Psalms. 87:7.
THERE can be no real happiness for man apart from God or outside His presence.
The last and grandest of the divine creation, the fruit of special counsel of the Godhead (Gen. 1:2626And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26)), was endowed with a spiritual nature capable of knowing and enjoying God, receiving this capacity by the inbreathing of the Lord God (Gen. 2:77And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)). This enjoyment was broken and lost at the Fall, though the blessed God carne down to commune, as at other times, with the man. If there was a difference, it was not first shown by God, but Adam having gained his conscience was afraid. Then the door of access and communion, which Adam felt his unfitness to enter because of his sin, was closed judicially, our first parents being thrust out of that garden of delights, the Cherubim with flaming sword guarding every avenue of access to the tree of life (Gen. 3).
In these circumstances the human family commenced its extension. Children are born outside Paradise, with the weight of the curse upon them, containing within them an evil and fallen nature, which their parents had alone the capacity to transmit (Gen. 5:33And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: (Genesis 5:3)). In such a condition a holy God could only sanction an approach to Him on the ground of a sacrifice, which spoke of a life forfeited. This Abel learns and practices, while Cain refuses it, and is rejected, deliberately turning his back on God’s “presence” in grace (Gen. 4:1616And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)), as Adam had lost that presence in communion while innocent.
Is, however, God’s purpose in creation to be frustrated, and Satan’s success to be not merely temporary but eternal? Shall both creation and the creature remain, forever beneath the power of the enemy, and evil triumph everlastingly over good? It might almost seem to be the case, judging from man’s humiliating history, for he defiles every privilege committed to him, and forfeits every blessing presented for his enjoyment on the condition of obedience. Gleams of hope appear, indeed, among these dark and desolate ruins, showing that, amidst all the failure and sin, God had not changed His mind or intention. Enoch and Noah walk with God, finding grace before Him; Abraham receives wondrous secrets of the divine bosom, passing off the scene as “the friend of God” (Isa. 41:88But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. (Isaiah 41:8)); while to Moses the eternal God spoke “mouth to mouth” (Num. 12:88With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? (Numbers 12:8); Ex. 33:9-119And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 10And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. 11And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:9‑11)), and he had the distinction of first being able to commit God’s mind to writing, concerning creation, and the line of faith up to Israel’s separation, redemption, and the threshold of the promised land. With the priesthood this intimacy is carried on, and upon its failure the prophet becomes prominent, as the one to whom Jehovah confided His thoughts; and divine communion was granted (though with increasing reserve) to kings and herdsmen, priests and prophets, warriors and preachers; but from the message of Malachi the voice of God is silent for four centuries, Then there appears on the scene in the fullness of time the Son of God, in whose Person God spoke (Heb. 1:22Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2)). The lips that pronounced the message, the heart that felt the need, were those of a real Man, but the words were the words of God. Yet man refused to hear the voice of the charmer, charming never so wisely (Psa. 58:55Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. (Psalm 58:5)). They hated Him without a cause (John 15:2525But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. (John 15:25)), and cast out and crucified the Prince of Life. But although the hatred of their hearts desired nothing more than to be rid of the blessed Saviour, God had plans and counsels which rested for accomplishment upon this very death. This is very beautifully shown in Hebrews 9, where we find how completely the death of Christ has retrieved and reversed the results of the Fall. The nail of the temple, which had told the solemn lesson that God was not free to come out and delight in a sinner, nor could that sinner dare to intrude upon the holiness of God’s presence—this vail was rent, by God’s hand, from the top to the bottom. And the precious blood of Christ enables those with a purged conscience to enter that inner sanctuary, and worship the living God, having the sense of a perfect fitness to be there (Heb. 9:6-146Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 7But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: 8The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:6‑14)). Then the exhortation is in chapters 10, “Let us draw near,” as those who have “boldness,” a holy confidence “to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,” by a new and living way through the vail (now rent and no longer debarring entry), and in the sense of “having a High Priest,” the same Jesus risen and glorified, who maintains our cause and sustains our weakness even in such holy service (vss. 19-22). We enter in the sense that we have been made “it to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,” and have been “forgiven all trespasses” (Col. 1:12, 2:13); but if we are to render praises and worship “acceptable unto God” it must be by “Jesus Christ,” that holy Victim, who has become the great High Priest on our behalf. Should communion be interrupted by anything contrary to this holy calling of God on high, and the believer sin, he may then know that service of Advocate, by which our blessed Saviour still sustains our cause (and righteously on the ground of His work), in no wise sanctioning the evil, or making light of it, but as the One to whom God responds on our behalf as a matter of righteousness. The believer then confesses the sin and is restored John 1:9, 2:1).
Such are the pains that God has taken that we might without fear take advantage of the wondrous work of Christ, which has been wrought for God’s glory and our salvation; such is the desire, too, of that same blessed God, that there should be no hindrance to His creature’s communion with Himself, which was the end and object of our race being set up. Of course, although this intimacy may be really enjoyed now by us, as those to whom the Son of God has declared all those blessed things He had heard from His Father (John 15:1515Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:15)), yet for the full fruition of these wondrous plans and the unhindered enjoyment by the creature, with the full degree of divine satisfaction, we must look to the eternal day, the “new heavens, and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:1313Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13); Rev. 21:11And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1)). This is a perfect scene. All taint of sin will then have been removed, and all things wondrously renewed (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29); Rev. 21:55And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. (Revelation 21:5)). God’s tabernacle will then be among men, and He will dwell among them, and be their God.
It were idle to attempt to describe, or even to imagine, the ineffable complacency with which our God will survey that glorious scene, in the sense that the whole array of blessing and glory is the fruit of the travail of the soul of His own beloved Son. With what freedom, how unrestrainedly, will “the fountain of the water of life,” the very source and spring of blessedness, be afforded by our God, and enjoyed by our souls. And in such a scene will God rest, a holy eternal calm of blessing and joy unspeakable. In the spirit of it we shall say then with adoring hearts, “All our springs are in Thee.”
The scripture at the head of this paper shows us, however, that under God’s good hand faith can antedate that day. In a scene which has not the same stamp of perfection upon it, the earthly “ransomed of the Lord having returned to Zion with everlasting joy upon their heads” (Isa. 35:1010And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)), that city shall be the joy of the whole earth, for the Most High shall stablish her (Psa. 48:2, 36:5). In this latter Psalm the godly anticipates and places in the mouths of the sons of Korah a song of the “clays of heaven upon earth” (Deut. 11:2121That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:21)). What grace that such a song should be provided for such lips (cf. Num. 16). The fair proportions of that city God had chosen “to place His name there,” come vividly before his spirit, and he dwells with joy upon God’s choice, and the things of glory spoken of her. Egypt and Babylon are summoned to view the sight, oppressors as they had been of the people; and Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia are acquainted that a mysterious and glorious Man was born there. And of Zion herself, among all the births recorded within her precincts, none can compare with that which Jehovah counts when He en-registers the peoples.
The Psalmist has surveyed the city and its joy, and has arrived at the source of all its blessing and grandeur, in the Man that was born there; and when “everything that hath breath shall praise Jehovah,” “in singing and dancing” (so it should read) “they shall say, All my springs are in Thee.”
May it be ours to antedate that glorious day heavenly as will be our portion, and as those to whom a deeper intimacy is afforded. F. L.