Chapter Forty
God's People Delivered
When the protection of human laws shall be
withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, there
will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement for their
destruction. As the time appointed in the decree draws near,
the people will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be
determined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall
utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof.
The people of God—some in prison cells, some hidden in
solitary retreats in the forests and the mountains—still plead
for divine protection, while in every quarter companies of
armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels, are preparing
for the work of death. It is now, in the hour of utmost
extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the
deliverance of His chosen. Saith the Lord; “Ye shall have a
song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and
gladness of heart, as when one goeth . . . to come into the
mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. And the
Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall
show the lighting down of His arm, with the indignation
of His anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with
scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.”
Isaiah 30:29, 30.
With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs
of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when, lo, a
dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls
upon the earth. Then a rainbow, shining with the glory from
the throne of God, spans the heavens and seems to encircle
each praying company. The angry multitudes are suddenly
arrested. Their mocking cries die away. The objects of their
murderous rage are forgotten. With fearful forebodings they
gaze upon the symbol of God’s covenant and long to be
shielded from its overpowering brightness.
By the people of God a voice, clear and melodious, is
heard, saying, “Look up,” and lifting their eyes to the
heavens, they behold the bow of promise. The black, angry
clouds that covered the firmament are parted, and like
Stephen they look up steadfastly into heaven and see the
glory of God and the Son of man seated upon His throne.
In His divine form they discern the marks of His humiliation;
and from His lips they hear the request presented before
His Father and the holy angels: “I will that they also, whom
Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.”
John 17:24.
Again a voice, musical and triumphant, is heard, saying:
"They come! they come! holy, harmless, and undefiled.
They have kept the word of My patience; they shall walk
among the angels;” and the pale, quivering lips of those
who have held fast their faith utter a shout of victory.
It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the
deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its
strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The
wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene,
while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of
their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of
its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds
come up and clash against each other. In the midst of
the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable glory,
whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many
waters, saying: “It is done.”
Revelation 16:17.
That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a
mighty earthquake, “such as was not since men were upon
the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.”
Verses 17, 18. The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory
from the throne of God seems flashing through. The
mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are
scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming
tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek
of a hurricane like the voice of demons upon a mission of
destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the
waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations
seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking.
Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become
like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry
waters. Babylon the great has come in remembrance before
God, “to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of
His wrath.” Great hailstones, every one “about the weight of
a talent,” are doing their work of destruction.
Verses 19, 21.
The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly
palaces, upon which the world’s great men have lavished their
wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin
before their eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God’s
people, who have been held in bondage for their faith, are
set free.
Graves are opened, and “many of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth. . . awake, some to everlasting life, and
some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Daniel 12:2. All
who have died in the faith of the third angel’s message come
forth from the tomb glorified, to hear God’s covenant of
peace with those who have kept His law. “They also which
pierced Him” (Revelation 1:7), those that mocked and
derided Christ’s dying agonies, and the most violent opposers
of His truth and His people, are raised to behold Him in His
glory and to see the honor placed upon the loyal and obedient.
Thick clouds still cover the sky; yet the sun now and then
breaks through, appearing like the avenging eye of Jehovah.
Fierce lightnings leap from the heavens, enveloping the earth
in a sheet of flame. Above the terrific roar of thunder, voices,
mysterious and awful, declare the doom of the wicked. The
words spoken are not comprehended by all; but they are
distinctly understood by the false teachers. Those who a little
before were so reckless, so boastful and defiant, so exultant
in their cruelty to God’s commandment-keeping people, are
now overwhelmed with consternation and shuddering in
fear. Their wails are heard above the sound of the elements.
Demons acknowledge the deity of Christ and tremble before
His power, while men are supplicating for mercy and groveling
in abject terror.
Said the prophets of old, as they beheld in holy vision the
day of God: “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it
shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.”
Isaiah 13:6.
"Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the
Lord, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of
man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be
bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that
is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up; and
he shall be brought low.” “In that day a man shall cast the
idols of his silver, and the idols of his gold, which they
made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to
the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops
of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of
His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”
Isaiah 2:10-12, 20, 21, margin.
Through a rift in the clouds there beams a star whose
brilliancy is increased fourfold in contrast with the darkness. It
speaks hope and joy to the faithful, but severity and wrath to
the transgressors of God’s law. Those who have sacrificed all
for Christ are now secure, hidden as in the secret of the Lord’s
pavilion. They have been tested, and before the world and
the despisers of truth they have evinced their fidelity to Him
who died for them. A marvelous change has come over those
who have held fast their integrity in the very face of death.
They have been suddenly delivered from the dark and
terrible tyranny of men transformed to demons. Their faces,
so lately pale, anxious, and haggard, are now aglow with
wonder, faith, and love. Their voices rise in triumphant
song: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be
removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst
of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”
Psalm 46:1-3.
While these words of holy trust ascend to God, the clouds
sweep back, and the starry heavens are seen, unspeakably
glorious in contrast with the black and angry firmament on
either side. The glory of the celestial city streams from the
gates ajar. Then there appears against the sky a hand holding
two tables of stone folded together. Says the prophet: “The
heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge
Himself.”
Psalm 50:6. That holy law, God’s righteousness,
that amid thunder and flame was proclaimed from Sinai as
the guide of life, is now revealed to men as the rule of
judgment. The hand opens the tables, and there are seen the
precepts of the Decalogue, traced as with a pen of fire. The
words are so plain that all can read them. Memory is aroused,
the darkness of superstition and heresy is swept from every
mind, and God’s ten words, brief, comprehensive, and
authoritative, are presented to the view of all the inhabitants
of the earth.
It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those
who have trampled upon God’s holy requirements. The
Lord gave them His law; they might have compared their
characters with it and learned their defects while there was
yet opportunity for repentance and reform; but in order to
secure the favor of the world, they set aside its precepts and
taught others to transgress. They have endeavored to compel
God’s people to profane His Sabbath. Now they are
condemned by that law which they have despised. With awful
distinctness they see that they are without excuse. They chose
whom they would serve and worship. “Then shall ye return,
and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between
him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.”
Malachi
3:18.
The enemies of God’s law, from the ministers down to the
least among them, have a new conception of truth and duty.
Too late they see that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment
is the seal of the living God. Too late they see the true
nature of their spurious sabbath and the sandy foundation
upon which they have been building. They find that they
have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led
souls to perdition while professing to guide them to the gates
of Paradise. Not until the day of final accounts will it be
known how great is the responsibility of men in holy office
and how terrible are the results of their unfaithfulness. Only
in eternity can we rightly estimate the loss of a single soul.
Fearful will be the doom of him to whom God shall say:
Depart, thou wicked servant.
The voice of God is heard from heaven, declaring the day
and hour of Jesus’ coming, and delivering the everlasting
covenant to His people. Like peals of loudest thunder His
words roll through the earth. The Israel of God stand listening,
with their eyes fixed upward. Their countenances are
lighted up with His glory, and shine as did the face of Moses
when he came down from Sinai. The wicked cannot look
upon them. And when the blessing is pronounced on those
who have honored God by keeping His Sabbath holy, there
is a mighty shout of victory.
Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about
half the size of a man’s hand. It is the cloud which surrounds
the Saviour and which seems in the distance to be shrouded
in darkness. The people of God know this to be the sign of
the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it
draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious,
until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming
fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides
forth as a mighty conqueror. Not now a “Man of Sorrows,”
to drink the bitter cup of shame and woe, He comes, victor
in heaven and earth, to judge the living and the dead. “Faithful
and True,” “in righteousness He doth judge and make
war.” And “the armies which were in heaven” (Revelation
19:11, 14) follow Him. With anthems of celestial melody the
holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend Him on His
way. The firmament seems filled with radiant forms—"ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.”
No human pen can portray the scene; no mortal mind is
adequate to conceive its splendor. “His glory covered the
heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. And His
brightness was as the light.”
Habakkuk 3:3, 4. As the living
cloud comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life.
No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head; but a diadem
of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance
outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. “And He
hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King
of kings, and Lord of lords.”
Revelation 19:16.
Before His presence “all faces are turned into paleness;”
upon the rejecters of God’s mercy falls the terror of eternal
despair. “The heart melteth, and the knees smite together,
. . . and the faces of them all gather blackness.”
Jeremiah
30:6;
Nahum 2:10. The righteous cry with trembling: “Who
shall be able to stand?” The angels’ song is hushed, and
there is a period of awful silence. Then the voice of Jesus is
heard, saying: “My grace is sufficient for you.” The faces of
the righteous are lighted up, and joy fills every heart. And
the angels strike a note higher and sing again as they draw
still nearer to the earth.
The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in
flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the
earth trembles before Him, and every mountain and island
is moved out of its place. “Our God shall come, and shall not
keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be
very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the
heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His
people.”
Psalm 50:3, 4.
“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and
every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the
dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the
mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face
of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who
shall be able to stand?”
Revelation 6:15-17.
The derisive jests have ceased. Lying lips are hushed into
silence. The clash of arms, the tumult of battle, “with
confused noise, and garments rolled in blood” (Isaiah 9:5), is
stilled. Nought now is heard but the voice of prayer and the
sound of weeping and lamentation. The cry bursts forth
from lips so lately scoffing: “The great day of His wrath is
come; and who shall be able to stand?” The wicked pray
to be buried beneath the rocks of the mountains rather than
meet the face of Him whom they have despised and rejected.
That voice which penetrates the ear of the dead, they
know. How often have its plaintive, tender tones called them
to repentance. How often has it been heard in the touching
entreaties of a friend, a brother, a Redeemer. To the rejecters
of His grace no other could be so full of condemnation, so
burdened with denunciation, as that voice which has so long
pleaded: “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will
ye die?”
Ezekiel 33:11. Oh, that it were to them the voice of
a stranger! Says Jesus: “I have called, and ye refused; I have
stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have
set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof.”
Proverbs 1:24, 25. That voice awakens memories which they
would fain blot out—warnings despised, invitations refused,
privileges slighted.
There are those who mocked Christ in His humiliation.
With thrilling power come to their minds the Sufferer’s
words, when, adjured by the high priest, He solemnly
declared: “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the
right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
Matthew 26:64. Now they behold Him in His glory, and
they are yet to see Him sitting on the right hand of power.
Those who derided His claim to be the Son of God are
speechless now. There is the haughty Herod who jeered at
His royal title and bade the mocking soldiers crown Him
king. There are the very men who with impious hands
placed upon His form the purple robe, upon His sacred brow
the thorny crown, and in His unresisting hand the mimic
scepter, and bowed before Him in blasphemous mockery.
The men who smote and spit upon the Prince of life now
turn from His piercing gaze and seek to flee from the
overpowering glory of His presence. Those who drove the nails
through His hands and feet, the soldier who pierced His side,
behold these marks with terror and remorse.
With awful distinctness do priests and rulers recall the
events of Calvary. With shuddering horror they remember
how, wagging their heads in satanic exultation, they
exclaimed: “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He
be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the
cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him
deliver Him now, if He will have Him.”
Matthew 27:42, 43.
Vividly they recall the Saviour’s parable of the husbandmen
who refused to render to their lord the fruit of the
vineyard, who abused his servants and slew his son. They remember,
too, the sentence which they themselves pronounced:
The lord of the vineyard “will miserably destroy those
wicked men.” In the sin and punishment of those unfaithful
men the priests and elders see their own course and their
own just doom. And now there rises a cry of mortal agony.
Louder than the shout, “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” which
rang through the streets of Jerusalem, swells the awful,
despairing wail, “He is the Son of God! He is the true
Messiah!” They seek to flee from the presence of the King
of kings. In the deep caverns of the earth, rent asunder by
the warring of the elements, they vainly attempt to hide.
In the lives of all who reject truth there are moments
when conscience awakens, when memory presents the torturing
recollection of a life of hypocrisy and the soul is harassed
with vain regrets. But what are these compared with the
remorse of that day when “fear cometh as desolation,” when
"destruction cometh as a whirlwind"!
Proverbs 1:27. Those
who would have destroyed Christ and His faithful people
now witness the glory which rests upon them. In the midst
of their terror they hear the voices of the saints in joyful
strains exclaiming: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for
Him, and He will save us.”
Isaiah 25:9.
Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and
the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth
the sleeping saints. He looks upon the graves of the righteous,
then, raising His hands to heaven, He cries: “Awake, awake,
awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise!” Throughout the
length and breadth of the earth the dead shall hear that voice,
and they that hear shall live. And the whole earth shall ring
with the tread of the exceeding great army of every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people. From the prison house of death
they come, clothed with immortal glory, crying: “O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
1 Corinthians 15:55. And the living righteous and the risen saints
unite their voices in a long, glad shout of victory.
All come forth from their graves the same in stature as
when they entered the tomb. Adam, who stands among the
risen throng, is of lofty height and majestic form, in stature
but little below the Son of God. He presents a marked
contrast to the people of later generations; in this one respect is
shown the great degeneracy of the race. But all arise with the
freshness and vigor of eternal youth. In the beginning, man
was created in the likeness of God, not only in character, but
in form and feature. Sin defaced and almost obliterated the
divine image; but Christ came to restore that which had
been lost. He will change our vile bodies and fashion them
like unto His glorious body. The mortal, corruptible form,
devoid of comeliness, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect,
beautiful, and immortal. All blemishes and deformities are
left in the grave. Restored to the tree of life in the long-lost
Eden, the redeemed will “grow up” (Malachi 4:2) to the full
stature of the race in its primeval glory. The last lingering
traces of the curse of sin will be removed, and Christ’s faithful
ones will appear in “the beauty of the Lord our God,”
in mind and soul and body reflecting the perfect image of
their Lord. Oh, wonderful redemption! long talked of, long
hoped for, contemplated with eager anticipation, but never
fully understood.
The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye.” At the voice of God they were glorified;
now they are made immortal and with the risen saints
are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels “gather
together His elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other.” Little children are borne by holy angels
to their mothers’ arms. Friends long separated by death are
united, nevermore to part, and with songs of gladness ascend
together to the City of God.
On each side of the cloudy chariot are wings, and beneath
it are living wheels; and as the chariot rolls upward, the
wheels cry, “Holy,” and the wings, as they move, cry, “Holy,”
and the retinue of angels cry, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty.” And the redeemed shout, “Alleluia!” as the
chariot moves onward toward the New Jerusalem.
Before entering the City of God, the Saviour bestows upon
His followers the emblems of victory and invests them with
the insignia of their royal state. The glittering ranks are
drawn up in the form of a hollow square about their King,
whose form rises in majesty high above saint and angel, whose countenance beams upon them full of benignant love.
Throughout the unnumbered host of the redeemed every
glance is fixed upon Him, every eye beholds His glory whose
"visage was so marred more than any man, and His form
more than the sons of men.” Upon the heads of the overcomers, Jesus with His own right hand places the crown of
glory. For each there is a crown, bearing his own “new
name” (Revelation 2:17), and the inscription, “Holiness to
the Lord.” In every hand are placed the victor’s palm
and the shining harp. Then, as the commanding angels
strike the note, every hand sweeps the harp strings with
skillful touch, awaking sweet music in rich, melodious
strains. Rapture unutterable thrills every heart, and each
voice is raised in grateful praise: “Unto Him that loved us,
and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath
made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him
be glory and dominion for ever and ever.”
Revelation 1:5, 6.
Before the ransomed throng is the Holy City. Jesus opens
wide the pearly gates, and the nations that have kept the
truth enter in. There they behold the Paradise of God, the
home of Adam in his innocency. Then that voice, richer than
any music that ever fell on mortal ear, is heard, saying: “Your
conflict is ended.” “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world.”
Now is fulfilled the Saviour’s prayer for His disciples: “I
will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
where I am.” “Faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy” (Jude 24), Christ presents to the Father the
purchase of His blood, declaring: “Here am I, and the children
whom Thou hast given Me.” “Those that Thou gavest
Me I have kept.” Oh, the wonders of redeeming love! the
rapture of that hour when the infinite Father, looking upon
the ransomed, shall behold His image, sin’s discord banished,
its blight removed, and the human once more in harmony
with the divine!
With unutterable love, Jesus welcomes His faithful ones to
the joy of their Lord. The Saviour’s joy is in seeing, in the
kingdom of glory, the souls that have been saved by His
agony and humiliation. And the redeemed will be sharers
in His joy, as they behold, among the blessed, those who have
been won to Christ through their prayers, their labors, and
their loving sacrifice. As they gather about the great white
throne, gladness unspeakable will fill their hearts, when they
behold those whom they have won for Christ, and see that
one has gained others, and these still others, all brought into
the haven of rest, there to lay their crowns at Jesus’ feet and
praise Him through the endless cycles of eternity.
As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the City of God,
there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration. The
two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God is standing
with outstretched arms to receive the father of our race—the
being whom He created, who sinned against his Maker, and
for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are borne upon
the Saviour’s form. As Adam discerns the prints of the
cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom of his Lord, but
in humiliation casts himself at His feet, crying: “Worthy,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” Tenderly the Saviour
lifts him up and bids him look once more upon the Eden
home from which he has so long been exiled.
After his expulsion from Eden, Adam’s life on earth was
filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every victim of sacrifice,
every blight upon the fair face of nature, every stain upon
man’s purity, was a fresh reminder of his sin. Terrible was
the agony of remorse as he beheld iniquity abounding, and,
in answer to his warnings, met the reproaches cast upon
himself as the cause of sin. With patient humility he bore,
for nearly a thousand years, the penalty of transgression.
Faithfully did he repent of his sin and trust in the merits of
the promised Saviour, and he died in the hope of a resurrection.
The Son of God redeemed man’s failure and fall; and
now, through the work of the atonement, Adam is reinstated
in his first dominion.
Transported with joy, he beholds the trees that were once
his delight—the very trees whose fruit he himself had gathered
in the days of his innocence and joy. He sees the vines
that his own hands have trained, the very flowers that he
once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the
scene; he comprehends that this is indeed Eden restored,
more lovely now than when he was banished from it. The
Saviour leads him to the tree of life and plucks the glorious
fruit and bids him eat. He looks about him and beholds a
multitude of his family redeemed, standing in the Paradise
of God. Then he casts his glittering crown at the feet of
Jesus and, falling upon His breast, embraces the Redeemer.
He touches the golden harp, and the vaults of heaven echo
the triumphant song: “Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb
that was slain, and lives again!” The family of Adam take up
the strain and cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet as they
bow before Him in adoration.
This reunion is witnessed by the angels who wept at the
fall of Adam and rejoiced when Jesus, after His resurrection,
ascended to heaven, having opened the grave for all who
should believe on His name. Now they behold the work of
redemption accomplished, and they unite their voices in the
song of praise.
Upon the crystal sea before the throne, that sea of glass as
it were mingled with fire, —so resplendent is it with the glory
of God, —are gathered the company that have “gotten the
victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark,
and over the number of his name.” With the Lamb upon
Mount Zion, “having the harps of God,” they stand, the
hundred and forty and four thousand that were redeemed
from among men; and there is heard, as the sound of many
waters, and as the sound of a great thunder, “the voice of
harpers harping with their harps.” And they sing “a new
song” before the throne, a song which no man can learn save
the hundred and forty and four thousand. It is the song
of Moses and the Lamb—a song of deliverance. None but
the hundred and forty-four thousand can learn that song;
for it is the song of their experience—an experience such as
no other company have ever had. “These are they which
follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” These, having
been translated from the earth, from among the living, are
counted as “the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.”
Revelation 15:2, 3;
14:1-5. “These are they which came out
of great tribulation;” they have passed through the time of
trouble such as never was since there was a nation; they have
endured the anguish of the time of Jacob’s trouble; they
have stood without an intercessor through the final
outpouring of God’s judgments. But they have been delivered,
for they have “washed their robes, and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb.” “In their mouth was found no
guile: for they are without fault” before God. “Therefore are
they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night
in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
among them.” They have seen the earth wasted with famine
and pestilence, the sun having power to scorch men with
great heat, and they themselves have endured suffering,
hunger, and thirst. But “they shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of
waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
Revelation 7:14-17.
In all ages the Saviour’s chosen have been educated and
disciplined in the school of trial. They walked in narrow
paths on earth; they were purified in the furnace of affliction.
For Jesus’ sake they endured opposition, hatred, calumny.
They followed Him through conflicts sore; they endured
self-denial and experienced bitter disappointments. By their
own painful experience they learned the evil of sin, its power,
its guilt, its woe; and they look upon it with abhorrence. A
sense of the infinite sacrifice made for its cure humbles them
in their own sight and fills their hearts with gratitude and
praise which those who have never fallen cannot appreciate.
They love much because they have been forgiven much.
Having been partakers of Christ’s sufferings, they are fitted
to be partakers with Him of His glory.
The heirs of God have come from garrets, from hovels,
from dungeons, from scaffolds, from mountains, from
deserts, from the caves of the earth, from the caverns of the sea.
On earth they were “destitute, afflicted, tormented.” Millions
went down to the grave loaded with infamy because they
steadfastly refused to yield to the deceptive claims of Satan.
By human tribunals they were adjudged the vilest of criminals.
But now “God is judge Himself.”
Psalm 50:6. Now
the decisions of earth are reversed. “The rebuke of His people
shall He take away.”
Isaiah 25:8. “They shall call them, The
holy people, The redeemed of the Lord.” He hath appointed
"to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
Isaiah
62:12;
61:3. They are no longer feeble, afflicted, scattered,
and oppressed. Henceforth they are to be ever with the Lord.
They stand before the throne clad in richer robes than the
most honored of the earth have ever worn. They are crowned
with diadems more glorious than were ever placed upon the
brow of earthly monarchs. The days of pain and weeping
are forever ended. The King of glory has wiped the tears
from all faces; every cause of grief has been removed. Amid
the waving of palm branches they pour forth a song of praise,
clear, sweet, and harmonious; every voice takes up the strain,
until the anthem swells through the vaults of heaven:
"Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb.” And all the inhabitants of heaven respond in the
ascription: “Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and
thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our
God for ever and ever.”
Revelation 7:10, 12.
In this life we can only begin to understand the wonderful
theme of redemption. With our finite comprehension we
may consider most earnestly the shame and the glory, the life
and the death, the justice and the mercy, that meet in the
cross; yet with the utmost stretch of our mental powers we
fail to grasp its full significance. The length and the breadth,
the depth and the height, of redeeming love are but dimly
comprehended. The plan of redemption will not be fully
understood, even when the ransomed see as they are seen and
know as they are known; but through the eternal ages new
truth will continually unfold to the wondering and delighted
mind. Though the griefs and pains and temptations of earth
are ended and the cause removed, the people of God will
ever have a distinct, intelligent knowledge of what their
salvation has cost.
The cross of Christ will be the science and the song of the
redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they will
behold Christ crucified. Never will it be forgotten that He
whose power created and upheld the unnumbered worlds
through the vast realms of space, the Beloved of God, the
Majesty of heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph
delighted to adore—humbled Himself to uplift fallen man;
that He bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of
His Father’s face, till the woes of a lost world broke His heart
and crushed out His life on Calvary’s cross. That the Maker
of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside His
glory and humiliate Himself from love to man will ever
excite the wonder and adoration of the universe. As the
nations of the saved look upon their Redeemer and behold
the eternal glory of the Father shining in His countenance;
as they behold His throne, which is from everlasting to
everlasting, and know that His kingdom is to have no end, they
break forth in rapturous song: “Worthy, worthy is the Lamb
that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His own
most precious blood!”
The mystery of the cross explains all other mysteries. In
the light that streams from Calvary the attributes of God
which had filled us with fear and awe appear beautiful and
attractive. Mercy, tenderness, and parental love are seen to
blend with holiness, justice, and power. While we behold
the majesty of His throne, high and lifted up, we see His
character in its gracious manifestations, and comprehend, as
never before, the significance of that endearing title, “Our
Father.”
It will be seen that He who is infinite in wisdom could
devise no plan for our salvation except the sacrifice of His
Son. The compensation for this sacrifice is the joy of peopling
the earth with ransomed beings, holy, happy, and immortal.
The result of the Saviour’s conflict with the powers of darkness
is joy to the redeemed, redounding to the glory of God
throughout eternity. And such is the value of the soul that
the Father is satisfied with the price paid; and Christ
Himself, beholding the fruits of His great sacrifice, is satisfied.
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