We behold our Lord in the synagogue of Nazareth exercising His prophetic office. And while all the sensible and temporary circumstantials of the case have vanished, all the essentials survive to this hour.
Take the scene in Nazareth on that Sabbath-day as a manifestation of the presence of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Separate the temporary from the permanent, and you will find you have separated the accessory from the essential – thus leaving all that was essential permanently present in the Church here below. For what are the essentials? First, there is the Word; “He stood up for to read.” And then, there is the spiritual agency that reaches the heart and enlightens the mind – the Spirit. Mark the first utterance of the oracle, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” When, therefore, “all that heard him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth;” when “they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power,” – the entire essential of the gracious words and powerful doctrine was the Scripture; and the entire essential of the grace and power was of the Spirit.
That is to say, Christ executed the office of a Prophet that day in Nazareth in revealing to men by His Word and Spirit the will of God for their salvation. Those features of His visible countenance, and the pulsations of the air from His audible voice, did not enter into the matter at all. So that His bodily presence (or, as it ought rather to be called, the bodily manifestation of His presence) may have vanished, but His presence is with us in our sanctuaries now, essentially and exactly as in the synagogue of Nazareth then.
A thousand times shall faith assert this claim (His presence is with us in our sanctuaries,) and every time, faith will deny that there is any trace of illusion or fancy or fanaticism in her assertion of it. Knowing that her prophet is the Christ because the Spirit of the Lord rests on Him for ever; and knowing also that the Word also lives and abides for ever, she will maintain that she enjoys her Lord’s presence in all the essentials as fully as the spectators in the synagogue of Nazareth – and more fully than those who were mere spectators only.
Are we to be in such bondage – so deliriously intoxicated and enslaved – to the senses of this vile body, as to maintain that whatever has vanished from the eyes of our flesh is lost to us? Are we to subordinate and subject thus shamefully the things that are unseen and eternal to the conditions of space and time and the body of our humiliation And are we never to be satisfied that “the King Eternal, immortal and invisible” is near, unless He submit a proof that shall be cognizable to those eyes and hands which are soon to be hidden in the grave? “Thomas; because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they which have not seen me, and yet have believed.” With adoring reverence let a supposition be made – “We beseech Thee, O Emmanuel; show us Thy glory.
Even though Jesus were with you in the sanctuary bodily, He would bring no new revelation: He would read from “the book.” He would speak of “this scripture of amazement upon your soul from His visible person or audible voice: He would seek no such poor triumph over His audience. He would hazard all the effect of His Work on the demonstration of the Spirit. His own Word and your soul He would leave in the hand of the Spirit. By the Word He would send forth His truth; and by the Spirit He would send forth His light. “O send forth thy light and thy truth.”
But does the bodily manifestation of His presence at all enter into the essence of this great transaction? No, verily. And, therefore, verily, and essentially you have Christ’s presence in your sanctuary, even in the synagogue of Nazareth. If we have the Word and the Spirit of Christ, we have that presence of Christ in the Sanctuary.