10 - The Glory and Christ's Atonement

CHAPTER TEN THE GLORY AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT What is glory? The excellence of anything in display. The pearl in the oyster shell is none the less a pearl in the depths of the sea, but its excellence is not seen till it is set in the ring. The glory of Solomon’s kingly splendour and the magnificence of his surroundings took all the spirit out of the Queen of Sheba (2 Chronicles 9:4), but the glory of the common lily of the East outshines the splendour of his retinue and regality (Matthew 6:28-29).

- The glory of GOD’s handiwork shews forth the excellence of GOD’s artistic skill (Psalms 19:1); - The glory of His law proclaims the excellence of His righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:9); - The glory of His holiness unfolds the excellence of His nature (John 12:41); - The glory of His grace declares the favour of His love (Ephesians 1:6, Ephesians 1:12, Ephesians 1:14); - The glory of His work speaks of the excellence of His power (John 2:11; John 11:40); - The glory of His gospel reveals the light of the knowledge of God in the face of JESUS CHRIST (2 Corinthians 4:6); and - The glory of His Heaven is the slain Lamb of Calvary (Revelation 21:11, Revelation 21:23). The bliss and the blessedness of the future state are secured by the Blood of the Lamb. The Lamb, as such, in the livingness of His death, is said to be the light of the New Jerusalem.

We are told “the glory of God did lighten it,” and then the explanatory sentence follows, “And the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23). The association of Calvary’s Blood with Heaven’s bliss proclaims one fact, namely, that the CHRIST of the glory has secured the glory of the CHRIST, because of the substitutionary act of His blood-shedding on the Cross. This is emphasized by the connection between the Blood and the glory as revealed in the Book of the Revelation.

There are four references to the Blood in that Book, and in three out of the four the Blood is connected with the glory. The words speak for themselves.

“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood and made us kings and priests unto God” (Revelation 1:5-6). Loved, loosed, and lifted, are the thoughts embodied in these words.

- “Loved”: the word is in the present tense. His love is like the sun, constant in its shining, healing in its warmth, and powerful in its influence.

- “Loosed”: The word “washed” is from the same word as “loosed”. The Greek “louo” signifies to clear or to cleanse. The Blood of CHRIST clears the conscience from the penalty of sin and the heart from the pollution of sin, even as the cleansed garment is freed from the dirt which soiled it.

- “Lifted”: “Made us kings and priests,” for He has made us a kingdom of priests. The thought embodied expresses more than the present priesthood of believers. It points on to their reign with CHRIST, for as He will sit as a Priest-King on His throne (Zechariah 6:13), so they will be royal also in their priestly kingship and their kingly priesthood. The song of the living creatures and the four and twenty elders is peculiar and “new,” for whether we take the song to refer to themselves or to the company “out of every kindred,” the thought is, the redeemed ones are in the glory of the Lamb, because they have been redeemed to GOD by His blood” (Revelation 5:9). The same thought is expressed in Revelation 7:14, where the saved host out of the Great Tribulation are said to stand before the throne of GOD and of the Lamb, because they “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The above Scriptures are sufficient to prove the right to the glory is secured by the night of the Cross (Revelation 22:14).

Let us look at a few points in particular to prove the truth in general.

I. A TYPICAL FORECAST On the Great Day of Atonement there was a five-fold atonement made.

First atonement was made by the priest, for himself and his home; second, for the people; third, for the holy place; fourth, for the tabernacle; and fifth, for the altar (Leviticus 16:6, Leviticus 16:15-18).

First, the priest, making an atonement for himself and his house is typical of CHRIST in His identification with His own, standing with them in the desert of their sin, giving to GOD satisfaction on their behalf, and covering them in the merit of His person and work.There is no doubt a reference to this in the words, “We see Jesus... for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor: that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:9-10). The death of the Son was essential to bring the sons into the divinity of the glory. But since He has gone into the woe of our death, we shall surely enter into the welcome of His glory.

Second. The high priest made atonement for the nation; that is, for the nation of Israel.

There is one nation that is the special object of GOD’s regard. That nation is not reckoned among the nations (Numbers 23:9), and is specially called His “peculiar treasure” (Exodus 19:5).

There are special promises given to Israel, and these promises relate to Abraham regarding the land (Genesis 17:4-8), and to David in connection with the throne (2 Samuel 7:12). But these promises centralize in the CHRIST, the promised Seed (Genesis 12:3, Genesis 12:7; Galatians 3:16), the Babe of Bethlehem (Luke 1:32-33), the Lord of Calvary. He came to “redeem them who were under the law” (Galatians 4:5), that they who were under the law might know their sins were atoned for by His Blood, for His death is retrospective in its benefit as well as prospective in its blessing, hence the word declares that GOD hath set Him forth “faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past” (Romans 3:25). The same one who died for Israel is the One who is coming to Israel with blessing. When the nation looks upon Him, they behold Him as the Pierced One, as we read in Zechariah 12:10. “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced,” and in the Book of the Revelation the same thought is emphasized when CHRIST is described in His coming glory - “Behold He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see Him, and them also which pierced Him” (Revelation 1:7).

- Israel’s restoration to Palestine (Jeremiah 32:37-42), - the reoccupancy of David’s throne (Ezekiel 37:24), - the redivision of the land (Ezekiel 48:1-35), - the reunion of Judah and Israel (Ezekiel 37:15-21), - the glory of Jerusalem (Isaiah 1:26: Zechariah 8:1-23), - the salvation of Israel (Ezekiel 36:23-29), and - the glory of GOD as the center of His earthly glory (Ezekiel 43:1-7), are all secured by the CHRIST of Calvary. The crowning proof of this is the reintroduction of the sacrifices in the millennium, but they will be, as the Lord’s Supper is with us, commemorative of the death of CHRIST, instead of being typical (Ezekiel 46:4-7, Ezekiel 46:11-15). Third. Atonement had to be made for the holy place (Leviticus 16:16). The holy place is typical of the heavens. Even the Heaven of GOD’s presence could only be entered by means of CHRIST’s Blood (Hebrews 9:12), but the Heaven of the heavenly places, having been polluted by the presence of the evil one, must be cleansed by the Blood, and having been cleansed by the casting down of Satan, the redeemed will be caught up to meet CHRIST in the air (Revelation 12:9-12; 1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Fourth. Atonement was made for the tabernacle (Leviticus 16:16). The tabernacle is associated with the earth, hence, CHRIST, tabernacled in human flesh. The earth cursed by sin has been sanctified by the Blood of its Creator being shed upon it. There is a good time coming when the curse will be removed from the earth. “Instead of the thorn shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the LORD for a Name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 55:13). Besides this, the desert places of the earth shall become productive, as we read in Isaiah 35:1, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” Yea, “the earth shall yield her increase” (Psalms 67:6).

Instead of bad seasons and unprofitable crops, there shall be abundance and prosperity. As Dr. A. J. Gordon says, “Earth will then lay off her soiled week-day garb and put on her Sabbath dress, and, with her singing robes about her, take up again that anthem which was heard when the sons of GOD shouted for joy. The beauty of holiness and the eternal harmony of redemption must be displayed where the dishonor of sin has been most visible. Therefore this globe which has so long served for fallen man, will now serve for man upraised; yea, more, as Anselm says: ’The whole earth, which carried in its lap the body of the Lord, will be a paradise.’ “Fifth. Atonement was made for the altar (Leviticus 16:18). This was the altar of the burnt offering, where the animals were slain, and its being sprinkled with the blood may be typical of the association between the animal creation and the blessing it shall have because of redemption. GOD sent the Lord JESUS in suffering once, but He is going to send Him back again, that He may fulfil the prophecy which speaks of the restitution of all things (Amos 9:11-15). The restitution is guaranteed by CHRIST’s death, for He died “to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether they be things in earth or things in Heaven” (Colossians 1:20). The present condition of creation is most graphically described in Romans 8:22 - “The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

We have only to listen with attentive ears to find that a deep-drawn sigh is continually going up to the Lord from the animal creation, as Goethe says, “Often have I had the sensation as if Nature, in wailing sadness, entreated something of me, so that not to understand what she longed for cut me to the heart.” But besides the sighing, there is the expectation of the animal creation, yea, of all creation. “For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). The attitude of creation is most expressive, as Godet says, “A sculptor of any imagination and genius might carve a statue of Hope from it.” The picture is this: “Nature, an unwilling slave to vanity and corruption, stands, impatient of her bonds, with uplifted head, scanning with longing eyes the distant point of the horizon from which she looks for help, her hands outstretched to grasp and welcome the redemption into freedom and perfection which she yearns for and confidently expects.”

II. A PROPHETIC STATEMENT In looking at many Old Testament prophecies, they are like the Alps of the Bernese Oberland they seem to be a mass of mountain range in the distance; but when the tourist stands on the top of the Faulhorn, or goes over the Wengen Alp, or looks at the panoramic view at Murren, he sees many more peaks; so as we study the Old Testament prophecies relating to CHRIST, in the distance they seem to be the mountain peak of one event, but when we come nearer, in the course of time, we discover there is more than one peak. There is the black peak of His death and there is the snow-capped peak of His glory. This is brought out in that descriptive and detailed chapter of the sufferings of CHRIST - Isaiah 53:1-12. In that portion of Holy Writ there is the emphatic note of coming glory. The Spirit has specially emphasized this in the “He shalls” of Isaiah 52:14; Isaiah 53:1-12. The association will be marked if we note the following complete sentences, “Visage marred”... “He shall sprinkle many nations” (Isaiah 52:14). The sprinkling of many nations evidently refers to the benefit which CHRIST shall confer upon them because of His death, for the word “sprinkle” means to “besprinkle in expiation,” as Aaron on the day of atonement sprinkled the blood on and before the mercy seat in making an atonement for the sins of the people. The visage marred Man becomes the Benefactor to the nations of the earth.

“It pleased the LORD to bruise Him”... “He shall see His seed” (Isaiah 53:10). His bruising meant a great deal to Him, as well as to the Lord and us. Because of that bruising He shall see His seed, born and brought in, educated and brought up, supported and brought through and glorified and brought home.

“Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin”... “He shall prolong His day” (Isaiah 53:10).

Seemingly cut off by an untimely death, He shall have a prolonged honour conferred upon Him. As He was made sin for others, so His prolonged glory shall be shared by the redeemed.

“He shall bear their iniquities... He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11).

He travailed in pain when the load of our guilt was pressing Him sore, and He shall surely be satisfied with the result of His anguish, even as the mother is satisfied with the child which cost her the throes of suffering.

“Because He hath poured out His soul unto death... He shall take the spoil from the strong” (Isaiah 53:12). This declares CHRIST’s victory over the power of evil. He did not, and will not, “share the spoil with the strong,” but He has taken the spoil from the strong, and He will continue going forth to conquer, till the hosts of hell are completely overthrown and the great enemy is consigned to the lake of fire. His sufferings were a necessity for our salvation and also for His glory and ours, as He Himself said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered and to enter into His glory.”

III. A DOUBLE EVENT

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:27-28). The forcefulness of these words is found in the pivot words “as” and “so.” The common and deserved lot of humanity is death because of sin and after death the judgment, but CHRIST has died the death and borne the judgment for the believer, so that he is looking for neither death nor judgment, but the coming of the LORD.

Indirectly there is a reference to the high priest making atonement for the people on the great day of atonement, and then coming out in his robes of glory and beauty to bless them. The past event of CHRIST’s being offered for sins and the promise of His future coming are intimately connected.

- They are the Alpha and Omega of the Gospel; - They are the foundation and roof of truth; - They are the starting-point and terminus of revelation; - They are the base and topstone of GOD’s purpose; - They are the cause and effect of love’s provision; - They are the earnest and full payment of eternal life; and - They are the ground and outcome of grace, for what is grace but glory in the bud, and what is glory but grace in its fullness.

IV. A TRIPLE BLESSING

GOD in the wisdom and love of His grace has made CHRIST to be to us “Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

“Righteousness” is associated with CHRIST’s work on the Cross, when He by one righteous act fully met all the claims of GOD’s law (Romans 5:18), and now believers are reckoned righteous (Romans 4:3-10, Romans 4:24) in Him who is the Righteousness of GOD (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Righteousness is conformity to GOD’s claim as the Righteous One. As there were two ways by which the Israelite could conform to GOD’s law, namely, by perfect obedience to it, or by dying for his disobedience, so CHRIST as our Representative has proved by His perfect obedience to GOD His intrinsic perfection, and by dying for us, His complete answer for sin’s condemnation.

“Sanctification” is conformity to GOD’s nature, for He is holy. The word “sanctification” is rendered “holiness” in Romans 6:22, in the sentence, “Your fruit unto holiness.” Holiness in a general sense means that which is set apart from a common to a sacred use, hence, believers are “sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2), as being set apart to GOD in their identification with Him. CHRIST is also set apart to us in GOD’s act of reckoning grace. Therefore the Holiness of CHRIST is reckoned to us and speaks of what He is to us in the livingness of His Divine personality as our Representative at GOD’s right hand. As the words “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” were upon the mitre of the high priest, that the children of Israel might always be accepted before the LORD (Exodus 28:36-38), so CHRIST ever lives for us (Hebrews 7:25).

What He is for us, is imputed to us for our benefit, and what He can be in us, is imparted to us for our blessing.

“Redemption” is prospective in its application, for it forecasts the time when salvation will be consummated in the perfection of the glorified body. As the vine is composed of three principal parts - root, branches, and fruit - so redemption is threefold.

- There is deliverance from the curse and condemnation of sin through faith in Him, who died for us (Ephesians 1:7); - There is release from the iniquity and self-will of sin, and separation to holiness of life and labour through fellowship with CHRIST in the power of the Spirit (Titus 2:14); and - There will be freedom from the presence of sin and likeness to CHRIST’s glorified body, when He returns, hence, “we are waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). This threefold redemption may be illustrated in the following simple way, A balloon is a thing which is made in a pear shape by sewing a number of pieces of silk together, which, when finished, is inflated, and when ready to ascend is released from the ropes which keep it down to earth. CHRIST by His work on the Cross has made us what we are, even as the skilled mechanic makes the balloon; CHRIST fills us by His Spirit and thus occupies the sphere of our being, even as the gas fills the balloon, and thus makes the pieces of combined silk what they were not before; and CHRIST when He comes again will release us from the earth condition of a body humiliated by sin, and cause us to rise to the realm of the glorified state, even as the balloon soars above the earth when released.

- CHRIST as our “Righteousness” secures our redemption; - CHRIST as our “Holiness” endows us with all the blessings of redemption, and - CHRIST as our “Redemption” consummates our salvation. The first takes us back to the smitten rock of Calvary, the second takes us up to the throne of grace and acceptance, and the third ushers us into the holiest of His glorious presence.The first makes faith sing, “The past is all answered for”; the second causes love to say, “The present is all provided for”; and the third thrills hope with expectant joy, for she says, “The future is all secured.” The first proclaims the Good Shepherd dying, the second announces the Great Shepherd living, and the third says, “The Chief Shepherd is coming.”

V. A COMFORTING WORD The saints at Thessalonica were haunted with the fear that their loved ones who had fallen asleep in CHRIST would be left behind when He came in His kingdom and glory, therefore the HOLY SPIRIT assures them through Paul that death does not sever their oneness with the Lord, and lays it down as an article of faith that “if,” or since, “we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The emphasis undoubtedly is on the sentences, “Jesus died and rose again” and “In Jesus.” The last sentence is the preposition dia, which, when it occurs with the genitive, signifies an active agent, as the meaning of the word, “By means of JESUS.” The sentence may be punctuated as follows: “Them also who sleep, by means of JESUS will God bring with Him.”

Thus the sleeping ones do not sleep by means of JESUS, although this is true, but GOD will bring them in the coming glory of our LORD, by means of the Man who died for them. The activity of His power in raising them from among the dead is secured by His passive and active work on the Cross and in resurrection. The facts of CHRIST’s death and resurrection secure a place “with Him” in His glory.

- His death for us is GOD’s guarantee that we shall be with Him.

- His resurrection is the pledge of the resurrection of the sleeping ones.

- His act of power in raising the saints from the dead will surely make the reunion of the sleeping and the living an absolute fact.

“Caught up together” to meet Him, and thus to be forever “with the Lord,” are secured in His word of promise, “them that sleep in [by means of] Jesus will God bring with Him.” The two “with Hims” are identical. but what comes between them illustrates the “by means of JESUS,” for His activity is demonstrated by the expressions, the “coming of the Lord,” “the Lord Himself shall descend,” “the dead in Christ” rising, and the being “caught up to meet the Lord in the air.”

VI. A REPRESENTATIVE SCENE

“We made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty... when we were with Him in the holy mount” (2 Peter 1:16-18). The transfiguration scene was a picture of CHRIST’s coming and power. The two men who were transfigured with CHRIST were typical characters Moses a type of those who will be raised from the dead, and Elijah a type of those who will be taken away without dying. The topic of the two glorified men with the glorified CHRIST was, “His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). His “decease” was His exodus in death on the Cross, and not without significance is it that the glory scene should be identified with His “decease,” for His exodus in death means for us the entrance into the glory.

VII. A CLUSTER OF STARS There are a number of star words which shine out in the firmament of GOD’s prophetic word.

Among the many are the following: “Appointed,” “Place,” “At Home,” “Fashioned,” “Eternal Life,” “Incorruptibility,” “Earnest,” “Reward,”* and “Right.”

“Appointed” to the glory of His fellowship: “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we watch or sleep we should live together with Him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10). The word “appointed” means to set in a place, - as when a candle is “put under a bushel” (Matthew 5:15), - as when a body is “laid in a tomb” (Mark 6:29), - as when wine is “set forth” before a company (John 2:10), - as when one is “ordained” for a given purpose (John 15:16), and - as when a person is “set” in an office (1 Corinthians 12:18, 1 Corinthians 12:28). The one thing to which GOD has not appointed His own is to wrath; the one blessing which He assures us we shall obtain is “salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”; the one reason He gives for this is, because CHRIST “died for us”; the one pledge is all of grace, therefore it applies to all, whether they “watch or sleep”; and the one end He has in view is, “We shall live together with Him.”

* For the fourteen rewards to the believer see my “Christian Worker’s Equipment,” under the heading “The Worker’s Reward.”

“Place” in the glory of His Fathers mansions.

CHRIST’s word of promise is, “I go to prepare a Place for you, and if I go and prepare a Place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself” (John 14:2-3). He has gone to prepare a place, but when He comes back He will not receive us to the place, but to Himself. It is not a cold place to which He brings us, but to His warm presence. A stately palace without the bridegroom would be a poor place for the bride’s warm heart. The man she loves makes any place a palace.

It is not without suggestion the way the word “place” occurs or its equivalent.

- There was “no room” for Him in the inn when He was born (Luke 2:7), but there was a “Place” called Calvary where they crucified Him (Luke 23:33).The “Place of a skull” (John 19:17) was the place to which He went for us, and now as a result He has gone to “prepare a place” in the glory. The word “bowed” which is used to describe CHRIST’s act in dying “He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30) is rendered “lay” in describing His poverty, “The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). The only place He had to lay His head was on the Cross. He was placeless that He might place us. His place outside the camp has placed us inside the palace.

“At Home” in the glory of His presence. The words “at home” and “be present” in 2 Corinthians 5:6, 2 Corinthians 5:8-9, are the same. The Greek word means to be at home. As long as we are “at home” in the body we are absent from the LORD, but when we are absent from the body we shall be “at home” with the Lord. He was once at home in the presence of the glory of His Father’s presence, but being commissioned by Him to come and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26), He left the home of His glory, that He might bring us into the glory of His home.

He states this in His comprehensive prayer in the Upper Room, where we find a sevenfold glory expressed.

1. The Father glorified by the Son - “Glorify Thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify Thee” (John 17:1). The glory of the Only Begotten was that He ever expressed the Brightness of GOD’s glory, in all He was in His holiness.

2. The Cross expressed glory - “I have glorified Thee on the earth” (John 17:4). The work to which He consecrated Himself (John 17:19) was the work of redemption in dying for human guilt. The throne of GOD is illuminated by the light of Calvary.

3. The pre-incarnation glory - “The glory I had with Thee before the world was” (John 17:5).

What that glory was we have some faint idea from Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6:11-13; John 12:49).

4. The believer bringing glory to CHRIST - “I am glorified in them” (John 17:10). His glory is great in our salvation. To the name of Wilberforce a glory will ever be given because he was the emancipator of the slaves, but a higher glory is bestowed upon Him who has redeemed us to GOD by His Blood.

5. The glory given to CHRIST - “The glory which Thou gavest Me” (John 17:22). That glory seems to be indicated by the oneness which CHRIST received for the redeemed in associating them with Himself and making them one with the Father as His children. He has a glory as the First-Begotten which He did not have as the Only-Begotten. As the head of a new race the Head is glorified by the race.

6. CHRIST’s glory - “My glory” (John 17:24). CHRIST has a personal glory which is distinct from His acquired glory. The glory of His personal worth. Both His personal and acquired glory are objects of our admiration and worship.

7. Believers’ glory with CHRIST - “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them” (John 17:22). As when a prince marries a poor maiden and gives her his name and position and thus lifts her out of her former position, so CHRIST in making us one with Himself has given us His name and position, but that position could never have been ours if He had not first come into our death and darkness. Believers when they fall asleep now are at home with the LORD, but in a larger sense they shall be at home when He comes for His own.

“Fashioned” like to His body of glory proclaims our correspondence to Him, for the word “fashioned” means like in form; that is, “to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Php 3:21; Romans 8:29). He was once made in the likeness of sinful flesh, yea, “made sin for us,” and we are to be made like to Him, for when we shall see Him, we shall be like Him.

“His name shall be in their foreheads,” which means, He will look at us and see Himself.

“I have just seen your facsimile,” said a friend one day to me, referring to my youngest son, whom he had just passed in the street. The LORD shall see His complete reproduction and resemblance in the redeemed upon whom He shall look in the day of His glory.

Men in the scientific world talk a good deal about correspondence to type. There shall be perfect correspondence to CHRIST by the redeemed, for we shall not only be with Him, but like Him.

“Eternal Life” in its fullness has its consummation in the glory. “When Christ who is our Life shall be appear, then shall we also appear with Him in the glory” (Colossians 3:4). CHRIST said the purpose of His first coming was that we might have life, that life we should never have had except He had died as the Corn of Wheat. The whole chain of eternal life was forged in the fires of Calvary, and now the cable is fastened to the anchor within the vail. The strength and comprehensiveness of this may be gauged by the following connecting links in the cable of grace.

- The death of CHRIST is its basis, as to the ground of its bestowment (John 3:14-15); - The keeping of CHRIST is its security, as to the certainty of its enjoyment (John 10:28); - The Word of GOD is its assurance, as to the validity of its endowment (John 5:24; 1 John 5:13); - The Spirit of CHRIST is its power, as to the strength of its empowerment (John 4:14); - The love of GOD is its evidence, as to the sphere of its environment (1 John 3:15); - The holiness of GOD is its reproduction, as to the effect of its accomplishment (Romans 6:22); - Faith in CHRIST is the receiver, as to the partaking of its blessing (John 3:16, John 3:36; John 6:47); - Feeding upon CHRIST is its secret, as to the means of its fellowship (John 6:54); - Union with CHRIST is the explanation of its meaning, as to knowing its nature (John 17:3); - CHRIST Himself is its Embodiment, as to the fullness of its worth (1 John 5:20); - GOD the Father is its Author, as to the cause of its gift (Romans 6:22; 1 John 5:11) and - The glory of GOD is its consummation, as to the place of its fulfilment (Jude 1:21).

“Incorruptibility” in a life of immortality is the character of the glory. The Gospel is threefold in its message.

- It is a Gospel of grace as expressed in the love of GOD in giving CHRIST for us (John 3:16); - It is a Gospel of power, as promised by CHRIST in the enduement of the Spirit, for holiness of heart and life and usefullness in service (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8); and - It is a Gospel of glory (2 Corinthians 4:4), opening up a vista of life and immortality, hence we find the Apostle Paul, in speaking of the Gospel, begins in the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians by saying, “Christ died for our sins,” and ends in declaring the “mortal shall put on immortality.”

Immortality proclaims a state of incorruptible bliss and holiness in an incorruptible body (1 Corinthians 15:54). Adam was not immortal, for if he had been he could never have fallen.

Believers are not yet immortal. CHRIST is the only One who has immortality (1 Timothy 6:16).

Life and immortality have been brought to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10), and these shall be known experimentally when our LORD returns; then this mortal shall put on immortality, and the corruptible shall be superseded by the incorruptible.

“Earnest.” The Spirit as the Earnest is GOD’s Pledge of the glory.

One of the seven “In whoms” of Ephesians is, “In Whom, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the Earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Ephesians 1:13-14). The purchase price of the final deliverance is the Cross, and the Earnest of it is the Spirit. As the fruit which the spies brought from the land of Canaan was the pledge of what was there (Numbers 13:23-26), so the Spirit is GOD’s guarantee that we shall be in the glory, as He Himself assures us by the Spirit - “He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God who also hath given unto us the Earnest of the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 5:5).

“Right.” The right to the Tree of Life and the entry to the New Jerusalem is in the Blood of CHRIST’s atoning death.

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City” (Revelation 22:14, R.V.). The details of the glory of that city I have indicated in my little book “What Is Heaven?”

Seiss, in the following quotation, gives an idea of its dimensions: “The Golden City for which the Church of the first-born is taught to look as its eternal home, is 1500 miles square; for 12,000 stadia make 1500 miles. John saw it measured, and this was the measure of it, just as wide as it is long, and just as high as it is wide; for the ’length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.’ Here would be streets over streets, and stories over stories, up, up, up, to the height of 1500 miles, and each street 1500 miles long. Thus the city is a solid cube of golden constructions, 1500 miles every way. The base of it would stretch from furthest Maine to furthest Florida, and from the shore of the Atlantic to Colorado. It would cover all Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Prussia, European Turkey and half of European Russia taken together. Great was the City of Nineveh, so great that Jonah had only begun to enter it after a day’s journey. How long, then, would it take a man to explore this city of gold, whose every street is one-fifth the length of the diameter of the earth, and the number of whose main avenues, though a mile above each other, and a mile apart, would not be less than eight millions.” With such a Saviour for our possession, and with such a prospect before us, it makes us cry out with saintly Rutherford, “I have not a balance to weigh the worth of my Lord JESUS. Heaven, ten heavens would not be the beam of a balance to weigh Him in. Oh, if that Fair One would take the mask off His fair face, that I might see Him. A kiss of Him through His mask is half a Heaven. O day, dawn, O time, run fast, O Bridegroom, post, post fast that we may meet! O heavens cleave in two that that bright face and head may set itself through the clouds.”

Meantime till He comes- "Cling to the Crucified! His death is life to thee Life for eternity. His pains thy pardon seal;His stripes thy bruises heal, His Cross proclaims thy peace, Bids every sorrow cease. His Blood is all to thee, It purges thee from sin It sets thy spirit free, It keeps the conscience clean Cling to the Crucified!

Cling to the Crucified! His a heart of love, Full as the hearts above; Its depths of sympathy Are all awake for thee; His countenance is light, Even to the darkest night. That love shall never changeThat light shall ne’er grow dim;

Charge thou thy faithless heart To find its all in Him.

Cling to the Crucified!"