The Spirit in Patmos
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” — REV. 10.
“A ONDERFUL triumph of love ! — to keep 4, even in Patmos the spirit of Sabbath rest. He was not only “in the Spirit,” but he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” — the Spirit in its deepest repose. But what a strange repose was that! It was rest amid storm. The Spirit that overshadowed him was brooding over the face of the waters. It was an hour of darkness, an hour of chaos, an hour of desolation — -yet he found rest, Sabbath rest. How can we explain this? Is there any key to the mystery of St. John’s peace in storm? Yes; we find it on the very threshold, “Behold, He cometh with clouds.” All the clouds of this world are to him Christ’s coming; that is the secret of his calm. However dark life be, however stormy it be, however desolate it be, he feels that the darkness and the storm and the desolateness are steps of
234 — Ci«; THE SPIRIT IN PATMOS.
Christ’s coming, and that in this light one day “every eye shall see Him.” It is that which keeps the seer of Patmos calm — the knowledge that the Christ is here now, and that to-morrow He shall be proved to have been here. Above the sound of the trumpets. above the outpouring of the vials, above the voices and thunderings and lightnings of human calamity, there floats ever in his ear the resistless music “the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
O Spirit, let me too hear that music, that even in Patmos I may have the Sabbath rest. Clouds and darkness are round about me; trumpets are sounding, seals are opening, vials are outpouring their draughts of bitterness. But all these are Thy chariots, O my God; Thou makest the clouds Thy chariots; Thou comest with clouds. May not I rest in Thy chariot of clouds as Elijah rested in Thy chariot of fire? May not I ascend to heaven by the same means wherewith Thou descendest to the earth? Why should I not even in Patmos keep my Sabbath? My love will not be perfected until it can keep its Sabbath there. I want to be able to hear Thee moving on the face of my waters; I want to be able to know Thee behind my cloud and care. Mine is a poor Sabbath if it does not come after the chaos; mine is an unfinished love if it has never lived in Patmos. I am not satisfied till I can say of my love “it is finished.” I am not content till I can hear Thy footsteps in the storm. I have not reached the summer of my soul until I can meet Thee in the clouds of heaven and say of these clouds “It is the Lord’s day.”