Article June 18, 1910 Issue

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

with contributions from R. J. Campbell, Walter Rauschenbusch

[Watchman.]

On this occasion Jesus was in that high spiritual state when walking on the water would be a natural result of his fulness of eternal life. He was indeed at all times filled with the Spirit's grace and power, and was never at a point of weakness like a Samson when the Spirit was departed from him. There was not a moment when he was not ready for the demands of the hour, and his exercise of power was a quick and complete one. But it can be seen that even in his experience there were times when the tide of spiritual power rose to meet emergencies, and seasons when he felt the timeliness of retiring into the divine presence and gaining fresh supplies of faith and power. Walking upon the sea was an act that he could have done at any time, but it appears at a time when he was uplifted himself and charged afresh with the fulness of God. His own intimation to Peter was that he also might have walked if his faith had been sufficient. Peter, however, had had no such spiritual uplift as his Master at this time. The power of Spirit over matter, and its capacity to become superior to natural limitations is illustrated in this incident in the life of our Lord. It can be seen wherein his power wrought its victory. The same Spirit in us may not repeat the same miracle, but it enables us to be superior to the natural conditions and the seemingly impassable barriers of so-called laws, and to show power that also works marvels in the physical condition, social states, and religious life of men. Whoever fills himself with the same Spirit as that of Christ, through communion with God and by the exercise of the grace bestowed upon him, will have a sense of glorious freedom from limitations, a power to mount up like an eagle above the low-lying plane of common effort, and a feeling that nothing for the glory of God or the good of man is impossible.

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

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