The Power of an Omnipresent Christ
What makes the repentant sinner to turn and go out into the court after he has seen the look of Christ or remembered his sin? What makes him run from the fountain of mercy? Did he mistake the look of Christ, which was suited to draw and unite him again, not to drive him away? Did his sorrow drown his faith and make him forget the glorious confession of Christ who alone had the word of eternal life? (John 6:68). Did he forget that Christ had the balm to cure his grief, and the blood to blot out his sin? (Psalm 51:1). Did he forget that Christ could have at once been a comfort and restored him to his former joy and grace? Why did he not run into the embrace of Christ?
We see here the mystery of Peter’s recovered faith. In turning from Christ, he acknowledged his faith in Christ and was reinvested with the honour of a disciple although he seemed more to forsake, than to follow the Lord. His repentance did in action confirm what his faith did in words once confess: that Christ was the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). We see in the departure of Peter an article of his faith: the divinity of Christ.
If Christ had not been outside where Peter wept as well as being inside where the Jews blasphemed him, Peter would again have denied Him and not returned to Him. That which is now a mystery would have been another revolt. But Christ was with Peter and it was faith that could from outside look through the walls of the judgment hall and there through the infirmity of a buffeted and condemned body, discover the glory of a merciful and reconciled God.
It is nothing but faith that can look from earth into heaven, and when it is absent from Christ, not only groan after him, but grasp and lay hold of him. The ubiquity (omnipresence) of Christ gives the believer who has an interest in Him a ubiquity also. As Christ is in heaven by His presence, He is on earth by His power. So a believer, though he is in his body on earth, yet is in heaven by faith. It is in the nature of faith to give a kind of presence to things most remote and distant; it can even converse and lay hold on Christ, though He be in heaven.
Dr. Edward Reynolds was born in 1599 in Southampton, England. He received his BA degree at Oxford in 1618. In 1622, before studying for his masters, Reynolds became a chaplain to the king and preacher at Lincoln’s Inn, London. The puritanical inclinations of Dr. Reynolds were well known; his character of piety and decorum were evident even in his college years. Edward Reynolds is known as the Bishop of Norfolk, but he was bishop for only the final fifteen years of his life and ministry. Prior to that he was the rector of Braunston, Northamptonshire, for almost thirty years. Although Reynolds was a Presbyterian by conviction, he had a reputation of moderation in his church polity. This was evidenced in his role in the Westminster Assembly. He was the only member to sit on all three of the major committees on the Confession of Faith, and with his moderate spirit provided balance in the discussions. These devotions are taken from the works of Edward Reynolds. They have been edited for thinkgospel.com. © 2013 thinkgospel.
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