August 1929
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373
K i n g ' s
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Heavenly Things B y D r . G eorge B. E dwards
" If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things ?”—John 3:12.
simply by faith in Christ. How freely given by God, and how easily acquired by u s ! II. T h e H eavenly C alling (H eb . 3) When we experience the new birth, and receive the new life, we then become partakers of a new, heavenly calling. And for this heavenly birth, life, and calling, God’s Word and God’s Spirit, together with OUR faith, are accounted the means whereby we acquire or possess them. The Word may be announced to us, and the Spirit may faithfully press the same upon conscience and heart, but without a living faith in God and His truth, we know nothing.of, nor do we possess, anything heavenly. In this heavenly calling two things become prominent: What we are to go on to, at the end, and what we are to observe and cultivate, while on the way to that end. We are called to inherit, at last, God’s "eternal glory.” This is our present hope and final destiny by the grace of God. Paul says God has called us by the Gospel, while Peter affirms that He has called us by Christ Jesus. But, if we remember that the Gospel is the Gospel OF the Lord Jesus Christ, the two statements perfectly coincide. What a glorious end, then, awaits all those who obey this Lord and His Gospel, but "what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel o f God?” With heaven and the eternal glory fairly in view, we must not lose sight of the divine requirement, on our way through this world, of "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” We are called to the practice and cul tivation of this, since we are "called with an H O L Y call ing.” Heaven beyond and holiness here, appear, then, to be inseparably bound together in this "high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil, 3:14; 1 Thess. 4:7; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Pet. 4 :17; 5:10). I I I . T h e ,H eavenly I nheritance (1 P et . 1) “To an inheritance . . . . reserved in heaven for you” MH “Called, that ye should inherit a blessing” (3 :9). The heavenly calling and the inheritance of the be liever, are very closely associated. What we possess in Christ by inheritance, has both a present and future appli cation. Paul blesses God for the present possession of all heavenly blessings in Christ, "in whom” he declares, “we H A VE obtained an inheritance.” We have already, as it were, entered into our inheritance, as we come into the wondrous knowledge, not only of our PLACE, but also of our POSSESSIONS in Christ, for we are in the book of Ephesians (c. 1). Peter blesses God for the living hope of an inheritance reserved in heaven for us, to be entered upon "at the revelation o f Jesus Christ.” How precious is the twofold applicafion of this in heritance ! With the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, as "the earnest o f our inheritance,” there is a present realization and enjoyment of what we already possess in Christ. It is this fuller and deeper truth that we need to comprehend, if, in practice, we would "walk worthy o f the vocation wherewith we are called.” On the other hand, how cheering, according to Peter, amidst the present “trial of our faith” to look upward and onward, far above
HEN Jesus spoke thus to Nicodemus, He was anticipating for us an entirely new order of blessing, which answers to the fulness of blessing in the heavenlies we now possess in Christ (Eph. 1:3). The "hea/venly things” were the "things N EW ” of "the things new
and old,” which the householder brought forth out of his treasure (Matt. 13:52). And, therefore, in this new order of blessing, henceforth, "the kingdom o f God” would be known in a new and different character from .that prom ised in the Old Testament Scriptures. It would be known, not so much by the blessing of God coming down and filling the earth, but by the Blesser Himself, having come down to declare these heavenly things, and having accom plished redemption, GOING UP A G A I N I N T O HEAVEN, filling that scene with His own presence and glory, and sending down "the Spirit o f God and o f glory.” May we, then, consider briefly some of these heavenly things, revealed to us in the Word, and made known by "the Holy Ghost sent down FROM heaven.” I. T h e H eavenly B irth ( J ohn 3) This is the first blessing, and, if viewed in its essen tial character, the greatest. Without birth there could be no life, and without life there could be no beginning or existing of a being, capable of apprehending, knowing, and enjoying the things OF life, whether natural or spiritual, whether earthly or heavenly. Therefore, the capacity to know and enjoy heavenly things, depends upon a heavenly birth, or the being "born from above” (margin). For to have our eyes opened to "the things ABOVE ,” "where CH R IST sitteth,” we must be born from above. The modus operandi of the new, or heavenly, birth, was made very clear by our Lord to Nicodemus, as it is also to us: "That whosoever BE L IE V E TH IN H IM ,” explained in simple language. "How can these things be?” "Should . . . . have eternal life,” assured the new-born one of his blessing in possession, and really defined what the new birth meant. To be born from above means to have a life, in present possession, that is of God, that is of heaven, eternal in its duration and character, the life of God IN Christ. It is a life native to heaven and for eign to earth, produced in us by FA ITH IN CHRIST, by which faith we become the sons of God. "For ye are all the children [sons] o f God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3 :26). When we are thus new-born, we are also new-created, so that we have not only a new life, but also a new stand ing before God. This standing is IN Christ Jesus, and is as eternal and enduring as is the standing and acceptance of Christ Himself in the presence of God. " I f any man be IN Christ, he is a new creature [creation] . . . . behold, all things are N EW ” (2 Cor. 5:17). These things are “new” because they are “o f God,” and of heaven; they are the "things above” (v. 18). Therefore, our new birth, our new life, our new standing before God in Christ, and our new relationship as sons of God, are all made ours
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