TEXT: "_Yea, saith the Spirit._"--Rev. 14:31.
The world has had many notable galleries of art in which we have been
enabled to study the beautiful landscape, to consider deeds of heroism
which have made the past illustrious, in which we have also read the
stories of saintly lives; but surpassing all these is the gallery of
art in which we find the text. Humanly speaking John is the artist
while he is an exile on the Island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. The
words he uses and the figures he presents are suggested by his
surroundings, and it would be difficult to imagine anything more
uplifting than the book of Revelation if it be properly studied and
understood. When John speaks of the Son of Man he describes his voice
as the sound of many waters--undoubtedly suggested by the waves of the
sea breaking at his feet. Locked in by the sea on this lonely island
he gives to us this Revelation for which every Christian should
devoutly thank God. His eyes are opened in an unusual way and before
him as in panoramic vision the past, the present and the future move
quickly, and he makes a record of all the things that he beholds. His
body is on Patmos but as a matter of fact he seems to be walking the
streets of the heavenly city and gives to us a picture of those things
which no mortal eye hath yet beheld. He describes the risen Christ.
It is a new picture, for as he beholds him his head and his hair are
white like wool, as white as snow; and yet it is an old picture he
gives, for he is presented as the Lamb that has been slain, with the
marks of his suffering still upon him, and these help to make his glory
the greater, and if possible to increase the power and sweetness of the
angels' music. He presents to us a revelation of the glorified church
and of the four and twenty elders falling down at the feet of Jesus,
casting their crowns before him and giving him all adoration and
praise. He cheers us with a knowledge of the doom of Satan, for in the
closing part of the book he presents him to us as bound, cast into the
pit and held as a prisoner for a thousand years, while in every other
part of the Bible he is seen going about like a raging lion seeking
whom he may devour. He gives to us some conception of the final
judgment, and the great white throne is lifted up before us; the dead,
small and great, stand before God, the books are opened and those whose
names are not found written in the book are cast away from his presence
forever; and then as a climax of the picture we have before us the new
heaven and the new earth. Again I say, there is nothing so wonderful
as Revelation if only we have the mind of the Spirit in its
interpretation.
In this text John is speaking of those who die in the Lord and the
whole verse reads as follows: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labors; and their works do follow them" (Revelation 14:13). Ordinarily
this text has been used only on funeral occasions, but literally
interpreted the text which stands as the heart of the verse may be read
as follows, "Amen, saith the Spirit." It would seem as if the Holy
Ghost were giving his assent to the truth which has been spoken.
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." It is like an old time
antiphonal service, when choir answered choir in the house of God; or,
to put it in another way, it is one of those remarkable interruptions
several instances of which are found in the Scriptures.
One is in Hebrews the thirteenth chapter and the eighth verse, "Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." According to the
revision this verse has an added word and reads as follows, "Jesus
Christ the same yesterday and to-day, _yea_ and forever." I call
special attention to the little word "yea." Somebody has said that it
is as if the Apostle were saying that Jesus is the same to-day that he
was yesterday, than which no thought could be more comforting. And it
would seem at the closing part of the verse as if the angels of God had
broken in upon his message to say, "Yea, and he is forever the same,"
which is certainly true. Could anything be more inspiring than to know
that we have the approval of the Holy Ghost of the things we say or
think?
There are many representations of the Spirit of God in the Bible. His
love is presented under the figure of the mother love, as in Genesis
the first chapter and the second verse; "And the earth was without
form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God _moved_ [or brooded] upon the face of the waters." In
this text the Spirit broods over the world as the mother bird hovers
over her little ones. We see him in the figure of the dove in Matthew
the third chapter and the sixteenth verse: "And Jesus, when he was
baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens
were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a
_dove_, and lighting upon him." And here we have a revelation of his
gentleness. Again he is presented to us under the figure of the wind,
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
_wind_, and it filled all the house where they were sitting" (Acts
2:2). Here we see his power. We catch a vision of him in the fire in
Acts the second chapter and the third verse, "And there appeared unto
them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them"; and
here we understand his cleansing influence. But here in this text we
have his directing power. It is as if he were giving particular
attention to all that John is saying and giving his approval to it
because it is the truth. Since the day of Pentecost he has occupied a
new position.
However, he has existed from all eternity. We behold him in his work
in the Old Testament Scriptures. But from the day of Pentecost the
affairs of the church have been committed to him, its organization, its
development, its services, whether it be the preaching, the praying or
the singing. We cannot ignore him, for he has to do with all the work
and with the preaching of the word. He convicts of sin. John 6:44,
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
and I will raise him up at the last day." He applies Christ to the
awakened sinner, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he
will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you
things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and
shall shew it unto you." He helps to interpret the Word of God because
he inspired men to write it. It is impossible to get along without
him. I put no mark of disrespect upon scholarship. I know what it has
accomplished; it has filled libraries with knowledge which has made the
world rich, it has weighed planets and given us almost a perfect
understanding of the heavenly bodies. It has estimated the velocity of
light until we have stopped to say, "Such things are too wonderful for
us." It has read the tracings upon obelisks, and made the past an open
book to us, giving us the secrets of men who have been thousands of
years in their tombs, but I do wish to say that that which comes to us
directly from the Spirit of God is beyond scholarship. Hear what Paul
has said to us in 1 Corinthians the second chapter and the ninth to the
fourteenth verses. "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the
spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no
man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of
the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak,
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned."
There are certain great truths to which I am sure the Holy Ghost would
say a deep amen.
I
The Bible _is_ the word of God--not simply that it _contains_ the word
of God, but is that very word.
Peter tells us where we got our Bible. 2 Peter 1:21, "For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." It is an inspired Book, and
inspiration is the inbreathing of God himself. This makes the Bible
different from every other book. We cannot study it exactly as we
study others. We may pick it up and say it is just paper, ink and
leather, like any other book, but we have missed the power of it if we
say this. We might say, "Jesus is just a man, eating, drinking,
sleeping, suffering like a man"; but we have missed his power if we say
only this, for the Bible is filled with God, and Jesus is God Himself.
Jesus said, "Ye must be born again if ye are to enter my Kingdom," and
this makes the difference in men. Because of this new birth one man
sees the things of God to which another would be totally blind, and
this makes the difference in books and leaves the Bible incomparably
beyond all other books.
How may we know that the Bible is the word of God? Not simply
scientifically, although the Bible is a scientific book; but not in
this way any more than we could find life in the body by cutting it up
with a knife. The Bible is like a sensitive plant; approach it in the
wrong way and it will close its leaves and withhold its fragrance.
Come to it reverently and there is no blessing that it cannot bestow.
1. Accept it by faith and act according to its principles. If God
exists, as we know he does, then talk with him; if Christ is here
presented to us with all his uplifting teachings, then walk with him;
if the promises of God are written here, as we know they are, then
present them to him expecting him to keep his word.
General Booth of the Salvation Army once said in a great meeting where
I was present that we were poor, weak Christians to-day because we were
not living up to our privileges as Christians. He described a young
man who had lost his position and had gone from one degree of poverty
to another until at last he was on the verge of starvation. With his
wife and little ones about him he sits in deepest gloom. There is a
rap at the door and the postman brings a letter which is a message from
a former employer who tells him that he has just learned of his
distress, that he will help him, and that in the meantime he incloses
his check for a sum of money which he hopes may make him comfortable.
A check is simply a promise to pay. The young man, says General Booth,
looks at it a moment and then begins to rush about the room in great
excitement. "Poor man," said his wife, "I knew it would come to this.
His mind is giving way." Then he presents the check to her and says,
"I know what I shall do with it. I will frame it and hang it on the
wall." Then again he exclaims, "I shall take it to my friend and have
him set it to music and sing it each day," and he might do both of
these and starve to death. What he should have done was to present it
for payment and live off of its proceeds. "We have been framing God's
promises long enough," said General Booth, "and singing them quite long
enough; let us now present them for payment, and we shall know that God
is true."
2. Live its truth. Whatever God presents as a principle translate into
your life and then believe that God will transform your living. It
will support you in trial and it will comfort you in the deepest sorrow.
The world was shocked by that great railroad accident which meant the
death of Mrs. Booth-Tucker, but when in Carnegie Hall Commander
Booth-Tucker stood to speak great words concerning his noble wife he
said: "I was once talking with a man in Chicago about becoming a
Christian and he said to me, 'If God had taken away your beautiful wife
and you were left desolate with your little children would you believe
in him?' And," said the Commander before his great New York audience,
"if that man is in this audience to-day let me tell him. God has taken
my beautiful wife and I am here surrounded by my children, but I never
believed in him more thoroughly and was never more confident of the
truth of his Word."