confidence of believers. This was the “sign from heaven” vainly asked by the unbelieving Pharisees, and now granted to the three leaders of the apostles. And a corresponding revelation will take place in the experience of every true child of God, whereby his faith shall be confirmed, and he shall be “sealed unto the day of redemp- tion.” The yearning, praying, aspiring spirit of the Son at last, in foretaste, attains; and he and his followers are strengthened. ‘he personal glory, the sublime association with the precursors of the kingdom in the past, and the transcendant commendation, leave no room for doubt in the heart of the true believer. The evidence is intuitive, but it is spiritually complete. 2. The loftiest tendencies and aspirutions of the Law and the prophets are fulfilled in the “ obedience unto death” of the Divine Son. “They spake with him of his decease;” it was evidently central to their thoughts. The religious hopes of the past were to be satisfied in that way alone; by that alone was the righteousness of God to be satisfied. Self-sacrifice is the spirit of both Law and prophecy. To them the profound mystery of the hereafter was solved in the spirit of his death and in his resurrection; “life and immortality were brought to light” in him. It is as associated with them and representative of them that he looked forward: to his dying. The manifestation of the Divine Son is therefore of universal significance, and relates itself to all that was highest and most spiritual in ancient religious move- ments, 3. What God did for his Son on this occasion he will do for all who vitally
to his “ Body.” Even as the bodily frame of Christ was transfigured, and partook of the inward glory of his spirit, so shall all in whose nature his grace is found appear with him in the glory of the resurrection. The spiritual law is manifest and certain, and it is evidently the same in the believer as in his Lord. Glory of spirit must sooner or later appear in glory of external appearance, and the body shall partake in the blessedness of the spirit—M.
Ver. 8.—‘‘Jesus only.” The transition from the glory and the spiritual vision to the sober light of common day—from the Christ uplifted in the radiance of heaven, and waited upon by the greatest spirits of ancient Hebrew religion, to the humiliated form of the man Jesus—was a perilous one for ordinary mortals to pass through. But it wag necessary. It is for faith to penetrate the spiritual significance of ordinary forms and SE perEnCe, aud grasp the Divine. It is to faith, and faith alone, that God is manifest in the flesh.
J. Jesus OUTLIVES HIS RECOMMENDATIONS, He is ever more, far more, than he appears to be. Some things and persons have nothing remaining when you strip the pretence and tinsel away. The radiance subsides into damp mist, and the gionlons brightness proves but bottle-glass. It is this overmastering intrinsic worth and power of Jesus which explains his enduring influence. Eloquent advocacy has been engaged in his cause, great ideas have been associated with him, his claims have been attested by miraculous powers and signs, and ever and again the background of the Divine mystery from which he emerged has revealed itself, and a multitude of external proofs etc., are forthcoming when required; but he himself is greater than them all, and contains their latent possibilities within himself. When excitement, etc., are over, there still remains the power to elicit faith and constrain personal attachment, He himself is the ultimate verification of the faith of his disciples.
Il. Nor THE SIGN OB MARVEL, BUT CHRIST IT 18 THAT SAVES, The former only provisional, the latter permanent. The familiar, continuing, sympathizing Christ, The crucified One; the risen again; and in spiritual presence the Dweller in tle heart of faith. It is this Christ whose power is felt within, a vital energy and a moral impulse ; an Interpreter of the mysteries of life and death.
HE ALONK IS SUFFICIENT FOR OUR NEED, There is an unhealthy longing for dainties in things spiritual as in bodily satisfactions. His teaching, his example, his sympathy, his perfect sacrifica, are ours if we but believe. God has testified his approval and acceptance, and commends him to us. Our own experience will seal and confirm the prophecies and attestations of others: “ Now we believe, not because of thy saying. for we have hewrd him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (John iv. 42).—M.
Vers. 9—13.— The saying that waz kept. The disciples did not understand their
20 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TU ST. MARK. [on. m 1—50
Master—a common experience. Why was this saying so difficult? It seems plain enough to us. But then we look at it after its accomplishment; they beture that. And their rabbinic training taught them to look for something very different from what Christ seemed to be referring to. He spoke as if he alone was to rise again. They had been taught to think of the resurrection as universal, and altogether; not an experience of one here and another there. Moreover, their teachers had told them that Elias must first come. In fact, their habits of thought were all going in one direction, and this saying of Christ’s in another. Yet, like fair and candid men, they did not dismiss the words as impossible of accomplishment or interpretation; but they “kept the saying.”