The Silence of God
Occupy till I come.” — Louxz xix. 18.
HIS is a very difficult thing to do. It is easy
to be occupied with the things of time when we have a sense of their durableness, when we can say, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many days.” But to be occupied with the things of time when you have a sense of their perishableness, to be occupied with them when you hear a voice, “This night shall thy soul be required of thee” — that is an arduous task. I heard lately of a man who prophesied that the end of the world would come in twelve years, and who, at the very moment when he uttered the prediction, took the lease of his house for a hundred. How shall we explain this attitude towards both worlds? We can only explain it by the supposition that he felt the bird in the hand more sure than the bird in the bush. And, however startling it may sound, that is the meaning of this passage. Look at the context. The disciples think the kingdom is coming at once. Jesus tells them the parable of a nobleman who said to his servants, “Occupy till I come,” and then departed into a far country. Why into “a far country”? Simply to create uncertainty. If the nobleman had merely gone a short distance, the sense of his near presence would have expelled every other presence. What Christ says in effect is this: “You want to see the kingdom near. IfI granted your wish, you would have no ‘occupation’ here; time would be dwarfed by the vision of eternity. If you are to occupy till I come, it is essential that My coming should be but dimly seen. You would have no spirit to make a business contract if you thought it would be annulled by the Second Advent. Therefore I will make the Second Advent not very visible to you. I will keep it in the mist, I will wrap it in the shadows; for the wheels of life must go on, and the time which elapses till My coming must be occupied in work for man.”
Say not then, my soul, “Where is the promise of His coming?” If the wheels of life are to go on, the wheels of His chariot must come silently. Has He not bidden us break the bread till He come! There would be little incentive for thee to break the bread if the wheels of the chariot were audible. What need to gather stores for the hungry if the manna from heaven were seen falling! It is not the will of thy Father that in beholding human poverty thou shouldst say, “The Lord will provide.” It is thow that are to provide; it is thy hand that is to break bread for thy brother! Therefore thy Lord hides His coming. He covers the sheen with His cloud that thou mayst not see it; He drives His chariot over soft places that thou mayst not hear it. O blessed blindness, O divine deafness! It is by these, my soul, thy life on earth is maintained; it is by these thy human bread is broken. Thank thy Father for the silence; thank thy Christ for the distance of the far-off land! It is the reticence of heaven that helps thee to occupy the earth.