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diff --git a/23038-8.txt b/23038-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..369fa0c --- /dev/null +++ b/23038-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7045 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of +Revelation, by S. D. Gordon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation + +Author: S. D. Gordon + +Release Date: October 16, 2007 [EBook #23038] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hope, Colin Bell, Fox in the Stars and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + QUIET TALKS + ON THE CROWNED + Christ of Revelation + BY + S. D. GORDON + + Author of + "Quiet Talks on Power", + "Quiet Talks on Prayer", +"Quiet Talks about Our Lord's Return" + + + + [Illustration] + + CHICAGO NEW YORK TORONTO + FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY + FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + + New York: 158 Fifth Avenue + Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. + London: 21 Paternoster Square + Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street + + + + +PREFACE + + +Crowning the Christ is an intensely practical thing, whether taken in +the _personal_ sense or the _world_ sense. He has been crowned in the +upper world. With wondrous patience and graciousness He pleads for the +personal crowning in our lives. Some day--no one knows just when--He +will begin to _act_ as the crowned Christ _in all the affairs of our +earth_. + +The initiative of all action to-day on the earth is in man's hands. Some +day the initiative of _governing_ action on the earth will be in the +hands of the crowned Christ, even while the personal initiative of each +man's life will still be in his own hands. + +God is intensely practical. Jesus was never concerned about speculation +nor mere discussion; He was too intent on helping people. The Bible is +wholly a practical book. It is concerned only with helping us. It does +not tell us all the truth there is; we shall be constantly learning more +in the future life. But it does tell us all we need to know now. And its +purpose in telling us what it does is wholly practical,--to urge us to +right choice, and to lives that square with the choice. This is the +purpose that decided just what truth should be told in the Book. + +There is one book of the sixty-six devoted wholly to this subject of the +crowned Christ,--"The Revelation of John." Every one of these books +touches Him at some angle, and finds its deepest meaning in what He was +to do and did do, and yields up its secrets only under the touch of His +hand. But this book, the closing and climax of all, the knot in the end +of the inspired thread, this deals wholly with the action of the crowned +Christ. + +No book of the sixty-six has seemed so much like a riddle and set so +many a-guessing. And without doubt much of its meaning will be clear +only as events work themselves out. Events will prove the only expositor +of much. But it is with the deep conviction that this is wholly a +_practical book_, written wholly from a practical point of view, and +concerned wholly with our practical daily lives, that I have ventured to +take it up in this series of simple, wholly practical, Quiet Talks. And +it is only this side of its teachings that will be dealt with here. The +Book is a street leading into the true overcoming life the Master would +woo us to. + +It is only after many years' study of this Book of the Revelation, and a +special study the past three years and a little more, that I have +ventured to put these talks together. And now they are sent out with the +earnest humble prayer that others may find some little practical help in +prayerfully reading, as I have found much in prayerfully studying, under +the Master's gracious faithful touch. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. THE CHRIST CROWNED, THE FACT 9 + +II. THE CROWN BOOK 39 + +III. A SIGHT OF THE CROWNED CHRIST 63 + +IV. A MESSAGE FROM THE CROWNED CHRIST 97 + +V. AN ADVANCE STEP IN THE ROYAL PROGRAMME 127 + +VI. A CLEARING-UP STORM IN THE REALM 151 + +VII. THE CROWNED CHRIST REIGNING 215 + +VIII. WATCHING THE HORIZON 235 + + + + +I.--THE CHRIST CROWNED, THE FACT + + + "When God sought a King for His people of old, + He went to the fields to find him; + A shepherd was he, with his crook and his lute + And a following flock behind him. + + "O love of the sheep, O joy of the lute, + And the sling and the stone for battle; + A shepherd was King, the giant was naught, + And the enemy driven like cattle. + + "When God looked to tell of His good will to men, + And the Shepherd-King's son whom He gave them; + To shepherds, made meek a-caring for sheep, + He told of a Christ sent to save them. + + "O love of the sheep, O watch in the night, + And the glory, the message, the choir; + 'Twas shepherds who saw their King in the straw, + And returned with their hearts all on fire. + + "When Christ thought to tell of His love to the world + He said to the throng before him, + 'The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep--' + And away to the cross they bore Him. + + "O love of the sheep, O blood sweat of prayer, + O man on the cross, God-forsaken; + A shepherd has gone to defend all alone + The sheepfold by death overtaken. + + "When God sought a King for His people, for aye, + He went to the grave to find him; + And a shepherd came back, Death dead in His grasp, + And a following flock behind Him. + + "O love of the sheep, O life from the dead, + O strength of the faint and the fearing; + A shepherd is King, and His Kingdom will come. + And the day of His coming is nearing."[1] + + +Coronation Gift. + +Christ is crowned. Not in any vague far-fetched meaning, but in the +plain common-sense meaning of the word, He is _crowned_. + +For crowned means put in the place of highest power, with full right to +exercise that power at will. And when the crucified Jesus went up that +Olivet day, before the astonished eyes of the disciples, into the +sightless blue, on the cloud, He was received in the upper world by the +Father. And He was lifted up into the place of highest honour and +greatest power. He sat down at the right hand of the Father.[2] + +He had said it would be so. Breathing the air thick with bitter hate on +the night of His trial, He had quietly said to the Jewish rulers that +even so it would be, bringing at once about His person the bursting of +the storm of hate.[3] Now His unfaltering trust in His Father has its +sweet reward. + +The Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, was +the gift of the _crowned_ Christ. The rushing sound as of a mighty wind +that filled all the house, the tongues of flame plainly seen, the bold +talking to the crowds of foreign Jews of God's mighty power, the +faithful witnessing about the crucified Jesus in the city that hounded +Him to death, the convinced crowds openly declaring at the peril of +their lives their belief in the despised Jesus, the strangely rare +unselfishness even in money matters, and the winsome graciousness of +spirit that marked, not only the inner circle, but these greatly +increased crowds,--all this said one thing in clear unanswerable tones +of unmistakable power, _Christ is crowned_.[4] For the sending down of +the Holy Spirit was the act of the crowned Christ. + +And every touch of the Holy Spirit's presence within trusting +hearts,--the sweet peace, the quiet assurance, the longing for purity, +the drawing away to prayer, the hunger for God's Word, the intense +desire to have others saved, the passion to please this wondrous God of +ours,--all these simple marks of the Holy Spirit's presence in our +hearts, all tell us, and each tells us, in unmistakable tones, that +Christ is crowned. For this wondrous Spirit within is the gift of the +crowned Christ. + +When Jesus went up from the earth, holding as His sure captive the +captivity of suffering and death to which He had with such great +strength yielded, He received gifts, coronation gifts. The Father gave +Him all. He gave Him the disposal and control of all. This was the +crowning. + +And in His great out-reaching love Christ received these gifts _on +behalf of men_, His blood brothers. And at once He gave to men, to His +trusting disciples, the all-inclusive gift, the Holy Spirit, His +coronation gift.[5] So God came anew to dwell with men as originally +planned. + +This blessed Presence within tells me, by His mere presence, that Christ +is crowned. + +The writers of the New Testament make a chorus of sweet music on this +chord, ringing out in clear tones the full notes of delight and joy. +Luke's simple narrative sounds the note four times. Paul swells it out +with a joyous fulness that grows in volume and intensity as his +narrowing prison walls shut out more and more the lower lights, and +centres his upward gaze upon Jesus, "far above all rule, and authority, +and power, and dominion, and every name that is named," with "all things +in subjection under His feet."[6] John's special companion and working +partner, Peter, makes this note blend with and dominate the minor chord +of suffering for Christ's sake.[7] + +The Christian Hebrew who wrote so eloquently to his fellow-countrymen of +the immense superiority of Jesus and so modestly withheld his own name, +strikes this note five times with strong, clear touch.[8] He quotes +that Eighth Psalm, which so wonderfully gives God's own ideal for man's +mastery over all creation. And then he tells us that in Jesus the ideal +will yet be fully realized. And that while the whole plan has not yet +fully worked out as it will, yet _even now_ we see the Jesus who tasted +death for every one, crowned with glory and honour as part of the plan +which He carried out in suffering the extreme suffering of death. + +And our Lord Jesus Himself, talking out of the glory to the man who was +His bosom companion on earth, reserves as His last tender plea to us to +live the overcoming life this--"he that overcometh I will give him to +sit down with me in my throne as I also overcame and _sat down with my +Father on His throne_."[9] + +And so we find out just what this word crowned means. Jesus was received +in the upper world, exalted, glorified, made to sit down at the Father's +right hand, put far above all rule and authority, with a name greater in +the sweep of its power than any other, and with all things put in +absolute subjection under His feet. This is the simple, direct meaning +of the sentence--Christ is crowned. + +What a contrast the two faces of that glory cloud saw! The face looking +down, and the face looking up! The one--the downward face--looked upon a +cross, a Man hanging there with a mocking crown of thorns without and a +breaking heart within, scowling priests, jeering crowds, deserting +disciples, sneering soldiers, weeping women, heart-broken friends, a +horror of darkness, a cave-tomb under imperial seal, and blackest night +settling down over all. + +The other--the upward face--looked upon a great burst of the upper +glory, the countless angels singing swelling songs of worship, the +wondrous winged cherubim, the redeemed hosts from Eden days on +reverently bowing and exultantly singing, the exquisitely +soft-green-rainbow-circled throne, the Father's face, once hidden, but +to be hidden now never again, the _shared_ seat on the Father's +throne,--what a contrast! + +Here crucified--there crowned. Crucified on earth, one of the smaller +globes of the universe. On the throne of the whole universe of +globes--crowned! From the lowest depth to the one extreme height. From +hate's worst to Love's best. From love poured out for men to love +enthroned for those same men; love triumphant each time, on cross and on +throne. What a contrast! What a coronation! What a welcome home to a +throne! + + +The Music of a Name. + +It is most intensely interesting to recall that, of course, this is just +what the very word Christ means,--the Crowned One. We sometimes get so +used to a word that it is easy to forget its real meaning. The word +Christ has been used so generally for so many centuries as a _name_ +that we forget that originally it was a title, and not a name. + +And it still is a title, though used chiefly as a name. Some day the +title-meaning will overlap the name-meaning. We may never cease thinking +of it as a name, but there is a time coming when events will make the +title-meaning so big as to clear over-shadow our thought and use of it +as a name. + +It helps to recall the distinctive meaning of the words we use for Him +who walked amongst, and was one of us. Jesus is His _name_. It belongs +to the _man_. It belongs peculiarly to the thirty-three years and a bit +more that He was here, even though not exclusively used in that way in +the Book. + +There's a rare threefold sweetness of meaning in that five-lettered +name. There is the meaning of the old word lying within the name, before +it became a name, victory, victor, saviour-victor, Jehovah-victor. There +is the swing and rhythm and murmur of music, glad joyous music, in its +very beginnings as a common word. + +Then it has come to stand wholly for a _personality_, the rarely gentle, +winsome, strong personality of the Man of Bethlehem and Nazareth, and of +those crowded service-days. And every memory of His personality sweetens +and enriches the music in the old word. + +And then the deepest significance, the richest rhythm, the sweetest +melody, come from the meaning His experiences, His life, pressed into +it. The sympathy, the suffering, the wilderness, the Cross, the +Resurrection, all the experiences He went through, these give to this +victory-word, Jesus, a meaning unknown before. They put the name Jesus +actually above every name in the experiences of tense conflict and +sweeping victory it stands for. This threefold chording makes music +never to be broken nor forgotten. + + "There is no name so sweet on earth, + No name so sweet in heaven, + The name before His wondrous birth, + To Christ the Saviour given." + +Lord is a title, of course. It was used of one who was a proprietor, an +owner, or a master. It was commonly used as a title of honour for one in +superior position, as a leader or teacher. In speaking of Jesus it is +coupled with the title Christ as an interchangeable word,[10] as well as +an additional title. But peculiarly it is the _personal title_ given +Jesus by one who takes Him as his own personal Master,[11] while it +still retains its broader meaning. + +But _Christ_ is peculiarly _the official title_ of Jesus. There is only +one Christ. Lord is used of men. It is used of both the Father and the +Holy Spirit, as well as of Jesus. But the name Christ is used of only +one person, and can mean only that one. There could be only one Christ. + +The word or its equivalent was used occasionally in the Old Testament in +a narrowed sense for the King of Israel, who is reverently spoken of as +"the Lord's anointed," that is, God's Messiah or Christ.[12] + +But the one common thought of it among the Hebrew people, growing ever +intenser as the Old Testament period merges into the time of the New, +was that there was one coming, _the_ Messiah, _the_ Christ, God's +chosen, the one anointed and empowered, to be their Deliverer. The one +question that sets all hearts a-flutter about the rugged John of the +deserts was this: "Is he _the_ Christ?"[13] In their thought there was +only one to whom the title belonged. + +And even so it is. Christ is the official title of _the One_ Chosen and +anointed by God to be ruler over His Hebrew people, and over all the +race, and the earth, and the universe,--God's King, to reign until all +have been brought into full allegiance to the great loving Father.[14] +The Christ is the Crowned One, God's Crowned One. The very word Christ +tells that Christ is crowned. + + +Our Great Kinsman. + +There is an intensely interesting question that crowds its way in here, +and it proves an immensely practical question, too. _Why_ was Christ +crowned? We can say at once that this was His due. He was given that +which belonged to Him in good right. He was reinstated in His former +position, with all the power and glory that were His before His errand +to the earth.[15] + +Then too this was His vindication after the shameful treatment of earth. +Before the eyes of all the upper world, both loyal and disloyal eyes, +this man whom earth hounded so shamelessly is vindicated; He is set +right by the Father.[16] + +But there is yet more than this. It is a more of a sort that concerns +_us_ very closely, and it sets one's heart a-beating a bit faster. This +crowning was part of a plan, a plan of which our earth is the centre. It +was the second great part of a plan of which the suffering and dying +were the first great part. Both were for the sake of us men and our +earth-home, and the lower creation. + +This is the thing being emphasized in the second great paragraph of the +Hebrews.[17] Man was made the under-master of the earth and of the lower +creation, but lost, weakly surrendered, his place of mastery. The new +Man came to recover for man what had been lost and to realize this +original lost plan. + +And so He became our brother, sharer of our flesh and blood, tempted +like as we, perfected in His human character by the experiences He went +through, then tasted to the bitter dregs the death that belongs to our +sin. And then following that, He was crowned with glory and honour. And +so He rises to the place of mastery over all that belongs to perfect +man. So He brings all creation into the glad subjection which is its +natural happy state. It is for earth's sake, for the race's sake, and +for the sake of our faithful companions and servants, the whole lower +creation, that Christ has been crowned. + +We think more about the personal meaning to ourselves of His having died +and risen again. We need to remember, too, this broader meaning. The +dying and rising secures our salvation personally. The crowning and the +reigning will work out the redemption of all nature and of the lower +creation,[18] and this in turn will mean much for men living on the +earth in the Kingdom time, and for the race as a race. + +This leads at once to another question that presses in. What is the +_domain_ of the crowned Christ? If we take the crowning in the common +meaning of that word, it means that there is some domain that Christ +rules over. What is it that He is crowned over? + +And the answer is so sweeping as to seem far-away and dreamy to us who +are living on this sin-hurt earth. He is the crowned Ruler of the whole +created universe and all intelligent beings in it. He has been placed +over absolutely every "rule and authority and power and dominion, and +not only in this present age but in the coming age."[19] There is +simply no limit in extent to His domain. Everything has been placed in +subjection to Him and is now subject to His word, and His alone. + +There is a striking passage in Philippians that fits in here.[20] In +speaking of the exaltation of Jesus Christ, Paul is careful to explain +particularly that every knee would bow, _in the heavens_, and, _on the +earth_, and _under_ the earth or in the _world below_. + +This threefold division is very striking. The heaven things are +understood at once, and things of the earth sphere. But there is a third +world to be taken into account, that strange uncanny world of evil +spirit beings in rebellion against God's authority. It is spoken of +repeatedly as principalities and powers, indicating numbers and +organization, dignity, and power.[21] All of this is included in what +has been placed under Christ's authority.[22] + + +Is Christ Reigning Now? + +But there is still another question that has been impatiently pushing +underneath for some time. And it also is an intensely practical one. +Does this mean that Christ is actually ruling now over this domain of +His? How about the affairs on the earth? Are all things here subject to +Him? Is this the way He would have things go? And some of us think the +evil spirits seem pretty free in their movements. This present order of +things that we are living in the thick of, is this the reign of the +crowned Christ? And some of us feel the stress of things so much that we +can scarce keep patient for a thoughtful poised answer to our questions. + +There are those, and good earnest folk they are, too, who tell us that +Christ has come, and is constantly coming, more and more, into our +common life. The higher ideals that are crowding for expression, the +more spiritual conceptions of man and his brotherly relations, the +constant striving toward better civilization, the bettering of the +condition of the poor and less fortunate, the increased recognition of +men's rights in the complex industrial world, the increasing effort to +correct evils by legislation, the great moral reforms that are sweeping +aside the awful liquor curse, and loosening women's bonds, and +safeguarding young womanhood and children, the newer aggressiveness in +the missionary propaganda and in much of the activity of the Church, +even the attempt to humanize and civilize the warfare that in itself is +stupidly savage and utterly inhuman,--is not all this a coming of Christ +and of the Christ-spirit into our common life? many ask. + +And there is only one answer to such questions, a strong emphatic "yes." +It surely is the Christ-spirit that moves in all of this. This is a +coming of Christ; and a blessed coming, too. There was nothing of this +sort before the Christ-spirit began to sweeten the world's life. And +there is none of it to-day except in those parts of the world where the +Christ-spirit influences life. + +But--there's a "but"--it proves a blessed but; this is only a crumb or +two falling from a loaded table. And he who judges Christ by these +crumbs only, wholesome and toothsome as they are, will have a very +skimpy conception of Christ. + +All of this sort of thing that has come has come very slowly. It has had +to fight through and in, every step of the way that it has come. Its +coming has been opposed stubbornly, maliciously, viciously every inch of +the road, as only those know who are in the thick of the struggle for +these reforms, panting for breath sometimes. + +It is as though a few whiffs of wholesome life-giving air have breathed +through the cracks and crevices of the breastworks and fortifications of +evil in which all our common life seems entrenched. But the +fortifications are still there. If the sweet, wholesome breathing in +through cracks and crannies has been so blest, what would it be if the +forces of evil were clean removed from the scene, and the Christ-spirit +became the whole atmosphere breathed fully and freely without restraint, +with no bad draughts, and no counter currents to guard and fight +against? + +It would seem like a strange sort of a kingdom if the present is even a +gradual coming in of the Kingdom. We would seem to be having a new, +strange sort of a Christ if the present is a sample of His sort of +reigning. For it may well be thoughtfully doubted if ever there was such +a condition of feverish unrest in all parts of the world as to-day. + +It is most difficult to put your finger on a single spot of the +world-map that is not being torn and uptorn by unrest in one shape or +another. Either actual war, or constant studious preparation for war, +actually never ceases. And it is difficult to say which is the worse of +the two. The actual war reveals more terribly to our eyes and ears the +awful cost in treasure and in precious human blood spilled without +stint. The never-ceasing preparation for war seems actually to cost +more. In the immense treasure involved, and in blood too, given out, not +on an occasional battlefield, but in the continual battle of daily life +to meet the terrible drain of taxation, it costs immensely more. There +is less of the tragic for the news headings, but not a whit less, rather +much more, in the slow suffering, the pinched lives, and the awful +temptations to barter character for bread. + +Then there is the continual seething unrest in the industrial world; the +protests sometimes so strange and startling against social and political +conditions; the feverish greed for gold, and land, and position; the +intense pace of all our modern life; the abandonment of home and home +ideals; the terrific attack against our young womanhood. The political +pot which gathers into itself all these things, never quits boiling or +boiling over, in some part of the world, now here, now there. And it +seems like the greatest achievement of diplomacy when here and there it +can be kept from boiling clean over, or at least made to boil over less. + +It would seem indeed like a queer sort of kingdom if this is a sample. +Some of us would have less heart in repeating one petition of the old +daily prayer. And Christ would seem to have quite changed His spirit and +character if this is a result of His coming. + + +The Greatness of Patience. + +And the great simple truth is this, the truth that in the strange mix-up +of life we easily lose sight of is this: _Christ has not yet taken +possession of all of His domain_; a part of it still remains to be +possessed. "We see _not yet_ all things subjected to Him."[23] We are +living in the "not-yet" interval between the crowning and the actual +reigning. We are living on the "not-yet" possessed part of His domain. + +And the question that comes hot and quick from our lips, even though +with an attempt at subdued reverence, is this: "Why does He not take +possession, and untangle the snarl, and right the wrongs, and bring in +the true rational order of things?" And all the long waiting, the +soreness of hearts over the part that touches one's own life most +closely, the shortness of breath in the tensity of the struggle, +underscore that word "why?" + +And the answer to the impatient question reveals all afresh the +greatness of the love of our Christ. His greatness is shown most in His +_patience_. But patience is one of the things we men on this old earth +don't know. It's one of the unknown quantities to us. It can be known +only by knowing God. For patience is love at its best. Patience is God +at His best. His is the patience that sees all, and feels all with the +tender heart that broke once under the load, and yet waits, steadily +waits, and then waits just a bit longer. + +In this He runs the risk of being misunderstood. Men in their stupidity +constantly mistake strong patience for weakness or indifference or lack +of a gripping purpose. And God is misunderstood in this, even by His +trusting children. But, even so, the object to be gained is so great, +and so near Christ's heart that He waits, strongly waits with a patience +beyond our comprehension; waits just a bit longer, always just a bit +longer. + +There are two parts to the answer. Jesus the Christ is giving man the +fullest opportunity. He never interferes with man's right of free +choice. Man is free to do as he chooses. Every possible means is used to +influence him to choose right, but the choice itself is always left to +the man. The present is man's opportunity. The initiative of action on +the earth is altogether in man's hand. All of God's power is at man's +disposal; but man must _reach out_ and _take_. This long stretched but +waiting time is for man's sake, that he may have fullest opportunity. +The longsuffering of God would woo men.[24] + +When at length opportunity comes to its end it will be only because +things have gotten into such desperate shape, into such an awful fix, +that at length _for man's sake_ Christ will step into the direct action +of the earth once again. He will take the leadership of earth into His +own hands, even while still leaving each man free in his individual +choice. This is the first part of the answer. The waiting is that man +may have fullest opportunity. + +Then Christ has a great hunger for _willing_ hearts. No words are strong +enough to tell His longing for a free, glad, joyous surrender to His +mastery. He could so easily end the present conflict, but He waits that +men may bring to Him the allegiance of their lives, given of their own +glad, gracious, voluntary accord. He was a volunteer Saviour. He longs +for that love that is the bubbling out of a free, full heart. + +The best love is only given freely without any compulsion of any sort, +save only love's sweet compelling. He wants what He gives--the best. And +so He waits, patiently waits just a bit longer. This is the second bit +of the answer. The long delay spells out the hunger as well as the +patience of God's heart. The divine Husbandman is patiently waiting, +and sending warm sun and soft rains and fragrant dews while waiting.[25] + + "The Husbandman waiteth-- + The _Husbandman_? Why? + For the heart of one servant + Who hears not His cry. + + "The Husbandman waiteth-- + He _waiteth_? What for? + For the heart of one servant + To love Him yet more. + + "The Husbandman waiteth-- + Long patience hath He-- + But He waiteth in hunger-- + Oh! Is it for thee?"[26] + + +Taking with Your Life. + +But--ah! listen, there's a wonderful "but" to put in here. But, while +waiting _He puts all His limitless power at our disposal_. If that +simple sentence could be put into letters of living flame, its +tremendous meaning might burn into our hearts. When Paul piled up phrase +on phrase in his eager attempt to have his Asiatic friends in and around +Ephesus take in the limitless power of the ascended Christ, he added the +significant words, "to the Church."[27] All that power is for the use, +and at the disposal, of the Church. + +The Church was meant to be a unit in spirit in loyalty to her absent +Lord, wholly under the dominating touch of the Holy Spirit, not only in +her official actions, but in the lives of the individual members. If she +were so, no human imagination could take in the startling, revolutionary +power, softly, subtly, but with resistless sweep, flowing down from the +crowned Christ, among grateful men. + +Not being such a unit it is not possible that that power shall be as +great in manifestation as was planned and meant. For no individual nor +group can ever take the place in action of the whole unified body of +believers, acting as a channel for the power of the crowned Christ. That +power shall be realized on the earth only when the Church is so unified, +and at work, under the reigning Christ, from the new headquarters up in +the heavens. + +But meanwhile all of that power is _at the disposal of any disciple of +Christ_--the humblest--who will simply live in full-faced touch with +Christ, and who will _take_ of that power as the need comes, and as the +sovereign Holy Spirit leads. + +It is of this, this _personal_ taking, that Paul is speaking when he +piles up that intense sentence: "able to do _exceeding abundantly above +all that we ask or think_ according to _the power that worketh in +us_."[28] The great bother in Paul's day and ever since, and now, is to +get people to _take_. The power is fairly a-tremble in the air at our +very finger-tips. And we go limping, crutching along both bodily and +mentally and in our spiritual leanness. + +Those tremendous words of Jesus, "because I go unto the Father," with +the whole passage in which they occur,[29] must be read in _the light +shining from the throne_. Only so can they be understood. But then, so +read, they begin to grip us, and grip us hard, as we see what He really +meant and means. + +He who has the warm, child-like touch of heart with Jesus, that the word +"believeth" stands for, shall--as the Holy Spirit has full control--do +the same works as Jesus did, same in kind and in degree, and then shall +do even greater than Jesus ever did. _Because_ it is now the glorified +crowned Christ who is doing them through some child of His, +simple-hearted enough to let Him have full control. + +And the means through which He will do them is simple, child-like, +trusting, humble prayer. The man using the power is on his knees. The +lower down he gets the more and more freely the power flows down and out +among men. + +As one learns to keep in touch--learns it slowly, stumblingly, with many +a stupid fall, and many a tremble and quiver--as he learns to keep in +simple touch with the crowned Christ he will find _all_ the power of +that Christ coming with a soft surging throb of life wherever needed. +_We may have all we can take._ But _the taking must be with one's very +life_. No mere earnest repeating of a creed in Church service will avail +here. The repeating must be, syllable by syllable, with feet and will, +with hands and life, in the daily tread where each step is stubbornly +contested. + +This is the bit of truth for the waiting time. This is the song to be +singing in this present "not-yet" interval. And the song will help cut +down the length of that "not-yet," until the friction of our lived faith +shall wear off the "not" and wipe out the "yet," and we shall find the +crowned Christ a reigning Christ. + +For some day this patient waiting crowned Man will rise up from His seat +at the Father's right hand. He will step directly into the action of +earth once again. Man will have had his fullest opportunity lengthened +out to the last notch of his possible use of it. Then we shall see the +crowned Christ quietly stepping in, taking matters wholly into His own +hands, and acting in all the affairs of earth as the Crowned One. Then +He shall reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates out to where the +ends of the earth become a common line on the other side. The Kingdom +will have come, for the King will be reigning. + +The night will be gone. The day has come. The shadows flee. He has come, +whose presence puts the new day at dawn, with the East all aflame, and +the fragrant dew glistening gladly on every tender green blade. This +time of expectancy is over;[30] the time of making real has _come_. Then +comes the restoration of the old original love plan to earth and beast +and man.[31] + + "Thou art coming, O my Saviour! + Thou art coming, O my King! + In thy glory all-transcendent; + In thy beauty all resplendent; + Well may we rejoice and sing! + Coming! In the opening east, + Herald brightness slowly swells; + Coming, O my glorious Priest, + Hear we not thy golden bells? + + "Thou art coming, Thou art coming! + We shall meet Thee on Thy way, + We shall see Thee, we shall know Thee, + We shall bless Thee, we shall show Thee + All our hearts could never say! + What an anthem that will be, + Ringing out our love to Thee; + Pouring out our rapture sweet + At Thine own all-glorious feet! + + "Thou art coming! Rays of glory, + Through the veil Thy death has rent, + Touch the mountain and the river + With a golden glowing quiver, + Thrill of light and music blent. + Earth is brightened when this gleam + Falls on flower, rock, and stream; + Life is brightened when this ray + Falls upon its darkest day. + + "Not a cloud and not a shadow, + Not a mist and not a tear, + Not a sin and not a sorrow, + Not a dim and veiled to-morrow, + For that sunrise grand and clear! + Jesus, Saviour, once with Thee, + Nothing else seems worth a thought! + Oh, how marvellous will be + All the bliss Thy pain hath bought! + + "Thou art coming! At Thy table, + We are witnesses of this, + While remembering hearts Thou meetest, + In communion clearest, sweetest, + Earnest of our coming bliss. + Showing not Thy death alone, + And Thy love exceeding great, + But Thy coming and Thy throne, + All for which we long and wait. + + "Thou art coming! We are waiting + With a hope that cannot fail; + Asking not the day or hour, + Resting on Thy word of power + Anchored safe within the veil, + Time appointed may be long, + But the vision must be sure; + Certainty shall make us strong, + Joyful patience can endure! + + "O the joy to see Thee reigning, + Thee, my own beloved Lord! + Every tongue Thy name confessing, + Worship, honor, glory, blessing, + Brought to Thee with glad accord! + Thee, my Master and my Friend, + Vindicated and enthroned! + Unto earth's remotest end + Glorified, adored, and owned!"[32] + + +Working by the Light of the Throne. + +But we are still in the "not-yet" interval. We see not yet all things +subject to Him. This is still the waiting time. It is the pleading time +for Him. He pleads for the _personal crowning_ of Himself in our lives, +that He may reign there and He alone. This is our great opportunity. We +shall never see its like again, nor anywhere else than on this earth. + +In the reigning time that's coming this peculiar opportunity of crowning +Christ while He still is absent and despised, this will be gone. In the +upper world they have no such opportunity. There is no opposition there. +Now and here is the rarest opportunity to put this great waiting patient +Man on the throne of heart and life, with possessions and ambitions and +plans all in subjection under His feet. + +Every woman knows the name of Brussels lace. The old capital of the low +countries of Europe has long been famous for its lace. It is of great +interest to note the conditions under which it is sometimes made. They +are conditions studiously prepared after long experience. In one of the +famous lace factories in Brussels there are a number of small rooms +devoted to the making of some of the most delicate patterns. + +Each room is just large enough for a single worker, and is quite dark +except for one narrow window. The worker sits so that the stream of +light falls from above directly upon the threads, while he himself sits +in the darkness. The darkness aids the workman's eyes to see better, and +to work more skilfully in the narrow line of clear light centred on the +delicate task. He weaves in the upper light intensified by the +surrounding gloom, and does exquisite work. + +There is a clear line of light _from a throne_ shining down into the +darkness in which we sit and move. It shines from the face of a crowned +Man. In the light of that light we can see clearly to do a difficult bit +of crowning work,--to crown the Christ in our lives and to keep Him +crowned. + +As our eyes follow that line of upper light we may catch glimpses of His +wondrous Face up there in the glory. So we shall be steadied and cheered +in the darkness as we stick to our glad crowning work. And so we shall +move forward on the calendar the day when that thin line of light seen +now only by watching eyes shall become a burst of glory light seen by +all eyes. + +And this is the thing the crowned Christ is asking of us during this +waiting time, this "not-yet" interval. He is counting on each of us +being faithful to Him, our absent Lord, in this. + + "He is counting on you. + He has need of your life + In the thick of the strife: + For that weak one may fall + If you fail at His call. + He is counting on you, + If you fail Him-- + What then? + + "He is counting on you. + On your silver and gold, + On that treasure you hold; + On that treasure still kept, + Though the doubt o'er you swept + 'Is this gold not _all_ mine? + (Lord, I knew it was _Thine_.') + He is counting on you, + If you fail Him-- + What then? + + "He is counting on you. + On a love that will share + In His burden of prayer, + For the souls He has bought + With His life-blood; and sought + Through His sorrow and pain + To win 'Home' yet again. + He is counting on you, + If you fail Him-- + What then? + + "He is counting on you. + On life, money, and prayer; + And 'the day shall declare' + If you let Him have _all_ + In response to His call; + Or if He in that day + To your sorrow must say, + 'I had counted on you, + But you failed me'-- + What then? + + "He is counting on you. + Oh! the wonder and grace, + To look Christ in the face + And not be ashamed; + For you gave what He claimed, + And you laid down your all + For His sake--at His call. + He had counted on you, + And you failed not. + What then?"[33] + +Ah! Please God, by His grace, we shall not fail in _the ruling purpose_ +of our lives. We may crown Him Lord of all. We _can_. He asks it. We +surely _will_. + + "With all my powers Him I greet, + All subject to His call; + And bowing low at His pierced feet + _Now_ crown him Lord of all." + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Joseph Addison Richards. + +[2] Mark xvi. 19. + +[3] Matthew xxvi. 64. + +[4] Acts ii. 33; iii. 13-16; v. 31-32; vii. 55, 56. + +[5] Psalm lxviii. 18; Ephesians iv. 8; Acts ii. 33. + +[6] Romans viii. 34; Ephesians i. 20-22; Philippians ii. 9-11; +Colossians iii. 1. + +[7] I Peter iii. 22. + +[8] Hebrews i. 3; ii. 8-9; viii. 1; x. 12; xii. 2. + +[9] Revelation iii. 21. + +[10] Acts ii. 36. + +[11] Romans x. 9. + +[12] I Samuel xvi. 6; xxiv. 6, 10; II Samuel i. 14-16; xix. 21, and +elsewhere; Psalm xviii. 50, and frequently in Psalms. + +[13] John i. 20, 25; Luke iii. 15. + +[14] Philippians ii. 10; I Corinthians xv. 24-26. + +[15] John xvii. 5; i. 1-3; Colossians i. 15-17. + +[16] Matthew xxvi. 64; Acts ii. 22-24, 32-36; Philippians ii. 9-11; +Hebrews ii. 9. + +[17] Hebrews ii. 5-18. + +[18] Romans vii. 19-22; Jeremiah ix. 10; xii. 4, 11; xxiii. 10; Genesis +iii. 17-19; Acts iii. 21. + +[19] Ephesians i. 20-22; Hebrews ii. 6-8. + +[20] Philippians ii. 9-11. + +[21] Ephesians vi. 12; Colossians ii. 15. + +[22] Colossians ii. 10; Ephesians iii. 10; iv. 8-10; I Corinthians xv. +24. + +[23] Hebrews ii. 8. + +[24] II Peter iii. 8-9; Romans ii. 4; ix. 22; Revelation ii. 21; I Peter +iii. 20; II Peter iii. 15; Exodus xxxiv. 6-7. + +[25] James v. 7. + +[26] F. M. N. + +[27] Ephesians i. 20-22. + +[28] Ephesians iii. 20. + +[29] John xiv. 12-14. + +[30] Hebrews x. 13. + +[31] Acts iii. 21. + +[32] Frances Ridley Havergal. + +[33] Mrs. Bessie Porter Head. + + + + +II.--THE CROWN BOOK + + + "All hail the power of Jesus' Name! + Let angels prostrate fall: + Bring forth the royal diadem, + And crown Him Lord of all. + + "O that with yonder sacred throng + We at His feet may fall, + Join in the everlasting song + And crown Him Lord of all! + + "With all my powers Him I greet, + All subject to His call; + And bowing low at His pierced feet, + _Now_ crown Him Lord of all. + + "I hail the power of Jesus' Name, + Before Him gladly fall, + Bring Him my own heart's diadem + And crown Him Lord of all!" + + +The Crowning Book. + +There is a _crown book_ in this old Book of God,--the Revelation of +John. It is _the_ crown book, the only one. It is the crown book of the +sixty-six in two senses. It is the capping climax of the whole +revelation of God's Word. It gathers up into itself in a peculiar way +the dominant characteristics of both the Hebrew Old and the Greek New +Testaments. + +And it is the book of the Crown. The King is in action. He Himself gives +the message of the book to John. He is seen stepping forward to take +possession of His realm. Then He takes possession. He dispossesses the +pretender. He reigns over the earth. The Revelation of John is the Crown +book. + +This is the peculiarity of the Revelation in comparison with all the +other books. Only here is Christ seen exercising His crown rights. From +end to end of the Old Testament pages, His coming is looked forward to, +with an eager longing that grows in intensity as the national failure +grows ever worse. + +In the Gospels He comes, but not as He was expected. He is heralded as +King, and claims to be King. He has all the graciousness of a King in +ministering to the needs of the people, and all the power of a King in +His personal touch. But He is rejected by the nation, and goes to the +Cross, yet still as a King,--a humiliated, crucified King. + +In the Acts He is the risen, glorified King seated at the Father's right +hand in glory, and at work through His followers among men on the earth. +But it is always in the midst of sharp, bitter opposition. In the +Epistles He is seen crowned at the Father's right hand, guiding and +teaching His followers who are still suffering persecution. + +But in the Revelation of John all this is changed. There's a sharp, +decided, advance step. Here He is not only crowned, but stepping +directly and decisively into the action of the earth in the full +exercise of His crowned rights and power. It is peculiarly the book of +the Crown, the royal book, the enthroned Christ exercising fully and +freely at will His crown rights. + + +Jesus' Bosom Friend. + +The book was written by John the disciple and apostle. This is our same +old friend John, whom we met first that ever-memorable afternoon, down +by the Jordan River road, when he was introduced to Jesus by the John of +the deserts, and had his first long, quiet talk with Him.[34] The +friendship began that day, grew steadily, and never flagged. It was one +of the few friendships that Jesus had that never knew any lapse nor +eclipse. + +He became, in an outstanding sense, the bosom friend of Jesus. Probably +it was not because of any special gentleness or amiability on John's +part, though he may have had something of these traits. It was more +likely because of the deep, intelligent sympathy between the two, a +sympathy not only of personality, but deeper and stronger because of a +mental and spirit likeness growing up between them. It would seem likely +that John developed a mental grasp, a spirit insight, a student +thoughtfulness, a steadiness of temperament, and with these, a growing +understanding of much--at the least--much of Jesus' spirit and ideals +and vision. + +It may quite be that all this came slowly, and grew up out of the +constant contact with Jesus, and out of the warm personal love between +the two men; quite likely. Who could live so close to Jesus as he and +not bear the marks on mind and spirit? The fire that burned so fiercely +in early years[35] grew into a steady, unflickering flame under the +influence of that personal friendship. + +It seems not unlikely that John belonged to a good family, and had his +home in Jerusalem. He was clearly on terms of easy intimacy at the +palace of the High Priest,[36] which in itself would suggest his social +standing in the city. It was to this man that Jesus, on the Cross, +committed the care of His mother. And John accepted the trust as a +tender token of friendship, and took Mary at once to his own home. And +as Mary remained in Jerusalem at least some time, and John clearly for a +long time, the home was likely there. + +John was one of the chief leaders in Jerusalem during the Pentecost +days, and after. Peter was the chief spokesman, but John was always +close by his side. The friendship between the two seems to have been +close and of long standing. They were sent together by the Master to +arrange for the supper that memorable betrayal night,[37] and they are +seen together in the activities in Jerusalem for many years.[38] + +It would seem that in later years John left Jerusalem, and made his home +for the remainder of his life in Ephesus. Doubtless he was led, after +the years of leadership in the mother Church, to leave the great Jew +centre, and devote his strength to missionary service in the outside +Gentile world. + +Ephesus was the chief city of the province of Asia, and the natural +centre of the population and life of the province. John probably worked +out from Ephesus, preaching throughout the whole district; teaching, +advising, praying with, and visiting the groups of little Churches +scattered throughout the province, perhaps founding some, and +strengthening all. For his work seems to have been, not so much +evangelizing, but the much more difficult work of teaching, patiently, +carefully, teaching; a work so essential to the life of any Church. So +he would be quite familiar with the Churches to which the Revelation +letters are sent, and would be well known by these people and loved and +revered by them as a father in the faith. + +This personal bit about John is of intensest interest in studying this +book of his. It was to this man that Jesus could entrust the writing of +this special message. John could take in what the Master was showing him +as few, if any others, could. The close, sympathetic friendship made him +able to take in what his old Friend and Master is now telling him in the +glory. And he could give it out too, simply, fully, clearly, just as it +was given to him. + +Love can see and grasp, and can obey simply, where mere mental keenness +fails. There is no tonic for the brain like love in the heart. No brain +ever does its best work, nor can, until the heart is fired by some +tender, noble passion. It was to Mary Magdalene who had such reason to +love tenderly that Jesus showed Himself first after the +resurrection.[39] + +And it is to John, the bosom friend, whose friendship stood the severest +test where all others failed, that He now shows Himself in glory, and +entrusts this pleading message, and vision of coming events, and of the +after glory. He that willeth to do the Master's will shall know surely +and clearly what that will is. And he that goeth farther yet, and +willeth to give the tenderest love of his heart, ever kept at summer +heat, shall know the Master Himself, in present personal touch, and in +clear and clearing understanding of His coming victorious action and +crowning glory. + +John wrote a Gospel; one chief Epistle, besides the two very brief +personal letters; and this book of the Revelation. The Gospel and +Epistles were quite likely written while in Ephesus. + +The Gospel was his plea to all men to whom it might come to accept Jesus +as their personal Saviour. Its characteristic word is "believe." And the +plan of it is a simple array of incidents about Jesus that would lead +men to a warm, intelligent belief in Him. + +The chief Epistle is written to the little groups of believers scattered +throughout Asia Minor, and doubtless in the old home district of Judea, +too. Its characteristic word is "abide." It is an intense plea, by a +personal friend to abide, steadily, fully, in Christ, in spite of the +growing defections and difficulties pressing in so close. + +The Revelation was written, quite likely, on the island of Patmos while +all was yet fresh in his mind; or possibly in Ephesus after his release +from his island prison; or perhaps begun in Patmos and put into its +final shape in Ephesus. It is written to the little groups of believers +in and near Ephesus. It is a most intense plea to be personally true to +the Lord Jesus in the midst of subtle compromise and of bitter +persecution. + +Its characteristic word is "overcome." It speaks much of the opposition +to be encountered, and tells of greater opposition yet to come, the +greatest ever known. And it pleads, with every possible promise, and +every warning of danger, that the true believer set himself against the +evil tide, at every risk, and every possible personal loss, and so that +he "overcome" in the Name of the Lord Jesus. + + +Old and New Woven Together. + +The language in which the book is written is of intense interest. It is +so unusual. It combines Hebrew thought and Greek speech. It is as though +a Hebrew soul were living in a Greek body, and the soul has so dominated +the body as to make decided changes in it. The thought and imagery, and +the very words are largely taken over from the Old Testament, much of it +not being found elsewhere in the New Testament. It is as though the Old +Testament reaches clear over the intervening space and writes the last +book of the New as an additional book of the Old, but with distinct +additions. But all these additions are outgrowths of what is already in +the Old. + +But while the thought and imagery are Hebrew, the language is Greek. But +scholars note that John's Greek here is different from that of his +Gospel, and is indeed peculiar to itself, with new grammatical +adjustments, as though better to express his Hebrew thought. Yet, like +the Gospel, it is an easy Greek to learn and to understand. It is as +though the Old Testament were the warp of a new bit of fabric, with the +New as the shuttle-threads, and yet with such additions as makes the +pattern stand out much more definite and clear, and the colours in it +more pronounced. Thus this end-book is a weaving of both Old and New +into a new bit of fabric, but with a more distinct pattern than either. + +This explains the use of the symbolism which is so marked here. The +picture language of John's Revelation has seemed very puzzling. It has +seemed like a new language, to which we had neither grammar nor +dictionary, and the intended meaning of which we could only guess at. +But this is because we are Westerners and a bit set in our western way. +And possibly, too, though we dislike to confess it, because we have not +gotten a clear, simple grasp of this old Book of God as a whole. The +Bible is an Oriental book, written in the characteristic picture +language of the Orient. + +The truth is that the symbol or picture language is meant to make the +book _easier of understanding_. We simply need to learn how to read +picture language, not whimsically, but sensibly according to the laws of +picture language. The symbolism or picture sees things as they look at +the moment the picture is taken. The picture is meant to give one +general distinct impression of the thing being presented, the details of +the picture being of value only as they give coloring to that one +general impression. It is concerned, not at all, or only in the most +incidental way, with the process by which the thing came to the point +pictured. + +There is a rare wisdom in the use of this picture language. It is really +the common language not of the Orient merely, but of all the world. In +our western half of the globe it is the language of the street, the +common crowd, the common exchange of life, and of children. It is the +language of the primitive peoples of all parts of the world. Everywhere +the conventionalized book-language is spoken by the few. The picture, +with its companion, the story, is the universal, the original, the +natural language of the race. + +On the mere human side here is one secret of the freshness of the Bible. +It is the oldest book in some of its parts, but admitted to be the +freshest and most modern in its adaptation to modern life. And the +reason is simple. The pictures give _principles_. Principles don't +change with the changing of centuries. Rules change. Principles abide. +Details alter with every generation. Principles of action are as +unchangeable as human nature, which is ever the same, east and west, +below the equator, and above. + +John's Revelation is naturally full of this picture language, for it is +a gathering up of the chief threads of the old Oriental Hebrew fabric. +It will help us understand the meaning if we keep in mind the simple +rules of this Hebrew picture language. + +John, of course, was a Hebrew, born and bred in a Hebrew home, and +immersed in the old Hebrew Bible from the time of his mother's milk. +What Greek language and culture had come was a bit of the outer world +come into his Hebrew home and life. Now in his old age the early memory +is asserting itself. + +Then too it is quite likely that in his imprisonment he had been +brooding anew over the old prophecies, reviewing afresh events since the +resurrection of Jesus,--the growth of the Church, and now the severe +persecution, with himself a prisoner. And while he in no way doubts the +unseen overruling Hand, yet he is seeking to get a fresh outlook into +the future from the old prophetic writings. + +And through all of this without doubt the Holy Spirit was brooding in +unusual measure over this man, reviving early memory, bringing to his +remembrance all things of other days, deepening impressions, bringing +old facts into new perspective, giving clearer vision, mellowing and +maturing both mind and heart into fresh plastic openness to further +truth. And so we have this little book with its Hebrew soul and its +Greek body. + +The meaning of all this is very simple, and yet a meaning of intense +significance. Here is summed up the whole of the revelation of God's +Word. Here all the lines of Revelation meet. Almost two thousand years +of inspiration come to a climax in this little end-book. Psalmist and +prophet, historian and law-giver, Gospel and Epistle come to a final +focus point in one simple intense message. The purpose of the book is +intensely and only practical. Here is the message of the whole Bible to +Christ's people _for this present interval_ between the Ascension and +the next great step in our Lord's world-plan. + + +Jesus' Plea to His Friends. + +And the message is simply this: put to us with all the intensity of the +One who gave His very life for us, it is this,--_that we be personally +true to our Lord Jesus_ during His present absence. This comes as His +personal request, that, in sweet, stern purity of life, in full glad +obedience of spirit, in tender freshness of personal devotion, in +holding absolutely everything, of talents and position and possession, +subject to His call, and in keeping our eye ever open forward and upward +for His return, we be true to Him. + +He is the Lamb slain. Only through His blood is there salvation for any +one. He is now allowing man fullest opportunity before He comes to set +things right. This is the in-between time, much lengthened out. In the +midst of formalism and subtle compromise, the tangling of ideas and +issues, and the blurring of vision within His Church, He calls to His +own blood-bought ones to be true to Himself. + +There's a terrific moral storm coming. Wickedness will wax to a worst +never yet known. Evil will be so aggressive, compromise so radical, +temptations so subtle and coming with such a rush, and ideals of right +so blurred and dimmed in the glare of the lower lights, that even those +of the inner circle will be sorely tried, and many will be deceived. +Just at the bursting of the worst of the storm the crowned Christ will +appear. He will come on the clouds before all eyes, take away His own +out of the storm, then clear the storm by His own touch, and begin the +new order of things. + +The test coming will be terrific. He knows it. And his knowledge makes +His plea intense that _we be true to Himself_, our beloved, crucified, +crowned Lord, utterly regardless of consequences to ourselves. So we +shall "overcome by the blood of the Lamb," and be joined with Him in +closest intimacy during His coming reign over the earth. + +There is a striking thing told us at the very outset of the book;--it is +a revelation. That is, it is something revealed directly by God. It is +the only book of the Bible of which we are told plainly and directly +that it is a revelation. + +It is not that the other books do not have the same inspirational +characteristic. But our attention is explicitly called to the fact that +this one is, in its entirety, a _direct_ revelation; and not only so, +but it is a revelation given directly by God to the Lord Jesus, and +given in person by Him to John. This is significant. It marks out the +message of the book as of the utmost meaning and importance. + +This suggests a need. And the need of something of the sort is plain +enough, if one think into it. Already in John's day there was a distinct +break-away from the simplicity and purity of the Gospel, both in the +Church and in the lives of professed Christians. The messages to the +Churches of Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis show clearly that there had +already begun a rubbing out of the sharp line of distinction between the +Church and the world. The world spirit was--not creeping in, +but--walking boldly into the life of the Church. + +It is striking to note the thing that leads John to write his First +Epistle, that is, the alarming conditions among Christ's followers. The +spirit of compromise seems seeping in at every crevice. And worse yet, +the spirit of Antichrist, that makes such a savage attack on Jesus, on +the deity of His person, and the atoning significance of His death, this +was openly at work among them.[40] These conditions, so familiar to +those who first read his little Epistle, are the continual underscoring +of His intense plea for _abiding_. + +It is most significant that Jude's intense flame-like Epistle talks +entirely about conditions within Church circles. Run through it again +with this fact fresh in mind, and the significance of it stands out in a +startling way. Peter's Second Epistle reveals the same sort of an +atmosphere seeping in among the groups of disciples to whom he writes. +Not only was there doubt and confusion about the meaning of the +prophetic teachings, but even a sneering and mocking at the teaching +about the second coming of our Lord. + +These are a few indications of how things were in the Church generally +before the first century had closed. It was a time of confusion and +compromise. The air was tense. The need was critical. It would seem that +if ever our Lord would give a simple direct revelation afresh, to His +people, it would be in just such circumstances. And it reveals to us at +once how grave things looked to His eyes, and how much depended on His +followers having a clear understanding of how things would work out, +that our Lord Jesus does do just this thing,--send a direct revelation +that would meet just such a need. + + +More Alike than Different. + +It is most striking that the conditions of the Church then and to-day +are so much alike. The line between Church and world is either badly +blurred, or quite wiped out. And this one fact throws a flood of light +upon Church conditions. Within the Church, when it comes to the matter +of what its real purpose of being is, and what the essentials of faith, +the lines are hopelessly crossed and tangled, even though the surface +shows so much striving toward at least a seeming unity, and so much +aggressiveness in action. The common absence of real spiritual power, +that unmistakable moving, like a breath, of the Spirit of God, is freely +admitted. + +It is a painful fact that membership in a Church no longer gives any +clue to a man's vital belief, nor even to his moral conduct. There is +utter confusion about the practical meaning of God's prophetic Word, and +what the actual outcome of the present order will be; that is, where +such things are not quite dismissed from consideration. And, stranger +yet, indifference, or an actual repugnance, to any mention of the Lord's +return is the common thing. It is not surprising that earnest people are +bewildered as to just what should be the attitude of one who would ring +true to the absent Jesus. It hurts to remember that all this is the +freely admitted commonplace, where such things are seriously spoken of. + +Indeed it is of intense interest to note that just this sort of thing +has marked the whole interval since these early Church days. Broadly the +same characteristics have marked both world movement and the Church +movement in this long interval. There is a unity characterizing the age +since our Lord ascended. There have been differences, very sharp and +marked, but always they have been differences in degree, now more +intense, now less. The general characteristics have been the same in +kind. + +The need of the Church in the end of the first century is its need in +the beginning of the twentieth. Surely the thing of all things needed is +a simple, clear, understandable revelation direct from our Lord Jesus +Himself. It was needed then. Clearly it has been needed in every +generation since then. And one whose pulse is at all sensitive to spirit +conditions to-day feels that surely it is the thing needed now. + +And here it is, a revelation of Himself, crowned in the upper world, +keeping in closest touch with things down in this world, telling us what +the outcome is to be, and especially speaking of our attitude toward +Himself in this present in-between interval. + +Usually God's method with man is to give him enough of a revelation of +Himself in nature, and in His Word, to start him straight, and guide him +as he goes to school with himself as chief pupil, with all of nature to +find out and develop, and so to get mastery both of himself and of +nature and its forces. We recognize this as the best school-teacher +method for good self-development. + +But here something more seems needed. The situation down on the earth +has gotten badly mixed up. Even though Jesus has been on the earth, and +has died, and has sent down the Holy Spirit in such irresistible power, +the situation in the world, and among His disciples, has gotten so +subtly tangled and intense, the enemy is so viciously and cunningly at +work, that only one thing will meet the need,--a revelation, a simple, +direct, warm revelation given us personally by the Lord Jesus Himself. +And here it is in this little end-book, with its vision of the glorified +Jesus, its pleading heart-cry to His followers, and its simple but +tremendous outlook into the future. + +It would not be surprising if such a book should be made the subject of +special attack by the evil one. It is not surprising, though it is +deeply grievous, that the common idea about this book among Christian +people is that it is a sort of a puzzle, that it is impossible to get a +simple, clear, workable understanding of its message. Parts of it are +conned over tenderly and loved, a paragraph here, a verse there, and so +on, but a grasp of the one simple message of the book seems not common, +to put it mildly. No book of the sixty-six has seemed so much like a +riddle to which no one knew the answer. And without doubt the full +meaning of much will be quite clear only as events work themselves out. +Events will be the best exposition of certain parts. But these parts, be +it keenly noted, are not essential to the grasp of the whole message. +God is intensely practical. Jesus was too intent on helping people to be +otherwise than practical. He hasn't changed. He is too tremendously +wrapped up in the outworking of His plans. The Bible is wholly a +_practical_ book. And this crowning end of it is intensely and only +practical. It is with the clear conviction that it is entirely possible +to get the simple grasp of it that shall steady our steps, and clear our +understanding, and feed our personal devotion to the absent Jesus, our +blessed Lord, that these few simple quiet talks have been put together. + + +Doing Leads to Understanding. + +The outline of the book is very simple. After the brief introduction[41] +and personal greeting,[42] there comes the wondrous vision of _the +glorified Jesus_, and His personal message to John.[43] He is the Living +One, who _became_ dead for a great purpose, and is now living, never to +die again. He is seen walking quietly among the groups of his followers, +with eyes of flame, and heart of love, keeping watch over these, His +empowered witnesses on earth. + +And He tells John that he is to write to the groups of his followers a +threefold message, a description of Himself as just now seen by John, a +description of affairs in these Churches as seen by His own eyes, and an +account of the things that are going to happen on the earth. + +Then follows this description of the Churches. It is in a sevenfold +personal message to His followers on the earth.[44] Then the vision of +Himself in heaven as He steps directly into the action of the earth to +take possession of His crown domain.[45] Then comes the account of +coming happenings. It is a sevenfold view of a terrific moral storm on +the earth, that will follow this advance step of His in the heavens. It +is so terrific and includes so much, that it is possible to get a clear +view of it and its sweep only by looking, now at this feature of it, and +now at this; now from this angle of vision, and now from this other. + +It is the final contesting of Christ's crown claim as He steps forward +to assert it; the final outburst of evil unrestrainedly storming itself +out. And it is the clearing-up storm, too. There is ever the shining of +a clear light just beyond the outer rim of the terrible blackness of the +storm clouds. This takes up the greater part of the little book, +including chapter six, to the close of chapter eighteen. + +And then there is given briefly the actual coming to earth in glory of +the crowned Christ;[46] the new order of things under His personal +reign;[47] a final crisis;[48] and then in a vision of wondrous +winsomeness, God and men are seen dwelling together as one reunited +family, though still with a sad burning reminder of the old +sin-rebellion as part of the picture.[49] And the book closes with +personal paragraphs to John and to the groups of Churches.[50] + +Another of the striking things peculiar to this book is the personal +plea that it be read and lived up to. At the very front-door step as one +starts in he is met full in the face with this: "Blessed is _he_ that +_readeth_, and they that _hear_, (or give careful heed to) the words of +the prophecy, and _keep_ the things that are written therein."[51] + +Here at the very outset is a plea, made to each one into whose hands the +little book may come, for a reading, and a careful thinking into, and +then, yet more, a bringing of the whole life up to the line of what is +found here. The blessing of God will rest peculiarly upon him who heeds +this threefold plea. That man is moving in the line of the plan of God. + +A little past the midway line of the book, all at once, abruptly, in the +thick of terrible happenings being told, an unexpected voice comes. +Clearly it is the Lord Jesus Himself speaking. It is as though He were +standing by all the time throughout all these pages, watching with a +sleepless concern. Now He speaks out. Listen: "Blessed is he that +_watcheth_," that keepeth ever on the alert against the subtle +temptations, and the compromise that fills the very air, "and _keepeth +his garments_;"[52] sleeplessly, kneefully, takes care that no breath of +evil get into his heart, no taint of compromise stain his life, no +suspicion of lukewarmness cool his personal devotion to the absent +Jesus. + +And again, doing sentinel duty at the rear-end, is the same plea. +"Blessed is he that _keepeth the words_ of the prophecy of this +book."[53] Reading, heeding, obeying, watching, living up to, this is +the earnest plea peculiar to this book. Clearly our Lord Jesus desires +earnestly that it be read. And He expects us to understand it. And He +pleads with us to live in the light of what He tells us here. + +He that willeth to do shall know what he ought to do. He that doeth the +thing he does know will know more. And that more done will open the door +yet wider into all the fragrance of a strongly obedient life, and into a +clear and clearing understanding of the Lord Jesus Himself. + +He that brings his life bit by bit up to the level of the earnest plea +of this special revelation, as bit by bit it opens to him, will find his +understanding of it wonderfully clearing. Obedience is the organ of +understanding. Through it there comes clear grasp of the truth. + +A single recent illustration of this comes from Korea, that land that +gives us so much of the romance of missions, as well as so much of its +pathos. Dr. James S. Gale, of Seoul, tells of a Korean who had travelled +some hundred miles to confer with him about Christian things. He recited +to Dr. Gale the whole of the Sermon on the Mount without slip or error. +After this surprising feat of memory, the missionary said gently that +memorizing was not enough; the truth must be practised in daily life. + +To his surprise the Korean quietly said: "That's the way I _learned_ to +memorize. I tried to memorize, but it wouldn't stick. So I hit upon this +plan; I would memorize a verse, then find a heathen neighbour and +practise the verse on him. Then I found it would stick." + +That's the _rule for understanding_ this revelation of Jesus through +John, as well as all of this inspired Word of God. This rule simply, +faithfully, followed will open up this little end-book which to many has +seemed a sealed book. He that "keepeth the things" that are written here +will find these pages opening to his eyes. He that liveth the truth he +does understand will understand more and better, and so live in the +wondrous power of it, and in the sweet presence of Him who gives it to +us. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[34] John i. 35-42. + +[35] Luke ix. 54. + +[36] John xviii. 15-16. + +[37] Luke xxii. 8. + +[38] Acts iii. 1, 3, 4, 11; iv. 13, 19; viii. 14, 25; Galatians ii. 9. + +[39] Mark xvi. 9; John xx. 1, 11-18. + +[40] I John ii. 18-29; iv. 1-6. + +[41] Revelation i. 1-3. + +[42] Revelation i. 4-8. + +[43] i. 9-20. + +[44] Chapters ii. and iii. + +[45] Chapters iv. and v. + +[46] xix. i-xx. 3. + +[47] xx. 4-6. + +[48] xx. 7-15. + +[49] xxi. i-xxii. 5. + +[50] xxii. 6-21. + +[51] i. 3. + +[52] xvi. 15. + +[53] xxii. 7. + + + + +III.--A SIGHT OF THE CROWNED CHRIST + +(Revelation, Chapter i.) + + + "Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus, + I've lost sight of all beside, + So enchained my spirit's vision, + Looking at the Crucified." + + + "The Lord Christ passed my humble cot: + I knew him, yet I knew him not; + But as I oft had done before, + I hurried through my narrow door + To touch His garment's hem. + + "He drew me to a place apart + From curious crowd and noisy mart; + And as I sat there at His feet + I caught the thrill of His heart-beat + Beyond His garment's hem. + + "Rare was the bread He broke for me, + As wine the words He spoke to me-- + New life surged in, the old life died.... + I cannot now be satisfied + To touch His garment's hem."[54] + + +Transfigured by a Look. + +No one ever had a sight of Christ's face and forgot. No one ever gets a +sight of Him and gets over it. He is never the same man after that. He +doesn't want to be the same. + +A look into the face of Christ is transforming. You see Him; and you can +never be the man you have been and be content. A change comes. You want +a change. You must have it. This longing is the beginning of the deeper +change. You can never be content again with being the man you have been. + +It has always been so. It always will be so. For this is the natural +thing. In the dawning twilight of Eden God looked into the face of the +man he had fashioned. He drew very close to him, close enough to breathe +his own breath into his face. And the man looked out into God's face, +and took on God's likeness. So he became his own real self, as +originally planned. + +But while man was yet young, sin looked him in the face. And the man +looked at sin with an evil longing look. And in that look he took in +some of what he saw. He was marred. The God image was hurt. He was not +the same man. And he knew it. He felt it. His eyes were never the same +after that exchange of looks with sin. + +But God helped him. He didn't go away. He came closer for the sake of +the sin-hurt eyes. And whenever man has looked into that wondrous +God-face, even though seeing dimly and indistinctly, something within +him makes a great bound. He recognizes the original of his own natural +self. And he catches fire at the sight. A holy discontent springs up +within. + + "Couldst thou in vision see + Thyself the man God meant, + Thou never more couldst be + The man thou art--content." + +But you have to see Jesus as He was in His humanity to see yourself the +man God meant. And you have to see Jesus as He is now to see the God who +meant you to be like Himself. + +It has always been so. This has been God's simple method with men He +would use. He has wooed and then wooed more, and a bit longer, gently, +persistently, up and away and apart until at last the man's eyes were +trained away from the lower glare enough to see the real things. + +Then in some vision of the night, whose darkness helped hold back the +lower earth lights, God has looked a man in the face once again. Or, +perhaps in open day there came to him that which he could not describe. +But in his inner spirit he knew there was One with him whom yet his +outer eyes could not see, but who _could_ not be more real if his outer +eyes did see. + +And in that presence there was a mingling of exquisite tenderness and of +limitless power that was overawing. Inconceivable purity and yet such an +unspeakable graciousness seemed blended in this presence. And the man +seeing was melted in his innermost being with the sense of tenderness, +and bowed in awe to the lowest dust in the sense of overwhelming power. +Those who have seen will understand how poor the words are to tell the +story. And those who have not may wonder a bit until they, too, have +seen. + + +Some Transfigured Men. + +This it was that transformed that man of the early dawnlight named +Enoch, the seventh from Adam. He was the head of the leading family of +the race, the racial leader. He had lived well on into the seventh +decade of his life. + +Then the change came. He recognized a Presence with him, one day. That +One unseen by unseeing eyes became real to him and then more real. He +yielded to His wooing. He companioned with Him daily. This came to be +the realest thing. And he was transformed by it. He grew constantly less +like what he had been, and more like what he was originally meant to be, +like his Companion. Constant contact restored the original likeness. He +was transformed before men's eyes, changed over from within. + +Then one day the transforming forces had gone so far that he was +transferred to the upper levels, where all _see His face_, and his +likeness shines out of all faces. He never got over the sight that came +to him that early day. + +It was this that wooed the man of Ur away from his ancestral home to be +a lonely pilgrim, a stranger among strangers. Nothing less or else could +have broken the early attachments, the strongest of the East. That +winsome wooing Presence became to him stronger than the strongest human +attachments of his family and home land. + +This it was that steadied him through the loneliness, the homelessness, +the disappointments, the long delays, until it was the image of a new +man, a transformed man, a faith-begotten man, that at length looked at +him out of the eyes of his only begotten. This it was that steadied him +through the hardest test of all with that only begotten, the fire test +on Moriah. And that made the transformation yet fuller. For so he grew +the liker him to whose presence he insisted on yielding as each test +came. + +So it was with that rare student of Egypt and Arabia. Trained in the +best that man could give in the University of the Nile, and then further +trained by absence from man in the University of the Desert, alone with +sheep and stars, shifting sand and immovable rock, he wasn't ready for +his task yet. He was well trained but not yet transformed. + +The fires had to be kindled, purifying, melting, fusing fires. And only +fire kindles fire. The fire of the unburnt bush told him first of a new +kind of fire, uncatalogued on the Nile. The fire of a Presence burned +daily, not consuming him, but only the dross _in_ him, as he led his +race from Egypt to Sinai, out from the slavery of men up to the freedom +of the presence of God. And then for six weeks, twice over, he was in +the Presence of Flame on the Mount. + +This it was that utterly changed him into the strongly gentle, patient, +tender-hearted, wise man who taught and trained, lived with and led, the +immature men and women whom God would weld into a nation, a God-nation. +He never got over those two long visits to the Mount, nor has the world. + +It was nothing else than this, long years later, that made the rugged +man of the deserts brave the traitorous Ahab in his luxurious, +licentious court. Without it, the sight obscured, the vision lost, he is +a coward fleeing like a whipped dog before a bad woman, thinking only of +saving his own skin. It showed himself, his weak, cowardly self, to +himself. + +A fresh vision that early morning in the mouth of the desert cave made +the yet deeper more radical transformation. That unutterably gentle +sound of stillness, too exquisite to be told, only to be felt by a +spirit in tune, _that_ left him not a whit less willing to brave danger +than before, but made over now into another sort, like him whose +Presence in the cave so melted him down. + +This new, gentled, mellowed, strengthened Elijah reappears in the man +who received the birthright portion of his spirit. We know the new +Elijah by the spirit that swayed Elisha. The old spirit, fiercely +denouncing, calling down fire, slaying the priests, but with no +grief-broken heart under these stern needful things,--this we think of +familiarly as the Elijah spirit. + +The new spirit, healing, teaching, sympathizing, leading, feeding, +fathering, the greatness of gentleness and patience, these +characteristics of Elijah's prophetic heir tell of the deep radical +transformation by the wondrous unseen Presence that early morning in the +mouth of the cave. This is the birthright gift of Elijah to Elisha. +Elijah had a spirit-sight of God, and he never got over it. He became +like Him into whose face he looked. + + +Heart Stimulant for the Brain. + +But time fails, and words fail immensely more, to tell this thing. Let +him who would know that transforming sight get quietly alone with Isaiah +in the temple, and on bent knees linger unhurriedly, and listen, and +watch, and breathe out his prayer, and strongly wait until something of +the same brooding Presence be discerned that transformed this young +Hebrew messenger of God. + +Then let him get alone with the Moses of the New Testament. For there +is no man who was so utterly transformed, and so quickly, as the man on +the Damascus road. The whole course of his character and life was +radically changed as by a lightning touch. This is the most striking +illustration of all. No man so reveals in himself the tremendous +transforming power there is in the sight of the Christ as does this +high-strung son of the Hebrew race. + +But--words are such lame things. They cannot tell the story here. They +are all one has to use. Yet they'll never be understood except as the +light of experience shines upon them. When any one attempts to talk of +such a thing as this of seeing God or Christ, his words seem so poor and +lame and under the mark by the man who has had something of the vision. +And they either are meaningless and uninteresting, or else they seem +overstated, and quite beyond the mark to one who has had no inkling in +experience of the thing itself. + +I recall distinctly the experience of a Danish friend in Copenhagen. She +had been trying to read in English a certain devotional book, but said +she couldn't seem to grasp the meaning of the English words. They eluded +her, and so the book didn't help her much. + +Then she went through a time of sore stress of spirit in the sickness +and death of her mother. A new experience of the nearness of God came to +her. And then happening--as it seemed--to pick up the English book again +she was amazed and delighted to find how much better and more quickly +she knew the words and sensed the meaning. + +It is only as the heart is fired that the brain awakens. Experience +gives the meaning to language. Without experience it is a dead language +in meaning even though it be one's own mother tongue. Only the man who +has caught something of the vision of Christ's face can understand the +strong words used in talking of such a vision. + +It is most striking to notice that even when the glory of God's presence +was hidden beneath human wrappings in Jesus it still could be _felt_. +Men felt that presence though they knew not just what it was they felt, +nor why. When the glory came yet closer in the coming of Jesus, it must +be well covered up for the sake of men's eyes, that they might not go +blind at once; but its power of attraction could not be wholly hid. + +So really human was Jesus in the outer circumstance of His life that His +brothers of the home couldn't believe he was essentially different from +themselves. But the attraction of that presence was felt constantly even +through the human hiding of it. + +John of the Wilderness instinctively recognized that here was more than +the man he saw, and so obeyed His word. The crowds gathered eagerly in +the Jordan bottoms in even greater numbers than to hear John, drawn by a +power they felt they must yield to, and did yield to gladly. + +From the first the crowds gathered thick about Him, Jewish aristocrat, +Samaritan half-breed and sinful outcast jostling elbows in their +eagerness to hear, drawn by a power they could feel, but could not +understand any more than they could withstand it. The children loved his +presence and touch. + +The bad in life were as resistlessly drawn up to a new life as the +Greeks were drawn from clear beyond the blue waters of the Hellespont +into His presence. The crowds were irresistibly drawn to follow on that +last eventful journey to Jerusalem even while they felt "afraid." + +It was the sight of the glory on the Mount that drew faithful John in +_with_ Jesus, and held him steady that awful night in palace and +courtyard, and that later brought poor blasphemous Peter back for +forgiveness. The two walking to Emmaus found their hearts all aflame, +though they supposed it was only the chance stranger of the roadway they +listened to. + +Even those who hated Him were compelled to recognize the wondrous power +of His presence. The Nazareth hands that itched to seize Him were +restrained by His presence as He passed through their midst. Ten times +did the Jerusalem crowds attempt his life, and ten times were they +restrained by a power in Him that they could neither understand nor +withstand. + +The men officially empowered to arrest Him return empty-handed, +confessing the overawing power of His words. That last week the leaders +that were hotly plotting His death felt the strange restraint of His +presence while He quietly sat in their very midst, and swayed the +crowds. + +In the garden soldiers and priests alike were felled to the ground by +the power of His presence. So it always has been. No one has ever had a +sight of that Face, and gotten used to it, or gotten over it. + + +A Fresh Vision Needed. + +But the thing we are specially needing to-day is a sight of Christ _as +He is now_. It seems a bit strange that we don't get this more. One +historic Church has Him fastened to a cross, never freed from the old +fastenings. Another has Him set in picture frame, behind glass. And the +multitudes prostrate themselves and reverently kiss the glass. + +In widely differing Churches He seems quite covered up out of sight by +classical ritual, beautiful music, and impressive stately service. The +crowds gather and listen and bow low in hushed stillness. But, +apparently, _Him they see not_, else how different their conduct as they +come out, and their lives. + +And yet as I have mingled with the worshippers in Catholic Churches in +the south of Europe, in Greek Churches in Russia, and in congregations +of the Church of England classed as "high," I have been caught by faces +here and there in the crowd that clearly were reaching out hungrily for +_Him_, and were having some sort, some real sort, of touch with Him, +too. Yet it seemed to be in spite of surroundings. The insistence of +their hunger pierces through these to Him. He seems hidden from the +crowd by them. + +Scholarly orthodox theologians talk learnedly about Him, but Himself as +He walked among us and as He is now, Him it would seem that they see +not, at least not enough to burn through and burn out and burn up and +send men out aflame with the Jesus-passion. Philosophies about Him that +are classed as "liberal" and put attractively, yet have nothing of the +burn in them that reveals Himself. + +The more modern Church of the more western world seems to have gotten a +new lease of aggressiveness in service, a new intensity in activities so +numerous as to be a bit bewildering sometimes. The wheels whir busily +and noisily. You feel them. But Him, the unseen presence that makes you +reverently wrap your face up out of sight, and stand with awed heart to +listen, _Him_ we seem not to see. + +The wondrous quiet Voice that makes your heart burn within you with a +burning that cleanses and mellows and melts down, _that_ we seem to hear +only by getting away from the noise of the whirring wheels into some +quiet corner. + +There are in every Church and nation those who seem to have the close +personal touch with Himself. Their faces and daily lives show the marks. +Their lips may not say so much, for they who see most can say least of +what they see. But the marks in the life are unmistakable. + +Yet even here the sight of Christ emphasizes chiefly the personal side, +what He is personally to them. And what a blessed side that is only they +who know it know. They think of Him as a personal Saviour, and the heart +glows. They see Him at the Father's right hand interceding, and +gratefully remember that He will forget no name where there is a +trusting heart. They think of the Holy Spirit, the other Jesus, Jesus' +other self, always "alongside to help," alongside _in_side. And they +practise letting Him work out the Christ-likeness within themselves. + +And all this is blessed, only blessed. They see Him in His personal +relation to themselves. But there's something more than this. No one +knew more of this blessed personal part than John. But John saw more +than this on Patmos. He saw Christ _as He is now_. + +This is clearly a new sight of Christ. It was new to John. It would seem +to be new to us. It is new in the pages of this book. It is something +different from any sight seen before. In the Gospels we see Jesus the +_Man_. In carpenter shop and little whitewashed stone cottage, in the +ministering life clear from the Jordan bottoms to the healing touch at +Gethsemane's gate, and in the suffering clear up to the ninth hour of +that fateful day He is the _Man_, one of ourselves, though clearly more +even in His humanity than the humanity we are. + +On the Transfiguration Mount the favoured inner three, the leaders, see +the glory within shining out through the Man. So bewildered are they +that the chief impression that remains is of a blinding brightness. Yet +this is up on a high mountain far away from the crowd, and from the +haunts of men. + +As Stephen is being stoned his eyes are opened to see the Son of Man +standing in glory up at the Father's right hand. The Damascus traveller +sees an overpowering burst of glory out of the blue and hears a voice +speaking. In the epistles Paul pictures Him seated at the Father's right +hand with an authority greater than any other. All the power He has is +placed at the disposal of His followers on the earth. He Himself is +above in the glory.[55] + +But in this very end of the Book John is given a _new sight of Christ_. +He sees Him _as He is now_. That is to say, this is the sight of Christ +as He is now _characteristically_. It is the distinctive sight that +stands out above all these others. + +He _is_ at one's right hand in closest personal relation, through His +Holy Spirit. He _is_ at the Father's right hand in glory waiting +expectantly till the time is ripe for the next direct move on the earth. +But there's more than these. There's a sight of Him that overshadows +these. It is the characteristic sight that lets us see Him as He is +peculiarly _now_ in His relation to _affairs on the earth_. + + +Christ as He Is Now. + +This new sight of Christ is the heart and soul of this crowning book, +this end-book of the Book. + +It was out of this sight that this end-book grew. It is written wholly +under the spell of this new sight of Christ. It is a revelation both +_of_ Jesus Christ and _by_ Jesus Christ; first of, then by. + +John begins his story by telling that he had gotten such a revelation, +and of the special blessing attached to reading and fitting one's life +to it.[56] Then follows his salutation to those for whom the revelation +was given, and the book written.[57] It is peculiarly a _Church_ book. +Its message is not peculiarly for individual followers, but for groups +of believers gathered together as Churches. + +The salutation is absorbed with the One whom he has seen in the vision, +what He has done for us in shedding His blood, and that He is actually +coming again. "Behold He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see +Him, and they that pierced Him." The Jew is specifically designated: the +coming has special significance for the Jewish nation. And all the +people of the earth shall penitently mourn as they see Him. And then +like an endorsing signature from the One of whom he is writing comes the +sentence: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is and +who was, and who cometh, the Almighty One." + +Then comes the new sight of the crowned Christ.[58] It was on a Lord's +day. John was on the lonely sea-girt isle of Patmos. He was alone, +brooding probably over some bit of the Word of God, and about the Jesus +of whom he had been so earnestly testifying. It was these that had +brought him to his lonely island prison. These ever burned within him, +the wondrous written Word, the immensely more wondrous Word made flesh, +of whom he had written, the Word that was God and became a Man and +walked the will of God. + +And as he brooded he became conscious of the Spirit of God overshadowing +him, gentle as the soft breeze, noiseless as the fragrant dew, mighty as +an enveloping presence that filled his being and had possession of him. + +Then a voice spake and the tone of authority in it was unmistakable. +"What thou seest, write." He was to see something. He was to tell what +he saw. There's a delightful touch of the simplicity of natural speech +here. He turned to _see_ the _voice_. And he saw Him who was the voice +of God to him. Then the sight is told in the same simplicity of speech. + +There is a group of candlesticks, light-holders, made of gold. And in +the midst of the group there is some One standing. He is in outer form +like a _man_. But there is such an overpowering sense of divine glory +that John falls on his face as one dead. Yet through all this +overwhelming experience the impression of a man stands unmistakably out. + +With keen, quick glance John takes in head and hair, eyes and feet, +voice and hands, mouth and face. A simple, natural man in every outer +particular like himself, a brother man, wearing man's garb and girdle. +This is the first impression indelibly stamped on John's mind. + +But there's more, ah, much more than a man in this man! This is the +stupendous part. There is some One, other than man, and more than man, +possessing this man. The divine fills the human. It is this sense of the +glory filling the man that is so overpowering to John. + +A glorious presence overshadows the man and shines out of Him, but never +obliterates nor makes the man less. That indescribable glory within +shining out through the man magnifies every part of His human being. The +head and hair are white, not like a pale or painted white, but a +transparent whiteness, an intense searching, glowing light shining out +from Him through the human head and hair. + +The eyes are as a flame of pure fire, the feet like melting metal +glowing in fire. And the whole countenance was as the sun in its +noontime strength shining out of a rainless, cloudless sky. Humanity +enveloped in deity, yet remaining true, full humanity. God within man +immeasurably more than man, yet not overwhelming, not disturbing nor +obliterating, any part of his humanity, rather making every part stand +out more distinctly. + +Is this incidentally a kind of parable? Is it something like this on an +immensely humbler scale that was meant for us men? God the Holy Spirit +dwelling in a man. He the chief one, the divine one, yet expressing +Himself _through_ the man, and doing it fully to meet the need of the +hour. His presence magnifying, vitalizing, and using every human power, +yet Himself the dominant personality. + +It is most striking to note that this is the same in principle as every +appearance of God in the Old Testament pages. Sometimes He talked with +men when there is no suggestion made of any appearance or of what the +appearance was like. But wherever the appearance is spoken of it is +always either fire or some touch of the human kind or both. + +In Eden He waits and speaks, two human things. He talks with Abraham as +a man talks, and ratified the covenant by passing fire through the +pieces of the covenant sacrifice.[59] It is as a simple, natural man +appearing at Abraham's tent door that He talks about Sodom. It is a +human voice speaking about Isaac, though no appearance is mentioned. +Moses sees a flaming bush, and hears a voice in the desert, and sees a +whole mount aflame while a voice speaks at Sinai. + +And so it was always: the fiery presence-cloud in the Wilderness, +Joshua's Captain taking command, Manoah's angel ascending in the flame +of the altar, the voice in the night heard by Samuel, the flooding of +Tabernacle and Temple with the glory-presence, Carmel's fire descending, +Elijah's "still small voice," Isaiah's vision of glory and the voice, +Ezekiel's man of flame speaking, and Daniel's, both of the latter two +akin to this Revelation appearance. + +But there is a distinctness and a fulness of description here greater +than at any previous time, yet the same essential thing as at every +appearance of God in Old Testament pages. The coming of Jesus among us +has brought God closer to us and made Him mean more. Jesus was God +coming closer and in a way that we could understand better and take hold +of more easily. + + +The Identifying Mark. + +But let us reverently look a little closer that we may understand yet +better. There are certain characteristics of this Man of Fire that are +allowed to stand sharply out here. We are meant to look at them. This is +part of the purpose in the heart of Christ in letting us see Him as He +is here. + +The sense of _purity_ is intenser than can be put into words. Fire is +pure. There is nothing so pure. It resists impurity. It burns it up. It +is most significant that this is the one thing familiar to us that +always accompanies the presence of God as He appears to men. It is +always in fire whether to speak His message of peace and love or to +remove the impurity of evil. + +Our God is a consuming fire. Yet fire only consumes what can't stand its +flame. The fire reveals purity and makes pure. God is pure. The presence +within the man looked out in eyes of flame, in a countenance like the +sun, and feet like molten brass glowing in a furnace. There could be no +stronger statement of purity than this. + +Then there is an overwhelming sense of _authority_. That seems the human +word to use, though the word seems to tell so much less than John felt. +John feels it more than he can tell it. He cannot tell it in words. His +limp figure lying flat on the earth tells what words never can. He had +seen the glory outshining in the Transfiguration Mount, but this is +unspeakably beyond that. + +There was a voice like a trumpet. It commanded John to write. It says: +"I _became_ dead, and, behold! I _am_ alive forever more." It is an +authority over life to yield it up, and over death to put it to death, +and call life back, never again to be touched by the finger of death. No +such authority is known among men to-day. And this is further emphasized +in the quiet words: "I have the _keys_--- the control--of death and of +the whole spirit world." + +But immensely more than all this to John was the intense feeling of +majesty which completely overpowered him. The sense of authority was +overwhelming. The items in the description can thus be catalogued, but +it is impossible to get the overwhelming sense of majestic authority +that came to John, except as he got it,--by a _sight_, something of a +sight of this great crowned Christ. + +But _who_ is this? Is this not merely Ezekiel's vision repeated?[60] He +saw just such a vision, one in the likeness of a man, enveloped in fire, +and sitting on a throne. And the effect was the same as Ezekiel lies +flat on his face. Is it not the same as Daniel saw?[61] A _man_ clothed +in linen, aflame with inner fire, and the same authoritative voice, and +Daniel in a deep sleep of awe-stricken stupor with face on the ground? +He does indeed seem to be the same. The descriptions tally remarkably. + +But listen. He speaks. And the sense of terrifying authority in the +voice that spake is gentled to John's tense ear in the quiet words that +come. Like the loving words that came to Daniel's quaking heart is the +personal message that came to John,--"Fear not." And with the words, as +ever, come the new sense of stilling peace within. "I am the First and +the Last, and the Living One." + +Still it may be Ezekiel's Man even yet, or Daniel's. But listen: "and I +_became dead_." Ah! this identifies Him. Now we know for the first time +that this Man of Flame is Jesus our Brother-man. The cross becomes the +mark of identification. The form of the words as spoken fits in with the +sense of authority. With great strength of heart in carrying out a great +purpose He "_became_ dead." + +This is Ezekiel's Man and Daniel's and _more_, unspeakably more. The Man +they saw has lived amongst us for a generation of time, and then given +His life clear out for us. He has become more in coming as Jesus. He +has taken human experience and suffering up into Himself. He was +Creator. He has become more--Saviour. + +There is the same purity and authority speaking out here as there. But +here is _love_ speaking out as never was spoken out before. Here is love +_lived_ out; aye, here love is _died_ out, and never living so much as +when dying. Here is love putting death to death for us. Purity and +authority fastened on a cross! This is love such as man had never known, +and God never shown before. Calvary lets us see the love that burned in +the purity and controlled in the authority. + +John's Man is Ezekiel's and Daniel's, but with the love shining out +through purity and authority, and outshining both. Yet that love is the +purity and authority combined in action. We don't know love only as we +know God. And we don't know God only as we know Jesus not living merely +but pouring out His life for men. This is love--that Man, that God-man, +but with the God-glory hidden within, using all His authority over His +life to fasten His purity on a cross with the thorns of our sin, and +then throttling death and bringing up a new sort of deathless life for +us. This--He--is love. + + +The Outstanding Characteristic. + +But we haven't gotten to the heart of this yet. There is immensely more +here than even this. The distinctive thing, the characteristic thing in +this sight of Christ, is yet to be noticed. All of this can be gotten +from other sights of Christ. But notice now keenly _where this Man of +Fire is_. For this is the distinctive thing. He is not up in the +heavens, as in Ezekiel. He has not come on a special errand, as in +Daniel's experience.[62] He is walking _down on the earth_. His whole +concern is about affairs on the earth. + +But note where He is on earth: not in Jerusalem, the Jew centre; not in +Rome, the world's ruling centre, nor in Athens or Corinth, the world's +culture centres. He is seen walking among a small group of candlesticks. +This is the centre of earth action for Him. This is _the significant +thing_ of this new sight of Christ. Let us look at it a moment to get at +the simple significance of the scene. + +The candlesticks, we are told, are the Churches, the little groups of +followers banded together here and there. These small groups of Christ's +followers are called _candlesticks_ or lampstands. + +There is no suggestion yet of their giving any light. No lighted candles +nor oily wicks are burning and shining. They are only candle_sticks_. +They are of gold, the most precious metal, but they can give no light, +they can only hold the light some one else supplies. The Man standing +amongst them is the light. The whole effect of the sight of Christ here +is that He is the light. The presence within the man shines out through +head and eyes and limbs, as light, intense dazzling light, even as the +sun in his strength. + +Here is the distinctive thing. Christ's whole interest centres in the +earth. All heaven is bending over watching the run of events down here. +The intensity of His suffering and death tell the intensity of Christ's +interest in the movement of things on the earth. He has a plan. He has +put His very life into it. It centres wholly in the affairs of us men +down here. And it centres in His Church. + +This quite upsets our common ideas about the centre of things down here. +We class London and New York as the great financial centres; Paris and +Berlin as the great fashion and military centres. Rome is the centre of +authority of the Catholic Church, and St. Petersburg of the Greek +Orthodox. The Man who holds all power in His hands, and on whose word +everything depends, quietly brushes all this aside with scarce a move of +His hand. The earth-centre of things is the Church. That is, the groups +of his followers banded together in various parts of the world. + +Sometimes it is seen as a magnificent organization intimately connected +with the machinery of government. Sometimes as very small groups of +persons with no social standing, despised and reckoned as not worth +reckoning with. But this is the thing He is depending on for getting out +to His world. All His plans centre here. + +He is the light. The light He gave and gives through nature, and within +every man's breast, has been awfully darkened through refusal and +neglect to use it, through stubborn self-will. It is so darkened that +ofttimes it seems to have been quite put out. His coming amongst us as +one of ourselves, living our life, dying on our behalf to free us from +sin, rising again victorious over death, sending His Holy Spirit to make +all this real and living to each of us,--this is the light at its full +shining, the flood-light. + +He has made a plan for sending this flood-light to every one in every +part of the earth. That plan centres in His followers. He is the light. +The Church is the light-bearer, the candlestick. It is to hold _Him_ up +in such a way that men everywhere can get in direct touch with Him. When +He is held up, the darkness goes. The darkness can't stand the light. +This is the immensely significant thing here. This is the sight of +Christ needed to-day, a sight of Him as He stands _waiting_ on the +Church to carry out His plan for the earth. + +The faithfulness of the Church is not measured by compact organization, +costly houses of worship, impressive services, eloquent scholarly +preaching, and a ceaseless round of organized activities. It can be told +only by how much of the spirit of the Christ who died is carried, in the +daily life of its individual members, into home and social and +commercial circles until men are compelled to feel its power in +conviction of the sin of their own lives. + +Nor yet is it told by transplanting the western type of civilization to +far-away lands, with schools and hospitals and innumerable humanizing +influences. All this may be blessed. And it will be blessed and blest. +But it is the incidental thing. It is sure to follow where the Jesus +light is allowed to shine clearly through and out. It is quite possible +to have these good things without getting the real Christ. It is quite +impossible to have Christ Himself without such influences coming, too. + +The emphasis must be not on these things, but on Him, Christ. Men need +Him. He answers the heart longing, and only He can. He changes the +nature, and nothing else is enough. The Church is to take the loving, +healing, personal Christ to men in the fulness of His power, and to all +men. This is the measure of its faithfulness. + + +What Christ Sees. + +The tremendous question that crowds in here is this, What does this Man +of Fire see as He stands among His followers? And He tells us. This is +why the vision is given. He wants us to see things as they look to His +eyes of flame. + +The Man and His message are one thing here. Chapters one, two, and three +belong together, and should be held together in our minds. We have put +the Man and His message as separate talks to get a clearer grasp of +each. But they are _one_. + +Now we recall enough of the message to note this. Five-sevenths of the +light-holders are in bad shape. The lamps are smoky, badly smoked, and +cobwebbed. The light is dimmed. It can't get out through the lamp. The +crowds are standing in the darkness and falling into the ditch by the +side of the road. + +Two-sevenths let the light clearly out. The others are an intermingling +of light and light obscured, but with the obscurity overcoming the +other. The net result is an irritating smokiness. And the movement +unhindered would naturally be toward a steady increase of smoky +irritation and obscurity until no light can get through. This is what He +lets us see that He sees. + +Now the instinctive thing to do with a smoky lamp irritating nostrils +and eyes is to put it out. That is the first instinct. The second is to +trim the wick and do whatever else it needs to correct the smokiness. +_Yet He waits._ That first natural instinct is restrained. The +candlesticks are not yet moved out of their place. The light still tries +to get out through them. The human candlestick may yet do the needful +trimming and cleaning. With marvellous restraint He _waits_. + +It is a tremendous scene that is stretched out here before us,--purity +and authority combined in One who is standing in the midst of impurity +and failure. The purity is more intense than we can grasp. The authority +is greater than any one can realize. The impurity, the failure, are bad +clear beyond what we can take in. The whole natural instinct here would +be a _cleansing_, instant and radical, a correcting of the evil. Yet He +waits. The purity would act through the authority; the authority +restrains the purity. Love quietly, strongly holds both in check. This +restraint, this inaction is tremendous. + +Why this inaction? this restraint? And the answer is simple, and as +sweeping as simple. His plan at this stage shall have fullest +opportunity. His followers will be given full opportunity to the last +notch of time and the latest possibility of their being yet true. + +All the intensity of His love, all the eagerness of His expectancy,[63] +all the fulness of His plan for the earth, yes all the millions of the +race, all the misery and ignorance, the sin and darkness, the millions +of babies being born into wretchedness, and the millions of +non-Christian women being held in slavery, and the countless numbers in +every land groping along in a darkness that not only can be felt, but +that is felt to the hurting point and then past that to the insensitive +stupor,--all this waits. + +With a heart that feels all that any man is feeling and that breaks +under it, He waits that fullest opportunity shall be given His followers +to be true. If His Church is set aside it will be only at the last +moment when her failure is utterly hopeless. If the candlestick is +removed out of its place, it will be only after it has completely +removed itself out of all touch with the Light. A candlestick holding +out no light is an utterly useless thing to the man in the dark. + +It is possible for the Church to be a magnificent organization, an +honoured institution, exerting immense influence in national politics, +enormously rich in gold and in scholarship and in traditions, and even +in carrying forward an aggressive missionary propaganda, and yet be +faithless to its one mission. If the Church should fail in this its one +mission, then the waiting time is over. The way is clear for the next +step in the world plan. And a momentous step that would be, beyond our +power to grasp. But the waiting time still holds out. + +This is the simple, tremendous plea of this new sight of the crowned +Christ as He is shown here. The centre of the universe to Him is this +earth. The centre of things on the earth is His Church. The centre of +things in the Church is its giving Jesus the Light out to all the earth. + +And if this be the way things looked to His eye at the close of the +first century, how, think you, do they look at this beginning of the +twentieth? Has that momentum of movement toward increasing smokiness +slacked? Is the waiting time nearly run out? + +The present is a momentous time. Even men of the world speak of the +world-wide restlessness as pointing to some impending event of world +size. And he who is in some sort of simple touch with the spirit world +can feel the air a-thrill with the possibility of world events +impending, even while he wonders just what and when. + + +One in the Midst. + +It is most striking how it came about that John got this sight of +Christ. The change was not in Christ's presence, but in John's eyes. +Christ did not come. He was there. John's eyes were opened. Then he saw +Him who stands watching and waiting. _Christ is here._ The Man of Fire +and of restraining love is here on the earth in the midst of His Church +looking and longing, listening, and feeling. + +If only our eyes were opened to see! There standeth One in our midst +whom we recognize not. Wherever any company of believers banded together +as a Church to worship and pray and break holy bread are gathered, under +whatever local name or in connection with whatever Church communion, _He +stands in the midst_, this crowned Christ of the Patmos Revelation. + +Our eyes need treatment. The hinge of the eyelid is in the will and in +the heart. A bended or bending will opens the eye. A brooding heart +opens it yet more in spirit vision. Then we shall see Him, _as He is +now_ in our midst, waiting our obedience. + +Those forty days between the resurrection and the ascension are seen to +be illustrations of this. One can see through this Revelation sight that +this is one of the chief things the Master is teaching as He still +lingers on earth in His resurrection body. + +Along the old Emmaus road, gathered about the evening meal in the +twilight, twice in the upper room at Jerusalem, He appears to little +groups of His faithful followers. Their hearts are burning with the +thought of Him, they are talking with both tongue and eyes about Him. +But that He is in their midst is the last thing to come into their +minds. Then their eyes are opened to see Him in their midst. It was a +forty-days' session in their training school. Then He said quietly as +His bodily presence goes up into the blue: "Lo! _I am with you all the +days until the end._" Their mission and His presence are inseparably +linked. + +And it is striking again to note how John's Gospel ends. The others +describe the Ascension. John begins his Gospel with Jesus in the bosom +of the Father before the world was, and ends with Him walking and +talking with a little group of fishermen along the shore of the waters +of Galilee's Lake. + +This is what the Church needs to-day, a sight of Christ _as He is now_. +Nothing else can save its life. And nothing less can save its mission +from utter impending failure. + +And yet while the distinctive message here is for the Church, it is an +individual message, too. It is for each of us. I am the Church, as much +of it as I am, counted as one. You are the Church. The Church is made up +of you and me and the rest of us. I must take this message for as much +of the Church as I am. The Man of Fire is depending on me to be a +candlestick for His light. It is on me He is patiently waiting to obey +as fully as He means I should. + +And on you. + +A recent incident is told of a man whose name is a familiar one in the +financial world, who died a few years ago. He was the executive head of +one of our country's great railways. And a man of remarkable largeness +of insight and grasp, and of unusual power of execution. He dealt in +hundreds of millions as easily as most of us deal in dollars, and his +rugged honesty has never been brought into question. His greatest +achievement bulks big in the material structure of one of our great +eastern cities. + +But his gigantic tasks ran his strength to ebb tide, and then it was +seen that the tide was running out. As he lay in the sick chamber a +minister called, whose ministry had touched large numbers of the men in +the railroad of which the sick man was head, and in the course of +conversation tactfully asked: + +"Are you a Christian, Mr. Blank?" + +"Yes," was the quiet, prompt reply that rather surprised the minister. + +"How long have you been a Christian, Mr. Blank?" + +"Two days," came the answer as promptly and quietly. + +Feeling that there was an interesting story under these answers, the +minister gently pressed the question. Then the story came out. + +"You know William, who handles freight out here at ----?" the sick man +asked. + +"Yes." + +"He showed me the way." + +"William" had been a worthless, drunken man of the "down and out" sort. +He had been converted at some mission and been radically changed. He had +gotten employment at one of the freight-handling stations of this +railroad system. It was rough, hard work, but he had gone at it +earnestly in his purpose to live an honest life. And in his quiet, +earnest way he was always seeking a chance to speak to men of Christ as +a personal Saviour, until he became known throughout that part of the +system for his simple, earnest piety. + +As the sick man realized the seriousness of things for him he had sent +for this William. The president of the road whose capitalization ran +into hundreds of millions sent for the rough-handed freight handler. And +William in his simple, earnest way had pointed the sick man to Christ. +And the man of millions had made a new sort of transaction. Christ and +he had an understanding. + +And as the sick man told the minister the story he paused, and then +added, "_I have given my strength to the secondary things._" + +This was the judgment of this shrewd man of big affairs as the new light +had come into his life at its close. Happily he had gotten the +readjustment of values in time for readjustment of personal +relationships. But his life's strength was gone. + +If we might get the readjustment that would put secondary things in +second place, and put wrong and useless things clear out, _in time to be +of some use to our blessed Lord_. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[54] William Norris Burr. + +[55] Notably Ephesians i. 20-23. + +[56] Revelation i. 1-3. + +[57] Revelation i. 4-8. + +[58] Revelation i. 9-20. + +[59] Genesis xv. + +[60] Ezekiel i. 26-28. + +[61] Daniel x. 5-9. + +[62] Daniel x. 20. + +[63] Hebrews x. 13. + + + + +IV.--A MESSAGE FROM THE CROWNED CHRIST + +(Revelation, Chapters ii and iii) + + + "The glory of love is brightest when the glory of self is dim, + And they have the most compelled me who most have pointed to Him. + They have held me, stirred me, swayed me,--I have hung on their + every word, + Till I fain would arise and follow, not them, not them,--but their + Lord!"[64] + + +Patmos Spells Patience. + +Patience is strength at its strongest, using all its strength in holding +back from doing something. Patience is love at flood pleading with +strength to hold steady in holding back. + +The love in the strength insists on waiting a bit longer for the sake of +the one being waited for. The strength in the love obeys the love +passion and takes fresh hold in holding back. + +Patmos spells out the patience of our Lord Jesus. It tells the strength +and tenderness of His love. Olivet spelled out His _plan_, His great +sweeping plan, _through His followers_, for a race. Calvary spelled out +His _passion_, passion of love, passion of suffering, in dying for a +race. + +Calvary, Olivet, and Patmos are inseparably linked, the gentle slope of +the Jerusalem hillside, the little mount to its east, and the little +rocky isle in the far Ægean. Calvary was the passion of love pouring out +a life for a race. Olivet was the plan of love for telling a race, till +every one would know the love by the feel. Patmos is the patience of +love pleading with the should-be tellers of the story to carry out the +plan, and waiting, and then waiting just a little longer. + +Olivet had heard the last word. There the Master had told the disciples +the plan. All the race was to be told and taught, bit by bit, earnestly, +repeatedly, patiently, tirelessly, by word and act and life. He Himself +unseen by outer eyes would always be with them, His supernatural power +making real and living what they told and taught. This was the plan. +Olivet was to be the executive of Calvary, bringing home to men and +making vital to them what had been done there. + +Then Jesus went up on the Cloud. And they went out everywhere. And His +power convincingly went with them just as He had said. Within a +generation the news and the power had gone together to the outermost rim +of the world they knew. + +They were expecting Him to return as a result of this witnessing of +theirs. The next time they see His face and hear His voice will be as He +comes on the Cloud out of the blue. So they understand and believe. This +is their constant expectancy. + +Now that generation has moved off the scene of action. Another +generation has come in its place, and has almost run its course and +moved off the scene. And still they are looking forward to and talking +about His return. + +But now to this new generation of His followers something quite +different comes. Instead of Himself coming in glory there comes another +last message to them. It fits perfectly into the Olivet message, but +goes further and says something more. + +The Olivet message is about taking the light of the Gospel message out +everywhere. The Patmos message in its pictured setting of candlesticks +and Man of Fire and blazing light recognized this as the one thing to be +done, but says there's something the matter with the candlesticks. + +The Olivet word is about taking the message. This Patmos word is about +the messengers. That one is about the _service_ of His followers; this +other about their _life_. The life underlies the service. Nothing can so +hinder and hurt the service as a life not true in itself. Here something +in the life of the Church is hindering its service. The Master's plan at +this stage is in danger. + +His broader plan extends beyond this Church movement. This is one great +step to be followed by another. That broader plan had been outlined at +the first Church Conference, held in Jerusalem. James, the presiding +officer, said that the carrying of the Gospel to all men was to be +followed by a national regeneration of the Jews; and then through a +regenerated Jewish nation there would be a new era of world-wide +evangelization,[65] and with this the Conference was in agreement. + +The leaders among these early disciples are eagerly anticipating Jesus' +return to carry on the next stage. They understand that what they are +doing is preparing the way for this next step. + +But now instead of returning to carry forward the broader plan here +comes another message. Apparently things are not going satisfactorily. +The plan at this stage is in danger, while the Calvary passion back of +it still burns. Failure is impending. The Master _might_ sweep aside the +men that are failing, and press on Himself into the next step of His +plan. For the case is urgent. A race is waiting. The darkness thickens. + +But instead He waits. With patience and strength and love beyond our +power to grasp He waits. This is the setting of the Patmos message, to +which we now turn. + + +The Unity of the Message. + +We must keep our eyes on the Man who is talking. His overawing presence +gives tremendous meaning to His words. That gentle touch of the right +hand has no doubt strengthened John even as Daniel was strengthened. And +he is standing and looking as he listens. But the sight of that wondrous +Man walking among the candlesticks floods his face and his whole being +indescribably as he listens to the message spoken. + +The overpowering sense of awe, of reality and power, and of the +tremendous meaning of what is being said never leaves. So he listens. +So we must listen. So only can we get into the meaning of these words. +The words will mean only as much as the Man means in the intensity of +His presence. You must keep your eye on this crowned Christ as you +listen. + +The seven-fold description given us of Christ is the key to these seven +messages. The partial description beginning each message is seen to fit +into the particular condition of the Church spoken to. Yet all these +bits of description must be put together to get the full description. It +is a seven-fold description of one person. + +And so all the messages must be taken together to see the Church as He +sees it, and to get His message to it. It is one message. A look at the +seven promises made to the overcomers makes it clear that all seven are +one promise. It is not that one overcomer receives one thing, and +another another, but each one gets all of what is mentioned in the +seven. A rather careful, swift look at these promises makes this clear +enough. + +It is spoken to one Church in seven groups in seven different cities. +There is one call to repentance, one warning of what will happen to the +unpenitent at five successive stages, one plea to hear seven times +repeated, and one blessed result to the overcomer, in a seven-fold +statement. + +And there is just one evil to be recognized and fought. That evil is +seen to grow from one degree to another, from bad to worse and worst. +Its emphasis changes from one phase to another. It has shown itself +differently in different parts of the world, and in different ages +since, but it is the one evil power, always the same behind the +different manifestations. + +There is rare combination and adaptation in this message. It was meant +for the Church of that day, and of every day since, and for some future +day. For it stands as the one message from Christ to His Church between +Olivet and His return. It is meant distinctively for the Church as a +whole, and yet it makes an intense personal appeal to each one in the +Church. + +It is spoken to the little groups of Churches in Asia Minor grouping +about the city of Ephesus, which had been founded by Paul and ministered +to by John. And without doubt it fitted into the conditions and +tendencies of those particular seven Churches. + +But these are representative of all. Probably any group of seven would +be representative of all in varying degree. The mother Church at +Jerusalem is not named, nor the great Gentile missionary Church at +Antioch. But these messages with their approval and criticism, their +warning and promise, were meant for all the Church in Asia and Europe +and Africa at that time. + +They are found to fit into the need of the Church scattered throughout +the world in every generation since then. Always there have been little +groups that were faithful and true, always some suffering because of +their faithfulness and remaining faithful in spite of suffering. And +always those who have been formal, who have companioned with evil, who +have been swamped by the evil with which they companioned, and those +practically asleep or dead. + +This Patmos message will be found to fit the Church of to-day with +remarkable accuracy and faithfulness. And the whole probability is in +favor of finding that it will fit peculiarly the future Church, the +Church at the end of this present period. + +This whole book of the Revelation is peculiarly a Church book. While it +is full of instruction and plea for our individual lives, yet it is +distinctively _the_ Church book. It stands out among the books of the +New Testament as the one book addressed to the Church and to the whole +Church. + +It gives the great bulk of its space to an awful time of persecution +that is coming to the Church at some future time. This is spoken of +elsewhere, notably by Jesus in His talk with the disciples on Mount +Olivet, but it is the chief subject treated here. And it is treated with +great detail. The name commonly applied to this coming persecution is +the great tribulation. + +It is significant that the book that clearly is distinctively a Church +book is taken up chiefly with a description of that future persecution. +It leads to the deep conviction that this book of the Revelation so +fitted to the need of the Church when spoken, and in every generation +since, will be found to be peculiarly fitted to that generation of the +Church that is to pass through this great coming persecution; that is, +to the Tribulation Church. + +It will probably be the mainstay and comfort of those who will insist on +being true during those awful days, regardless of the suffering +involved. No book has been more slighted and ignored. It has been called +by some within the Church of our own generation "the joke of the Bible." +It will likely come to be the book most studied and loved for its light +and help in the terribly troublous times ahead. There will be an eager, +hungry searching for every scrap of information, and for any fresh ray +of light on its meaning. + + +The Seven-fold Message. + +Now this seven-fold message lets us see things through Christ's eyes. He +is letting them and us see what He sees. The Scottish poet's thoughtful +lines might well be changed to get the yet better look: "Oh! wad some +power the giftie gie us, to see oursel's as" _God_ sees us. It would do +more than free us from blunders and notions. And we are needing more. + +Each one of these seven messages begins by our Lord drawing their eyes +to Himself. This is the thing needed most. And this will give meaning +and force to the message. They are to be looking at Him as they listen. +Then He speaks of all the good things He sees. Then of the faulty, weak, +bad things, in a few simple but unmistakably plain words. No one could +doubt what He meant. + +Then is the pleading call to repent, with the faithful warning of what +will surely happen if they don't. Then the earnest plea that His words +be listened to and taken to heart, and the wondrously gracious promise +held out to those who steadily set themselves against the evil, and who +get the victory. + +Let us look for a moment at each of these Churches as seen by those +searching eyes of flame. + +_Ephesus_ is the centre of the group, the natural leader, the largest +and most influential, perhaps the mother Church of the group, where Paul +and John had put in so much time and strength, and whence they reached +out to these others. + +Christ reminds them of His presence in their midst and His control of +the angel messengers that minister to them. Then he speaks of their good +deeds, their tireless activity, steadfast endurance, intense zeal for +the true faith, with special emphasis upon their unwearying +steadfastness even under sore difficulties, and their hatred of those +who made compromise with evil so hateful to Himself. + +But there is something lacking, the tender personal love for Himself. +There's intense loyalty to Church and to the faith, but a lack of +personal love for Himself. And the startling thing is that this is said +to quite outweight all these good things. They may have these things +without the love, but they cannot have the love without having these +things, and at a finer temperature. + +And this defect is crucial. If persisted in it is fatal. It will +actually mean their _rejection as His messenger_. This is the critical +thing which we seem to have such a hard time getting hold of. The +essential qualification for true service is the personal attachment to +our Lord Jesus Himself, that warm heart love which the human heart longs +for and gives to some one. He longs for this. This is _the_ essential; +not Church organization nor creed, not zeal for orthodoxy, but warm love +for a person. Service, witnessing, all the rest, are valuable to Him in +reaching His world only as they grow out of a tender love for Himself. + +And the startling thing is that this privilege and opportunity of +service is to be taken away _not_ because displeasing to Him, but +because it fails of the end in view. The candlestick is only removed +because it is no longer serviceable; it is not giving out the light. +This earnest, aggressive, orthodox, patiently-enduring Church is to be +rejected as a light-holder, because it is not holding out the light. +This is tremendous! + +The group in _Smyrna_ is tenderly reminded of the suffering of their +Lord, for they are filling up what is left behind of His suffering. This +tells at once the depth of their personal love for Him, nothing could +tell it more. + +They are poor in money and so despised, but rich in faith and so +precious to Him. They are suffering at the hands of the Jews, who were +the outspoken, intense, fanatical enemy of the Christians. There is no +reproach, only earnest encouragement to keep steady even through +fiercer fires yet to come. + +The description of Himself to the _Pergamum_ group is startling. He is +the one with a sharp two-edged sword. There is something here He must +fight against. They are frankly told that they have had a hard place to +witness in, and earnestly commended for being true even in the midst of +persecution. + +But there's something wrong, and it is very serious. It is as wrong and +bad as it can be. There is actually compromise with evil, partnership +with the world in its wickedness. The thing is put in the intensest way +possible by characterizing it as adultery. No stronger language could be +used to tell how He sees the evil they are guilty of. And they are +plainly told that He will fight against them. They have made themselves +His enemy by joining His enemies. + +The _Thyatira_ group is reminded of the purity of their Lord, who cannot +stand impurity but searches it relentlessly out, and pursues it to the +death. There's a faithful minority here. Their activity and love and +faith and patience and increasing activity in service are all counted +carefully over and warmly commended. + +But the evil here is much worse. It is put into the gravest language. +"Thou sufferest the woman _Jezebel_." This is most significant. There is +no worse character named in the whole Old Testament. She not only +represented the worst adulterous uncleanness in herself, but she was +the national leader energetically fostering unclean idolatrous practices +among the people. Jezebel pulled God's light-holder nation down to the +lowest moral level it ever reached. She brazenly dominated king and +people, and remained stubbornly obstinate to the terrible end. + +Christ brings _her_ name in here. Again this is tremendous. No more +terrific parallel could have been made. Here evil characterized as +adulterous has actually come to a place of leadership in the Church. +With great longsuffering time has been given that all this might be +changed, but with Jezebel-like obstinacy it was determined that there +would be no change. And the inevitable result that will surely follow +continued obstinacy will be a great tribulation or deadly persecution. + +The _Sardis_ group is told that Christ is the centre of all life and +help, in the control of the Holy Spirit and of the angel messengers. +There is nothing to commend here. There are some who insist on living +true lives, but they are a scanty scattered few, not enough to count. + +There are some ragged remnants of good, but even these are sickly and +nearly dead. The Church is well organized, energetic, standing high +among men, but with an utter absence of spiritual life. The personal +lives of most are like dirty garments. And the warning is this: He will +come as a thief, that is unexpectedly, disagreeably, to take away what +they prize most and leave them stripped and naked. + +The longest message is to the group in _Philadelphia_. Christ reminds +them that He is holy in character, faithful to His promises, having full +control, and giving opportunity of service as the highest reward of +faithfulness. This candlestick is giving out light, for it is given yet +further opportunity of shining. + +The chief characteristic of this group is its steady plodding +faithfulness. They are not spoken of as brilliant or talented, but +faithful in the midst of opposition. He loves them with the sort of deep +love drawn out by love freely given. And a special promise is given, a +significant promise. A great persecution is coming, an awful testing +time to all the earth. But He will keep them _through_ this unhurt +because they have been keeping His word so faithfully. + +The common reading here is, "I will keep thee _from_ the hour of trial." +It is quite as accurate to read "through" in place of "from." And there +is good reason for taking this as the sense here. The word underneath +here is translated by several different words in other passages. + +Where a word in one language may be translated by any one of several +words the general sense of the passage must decide which one correctly +expresses the meaning. Here the meaning must be gotten from the whole +trend of New Testament teaching. Like the Israelites during the plagues +that came to Egypt these faithful ones will be kept untouched through +this terrible time that is to come. + +The _Laodicea_ group is to be talked to plainly by one who is a true, +faithful witness in dealing with His people's faults, and who has all +the authority of God in doing so. This is the second group that actually +has not one good thing to be commended. There is no false teaching, no +compromise with evil; they are simply _asleep_. Rich, influential, +self-satisfied, grown fat and sleek,--so they seem to their neighbours +and themselves. Wretched, poor, blind, naked,--so they are. And the +chastening threatened will be of the severe radical sort that strong +love insists upon. + + +A Heart-breaking Sight. + +Here then is the picture of the whole Church as seen by the eyes of +searching flame. There is a mixture of bad and good, active bad, active +good, and sleepy indifference. There is a Church within the Church. But +the bad is bad enough and big enough to endanger seriously the +usefulness of the whole as a light-bearer. + +The glass of the lantern is so smoked and cobwebby that it is more +useless than useful to the light inside, and the crowd outside in the +dark. The uselessness threatens what usefulness is left. Smokiness is +contagious. Cobwebs grow thicker and hold more dust. + +Two Churches are true and pure in the midst of sore opposition. Two are +corrupt in the very worst way. Three, including the leader, are orthodox +in form, but indifferent to Jesus Himself, or asleep, or dead; three +degrees of the same thing,--indifference, sleep, death. + +In all of these five there are those who, like Ezekiel's companions, +"sigh and cry over the abominations that are going on," but they are +helpless to stay the sweep of the tide. They are the salt that is saving +the lump so far. Even Sodom would have been saved by ten righteous. + +It is plainly said to the leader Church that it is no longer of use as a +candlestick, except a change come. It fails to give out the light. It is +being carried along, patiently borne with _for its own sake_. It is +failing at this point in the mission. The smoking flax sending out its +irritating smoke in place of clear light is not yet quenched. The Holy +Spirit life within is being sorely grieved, but is not yet put entirely +out. + +And this is only one. Four others are plainly in much worse fix. +Five-sevenths are failing. That bit of preservative salt would seem to +be working to its full capacity. + +This is the picture given us here by our Lord Himself. John would never +have dared make such a terrific arraignment of his own accord. It is a +picture of the whole Church at the beginning of the First century. + +How is it at the beginning of the Twentieth? A thousand million people, +two-thirds of the race, pretty freely supplied with the light of western +oil and of gunpowder, with the help of the western sewing machine, and +with the guidance of western learning and skill, but to whom with minor +exceptions no scant ray of this light has yet gotten, these make answer. +That smokiness would seem to be rather dense. + +The non-Christian crowds in so-called Christian lands, the overwhelming +majority, to whom the name of Jesus has no more practical meaning than +other foreign names, Shanghai, or Tokyo, or Calcutta,--these make +answer. The light doesn't seem to have been able to get through and out +much, even near the candlestick. + +The Church itself, when it has sometimes forgotten its statistical +tables long enough to look thoughtfully into this old Patmos +looking-glass, has now and then made answer, in a few of its thoughtful +leaders, while the rank and file push on absorbed in their Ephesian or +Sardisian or Thyatiran way. + +There's a striking companion bit to this in Ezekiel's vision.[66] That +messenger to the exiled colony by the Chebar had first of all the vision +of God that completely overwhelmed him. Then he is taken in spirit to +Jerusalem, and shown things as they were, through God's eyes. The +heathen idols were set up in the very temple of God, so actually +stimulating among the people the horribly gross, unnamable impurities +connected with their worship. This was done in the open, with no +pretence at concealment. + +Then in the vision he digs "into the wall" to see the hidden things that +are being done. There he sees every sort of creeping, crawling, slimy, +repulsive animal pictured on the walls of this secret chamber, and the +leaders of the people burning incense and worshipping. + +This he is told is a picture of the _inner hearts_ of the men who are +the leaders of the nation. For dramatic intensity it would be hard to +equal this. The imaginations of their hearts are as the unclean snakes +and beasts that are found only in the damp, unwholesome slime and ooze +of swamp and stagnant pond. + +And this is God's light-bearing nation to all the earth. And these are +the leaders! But there's yet worse. The mothers and wives and daughters +of the nation, the real moulders of the nation's life and character, are +seen pouring out their very hearts over a heathen idol, with all the +horrible evil practices included in its worship. And then a group of men +are shown in the holy temple standing with their backs to God and His +temple and worshipping the sun. + +Under these four items are pointed out the impurity and violence, the +injustice and oppression, that mark the people. It is the inner heart +life of the nation that is being pictured so vividly. But in the midst +of all this are those who are broken-hearted over these conditions. And +as the time of judgment comes in the vision these are marked and spared, +though they see the work of judgment on every hand. + +Such is the tremendous scene depicted by Ezekiel. It will be seen at +once what a striking parallel it presents to the scene in this +Revelation book with the new light-bearer to the nations of the earth. +One would never dare make such an arraignment of his own accord. It is +humbling and heart-breaking to the last degree simply to repeat what is +spoken here by our Lord Himself. + +Clearly the Patmos picture is not only of the Church then, but ever +since, and now. And the simple law of momentum in sliding down hill will +make it an accurate picture of the Church at the end, the future Church. + +The colouring changes at different times in different places, the black +getting intenser, pot black, and the light shining out more brightly by +contrast. But the picture remains essentially as painted on Patmos. + +The warnings so faithfully given run a sliding scale outward and +downward in five degrees. If the Church continue as it is, it is told +here that it will be rejected as a light-holder. Its privilege and +opportunity as God's messenger will be taken away.[67] + +Then Christ will fight against it as an enemy,[68] it will be given over +to a time of terrible tribulation,[69] it will be treated as prey to be +robbed and plundered,[70] and it will be rejected, spewed out of the +mouth, as personally disgusting.[71] + +Yet in all this plain speech there is no bitterness, only grief, only +tender pleading. The plain bluntness is the language of love that yearns +to save even yet, and that waits with untold patience hoping for a +change. + + +Wooing Promises. + +But it is noticeable that, while the warning is to the corporate Church, +the plea and promise that persists throughout is to the individual. He +that is _willing_ to, let him hear and heed and be controlled by the +Spirit's message. + +There are two groups that have remained faithful. There are scattered +through the other five those who are faithful. And there are no doubt +many who feel the pull to be true but are yielding to the strong +undertow of the rising tide by which they are being carried. + +The coupled promise and plea that call out so pleadingly to these at the +close of each message are, "to him that overcometh." This word +"overcometh" is very significant. It is one of the characteristic notes +of these messages and indeed of this entire book. It is one of that sort +of word that sums up a whole situation in itself. + +There is opposition. There is conflict because some won't yield to the +opposition. And the result of the conflict varies. Some are overcome by +the evil; they go over to the enemy, body and soul. Some wabble. They +slip along the line of least resistance, secretly holding on to some few +ragged remnants of convictions, but not letting these affect their +standing or comfort or particularly their profits. + +Some overcome evil. There is struggle tense and continued, quickened +breath, moist brow, tightened nerves, the stain of blood, a scar here +and there, and heart-breaking experiences. But they fight on, and +victory comes. And the evil is less, weakened in its hold on this +companion and that neighbour. They get the victory over evil. + +There's a wondrous promise to these. It is as though the treasure box is +placed at their disposal. It is a seven-fold promise. Every overcomer +will receive all that is contained in these seven promises. Note this +seven-fold promise: He that overcometh will have everlasting life,[72] +and this is emphasized by the reverse statement, "will not be hurt of +the second death."[73] + +He will be admitted into the sweets of intimate fellowship with his +Lord, hidden from all save those in this inner circle. And will receive +a new name, the family name, that is an inheritance in the family of +God, joint heir with Jesus Christ.[74] He will have the privilege of +serving with the King in the blessed Kingdom time coming. + +And with this goes the word, "I will give him _the morning star_."[75] +Jesus calls Himself "the bright, the morning star."[76] The morning star +rises in the dark of night after midnight and ushers in the new day. He +who is in touch of heart with Jesus as the night deepens to the dawn +will (probably) have an intimation in his inner spirit of the glad +coming of the Morning Star that ushers in earth's new day. + +The overcomer will be made perfect in character, and find his name not +only in the family book, but mentioned by Christ personally to His +Father before the angels.[77] He will be admitted into the innermost +circle of the King and be reckoned among the dependables.[78] And he +will have closest fellowship with Christ in the administration of the +wondrous kingdom.[79] + +It will be seen that these promises overlap, the same thing being put +now positively, now negatively, and being repeated in differing words to +different groups. Each promise touches the characteristic trait of the +group spoken of. The Ephesians, who had many things but lacked the vital +thing, are wooed with the promise of life itself, which is only through +touch with Jesus Himself. + +Smyrna in its suffering is cheered with the prospect of suffering no +more. The Pergamum overcomer is wooed away from intimacy of friendship +with evil to intimacy of friendship with the coming King. They who +resist the evil Jezebel rule in Thyatira will have the privilege of +ruling with the King. Those in Sardis who hunger and thirst after a pure +heart will have the longing fully satisfied. + +Those who have proven dependable in the trying days in Philadelphia will +have the exquisite pleasure of being depended upon in the inner circle +as wholly trustworthy. Those in Laodicea who resist the current and +insist on letting the knocking pilgrim in for heart fellowship[80] will +find themselves in fellowship with Him on the throne. + +It should be noticed that these promises are one promise, and that that +is the promise of everlasting life, of a purified perfected character, +and of the privilege of closest fellowship with the King Himself in the +coming Kingdom time. + +These promises do not take up the matter of rewards for faithfulness in +service, such as our Lord speaks of in the twin parables of the pounds +and talents. The things promised here are the results of being saved by +the blood of Christ. The privilege of fellowship with the King during +the Kingdom time is included in salvation. All the redeemed will reign +over the earth.[81] + +This is significant. Overcoming would seem to be the decisive evidence +of faith in Jesus Christ, the faith that receives everlasting life. It +takes opposition to let you know whether you are willing to accept +Christ. A man does not know whether he really believes Christ until he +is opposed in his believing, and opposed to the real hurting point. He +has just as much faith in Christ as he is willing to declare, and stand +by, and insist upon, _when he is under fire_. Opposition is the fire +test. Faith isn't faith unless it can stand the fire test. + + +The Decisive Trait of Faith. + +The plain inference here is that he who doesn't overcome shows that he +really doesn't believe in his heart. And the natural result is that he +does not receive these things promised. That is, he is not saved because +he won't accept the Lord Jesus as his Saviour _when it comes to the fire +test_. + +There are without doubt thousands in the Church who will be left behind +on the earth when our Lord Jesus catches up His own. This does not mean +necessarily that they will be lost. There will be another opportunity of +being saved for those living on the earth at that time. The Kingdom will +be a wonderful time of salvation. There will be a continuous revival of +the realest sort going on everywhere all the time. + +But these would not have the blessed privilege of fellowship with the +King in the Kingdom, nor the blessedness of fuller resurrection life _at +this time_. That is reserved for those who by grace have believed on the +Lord Jesus, during His absence and continued rejection, in spite of the +fire of opposition. + +It is notable that the Thyatiran message speaks of _great tribulation_ +coming to that Church if it continue unchanged. And that the +Philadelphia Church is to be kept through "the hour of trial, that which +is to come upon the whole earth." Throughout the Scriptures mention is +made of a time of persecution coming at the end. The common term for it +is tribulation. It is called _the great tribulation_. There will be more +to be said about this again. + +It is possible that it will be found that this Patmos message will have +special significance during that trying time at the end. But it should +be noted that it fits into the _spirit of opposition_ that is _always_ +found where there is true, faithful witnessing. + +The tribulation itself will be the time of intensest opposition carried +to the extreme of violent persecution. It will be the climax of +conditions always present, wherever there is faithful witnessing. +Faithfulness to Christ always arouses opposition. + +The test of whether we really accept Christ and believe Him is not in +anything we say. It is not even in what we are in our lives when all +goes smoothly. It is in what we are in our lives _when opposed_, when it +costs criticism, ostracism, petty persecution, or more outright +persecution. This is our Lord's test of acceptance of Himself. + +We have had many definitions of what it means to believe on the Lord +Jesus Christ. And these have been helpful in clearing the air and +helping us to a simple acceptance of Him. These definitions have touched +chiefly the _inner_ part of faith, the part we are conscious of. + +Here is another definition. Here is the last word on the subject, the +authoritative word, from our Lord Jesus Himself. It tells what faith is +in its outward working, the part the _crowd_ sees. The faith that +accepts Jesus as Saviour accepts Him also as Lord. + +That faith naturally rings true to Him under all circumstances. It rings +truest and clearest whenever opposition to Him is aroused, whether the +opposition of indifference, of criticism and sneer, or of persecution. + +There are certain commonly accepted things that are in themselves only +good, but which are not _conclusive_ evidence that we really have saving +faith in the Saviour. The act of coming into Church membership whether +by confirmation, by an assent to questions regarding one's personal +faith, or by being baptized, the fact of membership in the Church, the +partaking of the Lord's supper, serving as an official of the Church in +pulpit or pew, faithful attendance, liberal support,--these things are +only good. + +But they do not furnish conclusive evidence of one's acceptance of +Christ. It is quite possible to be carried along on the common current +in such things. There is clear evidence that many are. The decisive +thing, the test thing is this: _how we stand opposition_, the polite, +sneering sort, the more aggressive sort, or--if it come to that--the +violent sort. The _fire_ reveals every man's faith if there be any +there. + +There are two fire tests. One is of our faith in Christ, as revealed in +the frictional fires of opposition. Whoever stands that test is caught +up into His presence when He comes, or goes at once into His presence if +our going precede His coming. + +The second is of the love-spirit, how far it has been the very breath of +our life as revealed by the fire of His presence. For the love-spirit +means personal loyalty to Jesus, purity of heart, holiness of life, +steadiness of purpose, and the exquisite gentleness of patience in our +conduct toward all others. + +These words of our Lord Jesus are very searching. This Patmos message +must have been a painful one for Him to give John, and painful for John +to repeat. It is painful for any one to repeat when its meaning is +understood. It should send one off into some quiet corner alone on his +knees with that great "search me" prayer of the Psalmist.[82] + +Recently I was told a simple incident of one of the truly great +Christian men of our generation. He was at the head of one of the +largest concerns of our country employing thousands of men, but never +knowing any labor troubles. I remember the impression made on me a few +years ago at the time of his death, by the remark made to me by two +different men of this man's city, men that I think did not know each +other, or maybe very slightly. As I spoke of him each man said in a +subdued voice, "Oh, everybody in ---- loved Mr. ----!" + +This incident was told by his son. The two were on a train together. The +father rose and went forward to another part of the train. As he went +out a man sitting opposite came over and spoke to the son. His flashy +manner of dress and the fact that he seemed to have been drinking +suggested the sort of man he was. He said to the son: + +"Wasn't that Mr. So-and-so?" + +"Yes," the son replied. + +"Well," the man said, as though talking half to himself, "if there were +more men like him, there'd be fewer like me." + +And he turned to his seat and sat as though absorbed in his thought. The +son, in speaking of it after his father's death, said it was one of the +tenderest memories he had of his father. + +The common crowd on the street and our Lord Jesus are united in one +thing: they want _more men like Him_, Jesus our Saviour. Then there'd be +fewer of the other sort. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[64] Ruby T. Weyburn. + +[65] Acts xv. 14-18. + +[66] Ezekiel viii and ix. + +[67] Rev. ii. 5. + +[68] Rev. ii. 12-16. + +[69] Rev. ii. 22, 23. + +[70] Rev. iii. 3. + +[71] Rev. iii. 16. + +[72] Rev. ii. 7. + +[73] Rev. ii. 11. + +[74] Rev. ii. 17. + +[75] Rev. ii. 26-28. + +[76] Rev. xxii. 16. + +[77] Rev. iii. 5. + +[78] Rev. iii. 12. + +[79] Rev. iii. 21. + +[80] Rev. iii. 20, 21, with Jeremiah xiv. 8. + +[81] Rev. v. 10. + +[82] Psalm cxxxix. + + + + +V.--AN ADVANCE STEP IN THE ROYAL PROGRAMME + +(Revelation, Chapters iv. and v.) + + + "We are watching, we are waiting, + For the bright prophetic day; + When the shadows, weary shadows, + From the world shall roll away. + + "We are watching, we are waiting, + For the star that brings the day; + When the night of sin shall vanish, + And the shadows melt away. + + "We are watching, we are waiting, + For the beauteous King of day; + For the chiefest of ten thousand, + For the Light, the Truth, the Way. + + "We are waiting for the morning, + When the beauteous day is dawning, + We are waiting for the morning, + For the golden spires of day."[83] + + +A Look into Heaven. + +Heaven is a place of intensest and tenderest interest to every one. It +is true that there is less emphasis on getting to heaven as a result of +being saved than there was a generation ago. Indeed, no emphasis at all. +The whole thought now is about our life here on the earth. We think less +about dying and more about living. + +This is true. Yet every one of us has loved ones who have slipped from +our grasp, and gone from our midst. We think of them. The tenderest +memories brood over us, and come like a flood sometimes. + +We may have the sweet sense of assurance that these loved ones are +saved. But there is an intense longing at times to know more about them, +where they are, what they are doing, how much they know of things down +here. These thoughts _will_ come crowding in upon us. + +Now here is some light. _All_ the questions are not answered. But there +comes clear, sweet light to comfort our hearts during the waiting time +until we shall be joined with them again. We are given here in John's +Revelation the first clear, definite glimpse into the upper world. It is +told us in the language of earth of course. It must be, else we would +not understand. But clearly there is a glory and happiness clear beyond +what earthly words can tell. + +This is the first glimpse into heaven given us in this old Book of God. +Jacob wakes up in his dream and sees a ladder set up connecting earth +and heaven, and the angels going up and returning again while God talks +with him. It means much to him, but gives us no answer to our questions, +except to make plain that there is a very real and wondrous world up +there where our loved ones go. + +Moses is up in the mount with God for six weeks nearly, twice over, but +there is no suggestion of what he may have seen; only the transfiguring +change in his face, and the strongly gentling change in his character. + +Ezekiel finds the heavens opening and sees the vision, so like John's, +of the wondrous Man. Stephen looks up steadfastly into heaven and sees +the resplendent glory of God, and the crucified Jesus standing at the +right hand of God. Paul is caught up into heaven, not improbably at the +time that his body lay bruised and bleeding and apparently lifeless +outside Lystra. But the sights he sees and the over-awing glory are too +much to be told. But here John is taken up in vision into the heavens, +into the presence of God, and sees much, and tells us what he sees. + +It was after the vision of the glorified Man and His message. John is +sitting thinking on all he has seen and heard, thinking back to Ephesus +and the other Churches he knew so well. He is wondering perhaps _how_ he +_can_ tell them what, whom, he has seen; and wondering too how he can +tell them this message entrusted to him. + +The holy spell is still strong upon him, when all at once he noticed +what looks like a door, a door opened above him in the blue. And as he +is looking, astonished, that same voice that had been speaking with him +before speaks again. He is bidden to "come up hither," and he will be +shown the things that are to happen some time in the future. At once he +is conscious of that same gentle, enveloping presence of the Holy Spirit +as before. At once He is up in heaven. And he tells us the scene that +opens to his eyes. + +There is a throne set. What a comfort! There is a _throne_. There is a +centre of authority and power to our world. This Revelation is +peculiarly the book of a _throne_. Up yonder above the moral tangle and +confusion of earth is a reigning throne. + +There is One sitting on the throne. That throne is occupied. It has not +been vacated. Men down here may push God off the throne of their lives, +and try to push Him out of the affairs of the earth. But He sits on the +throne above. And that throne dominates the life of the earth. Nothing +can be done without permission. + +John can't describe this one sitting on the throne. The sight is too +much for his eyes. When the seventy elders of Israel see God, all that +they can remember is the dazzle of glory in the wonderful pavement under +His feet. It seems like a pavement of precious stones of sapphire, but +as clear as crystal. So now all that John can see is some One who seems +to his eyes like transparent precious stones blazing with light. This is +the only thing he can think of to tell of what he sees. + + +Rest in the Midst of Unrest. + +There is a rainbow around the throne. The radiance of light shining out +from this One on the throne makes a rainbow. If one wonders how God can +look down on the misery and sin, the rebellion and wretchedness that +dominate most of the earth, here is the answer. His finger is never off +the pulse. He knows all as we never can. And he feels as we never do the +pain of life, and the discord of earth. The unceasing cry of earth comes +up in his ears. + +But He is controlled by a purpose. It is a purpose of strong patient +love. _He has made a promise_ that man shall have fullest opportunity +unchecked by the natural sweeping judgment, that invariable working out +of sin and wrong. That throne keeps the order of nature working smoothly +and faithfully for man's sake, holding in restraint the forces that +would hinder and destroy. The rainbow is the signature to His promise. +That rainbow is always before His face. That promise has never been +forgotten. This explains the quietness of the One on the throne, looking +down on the moral confusion of the race. + +But this rainbow is not like the common rainbows that we know. It +completely encircles the throne. Our rainbows are broken up. They are +never seen in their completeness. Our lookout on things sees only a +part; it never sees all. It is never complete. The view of things up +there is complete. Everything is seen and is seen in its true relation +to everything else. The throne is the one place of perfect perspective +and poise. + +And this rainbow is all of one colour, a clear, soft emerald-green. We +know that green is the most restful of all colours. Some colours are +irritating. Some persons of very sensitive, nervous temperament are even +made sick by certain colours. And we are all affected more than we know +in a hurtful way by certain colours. But green is the colour of rest. It +soothes the eyes and nerves and even the spirit. The rainbow round about +the throne looked like a quiet, quieting emerald-green. The One on the +throne is at perfect rest regarding things down here. He knows all. His +ears hear all, the cry of distress and despair, the defiance and +arrogance and blasphemy. His eyes see His children down here, creative +children all of them, prodigal children so many of them, and trusting +children walking in the shadows. He sees all. And He feels all with His +great feeling heart. + +Yet He is at rest. Do you wonder how He can be? When Jesus saw the +multitudes He was moved with compassion; He suffered in heart with them, +for they were as shepherdless sheep, torn and distressed. And the heart +beating in rhythm with His has as hard a time as He. If He lead you in +service to some foreign mission land, you see and know and feel as no +tourist party hurried through the outer fringes ever does or can. + +And in Christian lands of the West, and the homeland, in slum as in +polite circles, in commercial quarters as in the university world, the +heart that is in touch with Jesus' heart sees and hears and feels and +senses things as they are under the surface or sticking boldly out +through the surface. And feels at times as though it can never again be +at rest. + +How can He, on the throne, be so quiet, and be at rest? And there is an +answer to our burning question, a simple, real answer. _He knows the +end._ He has a purpose and a plan. The present is only one stage in His +great plan. This is man's opportunity, and possibly some one's else +opportunity, too. It is to be followed by something else radically +different down on this earth. + +He is held steady during this time by a great purpose. It is a purpose +of great, tender love. To His eye looking sleeplessly down there is rest +even as of emerald-green. And so there will be rest for him who looks +sleeplessly _up_ to the _throne_ of control, encircled in the emerald +rainbow of perfect peace. And we can be of best service to Him by +resting in our hearts, resting in Him, even while working in the thick +of things as they are down here. + + +They See His Face. + +Then John sees twenty-four other thrones round about the central throne. +And on these there are twenty-four men sitting. These men are wearing +white garments, and have crowns of gold upon their heads. This is the +part of intense interest. Who are these? And what does this mean? + +What has been said before about picture language, the language of the +Orient, of childhood, of the common crowd, the universal language, will +help us here. The Bible is an Oriental book. It talks in picture +language. This is humanly what gives it such freshness and peculiar +adaptation. The radical change of circumstances and speech and mode of +thought in different centuries makes all books antiquated after a +certain time. This book has the freshness of youth, for in its simple +picture language it deals in principles. But picture language must be +held to its simplicity. And something of familiarity with the whole +range of the Scripture is needful to use the key to the simple picture +language. + +Let us look a bit at the simple scene here. These men are elders, that +is they are leaders. They represent multitudes of others. Throughout the +Bible twelve is the number of completeness, both in things and people. A +complete gathering or throng of people is represented by the number +twelve. There are twelve tribes of Israel, and so on. This is so +familiar that it need only be named without further illustration. + +There are two great divisions of this Bible, the Old Testament and the +New. These stand naturally for the two great divisions of time, before +Christ and after. This division is strongly marked in the Bible, and +sharply marked in our Christian consciousness. It has been a common +thing to wonder about the salvation and spiritual knowledge and +privileges of people who lived before Christ came and died. + +Twice twelve make twenty-four. These twenty-four elders represent the +redeemed ones from both of these great divisions of time. That is to +say, the picture tells us this. All the people from creation's earliest +morn up to the present, including the one who went out last from some +sorrowing family circle, all who have had the touch of heart with God, +are gathered in the presence of Him who sits on the throne. That is one +simple thing that stands out clear and sure. + +These are represented as _sitting_. The slave or servant never sat in +his master's presence. Friends sit together. Angels are never spoken of +as sitting in the presence of God. When our Lord Jesus was received up +He sat down at the Father's right hand. We are spoken of as seated in +the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Sitting together means being on +terms of intimacy and fellowship. Through the precious blood of our +Lord Jesus we are all accepted in the Beloved and received and trusted +as He is. + +These elders are clad in white garments. That is one of the familiar +things spoken of much in this end-book. Part of the promise to those of +overcoming faith is that they shall be arrayed in white garments, and +walk with Christ in white.[84] Those who are faulty in the Church are +urged to get white garments.[85] The martyrs waiting their +vindication,[86] and the great multitudes who come up out of the +tribulation are given white raiment.[87] The bride at the joyous +marriage supper, and the armies following the conquering Christ, are +clad in fine linen, bright and pure.[88] + +We are told that this white linen means a pure life.[89] These garments +have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.[90] These multitudes have +been cleansed in the blood of Christ and purified by the Holy Spirit and +made perfect in purity and holiness as they came up into the presence of +the Father on the throne. + +These elders are wearing golden crowns. This language, too, is familiar. +The acknowledgment and reward of faithfulness and of service is spoken +of commonly under this bit of picture talk.[91] The angels are never +spoken of as being crowned. Christ was crowned, that is received into +the presence of the Father, as the full recognition of His worthiness +and of what He had done, and in vindication after the shameful rejection +by men. + +These men and women and children in the Father's presence have been +rewarded and are being rewarded for their faithfulness in obedience and +in life. All the struggles and difficulties, the hard road, the +endurance, the patient suffering for His name's sake, the faithfulness +in doing the allotted tasks, all these have been noted and acknowledged. +There is the sweet peace of the Father's approval in all of these before +the throne. + + +Going to School to God. + +And these are sitting on _thrones_. When Jesus was teaching His +disciples, in the dark days of bitter opposition He wooed them with +this: "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones."[92] And a bit later as they +sat round the supper table on the night of His betrayal, when things are +getting to the darkest, again He woos them: "Ye may eat and drink at my +table in my Kingdom; and ye shall sit on thrones."[93] He that +overcometh is assured of sitting with Christ on His throne.[94] + +All the redeemed ones of earth are to have part with Christ in the +coming Kingdom time. They reign with Him.[95] During this present time +the countless hosts of angels have a part in ministering to man on the +earth.[96] Even so during the Kingdom time to come the countless hosts +of the redeemed will have the sweet privilege of service with Christ and +on behalf of those on the earth. And it is quite possible that they +already have a part in such a ministry. + +A little farther in the description it is seen that these elders have +"each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the +prayers of the saints." Heaven is a place of wonderful music. Its very +atmosphere must be tuned to the rarest rhythmic harmonies. And each one +has part in the music being made. + +And yet more, they are continuing the sweet ministry of intercession +learned down on earth. This means that they are in touch with earth. +They know the needs of loved ones and of all, and they have the +privilege of fellowship in this with Him who ever liveth to make +intercession. + +And there is one other thing we know here at once without being told. If +a friend tells me that he has a rose garden under the care of a skilled +gardener, I know without being told that the roses are growing. I at +once look through my friend's words and see bushes full of roses of all +colours, some full blown, some half blown, some bursting buds, and some +just budding. For there is a garden, and a gardener, and sun and rain +and dew. I know there must be growth and beauty. + +Even so we know that the loved ones who have parted from us, are +growing. They are in the Father's presence, in intimate fellowship. That +tells me of their growth. That little one who slipped away so young, +years ago, has been growing in mental powers, in character as well as in +what down here we call stature, and growing most of all in love. And so +at the meeting time, in the air or up there, there will be instant +recognition, as well as instant delight over the growth under such +wondrous tutorage. + +This is the glimpse into the upper world which John sees and is allowed +to give us here. The redeemed ones of earth of all the ages are in the +presence of the Father and of the Lord Jesus and of the angels, on terms +of intimate fellowship, made pure and perfect in character, but always +growing from more to more, and having a share in blessed ministry. And +they listen to and have share in making music more exquisite than our +earthly language can describe. + +They understand the wondrous plans for the earth, for now they see all +things through the Lord Jesus' eyes. They have some part without doubt +in welcoming those who come to join them, even as they will have part in +receiving those who are caught up at our Lord's return. And they look +forward eagerly to the glad time of righting that will come then. + +But let us look a bit more at what John sees. Out of the throne are seen +proceeding lightnings and voices and thunders. Three other times in +this book it speaks of lightning and voices and thunder.[97] These +things of course are the familiar accompaniments of a storm. It is +noticeable that each other time they are named in the book it is in +connection with some direct action being taken by God in the affairs of +the earth. And each time there is some added item intensifying the +scene. + +A physical storm is caused by two areas of unequal temperature coming +together. The storm is the process of coming together and equalizing of +the atmospheric conditions. The inference here would seem to be that the +time of action has come to straighten out matters on the earth. The two +moral atmospheres of heaven and earth seem to be coming into contact, +and a storm is resulting before clear weather comes. It suggests that +our Lord Jesus is taking the next direct step in His broader plan. + + +God's Ideal of Creation. + +But let us look a little further. In the book's picture language there +are "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne." These we are +plainly told "are the seven spirits of God." That is a Hebrew way of +saying "the perfect spirit of God." This is of intense interest. The +Holy Spirit is represented as being before the throne. + +In the confidential talk with the inner group of disciples on the +betrayal night, in John's Gospel,[98] Jesus promises that when He has +ascended up to the Father He will send down the Holy Spirit to them. +When the Spirit has come down to the disciples He will begin a new +ministry of witnessing to the world through them. + +In the Book of Acts that promise is fulfilled. The Spirit comes down +with remarkable manifestations on the day of Pentecost. The distinctive +thing He does is to take possession of a group of men and form them into +a new witnessing body called the Church. He had dwelt in the nation of +Israel as a nation, and had been withdrawn from that nation when it +proved finally faithless to its mission. He had dwelt in individual men +before and during and after that time. + +At Pentecost He is sent down on a new mission. He is to do in men all +that Jesus has done for them in His life and death and resurrection. But +the distinctive thing of Pentecost is His forming this new body called +the Church, through which He begins a new ministry of witnessing to the +world. + +All through the Acts and Epistles He is constantly spoken of as here on +the earth working in the Church and through it. He in the Church is a +powerful restraint upon the powers of evil in the world. In +Thessalonians,[99] Paul has spoken of a day coming when that restraint +would be withdrawn. The Holy Spirit, the "One that restraineth now," is +to be taken away. + +Now here the Holy Spirit is represented as being, not in the Church, as +always in the Acts and Epistles, but as being "before the throne." This +is the second significant thing to note in this scene. This also would +seem to suggest the beginning of a new order of things. + +John goes quietly on with his description. Before the throne he sees a +great expanse that looks like a sea of clear, bright, beautiful crystal. +Before the throne and around about the throne are four living creatures +or creatures of life. These living creatures are of intensest interest. +They appear throughout the Scriptures from the Garden of Eden in Genesis +to the very close of this Book of Revelation. + +They are also called cherubim and seraphim, that is, cherubs and +seraphs. They are always associated directly with the immediate presence +of God,[100] and with His presence-chamber, in the tabernacle,[101] in +the temple,[102] and in Ezekiel's vision of a new temple,[103] and in +the thought of the people.[104] There is one possible exception to this, +where they are seen at the entrance to the Garden of Eden.[105] The +description of them is most full in Ezekiel. It varies in details, but +with the essentials always the same. + +The general appearance is that of a man, but there are four faces as of +a man, a lion, an ox or calf, a flying eagle, and sometimes a cherub +face. They are full of eyes everywhere, and they seem enveloped in the +pure fire which everywhere is associated with God's own presence. These +descriptions combined suggest perfection of purity, of intelligence, of +obedience, and of power. + +In this book of the Revelation they are spoken of seven times,[106] that +is, more frequently than in any other book, though not so fully as in +Ezekiel. Five times they are leading or joining in the worship of God, +by men and angels, and twice they are coöperating with the Lamb or the +angels in what is being done on the earth. + +These beautiful, intelligent beings seem to represent the whole animate +creation, man, the animals intimately associated in service with man, +those that roam at will, and the birds, and the angels. It would seem as +though they stand for _God's ideal of creation_, as it was before the +hurt of sin came, as He holds it in His heart, and as it will be after +sin has gone. His ideal of a perfect and perfected creation is always in +His presence and before His face, intelligently and gladly carrying out +His will, reverently and joyously sounding His praise. + +It suggests that He will not rest content until His ideal for the +creation shall be a sweet, full realization, all sin and rebellion +removed and all His works uniting in joyous, continuous worship, and +glad, harmonious obedience. + + +The Significant Book. + +All this is interesting; some of it intense in interest. But it is only +a setting. It is incidental. The chief thing is yet to be told. John had +been told that he would be shown the things that would come to pass some +time in the future. We come now to the beginnings of these "things." + +The One who is sitting on the throne has a carefully sealed book or +document in his hand. An angel calls out loudly for any one who is +qualified to do so to step forward and take the document and break its +seals. And as John watches intently no one comes forward. No one can be +found, either in the heaven, in earth, or in the region spoken of as +under the earth. + +At this John is greatly distressed, and weeps much, so he must have +understood at once just what this meant. And one of the elders comforts +him with the assurance that there is One who has "_overcome_ to open the +book, and the seven seals thereof," "the lion of the tribe of Judah." +This word "overcome" suggests that this one has been in some great +conflict and has gotten the victory and overcome all opposition. And +this qualifies Him to take and open the document. He is the only one +among untold numbers so qualified. + +And now John sees this One. He is standing in the very midst of the +throne surrounded by creatures and elders. We easily recognize this as +our Lord Jesus. He is a lion in leadership and strength. He is a lamb in +gentleness of character, and in the sacrificial experience He has been +through. The marks of death are plainly seen on His person. + +As He comes forward He reaches and takes the book out of the hand of the +One on the throne. He is allowed to take it. His qualification to take +the document and break its seals is acceptable to the One on the throne. + +And as He takes the book there is a remarkable burst of praise and +adoration that must have made all heaven ring. And those on earth in +touch of spirit with the scene and its purpose and the Chief Actor would +surely feel some thrill in the spirit currents of earth. + +The outburst of worship is led by the four living creatures and the +twenty-four elders who fall down before the Lamb and sing a song. What +music that must be when the untold thousands sing as only redeemed ones +can sing. Then countless hosts of angels join in and lift the chorus. +And then there is the creation chorus, every created thing in heaven and +earth, under the earth, in the sea, absolutely everything seems to join +in this indescribable music. And the four living creatures say, "Amen." +And again the elders fall down and worship. + +John's distress at the beginning, and now this indescribable outburst of +praise, tell us that this is something thrilling and significant beyond +expression. What does this mean, our Lord Jesus taking the sealed +document preparatory to breaking its seals? + +It has been said in a previous talk that every thread woven into the +fabric of the Old Testament can be found in the fabric of this +Revelation book. So that if one goes to work patiently he can trace +every allusion here to something back in these older leaves. This gives +us the clue to the significance of this remarkable scene. + +That clue seems in this case to be found in the book of Jeremiah, +chapter thirty-two. There is found an allusion to a simple primitive +custom of the Hebrew people in the exchange of real estate and in taking +possession of property to which one is entitled. + +The old Hebrew custom seems to have been as follows: When property was +purchased the deed to the new owner was made out in duplicate, an open +copy and a sealed copy. The open copy was clearly for public +information, open to all. The sealed copy as clearly belonged only to +the owner of the property as his evidence of ownership. So it identified +him as the one named in the open copy. + +If a new heir comes to take possession of an estate, or in case of a +dispute over ownership, the claimant who was adjudged the rightful heir +or owner would be given the possession of the sealed document or deed. +And as so attested by the judge or court, he only would be properly +qualified to "take" the sealed roll, break its seals, read its +contents, and so formally take possession of the estate, or property. + +Now under the symbolism of this old bit of Hebrew custom, our Lord Jesus +is represented here as stepping forward to take possession of the earth, +and begin His reign over it. A Hebrew immersed in the old primitive +customs of his people in Palestine would understand this allusion at +once, however startled or sceptical he might be as to its significance +in this connection. + + +Taking Possession. + +The language used in the song of praise when our Lord Jesus takes the +sealed book is significant. They say, "thou art _worthy_," that is, thou +art _qualified_; thou art the duly attested one with the right to take +possession. "For thou wast _slain_, and didst purchase unto God with thy +blood men of every tribe," and so on. + +Man had been given the dominion of the earth. He had by obedience to the +evil one transferred his right to Him who is repeatedly called "the +prince of this world." Our Lord Jesus _purchased_ men out of their +slavery back to their original Lord,--with all that was rightfully +theirs. He has allowed fullest opportunity for all who will to accept +His Lordship. Now He is about to take possession of the earth on behalf +of men, and for them. + +This is the tremendous significance of what John is shown here as +something that will take place hereafter. In the scene of the +candlesticks He is patiently waiting, holding Himself in restraint. Now +the waiting time is over. He is making the next move in His broader plan +for the earth. + +There is no hint as to the length of interval between the two scenes, +how long He will wait. There is no suggestion as to when this next move +will be made. But we are here plainly told that at some time that +candlestick waiting time will end, and He will take a forward step in +connection with His plans for the earth. And it should be keenly noticed +that what follows now in this book of Revelation is the run of events +that will immediately follow that next step of His. + +Yet this step is taken up _in heaven_. The first action of the new move +will be there. There will be nothing to be seen on the earth to indicate +the change. Things there will go on as before, eating and drinking, +buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage, all unconscious of +the tremendous events being worked out. + +But now the waiting time still waits. Our opportunity is still open. If +we might only be simple enough to be true to our absent Lord Jesus +during this waiting time. + +A bishop of the American Episcopal Church, widely known for his saintly +character, his culture, and long years of tireless service, was visiting +in the South. In the town there lived a judge of wide repute for his +scholarly learning as well as for his culture and uprightness. Now he +was seriously ill, and had requested an interview with the bishop. + +He asked the bishop to talk to him about personal religion. And the +clergyman talked to this thoughtful, scholarly judge in choice +philosophical language about the fatherhood of God, the character of +Christ, and the essential harmony of man's true nature with God. The +judge listened attentively for some time. + +Then he apologetically interrupted his visitor, and said: + +"Bishop, I'm dying. Won't you please talk to me just like you'd talk to +my black boy, Jim?" + +And the bishop could, and did. He told him in simplest talk that he was +a sinner. Jesus died to save sinners. His blood washes away our sins. We +must take Christ as a Saviour, just trust Him, as simply as a child +trusts its mother. + +So he talked. And the judge listened. And the tears came, and the peace. +He came as a child, and trusted, and he knew the peace that passeth +understanding. It was the simple telling of the simple story of the +Saviour who died, and the simple, child-like acceptance of that Saviour. +The scholarly bishop helped the learned judge best, in the crisis of his +life, by talking as simply as to a child. + +If we might only be simple enough to be true to this Jesus who died, +during the remnant of waiting time that remains. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[83] W. O. Cushing. + +[84] Rev. iii. 4-5. + +[85] Rev. iii. 18. + +[86] Rev. vi. 11. + +[87] Rev. vii. 9. + +[88] Rev. xix. 8, 14. + +[89] Rev. xix. 8. + +[90] Rev. vii. 14; xxii. 14. + +[91] Rev. ii. 10; iii. 11; I Corinthians ix. 25; II Timothy iv. 8; James +i. 12; I Peter v. 4. + +[92] Matthew xix. 28. + +[93] Luke xxii. 30. + +[94] Rev. iii. 21. + +[95] Rev. v. 10; xx. 4, 6. + +[96] Hebrews i. 14 with Daniel vii. 10 and Psalm ciii. 20-21. + +[97] Rev. viii. 5; xi. 19; xvi. 18, 21. + +[98] John xiv.-xvi. + +[99] II Thessalonians ii. 6-7. + +[100] Ezekiel i. 4-28; x. 1-22. + +[101] Exodus xxv. 17-22; xxxvii. 6-9. + +[102] I Kings vi. 23-26; viii. 6-7; II Chronicles iii. 10-14; v. 7-8. + +[103] Ezekiel xli. 15-26. + +[104] I Samuel iv. 4; II Samuel vi. 2; xxii. 11; I Chronicles xiii. 6; +Psalm xviii. 10; lxxx. 1; xcix. 1; Isaiah vi. 1-3; xxxvii. 16. + +[105] Genesis iii. 24. + +[106] iv. 6-9; v. 6, 8, 14; vi. 1, 3, 5, 7; vii. 11; xiv. 3; xv. 7; xix. +4. + + + + +VI.--A CLEARING-UP STORM IN THE REALM + +(Revelation, Chapters vi.-viii.) + + + "God Almighty! King of nations! earth Thy footstool, heaven Thy throne! + Thine the greatness, power, and glory, Thine the kingdom, Lord, alone! + Life and death are in Thy keeping, and Thy will ordaineth all: + From the armies of Thy heavens to an unseen insect's fall. + + "Reigning, guiding, all-commanding, ruling myriad worlds of light; + Now exalting, now abasing, none can stay Thy hand of might! + Working all things by Thy power, by the counsel of Thy will. + Thou art God! enough to know it, and to hear Thy word: 'Be still!' + + "In Thy sovereignty rejoicing, we Thy children bow and praise, + For we know that kind and loving, just and true, are all Thy ways. + While Thy heart of sovereign mercy, and Thy arm of sovereign might, + For our great and strong salvation in Thy sovereign grace unite." + + --FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. + + +The Area of the Storm. + +Goodness arouses evil. Faithfulness to Christ stirs opposition. This is +a commonplace. A piece of white-hot metal plunged into cold water makes +a great fuss. Two areas of sharply different temperatures in the +atmosphere above us coming suddenly together make a storm. + +Purity entering an atmosphere of impurity and insisting on staying, and +on keeping pure, creates a lively disturbance. The tempter was aroused +to his subtlest effort when Jesus appeared. There is no such demoniac +activity recorded as when Jesus walked among men. + +So crowning a king arouses opposition, if there be opposition. And the +active taking of the reins of government has intensified the opposition +when it was strong enough to make a stand. The striking illustration of +this in the Bible is King David. After Saul's death the men of Judah +anointed David king. That was the signal for an immediate attack by the +chief of the forces of Saul's house. And this was succeeded by a long +war, before David was acknowledged as king over all Israel. The +clearing-up storm in his realm lasted a good while before good weather +came. + +Here in this Revelation scene we have been looking at our Lord Jesus is +represented as stepping forward to take possession of His realm. It is +natural to expect a storm. This will be a signal to the opposition to +rally all its power. But there can be no question about the outcome of +such a set-to. That storm proves to be a clearing-up storm in the realm. +It is to be followed by such fine moral weather as has not been known +before. But the storm itself proves to be a terrific one for the earth +while it lasts. + +The greater part of this little end-book is taken up with a description +of that storm. But before we turn to this book itself and its storm, we +want to get our bearings a bit, so as to understand better what is here. +Revelation is the knot in the end of a big bunch of threads. We shall +understand the knot better by knowing more about the threads before they +are tied into the knot. + +The storm area proves to be very large. It takes in the whole earth. The +Bible is a big book in its outlook and grasp. It deals with the whole +earth, and the whole race. The thoughtful Bible student comes to have a +broad outlook, as well as a close lookout about his own front and back +doors. + +It is fascinating to study the geography of the Bible. We talk about the +world growing smaller. That refers of course to the rapidity of +transit. It is only within a few hundred years that we have learned of +the earth being round. The Bible map includes practically the whole +world as we have come to know it. + +The centre of the world as seen on this map may seem a little +surprising. We Americans _feel_ that the centre of things is here. The +Englishman _knows_ that it is in London; and lately the Germans have had +the same exclusive sort of knowledge about Berlin. The Chinese has long +called his country "the Middle Kingdom," in the sense of its being the +central kingdom about which the rest of the world revolves. But here the +centre is seen to be on the boundary line, practically, between Orient +and Occident, reaching out an embracing arm to each. + +We have a broad division of the earth into East and West. The +differences between the two, in civilization, mode of thought, religion, +language, and so on, are so radical as to make it seem that there was no +point of contact. At least this has been emphasized much by western +writers on the East. We are disturbed just now here in the far West over +the Oriental, Chinese Japanese and Indian crossing the _far_ boundary +line between Orient and Occident and coming into the United States and +Canada. + +Yet East and West have always overlapped at the _middle_ boundary line. +There is a great mixture of races in the strip where the eastern edge of +the West and the western edge of the East come together. It is the strip +running roughly north and south where Russia's western border and +Turkey's touch Germany and Austria and Greece, including the +never-at-rest Balkan Peninsula. Constantinople sits on the dividing line +between East and West, with the worst of both civilizations within her +confines. Here the hemispheres touch and their life currents intermingle +and flow together. + +Scientific research seems to find good evidence that all our European +civilization, which of course means American too, may have been brought +over by Eastern immigrants from central Asia long ages ago, Asia coming +into Europe. Perhaps we Westerners would not despise the Easterners so +contemptuously and patronizingly if we knew how much we are probably +indebted to them for our civilization as well as for our Hebrew and +Christian faith, our Bible, and the Christian restraining bulwarks of +our common life. + +The old common point of contact between Orient and Occident was the +strip of land forming the western edge of the Orient at the eastern end +of the Mediterranean. Palestine has been for centuries the common +roadway of all nations, East and West. No bit of earth has been so +tramped and trampled by the feet of all nations and races. This has been +the battlefield of the nations through long centuries. The ends of the +earth have met here. It is interesting that the waters that wash its +western shore are called the Mediterranean Sea, that is, the +_middle-of-the-earth_ sea. + +Here then is the centre of the map. It is the centre of all things in +the Bible. And it has proven to be at the centre of human action through +history, attested by the very name given to the chief body of water +there. + +Jerusalem, the capital city of this Palestine strip, was the centre of a +world power in the early ages. It has been the world capital. And it has +in turn been fought over and conquered by every world power. No city has +been a world centre of action during as long a stretch of time, and to +as many different nations. + +Out from this centre the action of the Bible reaches north to Russia, +south to Africa (Ethiopia), east to China (Sinim, Isaiah xlix. 12), and +west to Spain. That practically includes the world of our day. America +is of course merely a transplanted seedling of Europe. + +Those great Hebrew leaders called prophets had a world outlook. They +were world messengers. It is intensely interesting to take a piece of +paper, and pencil a rough map of the nations named in their messages, +notably Isaiah,[107] Jeremiah,[108] Ezekiel,[109] and Daniel.[110] +Beginning at Jerusalem and Israel they reach first this way, then that, +up and down, back and forth, until the whole world of action of that day +has been touched. They were men of world size. They had a world outlook +and a world message. + +But then God's man always has. The world outlook of Jesus was +tremendous. And every true disciple of Jesus Christ has the world +outlook. Grace broadens as well as refining. It is one of the endless +outworkings of sin that tends toward that narrowing provincialism which +everywhere hinders so much, and so intensely. + +Now in this world map in the Bible geography two cities stand out beyond +all others, Jerusalem and Babylon; Jerusalem the centre of God's people +and of God's plans, Babylon the centre of the opposing worldly power. +These are the two outstanding cities of the Bible world. + +Between these two there is an enmity and warfare that is practically +continuous. Jerusalem comes to be the typical of God's people and power +and kingdom. Babylon stands out likewise as typical of the power and +kingdom always and innately opposed to God and to His people. The +conflict between the two seems irrepressible and irreconcilable. It is +never out of view. + +Babylon has been the centre, under successive dynasties, of a world +empire, including not only part of Asia, but reaching west to Europe and +south to Africa. It sat practically in the connecting strip of Orient +and Occident, ruling over both. In the dim dawn of history a +God-ignoring, and so really a God-defying and man-exalting movement, +centred in the city called Babel. And from that time on that city, and +its successor Babylon, have seemed as though possessed with a spirit of +antagonism to God and His people. It is as though it were the earthly +headquarters of the blasphemous unseen evil forces. + +This is a simple bit of geography lesson in the Old Testament. This is +the map that lies ever open in these older pages, with its two capital +cities marked large. And this indicates the area of the storm, and the +two central points where its outburst will centre. + + +Studying the Weather Forecast. + +It is interesting to find a weather forecast of this storm. The old +Hebrew prophets were close students of national and world-wide weather +conditions, and much given to making forecasts of impending storms. Even +in the New Testament there is this distinct prophetic or foretelling +strain running throughout. The father of John the Baptist is told of his +son's birth; and Mary, of the unusual birth of her divine Son. The +disciples are told of the coming of the Holy Spirit. And Agabus tells of +a great famine coming. In these instances the fulfilment follows soon +after the event is foretold. + +The destruction of Jerusalem, foretold by Christ, had at least a part of +its fulfilment in the terrible Titus siege of 70 A.D. Our Lord said that +He would return to earth in great glory, and that there would come a +great tribulation to all the earth, and repeated the old prophecy of a +restoration of the Hebrew kingdom. These have not yet occurred. + +But the book of the Revelation is distinctively the prophetic book of +the New Testament. It deals almost entirely with events that are yet to +come. It would be natural that it would fit into the prophetic parts of +the Old Testament. So that one who is somewhat familiar with the +prophetic books of the Old naturally comes more intelligently to this +prophetic book of the New. + +It is true that most of us have a sense of bewilderment about prophecy. +We seem to feel that it requires great scholarship and profound study, +and that an understanding of it is not possible to the common run of +Christians. And so we largely leave it out as not understandable. + +Yet prophecy is simply God's plans for the future, together with a +revelation of other events which are not in His plan, but which He sees +will happen in the future. In it He tells us what He means us to +understand. And more than this, our understanding will have practical +bearing on our attitude toward evil and compromise. It will affect our +faith, making it steadier, especially when evil seems triumphant and +overbearing. It will make our prayer more intelligent and confident. + +There are certain things we all know. As we read back into these pages +we know that the break-up of the Jewish nation, which began with the +Babylonian Captivity, came to a terrible climax in a complete break-up +after the rejection of Christ. We know that the other nations commonly +called Gentiles (_i.e._, the nations) have had supremacy in the earth. +Israel was at one time acknowledged as the great world power, with many +subject nations, in Solomon's time. + +But Gentile supremacy begins back in the time of these Old Testament +pages. There is to-day practically no belief that this will ever be +changed, except perhaps by a stray Jew here and there, who still holds +to his old Bible, and except by those Christians who discern God's plan, +and believe both in Him and in it. + +In the absence of an understanding of that plan of God, it has been +common to apply all the glowing prophetic Hebrew promises to the Church. +The result has been that Israel and the Kingdom have been confused in +our minds with the Church. And this has become the commonplace in the +common Church consciousness. + +It is quite possible for the person of average good sense to get +something of a simple, broad grasp of the prophetic books. It involves +reading _repeatedly_ so as to get familiar with the contents, and +_rapidly_ so as not to get too much absorbed in details. + +It is needful to use a common-sense interpretation in getting at the +meaning. It is a simple law that one principle of interpretation should +be applied uniformly and consistently to all parts of any one document. +If I say arbitrarily, "this part is rhetorical; it doesn't mean just +what it says, but something else; and this _other_ part means just what +it says," clearly I am reading my own ideas and prejudices into the +book. + +It is much slower, and takes more pains and patience, to keep at it +until all parts gradually clear up to us, first this bit, then that, +until part fits part, and all hang together. But there is great +fascination in it, and one's reverence for this revelation of God's Word +grows deeper. + +Of course there is rhetorical language here as everywhere. "The Lord is +my shepherd" is clearly rhetorical. For God is not a shepherd, and I am +not a sheep, but a man. But under this simple, clearly rhetorical +language the tender, personal relationship God bears to me is +beautifully expressed. That such language _is_ rhetorical is clear to +every mind alike. + +And there is a picture language here, such as speaking of purity of +character as "white garments." The honest, earnest, unprejudiced seeker +after truth quickly recognizes these, and learns to become skilled in +discerning what is meant. We come to see that Israel means Israel, not +the Church. Jerusalem means that city in Judea, and so on. + +Of course it is needful that there be an _openmindedness_, a _humble, +teachable spirit_, willing to accept the real truth, no matter how it +may shake up one's prejudices and prearranged schemes of thought. And, +above all, there should be a constant _prayerfulness_ of spirit, to +learn just what our God is seeking to have us know. Of course there are +depths here for the scholarly, profound minds. But we ordinary folk can +get a simple, clear grasp of God's plan and revealed insight into the +future if we go at it in this thoughtful, prayerful way. And it will be +a great help to us to do so. + + +Three Great Unfulfilled Events. + +Let us take a swift glance at these prophetic books of the Old +Testament. It helps to remember the natural way in which these prophetic +books grew up. These prophets were preachers and teachers. Here are some +people going up to the temple service one day in Jerusalem. As they get +near the temple they notice a little knot of people standing yonder at a +corner listening to a man talking earnestly. Isaiah, fresh from the +presence of God, is talking out of a burning heart to the crowd. + +A visitor from another part of the land says curiously to his companion, +"What's that?" The other replies: "Oh, it's only Isaiah talking to the +people. He is a good man, that Isaiah, a well-meaning, earnest man, but +a little too intense, I fear." And they pass on to the temple service. +By and by Isaiah stops. The moving congregation scatters. He slips +quietly down to his house, and under the Spirit's holy, brooding +presence writes down a part of what he has been saying. So there grew up +the rolls to which his name is attached. + +In some such simple, natural way these prophetic books grew up, always +under the Holy Spirit's guidance and control. They are full of intense +fire, and of the homely talk of street and market and fireside. There +are two sorts of these prophets, the preachers like Elijah and Elisha +and those who wrote as well as spoke, and whose names are preserved in +these books. + +There are seventeen of these little books. They fall easily into four +groups. The _first group_ contains those belonging in the time before +the nation was exiled. It is a period of about one hundred and fifty +years, roughly, beginning in the prosperous reign of Uzziah and running +up to the time when the nation was taken captive to Babylon. Isaiah is +the most prominent prophet of this period, and with him are Hosea, +Micah, and Amos, all of whom may have been personally acquainted; and +also Zephaniah and Habakkuk. + +The _second_ is _the exile group_, Jeremiah preaching in Judah, before +and during the siege, and to the remnant left behind in the land; and +Ezekiel and Daniel bearing their witness among the exiles in the foreign +land. + +The _third group_ is made up of those who witnessed after the people are +allowed to return to their own land again. The writer of the second part +of Isaiah probably preached to the people as the opportunity came to +return to Jerusalem.[111] Haggai and Zachariah stirred up the returned +people to rebuild the temple. Joel and Malachi witnessed probably a +little later in the same period. + +The _fourth_ is the _foreign group_. Obadiah sends a message to the +neighbouring nation of Edom; and Jonah and Nahum are sent with messages +to Nineveh. If one will try to make a picture of these people and events +by reading the historical books, and then watch and listen as the +prophets talk, it will do much to make these prophetic books full of the +native atmosphere in which they grew up. + +Now there are three things that gradually come to stand out in these +prophetic books. Much of what is being said is of immediate application. +It refers plainly to affairs being lived out then. Then certain things +are plainly fulfilled in the coming of Christ. And again there is a +great deal that clearly has never been fulfilled but is still future. It +is the latter part that naturally is of intensest interest. + +Now in this latter part, dealing with the future, _three things_ stand +out clear and sharp above the rest. There is to be judgment upon Israel +for their iniquities. The changes on this are rung again and again. And +this stands out as much in the preaching of the Captivity time, and of +the Return, as before the Captivity. But in the midst of severest +judgment there will be a _remnant spared_. The tree is cut down, but +the stump is spared; and there is life in the stump. But above these +there stand out these three things. + +_The first thing_ stands out big. It is the thing the nation never +forgot. The believing Hebrew still clings to it. The wailers at the wall +of Jerusalem to-day never forget it. It is this: there is to be a +_future time of great glory for the nation of Israel in their own loved +land_.[112] The kingdom is to be restored, but with a glory +indescribably greater than ever known. This is the bright golden thread, +thick and strong, running through from end to end. + +It will come through that spared remnant. The old stump will put out a +new shoot. It will be through the coming of a great king, who will prove +to be their greatest king,[113] and will reign not only over Israel, but +over all nations as tributary to Israel, with Jerusalem as the capital +city both of Israel and of the whole earth.[114] At its beginning there +will be a gathering of Israel from among all the nations where they have +been scattered.[115] To assist these scattered pilgrims to get to their +own land, the tongue of the Egyptian sea on the southwest is to be +destroyed; and the waters of the Euphrates on the extreme east are to be +so scattered or dried up that men can walk over dry-shod. + +When the great king comes there will be genuine penitence among the +people over their past sins,[116] and they will become a wholly changed +people.[117] Israel will be a nation converted by the power of the Holy +Spirit through the conversion of the people individually. There will be +at this time a resurrection of God's people who have died.[118] + +The new reign and kingdom is to be one of great spiritual enlightenment +to all nations.[119] There will be everywhere a new, remarkable +openmindedness to God and His truth.[120] And there will be the same +visible evidence of the presence of God at Jerusalem as when the pillar +of fire and cloud was with them in the wilderness. That wondrous +presence-cloud is to be always in view.[121] + +This sounds to our ears like the highly coloured visionary dream of some +over-enthusiastic Hebrew. Yet this is a calm statement of what is found +here. And be it keenly marked, it is a picture which the godly Hebrew of +the old time never lost sight of. _This is the first thing_ that stands +out in these prophetic pages. + +_The second thing_ stands out distinctly. Preceding this wondrous +kingdom _the earth will be visited by terrible judgments_.[122] There is +an awfully dark shadow before the blaze of light breaks out. A terrific +storm will come before the sun shines out in its new strength. All +nations will combine to make war against the Jew. Their forces will be +gathered at Jerusalem.[123] At the head of the coalition will be a power +called Babylon.[124] There will come a terrific battle, victory for the +coalition will seem assured. The sufferings of the Jews will be +indescribable. + +Then there will come a day never after to be forgotten. In the midst of +the indescribable horrors of that battle, when things are at their worst +for the Jew, then comes the deliverance. Suddenly Jehovah will appear +out of the heavens, with a great company of holy ones. His feet will +stand upon Mount Olivet to the east of Jerusalem. There will be a +terrible earthquake, and an equally terrific shake-up of the heavenly +bodies. The luminaries, sun, moon, and stars, will be darkened.[125] +There will be terrible judgments visited not only upon the earth, but +upon the evil spirit powers.[126] Repeated emphasis is put upon the +judgment to be visited upon Babylon. + +All this will sound like a veritable fairy tale to many who are not +familiar with this Book of God; the unlikeliest thing imaginable. Yet +this is the thing seriously set forth throughout these old prophetic +pages. I have given a few references in footnotes. But these few +scattered passages of themselves will not give an adequate conception of +what these pages hold. + +There is all the fascination of a novel, and immensely more and deeper +fascination than any novel, in reading these prophetic pages repeatedly +in the way already spoken of till their mere contents become somewhat +familiar. Then taking paper and pencil, running through again, and +drawing off patiently and carefully, item after item of these prophecies +plainly not yet fulfilled, and then slowly and painstakingly put them +together in what would be a simple, logical order. + +It will be helpful, in reading, to remember that it is a common thing +with these writers to speak of a future thing as already past. It is a +bit of the intensity that sees the thing that is yet to come as already +accomplished. And one should discern between the immediate thing that +may likely occur in that generation and the far-distant thing. A careful +noting of the language will make the difference clear. + +This is the second thing that stands out, the visitation of judgments. + +Then there is _a third thing_. This terrible visitation of judgments +comes in connection with, and at the close of, _a time of great +persecution of the Jew_ by the nations. Jeremiah speaks of it as the +time of Jacob's trouble,[127] and the Man of Fire tells Daniel that +there will be a time of trouble _such as never was since there was a +nation even to that same time_.[128] This persecution of the Jew, and +the visitation of judgments on the earth as a deliverance from it, are +connected with the setting up of the Kingdom. + +These are the three things that stand dominantly out in these prophetic +pages as distinctly-future, the great Jew persecution unprecedented in +intensity, the visitation of terrible judgments on the earth, and the +coming of a glorious kingdom. And the three are connected. We know that +no events have yet taken place that at all satisfy the language used of +these three connected events. + +This is the simple outline of expected coming events with which the +thoughtful reader of God's Word is supposed to be familiar. The reverent +student of God's promises and plans and revelations would naturally have +all this clear and fresh in his mind as he turns to open the pages of +the prophetic book of the New Testament. + + +Forecast of the Great Storm. + +Now it is _of intense interest_ to note that our Lord Jesus speaks of +these same three things, at much length, and with much emphasis; the +persecution, the visitation of judgments, and the kingdom. It came to me +as a great surprise and with startling force when I realized, after +gathering out this summary from the Old Testament, that the three things +that stand out so sharply there are the very things Jesus speaks of here +with such fulness and emphasis. + +He puts special emphasis on the time of persecution as of unprecedented +horror and ferocity. He plainly indicates that this will be directed +not only against the Jew, but against His own followers. Three times +this talk of His on Olivet just before His death is given at much +length.[129] That talk is given to a little group of Jewish disciples +who have broken with the Jewish leaders, and who become the great +leaders of the Church formed at Pentecost. + +He speaks of that terrible experience as "great tribulation,"[130] "such +as there hath not been the like from the beginning of the creation which +God created until now, nor ever shall be."[131] We shall find it spoken +of in this book of Revelation as "the tribulation, the great one."[132] +It has come to be spoken of commonly as "the tribulation" and "the great +tribulation." + +With all this fresh in mind, a run back through the Old Testament brings +out that it is spoken of there much more than we may have realized. The +warning to Israel, at Sinai, as they made the covenant of allegiance +with God, of the bitter punishment that would come if they were untrue, +has seemed many times as though couched in very intense, almost extreme +language.[133] But it is found to fit into these later descriptions of +this great tribulation to come. That warning is repeated, in as intense +words and with a greater fulness, by Moses in his series of farewell +talks in the Plains of Moab,[134] and it runs through the song he left +for their use.[135] + +The experiences of the people of Israel in Egypt are found to be an +illustration of the coming experience at the end, great persecution and +suffering, then great deliverance through a visitation of judgment upon +their persecutors, and great revelation of God's glory following. And +the experience of the three young Hebrew exiles in Babylon comes to +mind. They went through the fire, seven times heated, and they had a +marvellous deliverance, and then high promotion.[136] + +Certain Psalms shine with new light in the light of this terrible truth. +Chief among these is the Ninety-first. Quite likely it grew up out of +the experience of Israel at the last before leaving Egypt. It, of +course, has its practical use in one's daily life. But the vividness and +intensity of its meaning will probably never be realized as during the +coming tribulation days. Nor will the exultant note running through the +nine Psalms immediately following it be appreciated as by those +experiencing deliverance when the tribulation is over. The Forty-sixth +Psalm, and the Psalms of praise immediately following it, likewise seem +to get new light. + +It is quite probable that very much, all through this Book of Psalms, +will be understood and appreciated fully only by the generation of God's +people that go through the tribulation and know the deliverance +following. Much of the old Book of God is quite meaningless to the +Christian who has had no tribulation _experience_. That is, I mean who +has never known opposition in his Christian faith, or who has slipped +easily along when there is opposition. + +The outstanding features in the Old Testament of this great experience +are terrible persecution of the Jew, deliverance at the very worst pitch +of extremity, by a visitation of judgment on their enemies, and by +Jehovah coming in person for their deliverance; and then the great +Kingdom following. + +The outstanding features spoken of by our Lord Jesus in His Olivet talk +agree with this, but go much more into detail, especially about the +tribulation. The tribulation will be _preceded_ by wars, rumors of wars, +famines, earthquakes, and persecution. There will be many false +religious teachers, many Christians untrue to their faith, and a great +increase of wickedness. This is a sort of foreshadowing. + +The tribulation itself will find all this enormously intensified. It +will _begin_ with some astonishing act of blasphemy in the temple in +Jerusalem, run its terrible course, and close with a series of +judgment-events, earthquake, heavens shaken, and great distress, ending +in the visible appearance of the Lord Jesus Himself, out of heaven on +the clouds. And this will be a signal for great penitential mourning +among the people on the earth. + +This, then, is the simple, broad outline with which the thoughtful +reader of God's Word would naturally be familiar as he turns to this +prophetic book at the end to get our Lord's last message to His +followers. + + +Getting a Broad, Clear Outlook. + +As we turn now again to the book of Revelation it will help us to +remember the general plan followed in its writing. It is like a series +of dissolving views of the same scene, each of which lets us see the +same thing from a different point of view. + +This is a simple teaching rule for getting a clear grasp of what is +being taught. We are familiar with it in the Bible. The story of +creation is told in the first chapter of Genesis, and then told again in +the second chapter with details not given in the first, the two together +presenting the complete story. The historical books of Chronicles +present one view of the kingdom of Israel, the official. The books of +the Kings give another look at the same period; and the prophetic books +a wholly different view as seen by these rarely spiritually minded men +of God. Daniel is shown four visions of future events, all covering the +same general stretch of events, but with a fuller description, here of +one part and there of another. The four Gospels are a familiar +illustration of the same principle in teaching and story-telling. This +is the plan followed here. + +I was impressed anew with the practical value of this method one day in +St. Petersburg. We had gone to look at the panorama of the siege of +Sebastopol, then on exhibition in a huge, round building. It will be +remembered that the British and French allied themselves with Turkey and +Sardinia in an attempt to restrain the encroachments of Russia on +Turkish territory. The famous charge of Balaklava, immortalized by +Tennyson, is remembered as the most stirring event of that war. Its +chief event was the siege of Sebastopol on the Crimea peninsula, in the +Black Sea. + +At the panorama we stood as though on a high central point in the city +of Sebastopol, with the view spreading out in all directions. To the +north lay the harbour with the Russian ships securely bottled in by the +attacking fleets. To the west a body of French soldiers were retreating, +hotly pursued by Russian troops, while in the distance British troops +are hurrying to the relief of the French. + +Then we looked east, where the fighting was going on at close range, the +wounded being carried away and the reserves hastening up to take their +places. And again we turned to the south, where the battle raged +fiercest. The face of the commanding officer stood out so vividly. And +we almost shrank from the fierceness of the fire. And the smell of +powder almost seemed stifling. + +And as I stood brooding afresh on the horrors of inhuman war, I was +tremendously impressed that only by such successive views could I get +such a grasp of that memorable siege. I had a more intelligent and +vivid understanding of it than ever before. + +And so it is that we may get a simple, clear, and real grasp of the +tremendous tribulation time that is coming, that it is presented to us +in this fashion, first one distinct view, then another, and another, +till some understanding of the whole begins to get hold of us. + +We have seen the Lord Jesus, in the vision in chapters four and five, as +He comes forward to take an advance step. We have seen the tremendous +outburst of praise in heaven as He steps forward. This step and scene +are in heaven. The earth is wholly unaware of it _at that moment_. + +Now all that follows is connected directly with that advance step. This +is the significant thing to get clearly fixed in mind. At the present +time our Lord Jesus is still walking among the candlestick Churches +watching and waiting. We are still in that waiting time. The Holy Spirit +still dwells in the Church on earth. + +At some time in the future, no one knows, nor can know, just when, the +Lord Jesus will rise up in readiness for an advance move. He will +withdraw the Holy Spirit from the Church up into His presence again +"before the throne." _Then in connection with this advance step_ there +will occur on the earth the things spoken of in these pages following. +This is the tremendous fact to keep clear, the immediate connection +between these happenings on earth and His new move in heaven. + +We come now to these happenings on earth. There are seven distinct views +given here in this section, chapters six to the end of the book. There +is a great detail in description which it would be both instructive and +interesting to study out. But we want to get at the essential things. +And so we will give our time and thought to these essentials. + +Our Lord Jesus is represented as about to take possession of His realm. +The first step is a dispossessing of the claimants in possession. This +furnishes the key to what follows. The descriptions are of the process +of cleaning out the evil forces. At the close of this we find Him taking +possession (in chapter twenty) and reigning over the earth. + +These descriptions make it clear at once that this is the tribulation so +much spoken of in these preceding pages. What follows fits so into what +has been spoken of that the identification seems complete. The thing our +Lord Jesus is revealing here tallies with what He had told John before +on Olivet. + +There comes first a general description of the whole period (chapters +vi.-vii.). Then follows a description of _how_ these happenings will +come. It will be through the withdrawal of restraint and so the +loosening out of evil (chapters viii.-ix.). During this whole period +there will be a special faithful witnessing on earth, in the midst of +the riot of evil, to God and His truth (chapter xi.). + +A detailed outline of the run of events follows, giving much additional +information, picturing the rise and characteristics of the leader of the +tribulation time, and the manner of its close (chapters xii.-xiv.). +There follows this a description of the judgments and the supreme +contest with which the period closes (chapters xv.-xvi.). There is a +description of the organized system of evil, and then of the fall of the +capital of the system (chapters xvii.-xviii.) And then follows the +actual coming of our Lord Jesus, the setting up of the kingdom, and +subsequent events (chapters xix.-xxii.). + + +A General Look at the Storm and Its Close. + +We turn now to _the first_ of these.[137] It begins with a crowned One +seated on a white horse going forth conquering and to conquer. This +description agrees with the much fuller description of the Lord Jesus +near the end of the book, as he goes to the earth for the decisive close +of the tribulation.[138] + +This gives fresh emphasis to the fact that what follows is the direct +result of His advance step. At once there follows on earth a time of +war, famine, death, and of persecution to the death of God's people. +There is no hint as to how long this goes on. It is brought to a close +with an earthquake and an equally terrific disturbance of the heavens, +the sun, moon, and stars, something unknown before. + +The utmost consternation is created on earth. All conditions of men, +crowned kings, merchant princes, men of autocratic power financially and +politically and socially, join with the humblest in hiding themselves in +the great holes made by the earthquake. They feel that the time of +judgment has come, and they are not ready for it. + +The description of their terror tallies remarkably with the prophetic +language used by Isaiah,[139] even as the whole description fits into +our Lord's Olivet talk. This is seen to be a general, rapid vision of +the whole tribulation period. + +Then there follows what clearly seems to be a parenthesis fitting in +just before the great earthquake. The earth and sea have been terribly +torn up by the earthquake. This parenthesis begins with a command that +the earth and sea be not hurt until certain things have taken place. + +This fits the two events of the parenthesis in just before the ruinous +earthquake takes place. The two events are of a radically different sort +from what has just been told. They are thus put by themselves, and the +run of evil and of judgment upon it, put by itself, so keeping these two +quite clear, following the general plan of the book. + +There are two events in this parenthesis. There is what is called the +"sealing" of a certain number of the Hebrew tribes _on the earth_. +Twelve thousand of each tribe are sealed, making a total of one hundred +and forty-four thousand. The word "seal" is used in two senses in the +Bible, as a means of fastening up a writing or roll, and, in the New +Testament, commonly for the presence of the Holy Spirit in a human life. + +The seal in this second sense was a mark of ownership. Paul tells us +that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit,[140] so indicating that we +belong to the Lord Jesus, who gives us this evidence of His ownership. +If this simple, natural meaning be taken here, it would mean that at +this time the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the Jew. The +spiritual regeneration spoken of so frequently in the prophetic pages +takes place at this time. + +The significance of the numbers should be noticed. Twelve is the number +commonly used in the Bible, for corporate completeness, to indicate that +a group is complete. Twelve times twelve would simply represent a fully +completed corporate number. That is to say, upon the entire body of Jews +then living on the earth the Holy Spirit is poured out, thus marking +them once again as God's peculiar people, restored fully to favour after +the long national rejection. + +The second event is of equally intense interest, indeed to us of +non-Jewish birth it has yet greater interest. John is up in heaven. It +is from that point of view that he sees. Now he is suddenly startled. +All at once there appears before his eyes a group he had not seen +before. He describes it as a great multitude, actually countless, out of +all the peoples of the whole earth, a great polyglot polyracial world +company. + +They are clothed in white, holding the conqueror's palm in their hands, +and singing, making wondrous music. John is getting another taste of the +music of heaven. And their singing is a signal for a fresh outburst of +praise by the angels, the elders, and the living creatures. All this +seems to occur suddenly, this appearance of this new company before the +throne. + +John gazes spellbound, wondering who these are, and where they come +from, and what this means. And he is told that these are they that come +out of the tribulation, the great one, down on the earth. Then in a few +exquisitely tender, heart-touching words their happiness is described. + +These two events occur just before the terrible earthquake and the +shake-up of the earth's heavenly bodies. Just before the judgment that +closes the tribulation this double event takes place, the conversion of +the Jews, and the catching away out of the tribulation distress on +earth, up into the presence of the throne, of the followers of our Lord +Jesus. + +We remember that that great Jew, Paul, was converted by the appearance +of Jesus in the heavens above him. We remember that in the Olivet talk +Jesus says that His followers will so be gathered up to Himself at the +time of His second coming. These two events, taking place here, tell us +what has happened down on the earth. In his vision John, being in +heaven, sees these things as they appear from above. + +This is the first view of the tribulation. It begins with the moment +when our Lord Jesus up in heaven begins action, describes the +characteristics of the tribulation on earth, and closes with the +national regeneration of Israel, and the catching up from earth of +Christ's true followers. + + +Evil Let Loose. + +The _second view_ runs through chapters eight and nine. Chapters ten and +eleven to the close of verse thirteen make a distinct parenthesis. And +then this view is picked up again at eleven, fourteen, and runs to the +close of that chapter. But this final bit in chapter eleven is merely a +connecting link with what comes later. Practically the whole of this +view is in chapters eight and nine. + +It closes with an earthquake, so connecting it with the final event in +the first view. It begins with a period of prolonged silence, which +would seem to answer to the hush in the great volume of praise in the +first view, when the Lamb takes the sealed roll. So it carries us back +to the same starting-point as there. + +There is first a striking scene before the throne, where John sees a +golden altar. On this there is being offered incense, which is said to +be added to the prayers of all the saints. Incense and prayers rise +together before God. Then an angel pours some of the fire of this +prayer-altar into the earth, and a storm follows. So these two views, +first and second, have another common starting-point, the beginning of a +storm. + +This is a very suggestive scene. The prayers of all the saints, both in +earth and heaven, have a decided restraining influence over evil down on +earth at the present time. At the close they will become a decisive +influence in the cleaning-up process on earth, and the bringing in of +the new order. + +Then follows a fourfold description of distressing events on earth, +which are caused by fiery influences coming out of the heavens. The +language used seems to make clear that it is through a loosening out of +the powers of evil that the tribulation comes. + +In the picture language of the vision, "a great mountain burning with +fire was cast into the sea," with injurious results to water, to life, +and to shipping. A mountain is a common figure in the Bible for a great +ruling power. So Israel is called by Isaiah.[141] The seventeenth +chapter of Revelation speaks of seven kingdoms as seven mountains.[142] +In Jeremiah, Babylon, which is spoken of repeatedly and typically as +being the embodiment of evil and of opposition to God, is called: "O +destroying mountain ... which destroyest all the earth, (I) will make of +thee a burnt mountain."[143] It speaks here also of "a great star,[144] +burning as a torch," that fell upon the rivers and makes them bitter as +wormwood. These two things seem to suggest clearly that the great hurt +done to sea and vegetation, to all life, and through the obscuring of +the heavenly lights, is a result directly of the powers of evil having +been loosened out. + +The long restraint upon evil through the presence of the Holy Spirit in +the Church is now withdrawn in the withdrawal of the Spirit. His +withdrawal is practically an answer to the tacit prayer both of world +and Church. That prayer is being answered. The "One" who restraineth has +been withdrawn. This it is that makes the tribulation on its negative +side. The awful character of the demons from the pit is so utterly +beyond human experience up to that time that there seem no adequate +words to describe them. + +The Gospels are full of the awful activity of demons on earth in +possessing men. In our own land there is not wanting plenty of evidence +of men horribly possessed by demons. In the older countries of Europe +this experience is much more marked. But it is in heathen lands that it +is most marked, where even the very air seems charged with evil forces, +as though these unseen demons swarmed about. + +Yet all this sort of thing is now under restraint. What it will mean to +have that restraint withdrawn, and the horrid hordes here described free +to do as they will, no imagination can depict. This is well called the +first _woe_, and an awful woe it will be. Mercifully there is a time +limit set on this demon activity. + +Following this comes the loosing out of another horde of demons, as +difficult of description, and yet more terrible. They seem countless, +yet there is a limit to their numbers. The supreme Hand is never wholly +withdrawn. These have power to kill as well as to torment. This is the +second woe. It is most strikingly noticeable that neither of these +things has influence to make men penitent. + +The last item of this view is given in chapter xi. 14-19. The +announcement is made that the sovereignty of the world is transferred to +our Lord and His Christ. The temple of God is seen open, and some +further action takes place, but the detail of it is reserved for another +view. Such is the terrible sight in the second view of the tribulation +time. Evil is loosened out, apparently unrestrained, and yet under +restraint. This it is that makes the tribulation on its positive side. + +The parenthesis in the description of this view has been spoken of. It +runs through chapters ten and eleven to the close of verse thirteen, and +contains two chief things. The first is a little group of three items. +There is a fresh description of our Lord Jesus as He is seen standing +with one foot on the sea and the other upon the earth, and holding a +little open book. Then seven thunders roar out. John is about to write, +but is told not to. That terrific storm coming is far greater than can +be told. Then comes the solemn declaration that there will be no +further delay, but that at once shall be finished up this terrible time +of judgment. Then follows a personal word to John. These three items +make up chapter ten. + + +God's Faithful Witnesses. + +Then comes the second thing, in chapter eleven on to verse thirteen, +which proves to be _the third view_ of the tribulation. It shows that +during the whole of this tribulation time there will be a special +faithful witness being borne to God and His truth. As the Holy Spirit is +being withdrawn from the Church, these two men begin their special +ministry of witnessing. + +The place of that witness will be Jerusalem. But recent events will have +brought a greatly diversified population to that city from all parts of +the world. So that the witness becomes world-wide in its immediate +reach, and probably in the reports of it that go out. + +While there is good reason for thinking that these two witnesses may be +Enoch and Elijah, the two men of Bible record, one before the Flood and +one after, who were distinctively God's witnesses, and were taken away +without death, yet it is best not to stop over a matter that has been +and is apt to be a matter of mere idle speculative talk.[145] The thing +worthy of note is that as the Holy Spirit's distinctive witness is +withdrawn there will be these two special witnesses sent to Jerusalem +for a witness that will be world-wide in its extent and influence. Such +is God's gracious patience and longsuffering. + +These two men are clothed in mourning as a part of their witness. They +have miraculous power in protecting themselves against attack, and in +withholding rain, and sending plagues among the people, and in turning +water into blood, to give force and effect to their testimony. Their +witness continues through twelve hundred and sixty days. + +John had already been told that Jerusalem would be trodden under foot by +the nations for forty-two months. We are apt to think that it has been +trodden under foot or desecrated by the nations for an immensely longer +period. But prophecy never gives any reckoning of time for Israel, +except when Israel is an organized nation. It is concerned with telling +Jewish _national_ events. + +At this time the Jews have their national organization again in +Palestine. For forty-two months after the nation has been newly set up +the city will be so trodden under the desecrating feet of the nations. +This is the first hint of time we have had. The witnessing and the +desecration of the holy city will continue side by side for three and a +half years. + +At the end of this period evil will be given full swing over these +witnesses. They are killed and their bodies left lying in the streets, +while the international crowds make merry because their tormentors, as +these two are called, are gone. Then before the terror-stricken gaze of +these crowds the two men come to life, and are caught up into the +heavens. Is this the moment when all are caught up? Quite possibly. Then +comes the terrible earthquake as at the end of the other two views. + +The one distinctive thing told here is that during the tribulation, in +the midst of all the blasphemous reign of unrestrained wickedness, there +will be the unbroken, faithful witnessing. This seems to explain why the +account comes as a parenthesis in the account of the awful riot of evil. +During the worst of the evil there will go on unbroken the faithful, +gracious testimony of God's truth and love. + + +The Lawless Leader. + +_The fourth view_ takes the longest sweep of any, thus far, goes into +much more detail, and gives much fresh information. It runs through +chapters twelve to fourteen. In the intensely picturesque language of a +woman arrayed in the most glorious splendour and dignity and power +imaginable the nation of Israel is depicted. + +This woman is with child. In more intensely dramatic language Satan is +pictured as standing before the woman waiting to destroy her child as +soon as born. The child is born, a man-child, who is to rule all the +nations with autocratic sway. He is caught up to heaven, and his mother +flees into the wilderness from the serpent. This is the opening action +of this view. + +The meaning lies open on the face. Israel gave birth to the man Jesus, +who foiled all the attacks of Satan and ascended to heaven. The old +prophetic characteristic of connecting events far apart without +reference to intervening time is marked here. The long interval between +the break-up of the Jew nation and its taking shape again as a nation, +which has lasted nineteen hundred years roughly, comes between the last +word of verse five and the first word of verse six. + +The prophetic writing takes no reckoning of Israel, except as a nation. +The woman fleeing into the wilderness is Israel organized again as a +nation suffering persecution. She is so persecuted for twelve hundred +and sixty days, but divinely protected and preserved. Such is the first +act of the drama pictured here.[146] + +Then we are told _why_ the woman flees, that is, the explanation of this +special persecution of the Jew this time.[147] Satan has had his +headquarters somewhere in the heavens, below God's throne, but above the +earth. Now, after a conflict, he is cast out of heaven, down to the +earth. Here is a third event that comes approximately at the beginning +of the tribulation time, Satan is cast down to the earth. + +The Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the Church up to heaven, so removing +the restraint upon evil. Satan is cast out of heaven and comes down to +earth. Thus there is a double intensifying of evil on the earth, the +withdrawal of restraint, and the presence of the evil one himself. And +as the witness of the Holy Spirit is withdrawn the special witness of +the two men in Jerusalem begins. + +The defeat of Satan in this heavenly conflict draws out a burst of +praise from the upper hosts. It is because of the great victory of our +Lord Jesus in His death that this victory is gotten. They overcome +because of the blood of the Lamb, _and_ the word of their testimony, +_and_ they loved not their lives unto death,--a threefold cord that +could never, and can never, be broken or successfully resisted. + +This explains the special persecution at this time of the reshaped +Jewish nation. It is the outburst of the rage of the freshly defeated +Satan. But the Jew is protected. The armies that would swallow the Jew +up are swallowed up by the great earthquake that closes the tribulation +time. + +The length of this persecution is put in two different ways, twelve +hundred and sixty days, and "time, times, and half a time." This latter +phrase seems to be an old Oriental or Hebrew way of saying a year, two +years, and half a year. The same length of time is expressed in yet +another way in the eleventh chapter, forty and two months. The time is +thus put in three different ways, that we may know surely that it means +just plain three and a half years of our common time. It is significant +that the dragon makes war with "the rest" of the woman's seed. This can +only mean the Church, which of course was born in the Jewish nation. +This is the first run of events in this view.[148] + +Then follows a description of the awful leader of evil during the +tribulation time.[149] It is significant that, as Satan is cast out of +heaven down to the earth, this leader appears among men. He has great +intelligence and power and is the very embodiment of blasphemy. He is +described as a strange mixture of wild beasts, having the chief +characteristic strength of each, the cunning of the leopard, the feet of +the bear, and the mouth of the lion. + +He is the personal representative on earth among men of Satan. There is +something strangely uncanny in the suggestion that he is some former +leader, who died, and is now raised from the dead. There seems to be +nothing too daring for Satan to attempt in his impious opposition to +God. This leader comes into great prominence and power. All the world +wonders after him. And they worship Satan, who is recognized as giving +his power to this notorious leader. + +He comes to be accepted as the world ruler, and is commonly worshipped +by the people. And he not only persecutes God's people, but overcomes +them. A limit of time is set to his sway. It is the same as already +noted for Jerusalem being desecrated, for God's two witnesses, and for +the persecution of the Jew, _i.e._, forty and two months, three and a +half years. + +It is striking that in the midst of the description of his terrible +reign there comes a word that sounds like an echo from those messages to +the Churches. "If any man hath an ear, let him hear."[150] Then the word +goes on warning, pleading, and encouraging. In the midst of these +blasphemous conditions every man must do as he personally decides. He +may yield to this evil and become a captive of evil, bound hand and +foot. He may try to use the world's weapons in fighting God's battle, +but will find himself outmatched in their use. He may rise to the true +level, and steadfastly cling to his faith, and endure, and by faith be +victorious in the end. + +The description goes on to tell of the blasphemous worship demanded of +all. This leader has an assistant or lieutenant to whom he deputizes +great power. He makes an image to his chief, and demands all to worship +at this shrine. He has supernatural power, that is, devilishly +supernatural. He performs great miracles, even calling down fire from +heaven. He gives breath to the image and makes it speak. And he punishes +with death any one who refuses this blasphemous worship to the leader +and his image. And every one is required to have a mark on his hand or +his forehead as indicating his loyalty to the leader. Whoever refuses is +unable to buy or sell. It is the boycott principle carried to the last +extreme. + +While God's two witnesses are doing miracles by divine power this +lieutenant is doing them by devilish power. So the fearful account goes +on. One can easily imagine the vast crowds swayed by the idolatrous +worship, and the intense suffering and distress among those who insist +on being steadfast and true in their faith. + +Now in the midst of all this terrible scene John is suddenly and +tremendously startled by something else.[151] + +In the vision John is in heaven looking down on these scenes on the +earth. Now his attention is attracted by a scene that suddenly takes +place before his eyes in heaven. It is a scene of wondrous winsomeness +and beauty. It stands out in sharpest contrast with what is going on on +the earth. + +There's a great company standing around the Lord Jesus, before the +throne. They are singing a wonderful song to the accompaniment of harps, +which they have. The volume of music is like the voice of many waters, +or like great thunder. There is a simple, fine description of the +character of these singers. They are _pure_, and they are _obedient_. In +their purity they are as undefiled virgins, the highest possible +statement of purity. And they follow the Lamb unquestioningly +whithersoever He goeth with fullest obedience. + +Who are these, and where have they come from so suddenly, at this +moment, into the presence of the One on the throne? The description +tells just what has happened. When things are at their devilish worst +down on the earth the Lord Jesus has caught up His own from the earth. +And they have become like Him in character, for now they see Him face to +face as He is. + +This recalls the scene, essentially the same, back in the first view, in +chapter seven, where the great multitudes are suddenly seen before the +throne with palm branches, songs, and white garments. It is the same +company as there. But there is a difference in telling the numbers. +_There_ they are too many to be counted. _Here_ they are said to be a +hundred and forty-four thousand. It is symbolical, a picture number, +the number of full corporate completeness as with the Spirit-baptized +Jews in chapter seven. + +The believers caught up out of the great tribulation have been joined by +the trusting hearts of all time who have been waiting in the Father's +presence for this glad day. The number is now complete of all from +creation's earliest dawn, who by grace have followed fully, regardless +of hindrance or opposition. This great climax is thus seen by John in +sudden and sharp contrast with the climax of hellish evil on the earth. + +Then John is shown the steps by which this climax is reached.[152] +Verses six to the close of this chapter seem clearly to be a detail of +what has gone before, describing the steps by which this climax is +reached, and then reaching further to the judgment upon the evil. During +the iniquitous scenes being enacted on earth an angel is seen flying in +mid-heavens calling to the people on earth, in warning, to give their +worship and reverence to God only. The gracious wooing of God never +ceases. + +Another angel follows, calling out that the great system of iniquity, in +which they are enmeshed, is doomed. A third gives solemn warning that +those who yield to the terrible pressure, and engage in the blasphemous +worship, will be surely and terribly punished. Again there comes another +echo of the strain of pleading in the Church messages. In the midst of +just such conditions as prevail then, the saints can be steady in +keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. + +And down into the awful persecution being waged comes an encouraging +voice from heaven. There is special blessing from God on all those who +remain true, even unto death. There will be sweetest rest for them, and +their faithful witnessing and suffering shall be all noted and +acknowledged and rewarded as they come up into the Father's presence. + +And then follows the blessed harvest of the righteous whose wonderful +arrival in heaven has already been told in the opening scene of this +chapter. And then follows the awful harvest of evil down on the earth, +the visitation of judgments coming at the very end of the persecution. + +So closes this long remarkable view of the tribulation. It connects back +with the nation of Israel. Its beginning is connected practically with +the casting of Satan down to earth. It gives a description of the leader +and the nature of the persecution, and a brief statement of the steps +with which it ends. And it states in three different ways that the +length of time involved is three and a half years. + + +A Bitter Cup to Its Dregs. + +_The fifth view_[153] is, not of the whole tribulation time as with +these others, but of only a part, the closing part. It speaks of the +visitation of judgments, the great climactic battle, and the +earthquake, with which the period is brought to its end. + +It connects at the point in the fourth view[154] where those who have +been suffering in the tribulation are seen standing before the throne +singing with harps. It is said that they are singing the song of Moses, +who had the experience of tribulation and deliverance in Egypt, and the +song of the Lamb, who went through the worst tribulation experience in +His contest with Satan and sin on our behalf. + +It connects also with the close of the second view,[155] where the +temple is seen opened and the ark of the covenant is seen. That covenant +is now to receive further fulfilment. God never forgets His promises and +agreements. Seven angels have seven golden bowls full of the wrath of +God. In this way is told the visitation of judgments now described as +taking place at this time. + +In the first view the picture is of _seals_ being broken or opened, +which indicates the execution of a document. The _trumpets_ of the next +view indicate a commanding call to action; the seven _thunders_, not +written, a great storm. These _bowls_ or vials indicate the +administration of a dose of bitter-tasting medicine. The visitation of +judgments by God is commonly spoken of in Scripture in this +language.[156] + +Then follows the description of the judgments upon men's persons, and +everything concerning their life. Men's bodies are diseased, the water +is unfit to drink, the food supply cut short; they suffer with terrible +heat, and then darkness. But there is no penitence. The Euphrates is +said to be dried up, suggesting that it is the great river at or near +the world's centre of action. So, it is said, the way is prepared for +the kings that come from the east. + +And the prophetic bit in Isaiah comes to mind about men passing over the +Euphrates at the time of the great gathering of the Jews.[157] As though +aroused by all this to bitterest opposition there is increased demon +activity, and through it a great gathering of all nations, at a place +named in Palestine, for a great battle. + +Then a terrible climax comes in the earthquake, with which the first, +second, and third views closed. It is the worst earthquake ever +experienced. It centres in "_the_ great city," Babylon, the capital of +the whole system of wickedness. With the storm is a terrible hail. The +description tallies with that in the close of the first view,[158] and +with the vivid prophetic bit in Isaiah ii. 10-22. + +There's no suggestion of how much time all this takes. The judgments +visited on Egypt at the deliverance of Israel are described at much +greater length, running into ten items. Yet all could have occurred +within five weeks, allowing for brief intervals. Whether these +judgments occur in succession, or all at once, or partly in both ways, +they could all come within a very short time. This fifth view depicts +the final scene. It gives the visitation of judgments ending the +tribulation period, describes a great pitched battle, in which all +nations are involved, and ends with the earthquake. This is the third of +the three great woes.[159] + +_The sixth view_ is of the great system of wickedness in the world, +through which the tribulation comes, and which is judged at its +close.[160] The description is full of details of great interest and +instructiveness, but we can only have time at present for the essential +thing being taught. The Spirit takes John into a wilderness. To the +Spirit's eye wherever wickedness has sway, whether vulgar or polished, +political or commercial, cunning or brazen, it is a wilderness. + +Here is shown a woman gorgeously clothed, prodigally bedecked with +jewels, and having a cup in her hand, made of gold, but full of vile +filth. Upon her forehead appears a description: "Mystery [or explanation +of mystery], Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the +abominations of the earth." This woman is riding upon a strange beast; +it is scarlet-colored, with seven heads and ten horns, and full of +blasphemous names. This is the startlingly suggestive picture. + +Who is this woman? And what is this beast upon which she is seated? The +whole description taken together suggests that she is meant to stand +for the whole system of wickedness which has had such sway in the world +from earliest time until the end. And the beast represents typically the +dominant governmental powers. The two have always worked together. There +has been a consistent unity of spirit and of characteristic, and a +persistent devilishness marking the wickedness in the world throughout +the ages. + +It has been as though there were an unseen spirit power tirelessly at +work _behind_ all the varied manifestations of evil. The dominant +characteristic always has been blasphemy of God. It has controlled +thrones and royal power, and has had unlimited gold at its command. And +it has always been an enemy, subtle or open, cunning or violent, of God +and His people. + +That system or genius of evil is represented in the Old Testament as +finding expression in one great political power after another, but +chiefly in the power of Babylon. Babylon stands typically in these older +pages, not merely for the great empire of the Euphrates, but for the +unseen spirit of evil lying behind that power, and making use of it to +carry through its own foul purposes. + +But that unseen evil spirit power has found more than one agency to +dominate and use. Babylon long since passed off the stage as a political +factor. But the power of evil has not ceased. It is distressing to note +another great organization behind and through which the power of evil +has worked. What is the system that has, for the past sixteen +centuries, been supported by the various great civil governments? + +There is only one answer. It is the organization known as "the Christian +Church." And the term Church must be taken here in its fullest, broadest +meaning. Its great main stem historically is the Roman Catholic Church. +The first great split-off was the Greek Orthodox Church. The Church of +England was a later break-off. These, with the various government-ally +supported Churches, and those free of such support, and various ancient +primitive bodies,--these all together make up the organization known as +"the Church." + +The two symbolical characteristics of this woman and the two dominant +characteristics of this historical Church are the same. The Church has +been and is supported almost wholly by the civil governments, and used +by them in furthering their policies. And it has been active in +persecuting to death the people of God who would not yield to its +domination. It has been marked by intolerance of all not yielding to its +wishes, and especially of the Jew. That intolerance has been carried not +only to the extreme of blood, but a riot of bloodshed. This is utterly +heart-breaking to realize and to repeat. + +The woman is said to be "drunken (1) with the blood of the saints, and +(2) with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." The twofold statement is +seen to cover the two great periods, before Christ and since. And it +covers also the two great powers through which the spirit of evil has +chiefly worked in those two periods. But the name given first in the +plains of Shinar, and used characteristically of the God-defying power +of evil, is given here, Babylon. It will be Babylon again at the very +end after the Church system is overthrown. + +It is plainly said that the beast represents the great civil or +governmental power in its final stage, the shape it will be in at the +end when these events occur.[161] The chief dominating political power +of the world will have passed through a succession of changes, seven +kingdoms successively following each other. At the end there will be a +combination of some sort, with ten great subdivisions, and one great +head over all. + +But at the last, the civil power will discard the Church, and persecute +it. The spirit of evil thus gets embodiment typically in the great +Babylon power, then in the Church, and at the very last, in a coalition +of civil powers heading up in a new Babylon. + +Then follows announcement of the fall of Babylon. The city is regarded +here as the earthly capital of the organized system of unseen evil +spirit power at work in the world. The city and the system are +inseparably allied. The name Babylon is used in the Bible for both +system and city. + +If the question be asked what city is meant here, there can be but one +answer. From the twelfth of Genesis on the Bible never touches history, +except as history touches Israel as a nation. A thoughtful review of the +book makes this clear. And this book of Revelation is a gathering-up of +Bible threads, and only these. There is only one city in the Bible +record that answers to the description here, "the great city which +reigneth over the kings of the earth." "Babylon _the_ great." + +But the old Babylon lies in ruins. And its ruined condition has been +quoted as the fulfilment of the famous passage in Isaiah xiii. 19-22. It +should be carefully noted that the present conditions at the site of old +Babylon do not seem to satisfy fully the language of that passage. It +would seem to be another illustration of the rare use of language in the +Bible, which adapts a passage accurately to one event, and then to a +second event, a long time afterward. + +This would, of course, involve the rebuilding of the old capital of the +Euphrates. The reverent student quietly notes the movements taking place +in that part of the world, but restrains mere curious speculation, as he +continues fervently to pray, "Thy kingdom come." + +This eighteenth chapter of Revelation seems like an echo of that intense +twenty-first of Isaiah, and indeed of a strain sounding all through the +prophetic books. One familiar with the old writings is not surprised to +find this echo; he expects it. No echo of God's voice or purpose is ever +lost. God never loses any of the threads out of His hand. + + +Hallelujah! He Comes. + +_The seventh view_ presents the climax. It includes from chapter +nineteen to chapter twenty-two, verse five. It presents in full the +great scene that closes this tribulation period; touches the kingdom in +a bare word so as to fit it into its place in the scheme of events being +outlined; and then gives the final wind-up after the Kingdom time is +over. We want to look now at the portion connected immediately with what +has just gone before, the description of the wondrous close of the +tribulation, in chapters nineteen, verse one, to twenty, verse three. + +John hears a great outburst of worship and praise in heaven. It +resembles the outburst back in chapter five, when the Lamb took the +book. But it is seen to be yet greater than that. Its joy and delight +seem wholly unbounded. Again the living creatures and the four and +twenty elders lead the song that bursts out. + +John tries to tell how great was the volume of adoring song that fills +all heaven. It is like the voice of a great multitude, like the waters +that he had heard many a time breaking in deafening roar on the rocky +coast of Patmos, like the mighty thunders which he had heard so much in +these visions. + +And the song they sang explains the exuberance of their singing, +"Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty _reigneth_." At last He +_reigneth_. In the earlier parts of the book God is spoken of as "He +who is and who was, and _who cometh_."[162] As later events are +described that last part "who cometh" is significantly dropped.[163] +Clearly at these points being described He has come. Now the great +realization bursts out from countless voices, the Lord, our God, the +Almighty _reigneth_! + +And John is bidden to write the words whose refrain has filled such a +place in hymns and devout speech, "Blessed are they that are bidden to +the marriage supper of the Lamb." And the one who seems to be serving as +John's guide puts peculiar emphasis on all that is being revealed by +saying, "these are true words of God." + +John is so overwhelmed that he falls down to worship this one. And then +he finds that this is one of his own redeemed brothers of the earth. And +as He quietly bids John give his worship to One only, He adds very +significant words: "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." +The whole genius and soul of all this wealth of prophecy is to point men +to our Lord Jesus Christ, God to us. + +And now comes the event toward which the ages have looked. _The heavens +open._ And _our Lord Jesus appears_ coming in glory to earth. At last He +comes. There's a wonderful description. He comes as a conqueror, riding +forth to judge the earth righteously, and to make war on evil. His eyes +are as a flame of fire, and upon His head many diadems. He has a name +indicating that He is all alone in the experiences He has been through, +and in His character. He comes as King of kings and Lord of lords, to +rule all the earth with a new absolutism, to right all wrongs, and visit +the indignant wrath of God upon all sin. + +As He appears an angel gives warning of what is coming. In words that +are an echo of Ezekiel's, long centuries before, he calls to all the +scavenger birds of the earth that haunt battlefields to come to a great +feasting time.[164] And John sees the vast armies of the nations of the +earth all gathered together for a last mighty battle, under the +leadership of the great leader of lawlessness and his lieutenant. + +And the utter impotence of their struggle against God is revealed in the +quietness and brevity with which their defeat and capture are told. +Satan's great earth leader and his chief who deceived the people with +his miraculous power, both are taken and forever put away. And then +Satan himself is chained and fastened securely in the abyss. Such is the +tremendous consummation quietly told in a few lines. And then follows +the setting up of the glorious kingdom on earth. + +Whatever the immediate circumstances under which the Second Psalm was +penned, it will be readily seen how it fits into this situation at the +end. + + "Why do the nations tumultuously assemble, + And the peoples meditate a vain thing? + The kings of the earth set themselves, + And the rulers take counsel together, + Against Jehovah and against His Anointed, saying, + 'Let us break their bonds asunder, + And cast away their cords from us.'" + +But their efforts seem so puny, and the result so one-sided, that + + "He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: + The Lord will have them in derision." + +And we remember that, in these Revelation pages, it is always with the +sword of His mouth that the Lord Jesus is said to fight, as we read on: + + "Then will He _speak_ unto them in His wrath, + And vex [or trouble] them in His sore displeasure; [saying] + 'Yet I have set _my_ King + Upon my holy hill of Zion.'" + +Then the Son speaks: + + "I will tell of the decree: + Jehovah said unto me, 'thou art my Son; + This day have I begotten thee. + Ask of me and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, + And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. + Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; + Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'" + +And the writer of the Psalms closed with a word of earnest counsel to +the kings of earth: + + "Now therefore be wise, O ye kings: + Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. + Serve Jehovah with fear, + And rejoice with trembling [awe], + Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, + For His wrath will soon be kindled. + Blessed are all they that take refuge in Him." + +Thus it is seen that these seven views describe (1) the general +characteristics of the tribulation time; (2) the way in which it comes, +that is, by the withdrawal of restraint and so the loosing of evil; (3) +the faithful witness being borne throughout the period; (4) the great +evil leader and the character of the persecution he wages; (5) the +visitation of judgments upon earth with the great gathering of nations +to battle against God; (6) the world system of evil; and (7) the coming +of our Lord Jesus to judge evil and set up the kingdom. + + +Still He Waits. + +It will at once be noted that these things group up, naturally and +easily, under _three headings_. First, there is a terrible _persecution_ +of God's people. This will end in a _visitation_ of _judgments_, +including great plagues. There will be a gathering of the armies of all +nations, and a great battle. It will end in a decisive defeat for them +by the personal coming of the Lord Jesus, and will be accompanied by a +terrific earthquake and an equally terrific shake-up of the heavenly +bodies connected with the earth, sun, moon, and stars. Then comes the +establishment of the _Kingdom of God_ upon earth. These three things +stand dominantly out. + +It comes as a surprise to one who has not been thinking especially about +it, to find how these three things are the same three that stood out so +prominently at the close of the study of future items in the old +prophetic books. It is natural that it should be so, of course, since +the Book of God is one in its essential unity. + +But there is a great fascination in finding the parts to come together +so simply and naturally. As we gather up the Old Testament pages these +three things sift out and group together as distinctly not yet +fulfilled, and so future. As we listen to our Lord Jesus talking, again +these same three items are emphasized by Him. And now the same three are +found here. + +Dr. A. F. Schauffler tells of a striking experience he had in connection +with his mission work in New York City. A letter came to him from a +stranger in Germany. It said: "I know you are a city missionary. I am +sending a trunk in your care. Inclosed in this letter you will find a +piece of paper cut. A man will come and present to you a piece of paper +matching this piece. Please give him the trunk." And enclosed in the +letter was a piece of paper cut in zigzags. + +Letter and paper were laid away to await developments. Some weeks later +a stranger came in and presented a queerly cut piece of paper, saying: +"I think you have a piece that matches this." Dr. Schauffler got out his +piece of paper, laid the two side by side, found that they matched, and +said to his visitor: "There's your trunk." + +Even so these prophetic pages of the New Testament are found to fit +exactly the pages of the Old, written centuries before. It is not +surprising, however. One hand cut the paper into two pieces in Germany, +and naturally they fitted when put together in New York. One Hand has +guided the men writing in both Old and New. + +When Jeremiah was first called to his work as God's messenger he was +shown in vision the branch of an almond tree. The almond tree is the +earliest of all trees to wake from its winter's sleep at the first hint +of spring warmth coming. And so it was called the "watching" or +"watcher" tree. Then God said to Jeremiah: "Even so, I eagerly watch +over my word to bring it to life and fruitage at the very earliest +opportunity."[165] And so the word of this watching God and its +fulfilment match, regardless of the thing we call time, even running +into centuries. + +And it is very helpful for those of us who have had a sort of dread of +prophecy as of a vague something that we can't understand, to find after +all how simple it is. Just three great items stand out of these +prophetic pages that are waiting fulfilment. + +Such is the seven-fold view, which is taken up almost wholly with the +clearing-up storm in the King's realm. But all this is still future. We +are still in that waiting time. Our Lord Jesus still stands among the +candlesticks. Still He is waiting for His Church to be faithful. He +still waits for each of us who is a bit of His Church. He is depending +on us to be faithful, by His grace, day by day, during this waiting +time. And while He waits _all His limitless power is at our disposal_, +as we follow His leading. We may take as much as we need. But the taking +must be with the life. + +A dear missionary friend told of a simple experience that meant much to +him. We were walking together in the town in Korea where his mission +work is. His school was the centre of the recent troublous times in +Korea, and the storm seemed to rage about his own person at its +outburst. As we talked all his native teachers and several of his older +students were in prison. The experience he told me was of earlier days +in this country, but had come back to his memory as a great refreshment +during the troublous times. + +He was a professor in a small college in our Middle West. Special funds +were being raised, for extension. He was to ask a certain man of wealth +for a large donation. He planned and prayed much, and at last went to +see the man in another city by appointment. He had a keen sense of the +responsibility of his task. + +As he entered the building where the man's office was he was greeted +cordially by a young man whom he remembered as a former student, to whom +he had been friendly in some time of minor need. But he had not +connected him in his mind with this wealthy man, whose son he was. Now +as the former student learned of his professor friend's errand, he said +with all the confidence of a son on good terms with his father: + +"Come right in; father's here." + +As they stepped into the man's office the son said, simply: + +"Father, this is an old friend of mine. He's all right. Give him +whatever he wants." + +And the father, busy at his desk, with barely a look at the appointed +visitor, reached one hand over for his checkbook, and simply said: + +"How much do you want?" + +My friend, taken completely by surprise at the unexpected turn of +events, managed to name the large sum he had been thinking and praying +over so much. And before he could quite recover from his surprise, he +found himself outside walking up the street with the coveted check in +his pocket, praising God for such an answer to his prayers. It had been +years before, but as we walked and talked it all came back with a fresh +flush of feeling. + +The present is a waiting time. It may seem to some as though they are in +the wilderness. Clear and distinct comes a quiet voice: + +"What'll you have? Whatever you choose to ask, for My Son's sake." + +May we reach out to take as much as He is reaching down to give. But the +taking must be with the life. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[107] Isaiah xiii.-xxiv. + +[108] Jeremiah xlvi.-li. + +[109] Ezekiel xxv.-xxxii., xxxviii.-xxxix. + +[110] Daniel, throughout, notably vii.-xii. + +[111] The book of Isaiah falls naturally into two parts, chapters +i.-xl., and xli.-lxvi. The historical allusions in each make it quite +clear that these two parts belong in two periods far apart. One hundred +and eighty years intervene between the close of the time stated in +Isaiah's first chapter as the period of his ministry and the beginning +of the return from exile into which the second part fits. + +But the full inspiration of the second part is in no wise affected. This +rarely Spirit-controlled man modestly or unconsciously withholds his +name from his writings. And they are grouped by the old Hebrew compilers +with those of Isaiah. + +[112] Isaiah ii. 2-4. + +[113] Isaiah xi. 1-9; xxxii. 1-6. + +[114] Micah iv. 1-8. + +[115] Isaiah xi. 11-16; xxvii. 12-13. + +[116] Zechariah xii. 10-14. + +[117] Jeremiah xxxi. 8-19, 33, 34. + +[118] Isaiah xxvi. 19; Daniel xii. 2. + +[119] Micah iv. 1-2. + +[120] Isaiah xxv. 7 + +[121] Isaiah iv. 2-5. + +[122] Isaiah xxiv. 1-13, 17-20; ii. 12-19; Micah vii. 15-17. + +[123] Zechariah xii. 1-9; xiv. 1-2. + +[124] Isaiah xiii. 1-13. + +[125] Zechariah xiv. 1-8. + +[126] Isaiah xxiv. 21-22; xxvii. 1. + +[127] Jeremiah xxx. 7-8. + +[128] Daniel xii. 1. + +[129] Matthew xxiv.-xxv; Mark xiii; Luke xxi. + +[130] Matthew xxiv. 21, 29. + +[131] Mark xiii. 19. + +[132] Revelation vii. 14 literally. + +[133] Leviticus xxvi. 14-39. + +[134] Deuteronomy xxviii. 15-68. + +[135] Deuteronomy xxxii. + +[136] Daniel iii. + +[137] Chapters vi.-vii. + +[138] Chapter xix. + +[139] Isaiah ii. 10-22. + +[140] II Corinthians i. 22; Ephesians i. 13; iv. 30. + +[141] Isaiah ii. 2. + +[142] Revelation xvii. 9-10. + +[143] Jeremiah li. 25. + +[144] Revelation viii. 10, see also ix. 1; Isaiah xiv. 12-15. + +[145] In regard to Elijah, see Malachi iv. 5-6. John the Baptist came in +the spirit and power of Elijah, and of him our Lord said, "this is he +who was to come." + +Yet the events of judgment spoken of in Malachi did not take place when +John the Baptist and Jesus came. The events spoken of prophetically in +connection with His coming are divided into two groups, those of +graciousness, finding fulfilment at the first coming, those of judgment +followed by graciousness, at the second coming. So John the Baptist +fulfils the Elijah part at the first of these two; in all probability +Elijah himself at the second part, _i.e._, "before the great and +_terrible_ day of Jehovah come." + +In regard to Enoch, the passage in Jude, verse 14, is of significance. +The language, "Enoch prophesied, ... the Lord _came_, etc.," is probably +spoken in the sense, familiar in the Bible, of a future action seen as +already done. Here Enoch is spoken of as prophesying or preaching, _not_ +to the people before the Flood, but to a certain class of men belonging +to Jude's generation, that is to the Church generation. The likeliest +meaning of the words is that Enoch, the seventh and so on, _will_ +prophesy, saying, "behold the Lord _cometh_," and so on to close of +verse 15. + +[146] Revelation xii. 1-6. + +[147] Revelation xii. 7-17. + +[148] Revelation xii. + +[149] Revelation xiii. + +[150] Chapter xiii. 9-10. + +[151] Revelation xiv. 1-5. + +[152] Revelation xiv. 6-20. + +[153] Revelation xv.-xvi. + +[154] Revelation xiv. 1-5. + +[155] Revelation xi. 19. + +[156] Psalm xi. 6; lx. 3; lxxv. 8; Job xxi. 20; Isaiah li. 17, 22, 23; +Jeremiah xxv. 15-17; Ezekiel xxiii. 31-33; Habakkuk ii. 16; Zechariah +xii. 2. + +[157] Isaiah xi. 15-16. + +[158] Revelation vi. 15-17. + +[159] Revelation xi. 14. + +[160] Chapters xvii. and xviii. + +[161] Revelation xvii. 8-12. + +[162] Revelation i. 4, 8; iv. 8. + +[163] Revelation xi. 17; xvi. 5. + +[164] Ezekiel xxxix. 17-20. + +[165] Jeremiah i. 11-12. + + + + +VII.--THE CROWNED CHRIST REIGNING + +(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. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[166] Habakkuk ii. 3. + +[167] Acts ii. 44-47; iv. 32-34. + +[168] Mark iv. 26-29. Matthew xiii. 31-32. + +[169] Matthew xiii. 33. + +[170] Matthew xiii. 3-9, 18-23. + +[171] Matthew xiii. 24-30. + +[172] Matthew xiii. 47-50. + +[173] Matthew xiii. 44. + +[174] Matthew xiii. 45-46. + +[175] Matthew xxi. 31. + +[176] Matthew xx. 1-16. + +[177] Luke xix. 11-27. + +[178] Matthew xx. 25-28. + +[179] Psalm xviii. 44; lxvi. 3; lxxxi. 15; note marginal readings. + +[180] Matthew xiii. 47-50. + +[181] Matthew xiii. 24-30, 36-43. + +[182] Revelation xx. 15. + +[183] Daniel xii. 4, 9. + +[184] Revelation i. 8. + + + + +VIII.--WATCHING THE HORIZON + + + "Thy Kingdom Come." + + "Thou art coming! We are waiting + With a hope that cannot fail; + Asking not the day or hour, + Resting on Thy word of power, + Anchored safe within the veil. + Time appointed may be long, + But the vision must be sure: + Certainty shall make us strong, + Joyful patience must endure. + + "O the joy to see Thee reigning, + Thee, my own beloved Lord! + Every tongue Thy name confessing, + Worship, honour, glory, blessing, + Brought to Thee with glad accord! + Thee, my Master and my Friend, + Vindicated and enthroned! + Unto earth's remotest end + Glorified, adored, and owned." + + --FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. + + +The Thrill of Expectancy. + +Watching reveals character and makes it. It means wakefulness, an ideal, +a purpose, and a hopeful expectancy. Some people only look. Their +eyelids are not shut. Something passes before the eye. They look, but +they rarely see. + +It takes a soul to see. It needs a spirit awake to see out through the +eye, and see into persons and events passing by, and see forward to what +is coming to-morrow. Some sleep. The body is awake in daytime. They walk +and talk and eat, buy and sell, count money and hoard it. But their eyes +are never lifted to the outer horizon. They are settled in an even, +contented round. Their spirits sleep. + +A wakefulness of spirit to the time and its need, an ideal clear and +high of what should be, a purpose strong and masterful that holds the +life up toward the ideal, an expectancy eager, brave, steady; an eye +fixed intently on some One unseen,--this is what watching means. It +reveals character. It makes character. It reaches out strong spirit +hands, and brings nearer and sooner the thing watched for. + +Watching has always been a characteristic of the men God has used. He +used them because He could. They were of use. Their spirit made them +serviceable. Their watching opened the way for fellowship of spirit and +partnership in action. It put them in tune with Him who never slumbers +nor sleeps, and who watches over His pledged word, to bring it to pass +at the earliest possible hour. + +The watcher sings. His favourite song is "I will lift up mine eyes." He +sees what is coming. He sees _Him_ who sits beyond the horizon of our +common outlook. And seeing Him grows this sort of expectancy, and the +expectancy becomes the controlling thing. + +It was this sort of expectancy that made Abraham a pilgrim at +seventy-five, and that grew deep the pilgrim trait of patient endurance +through the weary twilight years till the promised heir came, and even +beyond that, wove the finest texture into his character when the +severest test came. + +It was this expectancy that drew Moses away from the court life of +Egypt, and the possible prospect of wearing imperial purple, to become +the leader of a straggling crowd of slaves. And it held him steady on +through long years, wilderness travel, criticism, and non-appreciation, +on and on, till Nebo's top was climbed. He endured as seeing Him who was +invisible to the unseeing eyes of the crowds at His side. + +Such expectancy has steadied every leader for God, in these old pages +from first to last, young Joseph in the dungeon, Joshua in the glare of +the limelight, into which he was suddenly thrust, and ruddy-faced +singing David fleeing and hiding for his life from the javelin of Saul. +It was the clear-seeing eye of Isaiah and Jeremiah in the homeland, and +of Ezekiel and Daniel among the weeping exiles, that kept the heart of +the nation warm with the vision of what was surely coming. The thrill of +expectancy runs through the pages of this old Hebrew classic. Its light +is never out of the eye, nor its alluring out of earshot. + +When Jesus walked among men expectation ran high. When He was killed the +gloom of the three days was the gloom of a bright light suddenly put +out. The darkness was intensified by the light that had been shining. +Then there came a new sort of expectancy, higher, finer, of the inner +spirit. This Jesus was coming back, in all the glory of the old +prophetic vision, made realer by the personal touch these men knew, and +this new expectancy puts all the paper of the New Testament a-tremble +with delight. It is the light that lighteth every page and epistle, +every contested path of witness, and every hour of suffering because of +faith. + +The Church of these New Testament pages is _a watching Church_. The +expectancy of the Lord Jesus' return is the north star of their sky. It +never swerves. All the rest revolves around it. They see everything else +in relation to this. Their going into all the world and preaching to +every creature was not simply for men's conversion: that surely: but +beyond that, it was to bring the Christ back for the next step in His +world programme. He would come and set up His kingdom, and then through +the kingdom would come a yet wider, farther-reaching world +evangelizing.[185] This expectancy controlled their life and activity. +Through their faithful world witnessing He would come. + +And as the knot is put on the end of the thread of revelation the very +knotted thread seems aglow with the glory of what is coming. The Bible +from end to end is a-thrill with expectancy, a hopeful watching for +something, aye, _for some One_. + + +A Calendar of Events. + +We have been looking a bit closely at this knot in the end, the threads +composing it. Now we want to gather up all that we have been going over +with the light that comes from the other pages, so as to have some sort +of a simple, clear grasp of the truth. This will help our eyesight. We +can watch the horizon better. Our eyes will be steadier in the glare of +the lower lights, and sharper to see in the spells of darkness that get +thicker now and then. + +It is interesting to notice that this book of the Revelation is a +calendar book. That is to say, it is not a calendar of dates but of +events. It gives coming events in the order in which they will occur. +Its table of contents becomes an outline of coming events. There is the +Man of Fire standing among the candlesticks. Then comes an hour when He +advances to the next step in His programme. Then, step by step, there +follow the occurrences until the kingdom is actually here. And then the +after events, when the kingdom's work is done. + +It turns out that this thing of our Lord's return cuts a wider swath +than we are apt to think, if we don't stop to think. That is because of +_Who it is_ that is coming. An event takes on the size of the chief +person concerned. This Lord Jesus is the One through whom our world was +made in the early time, when there were no calendars. So His coming +naturally concerns the whole world. It concerns the system of evil in +which the world is entangled, and the evil spirit world so closely +interlocked with our own. + +Then our Lord Jesus came amongst us as a man. He came as a Jewish man, +and to the Jewish nation. So His coming concerns the Jew and the Jewish +capital, Jerusalem. When He sent down His executive, the Holy Spirit, a +new organization was formed, the Church. So His coming concerns the +Church, and concerns it very intimately, for it is spoken of as a body +of which He is the head. When Jesus came it was to die for a world and +to redeem a world. And so His coming concerns the future plans of the +earth and the race. + +Yet though His coming has such a broad sweep, it is quite possible to +get a grasp of the few essential items in the programme. And this will +make our footing steadier, our vision clearer, our praying more +confident, and our soul-winning and witnessing warmer and truer. We turn +now to try to get this simple, helpful understanding. + +The present is the time of the candlesticks. The Man of Fire is in our +midst unperceived. The unseen Eyes of Flame see. Our Lord Jesus still +waits, and depends on the faithfulness of His Church. The light is still +shining out. The dark places are getting some light. The light has not +yet wholly failed to get out through the human lantern to the crowd in +the dark. + +The characteristics of this waiting time, so long prolonged, are plainly +put. In the outer world there will be an increasing lawlessness and +disregard of every sort of restraint, and an increasing power of +organization and centralization. There will be an increasing getting +together for more effective action. + +In the Church world there will be an increasing formalism, a compromise +with evil and with the world spirit. There will be a decrease of warm +personal devotion to the Lord Jesus as the controlling motive power. And +there will be a growing inclination to make light of, or ignore, or jeer +at, the idea of the Lord Jesus' return. + +As this period wears on toward its close, and so on toward the events to +follow, there will be a coming together of the Jews scattered throughout +the world in an attempt to regain Palestine and reconstitute the Hebrew +nation there with its temple and old sacrificial ritual. These are the +three chief tendencies that will characterize the present waiting time +preceding the group of coming events. + +The decisive index-finger, that this present period is actually coming +to its close, will be this movement among the Jews. The movement to +regain control of Palestine may rise and fall back, gain and lose again. +But some day it will come to its head. By some arrangement with the +nations concerned the Jewish nation will actually be set up again in +Palestine, and the building of the temple in Jerusalem begun. This will +be the decisive indication. This is an unfailing index-finger. The hands +of the clock are moving then toward the striking of the hour. Soon the +sands will be run out and the hour-glass turned. + + +The Beginning of the End. + +At some time soon after that point is reached _two unseen events will +occur_, that is, unseen on earth. Roughly, it will be three and a half +years after, though the whole tendency of the Scripture is to discourage +the figuring of _exact_ time. Yet information is given that the outlook +may be intelligent. These events are unseen on the earth. They take +place in heaven. + +The Holy Spirit will be withdrawn from the Church. He will not be +withdrawn from individuals. He abode in men before the Church was +formed, and will after the Church has cast Him out. He is withdrawn only +because He has been practically and wholly cast out. + +The Lord Jesus, who sent Him down to form the Church and witness through +it, will withdraw Him from the Church. The candlestick has moved out of +all touch with the light. And now the light is withdrawn, and so the +candlestick moved out of its place as the light-bearer. This is probably +the advance step taken by our Lord Jesus that marks the beginning of the +end. + +At the same time there occurs a conflict of spirit forces up in the +heavens. While the earth seems to be Satan's chief place of activity, +yet his headquarters are up in the heavens, that is, somewhere below the +throne of God and above the earth. This conflict is against him and his +spirit forces. It is led by Michael, the archangel. It results in Satan +and his host being cast out of the heavens and down to the earth. + +It is significant that as the Holy Spirit goes up, this conflict +follows, and Satan is cast out and down. Is it the Holy Spirit's return +there that precipitates this conflict, and defeat for Satan? It would +seem not improbable. So the moral situation on the earth is intensified +doubly. The blessed Holy Spirit, with all His power of restraint over +evil, is withdrawn. The evil spirit, with all his power of intensifying +evil, is cast down in person to the earth. These are the two unseen +events marking the advance move of the end time. + +There will be nothing on earth _at the moment_ to indicate that these +tremendous events have happened. There is no suggestion of how much time +is involved. Time is a matter of earth's calculation. Quite possibly +_we_ would speak of these events as occurring in a very brief time, +perhaps an instant of our reckoning. These are the two events unseen on +the earth. + +At the same time there will begin _two events seen taking place on +earth_. The first is the coming to the front of a man, a terrible leader +of the forces of unrighteousness. Paul speaks of him as "the Lawless +One." John's name for him is "the Antichrist." He becomes the human +representative or incarnation of Satan. As Satan is cast down out of the +heavens this leader comes to the front on earth. + +He seems to have official position at the head of some great coalition +of nations, with a wide area of authority. He seems to be some former +notable leader known in history, who died, but is now brought back to +life again by Satan's supernatural power. + +As he forges to the front there follows on earth a horrible time of war, +famine, pestilence, death, and persecution. He arbitrarily breaks the +agreement with the Jews under which they have re-established their +nation, and begins a terrible persecution of them. He sets up in the +temple a blasphemous image, and requires that all people shall worship +it. This strikes not only at the Jew, but at the Christian as well. + +At one stroke of genius he compels absolutely universal attention to his +command by forbidding the doing of any business except by those willing +to worship the image. Those refusing the worship are killed. He will +have an assistant doing wonderful miracles by Satanic power to deceive +and persuade the people. During this time there is a loosing out on the +earth of countless hordes of unseen demons to torment men. + +All this continues for three and a half years. The time is stated in +three different ways to make quite clear just how long is meant. This is +the first of the two seen events. It centres at Jerusalem and seems to +reach out practically to all the earth. + +The second event is significant. During all this terrible time of +persecution and blasphemy and the riot of evil, there will be two men in +Jerusalem preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, and calling on men to +repent. As an emphasis of their witness against the awful wickedness +current they will be clothed in mourning. They will have miraculous +power to attest their witness, and to protect themselves against attacks +upon their lives. The great crowds of many nationalities in Jerusalem +will make their witness practically world-wide in its direct as well as +its indirect influence. + +This also continues for three and a half years. As the Holy Spirit is +withdrawn from the Church as the witness of the Lord Jesus, these two +special witnesses appear. In His great faithfulness and patience God +never leaves Himself without a witness. This is the second event seen on +earth. These two, evil at its worst, and God's special witnesses, run +along side by side, both centring in Jerusalem. + + +The Climax--He Comes. + +Then there comes _a group of four events_. And these four are very +closely associated together in point of time. They occur at the close of +the period of persecution and wickedness. Indeed, it is their occurrence +that brings the close. Yet the exact time when they happen is left quite +uncertain. + +And this clearly is another bit of the tendency in the record to keep +our thought on the main events, and not on figuring out time. We are to +keep to the essentials and be wary of mere speculation. For the sake of +clearness I am putting these four events separately, but this does not +mean that some of them may not be occurring at the same moment, or that +all may not come within a very brief time. We simply do not know. It +looks as though we are not meant to know. + +There is _a Jew event_. The Holy Spirit comes down upon the nation of +Jews in simple, tremendous, converting power. This is put in connection +with the coming down out of the heavens on a cloud of the Lord Jesus. It +seems to be this sight of their great Kinsman, Jesus, whom they +crucified, that is used by the Holy Spirit to strike penitence to their +stubborn hearts. Literally a nation is born again in a day. It will be +with the whole nation as it was with Saul on the Damascus road, as +sudden and unexpected, as startling and as radical; as sudden and +unexpected an appearance of Jesus, as startling to the Jews, as radical +in the absolute spirit transformation. + +There is _a Church event_. And here the word Church is used to describe +all believers in the Lord Jesus. That will be a much sifted and +chastened company of people. This event is also connected with the open, +visible coming of the Lord Jesus, out of the upper blue, before all +eyes. It affects two separate companies of believers. The bodies of all +believers who have died will be raised out of their graves, inhabited +again by those who lived in them. Then the living believers shall have a +transforming touch upon their bodies. And the two companies shall be +caught up into the air into the presence of the Lord Jesus. + +As they come into His presence there will be a purifying and perfecting +of character, and an adjustment of relations with Him. There is no +suggestion of how much time is involved. We naturally think of things as +taking place through so much time. Our limitations in this regard will +be gone then. It may be what we now call instantaneous. + +There is _a world event_. There will come to the earth and to men a +visitation of terrible judgments, affecting men's bodies, the sea and +rivers, vegetation, an intensifying of the sun's heat, and possibly a +terrible darkness--in short, affecting everything concerning man and +life on the earth. There will be a great gathering of the armies of the +nations at a place in Palestine. Again there is no suggestion of how +much time this visitation of judgments runs through, nor this gathering +for battle. + +Then there is _the_ event, _the great climax event_, the actual coming +of the Lord Jesus, out of the heavens, down to the earth. At the moment +when He comes the Jews will be in the midst of a terrible siege in +Jerusalem. Against the city will be assembled the armies of the nations. +The city will be taken, the looting and ravaging already begun. + +Then suddenly, out of the blue above, the Lord Jesus comes in a great +blaze of blinding light, accompanied by great numbers. He will come to +Olivet. With the coming will be a terrible earthquake, such as the earth +has never known. + +It is a striking geological fact that the greatest "fault," or break in +the earth's surface, is found in Palestine, running north and south from +Antioch on the Orontes down even into Africa. But this earthquake will +affect very wide areas, including the city of Babylon, which will be +shaken to utter destruction. That earthquake will make radical changes +in the formation of the earth's surface in Palestine. + +At the same time there will be an equally terrific shake-up in the +heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars. The effect of both these upon +the vast panic-stricken multitudes will be most pitiable. They will call +upon the upheaved rocks to hide them from the wrath of God. + +These are the four events occurring at this time. They are grouped +together. It seems impossible to say first this, then that. They are +grouped. The great essential thing standing out is that our Lord Jesus' +coming will be at a terrible climax of evil. There will be partial +judgment visited on the earth. The system of evil will be wholly +overthrown. The Jews will be converted as a nation by the Holy Spirit. +The Church will be caught away out of the distress, and will have part +with our Lord Jesus in His coming. + +It should again be noticed that in all this there are no time notes, +except as to the length of this tribulation time. The persecution of the +Jew and desecration of Jerusalem, the time of the two witnesses, and the +sway of the Antichrist, each runs through three and a half years. There +are no time notes whatever for the present waiting-time. And though the +length of the tribulation itself is stated, yet it should be noted that +the exact time of the Lord Jesus' actual return still remains quite +undetermined. + +In Daniel's prophecy there are four events spoken of as occurring at +this time, and each is measured from the time when the sacrifices are +stopped and the chief desecrating act in the temple begins. The +tribulation runs for three and a half years. Thirty days later comes +some glad event not specified further. Seventy-five days later there +comes another glad event, and two years ten months and twenty days later +the complete cleansing of the temple. Each of these portions of time is +measured from the same starting point. This would suggest a period of +readjustment after the Antichrist is slain, running through almost three +years. All these time notes are of a year of three hundred and sixty +days, not our common calendar year of three hundred and sixty-five and a +fraction days. + +There comes the period called the kingdom. Its capital is Jerusalem. The +regenerated nation of Israel becomes the first nation of the earth, with +all other nations tributary. Israel's leadership is a blessed one in its +spiritual influence over all others. The Jews are a missionary nation, +whose one passion is to make the knowledge of God known throughout the +earth. + +The redeemed ones of all the earth through all times will reign _over_ +the earth in fellowship with the King, the Lord Jesus. In their +resurrection bodies, with all present bodily restrictions and +limitations gone, they will have a blessed share in the new earth +ministry. + +The purpose of the kingdom is world-wide evangelization, but with all +the conditions radically changed. Satan, with all evil spirits, is +removed from the scene of action. The nation of Jews, baptized by the +Holy Spirit, is the missionary force, under the direction and help of +the Church. The Holy Spirit will have been poured out upon all flesh, +making all peculiarly open to the truth. + +What a wonderful time of continual revival it will be! But that much +abused word "revival" will have its sweet, original meaning restored. It +will mean a re-living, a new life of the Spirit coming, that will +naturally include the body, too. + + +Intelligent Watching. + +Such are the events, near and far, which some day will come up over the +horizon of our common life, ushering in a new day. And we are bidden by +our Lord Jesus to _watch_. We watch for Him, and for anything that tells +us His coming is nearing. + +Watching means wakefulness, an ideal, a purpose, an expectancy, and a +daily life under the control of wakefulness, ideal, purpose, and +expectancy. That our Lord Jesus will actually come to this old earth and +reign, this is the ideal. That we shall, by grace, be true to Him in +everything, day by day, during this waiting-time, this is the purpose. +That _we_ shall indeed see Him come, and be caught up into His presence +without death, this is the expectancy. + +That this shall all be a real thing to us, _controlling_ all our +relationships, our gold, and our life, and that we shall reverently, +thoughtfully seek to understand what He has told us about it, this is +the wakefulness. This is what watching means. Our bodies may be asleep, +our brains and hands absorbed in the day's task, but our hearts can be +awake for the sound ahead of the coming of His feet. + +"But how can you watch for Him if there are intervening events?" So the +question came to me this summer by a thoughtful, godly minister who +looks for His coming. And I said: "Because His coming is one of a little +group of events which cluster about His coming." + +The crowd stands watching at the railway station in England to see the +king's train come in. Yet they know that before it comes the +pilot-engine will come, running ahead about so many minutes to insure +the safety of the way. The coming of the pilot-engine heightens the +intensity of watching, for now soon the king will come. + +The watcher in the sick-chamber, weary with the long night's anxious +vigil, goes to the east window to see if day is coming. There comes a +bare lighting-up in the east, just a slight lessening of the darkness +that is everywhere. But even this much brings a sigh of relief. The sun +itself may not be seen for two hours or more. But you know without +looking at the clock that the sun is coming and is near. Its presence +near sends the light far ahead. + +When the trees begin to send out swelling bud and tender green leaf and +catkin, we know summer is coming, even though the chill is in the air, +and the night may even now bring a touch of the white of frost. "Even so +ye also _when ye see these things_ know that _He_ is nigh, even at the +doors."[186] + +There's something intensely practical about this thing of watching. I +mean the intelligent watching that a thoughtful study of God's Word +promotes. There is a striking sentence used in describing some of the +men that rallied to David during the clearing-up storm that preceded his +reign. It is said of certain of the tribe of Issachar that they "_had +understanding of the times_ to know what Israel ought to do" in the +matter of making David the accepted king over the realm.[187] Their +thoughtful study and judgment of the time made them wise leaders of +action. + +There is a similar significant word spoken to Daniel in the final vision +in which these end events are being disclosed. And we recall that the +speaker is He for whose coming we look. He says, "They that are _wise_ +shall _understand_."[188] Daniel had prayerfully set himself to +understand God's will for his people.[189] When the wonderful vision was +given him in answer to his patient study and continued prayer, the Man +of Fire who came to him said, "Now I am come to make thee _understand_." + +It is wise, by thoughtful, prayerful study of God's Word, to try to +understand what He has told us. Not to do so is not wise. And more, it +will become increasingly needful that others be taught as these events +draw on. Daniel is told in this same connection that "They that are wise +shall instruct many."[190] + +The opening words of the Revelation, and especially the closing +paragraphs, emphasize this same thing. The revelation is given that we +may read and understand and hold our lives true to this vision. This +thing is intensely practical. Indeed, it is _the_ practical thing for +our day. We _can_ understand the simple essentials revealed here. Our +Lord Jesus earnestly desires us to do so. Surely we will, for His sake. + + +A Spirit Sensitiveness. + +The thoughtful watching that grows out of an understanding of our Lord's +plans influences subtly and mightily one's whole life. It deepens +wondering reverence for the Lord Jesus Himself, His present power and +personal glory sitting up yonder in the indescribable glory of the +Father's presence, and His patience and strength in this waiting-time. +It draws out a depth and tenderness of personal love for Himself and of +devotion to Him. + +There comes to be a keenly acute conscience about evil, and about +compromise with evil; and yet with it a sanity of judgment on particular +questions arising, and a gentle consideration for others who see +otherwise, or think they do. Evil grows in subtlety and in +aggressiveness in our day, and probably will yet more. It seeks +especially to make inroads among God's professing people. Yet evil is +evil. Its true inwardness is quickly revealed by adding a "d" at the +beginning of the word. And it grows increasingly repugnant in whatever +guise, as we come to study more its inner spirit as revealed in these +disclosures of the end times. + +Then, too, this watching affects one's judgment of, and attitude toward, +Christian service, and toward movements in the Christian world. The +getting-together spirit is getting more and more into Church circles. +The fervent heart repeats constantly our Lord's prayer, "that they may +all be one." Yet it becomes clear that there may be movements toward +union that are not of the Holy Spirit's initiation, and that cannot have +his approval. + +It is not enough to do good. That may prove to be a low level of action. +_The_ thing is to find out what God has planned, and fit into that, with +all the warmth of one's being. His will is always good, and better, and +best. The good thing may not be the thing He has planned and wants done. + +It becomes increasingly clear that our Lord Jesus is a great general. He +has the whole campaign of action mapped out, and every detail of it +thought into and thought out. As one comes to learn more of His plans, +and Himself as a planner, there comes to be _a passion for doing His +will_. One moves from the old position of working for God up to the +position of so fitting in that _God works through us_. + +And there comes to be a consciousness that He is doing immensely more +through the things we do than we are conscious of. So in all Church +activity there comes to be a reaching out in spirit to discern what _He_ +wants done, and putting all the strength into that. + +Then, too, one's thought of foreign missionary service undergoes a +change. The actual taking of the message of Christ to those who haven't +heard comes to have first place. Educational work and medical and +humanitarian, and the like, in missionary service, are seen to be wisely +used when held strictly in place as a means to a direct end. And their +value is judged wholly by their being a means of bringing those whom +they touch face to face with the Christ that died. + +It seems to be possible to spend fifty years and more establishing +mission work in the city centres of a foreign-mission country, and all +good, blessed work; and yet have the great mass of that country's +population in utter ignorance of the Gospel message and its power. + +As the Holy Spirit is allowed control increasingly, there comes to be a +better understanding of God's purposes and of His plans, an earnest +coöperation in the Church movement for making Christ known to all men +everywhere, a faithfulness in all the circle of one's own home Church, +and a warm personal winning of men to know the Lord Jesus as their +Saviour. + +So it is seen that watching for our Lord's return affects one's whole +life in an intensely practical way. It deepens faith in _Him_. It leads +to an _intelligent detachment_ in social and commercial and even Church +circles, while making an increase of thoughtful regard for others. It +purifies the personal life. It chastens and deepens and gentles the +personal character. + +It seems very striking and very strange that when Jesus was born there +are just two persons named, outside the immediate circle, who seemed to +have the spirit instinct that recognized who He was. There was a man +living in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. Who was he? rich? poor? +cultured? of lowly station? No one knows. But whoever he was, he had +cultivated close walk with God. That's clear. And into his inner spirit +came the conviction that the Christ promised for ages, so long waited +for, the Christ was now coming, and _he would see Him_. + +And a similar story is told of the woman called Anna. These two were in +that simple touch of heart with God that could in spirit sense the +coming of the Christ. There may have been others. We are not told. But +the emphasis remains on the fact that few seemed to discern the working +out of God's tremendous plan. + +Will it be so again? It would surely seem that intelligent watching +would make one sensitive in spirit to coming events. Yet there would +ever be a mingling of deepest reverence, and a thoughtful caution +regarding mere speculation, while the fervent prayer that Jesus taught +is daily repeated, "Thy kingdom come." + +And John's closing Revelation prayer constantly breathes out, "Even so, +come, Lord Jesus." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[185] Acts iii. 20-21; xv. 14-18. + +[186] Matthew xxiv. 33. + +[187] 1 Chronicles xii. 32. + +[188] Daniel xii. 10. + +[189] Daniel viii. 15-17; ix. 1-2; x. 1-3, 11-14. + +[190] Daniel xi. 33. + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of +Revelation, by S. D. 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