NOTES & MEDITATIONS

ON THE

GOSPEL OF JOHN.

BY R. E.

PART VII.

CHAPTERS XIII., XIV.

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THE whole scene is changed now. The Lord's work in the world is all over, the final testimony given, except the words He spoke when He stood before the governor and before the high priest. He witnessed before Pilate the good confession, and did not conceal from the high priest that He was the Messiah, Son of God. He had completely done with the world, as He said in chapter xii. 31: "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out." So it was all over with the world, and His service in it. He is leaving a condemned world. I was speaking some time ago of a godly clergyman, who, when he was dying, said he was leaving a ruined church and a condemned world. But here we have the first announcement of this judgment of

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the world, from the lips of Jesus Himself, in connection with that of His professing people. How sweet and precious the sympathy of His spirit!

So the Lord is leaving a condemned world and a ruined nation, which had had the testimony of God. We also are leaving a condemned world, and a ruined church. Looked at on the side of profession and responsibility, the church has not continued in the goodness of God, and must therefore undergo judgment. (Rom. xi.) The faith is being given up, and the truth as to the Person of Christ assailed and denied; the judgments that are to come upon the corrupt and lifeless profession seem to be no longer far off; and the Holy Ghost is bringing before the hearts and minds of the saints the coming of Christ (Morning Star) to take us to the place He was going to prepare for us (John xiv.), and for which He was, in a sense, preparing us, in this chapter xiii., "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Thus we can see the similarity between the then and present condition of things. "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple." "The Lord's throne is in heaven," that is most true; but there is another truth which meets us here, "The firm foundation of God stands." (2 Tim. ii.) The foundation is as firm as the throne itself; we have the foundation-the truth-on earth, the

throne in heaven, our refuge and our strength. In our day, too, the testimony is being given up. Jude exhorts to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints; the faith means christian truth (Christianity), the subjectmatter of faith. "To contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints," is to contend for the subject-matter of the faith, the truths peculiar to Christianity life and immortality, for instance; the revelation of the Father; with other precious truths.

If the saints were to contend for it in that day, it will give us some idea of where we are now. The progress of evil has not stopped one moment since then, though there have been revivals through God's grace. Protestantism was a great revival. In the middle ages, even, there were persons who read Paul's epistles, and were called Paulites, which was a revival of truth in the Roman Catholic Church itself.

It is remarkable the way the Lord talks of "this world." In chapter xii. 25, He says: "He that hateth his life in this world;" and in verse 31, "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out;" and in chapter xiii. 1, “Knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world.” This world was evidently in the Lord's mind a terrible place. He could not stay here. The apostle John says, "All that is in the world....