A Glorious Vision.

THE Epistle to the Hebrews, this profound and blessed portion of the Holy Scriptures, unfolds a most wonderful vision of the Person, the Glory and the great Redemption work of our adorable Lord. The portion of the Epistle which is the richest in this respect is the Second Chapter. Here is a vista for the eyes of faith which is sublime. Our Lord in His Person, in His humiliation and exaltation, in His suffering and glory, stands out in a way which makes the believing heart rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory. What He has accomplished for us, His present place in Glory and intercessory work, His future and dominion over the earth, all are mentioned by the Holy Spirit in this brief chapter. His humiliation by incarnation is mentioned in these words "Thou madest Him a little lower than the angels." "Forasmuch, then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same." And He is the One "by whom are all things" (verse 10).

His suffering and death and its blessed results are given in this chapter. "By the grace of G.o.d He should taste death for every man."

"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil." He made "reconciliation for sins of the people."

We read of the gracious relations into which all believing sinners are brought in virtue of His work on the cross. "For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." It is that blessed, deep, eternal relationship of being One with Him and One with G.o.d.

Then we find here His presence as Man in Glory. "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor."

In that att.i.tude He is now "the merciful and faithful high Priest."

"For in that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted."

The ultimate result of His work is also stated. He is "bringing many sons unto glory." And that glory will be His own glory. Not only now but in that future day of glory He will declare "Behold I and the children, which G.o.d hath given me."

Furthermore we have the fact of His earthly dominion, that He is to have possession of the earth. "The world to come," that is the habitable earth, not heaven, is to be put in subjection under Him.

"Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet." All these blessed truths are stated in this chapter of Hebrews.

In regard to a subdued earth we read: "But now we see not yet all things put under Him." That was true when the Holy Spirit penned these words. This is still true and it will be true until the Father bringeth in the First begotten into the world, when not alone all the angels of G.o.d will worship Him (Heb. i:6), but when G.o.d will make His enemies the footstool of His blessed feet (Psalm cx:1).

However this coming triumph for Him who was made a little lower than the angels is not the glorious vision of this chapter. It is time by faith we may behold the glorious consummation as revealed in the prophetic Word, but here another vision for our present rejoicing and present help is put before us. While we see not yet all things put under His feet "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor."

This is the great vision for the present. This is what the Holy Spirit wants us to behold more than anything else. Of Stephen it is written: "He being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of G.o.d, and Jesus standing at the right hand of G.o.d" (Acts vii:55). And whenever the Holy Spirit fills us He will direct the vision of the eyes of our heart to Him who was made a little lower than the angels and who is now in heaven crowned with glory and honor. And only the _power_ of the Holy Spirit filling us can make this great fact and vision a reality.

But what does this glorious vision mean to _us?_ What does it teach us? Oh, much more than the weak pen of the writer can tell out.

The blessed One who is there crowned with glory and honor is the One who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death; He bore our sins on the cross and died for us. What a blessed, blessed proof then it is, as we behold Him there, that our sins are completely and forever gone!

But more than that. In seeing Him there we behold ourselves. The deliverer of our souls at the right hand of G.o.d, the second man, crowned with glory and honor, is the pattern and forerunner of all who belong to Him and whom He is not ashamed to call brethren. Grace has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus (Eph. ii:5, 6).

Our eternal destiny, beloved in the Lord, is to be like Him, with Him and to share His marvelous inheritance as His co-heirs. That glorious vision is the evidence of our coming glory, when we shall be transformed into His image that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. As we gaze in the Spirit on Him who is crowned with glory and honor we can see ourselves.

And as the age darkens, as the Laodicean state becomes more prevalent, temptations and snares increase, the enemy's powers and activities more marked, we need to open our eyes and hearts wider, to take in the vision of our blessed head in Glory. Only in this way can we be kept in these evil days. The only way of spiritual progress, spiritual enjoyment, spiritual worship is to "behold as in a gla.s.s the glory of the Lord," and beholding that glorious vision we "are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. vii:18).

This glorious vision will keep us in the place of separation. It will make us heavenly-minded and produce in our lives the practical results of the cross of Christ "crucified unto the world and the world crucified unto me." Why do real Christians, who know the truth and even know and speak of His Second Coming go along with the world and delight in its ways? It is because the heart is departed from Christ and has lost sight of the blessed and glorious vision. Years ago a saint of G.o.d, who is now present with the Lord, made the following statement:

"It sometimes happens that Christians have got so far away from Christ in heart, that they become engrossed in the affairs of this life, and some can even visit and enjoy the poor empty, tinselled shows of this world's vanity. What could be more lamentable? They forget that _death's stamp_ is deeply graven on everything this side of resurrection. But such actions clearly prove that the heart must have been away from Christ for some time."

Reader! if this means you return unto thy rest. Arise now and seek His face and behold your Saviour, who was made a little lower than the angels crowned with glory and honor.

May all our hearts, dear children of G.o.d, cry out with him, who knew Him so well, the prisoner of the Lord "That I may know _Him_, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death" (Phil. iii:10). Soon we shall know Him and all His glory.

I see a Man at G.o.d's right hand, Upon the throne of G.o.d, And there in seven-fold light I see The seven-fold sprinkled blood; I look upon that glorious Man, On that blood-sprinkled throne; I know that He sits there for me, The glory is my own.

The heart of G.o.d flows forth in love, A deep eternal stream; Through that beloved Son it flows To me as unto Him.

And, looking on His face, I know-- Weak, worthless, though I be-- How deep, how measureless, how sweet, That love of G.o.d to me.

My Brethren.

OUR Lord Jesus Christ calls those for whom He died and who have believed on Him "_My Brethren_." What a word it is! The Brethren of the Man in Glory! Brethren of Him who is at the right hand of G.o.d, the upholder and heir of all things! Pause for a moment, dear reader. Let your heart lay hold anew of this wonderful message of G.o.d's Grace; Brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ! What depths of love and grace these words contain! What heights of glory they promise to us, who were bought by His own precious blood! His Brethren now; His Brethren forever. One with Him, one with His Father and His G.o.d.

Sharers of His life, sharers of His Spirit, sharers of His glory and His inheritance. Blessed, glorious truth, He calls us His Brethren.

It is in the twenty-second Psalm where we find this truth revealed prophetically for the first time. That Psalm begins, as we have seen before, with the utterance of the deepest distress. It closes with the shout of victory and of triumph. He who was forsaken of G.o.d on the cross, the blessed sin bearer, has received glory. In the midst of the congregation, His redeemed people, He praises G.o.d, who has delivered Him and who gave Him Glory. In G.o.d's own time, in the coming day of His visible manifestation, all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Him. Then the Kingdom will be the Lord's.

He who suffered on the cross was heard "from the horns of the unicorn" (Ps. xxii:21). Resurrection was the answer from G.o.d; the power of G.o.d raised Him from the dead. At once, after the great work had been accomplished, there follows the triumphant declaration of Him whose voice had cried so bitterly in death, "I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee." And blessed was the fulfilment on that day of joy, when the tomb was empty and He had come forth, the risen Christ. To Mary Magdalene He said on that glorious resurrection morning, "But go and tell _my brethren_, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my G.o.d and your G.o.d" (John xx:17).

What joy must then have filled His loving heart. From His gracious lips there bursts forth a message such as He never gave to His own before His resurrection.

The great work on the cross had been accomplished, sin had been put away by the sacrifice of Himself. The Only Begotten of the Father, G.o.d's holy Son, one with G.o.d, became Man; then pa.s.sing through death, in which He fully glorified G.o.d, G.o.d raised Him from the dead. And now He gives the blessed results of His own work for those who believe on Him. He has brought us into the same relationship with His Father and His G.o.d, which He Himself holds, as the Man Christ Jesus, raised from the dead. His Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is our Father; His G.o.d is our G.o.d. And again we pause as we write this. Let our hearts repeat it: "My Father, your Father; my G.o.d, your G.o.d." He has brought us into fellowship with His Father; He has brought us to G.o.d and the place He has with the Father and with G.o.d, is the place G.o.d's fathomless Grace has given to us. How little our hearts take it in! How little reality we possess of all this! And yet He wants us to enjoy it as He enjoys the fulness of joy in His Father's and His G.o.d's own presence. May the Holy Spirit work in us unhindered, that through His power we may lay hold in faith of this mighty truth and have it as a _practical power_ in our daily lives. My Father, your Father; my G.o.d, your G.o.d and Christ, who loved me and gave Himself for me, Christ, who loveth us, is with His Father and His G.o.d. In such relationship, brought to the Father and to G.o.d through the Lord Jesus Christ and kept there by His own Grace and Power, how happy we should be.

And because we possess now in virtue of Christ's work this blessed relationship, He owns us joyfully as His brethren. Hebrews ii:11-12 puts this more fully before our hearts: "For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee." The Lord Jesus Christ is He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified by His great work and are in Him, are believing sinners, reconciled to G.o.d by His blood. Both He that sanctifieth and we are all of One and this One is G.o.d, the Father.

Therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren. It is true we possess this relationship with the Man in Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, because we are born of G.o.d. We have eternal life, His own life, and that makes us One with Him. But this is not the truth in view here. It is the truth that He has identified Himself with us and through His death and resurrection we are identified with Him.

And what it means "in the midst of the church will I sing praises unto Thee" we shall not follow at this time.

But let us keep it before our hearts a little while longer. The Lord of Glory calls us "My Brethren." He who is there in the Father's house, in the Father's presence and on the Father's throne is not ashamed to call us brethren. He knows all about us. He knows all the depths of sin in which we are by nature; that by nature we were enemies by wicked works and children of wrath, but He took it all upon Himself and has taken it out of the way and now He looks upon us and all who have accepted Him by personal faith as being one with Him and one with His Father; therefore He is not ashamed to call us brethren. What a comfort it should be to our hearts! What joy it should create in our souls! He Himself received from G.o.d, His heart's desire and the request of His lips (Ps. xxi:2). And all His desire and request was in our behalf, that He might bring us, His many sons, to glory. And now He rejoices in us, for we are His inheritance. He wants us to rejoice in Him and with Him in an unspeakable joy and full of glory. Our souls entering into all this and rejoicing with Him in His salvation, enjoying the comfort of it; this honors Him and honors G.o.d.

It should end the discouragement and unbelief from which we so often suffer. Though we are weak and erring, imperfect in all our ways, yet He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Such a fellowship and relation into which we are brought once and, for all by the Son of G.o.d, should, if accepted in faith, dispel any doubt about ourselves and free us from all gloom and discouragement. Alas! how dull we are not to enter fully into the joy and comfort Grace has bestowed upon us!

And then think of the dignity and honor which is ours. Sons of G.o.d with Him; Heirs of G.o.d with Him; one with Him, perfectly identified with the blessed One in G.o.d's presence. Therefore He is not ashamed to call us brethren. To walk worthy of the Lord is our calling; and worthy of the Lord we shall walk if we have the great fact of our fellowship with the Son of G.o.d as a reality before our souls. It is a sad state to speak theoretically of our position in Christ, to know all this with our intellects and not to manifest it in our lives and show forth the excellencies of Him, who has called us from darkness into his marvellous light.

He is not ashamed to call us brethren. It should strengthen the love for the brethren. Love one another. The weakest, the most imperfect believer, that one who appears to us so unlovable and so ignorant, is nevertheless owned by him. Just let us remember in looking upon all believers, that he is not ashamed to call them brethren, that no matter where they belong, what their knowledge in the Scriptures might be, they belong to Christ, and are equally beloved of G.o.d. How we need it in a day when Satan goes about dividing the people of G.o.d. Love for the brethren, a deep, real heart love, will possess us as our hearts feed upon the fact of our oneness with him and with His Father and His G.o.d.

He is not ashamed to call them brethren. It will be an incentive to witness for Him. Dishonored as He is, it falls upon us to honor Him by our personal witness. While in the Father's presence He sings and is the leader of the praises of His people, we must sing of Him here and utter His praise on earth. He is not ashamed of us; _how could we ever be ashamed of Him?_ What an honor to speak His worth, to tell out, though in feeble way, His glory and exalt His name. And yet we must beware of an unscriptural familiarity with Him, which the Holy Spirit does not sanction in the Scriptures. We must not address Him, as it is so often done, as "my brother," or other sentimental terms, which our pen is reluctant to repeat. In all this we must not forget His dignity and glory. While He thus identified Himself with us and is not ashamed to call us brethren, He is nevertheless the holy Son of G.o.d, the Lord of all. As such we must adore and worship Him. Some blessed day we shall be just like Him.

We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren (Rom. viii:29). That will be in the glorious day when we shall meet Him face to face. "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (John iii:2). What it all will mean? What day of joy and triumph for Him, when He stands as the leader of all whom the Father has given unto Him, when all according to His prayer will be the sharers of His Glory. Then He will be glorified in His saints for they will bear His image and reflect His glory. What a destiny!

Like Him and with Him. And this future of perfect conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ and possession of the wonderful inheritance, which, in its riches we cannot grasp now with out finite minds, is rapidly approaching. How soon it may burst upon us!

Oh, friends, beloved in the Lord! Do we all enjoy this now in faith?

Is it so that the Lord Jesus Christ becomes daily more real and precious to us? Do we live in the power of all this?

The Patience of Christ.

"BUT the Lord direct your hearts into the Love of G.o.d and into the _Patience of Christ_" (2 Thess. iii:5). With these words Paul exhorted the Thessalonian believers. They had many trials and difficulties. They suffered persecutions and were troubled. False alarms had affected their patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The inspired exhortation puts before their hearts the Patience of Christ. Comfort and joy, encouragement and peace, would surely come to their hearts and strengthen them, if they remembered and entered into the Patience of Christ.

And who can describe or speak fully and worthily of the Patience of our blessed Lord! It includes so much. All His moral Glory and Divine perfections are concealed and revealed in this Word. The word patience has a wide meaning. It means more than we generally express by it. Submission, endurance in meekness, waiting in faith, quietness, contentment, composure, forebearance, suffering in calmness, calmness in suffering; all and more is contained in the one word, Patience. And such patience in all its fulness and perfection the Son of G.o.d exhibited in His earthly life. Whenever we look in the Gospels, we behold this calm, quiet, restful patience.

His whole life here on earth is but a continued record of patience.

In patience His childhood was spent, and when in His twelfth year the Glory of His Deity flashed forth we read "He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." In patience, He whose mighty power had called the universe in existence, toiled on, content in Nazareth, submissive to the Father, till after many years the day would come, when the work He had come to do should be begun and finished. To describe that Patience during His public ministry from Nazareth, where He had been brought up, to Golgotha, would necessitate a close scrutiny of every step of the way, every act and every utterance which came from His holy lips. What discoveries of His Grace and moral Glory we make, if under the guidance of His Spirit we meditate on His life here below. Humility and submission under G.o.d, patient waiting on Him, utter absence of all haste, perfect calmness of soul and every other characteristic of perfect patience, we can trace constantly in that wonderful life.

What patience is revealed in the forty days in the wilderness, when He hungered and was with the wild beasts (Mark i:13). When Satan tempted Him and asked for stones to be made bread, He exhibited still His patience. In His service, that marvellous service rendered by the perfect servant, no ambitiousness or ostentatiousness can ever be discovered. He pleased not Himself but Him who sent Him. He was constantly going about doing the Father's will. His kindness and love were rewarded by rejection and insults, yet no complaint or murmur ever came from His lips. He was always trusting in G.o.d, perfectly calm, perfectly satisfied.

And how His patience shines out in dealing with men. What patience He had with His disciples and how He bore with them in love. They were slow learners. What patience and tenderness in his conversation with her, whom He had sought, the woman at Samaria's well. And greatest above all His patience in suffering. He endured the cross.

When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. (1 Pet. ii:23). He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. All the buffetings, shame, dishonors, griefs, pains and sorrows He patiently endured. Oh! the patience of Christ, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame!