The New Wine of the Kingdom
(No. 3526)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1916.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day
when I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom." Matthew 26:29.
SUCH words could hardly have been spoken at such a time by our Lord
Jesus Christ without some deep significance. Let us, then, reverently
enquire into their meaning. What thoughts were those that stirred in
His own breast? What lessons did He convey to His beloved disciples?
And, first, does not our Lord here express–
I. HIS RENUNCIATION FROM THAT MOMENT OF ALL THE JOYS AND COMFORTS OF
LIFE?
Putting aside the cup that was filled with the juice of the vine, He
said, "I shall henceforth no more drink of this fruit of the vine."
Here He bids farewell to social cheer. Whatever little comforts He had
enjoyed were now to be quitted. He had never been rich–full often He
had not where to lay His head. His clothing had always been that of a
simple peasant–"a garment without seam" had sufficed for Him. Scanty
the rest He had ever known. Little luxury He had ever enjoyed, but now
He does, as it were, solemnly relinquish every creature gratification,
"I will henceforth no more drink of fruit of the vine." Not as One who
had been satiated with the comforts or surfeited with the pleasures of
life did our Lord and Master speak. It is no uncommon thing for the
pleasure seekers of the world to feel the strongest aversion to the
indulgences for which they once had the keenest relish. The world's joy
sours, its sweet honey sickens on the palate, its most fascinating
entertainments, by constant repetition, pall the faculty of enjoying
them! Our Savior had encountered life in its sterner moods. His main
aim was to discharge its duties, not to divert Himself with its
amenities. Nor did He put aside that cup out of any ostentation, as
though He affected a stoical indifference. We all know that refreshment
is needed to recruit the energies of the laborer or the sufferer.
Nothing could be less in keeping with our Lord's disposition than a
gloomy asceticism. Yet He willingly now, before His disciples,
renounces all that there was of this world's good. Taking, then, this
wine cup as a symbol, and understanding it to represent earthly cheer,
we observe how significantly He puts it aside–He will partake of it no
more! We ask the reason why in the presence of so strong a
determination, so clear a prediction.
But before I attempt to answer the question, let me remind you that
there are occasions in the Christian life when a man is bound to give
up all his comforts for Christ's sake. It is by no means impossible or
improbable that honest principle and sterling integrity may demand of
you or me a total surrender of everything which we have been accustomed
to hold dear. A sincere Christian must maintain his conscience, even if
he can scarcely maintain himself. He must come down from the broadcloth
to the fustian, from the mansion to the cottage, from riding in his
carriage to trudging on foot. Our fathers did it and they did it on
principle–they did it for Christ's sake. The martyrs did more–they
laid down their lives upon the altar when Christ's cause demanded it.
The like times may come back to us again. In the competition of the
unscrupulous, the righteous must suffer. Business is rotten through and
through, nowadays. The whole style of conducting your merchandise is so
doubly dyed in deceit, that I should not marvel if a Christian often
finds himself a loser by doing the right thing and maintaining a strict
integrity! But we must sooner be losers in this way than lose our
acceptance with God! We must be willing to sink in the world's esteem
and be counted fools for Christ's sake, rather than amass riches and
rise to a position of commercial influence through any equivocal
dealings or any sort of duplicity! We must keep our consciences from
being soiled with the wiles and stratagems of those whose ingenuity is
always directed to the promotion of bubble companies, or the practice
of some disingenuous finesse whereby they lie in wait to deceive the
unwary. Refrain yourselves from every false way! But do not vaunt your
own purity or be ostentatious of your own vir-
tue, as if you were better than others. Above all things, do not make a
cross for yourselves and then put it on your own back and act the
martyr! But when you must take up your cross for your Master's sake, do
it as He did–with fidelity, yet with meekness–and say, "I will no
more drink of this fruit of the vine. I will no more seek the esteem of
my fellows. I will no more cultivate the world's friendship. I will no
more foster the affection of those who once loved me in my sins. I will
give up anything–I will give up everything–I will give up life,
itself, if necessary, that I may glorify God as my Lord and Master
did."
Now why did our Lord thus say, "I will no more drink of this fruit of
the vine"? It was because now He had other work to do. He must,
therefore, forego all that would stand in the way of His accomplishing
it. He had to sweat the bloody sweat! He had to stand accused before
Pilate and Herod! He had to bear His Cross through Jerusalem's
malicious crowds! He had to give His hands to the nails, and His feet
to the cruel iron. These were no times for thinking of comforts. And
the cause of the Master may sometimes make the same demands upon us.
The man who will devote himself to the mission field must be willing to
dispense with much of that personal and social comfort and
gratification which those who stay at home look upon as the best
recompense of their daily toil. The minister of Christ, if he would
serve his Master diligently, must deny himself the rest and ease to
which he would have a right if he were engaged in secular pursuits. For
your Master's work, you must be prepared to forsake all and yield
yourself up to Him unreservedly! You are not true to Christ, nor fit to
put your hand to His plow, if you pull that hand back because it
involves any sacrifice, however heavy. If Christ gave up the wine cup
and renounced by that act everything like the comforts of life–you,
too, if you have noble work to do for God–must follow His example and
in so doing you shall have your reward!
Our Savior did this, again, because His love to men compelled Him.
Giving up the fruit of the vine was not, in itself, a great act of
self-negation, but as a symbol it was very significant. As I have
already observed, it betokened His putting aside everything that is
considered gratifying and joyous in life. Jesus Christ, out of love to
us, gave up all. The Heaven of heavens could not contain Him. The
adoration of angels fell short of His Glory. He was "God over all,
blessed forever." Yet a manger held Him and a Cross upheld Him! What a
stoop was that–from the highest Throne in Glory to be a Man of Sorrows
and acquainted with grief–and this out of love to those who hated Him!
And they proved their hate by putting Him to death! Most sweetly will
this Truth of God refresh us if we remember that it was out of love to
us. We deserved nothing of Him. Love to miserable sinners, nothing but
pure love, could have led Him to resign His gracious breath. He loved
me before I had a thought of love to Him! He loved you when you were
struggling against His Grace and defying all His Law. Oh, think of His
giving up everything out of ardent love! How this ought to nerve us for
toil or suffering! How it ought to inflame us with love to Him! How
willing it should make us to give up anythingout of love to Him, and
love to our fellow men! Alas, that so few of us ever make sacrifices
out of love to souls! We can do a little ordinary service which
involves but little fatigue and little inconvenience, but oh, to have
the old spirit of chivalry burning in our breasts which would make us
cast ourselves upon the very teeth of Death out of zeal for the cause
of Christ! Oh, that some young men here could be moved by the love of
Jesus to give themselves up from this moment to live and die for Him!
Oh, that some holy women would renew their early consecration vows and
from this very hour be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of none
beside! The Church needs some few conspicuous specimens of self-denying
holiness, and perhaps those few, like standard-bearers lifting up the
ensign, would attract many others–and the Church might lift herself up
from the low level of our poor, weak, beggarly profession! We might
then serve Jesus a little after the manner that He deserves to be
served, and surrender ourselves to Him more after the fashion of His
surrendering Himself for us!
I take it that this no more drinking of the fruit of the vine means
more than my tongue could ever tell, though I spoke on for many an
hour. So I leave the thought with you. It is Jesus renouncing all that
makes life happy–giving up everything that cheers and
gladdens–sanctifying Himself for our sakes because He is called to a
noble work by His Father and by His God. But now, secondly, I would
have you think of our Lord–
II. AS TAKING FAREWELL OF EARTH.
He took the cup and, making that the symbol of everything below, He
said, "I will no more drink of this fruit of the vine." He bade
farewell to His disciples, and to the earth, upon which He had lived
for 33 years–and this He did without any repining. He did not say,
"Why am I taken away in the strength of My days? Why, when scarcely 40
years old, must My sun go down at noon? Why, before I have attained the
full age of man, must I be laid in the grave?" No, not a word of it,
and when your turn and mine shall come to bid farewell to everything on
earth, and to part with all below,
may we cheerfully yield to the summons without one single word of
repining against God! Oh, Lord, You have called me Home to rest–it was
but morning, and my work was scarcely begun, and I had fondly mapped it
out in the hope of much service to You and Your Church, but if You bid
me come Home, I will thank You that I have not to bear the heat and
burden of the day. Or if it is in middle life, just when my work is
about me, and I am busy in the vineyard, that my time of departure
should come, may I still be content! There are the plants and flowers I
have so fondly nurtured! Yonder is a tree that was about to bud and
here is what I hoped would be a fruit-bearing vine, but, Master, though
I should like to have seen all these reach their maturity, and though
my pride may say, "What will the Church do without me when I am gone?"
Yet, Lord, You did without me before I was born and so here in the
strength of my days You call me to leave these things, and I come, I
come! And if the call shall come to you at night, or towards
evening–as it will do, I know, to some of you, dear Brothers and
Sisters, who are getting gray and old in years–I hope you will feel,
"Lord, it is well. Our day's work is over, the shadows have lengthened,
it is time to fall asleep. We do not stand so much in the earth as on
it–we are waiting to be taken Home, to be gathered into the Garner."
Yes, without regret, I say, without any repining against the will of
God, may we heave the anchor and go into port! May we just quietly shut
our eyes on earth and open them in Heaven to behold the Beatific
Vision, without having made our last word on earth to be an act of
rebellion by lamenting that the voice says, "Rise up, and come away."
Our Lord did not withdraw from the world as an ascetic. He did not dash
the cup to the ground or denounce its contents. He did not put away
life, saying, "It is sour. I will taste no more of it!" I think I have
heard some people talk about life with very much of that bitter spirit
which cannot brook its toils and cares. They want to go Home, they tell
us, when in truth there is more infirmity than faith in the wish they
express! They are idle. They are not willing to bear their cross. They
are weary of suffering for their Master. Oh, shame on us if we are like
lazy workmen, always looking for Saturday nights! Such fellows are
never worth their pay. Shame upon us if we are courting the grave that
we may rest from our labors while there are yet wanderers to be sought,
outcasts to be restored, sinners to be saved! Are there not kinsfolk
and neighbors of ours that can hear the Gospel from our lips? Are there
no children to be taught in our schools? Are there no little ones to be
lifted out from the miry clay? Are there not fresh battles to be fought
for Christ–new enterprises to be carried forward–regions beyond to be
explored? If you have a real interest in the Redeemer's Kingdom, you
may well ask for a longer life if it is God's will that you may take a
larger share in these labors of love–and have weightier crowns to
present to that dear Savior who has gone before us to prepare mansions
for our rest! Thus, without repining on the one hand, or even a tinge
of asceticism on the other hand, He puts away the cup with as cheerful
an air as He took it! He sets His face towards death. "I will no more
drink."
And then notice how He stops, as it were, on the way His composure is
unruffled, as though death were to Him but the goal of His earthly
career, or rather a station on His journey to Heaven! He knows He is
about to depart and yet He deplores it not, for He perceives that it is
expedient for His disciples and for Himself that He should go away. Oh,
that when our days below come to a close, when we hear the Master's
call and feel the symptoms of approaching death, we may not be dismayed
or frightened! God grant that we may take leave of this mortal life
with peaceful confidence and holy calm! Should our exit be slow and
painful, may we be steadfast in faith and full of patience! Or should
it be otherwise, sudden and unexpected, may we be no less prepared and
ready! Floods of wrath rose high at our Lord's death, but there shall
be no such tumult about ours. The curse gathered around His dying
head–a blessing shall make a halo around ours! There was no sort of
pallet for Him to die upon–the Cross was His couch. The sweet comfort
of looking up to God was lacking to Him. "Eli, Eli, lama Sabacthanii"
was His dying cry! But we have our Lord to meet us and He has promised
that He will make our bed in our sickness. Our third reflection shall
be this– III. OUR LORD'S WORDS CONTAINED HIS DYING ANTICIPATION.
Said He not, "I will no more drink of this fruit of the vine, until
that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom"? He knew
He would die, but He knew that that was not the end! He expected
happier and brighter days, fairer banquets, fresher wine and purer
joys. Now, did Christ mean Heaven? I think He did, though that was not
all. Yet were it Heaven which He just then anticipated? Follow out the
prospect. Does He not picture Heaven to us as a place of festive
enjoyment? When He says, "I shall drink no more this fruit of the vine
now with you," does He not imply that in Heaven is the meeting place of
them that triumph, and the state rooms of them that feast? All the
enjoyments that can be imagined, and more, belong to the beatific state
of the glorified! Whatever could conduce to make an intellectual
mind happy, whatever could tend to make a refined spirit full of bliss,
shall be our portion! At God's right hand there are rivers ofjoy and
pleasures forevermore!
We learn, too, that the joys of Heaven are social, for Jesus says,
"Until I drink it new with you." I wonder what those make of Heaven who
think we shall not recognize one another there? I rather admire the
reply of a good minister to his wife, who, when she asked him whether
he would know her in Heaven, said, "Know you in Heaven! Of course I
shall! I know you here, and I shall not be a greater fool there, than I
am here." We are to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and
they will not have golden masks or veils that shall cover their faces!
Heaven is a place where they shall eat and drink, and rejoice together,
and I take it that much of the joy of Heaven will consist in seeing the
bright spirits whom we shall recognize as being men and women in whom
Christ's Spirit dwelt on earth, and in whom Christ's shall dwell above.
Oh, I reckon on meeting David, whose Psalms have so often cheered my
soul! I long to meet with Martin Luther and Calvin, and to have the
power of seeing such men as Whitfield and Wesley, and walking and
talking with them in the golden streets. Yes, Heaven would scarcely be
so full of charms in the prospect if there were not the full conviction
in our minds that we should know the saints and feast with them after a
spiritual sort.
But still our Lord's description of Heaven represents Himself as happy,
and happy with His people, "Until I drink it new with you." Alas, these
earthly banquets are too often so vitiated with revelry and excess,
that while using them as emblems of the feast above, I feel as if I
half dishonored that feast! In many cases the festivities of earth have
become so degraded and wicked that the Christian shrinks from mingling
with them. But we shall drink it new–this wine of Heaven. The wine of
Heaven shall be nothing that can make us sin, or even think of evil!
There shall be in it nothing impure or polluted–
"PPure are the joys above the skies, And all the region peace."
And those joys will not be like those of earth–fickle and frothy,
volatile and variable–by reason of which we are often lifted up, only
to betray our weakness and presumption! The wine will be new! It will
be holier joy, purer, sweeter. It will be a Divine joy in which Christ
will have His share and we, His people, shall each one take our
portion.
I have been wondering what will be the exhilarating contents of the
wine cup that we shall drink with Christ in Heaven. I think it will be
partly the joy of hearing that sinners repent on earth. We shall hear
about it. The angels do. "There is joy in Heaven among the angels of
God over one sinner that repents." Oh, how glad we shall be when we
hear that after we were dead and gone our dear boy was converted and
that in that place where we were once known to assemble, God's Spirit
is still resting on the ministry! It will be a joy to hear the angels
come and tell of tens of thousands of sinners brought to Jesus weeping,
and finding pardon in His blood! There is a grand cup in store for you
that love souls, when you shall hear these good tidings. It is Christ's
cup, I know, but you, too, shall drink of it!
Another ingredient of the joy will be to see the saints holding on
their way and increasing in their likeness to Christ–to see the boy
growing up and resisting temptation and all his spiritual faculties
developing. It is the joy of Christ to see His saints below growing in
Grace and persevering under difficulties, and that is the cup of which
we shall drink, too! We shall be cheered by seeing our Brothers and
Sisters who will be fighting the battle in this world when we have left
it. Shall we see them? See them! Why not? What says the Apostle?
"Seeing that we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses." Who are the "witnesses" but those bright and immaculate
spirits who, from the battlements of Heaven, look downward and rejoice
as they see us win the race? And we shall soon take our place among the
spectators and look down and see the race of the righteous whom we have
left behind, and rejoice as we see them win their crowns!
Another ingredient of that heavenly cup will be to see the saints come
up to Heaven. Oh, what bliss it is to Christ as, one by one, they come
up to His bosom–the purchase of His agonies, each one exhibiting the
power of His Grace in the change of their nature! If I could get a
place hard by the gate, how I would like to welcome one of the younger
ones of this congregation who may not arrive till long after we have
entered into rest! No, Christ is not losing His reward! He does see of
His soul's travail, and how we, too, will clap our hands as we say to
one another–
"They come, they come, Your exiled bands, Wherever they rest or roam,
Have heard Your voice in distant lands, And hasten to their Home! Thus,
though the universe shall burn,
And God, His works destroy,
With songs Your ransomed shall return,
And everlastingjoy"
Above all, and perhaps best of all, the wine cups of Heaven are filled
with the brimming, sparkling joy of delight in God's Glory. In the
latter days the hymn that now breaks on Christian ears shall salute the
ear of every savage and barbarian! They that go down to the sea in
ships shall sing the name of Christ as they spread the sail! The ranger
in Arabia's deserts shall listen to the name of Jesus, the Savior of
men! Far off, the swarthy inhabitants of Africa's sunny plains, and up
yonder, where the sun scarcely shines on the natives of frosty
Labrador, in every region of the earth, prayer shall be made for Him
continually and daily shall He be praised! God shall be glorified, the
whole world shall become an altar for God's praise! His saints shall
worship Him, and sin, death, and Hell shall be overturned! And Christ,
if He drinks of this cup new in His Father's Kingdom, will give us who
share in His struggle, also partake in His victory!
But surely this is not all. I think when Christ said, "Until I drink it
new with you in My Father's Kingdom," He referred to His Second Coming
to the establishment of the Kingdom of God–to the millennial splendor
of the Redeemer's reign, and to that which will close it, when He shall
deliver up the Kingdom, the mediatorial Kingdom, to God, even the
Father, and God shall be All-in-All! I am not going to prophesy. That
is not my line. Those brethren who can prophesy succeed so admirably
well in duping their followers and also in contradicting one another,
that I feel no inclination to enlist in their ranks! But if I can make
anything out of God's Word, it is clear that a day shall come when the
cause of Christ shall have supremacy, when the Kingdom of God shall be
among men, when here on earth the Jew shall acknowledge the Messiah,
and the nations of the Gentiles shall come bending before His Throne!
There is to be a time when universal peace shall prevail, when the
sword shall be beaten into a plowshare, and the spear into a pruning
hook, and there is to be a day when Satan shall be bound and cast into
his infernal den in prison–when death and Hell are also to be cast
into the Lake of Fire. I take that to mean that there will be a day
when good will triumph over evil, when righteousness will vanquish
iniquity, when God shall have put beneath His feet manifestly before
the sons of men all those rebel bands of demons and men who stood out
against Him–and all the consequences of their sin in diminishing the
Glory of God shall be forever put away!
Such a day shall come when the great hallelujah shall be sung, when the
marriage banqueting table shall be spread, when every elect soul shall
sit at it–with Christ at the head–when every soul redeemed by Jesus'
blood from among men, every soul quickened by the Holy Spirit and kept
by the power of God unto salvation, shall, with his body raised from
the dead, being perfect according to the adoption and the promise,
stand up with Christ at the head, and–
"Sing hallelujah to God and the Lamb, And sing hallelujah forever,
Amen." Then shall this glorious wine cup of the New Jerusalem's best
wine be passed from lip to lip! Then shall God be worshipped by all His
redeemed! Then shall tears be wiped away and sin and grief shall cease
forever! Then shall be fulfilled the saying of the Master, "I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink
it new with you in My Father's Kingdom." Roll on, you wheels of time,
roll on and bring the glorious day, and may we be there! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS8:26-30; REVELATION 21:10-27;
22:l-5.
ROMANS8:26-30.
Verse 26. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities. For we do not
know what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself makes
intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered. Groans, then,
are prayers, yes, and prayers which the Spirit of God most certainly
hears! And those desires which altogether exhaust language, or which
cannot be put into language by reason of the exhaustion of our sorrow,
are nevertheless heard of God, for the Spirit of God is in them.
27. And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the
Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. That is, when the mind lies still and God the Holy Spirit
writes His will upon it, He also writes God's will. Hence such prayers
are sure to be effectual, for they are but the shadow of God's secret
purpose
falling upon the soul as a kind of prelude to the coming fulfillment of
that purpose! Saints' prayers are Prophets of God's mercies. We are
sure of it! We have no doubt whatever! We know it by experience, as
well as by Revelation.
28. And we know that all things work together for good to them who love
God. Not yet, "all mankind," but those who "love God."
28. To them who are the called according to His purpose. For they would
never have loved God if He had not called them to it, and had not
purposed to call them.
29, 30. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the First-Born
among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also
called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He
justified, them He also glorified. One is tempted to linger over that
golden chain and examine every link! It will suffice, however, to
observe that every link is well fastened to the next. Where there is
the "foreknowledge," which is also the "forelove," there is also
"elect"–there must be '"called"–there shall certainly be
"justification," and where that is, there must be "glory."
REVELATION 21:10-27.
Here we shall see a picture of what the Church of God is to be in the
latter days. And inasmuch as this vision came out of Heaven, it gives
us an idea of what is already in Heaven. Crowded as it is with almost
impossible beauties, this description is given to us to let us think,
and by faith conceive, of the glories of the future state!
Verses 10, 11. Andhe carried me away in the spirit to a great andhigh
mountain, andshowed me that great city the holy Jerusalem, descending
out of Heaven from God. Having the glory of God: and her light was like
unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
But what the Glory of God may be, what mortal mind can imagine? All the
imagery which the Apostle uses must fall far short of that simple
expression, "Having the glory of God." That Glory is to be upon the
Church and upon every individual member of it. The glory of every
Believer shall be nothing less than the Glory of God!
12, 13. And had a wall great and high. And had twelve gates, and at the
gate twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of
the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east three gates;
on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west
three gates.From every quarter of the world, God's chosen shall come
and find a gate straight before them, an entrance into Heaven! Die at
the Equator, or die at the Pole, there is an immediate entrance into
the rest of God from any place where we may die. Blessed be the name of
God for this!
14-16. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the
names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me
had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the
wall thereof. And the city lies foursquare, and the length is as large
as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand
furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
This is an idea scarcely to be grasped, to see a city which is as high
as it is broad! Such cities cannot exist on earth. They are meant for
that glorious future state. They will exist under the new heavens and
in the new earth, for which we look for at the coming of our Lord.
17, 18. Andhe measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four
cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And
the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was of pure
gold, like unto clear glass. All these joys are without sediment of
sin. Gold on earth is a dull thing. You cannot look into it. But the
joys of Heaven, if compared to gold, must be transparent. "Pure gold
like unto clear glass"–all the earth taken out of it, all its earthly
grossness. The joy of Heaven is Divine!
19, 20. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with
all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the
second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the
fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the
eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the
eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.See hew lovingly our
Apostle counts the foundations. He might have run them all into one,
and said, "The foundations were of these twelve stones," but it must be
the first foundation, the second, the third, the fourth. He dwells on
every one! The joys of Heaven will bear dwelling upon–they will bear
reflection. Here our joys, when they are over, leave but a handful of
thorns–but a handful of ashes like thorns that crackle and blaze under
the pot, and leave little behind them. But the eternal and spiritual
joys will bear for us to go into detail, and each one shall be most
precious.
21. And thee twelve gates were twelve pearls. Whoever heard of such
pearls? In what ocean but in the depth of God could such pearls be
found? The twelve gates were twelve pearls!
21. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each individual gate was one
pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent
glass. Streets are used for fellowship. There men meet each other. And
the fellowship of Heaven will be golden, bright, clear, perfect. Here,
when we meet with one another, we soon display and discover our mutual
faults, but there they shall delight each other with their common
beauty, all the beauties being borrowed from the Lamb, who is the Glory
of the place!
22. And I saw no temple therein. For it was all one temple.
22, 23. For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in
it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light
thereof Let us be going that way soon, Brothers and Sisters! Ah, may we
all meet there. What must it be to be there?
24-27. And the nations of them which are savedshall walk in the light
of it and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into
it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there
shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of
the nations unto it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything
that defiles, neither whatever works abomination, or makes a lie: but
they who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
REVELATION 22:1-5.
Verses 1, 2. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the
middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of
life, which bore twelve fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and
the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Abounding
joy, varied joy, ever changing, yet ever perfect–a tree which bears
twelve fruits, and yet fruits every month! Oh, when shall we get away
to those golden orchards? When shall we sit under those vines and press
the clusters with our lips?
3. And there shall be no more curse–Of labor, of sin, of sorrow, of
death.
3. But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. So that we
shall all be in the throne room, all beholding the King in His beauty,
and ourselves made His courtiers.
3. And His servants shall serve Him–That is Heaven to me, for here we
sometimes are unable to serve Him as we would. We are distracted,
worried, carried away from holy service by multitudes of cares, but
there, His servants shall serve Him.
4. And they shall see His face. What a happy blending–service and
communion–the hands busy, but the eyes ravished with the wondrous
sight of the face of God! You shall see His face! If any of us could
see the face of God on earth, no doubt we would die. The vision would
be too bright for us! When one heard this–one of the greatest
saints–he said, "Then let me see it and die," and I do not wonder that
he said so, for the sight of God, even should we die here, must still
be perpetual and it would make us live again! "They shall see His
face."
4. And His name shall be on their foreheads. Their faces made like
God's face, then–His name, His Character, reflected on their brows–is
not this worth having?
5. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither
light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light; and they shall
reign forever and ever. They themselves shall be kings! They shall
reign forever and ever!