46. Glory of True Government
Glory of True Government
Now we come to the last, Revelation 22:1 : “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” There is the eighth gleam of glory, it is the glory of a true government.
Christ is not yet on His throne (Revelation 3:21). He is seated on His Father’s throne, and they are quite distinct. In Revelation 5:6 He is not yet on the throne, He is standing in the midst of the throne. In Revelation 7:10, it is God who is on the throne. Then we come to Revelation 20:11, and we see the Lord Jesus Christ, at last, on the throne, a throne of judgment. That brings an end to sin and to rebellion. Then inRevelation 22:1 we see one throne, the throne of God and of the Lamb. The Father and the Son are united again on one throne, because the work for which the Father gave His Son, and the work for which the Son left His Father and shed His blood, is done.
Now the Holy Spirit, the pure river of life, is proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb to heal the nations by means of the leaves of the tree of life, to give to them perfect government, to give to them what no man or men are big enough today to give to the world, stability of government, righteousness of government, peace, and everything else for which the world is longing. When that day of true, perfect government comes, you will see that earthly things, material things, are of no further use. “They need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light” (Revelation 22:5), and in the endless eternity you and I and all that marvelous company of the redeemed ones will begin to understand something of the meaning of the cross and the value of the death of the Son of God. We shall begin to see something of the glory of that wonderful sacrifice, and in that glory we shall live our lives, for we shall reign forever and ever. The secret of all this wonderful life that is pictured for us in this book, thrown back upon us from the light of eternity, is this: taking, and keeping by the power of the Holy Spirit, our place of death union with Christ. Some may not understand the meaning of that, but if we ask the Holy Spirit to lead us into the meaning of it He will do it. It is something we can understand only by experience. When we yield to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to make the death of Christ in its fullest purpose known to us, He will lead us into it. That is the secret of life. It is taking our place with Christ on the cross to everything that is opposing the Father’s will, and maintaining that attitude of death as these things come into our lives. That death position in and through Christ is the position from which we draw strength and victory and life.
I do trust that through these very imperfect, feeble messages, some at least have seen the place which the cross has in the Bible, in the eye of God, in the plan of God, and if you have caught something of a vision of Calvary, go to your Church, and to your home, and to your business, and to your Sunday-school class, and as never before lift up the standard of the cross, and focus the eye of people today on the cross. It is necessary to everything, it is the source of all power.
You never can get away from the cross. If you are going to live the victorious life, if you are going to know the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus, you never can get away from the cross. Hereafter you will never want to get away from it, for “The Lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel’s Land.”