THE KING’S BUSINESS
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from God out o f heaven, prepared ( out o f heaven from God, made ready) as a bride adorned for her husband.” The new ^Jerusalem, the true Jerusalem, o f which the old Jerusalem o f Solomon’s day is but a type " and faint foreshadowing, is of heavenly and divine origin ; it comes down “ out o f heaven from God.” The most glorious o f earth’s marble and golden cities are poor indeed compared with it. It is in all the splendor o f bridal dréss. vs. 3, 4. “And I heard a great voice out o f heaven (the throne) saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will (shall) dwell with them, and they shall be his people (peoples), and God himself shall be with them, and be their. God. ( :) And God (He) shall wipe away all tears (every tear) from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, (death shall be no more:) neither sorrow (shall there be mourning), nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain (nor pain, any more): for ('omit, for) the former (first) things are passed away.” The great voice John now hears is not merely “out o f heaven” as the A. V. gives it, but “out o f the throne,” that is, from the very center o f heaven where God him self sits. There are seven specifications in the glorious announcement which this “voice out o f the throne” makes : (1) “ The tabernacle o f God is with men, and He shall dwell with them” (rather, “ He shall tabernacle with them” ). The meaning is that God shall pitch his tent right among men. This God has done once for a time already in the person o f Jesus Christ, for the literal translation o f John 1 :14 is “And the W ord became flesh, and tabernacled among us," but in the coming day God will tabernacle among men, not for a time merely, but permanently. This dwelling o f God among us lies at the foundation of all the blessedness and all the glories that are to follow. (2) “ They shall be His peoples.” Israel had been His people in the old dispensation in a partial and antici patory way, but in the coming day, the eternal day, all nations are to be his peoples in the fullest sense, belonging to Him,
devoted to Him, protected and blessed by Him. 13) . “ God Himself shall be with them.” Not only His tabernacle shall be with them, but God Himself shall be with them. (4) “He shall be their God.” He will be acknowledged in all His infinite claims and will be to them all that there is in God, infinite love, power, wisdom, holi ness and glory. (S) “He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.” There will not be'one single grief or disappoint ment or unsatisfied longing, not a single tear. And it is God Himself who is to wipe every tear away and so they will stay wiped away. ( 6 ) “ Death shall be no more.” I f all death were taken out o f this world what a joyful world it would be. What sweet music there is in those words for most o f our hearts, “ Death shall be no more.” (7) “ Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more.” Every sorrow, every agony, every ache,- all remorse and gloom, gone forever. Death, tears, mourning, pain, etc., are “the first t h i n g s a n d in that coming eternal day these first things will have passed away forever. In that day will be the last things, which are glorious. vs. S, 6 . "And he that sat upon (sitteth on) the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me (he saith), Write: fo r these words are true and faithful (faithful and true). And he said unto me, It is done ( they are come to pass). I am (add, the) Alpha and (add, the) Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain o f the water of life freely.” It is He who sits upon the throne, that is, God Himself, who makes all things new. These words which he utters are wonder ful, so wonderful that they seem almost incredible, but they are “ faithful and true.” They are not man’s speculations, but God’s declarations and revelations about the future. In the mind o f God “they are (already) come to pass.” And soon they will have come to pass in our own actual experience. “ The fountain o f the water o f life” is for the one who thirsts
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