John 14:19

19. Yet a little while A few brief hours which precede my ascension.

Ye see me With the eye of the spirit ye recognize that Christ is present. Some one has said that if the eye of our faith were as strong as the eye of our body, we should see the angels of God around us. Much better might it be said we should see a present Jesus before us.

Because I live, ye shall live The word live is here to be taken in the very fulness of the term life. In the very garden of Eden the giving of a Redeemer preceded the continuance of the race. Had Christ not been promised and predetermined, Adam would have produced no progeny under the irremovable curse, and sure of an unavoidable eternal ruin. Had not Christ been given, the race would not have been begotten. Hence the atonement underlies our very physical life. Grace underlies nature. Hence because Christ lives we primitively live. But more especially after his ascension, it is because he lives that we live a spiritual life during the dispensation of the Spirit, and shall live a glorified life in the kingdom of glory. Well for us, then, that Christ cannot die, but ever liveth to intercede for us. Because he liveth we shall live also.