INTRODUCTION.
A GOOD introduction to the Apocalypse would be to take up those characteristic passages in the New Testament where prophetic truth is looked at, not in every detail, as in the language to the centurion, but the great leading passages-such as Matt. 13:2424Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: (Matthew 13:24) and 25, and the Epistle to the Thessalonians, &c. But before we begin, we will have a meditation introductory to prophecy itself, because we ought to enter on it with our consciences and our sympathies-not with our intellects. So it is well, before entering on it, to put our souls some- what into right order.
The word of prophecy treats us as friends-not as sinners nor as saints. The word of the Gospel treats us as sinners, and proposes relief; and the preceptive parts educate us as saints. But the moment we come into prophecy we forget our character as sinners-it is disposed of-and we listen to that which addresses us as friends of Christ. A special dignity thus attaches to us the moment we come to listen to prophecy. I am an intruder upon prophecy if I do not enter upon it as one entitled to call God my Father, and I am open to the Lord's rebuke to Nicodemus-" Go and make yourself your object." When I can read my title clear as a sunbeam, then I can come to Christ as a friend. And this clothes the mind of the saint with great moral dignity. It is another kind of relationship from that of the sinner or of the saint.
Then, prophecy came in on corruption. There would have been no prophetic voice heard in Israel if the priesthood had not corrupted itself. It broke in on Israel in a day of corruption. And the prophetic voice is the introduction of the Holy Ghost.. Aaron might have discharged his office, and the daily services of the temple might have been discharged, by a title of flesh, without the Holy Ghost. But the moment Aaron and the sons of Levi had corrupted themselves the Holy Ghost comes forth, and fills a vessel with a new thing altogether. So in prophetic ministry I am in company with the Holy Ghost at once. This shows that God always has a remedy for our mischief.
In these ways we must read the prophetic office, and these thoughts are very seasonable before entering on the prophetic details themselves.
There is a way in which you may use, and a way in which you may abuse, the prophetic words; and these two ways you will find in Matt. 2, which I propose to consider now, as a sort of introduction to our subject. We have gathered how it was that the prophetic voice was awakened in the story of Israel-that corruption was the parent, or rather the occasion of it; and you will not have really entered on the prophetic dispensation if you do not see in it God bringing forth His resources when man has destroyed himself. Now, when you come to listen to the prophetic voice you have to inquire, How am I to use it? and, How might I abuse it? Both are illustrated in the passage before us.
The Evangelist himself shows the first use of prophecy. We are to have it so stored up in our minds, that nothing may be a surprise to us, The Lord Himself rebukes the Pharisees for not knowing the signs of the times. When the hand of God comes to realize what the Spirit of God has already announced, that is " the signs of the times"; and we should be able to identify the voice of God with the hand of God, as the Evangelist does here. When the manner of the birth of the Child was announced, he says, " Oh yes, that fulfills Isa. 8" Here was the greatest wonder that had ever transpired in the story of human nature; but Matthew is prepared for it by Isa. 8 This is to be a real friend of Christ. He has prepared me that I may not be surprised with what takes place. So, again, when the Child is taken down into Egypt, Hosea comes to the mind of Matthew, and he now links Hos. 11 with the Child's coming forth out of Egypt. He is able again to identify the voice of God with the hand of God. Is not that walking in the light where God is?—enjoying fellowship with Christ? All He knows He makes known to us. He puts us in the light where Himself dwells.
So, when the terrific fact of the destruction of the children takes place, the Evangelist is prepared for it He may be shocked at Herod; but he is not amazed. And again, when the Child is carried up to Nazareth, the Evangelist is able intelligently to gather up all the mind of the prophets that attached to the moment that began His humiliation. When He was turned away to Nazareth, the Christ of God began His humiliation in this world. He ought to have been the royal Bethlehemite-He becomes the despised Nazarene; He ought to have been King of Kings and Lord of Lords-He becomes a nothing and a nobody; and the Evangelist is prepared for it. So you and I should be able to interpret the events of the times by inspired interpretation;, nothing baffles the Evangelist. That is the first use of prophecy.
Then, another use, and the highest use of it, is illustrated in the action of the wise men of the East. These men were ignorant, if you please; they knew nothing of the first use we have been speaking of, but their hearts traveled far beyond the speed of their heads. And what do they show me? They show me this: that they treated the prophetic word as a reality-as a thing worthy of all their thoughts. When the star of Bethlehem shone, they did not delay a moment. As Abraham, at the call of the God of Glory, went out, not knowing whither he went, just so these men, the moment the star appeared, gave witness that everything was secondary to the leadings of the God of Glory. This is not the same thing as the Evangelist being prepared to interpret events. That is beautiful; but here I find an honest-hearted people that act on the prophetic word-treat it as a reality.. They set themselves on their way to Jerusalem. I could with much pleasure go through their journey. They come to Jerusalem and inquire, saying, " Where is He that is born King of the Jews? "
They keep their gold, frankincense and myrrh treasured up; they do not spend it on Herod. Their eye was very single they were not fascinated by the magnificence of that king. They came to inquire after the star of their prophet Balaam. And when they are traveling from Jerusalem to Bethlehem the star reappears. That was the consolation of faith. Nothing is so entitled to the consolations of the Spirit as the victories of faith. They had conquered the fascinations of Herod, and the star greets them. It had left them to themselves on the road to Jerusalem. That is the trial of faith. Does not God sometimes seem to leave you alone? But let faith get a victory, and God will reappear.
When they got to the poor, mean manger, then there was something to draw out their gold, frankincense, and myrrh; whereas not a grain of their frankincense is given to. Herod-all that they have is laid at the feet of the rejected, neglected Child. They saw things invisible, and the degradation was only a dark ground to, set off the brightness of the glory of Him who lay there.
Now, what use did the chief priests and scribes make of prophecy? They abused it; they treated it with an unbelieving understanding and an infidel heart. Do we ever treat Scripture so? If we had not infidel hearts, what manner of persons should we be I The "scribes remit out most accurately their warrant from Micah; but they did not take a single step with the wise men. We must charge our hearts to learn their lesson, as well as our heads. I see the wise men acting on their lesson; I see the scribes intelligent of the prophetic word and indifferent to it.
We have now just introduced ourselves to the prophetic Scriptures. When I look at prophecy, am I in company with that with which God began? No, indeed I am not. He put the kingly office and the priesthood into the hands of man, to see if he could hold the blessing. When man proved unfaithful, then. God must maintain a line of prophets to show that all the good that is done On earth must be done by Himself, " The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it."
MATTHEW. 12 AND 13.
WHAT we are proposing now to do, is to go through those passages in the New Testament that have a prophetic character, and I want first to review one thought we have already looked at. When we meditate on prophecy, we ought to seek the temper of friends of Christ, entitled to know His secrets. Because prophecy becomes the speculations of intellect, if it is not the communications of friendship. Therefore, it is a very holy thing to read prophecy. It recognizes us in the deepest and most intimate relationship we can fill. We are pardoned sinners-we are adopted children; but more-we are friends of Christ, entitled to listen to His secrets.
Now I turn to chapters 12. And 13. of Matthew, beginning at ver. 38 of chap. 12. Chapter 13 gives us the parables of the sower, the tares and wheat, the mustard seed, the leaven, the treasure hid in a field, the merchantman seeking goodly pearls, and the net. This is our material.
In all this Scripture the Lord is anticipating two treat scenes. The first is corruption in Israel, the second is corruption in Christendom, and we shall see how these are connected together.
In ver. 38 of chap. 12. He is asked by the Pharisees to give them a sign. This was the full expression of the infidel principle, to ask for a sign in. the presence of the substance of all signs. The Lord at once (because His spirit was very quick) apprehends the total moral downfall of Israel, and what does He say? " There shall no sign be given you but the sign of a cast-out people. You will now put me to death,-you will lose me." Yes, when Israel crucified Christ they lost Him. So that that was a beautiful moral answer to their question. The Lord answered according to the moral of their question. He never answered an inquiry, but the moral condition of the inquirer. The men of Nineveh
had repented at the preaching of Jonas; the queen of the south had gone from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, yet here was the great Divine Prophet in their midst, and they were challenging Him for a sign! Then in the unclean spirit He shows their total downfall. This is not yet accomplished. There is no unclean spirit there now. The house is empty, swept, and garnished. By-and-bye, he will return and find it more ready for his use and occupation than ever. So we find in the prophet Daniel. The idols shall be on the walls of Jerusalem. And again, in the Apocalypse we find how an image is made to the beast, and all the world worships it. The unclean spirit comes in, in more terrific form than ever. The day is coming in which the last state of that house shall be worse than the first. " Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation." " Generation " here means Israel. In Matthew (chap. xii.) the Lord limits the application of this to Israel. In Luke the Lord goes through the same thoughts, and does not say, " So shall it be," there He is saying it morally, in connection with Christendom as well as Israel. For I have no doubt that the Reformation was the sweeping out of the house in the case of Christendom, and now the un- clean spirit (Popery) is looking carefully into the swept and garnished house (Protestantism).
Then the Lord, having this anticipated the moral ruin of Israel,-having looked out through the great vista of ages to the apostacy, when the desolator shall come in,-then His mother and His brethren come, desiring to speak with Him. But He answers, " Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?" He is here disclaiming everything in the flesh. Israel, that was connected with Him in the flesh, now stood out in apostacy before His spirit, and He begins to disclaim all connection with, flesh. He looks to the new creation, of which there was a little pledge and earnest in those now gathering around Him. Do not let these beautiful touches of the mind of Christ escape you; I stand in admiration of this moment. The Lord, having anticipated the full downfall of Israel, being challenged by His kindred in the flesh says, " No,-flesh has disappointed me, and I do not own it any longer. Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? Those who sit and hear my words." " Of His own will begat He us, by the word of truth." Are we, you and I, gathered there? Do we know that we are new creatures, children of the word of God? Not children of the loins of Abraham, but the product of the sowing of the word by the Holy Ghost.
Then in chap. 13. He unfolds that very thing. He shows Himself not as one who had come to gather fruit. He had looked for fruit in the old creation, and had been disappointed..Then He becomes a sower, and is the husbandman who begins the work of the new creation. lie is a laborer who has gone forth by commission (not from the throne of God but) from the bosom of the Father. Sometimes He dates His commission from the throne. When He comes to publish grace, it is from the bosom of the Father. So now He comes to prepare fruit for Himself, and He. will never gather any fruit that He has not prepared Himself. In this parable we find the seed was the same in every case. But it had this property, that it tested the soil. So now the gospel is preached to all, but it tests the hearts of all.
Now why does the Lord link Satan with the way-side hearer? Because if Satan can bear away the seed from the heart, all his work is done. If it finds admittance to the heart, then he tries to corrupt it. Then comes the stony ground hearer. We hear the word, and something awakens a tasteful emotion of mind. There is nothing in the stony ground hearer that intimates a work in the conscience, arid nothing is done if the conscience is not reached, because the conscience has revolted from God; and, till that breach is repaired, nothing is done. The stony ground hearers never deal with the word as sinners.
Then the thorny ground hearers are. They acknowledge the importance of eternity, but then they own time to be "a serious thing also;:they own the weighty importance of their place in the world, and they have no manner of mind to sacrifice the one to the other. And thus the two kingdoms go
on together in their hearts, and no fruit is borne. Oh, with what divine skilfulness He unfolds and exposes the heart!
Then, the fourth case is what He calls " good ground." What made it good? Was it by any refinement of flesh? No, it was the Spirit of God. Satan corrupts the highway hearer; nature makes the stony ground unfruitful; the world destroys the thorny ground hearer; the Holy-Ghost is the husbandman in every piece of tillage that brings forth fruit to the Lord Jesus. Oh, how fruitful in moral warning all this is! Do not let us, you and me, refuse to be exposed. It is good for us. Now, in that parable, the Lord is not giving the likeness of the kingdom of heaven, but the tares and the wheat begin the parables of the kingdom.
Now, we are getting into the story of Christendom. " The kingdom of heaven," here, is the Christendom that surrounds us every day. And has not the Lord: anticipated it truly? How did this field become a mingled field? " An enemy hath done this." And how are we to deal with it? WP are not to attempt to cure it; and the moment the church begins to purify the world, she has mistaken her business. They were servants, but mistaken servants. This stares me in the face, every hour. I see saints occupied with that which Christ has never set them to do. The Church's business is not to purify the world. Let the Church busy herself in calling out sinners; not in purifying the world. The Lord here sweetly owns they may be servants, but they are mistaken servants, and they will not prosper in their work. Now, I want to pause and ask are we listening to these things, as friends of Christ? I do dread entering on prophetic truth in a spirit of intellectual speculation. If I have not faith to take the place of a friend, I must let the prophets and myself part company for the present. If I want my conscience or my heart regulated, I must go to the Gospels or the Epistles; and after that, let me come and sit at the feet of the prophets, and learn divine secrets. That is walking in the light as He is in the light. Did He want to wait for this nineteenth century to tell what the tare-field of Christendom would be? And here He invites the disciples of that day to walk in the light as He is in the light. Every attempt of the. Church to regulate the world is one which has been taken up in ignorance of the mind of Christ.
Then He gives two parables in which He is pursuing the story of the tares; and in the next two, He is pursuing the story of the wheat. He is giving the story of the tares, in the parable of the mustard seed; and He shows that the sowing of the wicked one, was to grow to be a most important thing in the world. Then the leaven working is varied doctrinal corruption. The one is external, political corruption; the other is internal, doctrinal corruption. And has not all that taken place? NV hat is Romanism? A great thing, more important than' heathenism, or any other thing you can name. The mustard seed is there, and the leaven is there,-political and doctrinal corruption.
Then He comes to two sweet little parables, in which He is pursuing the story of the wheat, and under what figures does He present it? First, as the treasure hid in a field. Are the tares hidden? No, they stare me in face on every side. But when I look after the children of the kingdom, do they stare me in the face? When I look abroad, do I see some reflection of Christ everywhere? The tares occupy the wide-spread moral scene before me. I have to look for the wheat. Could anything be more accurate than these anticipations of Christ? And the pearl in the same way. He seeks it. But that is not all. If the mustard tree be occupied by the unclean birds, the treasure and the pearl are unspeakably dear to the heart of Jesus. You see an unrenewed here. How little do we realize the immense moral distance between these two! One is the representative of the thing which the unclean birds delight in; the other is nearer to the heart of Christ than anything in His whole creation. How little do we apprehend these things! The treasure was a treasure to Christ. The pearl was a pearl in Christ's eye. Oh, how beautiful these things are! And, yet, I say, here is Christ, not as the Savior of sinners, or as the teacher of saints, but as a Prophet in the light, asking you to walk in the light of Him who knew the end from the beginning.
He is my Savior, my Master, my Lord; and He is a friend who invites me to sit by His side and listen to what He, and He only knows, the bosom counsels of God.
Then in the close, we get the parable of the drag-net. That anticipates a moment that we do not yet see. We have seen the public apostacy abroad. We have seen the heart of God hanging over His hidden thing in this world, but we have not yet seen the drag-net, because that represents the close of Christendom; the fullness of the dispensation. We have not yet seen it brought to its appointed end, and the good gathered into vessels-the bad cast away.
And now, I just ask; are we behaving ourselves as those nearest to the heart of Jesus, or as the thing in which the unclean birds find delight? Are we savoring: of the spirit of the world, or the spirit of the Church of God?
MATTHEW. 24 AND 25.
WE are now to look at a very serious Scripture. When we reach Matt. 24, we have done with the testing of Israel. I mean that if we discern the structure of Matthew's gospel, we shall find that the Lord is conducting thus far a very elaborate testing of Israel. He first proposes Himself to them as the Bethlehemite of Micah; then, as the light from Zabulon and Nephtali; and lastly, as riding on an ass, He proposes Himself as king, to the acceptance of the daughter of Zion. So that, all through His life, read in one great light, He is testing the state of the daughter of Zion; and John, in his gospel, draws the conclusion, " He came to His own and His own received Him not." How beautiful it is to see the ministry of the Lord in such a light! He was the patient tiller of the vineyard, to see if, at the eleventh hour, He could get any fruit. But when we come to chap. 23., the testing is over, and He gets up on the judgment throne and pronounces their guilt, and the judgment that attaches to their guilt. Just as a judge, He sums up the evidence and pronounces the verdict. Then He turns His back on them, saying, " Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord," There is great exactness in all this, and we are not in a position to meditate on chaps. 24. And 25., if we do not apprehend what I have said as a preface....
If I were to link Zech. 11, and Isa. 1. with this prophecy, it would be beautiful to see such distant lights forming so beautiful a constellation before the eye; and these different stars contributed by one part and another part, all shining together.
Then, having pronounced the judgment, Messiah, being rejected, takes leave of Israel. He goes out from the Temple. Here we are introduced to thoughts that attach to ourselves. Chapter 11 of Zechariah tells us of two staves, called " beauty and bands." Here, at chapter 23., the Lord broke the staff called " beauty." (He did not break the other till the Acts of the Apostles.) Here He withdraws Himself. Now, I ask, should we see beauty in that which Christ has rejected? It was a poor thing for the disciples to come and show Him the beauty of the Temple. They ought to have said, " If our Master has turned His back on the Temple, its beauty is gone!' Instead of that, Nature hangs about that which faith has left. If the counterpart of the Temple of Solomon were here, it might be beautiful still; but we should not be giving it our admiration. You will say, Are not the mountains, the valleys, the woods beautiful? Exquisitely beautiful; but you ought to accustom yourself to say, The trail of the serpent is over every bit of it. All will be revived in Millennial days; but now, do not you turn aside to mark the exquisite scenery of Nature for its own sake. That is where the disciples failed. Well, the patient Jesus, says, " What you are admiring, I have left." There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Then, in verse 3, their minds are restored under the correcting hand; of Christ. " We believe it, since Thou hast said it, and now tell us farther When shall these things be." Then the Lord pronounces the solemn prophecy that fills chapters 24. and.- 25., and gives the characteristics that are to mark the judgment of Israel. He begins to answer them in verse 4, and He carries the first part of His answer down to verse 14, and details the story of what shall be before the end comes,—what He calls the beginning of sorrows. Having reached that point, in verse 15, He anticipates the story of this Israel, who is now His subject. And mark, the Church is not here.. It was a stranger to His thoughts while He was talking of Israel. He was invited to speak of the Temple, and the end of the age, and to that He applies Himself. In verse 15 He begins to speak of the Antichrist-the abominable desolator 'who shall come. The, moment that takes place (it will not be till the Church has gone from the scene) He begins to instruct His, disciples how they are to act. " Let them which be in Judea," etc. This is the great tribulation of which Daniel, Jeremiah, and the Apo-. calypse speak. There, there is a constellation again.. Do be looking out in Scripture for such constellations. You will find Jeremiah, Daniel, Matthew, and the Apocalypse each contributing a star. A little skill and industry will constellate them, and in the glory of the light they give we are invited to walk.
Then down to verse 28 He is telling them how to behave themselves, and in verse 28 the judgment is executed. That is the rider on the white horse of chapter 19. of Revelation, and His armies. They come down to execute judgment on the carcass. The Lord here is represented under the figure of an eagle coming down for his prey. Then in verse 29 He shows the action of judgment. And what verses the 29th and 30th are! What a solemnity the judgment of God is? Has not man mimicked that 29th verse? and we may ask whether rightly so? When the judges of our land pronounce sentence of death, they array themselves in blackness. Here the sun and the moon and the powers Of heaven do the same. It reminds me of chapter 27. of this very gospel. When God was judging sin, the whole earth was darkened for three hours. There is a moral suitableness in this. When the blessed Surety for sinners was bearing the judgment of sin, the earth arrayed itself in sackcloth. God retired from the scene, and the whole creation felt the moment. So, when the rider on the white horse comes forth to execute judgment (not on sin, but) on sinners," the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light," etc. How little do I know of my spirit being arrayed in darkness when I talk of judgment, or in brilliancies when I talk of glory! Would to God one 'knew a little more of that! Our spirits should be in sympathy with these different things.
Then, the judgment being executed, in verse 31 we get a mere glimpse of the kingdom that is to follow; because judgment never closes the scene-it only purges the vessel which is to be filled with glory.
Having left verse 31, we have left, in one sense, the prophetic part of these chapters, to take up a moral parenthesis. This is a style which I find constantly in the Book of God. When the Prophet Isaiah is relating historical facts, he is turned aside every now and then to look at the operations of the Spirit. That is the style of the parenthesis which we are looking at-from verse 42 of chapter 24. to verse 30 of chapter 25. Here the Lord is morally talking to our souls, and telling us that we ought to sustain two beautiful characters. We should be watchers and workers while He is absent. He turns aside to give a look at each one of us, for all this moral teaching attaches to our very selves, or to the. Jewish remnant by-and-bye. While He is absent, His elect people ought to be watching and working.. Do you enjoy this. style in the Book of God? I would the saints of God partook of His style, as well as of His spirit. We are not set together merely to pick up knowledge; but to quicken and animate one another's souls. These watchers and workers are here represented by the wise virgins and the faithful servant. Now, what I observed on verse 31 of chapter 24. I am going to observe a little carefully in this chapter. No communication I get from the Lord puts me right into the kingdom. He stops short of anything like a detail of the kingdom: He gathers His elect who are to constitute the kingdom; but we do not see them in the kingdom. So in this
chapter. Do you see the wise virgins in the kingdom? No; they are only seen at the door. So with the servant. He was to enter into the joy of his Lord. We are not told what the marriage-supper is, or what the joy is; but they are invited to enter the one and the other. The moral of this is deep and exquisite; because it tells us what the moral material is that goes into the kingdom, and what it is that is kept out. Is not the character of your friend more important to you than his circumstances? So the Lord does not tell me the circumstances of the kingdom; but He lets me breathe its moral atmosphere. You will have glories, too, I grant; but moral atmosphere is much more important. So He tells me that all that finds entrance into it is that which was waiting for Him in His absence. And in the parable of the servants we see what goes in-those who honestly owned Him as Master while He was absent. These two materials form the moral element of the place. How unspeakably blessed to go into a place that teems with love to Christ, and teems with a desire for His service If the Lord were to take me into all the material beauties of the place, He would not gratify my heart so deeply by the scenery of the kingdom as in these few little verses.
Now, in verse 31, He resumes the prophecy, having turned aside, in the parable of the Virgins, to address our hearts; and in the parable of the servants, to address our conscience. Now, He resumes the prophetic current of His thoughts.
But, here again, we are not properly in the kingdom. It is a scene just at the opening of the kingdom. The kingdom has not yet arrayed itself; but, just on the Lord assuming the throne of His glory, He calls the living nations before Him to judgment. Now, you have nothing to say to that. It is not a resurrection scene; it is not the great white throne; but it is the Lord Jesus, when He has assumed the throne of His millennial glory, coming to inquire how the living nations have treated His poor messengers; how the nations have treated those Jews who have gone out with the everlasting Gospel. The settlement of that question is given in the parable of the sheep and the goats. And let me add one thing. The moral feature of this parable is just as beautiful as that of the others. The element that gets into the kingdom is not selfishness, but those who had loving, gracious care of his poor people. Do you wish to carry the selfishness of man's world into Christ's world? Could you be happy if you thought the foolish virgins, the unfaithful servant, and the selfish nations could enter there? So the Lord conducts us by the help of the wise virgins to the borders of the kingdom; and again, He conducts us there by the faithful servant, and now, by those who sympathized in the day of distress, with the people of an unmanifested Jesus. The Lord keep us near Himself in these thoughts, for they are holy and deeply beautiful. Oh, that we may give our hearts to Jesus, our hands to Jesus' work, and our sympathies to Jesus' people. Amen.
WE will now read a little cluster of scriptures in Matthew's Gospel; part of chaps. 27., 19., and 21. and one verse in chap. 26. These four scriptures belong to each other, as presenting a prophetic scene to us. think we shall find they beautifully combine. They point our thoughts onward. We see the future, but we see it in very different lights.
Now, you see, in a short passage in chap. 19: 28 we get the future spoken of under one simple title, " The regeneration." Now that is a title which we only find in two places; here, and in Titus. Here it does not mean the process of regeneration, but the condition of the regenerated world; what is commonly called the Millennium. It is called in Hebrews, " The world to come." We call it, for convenience sake,. the Millennium. But we often, for convenience, lose that which is important. If the only sense I have of the future is that it will last (as the word implies) a thousand years, that is a very poor thought of it. The Millennium will be the scene of a regenerated world-a world in new moral conditions. Now, in Titus, the Apostle uses the same word, but there he is speaking of tie process of regeneration, not the thing fully regenerated; and beautifully these things go together. Your being regenerated, or born of the Spirit, is your title to stand in the regeneration of glory by-and-bye: Titus uses the same word to express the process in the individual soul which is used in Matt. 19 to express the result.
Now this regeneration is to have various departments of glory. The Son of man will then sit on the throne of His glory. But when He seats Himself in that. blessed and glorious scene, He will have the heavens with Him and He will have the earth with Him, as the great departments of that scene. Now the office of the transfiguration in chap. xvii. is to present a sketch of the heavenly part of the regeneration. The office of chap. 21. is to present a sample of the earthly part of the regeneration. Thus we see a beautiful link between three of these passages, chap. 27: 19., and 21.
We will now turn to chap. 27. We find here that the Lord takes them up to a " high mountain." There is a meaning in that. Just as when the Lord took Moses up to the. highest summit of Pisgah. God is conducting Moses mystically to the very same spot as that to which the Lori takes Peter, James, and John the heavens of the millennial world. Moses sees the land before him just with the eye of God. He was looking at the footstool in company with Him who sat on the throne. And just what God was doing to Moses at Mount Pisgah (which was mystically heaven), the Lord is doing here with His disciples. And what did God show to Moses? He showed him glory. The earth will be the scene of glory in one style; but the glory of the terrestrial is one, and the glory of the celestial is another: Exactly so, the Lord takes these three up, to be witnesses of the glory that is to fill the world to come. And then He Himself is transfigured. This is a pledge and sample of 1 Cor. 15 The Lord here appears in His glorious body, just as the elect will pass into their glorious bodies. In a moment, His face shone as the sun and His raiment was as white as the light. He had a title to pass into the glory at once. He might have had twelve legions of angels; but if He had taken it alone, He would have abided in it alone. The Lord need not die to pass into the glory, but if He had not died He would have passed into it alone. But the house must be filled it was
morally impossible that the Lord should dwell there alone. The love of God, the counsels of grace, all forbid such a thought. So we find Him here in company with others. Moses and Elias represent the quick and the dead-Moses, I believe, being already raised, and. Elias being translated. Here; they are in glory with Christ, and talking with Christ. If there is a blessed secret in Scripture it is the intimacy of the Lord and his people. Whether He comes down to be in our conditions, or He takes us up to be in His conditions, there is the same personal intimacy between us. They are not only in glory with Christ, but talking with Christ. Will glory estrange Christ from you and me? If my necessities did not throw me at a distance from Him, His glory will not throw Him at a distance from me. This is a volume of delights. I want, in one sense, no other writing to show me the blessedness of the millennial heavens.
"Like Him and with Him forever to be." Moses and Elias are talking intimately with Him, face to face. You may say there is very little told me there about heaven. Volumes are there, and enough to satisfy the heart. You get them " like Him," and " with Him."' Then Peter feels the power of the Place, in spite of himself, and says, " Lord, it is good for us to be here," etc. Nothing could be a more exquisite picture of the moral power of the place. It took Peter out of himself, and that is just what you and I want to make us thoroughly happy. Peter was willing to work, and let others enter into his labors. His heart was satisfied.
So we learn here, that glory will not throw us a single inch from Him, the blessed Lord; and it will take us out of ourselves. When Peter had spoken, the cloud came, and separated the glorified from those in flesh and blood, just as it will be in the regeneration. The glory of the celestial will be one, the glory of the terrestrial will be another. The glorified saints may visit the earth, there may be a ladder, but the two glories, cannot commingle. The cloud comes in to do its own office. It takes, within its folds, the glorified family, and leaves outside those in flesh and blood. The disciples were not at all prepared for this; "They fell on their face and were sore afraid." Then, Moses and Elias returned to heaven. The Lord Jesus had still to travel on to Calvary, and when they saw Him, His robes of glory were laid aside, and there He was in their intimacy as Jesus again. One moment in the intimacy of glory; the next, in the intimacy of Him who was bound for the altar.
Now we come to chapter 21., and we find ourselves in a scene altogether earthly. It is a scene of royalty.
We get no royalty in heaven. People sometimes call the Lord Jesus King of the Church. This is great ignorance. He is King of Israel. He is the elder brother in heaven, having the pre-eminence there as well as here; but I do not see Him as a King there. I see Him there as the firstborn among many brethren. He has the pre-eminence wherever He shines; but He will shine there in celestial glory as He will shine here in terrestrial glory.
Now the Lord sends out two disciples to bring Him an ass; and if any man said anything to them, they were to say, " The Lord hath need of him." Now we must be a little careful here. We are about to pay a visit to the earthly part of the regeneration. Here we get the Lord Jesus in two distinct glories, in His lordship and His kingship. There is a sample of each given here. His lordship of all things, and His kingship in Jerusalem. We get His lordship first, where He sends for the ass. He assumes that the cattle on a thousand hills are His. The owner might have the title of a purchaser, but Christ had the title of Creator. The two disciples were the representatives of the rights of Christ. As they were about unfastening the ass and the: colt, the owner naturally says, Do not be touching my property." " The Lord bath ' need of him," and just as Peter was made to feel the power of the holy mount, so this man was made to feel the lordship of Jesus. Human nature keeps what belongs to it, and gets more if it can; but this man was crowning Him Lord of all, and blotting out his own title deed. So the Lord gets the ass and the colt, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah. Then He gets on the ass, and as soon as He is seated there He is transfigured into royal glory. The Lord of the whole earth, and the king of Jerusalem are only different glories in
ne person. So the moment that as Lord of all He gets on the ass, He enters the city in royal glory. Then the whole multitude is forced, just as the owner of the -ass, to express the power of the moment. They hail this coming king, and cry, " Hosanna to the Son of David." How beautiful! Is it a happy thing to you that-Christ has your heart in His power? He can twist about that wretched heart of yours, and make you to feel the proper virtue of His presence. As we read somewhere, " the hearts of kings are in Thy rule and, governance." Peter was made to feel the power of the moment, and the owner of the ass, and the giddy multitude were forced to take the impression of the occasion and cry out, " Hosanna to the Son of David,-blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." Now we have paid our visit to the earth, the picture has faded and passed away. I do not see the lordship of Christ on earth now, and He has been rejected as king. And now, was not I authorized in placing these three passages together? They are different departments of the same regeneration. And do not you be saying, " I wish the Lord had spread out a larger picture of the millennial heaven and earth." Make much of what you have got, and you will find it enough for the moment. I have Himself in various characters of glory. The whole re-;generation has been mapped out before me.
Well, now just go with me to the 64th verse of chapter 26. You will say, What connection has this with the other three? I say if you do not introduce this verse in connection with the passages we have already lad, you will have a very imperfect knowledge of the whole way of God in the future. The intimation of the Lord is this, " I am coming back in judgment." He sits in power, not in grace at the right hand of God, not till His elect are gathered in, but till His enemies are made His footstool. The soldiers of Cæsar had seized Him. He was the world's prisoner and the Lord lets the world know that when He came back it would be in judgment. The judgment of the world introduces Him to the scene of His brilliant glories. Judgment lies in the fore ground. The cloud is constantly in Scripture, the symbol of judgment, as in Isaiah," The Lord rideth upon, a swift cloud "; and in Revelation, "Behold He cometh with clouds"; and so here.
So we see the kingdom shining in the distance, and then a solemn awful intimation is given to the world, that the Lord will enter on the scene of His glories through judgment. Till He has judged the present evil world,. the world to come cannot be displayed. Till He has set aside a world of corruption, He cannot enter on a world of glory.
It was the same God who gave to the Lord Jesus the Revelation for us in grace, who also marked for Him the time in which He should give it forth. And He also it was who, at that very time, brought John, through the means of a bitter persecution, into the very spot in which the Lord was to reveal it to him.
I dare say John's thoughts about the troubles that befell him, and which were the immediate occasion of his being pushed into Patmos, were very different before and after- that he had been there and had there received the Revelation.
Afflictions, weakness, man's wickedness acting according to hatred of the truth,-and the breaking up of all John's work, and, perhaps, thoughts about work for the Lord on the one side,. and on the other side, God and the power of His might which (causing all things to work together for good) was guiding John,—in his weakness, by a current of afflictive circumstances over which he had no power,-to a point where the Lord Jesus wanted to meet him and give him the substance of the Apocalypse.
These are the two very opposite views of one and the same thing, as looked at from John's stand-point on the earth, or from. God's stand-point in heaven.
If I sanction my eye resting upon any one but a risen and an ascended Christ now in heaven, -my heart, my mind, my very' soul must (if led by the Spirit-if true to Christ) feel a chill, a darkness, avoid. If I feel it not, it is because I am worldly in, walk, and not led by the Spirit and by faith.