Paul not only lost his sight on such an occasion but was near losing his life, being unable to eat or drink for three days and three nights. And it is also generally believed that Moses himself actually died under the overpowering displays of the Redeemer's love. Hence we learn that God's way and time are best, and that we are to leave both to his gracious wisdom; whilst still using the means in which he has promised to manifest himself to those who diligently seek him.

The Holy Spirit Reveals Christ

The agent or author of every Divine manifestation is the eternal God, one in three, and three in one. The Father reveals, the Son freely discovers himself, and the Holy Ghost freely testifies of him. Nevertheless, the Scriptures, in general, attribute this wonder of grace to the blessed Spirit. ‘No man can’ can experimentally say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.’ It is his peculiar office to ‘convince the world of righteousness,’ by giving us to know in a relationship the Lord,who is our righteousness. ‘He shall glorify me,’ says Christ, ‘for he shall take of mine, and show it unto you.’ And this he does without any merit of ours, in the means which God hath appointed, and which he enables us to use aright.

The Means

The means God uses are both outward and inward. The outward are what are commonly referred to as ‘the means of grace,’ particularly hearing or reading the word, partaking of the sacraments, and praying together with one accord for the manifestation of the Spirit, as the primitive Christians did (Acts 2:1). These means are to be used with the greatest diligence, but not to be the object of trust.

The only proper object of our confidence is God, who works all in all. 

It was not Moses' rod which parted the Red Sea, but that Almighty arm, which once divided the water from the water without a rod. Nevertheless, as Moses was not to throw his rod away under pretence of trusting in God alone, neither was he to rely on the weak instrument, as if the Divine power resided in it.

Though the Lord in general works by means, he ties himself to none, and sometimes works without any. The same Spirit, which fell upon Cornelius, while Peter preached, fell upon Peter on the day of pentecost without any preaching. And the same Lord, who opened Lydia's heart, by the ministry of Paul, opened the heart of Paul by the sole exertion of his power. 

Here we learn, that as, on the one hand, we should not tempt the Lord by neglecting the use of any of the means he has appointed. On the other hand, we must not confine God to particular means, times, and places, as the superstitious do. We must remember that when we are cut off from all outward means, it is our privilege to wait for the immediate display of God's arm, in the use of the inward means.

Belief in God’s Power

The first inward means of the manifestation of Christ is ‘Believing there will be a performance of the Lord's promise,’ and that he is willing and able to manifest himself to us, as he does not to the world: this is the very root of prayer, fervency, hope, and expectation. 

Without the actions of this initial faith, the soul droops, and becomes an easy prey to despondency, idleness, procrastination or laziness. Where such faith is absent the Lord rarely works. ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this for you?’ is generally the first question he puts to the seeker's heart. If it is answered in the negative, he can do no great miracle, because of this unbelief. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that Paul was blessed with the revelation of the Son of God, without any previous desire or expectation of it. In him and others this scripture was fulfilled, ‘I was found of them that sought me not; I was manifested to them that asked not after me.’ 

In general, where the Gospel is preached, the Lord will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do this; and if he visit any with conviction, as he did Paul, it is only to make them pray as that apostle did, until he manifests himself by the Holy Ghost, in a way of comfort and love.

Submission to God

The second inward means of the manifestation of Christ is resignation to the particular manner, time, and place of it. ‘Through patience,’ as well as faith and prayer, ‘we inherit this promised’ blessing. 

Some, according to their carnal wisdom, mark out the way in which salvation is to come to their hearts; but the Lord generally disappoints these unhumbled seekers. However, as in the case of Gideon, he may gratify one in a thousand: for believers are ‘not born of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.’ The Jews expected the Messiah, and there they were right: but they expected him ‘in their own way,’ and therefore they stumbled and fell. While they looked for a mighty conqueror, another Alexander, to make them great, they overlooked the lowly Prince of Peace, who came to make them good; and at last they crucified him. 

This disposition is in all by nature. Christ is commonly misunderstood by Christians, as he was in the flesh by the Jews. Many Christians would have him come to give us an idle rest, but he teaches us to deny ungodliness, and fight the good fight of faith: this the carnal nature does not like. 

Our nature wants to step at once into a throne: but he offers first to nail us to the tree, and to crucify our flesh with its affections and lusts: and from this we shrink as from the grave. We expect to be carried at once to the third Heaven, to see unutterable glory; but he leads us to Gethsemane to watch and pray, or to Calvary to suffer and die with him: here we recoil, and do not choose to know him. 

Our impatience dictates that he shall instantaneously turn our midnight into noon day; but instead of manifesting himself at once as the bright sun, he will, perhaps, appear only as the morning star, that our light ‘may shine more and more unto the perfect day.’ This defeats our counsel, ‘we despise the day of small things,’ and do not think so low an appearance worth our notice and thanks. 

If you ever seek the saving knowledge of Jesus, never stop till you can witness that your sun goes down no more; but, in the meantime, never slight the least ray of the heavenly light. The least may open into the broad day of eternity. Cease from your own false wisdom, and become as a ‘little child,’ or you ‘cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, and see the King in his beauty.’ 

Sensitivity to the Spirit 

The third and last inward means I would recommend to mourners in Sion, is ‘a tender regard for the reproofs of the Spirit, a constant attention to the drawings of the Father,’ obedience to the calls they have to secret prayer, and a fear of depending upon their duties, and not solely upon the faithfulness of Jesus. 

Whoever follows these directions, according to the grace given to him, will, of course, cease from sin and do, as he can, the little good his hands find to do. This is a better way of waiting for the revelation of Christ, than to lie down in dejection and hopeless unbelief. 

Let us not do this, but instead ‘strive to enter in at the narrow gate,’ remembering that ‘many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.’ But let us ‘strive lawfully,’ not making ourselves a righteousness of our own seeking, knocking, and striving. 

The sun shines, not because we deserve it by undrawing our curtains, but because it is his nature. Jesus visits us, not because of any merit in our prayers, fastings, labour, etc, but for his own sake, because his truth and compassion do not fail. 

Free grace opens the door of mercy, not to works and merit, but to want and misery. That you and I may knock and press in, with all needy, penitent, believing sinners, is the earnest wish of my heart. 

(Manifestation of the Son of God by John Fletcher, Revised and Edited 2024).