" Come, Lord Jesus." Meditating lately on this word, which is a bold word for mortal's mouth, I was struck with the flow of truth which runs through this same book, and shows that which constitutes at once John's liberty to say it, and made it meet and natural that he should do so; and that we also, who have like faith with him, should do so likewise.
I will briefly pass through some of the passages.
It was to this same Lord Jesus that he owed complete deliverance from guilt, and the certainty of glory.
Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Rev. 1:5, 65And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5‑6).) To such an one, how well could John say, Come!
It was in this same Jesus, when displayed in glory, that John, in his weakness and feebleness, had found the fountain of sympathy and help.
The glory in which He showed Himself to John was great. " His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." (verses 14-16). And the effect on John was overpowering. " And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead " (v. 17). But sympathy and aid were near, for they were in the Lord who was there. " And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (v. 17 and 18). What grace in this act, stooping to lay his right hand upon His prostrate servant! What graciousness in the words, " Fear not!" And mark how all about Him showed His competency to sympathize. Himself, personally, was the First and the Last;—His experience was thus marked. '" I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen." And the insignia he carried were the keys of hell and of death.
The glory of the person, His experiences, this emblem of His present power -how do they all suit the prostrate state of the feeble though true servant.
There were traits, too, shown by the Lord in the addresses to the Seven Churches, most attractive, as well as most glorious. Has He to take forth the precious from the midst of the vile? Zealous He must be, and is, for God and the glory of the services which rest upon Him; but how desirous to praise all in His servants which he can praise; and where there is no good in connection with them to praise, then, how does His own divine goodness show itself in His readiness_ to bring forth the rich stores of his own wealth for man's encouragement:-
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (2:7).
"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life... He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death" (2:11).
" To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it" (2:17).
"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star" (2:26-28).
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels" (3:5).
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and my new name " (3:12).
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne " (3:21).
Sweet to hear these words- sweet to record them for others—but sweeter still to the hearer's and to the recorder's mind the thought of their sweetness to the speaker of them. God is God—and divine fullness, and pleasure, and praise are natural to His presence, and are attractive to those that are His, just as emptiness, sorrow and discontentment are natural to fallen man and repulsive to the redeemed.
See, too, the rich uncovering which the Lord made of His titles and glories in these addresses to the heart that loved him (1:5, 6, and 17, 18); these were precious in themselves, and the uncovering of them to faith was of the grace that made Himself to be loved.
" These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks " (2:1).
"These things saith the First and the Last, which was dead, and is alive" (2:8).
"These things saith He which hath the sharp sword with two edges" (2:12).
These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass" (2:18).
"These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" (3:1).
"These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth" (3:7).
" These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God " (3:14). All these titles show His own connection in grace with the churches which had failed, just as His large promises to the overcomer show His grace to provide for taking forth the precious from the vile. What a study, too, of His graciousness of ways and thoughts had those seven addresses opened and furnished to him that said, Come, Lord Jesus.
4. But the Lamb had His own place upon the throne of the Lord God Almighty. Blessings and privileges enjoyed by His people in the wilderness; His service to God in connection with them there, with all sympathy and large-hearted liberality, were surely true; but these were things connected with circumstances which could be shaken—He had His own place on the throne which could not be shaken, and there, Himself was the over of His people—the securer for them of the knowledge of things to come.
The believer's peace, amid trial, consists very much in his being able to trace that his path is according to God. "Ye shall know,' has a peculiar force in connection with the blessing of the people of God since Pentecost. Of what inestimable value, then, is the breaking of the seals of the book of futurity by the Lord—from how many sorrows does attention to the truth there found save us? If it were only the general truth that the church's path through the desert has been looked over by the Lord, that would be sweet; but where the heart has been taught of God, there is, beside the general truth, many an individual one which, while it may draw the soul into watching, and occupy its energy with examinations of the word, forms in it. both humility and dependence. And could not John say " Come " to Him whose grace had traced the path through the stormy ocean of man's apostasy for that people of whom John was one? If they had to pass it apparently alone and without Him, how welcome the sight of Him whose love had given them the outline of their voyage and its sorrows.
There is in chap. 8:2-5 another truth to be noticed:- " And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake."
In chap. 5, the Lamb was the channel by which light divine flowed down from the throne of God to man on earth, about the contents of the sealed book. Here He, as an Angel, is the channel by which prayers and groans ascend to God. Yes, every sigh, every groan of His people in the wilderness will sooner or later reach God; and the same God who listens to the sighs of His prisoners, will vindicate their trust in Him, and will destroy their oppressors. It is the Lord Jesus to whom John says, chap. xxii., " Come, Lord Jesus," who in the fixedness of His own glory as Mediator between God and man, at once hands up the prayers in this eighth chapter to God, and shows that His office of Mediator stays judicial acting from God towards the earth.
6. Let me turn now to chap. 10: -" And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and lie had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and he cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and on the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings."
There is in nature a foolishness of love which leads the heart and mind into movement whenever the object of affection passes before us. This is true in grace also, though here the wisdom is justified of its action, for He is worthy who is loved; more worthy than mind can think or heart can measure—and we love Him because He first loved us. He may have roused our attention, may have sought our love, may have shown and made good His love to us by solitary acts, and by innumerable benefits conferred; but it is Himself we love. The glory and the majesty of His person who is here present, employing and directing His servant what to retain and what to communicate of things shown to him; letting him into light, and giving him intimations of what the experiences that light would lead into is very attractive and very expressive of the personal love which the Lord bears to His servant.
7. When I read chaps. 11-15, and contemplate in them the various scenes through which the Lord made His servant John to pass—Jerusalem remembered on the earth; its connection with heaven's, plans about Messiah; the heavenly man purger of the heavens for the Church; head of an outcast suffering race amid Jews and Gentiles -part of which should be concealed to become an earthly seed when the power of the world, the flesh and Satan, was put down, and another part of which should fall in testimony, but rise and reign with Christ: when I see also this vision of His own triumphs shown to and tasted by John, surely I say it must have had a kindling, stirring effect upon his affections towards his Master.
Just as, 8thly, chaps. 16-18, as containing the downfall of all the strength of that world from which John was at once separated and suffering, must have given, as from the Lord, the confirmation to his soul of the blessedness of the position into which Christ had brought him. That which oppressed him could and would be shaken; but he, as not being of it but in the secret of the Shaker of it all, knew and could anticipate the shaking with quietness.
9. Heaven's breathing forth of joy at the triumph of God now come—and the preparation for the marriage of the Lamb on high—had ushered the Lord into the earth as putter-down for a time of all adverse powers, in chap. 19.
10. And in chap. 20 John had seen the kingdom and the fellowship of it; and
11. How even that, in the wondrous height and depth of Divine grace, was but a means to a final end. All enemies put down;—God could be all in all. But who is the bringer-in of the eternal state, in which God's tabernacle shall be with men, who, save this same loved, and loving Lord Jesus?
12. But as though all this were not enough, we find the blessed Lord turning back from 21:9 to the Church as the bride, the Lamb's wife.
" Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25-2725Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25‑27)). Yes! He nourisheth and cherisheth the Church.
The way that we see in this wondrous description of the Church's millennial glory -the fulfillment of "Thou in me and I in them " of John 17 is blessed. Expression of the Lord's own perfect beauty -sharer of the glory given to Him -the bride which He Himself will come to fetch—which He will present to Himself a Church in glory, " without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." These were the rich expressions which characterized the love of the Lord Jesus Christ—which led Him to say, "Surely I come quickly;" which were the liberty and the power of the heart of John to say in reply-
"EVEN so, COME, LORD JESUS."
This paper shows how the heart finds sweetness in Revelation, where the understanding (p. 92) has found light.