It is very blessed, no doubt, to have right thoughts and feelings about divine things; but the question is, how to induce them and maintain them? A legal spirit, we know, never will; it “gendereth to bondage.” The law never made any one happy; for supposing we could keep it perfectly, we have only done our duty; but if we break it in the least, we incur its awful penalty. A soul occupied with its own feelings, is in some respects worse still; for then the feelings govern, and they are ever changing, though seldom in the right direction.
But how different, when the heart is set at liberty in the presence of God, through the work of Christ! It is then “free indeed,” and beyond the government of its feelings; and then it tastes for the first time the sweetness of perfect peace, and the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. When Christ is known as the Risen Man in heaven, and the eye kept steadily fixed on Him, we shall have thoughts and feelings answering to His position there. And our thoughts and feelings will be maintained in the proportion that our contemplation of Him is maintained. The judgment both of heavenly and earthly things will thereby be according to the mind of Christ. Both are seen in their true light when the eye is single. “But,” as the apostle says, “now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” Heb. 11:8, 98By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: (Hebrews 11:8‑9).
Here the apostle states two things — what we do see, and what we do not see. With regard to earth, we do not yet see all things put under Christ; with regard to heaven, we see Him there in power and glory. But in the intelligence and enjoyment of Christ in resurrection, faith contemplates the lower scene in its relation to Him. When we are near enough to Jesus, He covers the eye. Men and things are seen relatively to Him. Thus, and thus only, is our estimate of earthly things correct. Christ is not in earth’s fairest scenes — the eye sees Him not there. The busy, active, crowded, and it may be, gorgeous, scene is empty. The glory of all nations, tongues, and peoples, may be concentrated within the limits of the eye’s vision; still, He is not there — all its glory fades before the eye of faith — the thought of His absence dims its brightest luster. But, alas! this is not always so. It sometimes happens that Christians have got so far away from Christ in heart, that they become engrossed in the affairs of this life, and some can even visit and enjoy the poor empty, tinseled shows of this world’s vanity. What could be more lamentable? They forget that death’s stamp is deeply graven on everything this side of resurrection. But such actions clearly prove that the heart must have been away from Christ for some time. Such points are only reached step by step.
Even the natural man himself, although he knows nothing better, will own that such things are but the mere glitter of human vanity, and all vexation of spirit. But in faith’s estimation, everything is empty which Christ does not fill; and there, it has to confess — His hand is not seen in the whole assemblage of this world’s glories. They are not yet under His hand — they are not yet the reflection of His glory. Hence, an important question arises, Whose band are they under — of whose glory are they the reflection? Earth’s ready answer is — What is not of the Father is of the world — what is not of Christ is of Satan —what is not of the Spirit is of the flesh. “We see not yet all things put under him.”
We have only to wait “a little while,” and “the world to come” shall be put in subjection under the Son of man. The expression, “world to come,” does not mean either heaven or hell, as is generally supposed, but the dispensation to come, or the millennial age. We could not speak of heaven or hell as “to come,” they are now. But we all know that the millennium is to come — the period of Christ’s manifested reign over the heavens and the earth, as gathered together in one. Then it will be quite right for the believer to enjoy the world in all its glory to his heart’s content. The Lord’s name will then be excellent in all the earth, and His glory above the heavens. (Psalm 8) But, till then, he must pass through it as a stranger and a pilgrim. Our citizenship is in heaven; we cannot be citizens of both heaven and earth at the same time; once we were citizens of this world, now we are citizens of heaven, and ought to walk, though still here, as such. We no longer belong to the old world out of which the Lord has called us, but to the new world into which He is leading us. What a good report the Spirit gives of the pilgrim fathers on this point. “And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.” (Heb. 11:1515And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. (Hebrews 11:15). 16.) What a noble testimony this is! “God is not ashamed to be called their God.” Happy for the believer when the Lord is not ashamed of the place he takes in this world, or rather outside of it!
“Gate of my heart, fly open wide,
Shrine of my heart, spread forth,
The treasure will in thee abide,
Greater than heaven and earth.
Away with all this poor world’s treasures,
And all this vain world’s tasteless pleasures,
My treasure is in heaven,
For I have found true riches now,—
My treasure, Christ, my Lord, art thou,
Thy blood, so freely given!”
Let us now turn for a moment to the second thing —what we do see. “We see Jesus” This is more important to us than the coming millennium. He who bore our sins on the cross, and suffered death for us, is on the throne. What could be more grateful to us? And what a proof to us that our sins are gone! This ought to be the complete settlement of every question — the perfect rest of the heart, and the living spring of joyous worship. The first glimpse of Jesus crowned with glory and honor should separate the heart forever from the world which crucified Him; and, practically, unite it to heaven. It should change completely the thoughts and feelings, by transferring them all to Him who is there. All we love is there — all our interests are there. This is the only way of becoming heavenly minded. We can never become so by trying; we must be occupied with a heavenly object —we must “see Jesus crowned with glory and honor.”
True, most true, there are many still here that we love, and many may be the tender ties and interests that we cherish, but everything is to be viewed in the light of the risen Jesus, and loved according to our connection with Him. But there are few things that we realize so little as our resurrection life.
We ought ever to bear in mind, that when Christ died, we died in Him, and left the old world by means of death. “I am crucified with Christ,” says Paul, “nevertheless I live.” But we arose again from the dead in Christ, and entered the new world in the power of resurrection life. We were quickened together with Christ-raised up together, and seated together in heavenly places in Christ. Now, we are said to be “in Christ Jesus and being in Him we must be where He is. The natural mind may be unable to see the meaning of such truths, but faith has no difficulty. It sees things as God sees them.
What then do we see when we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor? Most surely, we see our place and image in Him there. How simple, yet how powerful! It is the proper action and power of faith. Christ is the divine expression — the perfect definition of every Christian’s position in the presence of God! Oh! what a truth this is, and what a power it has when enjoyed in communion with the mind of heaven! The more we contemplate Him — the more intensely and fixedly the eye gazes on Him there, the more will our thoughts and feelings become heavenly. “But we all, with open [unveiled] face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:1818But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18).) This is the only way of becoming spiritually minded — the only path to true happiness — the only ground of heavenly worship, and of continual joy in the Lord.
Take then thy rest, thou weary soul, trouble no more! Thy once humbled Jesus is now on the throne. Surely it is all well with Him there. But, oh! marvelous, blessed truth, not more so with Him than with thee, though thou hast not yet actually reached that blessed home above. His title is thine. Keep looking to Him, there is immense power in the eye. How often thine eye may have betrayed thy heart through its wanderings after unworthy objects, but now let thine eye sanctify thy heart undividedly for thy Lord.
His word endureth forever. And what saith that word, doubting soul, to thee and to me? “As he is, so are we in this world.” Hast thou had some difficulty as to the full meaning of the expression, “We see Jesus?” Thou canst have none here, surely. These words, remember, are the words of God! Are they not wonderful? They express our living union with Christ; and they plainly assure us, that as He now is amidst all the glory and blessedness of heaven; so are we, in the sight of God, though still in great weakness, and in a world of sin, condemnation, and death. Let nothing, my fellow Christian, rob thy soul of this heaven-born blessedness, though feeble in thyself, and still exposed to many temptations.
Oh! that we may calmly, sweetly, happily, continually, gaze on our Jesus, thus crowned with glory and honor! And may we not forget, when looking on Him in His glory and beauty, that we are looking, in one sense, on ourselves. “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” The two passages on which we have been dwelling are fitted and intended to enrich and strengthen the soul. Christ in glory for the eye, and the word of Christ for the heart. Had Peter only kept his eye on the Person of Christ, and His word, “Come,” in his heart, he would have walked as securely on the stormy sea as the Lord Himself.
“Thus far by grace preserved,
Each moment speeds us on;
The crown and kingdom are reserved
Where Christ is gone.
When cloudless morning shines,
We shall His glory share;
In pleasant places are the lines;
The home how fair.”