Jul 12
3
Now out of this eternal union with Christ flows every blessing. Only so far as we have an eternal union with Jesus have we any living union, or any spiritual communion with him. Only so far as we have a standing in Christ from before all worlds have we any saving interest in, or any title to, his atoning blood, justifying righteousness, all-sufficient grace, manifested presence, shed abroad love, and communicated favor. We receive nothing, we can receive nothing of a spiritual nature except by virtue of an eternal union with the Lord of life and glory. For as the branches receive their sap out of the stem only by virtue of their union with the stem; so can we receive blessings out of Christ only by virtue of union with Christ.
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THE BLESSED HOPE
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose”—
“That blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13
This is rest under God’s Palm-trees of promise, with a glorious vista seen through their branches. Their fronds form, so to speak, a framework for the believer’s distant but “blessed hope” (as Middleton translates our motto-verse)—”The glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior.”
That ‘second coming’ was to the early Christians the theme of habitual contemplation—their cherished harbor of refuge in the midst of environing storms: “And to wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Thess. 1:10); “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ” (2 Thess.3:5); “Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draws near” (Jas. 5:8). Moreover, it is well worth noting, that, in the inspired Epistles, it is not the day of death which is spoken of or looked forward to by the Church with jubilant expectation, but the day of Christ’s appearing. Need we wonder at this? Death is no pleasing theme: though the Christian’s last enemy, it is an enemy still—the ‘King of terrors.’ But the “Parousia”—the Advent of the Divine Savior—is identified with final triumph over death; when “the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.'” (1 Cor. 15:54). Not only so, but that “vile body” (itself a part of the redemption-purchase) will come forth from the dishonors of the grave, fashioned like the glorious body of its glorified Redeemer.
How many anguished, bereaved mourners have had their grief calmed and their tears dried by this sublime antidote of the great Apostle, as he points them on to the second coming of their Lord, and associates that coming with the restoration of their beloved dead! “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1 Thess. 4:13, 14). At that blessed season when “the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people; and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God;” amid these revived friendships and indissoluble reunions, “God”—the God on the throne—the Brother-man—”shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17).
Nor is the anticipated joy of that Day altogether a personal and selfish one. No small element of it is the believer’s joy at the glory which will then encircle the brow of his adorable Lord. It will be the public enthronement of Jesus of Nazareth. He will come “to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed” (2 Thess. 1:10). All the humiliations of His first coming—the manger—the carpenter’s home—the unsheltered head—the nights of wakeful anguish—the scorn, and taunt, and jeer—the piercing thorns—the bitter cross—the ignominious sepulcher—all, all now exchanged for the shout of welcome—”Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him!” (Isa. 25:9). How often among His own people on earth is He dishonored; wounded in the house of His friends—the unstained beauty of the Master tarnished with the blemishes and inconsistencies of the disciples. But not so on that Day. Even these marred, blotted, imperfect images and reflections shall then, at least, become perfect copies and transcripts of their glorious Divine Original: “We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). “I saw,” says John, “the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2).
“Let every man that has this hope in him purify himself even as He is pure” (1 John 3:3); amid the rough wear and tear of a workday world, keeping a conscience void of offence; “having the loins girded, and the lamps burning; and being like those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord” (Luke12:35, 36). “Blessed is he who watches” (Rev. 16:15). Blessed is he, who, in whatever calling he be called, therein abides with God. Thus remaining expectant under the shadow of the desert palms, we can mark the rainbow-arch which spans the sky of the future, connecting the cross with the crown; and say, in lowly believing confidence, with one of the Church’s noblest watchers, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day!” (2 Tim.4:8).
Yes, “He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” The assembled Jewish worshipers looked for the reappearance of their High Priest, when He was ministering in the Holy of Holies. They waited anxiously in the outer porch to see the veil withdrawn, and the Intercessor of the nation come forth, to pour upon the multitude, with outstretched hands, the old benediction, “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace.” (Num. 6:24-26). Not until then were the imposing services of that high day of Hebrew festival completed.
Do we know and love the significance of the type? Are we on the outlook for our Priest and King returning from the heavenly Presence, to say to the waiting myriads of His redeemed Church, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”? It was a gladdening sound to the Jewish multitudes in their Temple area, when they heard the music of the silver bells on the hem of the High Priest’s garment, giving intimation of his approach, “Blessed are they who know the joyful sound.” “Blessed are those servants who, when their Lord comes, shall be found watching!”
“The watchers on the mountain
Proclaim the Bridegroom near,
Go, meet Him as He comes,
With Hallelujahs clear!
The marriage feast is waiting,
The gates wide open stand
Up, up! ye heirs of glory,
The Bridegroom is at hand!”
“My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.” MacDuff.
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Oh! The sweet thought to my soul: under all the condemnation of the law, and the curses due to the breaches of it; Jesus is the Mediator, and the Fulfiller of the law, and the complete righteousness of his people. Be thou, my honored Lord, the glorious Head, and Husband, of thy whole family. Thou art indeed the all in all, to the whole seed of Abraham; for in thee shall thy people, in all nations, be blessed.–Robert Hawker
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Salvation
(J. C. Philpot, “The Accuser of the Brethren)
And they were shouting with a mighty shout,
“Salvation comes from our God on the throne
and from the Lamb!” Revelation 7:10
The sweetest song that heaven ever proclaimed,
the most blessed note that ever melted the soul,
is salvation.
Saved FROM . . .
death and hell;
the worm which never dies;
the fire which is never quenched;
the sulphurous flames of the bottomless pit;
the companionship of tormenting fiends and
all the foul wretches under which earth has groaned;
blaspheming God in unutterable woe;
an eternity of misery without end or hope!
Saved INTO . . .
heaven;
the sight of Jesus as He is;
perfect holiness and happiness;
the blissful company of holy angels and glorified saints;
and all this during the countless ages of a blessed eternity!
What tongue of men or angels can describe the
millionth part of what is contained in the word
salvation?
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He comes!
-Spurgeon, “The Beatific Vision”
With clouds of angels, cherubim, seraphim,
and all the armies of heaven, He comes!
With all the forces of nature–
thundercloud, and blackness of tempest, the Lord of all
makes his triumphant entrance to judge the world!
The clouds are the dust of his feet in that terrible day of
battle, when He will rid Himself of His adversaries,
shaking them out of the earth with His thunder, and
consuming them with the devouring flame of His lightning!
All of heaven will gather with its utmost pomp
at the great appearing of the Lord.
Not as the Man of Sorrows, despised and rejected,
will Jesus come.
Rather, as Jehovah came upon Sinai, in the midst of thick
clouds and a terrible darkness- so will He come,
whose coming will be the final judgement!
-Spurgeon, “He is Coming with the Clouds”
The Beautific Vision-
We have I believe, all of us who love his name,
a most insatiable wish to behold his person.
The thing for which I would pray above all others,
would be forever to behold his face,
forever to lay my head upon his breast,
forever to know that I am his,
forever to dwell with him.
Yes, one short glimpse,
one transitory vision of his glory,
one brief glance at his marred,
but now exalted and beaming countenance,
would repay almost a world of trouble.
We have a strong desire to see him–
“Millions of years my wondering eyes
Shall over your beauties rove;
And endless ages I’ll adore
The glories of your love.”
Oh! the sight is better still.
We are to see him ‘exalted’.
We shall see the head, but not with its thorny crown.
“The head that once was crowned with thorns,
Is crowned with glory now.”
We shall see the hand, and the nail-prints too, but not the
nail; it has been once drawn out, and forever.
We shall see his side, and its pierced wound too;
but the blood shall not issue from it.
We shall see him not with a peasant’s garb around him,
but with the empire of the universe upon his shoulders.
We shall see him, not with a reed in his hand,
but grasping a golden scepter.
We shall see him, not as mocked and spit upon and
insulted, not bone of our bone, in all our agonies,
afflictions, and distresses; but we shall see him exalted!
No longer Christ the man of sorrows, the acquaintance of
grief, but Christ the Man-God!
-radiant with splendor,
-effulgent with light,
-clothed with rainbows,
-girded with clouds,
-wrapped in lightnings,
-crowned with stars,
-the sun beneath his feet.
Oh! glorious vision!
How can we guess what he is?
What words can tell us? or how can we speak thereof?
Yet whatever he is, with all his splendor unveiled,
all his glories unclouded, and himself fully revealed;
we shall see him as he is.
We shall see him, beloved– not abhorred, not despised
and rejected,
but worshipped,
honored,
crowned,
exalted,
served by flaming spirits,
and worshipped by cherubim and seraphim.
“We shall see him as he is.”
—
(Henry Law, “Psalms”)
“O righteous God, who searches minds and
hearts, bring to an end the violence of the
wicked, and make the righteous secure.”
Psalm 7:9
Sights and sounds of evil are anguish to a
pious heart. They pain him, because they are
abhorrent to his new nature. He turns from
them as images of Satan; he loathes them
as rebellion against God. Hence he burns
with desire that they may be repressed.
Hence he wearies heaven with cries that
God would drive iniquity into outer darkness.
But evil will not die until our Lord returns!
Only then shall the wickedness of the wicked
reach its end. Faith waits expectantly for the
blissful reign; it visits in anticipating thought
the new heavens and the new earth.
In heaven, there is no form of sin;
its hideous features are forever gone.
The reign of righteousness has come.
Each heart is holy.
Each look reflects God’s image.
Every sound is pure.
All is transcendent happiness, for all is holiness.
No evil will pollute the glorious scene.
Outside is sin and all sin’s slaves. Within is the
Lamb’s bride, all glorious in her robes of white!
—
Happy, happy, happy day!
by Spurgeon
“Your eyes shall see him.”
I have heard of him, and though I have not
seen his face, unceasingly I have adored him.
But I shall SEE him!
Yes, we shall actually gaze upon the exalted Redeemer!
Realize the thought!
Is there not a ‘young heaven’ within it?
You shall see the hand that was nailed for you;
you shall kiss the very lips that said, “I thirst;”
you shall see the thorn-crowned head,
and bow with all the blood-washed throng!
You, the chief of sinners, shall adore him who washed you
in his blood; when you shall have a vision of his glory!
Faith is precious, but what must sight be?
To view Jesus as the Lamb of God through the glass
of faith, makes the soul rejoice with joy unspeakable!
But oh! to see him face to face,
to look into those dear eyes;
to be embraced by those divine arms-
rapture begins at the very mention of it!
But what must the vision be when the veil is taken from his face,
and the dimness from our eyes, and when we shall talk with him
even as a man talks with his friend.
But it is not only vision, it is intimacy with him.
We shall walk with him, he shall walk with us,
he shall speak to us, and we shall speak to him.
All that the spouse desired in Solomon’s Song,
we shall have, and ten thousand times more.
Then will the prayer be fulfilled– “Let him kiss me with
the kisses of his lips, for his love is better than wine.”
Then we shall be able to say– “His left hand is under
my head, and his right hand does embrace me.”
Then will he tell us HIS love–
Then he will rehearse the ancient story
of the everlasting covenant!
of his ‘election’ of us by his own true love!
of his betrothal of us through his boundless affection!
of his ‘purchase’ of us by his rich compassion!
of his ‘preservation’ of us by his omnipotence!
and of his ‘bringing us safe’ at last to glory
as the result of his promise and his blood!
And then will we tell to him OUR love–
Then into his ear will we pour out the song of gratitude,
a song such as we have never sung on earth, unmixed
and pure, full of serenity and joy, no groans to mar its
melody; a song rapt and seraphic, like the flaming sonnets
which flash from burning tongues above.
Happy, happy, happy day, when vision
and communion shall be ours in fullness!
“To depart and be with Christ which is far better.”