HEAVEN AND THE
1.
THE GLORY OF THE LORD
AT HOME
22:1-5
I love the river of water CLEAR AS CRYSTAL, proceeding
from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Notice it is one THRONE just as it is
ONE GOD! (Ephesians 4:4), Christ though in the very form of God, and thus His
equal (Philippians 2), having humbled Himself to stoop low enough to reach us,
even taking human form to do it. THERE is your pure worship, the Lord of glory in
His own realm, blessed Trinity. Likewise, in Revelation
Such
is heaven. Then, just as God dwells in light inaccessible, except as shown by
the Lamb (I Timothy
2.
The WAY TO IT and the
VIEW FOR IT
As
Christ, deity in form, became human in form, to rescue man, so eternal by
nature (Micah 5:3, John
22:5 Thus, as the Lamb is the Light (Rev. 21:23), and the Lamb and the Father
the Temple (Rev. 21:22), the throne of God and the Lamb being there, there is
one throne, one God, one majesty, one divinity, one worship through one
Mediator to the Trinity, the Godhead, in all His glory. So it is in heaven in
glory; and by this same ONE, Jesus Christ, is the path. In perfection of grace
He leads; to perfection of face He brings.
“They shall see His face…”
and reign forever (Revelation 22:4). What more do you want than knowing God
with this amazing closeness, as if having long seen surf and beauty on
pictures, at last you go to the great coastline yourself and taste it with your
own senses! But even now we have the vistas of glory (John
3.
THE EQUIPMENT and the
PREPARATION
II
Cor. 5:1ff. shows us the eternal formatting for
resurrected mankind. NOT, says Paul that I want to be as naked without a body,
but overcoated! He looks in fact for that eternal temple for his life, prepared
in the heavens (cf. John 14:1-3) as do all who walk by His faith. HE who created the first, can well create the second; He who made the test site for Adam, can
make the quest site for every child of God. Small wonder Romans 10:9 with I Cor. 15:1ff. specifies FAITH in the bodily resurrection of Christ as
indispensable. Fail to believe that, and you dismiss God!
“Clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,” says Paul, is our destiny; but in the interim, “we who are in this tent groan, being burdened” – and
HOW burdened was the apostle as he put service above self-fulfilment (II Cor.
4:8ff., II Cor. 11:28-29, “my
deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made
to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?”).
Meanwhile,
we have the Spirit of God as our guarantee (II Cor. 4:5), and the blood of
Christ as our secure way in to eternity ((Romans 3:23-25, John 14:1-3), so that
we are justified by faith, knowing this, that whom He justified, those He also
glorified (Romans 8:17,30, John 10:27-28), and that His sheep have an almighty
and resolute shepherd to ensure that HIS sheep do NOT perish. As we come on
this road with Christ Himself the WAY, therefore, “we
do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man
is being renewed day by day.”
That
is renewal, the Lord enlivening, girding and strengthening you; and with this endurance comes
v
the exhibit of
faith (your testimony THROUGH HIM, Hebrews
v
the purification of heart (motives are cleansed as
reality is met – I Peter 1:5ff.),
v
the way of discipleship (you LEARN as you walk).
v
Thus as a child
of God (I John 3:1-3)
v
in the company
of His people (Hebrews
v
you do not walk
with the family failing or the family wailing (Hebrews 9:14 -
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God ?”),
v
but on the family trail (Isaiah 35:8), like millions
before you, the family of the blessed friends of God (John
Next Sunday, Lord willing, we plan to speak from verses in Romans 4-5, on the
life of victory, virtue and wonder in the perspective of history and the present
power of the Holy Spirit.