_THE LAMB ON THE THRONE_
"_In the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain!_"
--REVELATION v. 6-14.
How strange and unexpected is the figure! A lamb--the supreme type of
gentleness! A throne, the supreme symbol of power! And the one is in the
very midst of the other. The sacrificial has become the sovereign: the
Cross is the principal part of the throne. "I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all men unto Me."
Yes, this sovereign sacrificial Lord is to receive universal homage and
worship. "_Every creature which is in heaven and on the earth_" is to pay
tribute at His feet. And this, not by a terrible coercion, but by a
gracious constraint. We are not to be driven, we are to be drawn; we are
to move by love--compulsion: the Lamb in God is to win the wills of men.
And I, too, may take my harp and make melodious praise before my King. And
I, too, may fill the "golden vials" with my grateful intercession, and
heaven shall be the sweeter for the odour of my prayers. And I, too, may
sound my loud "Amen," the note of gladsome resignation to the sovereign
will of God. Yes, even now I may be one of "the multitude whom no man can
number," who, in a new song, ascribe all worthiness to "the Lamb that was
slain."