By Andrew Bonar

      'When He is come, He will tell us all things' John 4:25

      You must have noticed some great and memorable sayings in the New Testament which were spoken unwittingly.

      'This man receiveth sinners' (Luke 15:2); 'It is expedient that one man should die for the people' (John 11:50); 'He saved others, Himself He cannot save' (Matt. 27:42); 'This is the King of the Jews' (Luke 23:38).

      So here we have a saying of a Samaritan woman, and a very important saying. They expected a Prophet (Deut. 18:5); for they did not acknowledge these passages in Isaiah, etc., where Messiah is depicted as suffering and dying.

      We this day have been thinking of His office as Priest, and of His Sacrifice, and often we think of Him as King and Giver of gifts. But let us at present think of Him as Prophet, and take up the woman's true saying,--only let us apply it to His Second Coming to-day, and let us see how Christ will then 'execute His office as Prophet.'

      He will come in glory; we shall be with Him in His Kingdom. New Jerusalem is described as at once a City and a Paradise. We shall have many walks with Him, for He 'shall dwell among them;' and then it is we shall find John 13:7 and 11:40 fully fulfilled. He will open out the meaning of providences that seemed dark, personal, and public. 'He will tell us all things about Himself.' It will be as when on the Transfiguration hill they 'talked with Him,' and as Moses when up in the Mount for forty days and forty nights.

      Christ is the Prophet who 'by His Word and Spirit' reveals God's will. In that day we shall know the Word in all its meaning. He will open out to us its darkest places. He will explain to us Ezekiel's Temple, the genealogies of 1 Chron. etc., and show us the divine purpose in all. He will show us 'the mystery of God finished,' and as, in 2 Pet. 1:19, the 'Word of prophecy' was to be 'till the Daystar rise,' so now He Himself shall be our Bible.

      O then, even because of this hope, hasten on to that day! He will clear up all difficulties about texts, doctrines, trying providences in our lot, and we shall say like Job (42:3), 'I have opened my mouth without knowledge. I have uttered . . . . things too wonderful for me.'

      Hasten on, for even this Feast we keep to-day with elements of bread and wine only till the better come, namely Himself. So we study the Word and Ordinances and are changed thereby (2 Cor. 3:18) only till He Himself come, when at once (1 John 3:2) 'we shall be like Him.'

      On that day shall Isa.29:18 be accomplished: 'The deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity,' for the fulness of the Holy Ghost shall be in us from Him.

      Hasten on, for then will (Rev. 7:17) these 'fountains of living waters' be ours; discoveries of God's name and heart; verses like John 3:16 shall be opened up to us. There is much in Rev. 3:12 to excite expectation.

      Hasten on. The day is near. Keep in mind the signs of the times: the ending of the twelve hundred and sixty days at hand, 'distress of nations with perplexity,' the three unclean spirits, the running to and fro of many, knowledge increased, the Gospel preached to all nations. The time of the end is near.

      O workers,--elders, teachers, missionaries,--He will tell you the fruit of your labours then, though now you often say, 'I have laboured in vain.'

      O sinner, quickly come to Him, whose death we have shown to-day. There is 'no salvation' otherwise. He will receive you, and your soul will be enlarged and taught by our Prophet in the 'ages to come.' If you do not, you will be degraded in the scale of being when your former friends are above angels; all because you would not take the key that opens the door, Christ Himself. 'If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.'

      Satan's great aim is to blind you to this till it is too late.

      Transcribed from Reminiscences of Andrew A.Bonar D.D.