The Lord Is Near (part 2)

God’s presence is not a symbol, a manner of speaking, or a virtual reality, but the real thing—as real as it gets, as real as it was in the days of His incarnation. The difference is that now He is invisible to all but the eyes of faith.

In the upper room Jesus promised His disciples, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me” (John 14:18–19).

Some say that Jesus was speaking of His second coming, but I rather think He was and is concerned with this present age in which He walks with us unseen. He is actually (not figuratively) with us, spiritually visible to those who love Him. “He who loves me will be loved by my Father,” Jesus said, “and I too will love him and show myself to him” (John 14:21).

“Would not this be a good day for the Lord to come?” asks one of George MacDonald’s characters. “Aye,” replies his fellow traveler, “but is not this a good day for him to be walking beside us?” This rejoinder captures the essence of Jesus’ promise.

Think, for example, of our Lord’s post-resurrection appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. You know the story—how He fell in with them as they walked, expounding the Scriptures along the way. Then, when invited to eat with them, He “took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them” (Luke 24:30)—at which point, I suppose, they caught sight of the nail prints in His hands. “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight” (Luke 24:31). Or, as the text states literally, “He became invisible to them.” He was present but unseen.

Or think of that day when He met again with His disciples in the upper room. He did not walk through the door or come in from the outside. He simply appeared, already with them in the room, present but unseen.

And so we, like Moses, endure, “because [we see] him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). This is a perspective that requires a certain “obstinacy of belief,” as C. S. Lewis would have it—a determination to believe against all odds and all evidence that our Lord is actually beside us every moment of every day. There is no moment when we are alone.

Our Lord himself lived in continuous, conscious awareness of His Father’s presence. “I am [never] alone,” He said, “for my Father is with me” (John 16:32). That is the secret of His—and our—rich tranquillity.

When we know our Lord is present, we experience a delightful sense of peace no matter what our circumstances may be. A quiet serenity and security envelop us; foes, fears, afflictions, and doubts recede. We can forbear in any situation because we know “the Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5).

We, like Jacob, must practice God’s presence, often pausing in the midst of our busy days to remind ourselves, “The Lord is here.” We live surrounded by unseen realities, but our eyes are too often blind. Oh, that by humility and purity we might see Him who is invisible and see Him everywhere. “From youth we have only one vocation,” says George MacDonald, “to grow eyes.”

G. K. Chesterton was once asked by a reporter what he would say if Jesus were standing beside him. “He is,” Chesterton replied with calm assurance.

Taken from Seeing God, © 2006 by David Roper. Used by permission of Discovery House Publishers, Box 3566, Grand Rapids MI 49501. All rights reserved.