mind, as we speak; all will be right in our eyes; all will equally and
entirely please us, and be just as we would have it. This we see in the
book of Revelation, in the progress of which the heavenly family,
wherever they are seen or heard, are always found in the fullest concord
with the action that is going on. In chap. iv. the throne is getting
itself ready for judgment---lightnings, thunders, and voices proceeding
from it; but the elders and the living creatures have their doxologies
to the name of the Lord God Almighty, who sits and orders all. In chap.
v. the Lamb takes the book, and they again rejoice, taking their harps
to celebrate Him, and to make merry at the prospect which this sight
opens to them. In chap. xi. the seventh angel announces judgment, but
they have only to fall on their faces, and worship, and give thanks. In
chap. xii. the war in heaven and its issue is just as they would have
it; and with a loud voice they publish "Salvation!" In chap. xv. God's
_works and ways_, all things of His _counsel_ or His _strength_, form
the theme of their song. And in chap. xix. the judgment of the woman who
corrupted the earth calls forth again and again the hallelujah of the
glorified family. Thus all, from beginning to end, is equally and
altogether right in their eyes; all is exactly as they would have it.
They as loudly triumph in the Kinsman _Avenger_ (chap. xix.), as they do
in the Kinsman _Redeemer_. Chap. v. Everything is to them beautiful in
its season. The marriage of the Lamb, and the judgment of the great
whore, are equally and entirely according to their mind.
Different, far different indeed, from what is now felt by the believer.
As far as he is spiritual, nothing is fully right around him here. And
this is only increasingly so, as the world gets fuller of its own
inventions, and increases with the increase of man. And a judgment this
affords as to the state of our affections. For we may ask ourselves, How
are we moved by the present advance in the improvements of the world?
Are we congratulating ourselves and the age upon them, or are they
sickening to our hearts? This may be a touch-stone of the condition of
our souls, whether indeed Christ be our object or not. The great tower
in the plains of Shinar would have been the boast of a Nimrod, but Abram
would have turned from it to weep. Just as the merchants of the earth
bewail that which the heavens rejoice over. Rev. xviii.
And this is the great inquiry for us now---Is Christ the object of our
hearts---the One that we long for? For that He will be ours, and near us
and with us for ever, will be the highest point in all our rich
happiness in this future heaven which we have been looking at. Provision
for the _heart_ is always the dearest thought we can entertain. As with
Adam at the beginning. He was put into the possession of a goodly
estate, which carried with it all that could gratify the sense. There
were the trees and the fruits of that garden, pleasant to the eye and to
the palate. The desire of the one and of the other, and of all the
senses and faculties of man, might be _holily_ indulged, for the tree of
knowledge had not been then eaten. The Lord God was in the supreme
place, the creature was not then worshipped and served more than the
Creator, and all the senses might righteously take their enjoyments, and
the divine Planter of Eden had provided for them. Gen. ii. 9. Yea, and
more than this. Adam received _dominion_ from the same hand. The
natural--nay, the divine--delight in power and dignity was thus provided
for; for as the Lord God in the upper world called the stars by their
names, thus owning them, so did He give Adam on the earth to call the
cattle and the fowl by their names, thus taking headship of them. And in
this way he was set in the midst of these divine provisions for his eye,
his ear, his tastes, and his desire of dignity. But the heart was as yet
unfed. The day of his _coronation_ was not the day of his _espousals_.
And the Lord God knows him. He knows the creature whom in His love and
perfections He had formed. It is not good, says He, that he should be
alone, I will make him an help meet for him. And Adam receives Eve from
the same hand which had given him Eden with its fruits, and dominion in
the earth. And then it is that his lips are opened. "Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." "This is now bone of my bone,
and flesh of my flesh," says Adam, expressing his deep satisfaction, and
that he now needed no more. Eden could not, with all its delights for
the senses, nor could his vast and unrivalled dominion abroad, as
"monarch of all he surveyed," do what Eve did for him. She unsealed his
lips with a confession that _now_ he was satisfied. And so with us in
possessing Jesus, above all glory, in our heavenly Eden, for ever.
These, and the like notices of heaven scattered through the Word, it is
blessed to take up and ponder. And, as one has said, "The Holy Ghost,
who is called the earnest of our inheritance, acts upon these notices,
and makes them living to our souls." And it is these notices and
attractions which make us, in a divine sense, strangers and pilgrims
here. Abraham, it has been observed, became a stranger in the earth, not
from any sorrow or pressure in Mesopotamia, for we read of none such,
but because "the God of glory" had spoken in the language of "promise"
to him. He was drawn out from kindred and home and country by something
before him, and not urged or driven out by anything behind. This was
heavenly strangership here.
Is it thus, beloved, or are we desiring that it may be thus, with our
souls? Are we pondering the prospect, and following out the distant
glimpses of it, with fixed and interested hearts? These are the present
questions for the stirring and guiding of our souls. The search will
lead to humbling and rebuke, but it will be an excellent oil.
And, as if to give us full ease of heart in the enjoyment of this our
future heaven, the Lord has taught us to know that we are in some sense
_wanted_ there, however unimportant we may deem ourselves. For each is
to be a vessel of the glory, as we have already said; of larger or
smaller quantity it may be, but still each is a _needed_ vessel in that
house of glory. We commonly think how necessary the Lord is to us. True
indeed. We shall celebrate the fact that we owe everything to Him
throughout eternity. But it is also a truth (to the praise of the riches
of grace be it spoken) that we are necessary to Him. "The woman is the
glory of the man." Not in the same way, surely. He is necessary to us
for _life_ as well as for joy, for _salvation_ as well as for glory; but
we are important, of course, only to His joy and glory; as it is
written, "That we should be to the praise of His glory;" and again,
"That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His
grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Eph. ii 7.
The Lord God consulted for Adam's joy when He purposed in Himself to
form Eve. Eve, we may know full well, was abundantly happy in Adam; but
still the concern of the Lord was about Adam being happy in Eve. So it
is even now in the dispensation of the Gospel. The true Adam is still
consulted for. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which
made a marriage for his _son_." And so will it be still in the
dispensation or age of the glory. It is called "the marriage of the
Lamb"--not, as once observed to me, the marriage of the Church or of the
Lamb's wife, but _of the Lamb_, as though _the Lamb_ were the One
chiefly interested in that joy.
And so it is. The Church will have her joy in Christ, but Christ will
have His greater joy in the Church. The strongest pulse of gladness that
is to beat for eternity will be in the bosom of the Lord over His
ransomed Bride. In all things He is to have the pre-eminence; and, as in
all things, so in this--that His joy in her will be greater than hers in
Him.
And all the foreknown to that end, and none less than _all_, will form
the Eve of that Adam, and be the Bride or the Woman destined thus to be
the Man's joy and glory. _All_ here are _now_ "fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth," and no less _then_ will
the _all_ be demanded. Oh, how the Lord not only prepares the heaven,
but in this way prepares the heart for it, that we may enjoy it with
_entire ease_, seeing ourselves a needed portion of the holy furniture
of the place! As Joseph would comfort his brethren by telling them that
it was God who had sent him into Egypt before them, that life might be
preserved by a great deliverance. Their wicked hands had done it, it is
true; but God's purpose had done it also, and it is this He would have
them now think of, and not the other. For this is the way of love; and
"God is love." Love will not only spread the feast, but do what it can
to let it be tasted with all confidence and joy of heart. Love will make
the guests _sit_ at the table, give them a plentiful board, and ease
while enjoying it.
Can we, beloved, read these notices of the heaven that is to be ours
by-and-by, and for ever, and, as we read, wish our hearts joy that it is
so? Can we count ourselves happy, having such prospects as these? As the
miser can bear the scorn of the world without, in the thought of his
treasures at home, can we in the hope of this joy of heaven live above
the earth and its promises?
Such things, however, as these, excellent as they are, have something
still further with them. The _air_ of a place is more important to us
than its _scenery_. If we can get both, of course the better; but if we
can have but one, the good air will be surely preferred.
Now, heaven, I may say, will have both. It will be filled with a moral
element or atmosphere, as well as furnished with glories; and the former
(I speak as a man) will be more in the account of our joy than the
latter.
I have found it well at times to ponder this, and to learn something of
that moral element that is to be the air of heaven. Scriptures which I
have already noticed test and prove the purity of that air. The
millennial atmosphere both in heaven and on earth will indeed be ever
fresh, laden with balmy fragrance. If we are now wearied with our own
selfishness, and with the tempers of "hateful and hating" human nature,
we must long for a change of air, such as the land of the glory is said
to know, the land of the voice of the turtle. If the brightness of those
regions, or the scenery of the place, have its attraction (and what
heart can conceive it?), what must be the atmosphere of it to our happy
souls, where social life, through all its relations, as between heaven
and earth, and as between Jerusalem, the land of Israel, and the most
distant islands, moves and kindles continually with the most generous
and delicate affections.
It is not that nature will be triumphed over merely; nature will not be
there; at least, not in the heavens which we are approaching. We shall
not have to speak of saints carrying themselves towards each other in a
good spirit. Such security is well in its place, and while we sojourn in
our "vile bodies." But there the element itself will be good. The
fervent currents of pure and happy minds, flowing from each to all, will
form it.
The moral dignity and beauty, the various and yet consistent perfections
that will animate us then, will all be bright and lovely before the
divine mind. God shall survey the work of His fingers through the
different spheres of glory, and rest with delight in it.
It is a thought much to be cherished, that our eternal ways will thus be
the divine delight, and more than make up to God (I speak again after
the manner of men) for the grief which, by us and in us, His Spirit is
now so continually put to.
Such will be the _moral_ enjoyments in the realms of glory; no small
part of that banquet at which the Lord will seat His guests, when He
comes forth and girds Himself to wait upon them. Luke xii. 37. We may be
but little able to comprehend the glory itself, but we can appreciate
these moral characteristics of the heaven we are reaching.
While still here, in the conflicts of flesh and spirit, we are, in some
sense, under the guardianship of _conscience_, that principle which
judges of "good and evil." But conscience will not keep heaven in order.
Our _passions_ and our _righteousness_ will there be one. Little do we
now advance in a heavenly direction by the gracious current of
affections. But what bliss, when the very energy which bears us
_speedily_ will also bear us _rightly_ onward---when the very gale which
fills the sails will regulate the rudder; the passion that engages and
delights the soul being the very rule and measure of all that is worthy
of the presence of God!
May we cherish in our souls these notices of heaven! Faint is their
impression; humblingly indeed do some of us know this; but we may
entertain them, and bid them welcome, grieved that our welcome is not
more warm and affectionate.
But the earth is still remembered, and kept in store for great purposes
yet to be accomplished. The rainbow was, of old, as we know, made the
pledge of this. It is a token of the covenant between God and all the
earth, and every living thing upon it. The Lord says, that when the
cloud comes, the bow shall be with it---when the portent of judgment
lowers, the sign of peace shall shine. And, as we see to this day, the
earth has not been again destroyed. It may not be the residence of the
glory, as it once was, and as it will be again, but still it is
preserved, according to the promise of the rainbow. And Scripture is
diligent and exact to show us, that in every variety of the divine
procedure, this promise has been, is, and will be remembered.
Thus it was surely remembered all the time the Lord had His seat in
Zion; for then the Lord made the earth His habitation. But when the
throne of the Lord leaves Zion, and the holiest of holies loses the
glory, because the earthly people had, by their sin, disturbed its rest,
and all returns to heaven (Ezek. i-xi.), we see the throne and the glory
carrying the rainbow with them. That is, though the earth was then
stripped of glory; though Jerusalem, the throne of the Lord, was then
for a season laid on heaps, and put under the foot of the Gentiles;
still the Lord would be mindful of the earth, and make it the object of
His faithful care, according to His promise. And thus we see the glory,
though it leave the earth, bearing with it the remembrance of the earth:
_the rainbow accompanies it to heaven_; this telling us, that though the
Lord leave the earth as the scene of His power and praise for a time, He
has it still in recollection before Him. Accordingly, when the heaven is
opened to our vision in Rev. iv. we see the faithful bow encompassing
the throne there. How blessed this is! The Lord in the heavens is still
mindful of the earth. He has thrown the very pledge of its security
around His throne on high, so that though the earth see not that throne,
and is no longer the place of that throne, that throne sees the earth
and remembers it, and longs, as it were, for its natural footstool.
This shows us the security of the earth during this heavenly
dispensation through which we are now passing. The Lord is now gathering
a people _for heaven_. It is true, He is not filling the earth with
glory yet, but gathering an elect family out from it, to have communion
with Himself in heaven; but still He is mindful of His promise. He looks
on the bow, and preserves the earth, keeps the seed-time and the
harvest, the cold and the heat, the day and the night, the summer and
the winter, in their stated rounds and seasons. Gen. ix.
How simple all this is. When the throne went first from earth to heaven,
we saw it bearing along with it the recollection of the earth; and now
in its place in the heavens we see it still clasping to its breast and
encircling across its brow this fond and loved token of the earth's
blessing. Ezek. i.; Rev. iv.
But there is still more. For let the Lord come down in the judgments
that are by-and-by to visit the earth, we shall find Him as fully
mindful of His promise not to destroy it, as now He is, or has been
hitherto. This we see in Rev. x. The mighty angel, the angel of
judgment, comes down; and he is clothed with a cloud, the fearful vessel
of wrath, and token of judgment; as was said at the beginning, "When I
bring a cloud over the earth." But even then the rainbow is with Him; as
it was added, "The bow shall be seen in the cloud." It is not simply
with a cloud He comes down, but with the cloud and the bow accompanying
it. See Gen. ix. 14; Rev. x. 1. As much as to tell us, that at the very
end He remembers His word, and will debate with judgment. He will say to
it, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." The cloud is to descend,
it is true; the judgment must come, the vials of wrath must be poured
out; but it is only to judge those who corrupt or destroy the earth, and
not to destroy the earth itself; for the mighty angel, as we see from
this scripture, who comes down "clothed with a cloud," has also "a
rainbow upon his head." And the cloud, as it executes its commission,
and pours out its water or its judgments again, must stay itself in
obedience to the bow that is to measure and control it. The present
course of things may cease, as in the days of Noah, but the bow shines
in the eye of the Lord. His promise lives in His heart, and the earth
shall be the happy scene and witness of its rich fulfilment.
Thus, then, we see that even the judgment itself shall not touch the
ancient promise to the earth. It is still beloved for Noah's sake, of
whom it was said, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and
toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed
(Gen. v.), that is, for His blessed sake whom Noah typified; and we need
not say, beloved, who He is. Therefore it survives the judgment, it
stands the shock of the descent of this mighty angel, though clothed
with a cloud, planting his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on
the land, and crying aloud as when a lion roars.
And what is it reserved for? For even more than the rainbow had promised
it. For this is the way of God. He takes up His pledges, and is faithful
_abundantly_, doing more exceedingly than He had spoken. And so is it in
this case of the earth. It is not only preserved, with its seed-time and
its harvest, its day and its night, but it is brought into the "liberty
of the glory of the sons of God." This is more than had been pledged to
it. The holy city descends out of heaven, to take its connection with
the earth; and, shining in due sphere above it, forth from its bosom it
sends the leaves of its living tree, the streams of its living water,
and the rays of its indwelling glory, to beautify and to refresh the
earth and its creatures below. Rev. xxi, xxii. The rainbow need not now
appear, for the cloud is gone. The bow would do well enough while there
was the cloud, the promise and the pledge might comfort, while there was
place for judgment, or for fear of evil; but now judgment is over. The
cloud is scattered, and the bow has therefore no place. But the holy
city descends out of heaven from God, to do more, much more, than merely
to redeem the divine pledge. For it is glorifying, and not merely
preserving, the creation. It shall then _rejoice_ in the presence of the
Lord, when He cometh to govern the earth.
Would not time fail to tell of all the types and prophecies of the
_earth's_ blessing in the days of the kingdom? The trees and the fields
and the floods, in their order, will then rejoice before the Lord. The
creation itself shall be delivered into the liberty of the glory of the
children of God. Psalm viii., with many a kindred voice, proclaims it.
The voice of every creature on earth, under the earth, and in the sea,
heard in vision by the prophet, anticipates it. Rev. v. And the promised
day, when "the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose," when "the
leopard shall lie down with the kid," and when "the heavens shall hear
the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil,"
will realize it. Isaiah xxxv.; Hosea ii.
And _the nations_, we know, will fill their place in this approaching
system of glory. They will turn their swords into ploughshares; and
instead of learning war, they will learn the ways of the Lord, and walk
in His paths. At the appointed season they will wait, each with his
offering, on the King in Zion, holding their high and joyous feast in
the presence of His greatness there. Then from the uttermost parts of
the earth shall be heard songs to the Righteous One. And then shall the
call of the prophet be answered by the willing hearts of all the people:
"Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the
earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles,
and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof
lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the
inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the
mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare His praise in
the islands."
_Israel_ then shall dwell safely--"every man under his vine and under
his fig tree." They shall be "all righteous;" they shall be all united;
they shall call every man his neighbour. "Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
nor Judah vex Ephraim." The two mystic sticks shall become one in the
prophet's hand. They shall be "one nation in the land upon the mountains
of Israel." And, as in the shadowy days of Solomon, it shall then be
said, "Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in
multitude, eating and drinking and making merry." Their merriment, too,
shall be holy. It shall be the joy of a sanctuary. "They shall
abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy
righteousness.... They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk
of Thy power." Within themselves, towards the nations around, and under
the God of their fathers, the God of their covenant, all shall be
blessing with Israel. For thus saith the Lord God, They shall dwell in
the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant.... I will make a
covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with
them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My
sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be
with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And
the heathen shall known that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when My
sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel xxxvii.
All this tells the tale of millennial joys on the earth. But in this
system, of earthly glory, beyond the _creation_ itself, _the nations_,
and _Israel_, there is a spot still more illustrious, an object
distinguished in the midst of even joys and dignities like these. I mean
_Jerusalem_.
And I have before now asked myself, Why is it that Jerusalem is made so
much of in Scripture? Why is it that "the Lord loveth the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob"?
It was _His_ court--the place of His presence both as the God and the
King of Israel. His palace and His sanctuary were there. The
administrations of His laws and the ordinances of His worship were
there. The thrones of judgment, the testimony of Israel, and the
eucharistic service of His name, were all known there. Psalm cxxii. It
was the place where Jehovah had recorded His name, and where the glory
dwelt, the symbol of His presence.
It was _His home_. The whole land was the Lord's demesne; but Jerusalem
was the mansion-house, the family dwelling. The children were placed out
here and there through the tribes and divisions of the land, which was
the family estate, but Jerusalem was the family mansion. It was the
father's house, the common home, where, at stated holy days, the
children met, according to the common way of the affection of kindred.
This, I believe, was Jerusalem's _first_ attraction in the eye and to
the heart of the Lord of Israel. He sought and He found a home at
Jerusalem, saying, "This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I
have desired it." And He left it, when sin had defiled it, with all the
hesitation and lingering which disappointed affection so well
understands. Ezekiel viii.-xi.