The Comfort of Christ’s Experience

John xvi. 33 v.

“In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Christ spoke these words at a time when to all appearance the world had overcome Him. He was standing on the borders of death. There were times in His life in which we could have understood such an utterance. We could have understood it in the moment of resurrection, when He had beaten down His calamities. We could have understood it in the moment of ascension, when He had left His calamities behind. But to say it in the very midst of His calamities — that seems a strange thing. And yet, why so? When does a man overcome his enemy? Is it when he beats him down? Hardly; that is to conquer the enemy, but not the enmity. Is it when he leaves him behind and soars into other spheres? Nay; that is to escape rather than to overcome. The real hour of overcoming your enemy is the hour in which you find some good in him — the hour in which you stand in his presence, and are not consumed. So was it with Jesus and the trials of this life. He heat them down in His rising; He escaped them in His ascending; but only in His voluntary Cross did He overcome them. His moment of world-conquest was the moment in which He took the cup. When He tasted that cup and found it not to be absolute bitter — that was the hour in which He truly overcame.

Son of Man, it is Thy voice on the Cross that brings me good cheer. Thou hast other voices of triumph; but they have no bearing on me. I cannot beat down my calamities; Thy resurrection is beyond me. I cannot escape my calamities; Thy ascension surpasses me. But I can take Thy cup, for it is my own cup. It is a cup without mystery and without miracle — made up of my own sorrows. And when I see it in Thy hand, and hear Thee say, “I have tasted it unharmed,” my heart grows light within me. If Thou hast found rest to Thy soul after taking the yoke, I may well be of good cheer; I can take courage when I learn of Thee. I have heard betimes a bather call to his comrades on the shore, “Come in; it is not cold.” So is it with

Thee. Thy voice comes to me from the waves of trouble — waves in which, one day, I myself must plunge. It cries: “Don’t be afraid; I have tested the waters; they are not so cold after all, nor so stormy. Though they rise up to the brim, they will not overflow thee. I have met them at their fulness; I know the utmost they can do. And I tell you that their utmost is not overwhelming. I have measured their bounds and retained my courage; I have received their force and kept my footing; I have learned their violence and held fast my faith; I have sounded their depths, and there is land below. “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”