Another cheering word is this, — " I will come again and receive you unto myself." Christ will not wait for believers to come uj) to Him, but will come down to them, to raise them from their graves and escort them to their heavenly home. As Joseph came to meet Jacob, so will Jesus come to call His people togetliei and guide them to their inheritance. The second advent ought never to be forgotten. Great is the blessedness of looking back to Christ coming the first time to suffer for us, but no less great is the comfort of looking for- ward to Christ coming the second time, to raise and reward His saints.
Let us leave the whole passage with solemnized feel- ings and serious self-examination. How much they miss who live in a dying world and yet know nothing of God as their Father and Christ as their Saviour ! How much they possess wlio live tlie life of faith in the Son of God, and believe in Jesus ! With all their weaknesses and crosses they have that which the world can neither give nor take away. They have a true Friend while they live, and a true home when they die.
Notes. John xiv. 1—3.
1. — [Let not...7ieart...be troubled.'] We must carefully remember that there is no break between the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth chapters. Our Lord is continuing the discourse He began after the Lord's Supper and the de- parture of Judas, in the presence of the eleven faithful disci- ples. A slight pause there certainly seems to be, since lie turns from Peter, to whom He had been speaking individually, to the whole body of the Apostles, and addresses them collectively. But the place, the time, and tlie audience are all one.
Our liord's great object throughout this and the two follow- ing chapters seems clear and plain. He desired to comfort, etablish, and build up His downcast disciples. He saw their " hearts were troul>led " from a variety of causes, — partly by seeing their Master "troubled in Spirit" (xiii. 21), — ])artly by hearing that one of them should betray Him, — partly by the mysterious departure of Judas, — partly by their Master's an-