ANDREW GRAY (PERTH)
SERMON I.
THE TWO PARADISES
GEN. ii. 8-17 - " And the Lord God planted a garden
eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the
ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and
good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden
; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads And the Lord God
took the man., and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die."
REV. xxii. 1-5. - " 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. In the
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree
of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall
be no more curse : but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and
his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face ; and his name shall
be in their foreheads And there shall be no night there; and they need no
candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them lights and they
shall reign for ever and ever."
We read of two Paradises - one is described
to us in the beginning of the Bible, and the other at the end of it. The book
of Genesis has its Paradise, and so has the book of Revelation. There is the
Paradise of the first Adam, and there is also the Paradise of the last Adam.
Looking back as far as history carries us, we see a Paradise which none of us
shall ever enjoy; and, looking forward, through the medium of Divine promises
and predictions, we see a Paradise from which the people of God shall never
depart. The one is going farther away continually, but the other is coming
nearer and nearer; and its fragrance is felt in the gentle zephyrs that blow
upon Mount Zion.
The descriptions cannot be perused without leading the
thoughts into a comparison and contrast of the one Paradise with the other.
Yielding to that guidance, our remarks will be arranged under the following
heads: -
I The Rivers.
II. The Trees.
IlI The Curse.
IV. The
state of man in each.
I. THE Rivers. - A river is a beautiful
object. A river of clear water winding through a garden, meandering among
flowers and trees, presents to the eye a lovely scene. And then, besides the
beauty of a river or stream in itself, which may be called its direct
contribution of beauty, much of the remaining attractions of the garden through
which it passes is to be ascribed to it. The flowers and the trees are
quickened and refreshed by it. Through its aid the flowers assume their fair
and gorgeous array, and the trees spread out their noble arms, and are covered
with foliage and fruit.
There was a river in the Paradise of Eden The
benignant Creator did not leave the primeval home of man without the advantage
and the ornament of a river. A river," we are informed, went out of
Eden to water the garden." A river was there - a pure, majestic, and branching
stream - to fertilize, embellish, and gladden the place.
In the future
Paradise there is also a river. It is not behind the Paradise of the past in
this respect. 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." The language
shews that this is a spiritual river. Doubtless, the new heavens and the new
earth, which are to come after the final conflagration, and to which the new
Paradise belongs, will have material beauties and splendours, corresponding to
the glorified bodies of Christ and His people. But it is more important and
necessary for us now, that our minds should be exercised in the contemplation
of the spiritual characteristics and advantages of that state of things. The
former will be adjuncts, but the latter are the essentials, of the
Churchs promised bliss. Special preparation on our part, and in this
life, is not required for the enjoyment of the former; but for the enjoyment of
the latter it is. Therefore the river which is described to us is spiritual.
Two things are to be noted concerning this river - the water of it, and the
source of it. The water is pronounced to be water of life, clear as
crystal." We cannot be at a loss, with the Bible in our hands, for the
interpretation of this. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God." (Ps. xlvi. 4). What can that be but Jehovahs love
and faithfulness, which are always the consolation of the Church in times of
trial and danger? He leadeth me beside the still waters." (Ps. xxiii. 2).
Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures." (Ps. xxxvi.
8). With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." (Is.
xii. 3). What are these waters but the blessings of Gods covenant, and
the abundant supplies of his manifold grace, with which he gratifies his
peoples longings, and fills their hearts I will pour water upon him
that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." (Is. xliv. 3). Here the floods and
the water are explained to mean the Divine blessing and the Holy Spirit.
He that believeth in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water - this spake he of the Spirit." (John vii. 38-39). -
Yes; the pure
river of the water of life, clear as crystal, is just the unfeigned and
unceasing lovingkindness of the Father. The pure river of the water of life,
clear as crystal, is just the constant grace, the infinite fulness, and the
unsearchable riches of the Son. The pure river of the water of life, clear as
crystal, is just the invigorating influence, the wonderful teachings, and the
unspeakable solace of the Holy Spirit. The water of life is no other than the
joys, and privileges, and blessings of that life eternal, which is the
appointed portion of the redeemed. It corresponds to the new wine which Christ
and his people drink together in the kingdom of God. And it is a river of water
of life, because, as the flow of a river goes on continually, so shall there
never be an end of the celestial happiness. The river, also, is pure, and clear
as crystal, because the future state will be a state of unmixed felicity, and a
state of glory without a cloud. The river proceeds out of the throne of
God and of the Lamb." In the throne of God and of the Lamb it has its source.
The throne of God and of the Lamb. A single throne is meant, which is occupied
by God and the Lamb.. This accords with the vision which the Apostle relates :
- I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts,
and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain ; and
with the language employed elsewhere, The Lamb that is in the midst of
the throne shall feed them." But Christ has also a throne of his own. He sits
upon the throne of David. He is a priest upon his throne. Indeed, there is, as
it were, a double enthronization of Christ. Hear his own words: To him
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." It is not surprising
that he, who has many crowns on his head, should sit on more than one throne.
There is his own throne, which is expressive of his headship and rule over the
Church; and there is the Fathers throne, his sitting upon which is
expressive of the fact, that the Father has rewarded his obedience and
sufferings by making him, as mediator, a sharer of his power and glory, and by
putting all things into his hands. Considered as sitting on his own throne, the
relation of his kingly dominion towards them who are the blessed subjects of
it, is symbolised to us; and considered as sitting on the Fathers throne,
we have a symbol of the relation of his royalty and power to him from whom they
are derived, and the grounds of his mediatorial elevation and greatness are
suggested to us. When we think of him on his own throne, we think of his
people, and the privileges they enjoy from his reign: and when we think of him
on the Fathers throne, we think of his work, and the travail of his soul,
and his obedience unto death, which have procured him that exaltation.
Now,
it is from the Fathers throne, considered as the throne of God and of the
Lamb, that the river comes. The meaning is plain, and the lesson which is
taught is interesting and beautiful. The lesson is, that the joys and blessings
of the future Paradise are to be traced, in the first place, to the sovereign
love of God; and, in the second place, to the redeeming work of Christ. The
river proceeds out of the Fathers throne. The whole life, and grace, and
glory, which the Church ever arrives at, must be traced back through the
far-reaching depths of eternity, and are connected with, and spring out of,
that which was done in the beginning, when God, in the greatness, the freeness,
and the sovereignty of his love, pronounced the decree of salvation. The throne
of the Lamb alone could not have originated this river. The Lambs throne,
by itself originates nothing. There is infinite fulness in Christ; but it is
fulness that is derived, infinite though it be: it is fulness which it hath
pleased the Father should dwell in him, Christ, as our covenant head, is a
reservoir of water of life, whereof we get endless supplies; but it is the
sovereign and everlasting love of the three-one Jehovah, acting through the
person of the Father, by which the reservoir is filled. The spring and first
fountain of all our blessings, and of that river which shall gladden the
Paradise of God, is in the Fathers throne. But the throne, whence it
comes, is not to be viewed as the Fathers throne merely. It is the throne
of God and of the Lamb. Without that work of the Son, - which the name of the
Lamb suggests, and on account of which the Lamb has a seat on the Fathers
throne - without what is done by him as the second Man, the Servant of the
Father, and our covenant-head - neither grace nor glory could be ours. We have
called him the reservoir, wherein the water of life is stored up for us; but it
is owing to his death that we are enabled to drink it. His death has made
openings for its egress; and from his hands, and his feet, and his side, come
the joyful waters that flow in the river of Paradise.
II THE TREES
The Paradise of Eden was adorned and enriched with trees - " every tree,"
we are told, that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." The
beautiful trees and the noble stream together must have made an exquisite
scene. And two trees there were, that stood in the midst of the garden (Gen.
ii. 9; iii. 3), and excelled all the rest. They were the tree of life, and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These were sacramental trees, as their
names denote. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a sign and seal of
the condition of Gods covenant, and the tree of life was a sign and seal
of its reward. The first Paradise was remarkable for its trees, It had
wonderful trees. The new Paradise is not behind. It has many stately and
fruitful trees. There are trees of righteousness without number, the planting
of the Lord, that he may be glorified. And there is, besides, one matchless
tree, that is in the midst of that Paradise of God (Rev. ii. 7). There is the
tree of life, which bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields her fruit every
month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. With its
river of the water of life, and its tree of life, the Paradise, on which the
Churchs hope is fixed, is, indeed, a Paradise of life. And the tree is
not a tree of life, in a sacramental and symbolical sense, like the tree of
life in the garden of Eden. It is a tree of life in a sense far higher. it is a
tree of life, which shall flourish and yield fruit for ever. it is a tree by
which life is really and effectually imparted - by which life is upheld, not
for a time, not for an age, but through all the ages to come. It is a tree by
which the bodies and the souls of believers shall be preserved in all the
strength, and beauty, and glory, of a sanctified and immortal manhood. They who
eat of the fruit shall never grow weary of it. It bears twelve manner of fruits
- every variety by which enjoyment can be enhanced; That single tree affords
enough for all heaven to live upon, It is in fruit all the year round. It knows
no autumnal fall of the leaf. It is never found, in wintry guise, with naked
and barren arms. It bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields fruit every
month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. The leaves of the
tree are for the healing of the nations. Great virtue is in the leaves of the
tree. Diseases are healed by them - deadly diseases. - They can heal the foul
leprosy of sin; and the wounds, and the bruises, and the putrifying sores, of
souls that are ready to perish. And, although it is in the midst of the
Paradise of God that the tree stands, and there alone that its fruit can be
fully enjoyed, some share of its benefits is granted us even here. Now and
then, perhaps, comes a basket of - the fruit, to be distributed among us; and
we get, in abundance, the soul-healing leaves. At present it is with the leaves
that we chiefly have to do. But we shall have done with them by and by; and if
we have used them as we ought, we shall pass to that happy region where the
tree that bare them is, and gather for ourselves, to our hearts content,
the fruit of that tree in the midst of the Paradise of God.
We need not say
that the Tree of life is Christ. He is the goodly tree in the midst of the
garden. His word, his Gospel, his ordinances, are the means which, the Holy
Spirit employs on earth for quickening, regenerating, and sanctifying the
people; and the enjoyment of him is the chief ingredient, and the very essence,
of the heaienly felicity. He will show his ransomed ones the path of life; out
of his fulness they shall be always receiving; he will constantly satisfy them
with his bounty; and the eternal ages shall glide along with increasing joys
and splendours!
III. THE CURSE.
Of the second Paradise, it is
emphatically said, There shall be no more curse." The words, no doubt,
have reference, in the way of contrast, to the state of things here and now,
and are designed to intimate that the curse, which lies on the present
creation, shall not be prolonged and carried onward from this state to that.
There shall be no more curse." The curse is here; but it shall not be
there. At the same time, the words have a reference which goes farther back.
They have in view the state of things which arose in the primeval Paradise.
There shall be no more curse." There was curse in the Paradise of Eden.
The incongruity of curse in Paradise was exhibited once; but it shall not
happen again. No curse shall there be in that better Paradise, where Christ
himself is the Tree of life, yielding every month its twelve manner of fruit,
and the river of the water of life is the grace and glory never ending, which
the last Adam, and all whom he represents, shall enjoy together.
There was
curse in the first Paradise. The was curse in it the moment its peaceful and
happy bowers were invaded by the devil. The being on whom Gods curse
alights is himself, in a sense, a curse. For thiis reason, even Christ, when he
bore the curse as our substitute, is said to have been made a curse. There was
curse, then, in the garden of Eden, when the devil was lurking among its
shrubbery, or walking on its terraces, and basking under the shade of its
trees, in the form of a beast of the field. It seemed good to him, whose wisdom
is never at fault, that the garden should have the serious drawback of being
accessible to the fiend. We know that it was necessary, for the trial of
mans loyalty and obedience. But, undeniably, a serious drawback it was:
and that will be a better Paradise which is liable to no such invasion.
There was curse in the garden of Eden, for there was sin in it. Not, indeed, at
first. Man was blameless and holy for a season. But sin there was at last, and
probably soon. And sin came not alone. Sin, by necessary consequence, brought
the curse. There is a natural and eternal link of connexion between guilt and
wrath, even as there is between righteousness and peace. The sin of mans
heart and hand brought down the curse of God on his guilty head.
There was
curse in the garden of Eden; for there was shame, and there was slavish fear.
When the privileged pair fell, they must have fig-leaves to cover them; and
they must hide among the trees from the presence of the Lord. The base and
dastardly emotions which they thus evinced belong to the curse, and are always
in its train.
There was curse in the garden of Eden; for there was death in
it. In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." And die that
day they did. The life of God went out of them. Such death as the soul sustains
by separation from God passed on them in the very hour and instant of their
disobedience. How could they but die, when their communion with God was broken,
and sin had divided them from the fountain of life? We might as well think to
retain the solar ray, when we interpose between it and the sun, as expect to
keep the soul from death when its fellowship with God is dissolved. Now, death
belongs to the curse, and is the main thing in it.
And there was curse in
the garden of Eden: there was a curse which was spoken by the mouth of the
Lord. The garden had been the scene where words of blessing and grace were wont
to be uttered by the Creator, and where the holy affections of those whom He
had made in his image found vent in glad songs of adoration and praise,
accompanied, it may be, by a chorus of angels. But sin changed it all. The
accustomed melodies of the garden ceased; and the portentous and ill-omened
silence was broken by Jehovahs words of malediction: "Thou art cursed, 0
serpent, above all cattle, and above every beast of the field! 0 woman, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception! Cursed, 0 Adam, is the ground
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns
also, and thistles, shall it bring forth unto thee; in the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread: dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return!"
Such
was the curse; on account of which the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now! - The curse proved the ruin of the terrestrial
Paradise. It led to the immediate expulsion of man; in process of time the
garden itself disappeared from the face of the earth; and now the resources of
literature and antiquarianism are vainly tasked to determine the spot where the
garden stood.
It is gone - that Paradise - gone for ever. Let us not,
however, despair. There is another Paradise. He who planted the first has
planted a second. He has planted a second, which is better than the first; and
concerning which he has declared, that there shall be no more curse."
There shall be no more curse." This implies that there shall be no more
devil - no more Satanic intrusions. The gates are too well-kept for him to get
admission, although he were to try to pass as an angel of light. The wall is
too high for him to overleap it, and his dragon wings are not strong enough to
carry him to its summit. And there are guardian cherubim, through whose flaming
array he cannot break. Elsewhere he has had license to appear among the sons of
God; but he dare not intermingle with the sons of God in the celestial
Paradise. On earth he roves about, the enemy of holiness and peace, scattering
his temptations, and throwing his darts of fire; and a chief scene of his
malignant activity is the Church of God itself. But the Paradise of the second
Man is forbidden ground to him, and he shall never set his foot in it This
world, which he has troubled so long, will see the last of his molestations.
His doom is fixed, and it will not tarry. One, who is more than his match, and
who has already expelled him from many a stronghold, will cast him into the
abyss from which he came, and close the mouth of it for ever.
There
shall be no more curse." Thewords imply that, in the second Paradise, there
shall be no more sin. If there were sin, there must be curse. But sin - there
will be none of it. No, no; there will be holiness - and that without a stain
to mar it. Not the spotted holiness which we see here; but holiness so pure as
to content the eye of Him, to whom the azure heavens are not clean. The garden
of the Lord shall be peopled, indeed, with those who were sinners before; but
not with those who are sinners then. Although those who are on their way to it
are not without sin, they shall be freed from sin entirely when they reach its
gates. There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth." As
the heirs of glory appear within its precincts, they are found, one and all, to
be perfectly sanctified. And they will never fall again. The crown of
righteousness will never drop from their heads. Never again will they break
Gods law, transgress his holy covenant, or be guilty of an act of
distrust or rebellion. For one thing, they will never be tempted, as they used
to be on earth, and as Adam was, in the Paradise of Eden. The tempter shall not
be there. And, though he were, he would not succeed. His arts would be as
ineffectual, as they were with the second man himself in the wilderness. Their
knowledge of sin, from many a painful lesson, and their knowledge of
Satans craft, will be better than that which Adam had in his state of
primeval innocence.
And, above all, there is their vital union with Christ.
Through that union it is, as a uniform and infallible consequence, that they
are holy, and without all sin, when they enter into Paradise. And, while that
union lasts, the freedom it has wrought for them is safe, and their holiness
cannot be tarnished. He that is holy, must be holy still The Church is sorely
infested with sin on earth. In her purest days, hypocrisy has been within her
pale; and avarice, and pride, and strife, as well as other evils, have never
been kept altogether outside. Her discipline, even when there were apostolic
hands to wield it, although it could cast out such members as Ananias and
Sapphira, Demas, and Diotrephes, and Simon Magus, could not prevent them from
creeping in. And the strong ties of apostolic brotherhood could not withstand
the sharp contention which broke up the fellowship of Paul and Barnabas. We
need not say that, in our own time, the Church of Christ is greatly damaged and
disfigured by sin. Were the habits and secret practices of all those who occupy
our places of worship from week to week told over in public, and made known to
us as they are known to him who says to every Church and to every professing
Christian, I know thy works - what a history they would form!
And if all the hearts of the multitudes who throng the communion tables in
our land were open to our view, as they are to the eyes of the King himself -
what a spectacle we should have! And what a spectacle have we, in point of
fact, in the inconsistencies into which Christians are often betrayed, and in
their deplorable jealousies among themselves, and their bitter disputes with
each other? There will be none of all this, when the Church gets to Paradise.
Hypocrisies, self-seeking, pride, jealousies, backslidings, discords, and
uncharitableness, will all be left behind. There never was but one here below,
who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. But this will be
the character of all at the table in the Church above. There will be no need of
discipline.. All will be worthy; all will be pure. Truth, holiness, and love,
will fill every heart, and irradiate every face. There will be no
misunderstandings, no controversies, no reproaches. There will be knowledge,
without any mixture of error; brotherly-kindness, without a shade of suspicion
or reserve; and the sweetest reciprocities of intercourse. The fulfilling of
the law will be reached by all - not partially, as believers reach it here; but
perfèctly. The fulfilling of the law will be reached, because all will
own in everything the gentle sway of love. Dwelling in love, they shall dwell
in God, and God will dwell in them.
There shall be no more curse."
The declaration implies that God shall no more pronounce any curse. It has been
impossible for him, hitherto, as the moral ruler of a sinful world, to dispense
with the use of the curse. And the most dreadful anathema of all is to come;
but, happily, it will be the last. After the words, Depart, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire," have issued from the lips of the Judge on the great
white throne, there will never be another anathema. Contemporaneously with that
curse, there will be a blessing. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you." Thenceforward be will speak only peace to his
people, and bless his people with peace. No angry sound or denunciation of woe,
shall disturb the repose of the second Paradise.
There will be no
more curse." It implies that the effects of the curse will cease. Believers
have deliverance from the curse itself, as soon as they believe, and while they
are yet on earth. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law."
Ye are not under the law" - that is to say, not under its curse.
But the effects of the curse remain. Although the curse itself is taken off,
hunger and thirst, pain, sorrow, and death, are still to be endured. In the
second Paradise, not a trace of the curse will be found. None of its dismal
brood wifi be there. No more hunger and thirst. No more thorns and thistles in
return for the vain and wasting toil of man. No more famine. No more shall be
heard the cry of want. They shall hunger no more; neither thirst any
more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat." There shall be no
more pain. The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick." No more shall they
say in the morning, would God it were even; and at even, would God it were
morning! There shall be no more affliction and sorrow. No more desolate
families; no more bereaved and breaking hearts. No more the wailing cry, Have
pity upon me, have pity upon me, 0 my friends; for the hand of God hath touched
me.
Sometimes, here, believers are led to say, all things are against me.
But then they will say, he hath done exceeding abundantly, above all that we
asked or thought; eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into
the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for us. Sometimes, here,
they are driven, like Job, to the poor relief of cursing the day of their
birth; but there is not one of them there who does not feel: 0 happy the day I
was born! And that is Jobs mind now. Here the Lord permits his
peoples tears to flow; there he will dry them up. Here he puts their
tears into his bottle, and records them in his book; there he will wipe away
all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death. No more death by
violence, by sharp disease, or slow decay. No more death by any means, or in
any form. Death is an old enemy. But never was foe so baffled and beaten as
death will be. He has taken up his ground at the very gate of the heavenly
Paradise. He is there to resist the believers entrance. Has he much
success? He has none. He is foiled in every case. Each individual of the
multitude whom no man can number, overcomes in the conflict with death, and has
cause to sing, 0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy
victory!
"Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord
Jesus Christ." Not one believer will be missing, for all that death can do. But
may not death enter, and make havoc within? No; death recoils from the sight
and fragrance of the Tree of Life, and can no more be where that tree is, than
darkness can be in a place which is full of light. And, when the end comes, and
all the children of God have won the battle with death, there shall be no more
death: for death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire!
There
shall be no more curse ; and so there shall not be another
expulsion from Paradise. If Adam and Eve be among the number of the saved, as
there is sufficient reason to think, this is good news for them. They must well
remember the misery of the hour, when God drove out the man," and placed
the cherubim and the flaming sword to prevent his return. Good news for them -
and for all. Nor can it fail to be perceived why the tenure of the second
Paradise is better than was that of the first. The new covenant has a better
Head than the old one had. Adam himself will not be the last to acknowledge
that the keeping of his interest in the second Paradise, along with that of his
glorified descendants, is in better hands than his.
IV. THE GENERAL
STATE OF THE INHABITANTS.
1. The state of man was, in the old Paradise,
and will be, in the new, a state of honourable service. Man was placed in the
garden of Eden, to serve God with his physical powers. The Lord God took
the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it" It
was a service, but not a drudgery. It was a service which afforded bodily
exercise of a pleasing and exhilarating nature. And it was a service which
could not be unworthy of man, in the case, especially, of a garden which the
Creator himself had laid out, and the shrubs and trees of which had never been
planted, or the flowers sown, by human hands.
But man was employed on a
higher service than the culture of the garden. Made in the image of God, he was
chosen to illustrate the Divine perfections, and to exemplify the essential
strictness of the holy law. And more than this. He was the chosen instrument of
a great trial. It was a trial, indeed, which could convey no knowledge to him
who is infinitely wise. But it was fit to make it, nevertheless, for the
instruction of the intelligent and holy creation, and for declaring the glory
of God. The trial was, how far a perfectly holy creature, endowed with all
moral powers, and acted on, externally, by every motive to incline him to his
duty, but without other aid or influence, internally, than that which the
freedom of his own will supplied, might be reckoned on for a stedfast loyalty
to his Creator, and for a constant, unswerving, and complete obedience to the
Divine commandments. It pleased the Lord God to commit the solution of the
mighty problem to man. A distinguished service was this. But, from its very
nature, it was perilous. He could not fail to solve the great problem, indeed,
whatever he might do. But no merit was his - a dreadful penalty was all his
gain - if the way he took to solve it was to break Gods law. His position
was essentially insecure. God was not to blame for the insecurity. It was
insecure, because it depended on himself. The covenant of his service was firm
on Gods side; but that was not enough: it required to be firm also on
his. His ignominious discharge was a possible thing. He might incur the
forfeiture of all that he enjoyed, be turned out of the garden, and driven from
Gods presence. And, from his relation to mankind as their federal head,
he might become the guilty author of a depravity and ruin that should spread
themselves over every age and generation. The service of the second Paradise
eclipses that of the first High is the place of t-hose servants of the King,
who have other servants of the King to attend them. High, indeed, must it be,
when their attendants and ministers are the great ones, the principalities and
powers, of the kingdom. Thus high shall the place of believers be as the
servants of their God. If angels are sent to be their ministering spirits now,
their honours will not be diminished, - when they are exalted and glorified.
The worm Jacob will not be less an object of angelic ministrations, after he
has been raised from his dunghill, and this corruption has put on incorruption,
and he has been transformed into the likeness of Emmanuel Himself. The first
man had angels for his companions: the second man, and all whom he is not
ashamed to call his brethren, shall have them as ministers.
This service
will not come to au end. The servants will never be dismissed. The covenant is
firm on both sides. It is as firm on their side, as it is on Gods. As
firm, because it is not made with them by themselves, bat made with them in
Christ, and with Christ for theni. As firm, because it is not so much a
covenant in which God stipulates with man, as a covenant in which God
stipulates with God - God the Father, with God the Son. They are servants whose
ears have been bored; and their Almighty and Gracious Lord will keep them in
the honours of their high place for ever. It is not needful to inquire minutely
what the service will consist in. We may know ere long, by experience. God
grant it so! Meanwhile, it is enough to say that it will partake of the same
general nature as the service of the believer on earth, and be characterised by
a holy conformity to the law of God, a joyful obedience to the intimations of
his will, and an active promotion of his glory. They will have powers of which,
at present, we have no conception - mental and corporeal powers, that will be
worthy of the station to which they are exalted. And ample opportunity will he
given for the exercise of their powers. His servants shall serve him
; and. His name shall be in their foreheads."
2. The state of
man, in the garden of Eden, was a state of enjoyment and privilege. The fact
that he was placed in a garden, which the Lord God had planted and prepared for
him, is a proof that it was designed to be, and must have been, a state of
enjoyment. So also is the fact that the Lord God took a rib from his side, and
made for him a holy companion, who was bone of his bone, and flesh of his
flesh, with graces and attractions peculiarly her own. He had the intimacies
and endearments of social life in their sweetest earthly form. And brief as the
record of that happy time is, it contains enough to show that his privileges
were great. The fact that the Lord God condescended to bring to Adam every
beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, to see what he would call them,
and that, whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name
thereof, proclaims a marvellous familiarity of intercourse and fellowship
between him and his Creator. If it was granted to Moses that the Lord spake to
him face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend, much more must it have been
granted to Adam in the garden of Eden.
But the second Paradise, also, will
have enjoyment and privilege. It will have such enjoyment and privilege as to
afford no occasion of regret for what has been lost. The old men, who had seen
the temple of Solomon, wept when they thought how inferior must be the temple
that was to succeed it. The contrast between the first and the second Paradise
will draw no such tears from our original progenitors. They shall be
abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house ; - and thou shalt make them
drink of the river of thy pleasures." I am come into my garden, my
sister, my spouse . . . . eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, 0
beloved." To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life,
which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." To him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the hidden manna." The Lamb that is in the midst of
the throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters." They
shall have the richest social delights. They shall dwell together, the
incorporated members of a family, having God the Father as their Father, God
the Son as their Brother, and the Spirit of love resting on them all. They
shall see God. They shall see his face. The veil, which was always interposed
before, shall be removed. They shall see His face; and the sight will be life
to them, not death - life, and joy, and glory. And there shall be no night
there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God
giveth them light: and the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof.
3. The pristine state of man was a state of power and
glory. He was a king. The earth was his kingdom; the fish of the sea, the fowls
of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth, were his
subjects. God gave him authority and dominion over them all, and crowned him
with glory and honour as the monarch here below. Believers will be kings. They
are kings already by right. They are kings, who are not yet of age, and who
must wait a little for the actual commencement of their reign. A kingdom is
prepared for them. They shall be greater kings than Adam was, and have a wider
and more illustrious dominion. Their kingdom shall be immoveable and
undecaying. They shall be enthroned with Christ. They shall be crowned with
righteousness and glory. And they shall reign for ever and ever."
The
old Paradise is gone But we need not care. True it is that we should seek it in
vain, if we fell in love with it. But why fall in love with it? There is a
better Paradise, which is not gone - which has not vanished among the things of
the past. Let us fall in love with that. The old Paradise is a pleasing dream;
the new paradise is more beautiful than the dream; and it is a reality. The old
Paradise is not the only one ever provided for man: the new Paradise also is
provided for him. Let us, then, set out for it. But which is the way? The way!
Would you know the way to it? Listen to a voice Divine, that says, I am
the way ! Yes, thou art the way, 0 Jesus, Lamb of God! Thou art the way
to Paradise. We will go to it by the way of thy blood and thy righteousness.
And thy person, thy work, thy mediation, thy offices, are the ladder, by which
we shall ascend, from the murky vale of this world, to the happy clime on high!
Jesus is the way. Let us walk in him. Let us walk in him by faith. We
walk by faith." We walk in him by acts of acceptance, and habits of trust. Let
us trust him, and love him, and serve him. He is the Priest, the Prophet, the
King, who is freely offered to us. Let him be the Priest, the Prophet, the
King, who is gladly accepted by us; and let our minds and hearts cleave to him
accordingly. So shall we walk in him; and, walking thus, we shall go from
strength to strength, and none shall stop our onward march, till we arrive at
the Paradise of God.
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