3.
ON two former occasions we spoke of the union of true Christians which God Himself has made; their union as members of God’s family, and their union as members of Christ’s body. In each case the union can be neither made nor broken by human power, but upon man devolves the responsibility of living out the union on this earth. Alas! the spirit of maintaining, practically, the union that exists, is deficient in some of God’s people; nevertheless many mourn the walls which separate Christian from Christian, and seek to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
We will on the present occasion briefly consider the divinely-established union of the people of God in reference to the future. There is a great deal of activity in Christendom generally, to effect what is termed the reunion of Christendom; and we may do well to compare man’s scheme and God’s plan respecting this matter. Let us suppose the future realized that so many seek after. What would that future be? A confederation of kingdoms, kings, and prelates, under one common headship, to whose word all would be obliged to bow, or to undergo the severest penalties of imprisonment and death. Now, would
THE PLAN DETERMINED BY GOD
be in any sense whatever realized by such an union? God’s people are all one family. Would the love of God the Father prevail on the earth in such circumstances? Would holiness exist in men’s souls and exhibit itself in their lives? The world would be more wicked than it is―at least if the manner of life of those centuries prevailed during which His Holiness the Pope, and the Inquisition governed the kingdoms of Christendom; and during which the sword was ever drinking blood in the name of Holy Church. Would Christ be recognized as the Head of His body the Church were the scheme realized? For centuries Rome has made less and less of Christ in her services, and those who clamor for union with her do as she does. Much is made of priests, little of Christ, the High Priest; much is made of the sacrifice of the Mass, little of Christ’s one offering of Himself; a sacrifice to God; much is made of continual effort to produce sanctification, nothing of the truth that by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whenever images of Christ fill men’s souls, Christ Himself has but a little place in man’s heart. Where the Mother of Jesus is prayed to she is the Favorite, and her Son is secondary to her. If there were reunion with Rome, and thus an united Christendom, we should have Christendom with
CHRIST OUTSIDE THE UNION.
In the union which God will display, holiness, and the glory of Christ will prevail. Every member of God’s family will “be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Every one will be a manifestation of God the Father’s nature―holy and blameless before God’s own all-searching eye. He will read in every heart holiness such as He can rest in. There will be no blame attachable to any child, since every child will be so holy and so wise, as never to be found fault with by God the Father. And all will repose in the love which is divine. Such is the end and glory for all the members of God’s family, and the very thought of it affects the child of God in his daily life on earth in ways of holiness and love. And when this prospect is before the soul the present aim at reuniting Christendom, its kingdoms, its princes, its prelates, and its evil and good, is seen to be unworthy of God beyond the powers of utterance―nay, as a scheme of rebellion against Him.
Again, in the union of the Church, which will be displayed in glory, every member of that body will be a witness to the glory and honor of Christ. In all things He will have the pre-eminence. His sacrifice and His priestly work will be abundantly magnified, and all that He has done will more and more redound to His honor in the eyes of all His people. In that day He will present His Church “to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing”― not a spot of defilement, not a trace of infirmity, but, by virtue of His passion and His priestly work, glorious forever. Each member of the body will contribute to the excellence of the whole, and the excellence of the whole will contribute to
THE GLORY OF CHRIST, THE HEAD.
Such is the future—sure and settled—into which all believers will enter. Now, in the aspirations for the reunion of Christendom such prospects have no part. The pure, the holy, the heavenly, can be loved and longed for only by such as God has made pure and holy and heavenly in Christ.
We are all expecting developments in reference to the Church. There are two which are at hand.
The true members of Christ will soon be removed to heaven, when they will see Christ’s glory, as He has promised, and when the future, of which we have spoken, will be realized. In how short a time this may occur we know not. But in a little while He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. And all God’s true people will be glorified with Christ, for when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.
The other development refers to the mass of professing Christendom, out of which the true members of Christ’s body will have been taken. There will be a reunion of Christendom, a gathering together of kingdoms, kings, and prelates, and peoples―one vast confederation―but Christ will be outside it, and the Antichrist will be in it. He will be its ruling energy, and, instead of the Holy Spirit of God directing and controlling, Satan, the spirit of lies and of evil, will take His place.
We may, therefore, see a sign of the times in the desire for union that exists―a sign to the true that the hour of union with Christ of all saints in heaven is at hand; a sign to the false that the hour of darkness of Christendom is near. Let the Christian be more and more eager for true union of heart and spirit with “all saints” ―all the beloved of God, His Father. Every such experience is a little foretaste of the sweets of Home―a little sample of the eternity of bliss; while, on the other hand, longing after the essentially worldly and man-advancing idolatrous principle of the reunion of Christians, under the antichristian head of Rome, is a terrible portent that the dark hour of Christendom is approaching, and that the time of the uprising of Antichrist is near.