(Revelation, Chapters xx: 4-xxii.)
"On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life,
bearing twelve fruits."
"A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Ferned grot--
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not--
Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign;
'Tis very sure God walks in mine."
Day Is Coming.
It's a long lane that has no turning. Every valley leads up a hillside
to a hilltop. Every storm ends in sunshine at the last. Every night runs
out; the dawn _will_ break; the new day comes; the shadows flee before
the new shining. The battle for right will end in victory, and in a
decisive victory. There'll be no draw here. Faith wins at last. It's
been a long night of fighting. Sometimes it seems endless.
The man in the thick of the fight, with moist brow, and clenched hand,
and quick breath and throbbing heart, sometimes sobs out the prayer, "O
Lord, how long before the night is over, and the dawn breaks?" And
quietly through the smoke and din of the conflict a still, small voice
says, "Steady, my child, steady; the day is surely coming, and with day
victory; steady, steady a bit longer."
Now here in vision the fight is over, the victory won. And God's visions
always become realities. The vision is yet for the appointed time, and
it panteth breathlessly toward the realization, and will not fail nor
delay. Though it tarry, wait for it; it will certainly come on time; it
will not be late.[166]
In the seventh view the kingdom follows immediately that decisive
conflict and the putting of Satan out of the way for the time being. The
redeemed ones at once begin their blessed service of fellowship with the
King in reigning over the kingdom. Emphasis is placed on the fact that
at this time there has been a resurrection of believers. And these
resurrected ones join with those caught up without death in
administering the kingdom. This kingdom is said to last for a thousand
years, that length of time being named only here, and here six times.
There is much talk in our day about the kingdom. All Christendom has
been repeating for nineteen centuries the petition, "Thy kingdom come."
It will be of intense and practical interest to see just what the
kingdom is, as pictured in the Bible. It is barely mentioned in this
place in Revelation, to fit it into its place in the scheme of future
events being outlined.
But it is the chief theme in these old prophetic pages, around which all
others group. Immediate historical events furnish the setting, but there
is a continual swinging to the coming future greatness. The yellow
glory-light of the coming kingdom is never out of the prophetic sky.
Jeremiah is the one most absorbed in the boiling of the political pot of
his own strenuous time, but even he, at times, lifts his head and gets
such a glimpse of the coming kingdom as causes him to mix some rose
tincture with the jet black ink he habitually uses.
The Kingdom Picture.
Let us look briefly at the kingdom picture of these older pages. Its
capital is Jerusalem, which becomes the world capital. It will be the
joy of the whole earth. Israel will be the first nation of the earth, to
which all others will be tributary. But it will be not the Israel of
these old pages, nor the Jew as he is known characteristically
throughout history. Israel will be a new nation, made new in character
by the power of the Holy Spirit. The winsome picture of the baptized
crowds at Pentecost gives an inkling of the spirit that will sway the
new nation.[167] They will be a nation of radiant faces and thrilled
hearts.
The effect of this upon all other nations is marked. Through Israel's
regeneration and new leadership, every other nation is to know a new
spirit life. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Israel is to be
followed by an outpouring upon _all_ flesh. Pentecost is merely a
beginning of what is to be universal. There will be a widespread
voluntary coming to Israel for religious instruction. She becomes the
world's teacher until the knowledge of God covers the whole earth as the
waters cover the sea. But all this will be purely a voluntary movement
among the nations. There will be war no longer, but universal peace.
There's one part of the picture specially comforting. That vast
majority, _the poor_, will be specially guarded and cared for. There
will be no hungry people, nor cold, nor poorly clad; no unemployed
begging for a chance to earn a dry crust, and no workers fighting for a
fair share of the fruit of their toil. But there are yet tenderer
touches on the canvas. Broken hearts will be healed, prison doors
unhung, broken family circles complete again.
A recent issue of The Sunday School Times tells a simple, touching
incident of a mission hall in Korea. A Korean woman living in the
country heard of the wonderful things happening there, and came to town
to find out for herself, and get some help. But she didn't know where
the hall was, nor what name it was called. So she inquired on the
streets for the place where they _cured the broken heart_. And at once
she was directed to the mission hall. That sort of thing will become a
blessed commonplace in the beginning of the kingdom time.
Then there are certain radical changes in _nature_. Splendid rivers of
waters are to flow through or by Jerusalem, suggesting radical changes
in the formation of the land there. That fortress city, on the hilltop,
Jerusalem, becomes as the world's metropolis, a mighty city, with rivers
floating a world's commerce. The light of sun and moon will be greatly
intensified, so influencing the fertility of the earth. Before their
healing light and heat, in the newly tempered atmosphere, all poisonous
growths, the blight of drought, and suffering of untempered heat, will
disappear.
And with this goes a change in the _animal_ creation. Hate will be gone.
And so beasts that are dreaded because of their ferocity and treachery
and poisonous power will be wholly changed. There will be mutual
cessation of cruelty to animals by man, and of danger to man by animals,
for all hate and violence will be gone.
And some one raises his eyebrows sceptically and says, ironically, "What
fairy tale, what skipper's yarn, is this?" Well, I frankly confess that
I don't know anything about this matter, except what I find in this old
Book of God. But I confess, too, that I try studiously to get a
common-sense, poised, Spirit-enlightened understanding of what this Book
does tell. And then I accept it, and go by it, regardless of
probabilities or improbabilities. It may seem like a fairy tale, yet it
is only the picture of the coming kingdom soberly set forth in these old
pages.
As we turn to the Gospel pages we find the kingdom to be the chief thing
Jesus is talking about. The Gospel days are sample days of the kingdom
in the personal blessings bestowed. Read through these accounts of blind
eyes opened, the lame walking, the maimed made whole, the dumb singing,
the distressed in whatever way relieved, the ignorant instructed, the
sinful wooed, and the bad of heart and life being blessedly changed.
All this is a taste of the kingdom. Jesus was wooing men to accept King
and kingdom. To-day, as in all Church time, bodily healing is a
privilege for those who can take it, and a gift for the rare few who can
be entrusted with it. In these Gospel pages it was freely bestowed on
multitudes, and the gift exercised with power by many. Even so it will
be in the kingdom time.
Most of the parables are found to be connected in their first meaning
with explaining about the kingdom. The kingdom will follow the law of
growth that is common in nature, sowing, waiting, cultivating, and
reaping.[168] Its influence will spread gradually until all feel its
presence and power.[169] It must meet and deal with the obstacles
presented by different men's temperaments and dispositions and
temptations.[170] There will be opposition, gradually overcome, but
never fully.[171] Many will be carried along by the current of the day.
It will be a good current, for righteousness will be the common thing
then. But in their hearts many will long for something else, something
different.[172]
But to many, the new blessed kingdom message will come as a treasure
accidentally stumbled upon, not being looked for, but now valued as very
precious.[173] To others it will come as _the_ thing they have been
eagerly seeking for, and which satisfies the deepest yearnings.[174] One
who has had any touch with the pathetic yearning of years found in
non-Christian lands can better appreciate the results of this kind in
these glad coming days.
The _characteristic spirit_ of the kingdom stands sharply out in
contrast with the dominant spirit of our own time. The kingdom is said
to belong peculiarly to those who are "poor in spirit," in whom
self-assertion and pride have quite gone out, leaving them humble and
lowly in heart. The meek will inherit the earth, and will take down all
the walls and fences, for all conditions of life are radically changed.
The penitent man or woman will be freely received regardless of their
past, while the proud will find the doorway too low for their unbending
heads.[175]
Rewards in the kingdom will not be given as a matter of merit, as in our
present endless cutting and rivalry, but will be thought of wholly as
evidence of the graciousness of the King.[176] And yet more striking,
the rewards given will be the privilege of serving, some more, some
less, according as they have become skilled in serving.[177] He who
serves most truly will be given preferment.[178] The thing prized above
all else will be glad obedience to the King.
It will be seen that the kingdom is to be a time of world-wide
evangelization. Indeed this is _the purpose_ of the kingdom. There are
two periods of world-wide evangelization in our Lord's planning. The
present is the Church time of such evangelizing. This is, of course, the
true main objective of the Church. This is the reason for the Church's
existence, to take the message of a crucified risen Christ to all men,
that so the way may be prepared for His return, and through that for the
next period of evangelizing.
The kingdom period of world-wide evangelization is under radically
different conditions. Then the evil one will be removed from the scene
of action, the Holy Spirit will have been poured out upon all flesh, and
so the moral veil now upon men's eyes will be removed. The Jews, with
all their characteristic aggressiveness and perseverance, now
intensified by the Holy Spirit's presence, will be a nation of
missionaries to all the earth. The redeemed ones in their resurrection
bodies will have the blessed privilege of helping. And over all will be
the presence and supervision of the King, our Lord Jesus Himself. That
will be world-wide evangelization in earnest.
Such is a faint glimpse given in both Old and New Testaments of the
kingdom spoken of in these Revelation pages in such few words. Almost
the whole Bible lies back of those few words. What a time it will be for
this old earth! With renewed fervour our hearts repeat, "Thy kingdom
come."
The Final Crisis of Choice.
But it is made clear at once to John that the kingdom is not an end in
itself. It is a means to an end, a wonderful means to a blessed end. It
is startling to find that after that long blessed reign the evil one is
to be loosed out of his prison-abyss. This seems at first flush too
startling to be credible. But on reflection the reason becomes plain,
and reveals the strength as well as the tenderness of God's love.
All through the kingdom time there are those who are in heart opposed to
this new order of things. They long for the leeks and onions and garlic
of the old eating. There will be some yielding only a feigned allegiance
to the King.[179] That dragnet of the parable has gathered some fish
that didn't want to be caught, and want a chance to get away to their
own native waters again.[180] The tares of another parable are left in
with the wheat until the end reveals which is real wheat and which
really tares.[181]
The one thing God longs for is love. And that only is love which is the
free outpouring of the heart. He longs for love as our free choice. This
is the image of God in which we have all been made. We are most like God
in _power_, in the right of free choice. We are most like Him in
_character_ when we use our power as He uses His; when we choose what
He chooses for us. And so there must be a final time of sifting and
choosing.
Here is the strength of love, that dares loose Satan out that so we must
choose in the face of opposition. For faith isn't faith except it can
stand the fire test, the friction fire test of opposition. Here is the
tenderness of love, that longs to have a return love as pure and free as
its own, and so gives fullest opportunity for it to be revealed and to
grow.
So Satan is loosed out for his tempting work. And another great world
crisis comes, and another great settlement; this the final one. The
devil, his beastly Antichrist and false prophet, are put out of the way
forever.
A great dazzling throne is set. And One sits on it with a face of
indescribable glory. Then comes the second resurrection, of all those
not included in the first resurrection a thousand years before. This is
a judgment of _all who have died_, with the exception already noted. The
judgment of the living spoken of in Matthew, twenty-five, probably is in
connection with the closing scene of the great crisis, just before this
judgment of the resurrected dead, or possibly in connection with this
judgment. This is the final judgment.
Gladness and distress mingle in reading the account: gladness that the
contest, age long, is over; distress to find that for some there is what
is described briefly but with terrible intensity, in the words, "the
lake of fire." Yet there is still comfort in noting the language used
of these,--"_if any_."[182] It is not the language of a great
multitude, but rather of an incorrigible scattered and scant minority.
Home at Last.
And now for the seventh time in this last vision John says, "I saw." Bit
by bit the view opens up before his eyes, from the coming of the Lord
Jesus out of the opened heavens, on and on, until now the final view of
all bursts in a winsome glory before his astonished, delighted eyes.
God's own ideal, that He has been carrying in His heart, is pictured.
That ideal is that He and man shall dwell together as a family. The
ideal is not a Church nor a Kingdom. These are merely great means to a
greater end. The ideal is the family, all dwelling together in sweetest
harmony and content, with a common board, and a common fireside in the
twilight of the day, and all the sweet fellowship that these stand for.
John sees a new heaven and a new earth, the old heaven and earth gone,
and with them the separation of the wide sea gone forever, too. He sees
the holy city, Jerusalem, made over new, coming down out of the new
heavens to man's new dwelling-place, the new earth. It presents a
wondrous, joyous appearance as of a bride adorned for her husband.
Then a great voice out of the throne speaks of this ideal in the heart
of God for Himself and His friend, man. "Look! God has pitched His tent
down amongst men, and they shall be His peoples, and He will be their
God." He will live with them as a Father-mother-God, personally caring
for each one, Himself wiping away every tear from every eye. A single
tear and a single pair of eyes will be enough to claim His personal
attention at once.
His presence insures the absence forever of death, and mourning, and
pain, and crying. The dirge music has sung its last song. The minor
chords are gone. All the old things of a sorrowful sort are quite gone.
And as John looks He that sitteth on the throne makes the glad
announcement, "_Behold, I make all things new._" And John is bidden to
write all this, for "_these words are faithful and true_."
And again the One on the throne seems to look eagerly forward to His
ideal as already actually accomplished: "They are come to pass." And to
let John feel the certainty of it all He says, "I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end." The power that has done all from
creation's morn will complete all clear to the end.
And then the tenderness of that highest love which finds expression in
the personal touch comes out in the next words: "I will give unto him
that is athirst of the fountain of life freely." The smallest need of
any one will have His personal thought and attention, and they shall
have the best there is, and have it in abundance.
And the old pleading that runs like a strain of music throughout these
pages comes again: "He that _overcometh_ shall inherit these things. I
will be His God, and he shall be my son," and so entitled to the
inheritance.
Then plainly, clearly, with all the honesty of love, comes the warning
of the terrible outcome for those who refuse His tender love. It is most
significant that this most winsome picture at the end of the book
contains the dark, black shadows, which remain in the picture at the
end.
All this is spoken directly to John by God Himself. It is not sent by an
angel, or by a redeemed human messenger. It comes to John direct with
all the force and tenderness of a word spoken to him out of the very
heart of God.
And now an angel carries John off to let him see this that is called
both a bride and a city. And from the top of a high mountain John looks
out and sees a most wonderful city, coming down out of heaven from God,
filled and flooded with the glory of God.
And the best language that earth knows anything about is used in the
attempt to describe this city ideal. Its dimensions are perfect in
proportion and in their outer relations. Its foundations are adorned
with the costliest, most precious stones, the walls are built of jasper,
and each gate is one immense pearl; but the city itself is builded of a
gold as transparent as pure glass. Israel and the Church are as sweet
memories of past days, recalled now by gates and foundations.
But these are passed by in noting the outshining glory of the presence
of God. In the simple language which has become so imbedded in the heart
and imagination of the Church, "the city hath no need of the sun,
neither of the moon, to shine on it; for the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." And the winsome description goes
on. The nations walk in this wondrous light of God's presence, and the
kings of earth bring glad tribute of their glory into it. "And the gates
thereof shall in no wise be shut by day, for there shall be no night
there." "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or
he that doeth an abomination and a lie, but only they that are written
in the Lamb's book of life."
In the midst of the city is a river of water of life clear as sparkling
crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. On each
side of the river is the tree of life yielding continual fruitage. And
the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And the heart never fails to respond with a quickened beat to the lines:
"His servants shall serve Him; and _they shall see His face_; and His
name shall be in their foreheads;"--that is, His character shall shine
out of their faces. "And there shall be no night there; and they need no
candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light.
And they shall reign forever and ever."
Such is the heart-touching, heart-gripping tale of God's ideal for man,
His creature and companion and friend. All the best that the city
stands for of human life, and all the best that the country, typified in
the garden, stands for, are forever blessedly joined. And in the
midst--_Himself_, and gathered about Him His redeemed ones, as children
about a father, in a union and fellowship cemented by the heart's blood
of God, never more to be put asunder.
The Master's Last Words.
And John closes the book with a few personal paragraphs. The vision is
complete. Now come the closing words. For the third time John is
solemnly assured, "these words are faithful and true." And again comes
the voice as of some One always standing by as John is being shown,
"Behold, I come quickly." And again the words with which the book begins
come to seal all its impressions,--blessed is he that reads, and
prayerfully seeks to understand the simple message, and who sets himself
to live his life in the light of this simple tremendous message.
And John is significantly told _not_ to _seal up_ the message. Daniel
had been told to seal up the message given him, for it would not come to
pass until the latter days after great intervening events had taken
place.[183] But there are no intervening events before this message is
to come true. It has been possible for the fulfilment to come in any
generation since John saw and wrote. It is yet more possible, growing
distinctly toward the probable, that these things shall come in our
generation. The words remain open, waiting an expectant fulfilment. They
are not to be sealed up but openly proclaimed, for the time when it is
possible for these things to work out is at hand. This is a present
practical issue.
And meanwhile, during these days of the waiting time each one who reads
or listens, however reluctantly, to the message, will follow the bent of
his own deliberate choice, but with ever increasing intensity. The pure
will become more pure; the bad yet worse. There's no standing still as
we listen.
And again come the solemnly repeated words: "Behold, I come quickly."
His coming is the next step in the great plan. There were then, and
there are now, no great intervening events to be worked out, and waited
for. His coming is imminent. It is a thing to be expected. And He brings
with Him the wages due each one.
And like the signature of certification at the book's beginning,[184]
comes now the personal signature at its close: "I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." So He
personally certifies to us the absolute accuracy and reliability of this
message.
And with the signature come again the gracious pleading and warning
intermingled. Any one who will may wash his robes in the fountain
provided, and may eat of the life-giving tree, and come unto the
God-lit city. And equally clear it is that any who insist on doing so
may remain outside unwashed. Each one is free to do as he wills.
And once again comes the emphatic, solemn announcement of the accuracy
and dependability of this message of John's Revelation: "_I, Jesus_,
have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the Churches."
It is distinctively a Church message, and comes with all the direct
authority of our Lord Jesus Himself. And He patiently reminds us of His
authority,--I am both root and offspring of David, both before him and
after him. I am the bright, the morning star, that rises while it is yet
night and brings in the new day.
And again the spirit of winsome pleading breaks out to those unwashed
ones who insist on staying outside the gate. Both the Spirit and the
whole company of washed ones say "come." And let him that heareth that
sweet word pass it out to those farther away until the last man hears
and feels. And let them know that anybody at all who is thirsty may come
freely and drink of the river of the water of life.
And yet once again comes the peculiar certifying of the contents of this
Revelation message, and a solemn warning against any interfering with
its meaning. Jesus says,--I hereby certify unto every man that hears the
words of the prophecy of this book: if any man add to them, making them
mean something else than I intend, God shall add unto him the plagues
that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away, or
lessen the meaning, God shall take away his part from the tree of life
and out of the holy city. It comes as a very solemn warning.
And yet once more comes the emphatic assurance both of the reliability
of the book itself, and of the certainty of its great central
message,--"He who testifieth these things saith, '_yea, I come
quickly_.'"
And John fervently adds, "Amen; come, Lord Jesus." And so says every
heart in tune with His heart who is coming.