are attached, unchanging. We have seen that there is "no night
earth that should daunt, or fret, or oppress us? Sorrowing "as those who have no hope" is indeed the sorrow of sorrows; but sorrowing with such a hope as this before us seems like an undervaluing of our inheritance. Should the "children of light" be troubled about a few hours' darkness when they are looking forward to the city of light, and to an eternal day within its courts?
7. Its privileges.—These are manifold, and, like the city to which they are attached, unchanging. We have seen that there is "no night there"—no "night of weeping"—no night of tossing, and weariness, and watching, so that we should say with Job, "When shall I arise, and the night be gone?" (Job 7:4)—no night of toil, and broken rest, and heavy dreams—no night of darkness or of tempest. All these have gone by: we now know what it is to be children of the day, not of night and darkness. But, besides this, there are other immunities enjoyed in this city.
There is no more curse (Rev. 22:3). Creation has been delivered from the bondage of corruption. It shall not again travail or groan. It waited long for the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19), and that has come at last. Every trace of the curse is gone, for the sin which bound that curse upon the brow of creation has disappeared. Nor shall sin ever again have dominion over the new creation, for it is not under law but under grace, upheld by a better covenant, which is established upon better promises.
There shall be no more death (22:4); or, as it is more literally, "death shall be no more." It shall be "swallowed up in victory;" and, surrounded by the glories of resurrection, we shall forget that mortality was ever ours. No dread of "the king of terrors" shall disquiet us; no fear of having loved ones snatched away shall cloud our fellowships; no memorials of death shall haunt us—either the churchyard monument, or the blank which bereavement has made in our dwellings. These former things shall have passed away. And, as if to teach us the true evil of death, to prevent us misnaming it a "debt of nature," to shew us the divine estimate of its hatefulness and
terribleness, and the joy which its removal shall call up, God represents himself as speaking thus triumphantly: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes" (Hos. 13:14).
There shall be no more sorrow, nor crying, nor pain (21:4). The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick (Is. 33:24); nay, God himself shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. O happy undoing of all the long ills of time! Sorrow is no more;—man's sorrow—his heavy burdens, and racking cares, and sore unrest;—woman's sorrow—her pangs of travail, her wounds of disappointed affection, with the manifold trials of her dependent lot;—childhood's trials—the ills of tender youth and feeble infancy, crosses, partings, sicknesses, so often drying up its freshness and dimming eyes "not yet ripe for tears;"— all these, with the ten thousand times ten thousand bitternesses of life, shall have passed away. The evils which have flowed over creation from the first woman's sin are all reversed! Man did his utmost to reverse them during the six thousand years when he had the lordship of earth, but in vain. Gold could not bribe his way back to paradise, nor make one of its closed flowers re-open its blossoms. Power could not restore order, nor banish lawless passions. Skill could not say to the pained head, Ache no more; nor to the fevered pulse, Be still; nor to the tortured limb, Feel not; nor to the wan cheek of consumption, Put on new bloom. Sage counsels and the experience of ages could not bind up the broken heart, nor re-fasten severed links, nor reanimate spent hopes, nor smooth life's rough realities, nor fill hollow voids, nor dry up the fountain of tears. But all this shall one day be done. God himself, with his own hand, shall do it. For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall lead us to the living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes.
God's throne shall be in it (22:3). It shall be the metropolis of the universe, just as the lower Jerusalem shall be the metropolis of earth; and just as of the latter it is said, "There are set thrones of judgment,
the thrones of the house of David" (Ps. 122:5), so of the former we know that there is Jehovah's throne, and the thrones of his risen saints, his "royal priesthood; "for "blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power: but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years" (Rev. 20:6). This shall be not merely, like Gideon, "one of the royal cities" (Josh. 10:2), but THE ROYAL CITY, of which "glorious things are spoken" (Ps. 87:2). Here shall be the throne of the King of kings, in the midst of a paradise which, more truly than Asher ever did, "shall yield royal dainties" (Gen. 49:20). Here shall the "royal majesty" be bestowed on the true Solomon (1 Chron. 29:25); and here shall the true Esther be brought to the king, in raiment of needlework, in "royal apparel" (Esth. 5:1), with the "crown royal" on her head (Esth. 2:17). Here shall the true Solomon himself be crowned, "in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart" (Song 3:11); and here also shall he not only crown his Egyptian Bride, but give her of his "royal bounty" (1 Kings 10:13). And at the marriage supper of the Lamb shall they drink "royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king" (Esth. 1:7).
Here, too, "they shall see his face;" yes, look upon him face to face. "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then, FACE TO FACE." We shall see even as we are seen, and know even as also we are known. Then shall Moses get his prayer fully answered—"Shew me, I beseech thee, thy glory;" even as then, also, shall Christ's prayer for his own get its entire fulfilment—"Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may BEHOLD MY GLORY" (John 17:24). It is, however, not merely the "beatific vision" that is thus referred to when it is said, "They shall see his face." The special allusion is to the honour of standing in the royal presence, and having free access to it at all times. In the description of the royal glory of the court of the great Persian king, we read of "the seven princes [called also 'seven counsellors,' Ezra 7:14], which saw the king's face, and which sat the first in the kingdom" (Esth. 1:14). So, in correspondence with this scene of regal state, it is said, "The throne
of God shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face." Such is our glory, our preeminence, our blessedness, in the ages to come! To stand nearest the throne—servants, counsellors, princes, all in one—to see the King's face, to "be first in the kingdom"—this honour have all the saints. And to this agree the words of the vision, elsewhere in the Revelation, "Round about the THRONE were four-and-twenty THRONES, and upon the THRONES, four-and-twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold.… And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living ones, full of eyes before and behind" (Rev. 4:4, 6). To this agree also the words of that other vision of the white-robed, palm-bearing multitude who "stood before the throne, and before the Lamb" (7:9); and of whom it is said, "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in the temple, and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them" (7:15). And is it not to this peculiar blessedness of "standing before God," and "seeing his face," that our Lord refers when he says, "Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to STAND BEFORE the Son of man"? (Luke 21:36.) Of those for whom this wondrous honour is in reserve, we may truly say with the Queen of the South, "Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee" (1 Kings 10:8).
To these, also, a "white stone" is to be given, and a "new name which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it" (Rev. 2:17). And with the "white stone"—the symbol of "no condemnation" for ever—there are to be given also the "white robes" (Rev. 3:4), the dress of triumph and bridal festivity, and kingly honour and priestly glory. They are made "pillars in the temple of God," and go no more out. They feed upon the "hidden manna," and eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Besides the "new name," there seems to be another inscribed upon them, "The name of my God, and the name of the city of my God" (Rev. 3:12). Nay more, Jehovah's own name is to be upon them. The
hundred and forty and four thousand that stood with the Lamb on Mount Zion had "his Father's name written on their foreheads;" and of the dwellers in the heavenly city it is said, "His name shall be in their foreheads" (22:4).
And "God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (21:3). Then shall he be seen as "Immanuel," God with us. Yes, God "himself;" he and no other: he and none but he; "his own self" who bore our sins in his own body on the tree; "that same Jesus" that went up from Olivet; he, the very Son of God who "was made flesh, and dwelt among us" for a season, shall then take up his abode with us for ever.
But more still, "They shall walk with me in white" (Rev. 3:4). It is not merely, "I with them," but it is, "they with me." Both of these imply blessedness and honour; but the latter intimates more than the former. As we read elsewhere, "I will sup with them," coming down and associating with them here at their homely meal; "they shall sup with me," going up to partake of my marriage supper above. It is much to be told by the Lord, "I will walk with them in this wilderness below;" but it is more to be told, "They shall walk with me in the paradise above." To have Christ for our guest and companion in our own home is much; but to be his guests and companions in his home above is unspeakably more. Yet this is the Church's glory and reward, "So shall we ever be WITH THE LORD."
Ye whose citizenship is in heaven, look upward, and press onward with speed and gladness. Ye are "citizens of no mean city." Ye are citizens of the "joyous city," the "perfection of beauty," the "joy not only of earth," but of heaven. Your home is in the "many mansions," and these mansions are in the "continuing city." Let not earth's mists blind you, nor earth's sorrows dim your eye, nor earth's glitter dazzle you, nor earth's cares make you hang your head. Heed not the ruggedness of the way, nor the meanness of the inn, nor the sharp inclemency of the blast; but gird up your loins—redouble your speed —press onward; the city is at hand! See its gleam yonder! Does that not cheer you? Is not that light, dim as it may be just now, better
than the world's sunshine? A few days will bring you to its gates. You will find them open to receive you, and the first step across the threshold will make you forget past years of grief, as if they had never been.
But some citizen of earth may read these lines. O man without a home for eternity, will not the glory of this everlasting city allure you to seek a dwelling in it? To be shut out of such a city, and to be "driven into darkness," that surely is no trivial loss. Will you not, then, secure the "freedom of this city," in which you may abide for ever; and so, when earthly cities pass away, you shall be "received into everlasting habitations"? The rights of citizenship are free. You may have them without money. Make immediate application for them, and you shall not fail. The Lord of the city will bid you welcome. He is too gracious either to upbraid or to deny you.
CHAPTER X
THE TEMPLE OF THE AGES TO COME
IN the vision of the heavenly city two things seem to strike the apostle's eye as new and unexpected. He saw NO TEMPLE therein, and no sun. As a Jew, he had been accustomed to a temple; but here there is none. As a dweller on the earth, he had known the brilliance of the sun in the sky; but here there is no sun!
Yet both of these apparent wants are supplied, God himself and the Lamb being both temple and sun. The great Builder of the temple has himself become the temple. The great Creator of the light of day has himself become the sun.
Let us notice first this strange want—the want of a temple, and then let us see the way in which this want is supplied.
"I saw no temple therein." The very thing which we should most have expected to find is the one thing awanting. We should naturally look for the very perfection of a temple, more glorious than Solomon's, more glorious than Ezekiel's. How strange, then, to find no temple! Why is it so? (1.) Not because God is absent or unapproachable. He is nearer now than ever—more really and consciously present; for this city on which the apostle was looking was his chosen dwelling-place. (2.) Not because there is no worship, or praise, or priestly service, such as a temple is specially associated with on earth. In that city the worship is unbroken, and the praise is never silent, and the service ceases not. There is a perpetual round of all those acts that befit the peculiar nature of a temple. (3.) Not because there is no fellowship with God or Christ. Communion there may be said to be at its height. There is the nearest, completest, most unobstructed fellowship that was ever tasted. (4.) Not because there is no priesthood. The saints are priests as well as kings. They have their censers as well as their crowns—their ephods as well as their kingly raiment. It is the royal priesthood that have their dwellings in that city; and that priesthood is eternal. Our great High Priest is after the order of Melchisedek, and that is for ever; it is an everlasting priesthood. We in this respect, as in others, are conformed to him; ours is the same Melchisedek priesthood as his; and, like his, this royal priesthood of ours shall be eternal. Not less than now shall we be hereafter "after the order of Melchisedek," when we take up our dwelling in the true city of the true Melchisedek. But as he, though the fullest type of the Great Priest, dwelt in a city without a temple, the earthly Salem, so shall we dwell and exercise our everlasting priesthood in a city without a temple—the "heavenly Jerusalem," the metropolis of creation, the "city of the great King."
There is, then, no visible structure of a temple, just because there is no need of it. The need of it shall have all passed away.
The need of a temple came in with sin. Eden had no temple, for there was no sin. Angels have no temple, for they have never fallen. It was for the sinning and the alienated that a temple was needed. For it is designed to be the visible meeting-place between the sinner and the invisible God. And, in connexion with this, it served many purposes. (1.) It taught the personality of God, protesting against the pantheistic deifying of every object in nature, and proclaiming Jehovah as the one living and true God. (2.) It taught men that God had not forsaken the earth, nor forgotten the race. (3.) It made known the approachableness of God, that men might know that access to him was not denied to them, though sinners. (4.) It laid the foundation for the effecting of that approach, by its sacrifices and services. (5.) It taught men that reconciliation with God could only be through blood, and communion with God only through priesthood. (6.) It proclaimed God's right to the creature's homage, shewing that he was not relinquishing but enforcing his claims, by the erection of a visible monument of his majesty, and the appointment of a meeting-place between himself and the sinner.
But if there be no temple, what is the substitute for it? "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb." He whose name is Jehovah, God, Almighty (that is, Godhead, the Three-one God), and the Lamb (that is, incarnate Godhead, the man Christ Jesus—they form the temple. It is an infinite temple indeed; nothing less than the bosom of the Father —of him in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Godhead invisible is the shrine or holy of holies, in which is to be our special dwelling; Godhead visible—the Lamb slain—is the gate of entrance. Godhead visible and invisible make up the infinite temple, the wondrous sanctuary in which we are not only to exercise our priesthood and carry on our worship, but in which we are to have our blessed and eternal home. As kings, our dwelling is to be in a city— the city of the King of kings; but as priests, our dwelling is in a temple, and that temple not only perfect and glorious, but absolutely and truly divine! Men talk of nature's temple—its floor, the green earth—its roof, the bright starry firmament—its pillars, the everlasting hills; but what is all this to such a temple as this—the
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb! A temple made with hands may be sacred and glorious, but truly it has no glory at all when compared with this!
At first there was, as we have remarked, no material temple in Eden. Then, when sin came in, there was a mere spot appointed for a meeting-place—an altar. For ages this continued. Then it expanded into a tabernacle, such as that which Israel had in the wilderness. Then, when this was taken down, it stretched out into a temple, such as Solomon erected in Jerusalem. Then this was taken down, and the body of the incarnate Son of God became the only temple; as that which absorbed into itself everything belonging to a temple, everything which made a temple needful. Man destroyed this temple with rude hands; but in three days it was raised up by the power of God, and then taken beyond the reach of man to deface or destroy. Earth from that day was left without a visible temple, lest it should slight or lose sight of Him who is a spirit, and worship a locality, a structure, a mere visible shrine! And should not earth now feel its loss, its incompleteness, its desolation, and long for the reappearance of Him who is its true and glorious temple?
When at last the New Jerusalem comes, it is seen without a temple! Not, as in the old Jerusalem, with a temple adorning it, and furnishing a centre of resort and worship to the inhabitants of the city; but without a temple! And why? Because all that was in the former Jerusalem was but the scaffolding; and now it is taken down that the true temple might be revealed—the Lamb the visible and palpable part of it, Jehovah the invisible and holy shrine—forming one glorious sanctuary, whose everlasting walls are the names and perfections of Godhead, more resplendent than jasper, or crystal, or gold; having for its entrance no longer a thickly-woven veil, to hide the interior, and hinder access, but an open gate—wondrous beyond all other gates of entrance—the incarnate Son of God, the Lamb slain! It is not, as of old, a temple in the midst of a city; it is a city in the midst of a temple! The infinite and everlasting walls of this temple compass us about, and compass about the city in which we
dwell. Our Father's house, with its many mansions, is surrounded with the glory of Jehovah as with the curtains of a pavilion, as with the walls of a temple. In that temple we are to dwell for ever. In that temple we are to serve as priests and reign as kings.
A passage such as this suggests those numerous others which speak of our "dwelling in God," such as 1 John 3:24, "He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him;" and 4:15, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God;" 4:16, "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." And then in reference to Christ the statements are the same. Thus he himself speaks:—"At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20). Thus, both of the Father and of the Son it is said that "we dwell in them," and that they "dwell in us." It is a mutual indwelling or inhabitation. We dwell in God, and he dwells in us. He is our temple, and we are his—for of us it is said that "we are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit;" and again, "Ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (2 Cor. 6:16).
Such is the mutual relationship in which we stand—God dwelling in us and we in God! Oh, what is there like to it in all the universe! What closeness of intercourse, what vitality of union, what fulness and endlessness of intimacy and endearment, what boundlessness of mutual love, what vastness of dignity and honour! To have Jehovah for our temple, our sanctuary, our holy of holies; not only to be made pillars in the temple of our God, but to be the priestly occupants of its infinite chambers of glory—what wondrous honour is this! And then, again, to be ourselves Jehovah's temple, the sanctuary, the shrine, the holy of holies, in which he shall eternally dwell, and out of which his glory shall shine forth upon the universe—what wondrous honour is this! Faith seeks to realise it, hope brightens in the anticipation of it, love glows and kindles in the fond desire of possessing it; but the full unfolding of its splendour, the full enjoyment of its excellency, is