In Revelation, chapter 4, John was carried up in spirit and saw the throne set and the majesty and glory of One Who sat thereon. Around the throne were four and twenty thrones, and upon these thrones four and twenty elders, representing the redeemed company of heavenly saints. You and I are represented there. It is a future scene-the time when the One now crowned with glory and honor is leaving His seat at the right hand of God the Father, to take a new place-another pathway of service-to vindicate the majesty of God on earth. Round the throne are four and twenty elders, wearing crowns of gold. Again I say, we are represented there, and the crowns are common to all who know and own the Savior.
I desire to point out a few crowns that are special-that are to be awarded to those whose hearts are occupied with Him to-day.
The first one is in 2 Timothy, chapter 4. This is the last letter of the apostle Paul. The end of his pathway on earth was nigh. He writes " I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand." The seventh verse literally reads thus, " I have fought the fight, the good one; I have kept the faith." Now he can say " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing."
We learn from other scriptures of his pathway of toil and suffering. On every side he met with the opposition of evil. " Kept the faith " for Paul meant that he had stood for the rights of Christ, in a world that had dishonored and crucified Him. It is here a question of righteousness. The world had refused the Son, Whom the Father had sent into the world, and still refuses Him. God has shown His appreciation of Christ, and in righteousness has taken Him Whom man refused, and put Him in highest glory. Paul had stood for righteousness. Righteousness demands a place for Christ to-day. It is refused by man, but Paul stood for the rights of Christ, while he preached the gospel of the grace of God to sinners. He owned Jesus as Lord.
To-day in this world is the contest between God's righteousness and man's evil. Just in the measure that we stand for the rights of Christ we will come in direct conflict with the world. Paul was sustained through all, knowing the love of the One for Whom he stood, and could say, " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." He knows that just as God has raised Christ, and exalted Him in glory, so for those who stand for His rights here, there will be a great reward-a crown of righteousness. He says, " Not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing."
The question has been raised, who are those that love His appearing? Surely there cannot be a child of God who does not love His appearing, deep down in their souls. The appearing of Christ is not the same as His coming for His saints. The coming for His own first is secret to the world, but is our hope. This is not the same as His appearing or manifestation. The Lord Jesus will be manifested in glory, as we read in Colossians, chapter 3, " When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." He will be manifested as Lord of lords and King of kings, in His glory, and we will be with Him then. As we think of the world that cast Him out, the sorrow and death that abounds, we cannot but look on with joy to the moment when He will come: when His rights will be established, and He will bring blessing to His oppressed creatures. There is a crown of righteousness for all who love His appearing. Paul's crown will not be yours or mine. Each will have his own crown. He is coming to judge the world in righteousness. Righteousness will reign then; and a crown of righteousness will be given to His heavenly saints, who, in the day of His rejection, have stood for His rights in the face of a godless, Christ-rejecting world.
Another crown is brought before us in the epistle of James chapter r, verse 12. " Blessed (happy) is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." In 2 Timothy the crown is to those who " love His appearing." The crown of life is to those who " love Him." This is a more personal thought. " Blessed is the man that endureth temptation." Naturally we do not think in that way, but when we get to God's side of things, then we understand. He is working out our truest blessing through every trial.
Our wilderness life can only be in power as we feed upon the One Who is our life. In John, chapter 6, we read " As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by (on account of) the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by (on account of) Me." So just as we feed on Him, the Bread of Life, will we live on account of Him. The trials of the way will be endured when He is the Object before our hearts.
Endurance, or patience, we find given as one of the first Christian virtues. In 2 Thess., chapter 3, verse 5, the apostle prays for the Thessalonian saints that the Lord would direct their hearts into the love of God and the patient waiting (endurance) of Christ. When we are at home with the Lord, all that once tried and tested us will be gone forever; but now, we are called to endure. The encouragement is given, " When he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." We love, because He first loved us. So the spring of all the activities of the new nature is in Himself-in His love. In the second chapter of Revelation He says to the suffering church at Smyrna, Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried.... Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
Another crown is presented to us in I Peter, chapter 5, verses 1-5. The term " elders " in the first verse does not here mean those in an official place. This is readily seen by comparing verse 5 where the younger are addressed. In the first chapter Peter had written that the prophets had prophesied as to the " sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." Now as being himself a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, he exhorts the elders to feed the flock of God. We are to be here for His interest and glory. Some are fitted to take the oversight of the flock. " Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." And the encouragement is given, " When the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall, receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
An unfading crown of glory is the suited reward to the faithful under-shepherds. How sweet when we think of the one who wrote these words We remember the failure and sin of Peter in denying the Lord. After the resurrection when the Lord asked him, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these? " Peter answered in brokenness of spirit, " Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee." Three times was this repeated. Then in token of complete restoration, the Lord committed to his care the sheep and lambs. In the tenth chapter of John, the Lord Jesus says, " I am the good Shepherd, and know My sheep." He calls them " My sheep " and values them as those the Father had given to Him. Now He commits them to the under-shepherds, " Feed the flock of God which is among you." The overseers are to care for the little flock that is so precious to Himself. Every dear sheep. and lamb is known to Him. The overseers ought to be ever on the alert lest there be danger for the sheep.. The flock is to be valued as God's heritage. Are we caring for His sheep and lambs? In the Lord's prayer to His Father in John 17, He said, " Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost." Now He has turned over to us the responsibility of caring for the little flock among which we are placed. The great thing is not what the sheep are in themselves, but that they are His-each one a part of His flock. " Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
All these crowns (righteousness, life, glory) center round the appearing. The sweet thought in all three is that He Himself will be the Giver, as expressed in the lines,
" Not at the crown He giveth
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Immanuel's land.'
Each crown will be valued because He is the Giver. Surely it is worth while to have these things before us, to encourage us in the trials and responsibilities of the path.
But even the thought of a crown can never equal the thought that we are going to be with Him and like Him. Far beyond the thought of any crown is the hope that we shall be with that loving Savior, the blessed Object that God has set before us, to fill and occupy our hearts even now.