IN both of these Scriptures you find the throne of God, but you find more than the throne, there are accompaniments to the throne, and the question which I want to put to you, my readers, is this, Which of the accompaniments to the throne of God do you mean to have to do with? You must have to say to God, you must have to do with Him who sits on the throne, whether you will or not.
In Isa. 6 the moral effect of the throne is seen to be brought to bear on the soul now, and that is what I want to press on you. In the 20th chapter of the Revelation it is not the moral effect of the throne of God on the soul of the sinner now, but the eternal effect of that throne in judgment and execution.
You cannot but be struck with the contrast between Isa. 6 and Rev. 20. It is the same throne, and the same Being who sits on the throne in each scene. In Isaiah you find fire, and in the Revelation you find fire (always the expression of judgment), but in Isaiah it is fire on the altar, a beautiful type of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Revelation there is no altar, it is the lake of fire, the final doom of the impenitent man. Take heed, my unsaved reader, lest that be your doom.
The throne of God you must have to do with, and there are two effects of it. Either you are driven by it to the altar, where you find the fire has already consumed another, and a spotless victim in your room and stead, or you are driven by it to the lake of fire, where the fire never consumes, but ever engulphs you.
Either you are driven to the cross as a guilty repentant sinner, or you are driven to the lake of fire as an impenitent sinner. In Isa. 6. the sinner is acted on and brought to see what he is as a sinner now, when he can get salvation.
In the Revelation he is brought to see what he is when it is too late for the blood of Christ to save him, for the cross of Christ to ransom him, or for the arm of God to rescue him.
Rev. 20 is the dark background of Isa. 6, and, my reader, to the Gospel tidings of God’s love and grace there is also the solemn background of God’s judgment; and no evangelist dare leave it out. We know who filled the throne in Isa. 6. It was the Lord Jesus, as the 12th of John shows (Joh. 12:41).
And who fills the throne in Rev. 20? It is the Lord Jesus, too. In Rev. 20 we are conducted by the Spirit of God to the last moment of time, the moment when God finally deals with man. Only the wicked dead stand before that throne. The Lord’s own people have been caught up to glory with Christ. From the earliest saved person, to the last one who shall be converted before the Lord comes, all have been caught up to live with Him. The judgment of the living nations we have in Matt. 25. Here it is the wicked dead only, from Cain to the last one who shall die in his sins, who are found before this great white throne of dazzling purity.
You may say, “I thought it was God who would judge.” Quite true, but Jesus is God. “The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the son.” Man has put down Christ; God exalts Him. Man despises Him; God sets Him on high. This same Jesus, whom man crucified, will be the judge of the living and the dead. Believers will quit their graves to the “resurrection of life” when the Lord comes, unbelievers will be raised to the “resurrection of judgment” (John 5:2929And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:29)).
If a believer fall asleep, the Lord raises Him when He comes into the air, and calls him up to be with Himself; but if, still a sinner, you die in your sins, you will be left in the grave till the thousand years are over and the great white throne is set, and then the voice that so often on earth called you and wooed you, but which you refused, that voice hear you must, and bear you shall, and that voice will call you from your grave, and then you will stand before God, with everything of time and sense gone, and you brought to have to do with Him in full view of the solemn realities of eternity.
Then you must look at Him, for you cannot help it; then you must hear Him, for you cannot help it. Now you have fled from Him often, stopped your ears often, then you cannot but see and hear and face Him; and then, as the books are opened, and the book of your history is opened, you must face also the record of all your ways, forgotten by you perhaps, but kept recorded by Him.
Raised from the grave in which you have slumbered, you are called up to meet God, an unconverted sinner in your sins, and what can you say? what dare you say? The books are opened, and the dead are judged out of the things which are written in the books. Do you think you will say to God then, “I had a wicked nature, I was tempted, I had no opportunities”? Not you: every tongue will be silent then; you will blame yourself alone.
The book of Life will be searched, and your name will not be found written in it; the name of the feeblest believer is written in that book, every one who has come to Christ has his name carefully recorded in the book of Life, but yours will not be there, because you never have come to Christ, never have believed in Christ, never have fled to Christ, never have trembled before the throne of God; you have gone on in carelessness and unbelief, and there is your history written, careless and indifferent to the end, a Christless sinner: that is what the book tells of you. It may record momentary impressions, but of what good are they if you do not come to Christ? Oh, what will be your feelings, my unconverted reader, when that book is opened, and the record comes out, “Lived for himself, (or herself), and died without Christ”?
In that moment I find the sea giving up the dead that are in it, and death (the state the body was in), and hades (the condition of the disembodied spirit), giving up the dead that were in them, i.e., death and hades are emptied as it were into the presence of God. Death is destroyed by the wicked dead all being brought to life again to meet God.
I ask you, Would you not rather meet God now in the day of His grace? For you know well, if God cut you down today, there is not a link between your soul and Him. In Rev. 20, the Lord describes what must be a passage in your future history if you do not come to Christ. You may not have been worse than others, or very bad outwardly, but your sins never troubled you, nor brought you to Christ; you lived in your sins, died in your sins, came to life again in your sins, and your sins are bound on you for all eternity, and the effect of the throne of God then, is to drive you in your sins into the lake of fire forever and ever.
I ask you, can you face that scene? Do you not tremble at the bare possibility of your being among the number who shall stand before the great white throne? Ah, it is no possibility merely, nor a probability, but an absolute certainty, that such will be your case unless you are converted and brought to God. The holy blaze of the throne of God in that day, can only drive you to the lake of fire.
But, thank God, we have not come yet to the moment of which Rev. 20 speaks.
In Isa. 6 we have the moment of the Gospel, if I may so speak. It tells what God has for an anxious soul, for a man who is rightly affected by being brought into God’s presence, who recognizes a moment in his history when he saw the Lord. I ask you, Can you recognize such a moment? I do not ask you Can you recognize such a moment when you heard the gospel, or were affected by a narrative? No doubt you remember a moment when moved, or touched; but, has there been a moment in your history when you have seen the Lord?
The prophet Isaiah had got into God’s presence. Have you? You must get there by and bye. Oh! get there now. You may say—I tremble to get there! No doubt, but you will not tremble when you learn what that glory and light can spew you, for until I get into God’s presence I do not know what the altar means and teaches.
Isaiah was just as bad before he got into God’s presence as after, but he got a sight of himself in the presence of God, saw what he was, but also saw what a loving, gracious Saviour he had to do with.
The Seraphim cry “Holy, holy, holy,” and they cover their faces, as though to say, We dare not face God. And they cover their feet, as though to say, We dare not let Him look at our walk, so holy is He. They teach men this lesson, God is holy, He looks into the heart, discovers all the recesses of the soul, and they say we dare not let Him look at us, as they cry “Holy, holy, holy!” Oh! what a sound for an unholy sinner! As the voices of these strange, these bright beings are heard, what a moment of agony is it for an unclean sinner!
There is no moment on earth like the moment when you wake up to find yourself in the presence of a holy God; when you have got out of everybody else’s sight, and into God’s presence, and you find He is holy, and you are unholy, unwashed, unforgiven, unblessed, full of sin.
Look at the effect on the prophet, “Woe is me,” he says, “for I am undone.”
Have you got to this point yet? You are really as much undone now as you will be before the great white throne. What will you be there? A sinner in your sins? What are you today? A sinner in your sins. The only difference is, that then every bit of hope of your ever being anything else is over, and now you have still the opportunity of coming to Christ, and being saved by Christ. Have you, my reader, ever said “Woe is me”? Is it not better far for you to say “Woe is me,” than to hear the Lord say “Woe unto thee”? Is it not better to take the woe out of the lips of Christ, as it were?
What is the next thing we have? When the action of the throne had gene down deep into this man’s soul, when he had a sight of himself, and it had produced deep anxiety.
“Then flew one of the seraphims unto me having a live coal in his hand.” The moment the prophet was deeply anxious, those holy beings, who had made him tremble at the holiness of the Lord, were swift to show the grace of the Lord.
There is rapidity here: “then flew.” God is slow to judge, but swift to save! The moment the light of the throne has done its work, God says “Look at the altar.” The throne of God can only alarm you, the cross of Jesus saves you. The throne can only terrify you, the altar only calms you, for the altar tells you there has been a sacrifice. The One who will fill that great white throne by and bye is the very One who was the victim here, the One who died on Calvary’s cross for me and. for my sins.
The throne awakens you, the cross calms you. Come unto me, the Saviour says. Do you think you have something still to do?
“It is finished,” are the Saviour’s words. He bore the judgment that we might be blessed, in, and through, and with Himself.
The claims of the throne in righteousness, have been met by Christ in grace on the cross, the altar has consumed the victim, the fire tells me the victim is consumed, and now that my sin has been met, I get comfort. “Lo this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged,” the Seraphim said—that is by the sacrifice and death of another, the atoning work of the Saviour, my iniquity is taken away and my sin purged.
Look up then, anxious soul, and view the throne of God today: you there may see the Man who bore your sins on the cross, and because He is on the throne today, you may know that your sins are taken away, and what is the result? You are free to go and serve the Lord.
“Who will go for us?” says the Lord, and the prophet’s answer is “Here am I, send me.”
There is a beautiful future for you. Your iniquity taken away by Jesus, and your sins purged by Jesus, what next? “Who will go for us?” says God, and the heart thus acted on by grace, responds with joy “Here am I, send me.” Is this the future you will take?
You have had the throne of God presented to you, it must either drive you to Christ now, and thus you get salvation, or it must drive you to the lake of fire by and bye, and you get damnation. Which shall it be? Do you say I would have it drive me to Christ?
Then decide for Him now, be His from this moment and go and serve Him.
Let this opening new month of 1879, find you a new man in Christ through faith in His name, and the happiest year you ever had on earth is most certainly before you. May it indeed be so my dear reader.
W. T. P. W.