«on prompted Canon Farrar, in his Eternal Hope, to say, “Heaven is to be something rather than to go somewhere.” Or, as another writer has said, “ Heaven means a state of character, not just a place of residence.” Now all such state ments as these may have truth in them —but they are not the whole truth. Heaven is to be a state of mind and heart and soul, unquestionably; but it is more than that. It is a place of residence, too. What do we know about this divinely prepared “ place” ? In the book of Reve lation, the wonderful place that will be the eventual and continual home of the redeemed is called “ the holy city, new Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2). John, who was given a foregleam of its glory, records the city’s dimensions: “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel” (Rev. 21: 15-17). No human eye ever has seen on earth such a city as this. Starting from the center of our own city, Los Angeles, though it is the fifth largest in the United 'States, one can travel only a comparatively few miles until he reaches the city limits. But this heavenly city is beyond earthly parallel. J. A. Seiss, in The Apocalypse, beau tifully describes the eternal abiding place of those who have been redeemed by Christ’s precious blood: “ The golden city for which the Church of the first-born is taught to look as its eternal home is 1,500 miles square; for 12,000 stadia make 1,500 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 1,500 miles, and each street 1,500 miles long. Thus this city is a solid cube of golden construction, 1,500 miles every way. The base of it would stretch from furthest Maine to furthest Florida, and from the shore of the Atlantic to Colo rado. It would cover all Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Aus tria, Prussia, European Turkey, and half of European Russia, taken togeth er! Stupendous magnitude!” This wonderful city is to be the ever lasting home of all who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. It is where God will manifest His presence, where Christ will abide in His resurrection body. It is, moreover, to be recognized as the capital of God’s universe. And oh, the unfathomable vastness of this universe! Astronomers tell us that this J U L Y , 1 9 4 9
earth is a very small thing as com pared to the millions of other planets that surround it. For illustration, let us suppose that one could take an auger and bore a hole in the sun. If he could do this, he could pour 1,200,000 earths like ours into this cavity and still have room for 4,300,000 moons to be lodged around inside the edge!' But even the sun is small, comparatively, because some fixed stars such as Alpha Centauri are five times larger than our sun. We are told that “ the Milky Way” is composed of untold millions of suns, some of them so far away that the light traveling from them to the earth at 186,000 miles a second requires almost 100,000 years to arrive here. How, then shall we think of our earth in relation to the whole universe? As a single grain of sand, at the base of a single blade of grass in the vastness of a Manitoba prairie, so is our earth when compared with the rest of God’s universe! Think for a moment of the incomprehensible outreaches of this great universe. And then- remember that the government of it—the upholding of it—all emanates from that holy place where Christ is at the right hand of the Father. What Are the Enjoyments and Employments in the New Jerusalem? There will be no monotony in Heaven but instead an eternal unfolding of the glories of God and of His Son in the work of redemption. This fact is clearly implied in Revelation 22:1: “ And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” This verse is a part of the description of the heavenly Jerusalem, as the por tion which immediately follows speaks of “the street of it,” evidently identify ing it with what has gone before in the previous chapter. What does this “ river of water of life . . . proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” mean? May it not refer to the Holy Spirit’s testimony to Christ? Believers have all drunk of that testimony here on earth, for “ the Spirit . . . beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16). But, be loved, there will be in the eternal ages a never-ending unfolding of the match less , glory of the Person and work of our wonderful Lord. It will pass before our wondering eyes like the constant flowing of an endless river. This thought is made clear from other scriptures. In John’s Gospel, we find it said of Christ in the first chapter, “ In him was life,” and that He was “ full of grace and truth.” Again, you will recall how the Lord Himself spoke to the sinful Samaritan woman about the necessity of drinking “ living water” in order to find peace and joy. He who was Himself the life, the dispenser of living water, spoke to a sinner dead in tres passes and sins, and He also referred to the effect of living water on one’s soul. Speaking of the water of Jacob’s
well, He said: “ Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But who soever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13, 14). Dear fellow-believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have drunk of that living water which is Christ Himself; other wise you could not be saved. But among the blessed features of the New Jeru salem is the flowing of the river of water of life from the throne of God and of the Lamb, representing Christ as He is yet to be known. Fresh wonders of the Saviour’s person will be unfolded endlessly. In Heaven there will be habitual wor ship. Of the home of the redeemed, John makes a somewhat surprising state ment: “ And I saw no temple therein” (Rev. 21:22). There will be a temple in the earthly millennial Jerusalem, but none in the New Jerusalem, the be lievers’ eternal home. No matter how sweet the idea of an earthly house of worship may be to you, any such struc ture localizes God. But in that heavenly city, there will be no temple, for, if I may so speak, the whole city is a tem ple: “ The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” There will be no need of any building to enclose the divine presence and to exclude any individual, for continually the redeemed ones will be aware of their function and privilege as worshippers. Then, too, in Heaven there will be continual praise. A great multitude is pictured in Revelation 7:10 as standing before the throne of God, crying with a loud voice, “ Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” In that coming day, we sinners saved by grace shall glorify the Lord as we ought, because we shall understand fully, as we cannot now, what it means to be saved and how much we owe to our Redeemer. In Heaven there will be also continual service. This is clearly stated in Revela tion 22:3: “ And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants serve him.” The sphere of this service will not be limited to the earth during the millennial reign of Christ, but to the whole created universe. The church will reign with Christ over the earth for a thousand years, but she is also linked with all of God’s creation as a co heir with Christ. Ultimately, the service of Christians will extend to the whole created universe. (Continued on Page 23) Page Thirteen
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