As we were singing the fifty-sixth hymn, " Lord we await thy glory," my eyes and my heart went up, and I felt, " Lord, I do." I felt that I was awaiting His glory. And I enjoyed the hymn greatly. I sang it with my spirit; I sang it freshly, freely, as one often does not, but as one ought always to do. Our words go to the Lord, and our hearts should go with the words, as they often do not. I felt truly I was waiting to see the glory of Christ, and I was happy in the thought of it.
Next we sang: " We have no home but there." And I felt that that was true too, and I was happy in singing it and in the prospect of the home reserved for us in the Father's house.
Well, further on in our meeting, when it became a question of our going forth to meet the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the unfaithful servant, and the consequences of being one, I did not feel so happy; and in connection with this, these three verses presented themselves to my mind, on which I should like to say a word for us all who are here, but more especially for those who are young, and may be not fully established in the grace of God.
Now, as already referred to, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is never " stale;" it never can be to the heart that loves Him. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself must be ever fresh and bright where there is faithfulness to Him.
The first of the verses that I have read is very beautiful: "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is lie that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." Well, the sayings of this book are beautiful sayings, beautiful words. They are words that touch the heart and conscience; they are words of holiness, words of truth, words of light. They are words that come to us from Him whose feet are as burning brass, and His eyes as a flame of fire; and therefore the words are beautiful words, and the sayings are beautiful sayings.
Let me quote a few of these beautiful sayings of Jesus: He says to the church at Smyrna that they were to have tribulation, but He adds, " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." What a beautiful word is that!
Then, again, take His word to Philadelphia: "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth." He says, I will take care of you; you shall be sheltered by me in the day of trial. That, too, is a beautiful word.
And now, He says, I am coining quickly. Blessed is the man who keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book. " Blessed " is the same as " happy." Happy is that man. Well, I doubt not there are many here who are keeping these sayings. But mark, there is no response here to the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus, connected as it is with " keeping his words;" there is no answer from the church to it.
Now look at the next verse. " And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." How gracious! All that we do for the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how small it may be, is owned of Him; nothing is forgotten; though, as David says, " All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given unto thee." I have nothing of my own. If I bring an offering to the Lord, it is of His own I offer unto Him. If a man is devoted, it is no thanks to him that he is so; if he does great things for the Lord, gives up much for Him, there is no credit. due to him. It is all the Lord's work in him. " What maketh thee to differ? "
Nothing in us. It is all of the sovereign grace of God that worketh in us by His Spirit. And yet the wonderful thing is that He says, I will give you a reward! To me, who ought to be in hell long ago if I had what I deserve, to me the Lord says, I will give you a reward! Why, it is a beautiful verse, that! Enough to stir us to the very depths of our hearts, is it not Thus we have these two things: keeping His word, getting these blessed and beautiful sayings; and then the reward by-and-by, when grace shall have culminated in glory.
But still there is no response to this announcement, "Behold, I come quickly." There is no answer from anybody; no one says "Come" to it yet.
But now I pass on to the last verse: " He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." The Lord Jesus says: Surely I come quickly; I say nothing to you about the sayings; nothing about the reward; I say nothing but what will make you think of, me; I am coming. And immediately there flows out the response: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." It is nothing but the supreme and sovereign grace of the Lord Himself that makes me give the response-that calls it out from my heart. It is this alone that makes me happy in the thought of meeting Him. If I think of my devotedness, alas! I shall not have confidence before Him; it turns me upon myself, to what I am and to what I do, and I shall not be free to say, "Come." The word of God should search us; I trust it has searched us at this time. But if we go home from these meetings with the best possible desires to put everything right for the Lord's coining, to deal with every single thing that we judge unsuitable to Him, it would not make us happy at the thought of His coming; it would not lead our hearts to say, " Come." That which sets us free in the thought of seeing Him is the free, sovereign grace of God, and that alone. Does that make us tremble at the thought? does that fill us with fear? Not for a moment! Contrariwise. It is grace that establishes our hearts in the hope of His coming, and it is grace that quickens and encourages our steps in the path of devotedness to Him meanwhile.
I just turn from this to one other word in 2 Timothy: " For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." Here is a crown of righteousness for all who love the Lord's appearing. The apostle might say: The crown is my reward; my portion for my faithfulness; and I could only answer: Well, good-bye, Paul; you and I shall never meet again. But no, not so. There is no question but that every man's reward shall be according to his own labors, and the apostle will have the full reward of his own labors as he says: " For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy." But the crown of righteousness is not given to a certain class; it is not promised as the result of special devotedness. True, Paul says, "the Lord shall give it unto me" in that day; but that he may not in anywise discourage certain souls, timid ones that need encouragement by the way, he adds immediately: " and not to me only but"-mark well the words-" unto all them that love his appearing." It is the common portion, surely, of every true Christian.
Well, I was trying to ask myself, as our brother said, what would be the effect on me if I knew the Lord was just about to appear. I can only answer, I think my feeling would be: I am His; and that would settle all for me. The grace that has saved me will, I am assured, carry me right on to the end; that free and sovereign grace which has set my heart at rest from the judgment, will also set me at liberty in His presence, when He comes in glory, as it keeps me now while waiting for Him. (E. C.)