The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1903-11-26
on of God and no vision Of spiritual real

Let me now notice In the second place
that there is time when the vision OF
God and spiritual realities is enigmatleai, J, GS
for now we see in mirror darkly.' That
word "darkly" is a translation Of Greek
phrase meaning, "in riddle" and thus
you, who have a revised Bible, will find
that the phrase Gin riddle" is placed i'll
the margin, for what Paul meant IS TINS:
For now we see in mirror, III riddle.
Of course, they did not have the mirrors
which we have now in the apostolic age.
Him foreveTmore.
Beloved, we will never all meet together
here, but We may all meet together yon-
der. We will never all see, each, other:
therefore, here. Let us SO live that we
shall all see each other yonder, when we
have come up, like Him, to meet the hosts
out of great tribulations, it may be, having
our robes washed and made white in the
blood of the Lamb. Till then, goodbye.
That which they had was metal polished
on one surface; sometimes Of silver, but
usually it was round piece of metal pol
ished as we'll as they could do it, to which
was attached handle. Now, You can see
such a mirror would not reflect clearly, az
our splendid mirrors do, the images tina:
were before it. Now it is that furnished
the Apostle Paul with this striking illus
tration: For now we see in a mirror, In 8
riddle"
Why, the gospel itself, is as a camera o5-
scura, in which we see reflected the things
of eternity. What we see is not the thing
itself, but only the reflection of it. What
we see cannot be the thing Itself. but only
the reflection of it. That is what the gos-
pei is. The fourfold gospel does not give
us the living Christ; it only gives the I'M
age of the living Christ. It IS imperfect in
so far as man has had part in 1t, and In so
far as the reflector will give only an I'M
perfect image of the reality, and we must
never forget the fact that. what we are
looking upon in spiritual things is not the
objects themselves, but only the rehec-
tions. Nor must we forget that the defl-
milton is made enigmatic, that the objects
look like riddles to US also, because the eye
of the soul has not clear vision. What we
see, depends on what our heart is. How
often we are troubled by the mists and
fogs that arise from the lower levels OF our
own lives. How often you and I know
what it is to be lost in the fogs that settle
down upon us as the racing yachts were
lost the other day in their final reach for
the goal; utterly lost, hidden themselves
and hidden from all about them; and like
the challenger, we are apt to get out or
our course and lose time in the race for the
goal. So we must not forget that both the
mirror and the eye that sees contribute to-
ward the enigmas Of our life and the enig'
mas that surround us.
" Let US look for moment or two at
life's riddles as they relate to God Him
self. Now, have deal or sympathy tor
the multitudes Of men who find it hard to
see God. They hear from the pulpit Of
Goods omniscience, His omnlpresence, HIS
eternity, He fills immensity, God is spirit"
Now, what sort of an idea can man get
from these descriptions of the Eternal? ?
And he hears, "You must love God" that
the sum total of the gospel in a word, so
far as duty is concerned, is this, Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind And he says to us, How can
love Him? BE is uncomfortable to me. l
cannot form an image Of Him. 1 cannot
see Him to know Him, to love Him"
Now God understands this heap better
than many theologians do. So He said,
the "Utterance of God," the Word, shall
come into human relations; He shall take
on Him. the nature of man; He shall de-.
scend the ladder of divinity, emptying
Himself, until He reaches the lower rungs
of humanity, until He shall move in the
valley of human life so that men can touch
Him, so that men can hear His voice, 80
that men can look upon His face and IN
hearing Him and in touching Him and IN
seeing Him, they shall hear and touch and
see the living God.
God cannot be seen by any eye: there is
no mirror large enough to reflect Him, and
even in that which is "the express image
of His person." the Christ I have been
talking about, we have been seeing, as l
said only moment ago, only the reflection
Of Him. We do not see Jesus; we only
see the image of Jesus in this fourfold or
fivefold mirror, the New Testament. l am
saying this in order to relieve skeptlc
minds of real difficulties. / am saying this
to relieve Christians of,real difficulties.
all else is sincerity. We should not say
that we see God when we do not. We
should not pretend to have larger visions
than we possess. When it IS impossible
for US to have a clean, clear cut definition,
we should simply wait and realize with the
Apostle Paul that what we see is really in
q mirror, and makes it look like riddles to
us very often.
We are puzzled over the mystery Of the
incarnation. How could God come down
and clothe Himself in an infant of days.
Our unenlightened friends are trying hard
to eliminate the miracle of the incarnation
from theology. They had better realize
their limits; there are lines IN the image
we cannot understand. Ine mystery OF the
Trinity. Who can comprehend that august
doctrine? We must simply wait. There
are so many things we cannot compass
that if we try to we shall find ourselves
hopelessy landed in the fogs. We just
want to remember that what We have, even
in the Bible, is only mirror in which we
see, as only in a riddle, the realities.
Now let Us notice again life's riddles as
they relate themselves to ourselves. What
strange creatures we are. What strange
things you and sometimes do! How un-
accountably we sometimes act! What rid
dies we are to ourselves! Can You under
stand why you took q given course the
other day? You step aside from your own
ideals and your own predeterminations, as
to what your career should be. Can you
understand why you said those things the
other day? Why you were 70 blind as to
Go those things? How often men have said
to me, 1 cannot understand myself; do
not understand why I did that thing. Why,
really. I cannot explain it, You cannot,
unsaved person, you cannot explain why
You remain in state of alienation from
God. II what the Bible says is true, there
is pending over you an endless hell, or
there is availing for you an endless life of
bliss. Now, would you not think that such
alternatives, "a kingdom or wrath" open
to YOU, you would settle the great Ques-
ton? Why, some Of you have lived for