What does it mean that the Lord is at hand (Philippians 4:5)?

That is what we have in verse 5 of our chapter, "Let your moderation (or, gentleness) be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand". The word means He is near, ready to deliver.

Then follows the statement that will give such a powerful motive to act on this exhortation: "The Lord (is) near". This may mean (as far as the grammar goes) that the Lord is near to us: as He promised in Matthew 28: "Lo, I am with you alway," and in Psalm 34:18: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are broken of heart". Or it may mean that the coming of the Lord is near, when we shall be forever with the Lord.

Ver. 5. "Moderation" here, is "yieldingness," "gentleness," or mildness" not standing upon our rights; giving up rather than dishonour the Lord or grieve another. This ought to be seen in each of us. "The Lord is at hand" is the reason. That would apply to time or to place. So some take it as meaning His presence, as in Ps. 16. "The Lord … is at my right hand"; others again, that He will soon be here. You get that at the end of chap. 3. He is the object of our hope. He will soon be here so we can afford to be yielding. We don't want to be grasping here, or demand what as men we have a right to. We can afford to give in. Let us illustrate it. Suppose a man is working for a master, and that master always pays his due, and expects the man to be there at the proper time — that is a righteous man requiring righteousness. But if the man falls ill, and the master, instead of being only righteous, sends his wages every week — that is a good man, and the servant would feel 'I could die for him, he has been so kind.' Psalm 112. tells us what a good man is, so we need not go outside the word.

Verse 5 however would remind us that such joy should be tempered by a gentleness or moderation that should be evident to all men. If the joy in the Lord is real - not mere effusion - we shall have a readiness to yield our own rights, a gentle reasonableness that seeks not self-importance or self-assertion, so that some have suggested the word "yieldingness" in place of "moderation." This will be possible in just such measure as we realise that "the Lord is near." It is the blessed experience of "enduring as seeing Him who is invisible;" not exactly the expectation of His coming, but the sweet, present sense of His nearness.

Verse 5. 'Let your moderation be known unto all men,' etc. With a constant and unbroken joy in the Lord there should be associated that disposition of mind which was a special grace of His own character.2 In the word here used by the Apostle3 there are united, with perhaps equal force of expression, the three distinct notions of probity, gentleness, and a readiness to yield. It is a prime quality4 of the wisdom which comes from above, being a marked feature of that 'mind of Christ' which should be found in every believer. For it is by such testimony rather than by words that men are forced to acknowledge the genuineness of his lip-confession of that Name. It is a virtue which demands for its efficient exercise an habitual forgetfulness of self; and because self is never absent from our thoughts except when the Lord is by our side, he adds the comforting assurance of His constant nearness. There is a double force in the word 'near.' It has an obvious and pointed reference to the Lord's return from heaven, but it means also that felt present nearness which is known and enjoyed by such as put their individual trust in Him. It is in the Lord's absence that the unfaithful servant abandons meekness and self-forgetfulness in favour of carnal pride and self-seeking, while the imminency of His personal return is a constant incentive to the true servant to be conforming himself more and more assiduously to his Master's ways. And He will stand by all who manfully endeavour in the spirit of self-judgment to adorn the doctrine of their Saviour-God, even as He stood as a comforter by Paul in his afflictions for the Gospel's sake.5 For the Lord is ever a found help in time of trouble to His people. He is nigh to them that are of broken heart, and saves such as be of contrite spirit. He is nigh to all who call in truth upon His Name.6

The Apostle thinks of the envy and malice, the insults and affronts, the bitterness and evil speaking, that believers have to meet. In the presence of those things we have to beware of the natural tendency to answer the flesh by the flesh, to revile when reviled, and to seek to take revenge on an offender. We have neither to assert out rights nor avenge ourselves. All is to be met in "Gentleness" - the spirit of Christ. As the Apostle can say, "Let your gentleness be known of all men" (N.Tn). Gentleness is irresistible, but how can we act in a way so contrary to our natural tendency? Only as we realise that the Lord is our resource. Thus the Apostle can say, "The Lord is near" (N.Tn.). He is near to support us; as the Apostle can say, in another Epistle, when some did him much evil and all deserted him, "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me" (2 Tim. 4:17). He is near as the One to whom we can commit ourselves when reviled by others (1 Peter 2:23). He is near to act on our behalf in His own time and way, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Rom. 12:9). Realising His presence - that He is near - we can afford to be silent, and "be still," and learn that the Lord is God, a very present help in trouble (Ps. 46:1, 10).

Leaving the reader to trace out the same blessed features during His ministry, for they are "written large" by all the evangelists, we now desire to point out that what is seen in Christ should be exemplified by His people. The same apostle thus writes to the Philippians, "Let your moderation be known unto all men." This word "moderation" is the same as that which is translated "gentleness" in the passage under consideration; and this is really its true force. Another word has been suggested, namely, yieldingness; but yieldingness is only the expression of a gentle spirit. And in Philippians it is the outward conduct which is in view, and outward conduct or demeanour towards all, believers and unbelievers; for it says "to all men." The form then which gentleness would assume towards men would be that of never insisting on one's own opinions or fancied rights, but seeking with a chastened subduedness to retire and to take the lowest place in the presence of others, yielding everything to those around excepting where faithfulness to God and to His Word requires firmness. And what a powerful motive is given for the cultivation of gentleness in the words, "The Lord is at hand"! In view of His coming we may well be content to leave everything that affects ourselves to the adjustment of that day.

"Let your moderation [mildness] be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful [anxious] about nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." vv. 5, 6. To prayer is added thanksgiving, because the Lord is entitled to it. The heart should not forget what a God we are making our requests to. In the confidence of this let us thank Him, even when we are spreading our wants before Him. But he had said before this, "Let your moderation be known unto all men." Supposing there is someone who has seen us a little off our balance in standing upon our rights, real or imaginary, something which contradicted the gentleness of Christ, ought we not to feel humbled, and take an early opportunity to wipe off what may have given a false impression to that man's soul? God would have our readiness to yield, not resist, known, and this not sometimes or to some persons, but to all men. By moderation the Apostle means that spirit of meekness which can only be where the will is not allowed to work actively for that which we may desire. And what a reason why we need not be anxious to assert a claim, even when we are right! "The Lord is at hand." Where there is the happy feeling in the soul that one is doing that which pleases God, there is generally the readiness of trust in the Lord that puts aside anxiety and leaves all in His hands. Besides, He is coming soon.

(V. 5). Fourthly, in reference to the world we are passing through, with all its violence and corruption, the exhortation is "Let your gentleness be known to all men" (N. Tr.). In His own time the Lord will deal with all the evil and bring in all the blessing, and His coming is near. It is not for believers, then, to interfere with the government of the world, nor to assert their rights and fight for them. Our privilege and responsibility is to represent Christ, and thus exhibit the gentleness that marked the Lord. The Psalmist could say, "Thy gentleness has made me great" (Ps. 18:35). We belittle ourselves in the eyes of the world if we assert ourselves and oppose its government. If we exhibit the gentleness of Christ, the world itself will hardly be able to condemn, for, as it has been said, "Gentleness is irresistible."

Moreover, to encourage us to gentleness, the Apostle reminds us that "the Lord is near." There is no need for us to assert ourselves and seek to put the world right, for the coming of the Lord is near, and at His coming He will right every wrong.

May we not also say that, in another sense, the Lord is near to us, however little we may realize His presence. He hears and sees all that we say and do. How many a hard and violent word we may have uttered in unguarded moments that would never have been said had we realized His presence.