Thy children shall all be holy or righteous, and "great shall be the
peace of thy children; and the nations of them that are saved shall
walk in the light of it." Surely the Holy Ghost would never have
spoken such a word as this if he had not intended to show us that at
the day of the setting up of this Jerusalem, a great harvest of
sinners shall be gathered by the grace of the gospel. But the truth
is, the Scriptures go with open arms towards the latter end of the
world, even as if they would grasp and compass about almost all
people then upon the face of the whole earth with the grace and
mercy of God: "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
Never was fair weather after foul, nor warm weather after cold, nor
a sweet and beautiful spring after a heavy and nipping and terrible
winter, so comfortable, sweet, and desirable and welcome to the poor
birds and beasts of the field, as this day will be to the church of
God. Darkness! it was the plague of Egypt; it is an empty, forlorn,
desolate, solitary, and discomforting state. Wherefore light, even
the illuminating grace of God, especially in the measure that it
shall be communicated unto us at that day, it must needs be
precious. In light there is warmth and pleasure. It is by the light
of the sun that the whole universe appears unto us distinctly, and
it is by the heat thereof that every thing groweth and flourisheth;
all which will now be gloriously and spiritually answered in this
holy and new Jerusalem. O how clearly will all the spiders and
dragons and owls and foul spirits of antichrist, at that day, be
discovered by the light hereof. Now also will all the pretty and
little birds in the Lord's field, most sweetly send forth their
pleasant notes, and all the flowers and herbs in his garden spring.
Then will it be said to the church by her husband and Saviour, "Rise
up, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time
of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is
heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and
the vine with her tender grapes give a good smell." You know how
pleasant this is, even to be fulfilled in the letter of it, not only
to birds and beasts, but to men; especially it is pleasant to such
men as have for several years been held in the chains of affliction.
It must needs therefore be most pleasant and desirable to the
afflicted church of Christ, who hath lain now in the dungeon of
antichrist for. above a thousand years. But, Lord, how will this
lady, when she gets her liberty and when she is returned to her own
city, how will she then take pleasure in the warmth and spangling
beams of thy shining grace, and solace herself with thee in the
garden, among the nuts and pomegranates, among the lilies and
flowers, and all the chief spices!
"And in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of
fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations."
This tree of life is the Lord Jesus Christ; and that he is here
called a tree, is to show how fruitful and exceeding advantageous he
in all his benefits will be to the inhabitants of this city. This is
the tree under whose branches the fowls of heaven shall now most
safely lodge, and find relief from the hot and fainting beams of the
persecuting sun of this world.
In that he saith this city hath a tree of life in it, he alludes to
the garden of Eden, the pleasant paradise that God began the world
withal; whereby he signifies, that as the world began with a
paradise, so also it shall end with a paradise, when sin and Satan
have done their worst. This new Jerusalem shall be the wind-up of
the world; and in it shall stand the tree of life, as there stood
one in the goodly garden which was the beginning thereof.
Now this tree of life being in the midst of this city, it signifies
that the inhabitants of it shall be sweetly shadowed, refreshed, and
defended with its coolness, and also sweetly nourished and comforted
with its dainties. "As the apple-tree is among the trees of the
wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." Indeed the
shadow of this tree of life, as always it is refreshing to the
tempted and weary, so now it will be far more: "They that dwell
under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn and
grow as the vine, and the scent thereof shall be as the wine of
Lebanon." His shadow will make us return, that is, to our first
love--to the days of our youth, to our young, fresh, tender, and
flourishing faith, love, and self-denial, that we received in the
day of our espousals.
O they will be green, savory, reviving, flourishing, growing
Christians that shall walk the streets of the new Jerusalem.
Now there shall be a oneness of judgment and understanding in the
hearts of all saints; they shall be now no more two, but one in the
Lord's hand.
Alas, the saints are yet but as an army routed, and are apt
sometimes through fear, and sometimes through forgetfulness, to
mistake the word of their Captain-general the Son of God, and are
also too, too prone to shoot and kill even their very right-hand
man. But at that day all such doing shall be laid aside, for the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the
waters cover the sea: which knowledge shall then strike through the
heart and liver of all swerving and unsound opinions in Christ's
matters; for then shall every one of the Christians call upon the
name of the Lord, and that with one pure lip, or language, to serve
him with one consent.