CT 7We may observe, to the comfort of our souls, how fully as at home both Paul and Stephen found themselves to be when brought into the presence of the glory; though, as we may remember, that glory had always been proving itself too powerful and overwhelming for the stoutest of saints in the flesh.
When the vision of the glory appeared to Isaiah, he was like a man that had taken the sentence of death into himself. He cried out that he was undone; and a coal from the altar was needed to touch his lips and restore his soul (Isa. 6).
So, as we may also recollect, Ezekiel and Daniel. The sight of the glory which each of them had (in different forms it is true, but that is no matter), overpowered them. They could not stand it. They fell on their face, and the Lord had to speak to them in words of restoring confidence and grace (Ezek. 1, Dan. 10).
Jacob, in still earlier days, in his way and measure, experienced this likewise. At Bethel, he had a vision of the glory in a certain form, though not so dazzling, and he is conscious that he is in the house of God, and at the gate of heaven. But still, there is something in the scene too weighty for his spirit; and he says, "How dreadful is this place.." It is not, I know, that he was altogether like Isaiah or Daniel; but still, he is not fully at ease in the place of the vision (Gen. 28).
And this was like Peter, James, and John on the holy hill. Like Jacob at Bethel, they tasted the sweetness of the place. They said, " It is good for us to be here;" but still, like Jacob again, their spirits are not fully prepared for the glory; and "they feared" as Moses and Elias enter the cloud with Jesus-yea, they fall on their face, and are sore afraid (Matt. 17).
All these cases tell us, that the stoutest saints, so to call them, the most favored in the flesh, find something in the presence of the glory more or less too much for them. Yea, John in Patmos found this, though, as we remember, he had lain on the bosom of his divine Lord (Rev. 1).
But, in beautiful and happy contrast with all this, neither Stephen in Acts 7, nor Paul in 2 Cor. 12, find the glory in any wise too much for them. And why is this? The answer is full of comfort to us, beloved. Stephen at that moment was, in principle or spirit, a child of resurrection. His face was then shining like that of an angel; so that when he looked up, and saw heaven opened and the glory of God there, there was in his spirit no mixture of fear or amazement, but all was delightful to him, and he could gaze at the open heaven and the glory with desire, though such ones as Isaiah or John, as Ezekiel or Jacob, when in the flesh, must own it to be too much for them.
So St. Paul. He was taken up to the "third heavens." But he was there, seeing and hearing, with powers and affections of soul all deeply, calmly, satisfied. He so speaks of that moment, as to give us reason to know, that it was unmixed enjoyment to him. It was only too much for him to communicate to others, and not at all too much for him to enjoy himself. But all this was so, because on that wondrous occasion Paul was out of the body-or, which is the same thing, whether in it or out of it he knew not. He was as one that was out of it; for, at the least, it was neither any use to him or hindrance to him.
What comfort there is in all this! It entitles us and enables us to know, that as soon as the body is laid aside, as soon as we are delivered from the flesh, there will be in us a capacity to converse with the glory in all calm satisfaction, as those who are at home in the presence of it-a capacity in the feeblest beyond all that Jacob, or Isaiah, or Ezekiel, or Daniel, or Peter, or John, or the most favored of the saints, while in the flesh, are equal to.
May we have hearts to long for that moment! It may come to us in the way of death, or by the translation or resurrection of " them that are Christ's." We ought to have a welcome for it in either way. "To depart and be with Christ, which is far better." The Lord lead our foolish sluggish hearts along that path of desire; for it is little some of us know of it. To be with Him, to be like Him, to lose the heart in wonder and love, to be satisfied, and all this in unmixed enjoyment and conscious capacity!
" Death shall unveil that world above,
Where the dear children of Thy love,
Attemper'd all to heavenly day,
Bear and reflect the immediate ray."
We should think of heaven, and seek to walk mote personally near the Lord in spirit, so that heaven may be more a reality to us. Did we but draw nearer to Himself in the exercise of our souls, so that His presence now were more true and real to us, the desire to be with Him would be enlarged in us. Be it so, Lord, for thy name's sake! Amen.