And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.
—Revelation 1:17-18

Here we have Christ manifesting Himself, sixty or more years after the resurrection, to the beloved disciple. John “fell at His feet as dead.” In answer to Moses’ prayer to “show me thy glory” (Exodus 33:18), God had said to him, “Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live” (verse 20). Man’s sinful nature cannot receive the vision of the divine glory, and live; it needs the death of the natural life for the life of God in glory to enter in. When John fell at Christ’s feet “as dead,” it proved how little he could endure the wonderful heavenly vision.

When Christ laid His right hand upon John He said, “Fear not.…I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” He reminded John that He Himself had passed through death before He could rise to the life and glory of God. For the Master Himself and for every disciple, there is only one way to the glory of God. That way consists of death to all the nature that has been in contact with sin and cannot enter heaven.

This lesson is a deep and necessary one for all who desire Jesus to manifest Himself to them. The knowledge of Jesus, fellowship with Him, and the experience of His power are not possible without the sacrifice of all that is worldly in us. The disciples experienced this. When Christ spoke about forsaking one’s father and mother, about taking up the cross, about losing one’s life for His sake—in everything He said, down to the days before His death, when He said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it” (John 12:24–25)—He made this the one great charge: deny self, bear the cross, and follow Me.

What is the secret of getting into touch with the Lord Jesus, so that His abiding presence will be our daily portion? Let us accept the lesson—through death to life. In the power of Christ Jesus, with whom we have been crucified and whose death now works in us, if we will yield ourselves to it, death to sin and to the world is to be the deepest law of our spiritual lives. The disciples had followed Christ to the cross. That was what prepared them to receive the Master’s words: “Lo, I am with you alway[s]” (Matthew 28:20).