II. THE SECOND PROMISE.
15. Of this promise, this comfort, to allay our feelings and fears, Christ assures us in the words translated “desolate” he will not leave you desolate.
The word translated “desolate” literally means “orphans.” By the use of this word Christ would intimate the condition of the Church. In the eyes of the world, and even in her own estimation, she has not the! appearance of a prosperous and well ordered organization; rather she is a scattered group of poor, miserable orphans, without leader, protection or help upon earth.
All the world laughs at her and ridicules her as a great fool in thinking that she is the Church and comprises the people of God. Furthermore, each individual is so burdened and oppressed in his need and suffering as to feel that no one else lies so low or is so far from help as he.
16. Such misery and fears grow upon one under the influence of the devil’s power, when he pierces the heart with his bitter, poisonous, murderous thrusts. Then the heart feels that it is not only forsaken by all men, but also by God himself. So it altogether loses Christ and sees no end to its misery.
Of this we have heard before in the Gospel where Christ says (John 16:20): “Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; ye shall be sorrowful” etc. To be left thus, that is, to feel that all things have conspired to leave us comfortless and helpless, is to be left orphans indeed.
17. As Christ has thus told his Christians beforehand of such suffering, so also does he wish to give this comfort and consolation beforehand, and desires to teach us not to despair because of suffering, but only to hold to his Word, even if it does seem that help is being too long delayed. He desires to remind us of the promise that he will not leave us fast in misery, and that we should accord him the highest honor due to God, by holding him to be true and faithful. He says: It shall not continue forever, but only a little, a short time. And he says here: “I come unto you.” Again: “A little while, and the world beholdeth me no more.” That hour will seem to you an hour of sadness indeed, yea, an unending hour of death. “But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.”
18. This is a sufficient promise of friendship and comfort. But we need only to learn to believe it, and to experience the truth that in our greatest weakness he guides his Church by wonderful divine power and protects and upholds her, so that she shall endure in spite of all. Yea, it shall be that in the greatest sadness there shall be comfort; in the greatest misery and desolation, joy and help; in death, everlasting life; until these better things come to be our possession, and the heart, having overcome all evil and being filled with the unspeakable joy of salvation, hears the bold, joyful word of victory which Christ utters: “Because I live, ye shall live also,” and as we beautifully sing in Psalm 118:15-17: “The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of Jehovah doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of Jehovah.”
This is what St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:10 concerning comfort and help for these poor orphans: “We are always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.”
And Christ says in Luke 12:32: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
19. Observe, this is the sublime wisdom and knowledge of Christians, which the Holy Spirit has revealed to them and of which the world knows nothing whatever. The world must confess that it knows nothing of this comfort, and that, further, it is impelled by the devil to despise and resist the Holy Spirit’s preaching concerning such comfort. Therefore, Christ passes judgment upon it for the comfort of Christians: “Whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him.” Oh, that is a fearful utterance, to be told that it cannot receive the Holy Spirit. It must follow from this that the world has no part in the kingdom of God; that it is forever separated from God and must remain in the power of the devil and in the bonds of hell. But it is also a just and well-deserved punishment upon the world, for the world will not have it otherwise, since it so shamefully despises, blasphemes and persecutes Christ, the Son of God, together with his Word and the Holy Spirit. So much, then, on the office of the Holy Spirit, concerning which the chapter just before the text teaches. Upon this follows now the Gospel: “If a man love me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him.”