Revelation 1

Revelation 1:1-16

JOHN’S VISION Revelation 1:1-16THE opening sentences of this first chapter of the Book of The Revelation, contain a distinct claim for its Divine inspiration; in fact, the claim amounts to more than inspiration.“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God”, but this last of the sixty-six volumes that make up the Sacred Canon is “God-spoken”—“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: “Who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he said” (Revelation 1:1-2). The transcendent importance of this volume is suggested by the further sentence, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein”.Having stated this manner of inspiration and pronounced this blessing upon its faithful students John is ready to salute the Seven Churches of Asia; and his salutation is an evidence of his gracious Spirit. It is well to remember that John was not born in the house of a king, nor bred in the circle of courtiers; and yet, this salutation is as perfectly phrased, is as gentle, gracious, and involves more splendid speech than ever passed the lips or dripped from the pen of godless potentates.“Peace be to you”, was the salutation of Pharaoh’s steward to Joseph’s house; and “Peace be multiplied unto you”, was the caption of the Assyrian king’s proclamation. David sent to Nabal, saying, “Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast”. Yet, after all, the New Testament Epistles excel in salutation. Paul’s salutation to the Churches as recorded in his Epistles, are models indeed; while this of the Apostle John to the Seven Churches of Asia is matchless, “John to the Seven Churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne;“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the’ dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. 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. Amen” (Revelation 1:4-6). But to such an extent did the Second Appearance of Jesus Christ appeal to John, and so vividly was it presented in the vision to follow, that he could not conclude his salutation without reference to it. And so for the encouragement of these to whom he had graciously spoken, he said, “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7). And then, before entering fully upon the vision, John reverts in thought to the great fact that this revelation was from God, and to emphasize it, he repeats a sentence from the Lord’s lips.“I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). In what follows there is sufficient for a score of sermons, and in the time allotted to me for this discourse, I shall attempt the discussion of but three or four of the many suggestions in the wonderful first chapter of the Apocalypse.JOHN WAS IN PRISON “I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9). Patmos was naught else than prison. Some of you have read Hall Caine’s “Bondman,” and your hearts have been deeply stirred at the solitude and sufferings of Michael Sunlocks, as he attempted life on the solitary island where his only companion was the guard-priest, and where he sat the days through in silent darkness, and thought of Greba and the baby, and broke his heart with the notion that he should never see them more; and your sympathies answered to this work of fiction.Many will remember the particulars of the Dreyfus trial, and his exile to Devil’s island. The dreariness of that place as evidenced in his letters to his loving wife, seemed sufficient to make him desperate indeed; and though his time there was comparatively short, the whole human world hailed with delight the day of his deliverance.And yet, the Isle of Guernsey and the Devil’s Isle were not more dreary than was the Isle of Patmos. If you take your map of Asia and look off the western coast of Asia Minor, you will find a little spot in the JEgean Sea called Patmos. Dr. Seiss once wrote, “Less than a year ago I passed that island.

It is a mere mass of barren rocks; dark in color and cheerless in form. It lies out in the open sea, near the coast of western Asia Minor.

It has neither trees nor rivers, nor any land for cultivation, except some little nooks between ledges of rocks. There is still a dingy grotto remaining in which the aged Apostle is said to have had his vision.” That was John’s prison!They put him there for preaching the Gospel. He himself says, touching his presence in that place, who bare record of “the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ”.Good Gospel preaching has never been popular with an unregenerate world. To proclaim the Kingship of Jesus and His coming supremacy has been most unpopular with political potentates; and the political spirit has so far dominated the public that it leans toward the preference of politicians rather than receive the plain teaching of the Word touching the Lord’s Return.Men are no longer imprisoned for preaching it; but, with the multitude, it is sufficiently unpopular to effect the preacher’s banishment from many pulpits. It sent John to Patmos, but, as Joseph Parker says, “The crime for which he was there, namely, “the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ”, took all the sting out of his residence.”I was reading some years since a statement from Dr. Diaz, a Baptist apostle to Cuba, in which he told how he was in prison six times for preaching the Word of God to his own people.

Then, after having referred to his experience, he turned about in his speech to greatly rejoice that he should have suffered with his Lord.Charles Spurgeon, referring to the effect of faithful preaching, says, “Down on my knees I have often fallen, with the hot sweat rising from my brow, under some fresh slander poured upon me. In an agony of grief my heart has been well-nigh broken, till at last I learned the art of bearing all and caring for none.

And now my grief runneth in another line. It is just the opposite. I fear lest God should forsake me to prove that He is the Author of salvation; that it is not in the preacher; that it is not in the crowd; that it is not in the attention I can attract, but in God and God alone. And this thing I hope I can say from my heart: if to be made as the mire of the streets again; if to be the laughing stock of fools and the song of the drunkard once more, will make me more serviceable to my Master, and more useful to His cause, I will prefer it to all this multitude, or to all the applause that man could give.” Patmos may prove to be a place of blessing.God turns John’s prison into a prophet-chamber. The things that follow are in the form of revelations received in Patmos. It is marvelous how good a studio dungeons have made for God’s men. It was in prison that Joseph learned some of the best lessons of his life—courage, patience, interpretations.It was in prison that Daniel tested the truths that he had been declaring, and found in them no failure for God was with him.It was in prison that Paul and Silas caught the spirit of petition and from prison that some of the former’s most splendid Epistles were sent.It was in prison that John Bunyan saw the illuminated path of the just leading from Sodom to the Celestial City; and it was in prison that Judson learned the nature of true trust in God, and came into the full experience of the same.If prison experiences for God’s people are a thing of the past, so far as dwelling in material dungeons is concerned, they are not a thing of the past so far as enduring hardness is concerned; and the great lesson for us of the present hour was spoken by the Son of Man, when on the mountain top, addressing His disciples, He said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).JOHN WAS IN THE SPIRIT“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day”. He was in the line of duty. A man who is faithful is always in the spirit. I do not employ the word “duty” as commonly used. I do not mean to say that he was there, coerced by the sense that what he was doing had to be discharged. The word “duty” is not employed in the Bible at all. The single instance in which this word is used, “This is the whole duty of man,” is a mistranslation.

The original in Ecclesiastes reads, “This is the whole of man”. We are not servants of Jesus Christ in the sense that we are His bondsmen, but we are His servants with the Apostle, in “The Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus”.When they sent him away to Patmos, knowing why he had been banished, he was comforted by the consciousness that “I am here for having discharged the solemn obligation of speaking the truth,” and instead of leaving him a soured man, it left him “in the Spirit”.It was the Lord’s day with him.“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day”. There is a dispute between students of Revelation as to whether this refers to the first day of the week, or to the Day of the Lord. I hold to the opinion that it means the first day of the week. It seems to me that if, as Jacob Seiss contends, it refers to the Day of the Lord, instead of seeing the things that were shortly to come to pass, he would describe the things that had occurred, and the things that were transpiring. Evidently the Apostle’s view is telescopic. He stands this side of the great events to which the Book refers, and is not transported in spirit to the end of the age. That is the very reason why “the Lord’s Day” is employed instead of “the Day of the Lord.” But every day is the Lord’s day, if only man be in the spirit.

I count it an unspeakable sorrow, however, for a man to be out of the spirit on the first day of the week; for a man to be out of the spirit on the very day appointed of God for his instruction, inspiration and service.Joseph Parker says, “In the spirit means in sympathy with the Divine, in touch with the Infinite, in the conscious presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; in a passion, in an ecstasy ineffable. Some persons have never been in that ecstasy, and therefore they are not fit to criticize it.

It is not given to every man to realize the fulness of himself. Therefore we have but few prophets, few poets, few diviners to whom all time lies bare as to the issues of providence and history.” But who can tell how many men might be prophets, and poets, and diviners of the truth if only, with the Apostle, they were in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day? Then there would be for them the open vision, and the Word of God would do them good.There is a natural sequence in what follows here.John was not deaf to the Divine utterance.“And heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the Seven Churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea” (Revelation 1:10-11).Unquestionably, the man who is in the Spirit hears more than the man who is not in the Spirit, and he hears better than the man who is not in the Spirit. Jesus Christ enjoined His auditors, “Take heed how ye hear”. Jesus Christ says hearing is a great responsibility; the Holy Ghost makes hearing a medium of one’s salvation. By the pen of the Apostle Paul he says to the Romans, “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:13-14; Romans 10:17).I used to wonder why men heard so differently; why when I had preached to them some heard things that made for their salvation, builded them up in spiritual understanding and knowledge; while others’ heard things I had never said or even thought.

But I have come to feel that the spirit of a man determines largely what his ears take in, and that one cannot expect to have all his auditors hear alike. In some instances, the Word of God affects an audience like it did the little company on the way to Damascus.

When God spoke to them, Saul heard him say, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? * * I am Jesus whom thou persecutest”. But it is written of them that were with Paul, “They that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of Him that spake”. In other instances, as in the days of the Son of Man, some will hear the word of salvation, and others catch only blasphemy. The explanation is with the spirit of the man who is listening. When the publican heard Jesus speak he went up to the Temple and prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner”; when the Scribes and Pharisees heard Him speak, “they took up stones to stone Him”. It is not your minister’s business to perform miracles with your ears.

If, on Sunday morning, you arise early, give yourself assiduously for some hours to visiting the office, reading the mail, getting off answers to business propositions, and then take a turn with the newspaper, it is hardly to be expected that the preacher will preach to suit you when you get inside of the sanctuary. If, on Sunday morning, we sleep late, after a Saturday night of some revelry, and find ourselves unable to reach the sanctuary until half the service has concluded, and then to come without looking into the Scripture or having a word of prayer, it is hardly to be expected that the preacher will instruct to our satisfaction.

The Word of God has no power to lift men to instant heights of spiritual thinking. He who comes into the sanctuary unprepared, will go out without the biggest blessing; but he who enters in “in the Spirit” will hear sweeter or even deeper things than the preacher himself has thought or experienced, for, after all, the heart is a better interpreter of the Word of God than is human language.But to continue our study.JOHN WAS A VISION He saw the Son of Man.“And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. “His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; “And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. “And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength?’ (Revelation 1:12-16). What a privilege! How often have we coveted the lot of those who lived in Jesus’ day and looked upon His blessed face. How often have we admired Zacchaeus for overcoming the difficulty of his small stature in climbing to a clear vision of Him when the Son of Man was going by; how often have we joined in our earnest longing with the Greeks, “We would see Jesus”!We are not surprised that inspiration reports Stephen as exhibiting to the members of the council, who were about to permit his martyrdom for having preached the Gospel, a face “as it had been the face of an angel”. Afterward, when they gnashed on him with their teeth, “he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into Heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God”.Paul counted himself an Apostle because he had enjoyed a kindred vision. All of this only suggests the mighty impression made by a vision of the Son of Man—the inspiration that has always come and always will come from beholding Him who “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”, who spake as never man spake, and who, from very love of those in rebellion against His law, lay down His very life.When John would assign a reason for the faith that was within him, the faith that furnished the inspiration of his life, and that made him meet for a martyr’s death, he said of the Son of Man, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth”.Ah, there is such a thing as seeing Jesus by faith; as seeing Him who saved us from sin; who sustains us in every struggle; who is to us Light and Life. There is a present transformation in the vision, and when our partial blindness is past and we shall see Him face to face, that transformation will be perfect, for is it not written by this same Apostle, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.“And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).His appearance was glorious.“Clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. “His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; “And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. “And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength” (Revelation 1:13-16). The only proper interpretation of this description is to accept it literally. There is not a touch in this picture that is not better so taken. “Clothed with a garment”—how else do we expect to find our Lord? That spotless raiment everywhere spoken of in Scripture becomes Him, and will be found upon Him. Nudity is not in the Word. Artists may paint their humanized angels so, if they wish, but they must remember that the Bible knows no such thing. Every heavenly visitor to this earth has been clothed upon in raiment suggestive of both his character, and of the glorious Country whence he came.“And girt about the paps with a golden girdle”— symbol of His priesthood.

This Book of Revelation covers the period in which Christ, as the great High Priest, stands at the right hand of God to make intercession for us.“His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow”. Besides the beauty of this “crown of glory”, how suggestive is it of the fact that He who was at one time in His history “the Babe of Bethlehem” is also “the Ancient of Days”.“And His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace”. He searcheth the reins of the heart. He trampleth in judgment them that will not have His mercy. “And His voice as the sound of many waters”. Many a night I have listened to the roll of the ocean; many an hour I have stood by Niagara and heard the downpour of that mightiest of the world’s cataracts, but when at last “the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout”, I will understand for the first time what John meant when he said, “His voice as the sound of many waters”.His position was assuring. He is in the midst of the candlesticks. Before we have finished this we find that the candlesticks are the Churches. Is it not blessed to feel that such is the position of the Son of God? The pledge of this position was in the great commission.

To the very disciples sent to found and foster the original band of believers, He said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”. Just how He is present the tongue may not formulate words to express, but the trusting heart understands. There is not a service held, but He is there. “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name”, He says, “there am I in the midst”. As Seiss says, “Were these dull, dim senses of ours but unlocked and energized, after the style of that transformation for which the saints are taught to look, we would see our Saviour present now as really as John saw Him walking in “the midst of the seven candlesticks”.Aye, and He will be with us to the end. When Joan of Arc was expiring on the funeral pile, consumed by the fagots, fired of enemies, she breathed her last saying, “Jesus! Jesus!” It was no cry to a God far off, but a communion with One with whom she lived and moved and had her being, for He was with her.THE IN HIS AND The words that follow reveal some splendid truths by way of a continued description, and in the sentences spoken by the Son of Man.It defines the preacher’s position and vocation, “And He had in His right hand seven stars”.“The seven stars are the angels” or ministers “of the Seven Churches”. Truly those who preach the Gospel are upheld by the right hand of His power; and the very work of winning souls is their assurance that they shall shine “as the stars for ever and ever”. It seems to me that when a man once sees the relation that ministers of Jesus Christ sustain to their Master, as illustrated by this symbol, he must appreciate instantly the dignity and importance of this office; and if he be not of the ministry, concede its right to reverential treatment; and if he be of this high calling, to appreciate keenly his privilege and feel solemnly his appointment.William Murray, the man who became a mighty missionary, both to the blind and the seeing Chinese, was a mail carrier in the rural districts near Glasco. He had lost one arm by accident, and was without the best equipment to become a missionary. When he made his application to the Bible Society of Glasgow, the secretary suggested the danger of giving up a good position for a venture which might prove a failure. But Murray reminded him that it was a “promotion to go from royal mail carrier to be messenger for the King of kings.” Murray was right.

This world knows no higher profession, and with all of its attendant difficulties, trials and temptations, preaching the Good Tidings is, after all, the safest work in which a child of the King ever engaged, for the reason suggested in this text, He holdeth such in His right hand.Isaiah seemed to have learned this truth centuries gone, and wrote for the encouragement of his own heart and the assurance of those who should come after him, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord”.This revelation also presents the eventual conquest of Christ.“Fear not; I am the First and the Last;“I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death”.He alone holds those keys. When you turn to the latter part of the Book of Revelation, you will find what use He is to make of them. When they turn in the lock of Time, it will be to release the immortal man from bars of flesh and to let His own out of the graves to be for ever with Him; and when they turn in the gates of hell it will be to open that door for the incasting of the adversary, who being chained and shut up and sealed into the bottomless pit, shall “deceive the nations no more”.To long for His Coming, therefore, is to properly appreciate the promise of the resurrection, the prophecy of reunions, the pledge of companionship with the Conqueror Himself; and to feel the thrill of that victory which will be ours and His when at last the adversary is overthrown. I do believe as one has said, “Nor can the church ever be her true self, or enter into the true spirit of her faith, or rise to the true sublimity of her hope, where this is not the highest object of her deepest desire, “Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!”

Revelation 1:17-18

VICTORY THROUGH THE VICTOR(Easter Sermon)THERE is but one other Sabbath in the year in which the theme of all pulpits is so nearly the same as on this day. The Sunday nearest December 25th turns all the pulpits of the land to the discussion of some phase of the birth of Jesus; while this Easter day has always one subject, namely, His Resurrection. It would seem almost a providential thing that Christ was raised from the tomb at this season of the year when Nature itself expresses in every springing blade and every unfolding bud and every bursting song the Easter thought, or better still, the resurrection idea.We reckon it of decided advantage that all branches of Christian faith should, on occasion, dwell on a common theme. The scheme of the International Sunday School lessons whereby all denominations give themselves to the concerted study of the same Scripture had, before this apostasy set in, done no little toward answering the prayer of Christ.“Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are,” (John 17:11). A sincere study of the same subject and the same Scripture will necessarily bridge differences and abate discussions.Dr. Lyman Abbot in a sermon of years since discussed “The Things Surely Believed”. He says, “The world has made its progress in religious truth as in all truth by debate and discussion. * * Questions respecting the organization and structure of the Church; concerning the nature and inspiration of the Bible; concerning the form and method of worship; concerning Divine sovereignty and human free will; concerning the attributes of God and His tri-personality; concerning the problem of how Jesus saves the world—these and kindred questions have been debated over and over until at last men outside the Church have almost been inclined to say, ‘Tell me what Christianity is, and then I will tell you whether I accept it or not, but now with so many sects quarreling among themselves, how can I know?’ ”And Abbot regarded it wise to put before the people the things that are surely believed among us, the things that belong to the Roman Catholic and to the Protestant; to the Calvinist and to the Arminian; to the Liberal and to the Orthodox; to the Progressives and to the Reactionaries—the things that belong to us all that we are sure of. He says, “They are fundamentals and they are far more vital than the things we debate about.” While dissenting from Abbot’s general views, we emphasize again great fundamentals.The text this morning gives opportunity to do just that. In what I shall say today, there will not only be an amen from Protestant and Catholic, Calvinist and Arminian, Conservative and Progressive; but also a hearty assent on the part of many who are outside of the churches, and yet believe that Jesus Christ is risen, and that what He has to say upon the great subject of life and of death is worthy of more than attention; it is worthy of adoption. Those who are willing to hear this Son of Man speak on these subjects are a multitude, and their interest in what He has to say is intense, and may the Spirit lead us all to the right understanding of these words of the risen Christ.“Fear not; I am the First and the Last:“I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of deathTHE OF LIFE The immortality of life has been one of the great themes of all the ages. No prophets, philosophers or poets, but have discussed it.Christ, in our text, touches upon an inherent hope. One of our clearest thinkers has written, “The hope of the future life has always nestled in the heart of the race, and found wings upon occasion. When savages bury the weapons and utensils with a dead man in order that he may start with a full equipment, they believe that he is somewhere; and when the Athenians went out to Eleusis twice a year in March as the life of the year began, and in September, as it faded, and held a solemn function, it was not only that they might live happily, but, as Cicero puts it, That they might die with a fairer hope.’ The Eleusinian mysteries must have been a great support to the pious of the day, and served the purpose of a conference for the deepening of spiritual life. This instinct dies down to the root in winter of agnosticism, but it never loses its vitality. Clever people point out that no one can demonstrate immortality, which goes without saying; and high-minded people condemn the desire for continued individuality as a subtle form of selfishness, which is very superior.

There may be an insignificant minority who would be content that their life should be flung back like a cupful of water into the stream from which it was taken. But to the race the destruction of this hope would be irreparable, since it is laden with a wealth of compensation and reparation.”It is both significant and suggestive that this hope of the future life has been entertained alike by the ignorant and the enlightened, by the highly civilized and the grossly heathenized.

In all the great nations, and upon all the islands of the seas, wherever creeds have been formulated, and even where the cannibal never so much as dreamed he had a creed, this expectation of a future existence has been found playing a certain part in restraining men from sin, and inciting them to virtue; and yet, as one rises in the scale of civilization he does not lose this hope.Cicero wrote that to which we are even now compelled to assent when he said, “There is, I know not how, in the minds of men a certain presage, as it were, of a future existence, and this takes the deepest root and is most discoverable in the greatest geniuses and most exalted souls. It is an inherent hope.”This thought was prominent also in Christ’s creed. The same author, before quoted from, says, “Before Jesus, life was a wistful longing. It was also a hopeless mystery. With the thinkers of one nation, it was also a speculation, as in Phaedo; with the saints of another, it was a vision, as in the 16th Psalm. Jesus brought life to light, and declared the doctrine of immortality.”One needs only run over a few of the most familiar passages of Scripture to realize the occasion for this claim.

It was Jesus who said, “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul”? It was Jesus who said, “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell”.

It was Jesus who said, “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth”, and again, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment”? It was Jesus who said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”, and it was He who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. Of Him, John wrote, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men”.The theme of Christ’s preaching was “The Kingdom of God”, and yet when one comes to study the discourses of this Divine Master, he will find almost as much contributed to the subject of life as to that of the Kingdom, and when he has finished the sayings of Jesus, it will appear that the Kingdom was given such prominence as it received in His preaching solely because the Kingdom of God is only the Kingdom of organized life, the Kingdom of immortalized life, and such life is the last and best thought of Jesus, and compasses the largest article of His creed.One of the proofs that John was not mistaken in his vision when he spoke of it as the revelation of Jesus Christ” is in the fact that that one who appeared unto him “like unto the Son of Man”, and laid His hand upon him, began immediately to speak of this great theme of which He had so often spoken in the days of His earthly life. While on earth, He preached life through Himself, and when He speaks from Heaven, He does the same.But His resurrection best reveals His doctrine. While there He had said, “I am the Resurrection, and the Life”. When from Heaven He cries, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore”, He is making good His claims.

As the late Dr. Behrends said, “We preach Jesus and His resurrection. * * Christianity lives, moves and has its being in eternity. * * The God in whom we believe is from everlasting to everlasting.

The Saviour in whom we trust has conquered death, bringing life and immortality to light, showing us that corruption must put on incorruption, and the grave become the cradle of endless life. * * Everything in the Christian confession is keyed to immortality and eternal blessedness.”But our text also has another suggestion, THE OF DEATH “I am He that liveth, and was dead”. Death, then, is an episode, not an end. The Bible is perfectly clear upon that subject. When Jesus gives us the parable of Dives and Lazarus, He clearly affirms the fact that death simply effects a change in the manner and condition of life. It does not end it, for Lazarus who died is pictured as living again in the bosom of Abraham, blessed for evermore; while Dives, being in torment, cries his agony across the impassable gulf.Shakespeare expresses this thought when he makes Arthur, betrayed and beaten, to say, “My God, Thou hast forsaken me in my death, “Nay God, my Christ I pass, but shall not die.” Longfellow has written it into a Psalm of Life.“Tell me not in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream, For the soul is dead that slumbers And things are not what they seem. “Life is real, life is earnest And the grave is not its goal. ‘Dust thou art, to dust returnest,’ Was not spoken of the soul.” Do you remember what the author of “Quo Vadis” makes the Christian girl Lygia say to Vinicius touching the Christian’s consolation under the circumstances of persecution? “Look to us; for there are no partings, no pains, no sufferings, or if they come, they are turned into pleasure, and death itself, which for you is the end of life, is for us merely its beginning—the exchange of a lower for a higher happiness, a happiness less calm for one calmer and eternal.” Her every word is warranted by Holy Writ.Life, then, is as independent as ageless. It is not shut up to the narrow limits of three score years and ten. It is not confined forever to the homely scenes of the farm, or the vision of the streets. The man who feels that death ends all is necessarily dependent, and by the same necessity a cringing, cowardly man. His happiness depends upon what treasures he can lay up here, upon what friends be can make here, upon what works he can accomplish here, upon what pleasures he can enjoy here. Whatever he undertakes is cursed with a fear on his part that he may not live to finish it.

Whatever he does is damaged by the fact that he may be misunderstood and maligned. Whatever he pursues, regarding it an essential to happiness, brings him into alarm lest he never overtake.

That is just the reason that so many men are what we call “time-servers.” They fit their theology to suit the times. They conduct their business in keeping with the spirit of the times. They play politician and bid for favor from all their fellows. They stultify themselves, if only that is essential to the accomplishment of their own temporal advancement, and conduct themselves just as if the Epicurean philosophy was right, and the chief end of living was to eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow we die. But the man who believes in the life Jesus Christ leads at the right hand of God— the life that is for evermore—is the independent man.Paul was of that sort. He wrought, believing that what he undertook, time would carry on to its completion.

When men misunderstood him, misrepresented him, and persecuted him, he did not turn aside to the business of correcting public opinion, but kept on with his work instead, knowing full well that the time to come would both justify his conduct and approve his Gospel. When threatened with death, he answered, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”.

He knew that though his Master might permit him to change places, He would never privilege the work which he had done in His Name to fail or stand incomplete because the Apostle’s life was cut short; and many of the fears that cripple us here and render us cowards would take their flight this Easter morning, if only we laid hold on Christ’s doctrine of immortality. Why should the man who is going to live for ever be a “time-server?” Why should he belie himself and bemean himself for no other reward than a passing popularity, when the everlasting ages stretch out before him? Why should he be anxious to publish his virtues and secure the praise of men, when those ages will uncover everything and bring to light every truth, and make him to stand or fall according as he is really worthy or unworthy.One of my brethren was telling me a few days since how it was with Seward when he was Secretary of State under Mr. Lincoln. In that stormy time many of the Secretary’s actions were misunderstood, and misrepresented, and throughout the land there was a great hue and cry against him, and a friend went to him and said, “Mr. Seward, why don’t you come out in a statement and set the public right?” and he answered with all calmness, “Because I can wait until the impartial historian has done me justice.”That is the sentiment of true living.

That is the view that comes out of a faith that life is for evermore, and that is also the calm content resulting from the creed of Christ. As Phillips Brooks said, “What is there in scorn or criticism that dies the day it is born; that can terrify, however it may pain, the man who is to live for ever?

He is free. He has entered into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”Again, duty is never a question of a day. If we are going to live for ever, it is always a question of eternity; and my duty today will not be determined by today nor by tomorrow, but by eternity instead. I am not to ask, What is the thing to be done under present circumstances, but I am to ask, What is the thing to be done in the light of an unending life?Dr. Broadus used to say to us, “Young men, in your studies, keep your eye on at least ten years.” As he meant it, the counsel was well enough, but the speech in itself, was misleading. The time is altogether too short.

Man must keep his eye on eternity instead.Do you remember the story of Philip de Neri, a saint of the 16th century? A young Italian student told him what progress he was making in the law school, and how he expected to complete his course in honors. “And when you have finished the course, what shall you do?” questioned Philip.“Take my doctor’s degree,” answered the young man.“And then?” asked Philip.“And then I shall have a number of difficult cases; and by learning, eloquence and acuteness, get a great reputation.”“And then?”“Why I shall be promoted to some high office and shall make money and grow rich.”“And then?” reiterated Philip.“Then I shall retire to comfortable wealth and dignity.”“And then?” persisted Philip.“And then? then? then, I shall die.”Here Philip raised his voice. “And what then?”The young man’s face flushed, his eyes dropped, and he went away.

He had simply been planning upon time. Duty with him had nothing to do with God, and no relation to eternity, and was to be performed from purely selfish ends. And, if a man were only going to live for seventy years, and then die as the beast dies, he might be pardoned such a view of duty. But not so if he has learned the lesson of this text that Christ is alive for evermore, and that the life of man is to be co-extensive with the life of God.Gustavus Adolphus had a very different view of duty, when he faced the foe on the 6th of November, 1632. He was fighting not for personal glory nor yet for the privilege of sitting on a throne; but fighting instead for what he believed to be right, fighting for principles he reckoned worthy to live, and fighting with the conviction that whether he stood or fell, he would see either from the standpoint of earth, or else from his position at the right hand of God, that right had triumphed. When at last he did fall, and the murderous soldiers swarming around him, demanded his name and quality he answered, “I am the king of Sweden, and I seal this day, with my blood, the liberties and religion of the German nation.”Did Gustavus die?

No! No!

Did he fail in the discharge of duty? No! He is alive for evermore, and that great Protestant power, located to the north of Germany, holding in check the Catholicism that rolls up from the south, and also resisting the encroachments of Russia, is as much the work of Gustavus today as it was his work to unsheath the sword in the thirty years war. And the man who does his duty today need have no fear of dying tomorrow. He will never die. He may fall asleep, but he will just as surely ‘wake. The true conception of life privileges one to ask, “What’s time?” and answer “Leave now for dogs and apes, Man has for ever.”One suggestion more from this text—OUR VICTORY IS BY THIS ONE “Behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death”.Christ, therefore, has conquered death. Truly, “when He (Christ) ascended up on high, He led captivity captive”, and His resurrection and ascension is not a mere promise, but the pledge of the resurrection and ascension of everyone of His people; everyone in his order, “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His Coming”.Cosmo Monkhouse could scarce have had anything less than the resurrection of Jesus Christ in mind when he wrote that magnificent sonnet, “From morn to eve they struggled—life and death, At first it seemed to me that they in mirth Contended, and as foes of equal worth, So firm their feet, so undisturbed their breath, But when the sharp red sun cut through its sheath Of western clouds, I saw the brown arm’s girth Tighten and bear that radiant form to earth. And suddenly both fell upon the heath. “And then the wonder came, for when I fled To where those great antagonists down fell, I could not find the body that I sought, And when and where it went I could not tell; One only form was left of those who fought, The long dark form of death, and it was dead.” It was Jesus who said, “I am ** the Life”, and it is before His power that death has gone down to rise no more, and he who is risen with Christ through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised Him from the dead, is victor through this victorious One.According to this text, He has not only conquered death, but He keeps the keys of death.The word hell here is properly translated hades, or the place of the dead. Consequently Christ claims to have the keys of the grave and of death.Bishop Brooks thinks that Christ’s experience of death put the keys thereof into His hands. He says, “Do we not know how any soul who has passed through a great experience holds the keys of that experience, so that as he sees another coming up to it just as ignorantly and fearfully as he came, he can run up to this newcomer and open the door for him, show him on what side this experience is best entered, lead him through the dark passages of it where he could not easily find the way alone, and at last bring him out into the splendor of the light beyond?” That is why we do well to make counsellors of older men; men who have met the obstacles of life and learned how to surmount them; men who have come upon difficulties and learned how to overcome them; men who have endured trials and learned how to wrest blessings from them. But while I believe with Bishop Brooks that in this sense Christ had the keys of the grave and of death, I am also persuaded that there is a better interpretation of this Scripture. It is better interpreted in the light of Lazarus’ tomb. No matter what seals are put upon the graves, no matter how deep they digged them, at the word of Christ they will be broken up.

No matter how absolute seems the embrace of death, at the word of Christ Lazarus will come forth, for even death must obey His demands.Why should we fear it, therefore, when we remember yet another fact, namely, Christ will not forget His own. There is a personal touch in this text that to me is precious, and it is in the introductory sentence, “And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not”.I bring to each of you this morning the sweet message that Jesus knows you and the comforting assurance that He will never overlook you, or leave you in the field of the dead.I noticed from the reports that came from the fields of battle, 1914—1918, that the General often telegraphs “so many dead” and “so many missing.” In some instances this only means that those under the first report have been found upon the field, and those under the second report, missing, have been overlooked.

Those who die in Christ need have no more fear of being missed on the resurrection morn.You remember Dore’s picture, “The Vale of Tears.” I saw the original in Chicago—the great stretch of canvass on which the realistic artist had painted a shadowy valley, at the entrance to which stood the Saviour clothed in white and bearing a cross. All down the valley, filling up the middle and foreground of the picture, are the figures of the weary and the heavy laden, of all classes from the highest to the humblest. Over the head of Jesus is a bow of light, symbolizing God’s covenant of grace. The Master’s hand is so uplifted, that while under the Cross, it seems beckoning unto Himself, and His eyes of compassion seem to rest upon every man in all the multitude. But this text presents a sweeter thought still. He will not cease after having looked upon us simply, but coming into glory, He will lay His right hand upon each and lift him up, and what a resurrection it will be!Do you remember how Hawthorne in “The House of the Seven Gables” portrays Judge Pyncheon sitting in his great chair apparently resting, but in point of fact, dead already.

A whole day goes by and no one disturbs him, for no one knows his real condition; and with an impatience that so much time should be lost, the author cries, “Up, therefore, Judge Pyncheon; you have lost a day. But tomorrow will be here anon.

Will you rise, betimes, and make the most of it?“Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow! We that are alive may rise betimes tomorrow, but as for him that has died today, his tomorrow will be the resurrection morn.” Blessed morn, it will be for him who is wakened by the touch of the right hand of the Most High.