THE PRESENCE OF GOD by John MacDuff

THE PRESENCE OF GOD

"In Your presence there is fullness of joy." Psalm 16:12

Even in this world, where God is dimly apprehended, how sweet to the Christian is the sense of His presence, and friendship, and love! What will it be in that world, where He is seen in open vision! The foretaste is blessed, what must be the fruition! The rays of the Divine glory are gladdening- what must be the full blaze of that Sun itself!

Believer, do you often delight to pause in your journey? Does faith love to ascend its Pisgah Mount and get a prospect of this Land of Promise? What is the grand feature and element which swallows up all the circumstantials in your future bliss? Let Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, answer- It is "Your Presence." "In my flesh, I shall see God," says one. "I shall be satisfied," says another, "when I awake, with Your likeness." "They shall see His face," says a third. Amid all the glowing visions of a coming Heaven granted to John in Patmos, there is One all-glorious object that has ever a peerless and distinctive pre-eminence- God Himself!

There is no candle- Why? "For the Lord God gives them light." There is no temple- Why? "For the Lord God and the Lamb are the temple thereof." The saints dwell in holy brotherhood; but what is the mighty bond of their union; their chief joy? "He that sits on the Throne shall dwell among them." They have no longer the intervention of ordinances and means- Why? Because "the Lamb that is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters." They no longer draw on the storehouse of the Promises- Why? Because "God himself shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." "No napkin," says a holy man, "but His own immediate hand, shall wipe my sinful face!" 

Reader, here is the true "Peniel," where you will "see God face to face." Here is the true "Mahanaim," where the Angels of God meet you. 

In heaven is the true communion of saints- the glorious fellowship of the Prophets- the goodly fellowship of the Apostles- the noble army of Martyrs. Yet all these will be subservient and subordinate to the first- the vision and fruition of God! Even the recognition of the death-divided (that sweet element in the believer's prospect of bliss) will pale, in comparison, into a candle-light, before this, "Glory that excels!" 

Are you among these "pure in heart," who are to "see God"? Remember the Bible's solemn warning- "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Remember its solemn admonition- "And every man that has this hope in Him, purifies himself even as He is pure." To "see God!" Oh, what preparation needed for so magnificent a contemplation! Infinite unworthiness and nothingness, to stand in the presence of Infinite Majesty, Purity, and Glory!

Can I wonder at the much discipline required, before I can be thus "presented faultless before the presence of His glory?" How will these needed furnace-fires be dimmed into nothing when viewed from the Sapphire throne! Heart and flesh may be fainting and failing; but, remembering that that same God is now "the strength of my heart," who is to be my "portion forever," I may joyfully say– "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

John MacDuff 

A.W. Pink on the Road to Destruction

"For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." Matthew 7:13

In those words our Lord advanced a reason or argument to enforce His previous exhortation. There is another gate than the "strait" one, altogether different therefrom, for it is "wide" and gives entrance into a broad way, but it leads to the bottomless pit. It is "the course of this world" (Eph. 2:2), in which all its unregenerate citizens are found. It is the path of self-will and self-gratification. It is "wide" because those in it own no restrictions. They have broken down the commandments of God which were designed to be a hedge about them. It is therefore a pleasant and easy way to the flesh, for no inquiry or diligent search has to be made in order to find it, no resolution and perseverance are called for in order to continue treading it, no self-denial has to be practiced to remain therein. A dead fish can float with the stream, but only a living one can swim against it: so the unregenerate mechanically follow this road, for there is nothing in them to resist the law of gravity. The going is smooth and easy because it is all downhill!


It is a crowded road, for "many there be which go in thereat." It is the very width of it which renders it so attractive to the carnal mind. Here there are no "quota" limitations, no barring of "aliens," no restrictions of color, caste or creed. There is plenty of room for all. Men may walk in the ways of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes, give rein to their lusts and full indulgence to their inclinations, and none shall hinder them. This broad road is thronged because all mankind are in it by nature, birth admitting them into the same; nor has anyone the slightest desire to desert it unless a miracle of grace be wrought upon him. Like Lot and his wife in Sodom every last one of us is so loath to leave the city of destruction that the Christian too had preferred to remain there and perish, unless the Lord had sent His messengers to "pluck" him as a brand from the burning. "Woe to the multitude of many people" (Isa. 17:12) says God to this densely packed road.


It is a deceptive road, for few upon it have any idea of whither it is taking them. Those upon it believe they are following the wise course, for they regard as fools those who differ from them. We are only young once, life is short, let us have a gay time while it lasts; let us eat, drink and be merry seems to them the very dictates of common sense. Ah, it is "the way which seemeth rightunto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. 14:12). So sure are its travelers they are right that they conclude anyone is afflicted with "religious mania" who prefers the narrow way. Yet it is a fatal road, for it "leadeth to destruction," hopeless and eternal destruction. It conducts to the bottomless pit, the unquenchable fire, and the undying worm. It is the way of the ungodly, and Scripture expressly declares that "the way of the ungodly shall perish" (Ps. 1:6). And, my reader, that fatal way can only be abandoned by conversion, by a radical right about face, by turning from sin and self-pleasing and turning unto God and holy living.”

A.W. Pink