the promise is of free access to it, the reverse of that refusal to man of
earthly. 'Paradise regained' is his; and in addition to it the paradise of God. From both was man shut out. Both were barred against the sinner. The flaming sword confronted each child of Adam, and forbade his entrance. Sin made him an outcast, an exile, a condemned man, with no home but the waste howling wilderness, the land of darkness. 'So He drove out the man' was the doom not of one, but of all. Expulsion from the presence and the paradise of God and from the tree of life was the sentence. We all went out of paradise with the first Adam, and became, like him, banished men. The second Adam entered in for us, and took possession of it in our name. He quenched the flaming sword; He sprinkled these heavenly places and heavenly things with His own blood (Hebrews 9:23), so that now the entrance relies open for the sinner. In believing, we get the title to all this just now; and as those who have believed and overcome we shall enter in hereafter. Entrance into the paradise of God, through Him who is the gate, is the reward of the overcomer. No slumber, then, no ease, no sheathed swords! Forward is our battleword. Forward to the celestial city, to the paradise of God, 'that so an entrance may be ministered to us abundantly' (2 Peter 1:2) into this everlasting glory. 'Today shalt thou be with me in paradise' may not be the promise; but it will not be long, for He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 2. Access to the tree of life.—In that paradise is the tree of life; and the promise is of free access to it, the reverse of that refusal to man of access to the earthly tree (Genesis 3:22,23). Free entrance, free access, and free liberty to eat of the tree of life. Everything connected with life is comprised in Jesus Christ: 'In Him was life; and the life was the light of men' (John 1:4). He is the bread of life; the water of life; He is life it self, He is 'eternal life' (1 John 5:20). The tree of life may or may not be an actual tree; but whether figurative or real, it represents Christ Himself, or something connected with Him, as the food of our immortal life, of our risen and glorified life. Just as He says, 'I will give him the morning star' (i.e. I will give him myself in the character of the morning star), so here He means, I will give him myself as the nourishment of his glorified being, and this in such a near and full way as he cannot have on earth. Christ, as the tree of life, the food of the new life, the
glorified life, is to be given to the conqueror in a special way, such as even faith cannot conceive of here. There will be different degrees of glory, and knowledge, and love; different degrees of intimacy and fellowship with the Lord Jesus. He shall bring us into His banqueting house in a new way then; under His shadow we shall sit down with great delight, and His fruit shall be sweet to our taste. Ezekiel's tree of life and gushing stream represent the earthly blessedness restored (more than restored), as in Adam's paradise. John' tree of life and crystal river represent the heavenly splendor and gladness; for the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another,—both of them together making up the heritage of the redeemed. 'Blessed are they that do His commandments' (or 'have washed their robe') 'that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city' (Revelation 22:14). The prospect of such things is greatly influential upon us here. It tells on our daily life. It quickens us, it nerves us, it purified us, it comforts us, it makes us brave and resolute. Nor is that prospect separate from the cross of Christ in which we glory here. That tree of life represents the fullness of a dying, risen, and glorified Christ. It is what it is for life and nourishment, by reason of its connection with the great atonement; so that even in the kingdom we shall eat of that of which atonement has been made,—priestly or sacrificial bread,—bread which is connected with blood, and has passed through the fire,—that flesh which is meat indeed, and that blood which is drink indeed (Exodus 29:33). Gethsemane and paradise can never be far asunder. They are inseparably linked to each other. The tree of death and the tree of life are after all but one; the glory of the latter can never be disjoined from the shame of the former. As we fell in the first Adam, we rose in the second. Nay more. Not only shall we have restoration of all that the first Adam lost, but partnership in all that the second Adam has won; in all that He has and is. As one with
Him, as represented by Him, we enter into the second paradise, and eat of the tree of life; not only undebarred, but welcomed; as the very tree to which we are entitled as conquerors,— Ephesian conquerors,—in a Church of Ephesian backsliders. For beauty, for food, for shade, for health, is that tree renowned; and all these we shall share with Him in whom, and by whom we are introduced into the garden, and made welcome to the heavenly fruit. And does not this tree send out its invitation to all the sons of the first Adam? Does it not bid welcome to all? 'Whosoever will' is the invitation to the water of life; 'whosoever' is the equally wide invitation to the tree of life.
XV. The Divine Food Of Our Heavenly Life
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna." —
Revelation 2:7.
The angel of the Church in Pergamos is both commended and reproved. Not a little of evil, of laxity, of unsound doctrine, was found in that Church; yet not a little of steadfastness and martyr-boldness for Christ. She is rebuked, she is warned, she is encouraged; and she gets a glorious promise, —of the hidden manna, of the white stone, and of the new name. It is to the first of these that we would now look,—the manna 'hidden,' or 'treasured up,'—as the reward of the conqueror; for these seven rewards are specially to 'him that overcometh.' As believers, we get eternal life; as warriors and conquerors, we get special rewards,—the rewards of victory from our mighty Captain. For religion is not a thing of ease, and luxury, and comfort; but of conflict, and weariness, and wrestling. He who knows it only as the former, and not as the latter, ought to conclude that he does not know it at all. It is not for parade, or show, or a name, that Christ enlists His soldiers, but for stern battle, for hard toil, for wounds and pain, and continual facing of the enemy. I. The manna.—The manna was wilderness-food,—in connection with tent-life, water from the rock, and the journeyings of pilgrimage. Israel did not know it: they asked what it was. It was connected with the desert, but it did not grow there. It came down from heaven; it was 'angels' food;' the 'bread of the mighty.' It sustained Israel, but did not make them immortal; it was simply food for the body given them daily by God, till they reached Canaan. Let us keep these things in mind, for the manna of which our text speaks is in several aspects a contrast to all these. II. The hidden manna.—The word 'hidden' does not so much refer to a thing secreted or concealed, as to a thing carefully treasured up and
preserved, like a precious gem; as when it is said, 'Your life is hid with Christ in God.' This hidden manna is evidently Christ Himself, or something directly coming from Him, and connected with Him. Christ, as the heavenly food of our glorified being, may be said to be the hidden manna,—just as He is the tree of life, and the morning star. Christ, as risen and glorified,— Christ in certain peculiar aspects and relations connected with the future glory,—is the hidden manna. Not simply Christ,—for even here we feed on Him as the bread of life; we eat His flesh, and drink His blood; our daily hunger is satisfied with Him,— but Christ, as connected with the holy of holies, the immediate presence and bosom of the Father. The word 'hidden' refers to the golden pot of manna which was preserved in the ark, under the mercy-seat, along with Aaron's rod and the tables of the covenant. The manna was taken from off the sands of the desert, put into an urn, and placed, for all ages, in the holy of holies, in remembrance of the desert food, and as a type of something better yet to be revealed. This hidden manna was both like and unlike the manna of the wilderness; it was connected with it, yet also separate. It was of heaven originally (John 6:31); it came down to earth; it was taken into the holiest of all, the emblem of the heaven of heavens; and thus was both of earth and heaven. It was of the wilderness, yet not in it. It was originally corruptible, yet made incorruptible; once a daily gift, spread over all the sand of the desert, now gathered into one small vessel, and laid up there once for all. It was in the ark, covered with the blood, beneath the cherubim and the glory; food that could only be reached through blood, and could only be for those whom blood had redeemed. Man had eaten 'angels' food;' but now this had become the food of men,—not only of men here, in weakness and wandering, but of the glorified in the New Jerusalem. This hidden manna is (in conjunction with the tree of life) the special food of the redeemed; the nourishment of the new and glorified life, both of body and soul. It is set down on the great banquet table, in the high banquet
hall. As in the upperroom in Jerusalem Jesus said, 'Take, eat, this is my body, broken for you,' so in like manner will He take the hidden manna, and present it to His own as their special food; and if the 'Take, eat,' from His lips below be so loving and precious, what will it be in the Jerusalem above,—'Take, eat, this is my glorified self!'' And if that which symbolizes His death be so sweet and nourishing, what will that be which symbolizes His endless life! Then we shall fully know what the apostle meant when he said, 'We are saved by His life' (Romans 5:10). The bread of the Lord's Supper speaks of death, speaks of death, the hidden manna of life only; the one speaks of shame and humiliation, the other of glory and immortality. This hidden manna is food for the kingdom,—the kingdom of the risen and the glorified. It is Christ's resurrection-life, for those who are partakers of His resurrection. It is the food of the royal priesthood; the food of the conquerors; food that reminds them of their desert weariness, and hunger, and warfare, yet food which assures them that they shall hunger no more, but shall feed on that which is immortal, incorruptible, and divine. It is food for eternity,—everlasting nourishment. And all out of the one golden pot, the one Christ,—the glorified Immanuel. That one golden pot is like the widow's cruse and barrel,—it fails not. It will suffice for the multitude that no man can number, and it will suffice for ever. Like the one tree of life, so this one pot of manna will supply millions eternally. Out of it we shall feed; out of Christ's glorified fullness we shall be nourished. Our life is hid with Him in God; for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. 'The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,'—and feed them on Himself.
XVI. The Morning Star
"And I will give him the morning star."— Revelation 2:8.
He who speaks in Jesus Himself. He spoke to His Asian Churches once; He speaks to us now. He speaks directly; He speaks from heaven. 'I, Jesus, have sent;' and again, 'Behold, I come.' He is the speaker of these sure words of prophecy: 'He that hat an ear, let him hear.'
He speaks as a promiser. It is to something future that He points the eye of His Churches—the things 'not seen,' the 'things hoped for,' in their sevenfold fullness and glory. His discourses on earth referred to these futurities in a very general way,—often not at all. The two great futurities of which He then spoke were, (1) the Holy Spirit, as the promise of the Father; and (2) His own return. Here His promises all pertain to the glory. He takes these things for granted, and proceeds to speak of others. He speaks a giver. 'I will give.' He has been a giver from the first. He was Himself the Father's gift, and He is the depositary of all gifts for us, present or future. All is gift,— even the rewards are gifts, not wages. For wages are measured by bargain, or desert, or profit; but these gifts are beyond all measure and desert. He speaks to the overcomers. Though the gifts are not wages, yet they depend on our winning a battle. They are something beyond mere salvation. In believing we are saved; but there is something more than this held out to us, and that something is the reward to the fighters of the good fight. You say, 'I believe.' It is well; but is that all? No; it is but the first step. The battle now begins; and to cheer you on, the prize is hung out to view. You are not to fight for nothing. Your Captain, who leads you to
victory, will share His spoils with you. He will lavish the whole store of His gifts upon His faithful soldiers. What will He not give of glory and honour and blessedness in His kingdom forever? He speaks of the morning star. This is His promised gift, and a very glorious one it is. Let us inquire about this star of the morning. (1) What is naturally.—It is not any star that appears in the morning, but one,—one 'bright particular star,'—a star to which the special name belongs; a star which, above all others, is known for its splendor, and is connected with the departure of the night and the arrival of the day. It is the fairest and brightest of the bright and fair; especially as it is seen rising over the Mount of Olives, 'last in the train of night, if better it belong not to the dawn.' It says, Night is done,— day is coming,—the sun is about to rise. (2) What is symbolically.—Christ Jesus,—He is the Star. 'I am the bright and morning star.' He is the giver and the gift; as if He said, 'I will give him myself as the morning star.' In Him all that is comprised in the idea of morning star is found and displayed. He says: Night is just at an end; day is about to dawn; the sun is about to rise. Forerunner of day, yet also day itself. Sun of righteousness, yet also morning star. Bright and fair to look upon; attractive and glorious; joy of the traveler, or the sailor, or the night watch. He is the Star of Jacob; the glory not of Israel only, but of the earth. (3) What it is prophetically.—We get Christ, in believing, just now, but we do not get Him as the morning-star. That is yet to come. His 'unsearchable riches' are yet to be unfolded. The day of the bringing forth of the gems and glory is yet future. It is the day of His second coming. Then it is that He rises on our world as the morning star. There are three periods to which Scripture points our eye:—(1) the present, which it calls night, during which we get Christ as our light personally, and in that light the earnest of the future glory. 'I am the light of the world: he that believeth on me shall not walk in darkness.' (2) the millennial period, which ends the