Jesus. And it is again where the prophet of God saw it going in that
chapter, that is, in heaven. Only it is now gathering the fulness of the
Gentiles there, receiving to itself the "holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling." The Holy Ghost has come forth to tell us here of the
glory there, to form us into association with its own wondrous history,
or to make its portion our portion.
Such is the place, and such the action, of the glory now.
But there is another stage in its history still. Ezekiel sees it return
to the very spot from whence it set out. Ezekiel xliii. It had never
sought any other place on earth. If Zion be unprepared for Jesus, the
earth must lose Him, for of Zion alone has He said, "This is my rest for
ever." But the glory does return, as we see in that chapter of Ezekiel.
And then will arise that system commonly known by the name of "the
millennium," when Jesus will become the centre, the true ladder which
Jacob saw, the sustainer of all things in heaven and on earth,
reconciling all by His blood, and then gathering all in Himself to
spread His glories over all. See Isaiah iv. 5, 6.
Thus the two parts of the future kingdom, the heavenly and the earthly,
have been pledged again and again from the beginning; one witness after
another, called forth in the dispensations, has, as we have seen, been
telling of His counsels; and the millennium will be the owning of these
pledges, and the accomplishment of the promises of these heavenly and
earthly witnesses.
It has been grateful to my own soul to think of the _intercourse_ of
heaven with earth, in the progress of this varied and wondrous history.
I mean in the visions, or the dreams, or the angelic visits, which at
times the people of God have enjoyed. The audiences of divine oracles
are of this character also. All these show that the heavens had access
to the earth, and had but to pass through a thin veil to meet or reach
it.
While the earth was undefiled, the Lord God walked in the garden. And
afterwards, though He was in some sense estranged from earth, yet He was
ever ready to visit it in the behalf of His elect, as in the histories
of Abraham, Joshua, Gideon, and others. The ladder which Jacob saw, with
its top in heaven and its foot on the earth; the passing and repassing
of Moses in and out between the Lord and the people; the elders going up
and seeing the God of Israel; Solomon's ascent from his own house up to
the house of the Lord, these are notices of intercourse between the
heavens and the earth in the days of the kingdom. So that bright and
memorable hour, when Jesus was transfigured, in company with Moses and
Elias, in the sight of Peter, James, and John. So the occasional
appearances of Christ to His disciples after He had risen. And so the
vision of the descending and ascending sheet. The heavenly things at
such moments unfold themselves to the eye of man, and give sweet notice
of their nearness to us. We do not as yet perceive this nearness, for
the glory is not yet in its millennial place over the city of the Jews;
but faith reads these notices of this nearness, and understands them.
Isaiah iv. Faith, in Elisha, knew that the Lord of hosts was nigh, and
he prayed that his servant might have his eye opened to see that the
mountains around him were filled with the chariots and horses of heaven;
and in the millennial kingdom all this will be to sight. The heavenly
glory, or glory of the golden city, will shine over the Jerusalem of the
land of Israel. On all her habitations it will be a covering. The ladder
will be erected, with its head in the heavens and its foot on the earth;
the same blessed Lord will be the centre of all things; and, as in the
different parts of one temple, the services of praise and joy will be
celebrated, every tongue confessing Jesus Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
The _pure moral happiness_ that will be enjoyed by reason of this
intercourse, is also sweetly pictured in different types and prophecies.
As at the meeting of Jethro and Moses, of Solomon and the Queen of the
South; as in Isaiah lx., or on the holy Mount, or in the holy Jerusalem.
What right affections do we find in all these intercourses! What pure
social pleasures are, as I have said, pictured before us! At the mount
of God how naturally Moses at once takes the place of the inferior, and
Aaron too; and how gracefully Jethro, representing the heavenly man,
fills the duties and wears the honours of their superior! And with what
joy of heart, and praise on his lips, does he listen to the tale of
God's mercies to Israel! In the Queen of the South what unenvious and
ungrudging generosity of soul we witness, and in Solomon what readiness
to make her happy! He tells her all that was in her heart, and more
besides, filling her with such light and joy, that, it is said, there
was no more spirit in her; and she returns home, not to envy his
greatness, but to spread the report of it. From Isaiah lx. we learn how
gladly will all the nations, in the day of the kingdom, wait on
Jerusalem with their treasures. Even like the flight of doves to their
windows will be the willing-hearted journeys of the dromedaries of
Midian, or the voyages of the ships of Tarshish, with their treasures
and their spoils, to nourish the joy and glory of Zion. They will
delight to do her honour, and all will be with the glow and fervency of
a free-will offering. As afterwards, in the case of Peter on the holy
Mount; when he awoke to the sight and sense of the heavenly glory, such
joy filled his soul as, at once, and by its own necessity, expelled all
selfishness from his heart. It was not Peter properly who spoke, but the
virtue of the place, the spirit of the scene. He was, as in the
twinkling of an eye, so filled with the air and breath of heaven, that
he was ready to labour and let other men enter into his labours.
"Master, it is good for us to be here," said he; "let us make three
tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." And,
again, in the holy Jerusalem, what is the commerce there between the
families of God? All that is most blessedly of the same great and
generous character. The kings bring their glory and honour up to the
light of the city, counting it their place and their joy to do her
honour, not lightly approaching her, but, as owning her holy dignity,
bringing _only their glory and their honour_ up to her. And she
dispenses her treasures with the same gracefulness. The leaves of her
tree, the light of her glory, the streams of her living river, are all
at the welcome disposal of the nations.
All these shadowy expressions of the social delights of millennial days
will be deeply prized by us, if we love the exercise of pure, unselfish
affections.
But in this intercourse it is the heavens that will visit the earth, and
not the earth the heavens--the people of the one will come down to the
other, but not the contrary--the people of the earth will only have to
receive and welcome the visitants from heaven.
The kingdom of nature, as we may call it, exhibits this. For the earth
gives nothing to heaven, but receives from it; as the sunshine and the
rain come down to bless the earth, but the earth adds nothing in
return.[37]
[37] The saints of the present age, being heavenly in their calling,
should be heavenly also in the spirit of their mind, and
consciously, in all their tastes and desires, only as strangers,
and not at home, in the earth; a people, as another once said, not
as looking up from earth to heaven, but as looking down from
heaven to earth.
But in this coming intercourse of the heavens and the earth, when the
people of the heavens go up and down the mystic or millennial ladder, I
have thought that Scripture leads us to judge that there will be change
of raiment, or a certain veiling of their proper glory, when they come
down, and have communion with the earth beneath them and under them.
The expression of this we get in the Lord's appearances after He rose
from the dead. For then He could assume any veil which suited the
business He had to do, whether that of the gardener to Mary, that of a
travelling companion to the two going to Emmaus, or that of a courteous
stranger on the banks of the lake to the fishermen. In such appearances
He could not be seen in heaven; but He could thus veil Himself when the
business He had in hand to do on the earth required it. As of old, Moses
was the unveiled Moses in the presence of God, but the veiled Moses in
the sight of Aaron and the congregation. One suit of raiment was fitted
to heaven, another to earth. And as also, in the case of the priests,
they had such apparel as became them when they were _within_, and they
had another dress wherein to appear _without_. They suited themselves
differently to the presence of God and the people. See Lev. vi. 11; xvi.
4, 23, 24; Ezek. xlii. 14; xiv. 19.
And, besides, we see this changeful appearance of the Son of God in old
times. He had various suits wherein to show Himself, and wherein to veil
the brighter glory which was fit only to the higher regions. He was in a
burning bush at Horeb, in a cloudy chariot through the wilderness, and
as an armed soldier under the walls of Jericho. Joshua v. 13. The
business of the kingdom, the concerns of the earth, called Him here; and
He appeared in a way suited to the business He had to do. And all these
are notices of the change of raiment, in which those who are to govern
"the world to come," and to do the matters of the kingdom on earth, may
wait on their ministry here, and then return to appear again unveiled in
their more proper heavenly places.
But in addition to this doctrine of heavenly and earthly places and
peoples, in the days of the coming glory, and in addition to the truth
of there being blessed and wondrous intercourse between them, as I have
been shortly stating, we might meditate on some of the joys and glories
_peculiar_ to each of them.
To rise and meet the Lord in the air is the hope which is the most
immediately upon the heart of the believer. Then the going with Him to
the mansions in the Father's house. As He says, "I will come again, and
receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." And
that house will give exercise to all those family affections which the
heart so well understands. The Father will be there, and the First-born
among many brethren, and the many brethren themselves. And to extend
these relationships, and awaken affections to the full, there will be
the marriage there, and the now espoused or betrothed Church will become
the bride of the Lamb. Rev. xix.
There are scenes of glory also, and occasions of other joy, accompanying
this. In those heavens there will be the "Holy Jerusalem," the dwelling
of the saints as a royal priestly people, the place of _government_ and
of _worship_. And there will be the Tree of Life, and the River of Life,
and the Light, and the Throne of God and the Lamb. And the saints will
be there as harpers, not having cymbals and timbrels of merely _human_
skill, fitted to raise the joys of earth (Ps. xcviii.), but having
"harps of God," instruments of divine workmanship, fitted to awaken
melody worthy of heaven itself. And the enthroned elders will be there,
casting their crowns before the throne, and the angels delighting to
ascribe all power and authority to the Lamb that was slain.[38]
[38] Another once observed, that the moment of highest rapture in
heaven is not when the saints _wear_ their crowns, but when they
_cast them down_ before the throne. Rev. iv. 10.
And throughout all this there will be nothing to trouble or to hinder.
As on earth, in those days, "nothing will hurt or destroy in all God's
holy mountain," so, in the heavens, there will be no entrance to
anything defiling. There can be no enemies, for they have been judged;
no serpent, for he has been trodden under foot. There will be no
weariness of heart, no coldness or dulness of soul, no fainting of
spirit; but the servants will serve without fault, and night and day
there will be the happy worship, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty."
This heaven too will be one scene of God's own rest or sabbath; and the
saints, in their measure tasting the same refreshing, will dwell in that
rest in bodies fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. They shall be
like Him in His glory, seeing Him as He is. They shall shine "as the
sun" in the kingdom of their Father. In mind, body, and estate they will
be conformed to the Beloved. And there will be the seeing or
understanding of all the precious revelation of God, not as through a
glass, darkly, but as face to face, knowing even as we are known. And
there will be the white stone; the hidden manna; the morning star; the
white robes, wherein to stand before the throne of God; the white
garments, wherein to walk with the Lord through the dominions; and the
white raiment, wherein to sit on their own thrones. Rev. ii. iii. All
these will be ours then.
But this leads to a scripture which is very fruitful in notices of
heavenly joy and glory. I mean Rev. ii. iii. The promises there made
will be found, I believe, to unroll before us, in holy and exact order,
the things which await the saints of the heavens in those coming days.
_Ephesus._--"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."
Those outside shall have the _leaves_ of this same tree for healing
(Rev. xxii.), but the saints of the heavens shall have more--the very
fruit of the tree itself, gathered, as it were, immediately from it,
where it grows in the midst of God's own garden; not the fruit brought
to them, but gathered by their own hands off the very tree. Strong
intimation of the freshness, the constant freshness, of that life which
is theirs. As Jesus says (and what can pass beyond such words?),
"Because I live, ye shall live also." Here, in this promise to Ephesus,
is the tree of life partaken of immediately by the heavenly saints. For
this is their portion, to receive life from the very fountains and roots
themselves, and there also to feed and to nourish it.
_Smyrna._--"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life.... He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."
This is something beyond what had been said to Ephesus. Life was
regarded as _imparted_ in its richest form to Ephesus; but here we see
it _gained_ by Smyrna. For Smyrna was sorely tried. Some were cast into
prison, and all of them were in tribulation. They were to suffer many
things, but they are promised, on being faithful unto death, a _crown_
of life. As James in like manner speaks, "Blessed is the man that
endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of
life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." Here the
crown of life is promised to them who endure trial. And this is
beautiful in its season. The Lord delights to own the faith of His
saints; and if they have shown that they loved not their life in this
world unto death, it shall be as though they had gained it in the world
to come. Life shall be a crown to them _there_, as the glorious reward
of their not having cared for it _here_.
_Pergamos._--"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."
We have another source of joy disclosed here. _Life_ is possessed, and
that abundantly and honourably, as we saw, at Ephesus and Smyrna; but
there is here the promise of another joy--_the sense of the Lord's
personal favour and affection_; communion with Him of such kind as is
known only by hearts closely knit together in those delights and
remembrances with which a stranger could not intermeddle. This is here
spoken of to the faithful remnant in Pergamos. They had held His faith
in the midst of difficulties, and clung to His name; and this should be
rewarded with that which is ever most precious--tokens of personal
affection, waking the delightful sense and assurance that the heart of
the Lord is knit to their heart. He will kiss the saint "with the kisses
of His mouth;" or, in the midst of it all, give that pledge which shall
speak it. It is the _hidden_ manna which is here fed upon; and the stone
here received has a name on it, which _none know but he who receives
it_. This, as another has said, expresses individual affection. It is
not public joy, but delight in the conscious possession of the Lord's
love. How blessed a character of joy in the coming days is this! _Life_
possessed in abundance and in honour we have already seen at Ephesus and
Smyrna; but here, at Pergamos, we advance to another possession--not
_glory_ in any form of it as yet, but the blessed certainty and
consciousness of the Lord's _personal affection_.
_Thyatira._--"He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to
him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers,
even as I received of My Father; and I will give him the morning star."
Here we reach _public scenes, scenes of power and glory_. This is not
merely life, though enjoyed never so blessedly, nor simple personal
affection and individual joy, but here is something displayed in honour
and strength abroad; here are power and glory in the first character in
which the glories of the saints are destined hereafter to be unfolded;
_i.e._, in their being the companions of the Lord in the day when He
comes forth to make His enemies His footstool; or, according to the
decree of the second psalm, to break them with a rod of iron, to dash
them in pieces like a potter's vessel. This will be His power just as He
takes the kingdom. This will be His ridding out all that would have been
inconsistent with the kingdom. This will be the girding of the sword
upon the thigh, like David, ere the throne be ascended, like Solomon.
Psalm xlv. It will be the Rider's action, ere the reign of the thousand
years begins. Rev. xix. And in that exercise of power, and display of
glory, the saints (as we are here instructed and promised) shall be with
Him. This is blessed in its place, and given to us in due season; for,
_after the life_, and the _personal, hidden joy_, the _public glories_
begin to be ushered forth.
_Sardis._--"They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He
that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will
not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his
name before My Father, and before His angels."
This is a stage onward in the scenes of glory. The vengeance has been
taken, the sword of Him who sits on the white horse has done its
righteous service, the vessels of the potter have been broken, and the
kingdom has come. Jesus here promises to His faithful ones that He will
confess them before His Father and His angels. This is not redeeming
them from judgment, or saving their souls (as we speak), but _publicly
owning them before the assembled dignities of the kingdom_. He promises
them that they shall walk with Him in white, for they are worthy. That
hand which now in grace washes their feet, will then take hold of them
in holy, happy intimacy, and own full companionship with them in the
realms of glory. They shall _walk_ with Him.
What a character of joy is this! To be _publicly_ owned, as before (as
we read of Pergamos) privately and personally caressed. In how many ways
does the Spirit of God trace the coming joy of the saints! The life, the
love, the glory, that are reserved for them; the tree of life, and its
crown too; the white stone, carrying to the deepest senses of the heart
the pledge of love; and then companionship with the King of glory in His
walks abroad through His bright and happy dominions. But even more than
this the same Spirit has still to tell.
_Philadelphia._---"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the
temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him
the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New
Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write
upon him My new name."
We have just seen the heir of the kingdom as the companion of the Lord
of the kingdom, abroad in the light of the glory, walking there in white
with Him, owned before the Father and before the angels. Here the
promise is, that _the faithful one shall have his_ _place in the system
of glory itself_, that he shall be of that glorious order of kings and
priests who shall then form the character of the scene, each of them
being a pillar in the temple, and each enrolled as of the city High and
holy dignities! Each of the faithful ones filling his place in the
temple and the city, a needed member of that royal priesthood then
established in their holy government in the heavens, where the New
Jerusalem abides and shines. What honour is put on them here! Owned
_abroad_ in companionship with the Lord, walking through the rich and
wide scene of glory; and also owned _within_, as bearing, each in
himself, a part of the glory, every vessel needed to the full expression
of the light of the New Jerusalem, and formed as the vital part of the
fulness of Him who is to fill all in all! A king and a priest, each of
them occupying his several rank and station in the temple and the city,
the Salem of the true Melchisedec. What a place of dignity! Surely love
delights to show what it can do, and will do. If we had but hearts to
prize these things, chiefly because of their telling us of this love
which has thus counselled for us! For what higher, happier thought can
we have, even of glory itself, than that it is the manner in which love
lets us know what it will do for its elect one. Poor, poor _heart_ that
moves so little at these things, while the _mind_ stirs the conception
of them!
_Laodicea._---"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His
throne."
Here _the highest point of glory is reached_. This is the bright and
sunny elevation up to which this passage through the joys and honours of
the kingdom has conducted us. Here the faithful one enters into the joy
of his Lord, sharing His throne; not only owned by Him abroad, and
established with Him within, walking in white with Him, or fixed as a
needed and honoured portion of the great system of royal priesthood, but
with Him seated in the supreme place.
These pledges and promises may now end. They have told of blessedness
indeed.
Exceeding great things have surely passed before us in this wondrous
scripture, Rev. ii. iii. The tree and crown of life---the white
stone---the morning star---the walking abroad with Jesus through the
realms---residence in the temple and city---a place on the throne
itself! Surely, if Jesus Himself be prized, then will all this be
welcomed by us. And then, as we are further told, the joy of dispensing
to the earth the streams of that living river, and the leaves of that
living tree, which rises and grows in our heavens (Rev. xxii.); with
access, moreover, to the ladder which lies between the upper and lower
regions, in order, as I have been already observing, to do the business
of the kingdom, in conscious royal dignity, and full priestly holiness.
The glory also shall be revealed _in_ us, each saint shall bear it or be
a vessel of it, and each of them shall be a child of light and a child
of the day, and each a son of glory, glorified together with Christ, so
as to join with Him in shedding light, beyond that of the sun or the
moon, upon the creation beneath, that the present earnest expectation of
that creation may be satisfied in the then "manifestation of the sons of
God."
"And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads."
They shall be intimately near Him, speaking face to face, as a man
speaketh to his friend, without fear or suspicion, for their title shall
be signed and sealed as with His own hand. He will have appropriated
them to Himself; and this they shall know, because His name shall be on
them. And there, as within all veils, they will walk in their heavenly
temple, and look on their Lord, and love, and wonder.