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Church, every member of which is manifestly “ conformed to the image of his Son, by the sufficiency of that grace.” T he R ewards of the S aints W ill B e D istributed Rewards will be according to the character of service rendered, not by sinners seeking salvation but by saints possessing salvation. A sinner without salvation can render no acceptable service unto God. Legalism of every kind will be shut out from rewards because legalism has only the sinner’s welfare in view. The rewards will be for the saints who by grace possess salvation as the gift from God. The question of judgment is frequently a hindrance to many Christians because each time that judgment is spoken of they presume it has to do with sins and sinners. But as sinners, the Christians have been judged at the Cross of Calvary. As sons, the Christians are now judged at the throne of grace. As servants, the Christians will be judged at the Berna, the judgment seat of Christ. This judgment has nothing to do with the sins or the persons; it has to do only with the service o f the saints acting as ser vants while they wait for the Lord’s coming. He is com ing and will bring His rewards with Him (Rev. 22). But the works of the saints will all be tried with fire and then whatever abides this testing will receive reward and that according to the Lord’s own estimation (1 Cor. 3 :6 -8 ). For the present we are to “ judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hid den things of darkness, and will make manifest the coun sels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor. 4 :5 ). The character of the rewards is so regal and glorious that nothing but “ crowns” seem capable of describing them. Whatever these crowns may be they certainly speak of the regal and majestic quality o f that by which the ser vice of the saints will be rewarded. There are some who, because of a false humility, would serve the Lord for no reward. And it is true that the heart of the saint in pos session o f the salvation of Scripture instinctively seeks to serve and please God. But when the Lord Himself offers rewards for faithful service the path of the wise saint will be to endeavor so to serve as to merit the reward the Lord holds out. In the matter of service it should be carefully noted that three elements are essential which will merit reward from the Lord. There must be the right method in the service (2 Tim. 3 :16, 17) ; the right motive (2 Cor. 5 :14) ; and the right purpose (1 Cor. 10:31). With the Word to guide, and the love of Christ to enthuse, and the glory of God to be sought, the saint will be always abounding in the work o f the Lord (not so much work for the Lord), and in the end, at the consummation of salvation, receive the crowns which it will be his joy and delight to cast at the feet of Him who is, in His own person, the Salvation of Scripture. T he S aints W ill E nter U pon T heir E ternal O ccupation The Church is a heavenly company chosen out of earth’s peoples to be the manifestation of Christ’s glory, and the agent of God’ s’dealings with the spirit realms. The Church, we are told, is to judge the angels. Not, o f course, to judge them in the sense of holding a court as though to try prisoners brought before that court. But she will “ judge” the angels as the deliverers in the days o f the Judges delivered Israel. The angels, which now protect ( Continued on page 464)
then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Col. 3 :4). In describing the event of our Lord’s coming and its effect upon the saints, the Holy Spirit ends by saying, “ And so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). W e shall be like Him physically, clothed in a body superior to all that now hinders and restrains the fullest activity in His service. Now the body controls the believer so that he cannot do what he would because of infirmity. Sickness comes and lays him low; pain assails the nerves and dulls the keenness of thought; frailty is ever present to hinder the work of the Lord; but all o f this will be past when He comes from heaven. “ For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change pur vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Phil. 3:20, 21). That body of glory, the true physical body, in which our Lord now lives in heaven, is the same kind of body in which the believer will live when the New Creation is finished, at His coming. We shall be like Him mentally. No longer to see through the glass darkly and to know in part. No longer to find ourselves groping in our present ignorance, but knowing as He knows and thinking as He thinks. “ For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12). And we shall be like Him morally, and be revealed before every created intelligence as being “ faultless” throughout the whole o f our being. In the present we are to be “ blameless” in body and soul and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23), but then we shall be presented “ faultless in his presence with exceeding joy” (Jude 24 ). The desire for faultless ness is certainly a natural one on the part of the believer, but the desire should not be allowed, as it now is among the sinless perfectionists, to deny the fact o f our present limitations. W e may be, and should be, blameless; but faultless we cannot he until the Lord comes and salvation is complete. The Lord gave Himself for the Church that He might cleanse it with the washing o f water by the Word, and this is the work in which He is now engaged, in order that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; and the presentation of this spotless, wrinkleless, faultless Church will take place when He comes from heaven for His own. Long ago the sainted Bonar wrote for the encouragement of a poor cripple boy (and this might be said to every member of the Church, the Body of Christ) a poem a jpart of which runs:—
Then gazing on His matchless face, Thou shalt reflect His perfect grace; In thee Christ’s beauty God will trace, When He comes. T he P urpose of G od W ill B e F ulfilled
It is not alone for the sake of the believer that Christ died and salvation came. God has a still larger purpose than even the saving of souls. Saved souls are to be, throughout all the coming ages, unto the “ praise of the glory‘of his grace” (Eph. 1 :6). What God has done in quickening souls dead in trespasses and sins is in order “ that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2 :7 ). Every created intelligence in heaven or on earth or under the earth will then behold and ac knowledge the riches of His grace as they gaze upon the
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