LivePrayerSermon 583. The Lamb-The Light
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 31, 1864, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the Gory of God did lighten it and the Lambis its light." Revelation 21:23.
To the lover of Jesus it is very pleasant to observe how the Lord Jesus Christ has always stood foremost in Glory from beforethe foundation of the world and will do so as long as eternity shall last. If we look back by faith to the time of the creation,we find our Lord with His Father as onebrought up with Him. "When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water.While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared theheavens, I was there: when He set acompass upon the face of the depth: when He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep."
He was that Wisdom who was never absent from the Father's counsels in the great work of creation, whether it was the birthof angels or the making of worlds of men. One of the first events ever recorded in Scripture history is, "When He brings inthe First-Begotten into the world, He says, let allthe angels of God worship Him." Such words were never spoken of any creature, but only of Him who is co-equal and co-eternalwith the Father. He is glorious forever-the First-Born of every creature, the Head of the household of God-the express Imageof His Person and thefullness of His Glory.
In the earliest periods of which we possess any knowledge, Jesus Christ stood exalted far above all principalities and powersand every name that is named. When human history dawns and the history of God's Church commences, you still find Christ preeminent.All the types of the early Church areonly to be opened up by Him as the key. It would have been nothing to be of the seed of Israel if it had not been for thepromise of the Shiloh that was to come! It would have been in vain that the sacrifices were offered in the wilderness, thatthe ark abode between the curtains,or that the golden pot which had the manna was covered with the Mercy Seat if there had not been a real signification ofChrist in all these. The religion of the Jew would have been very emptiness if it had not been for Christ who is the Substanceof the former shadows.
Run on to the period of the Prophets and in all their prophesying do you not see additional glimpses of the Glory of Christ?When they mount to the greatest heights of eloquence do they not speak of Him? Whenever their soul is carried up, as in achariot of fire, is not the mantle left behind thema word telling of the Glory of Jesus? They could never glow with fervent heat except concerning Him. Even when they denouncedthe judgments of God, they paused between the crashes of God's thunder to let some drops of mercy fall on man in words ofpromise concerning Him who was tocome. It is always Christ from the opening leaf of Genesis to the closing note of Malachi-Christ, Christ, Christ-and nothingbut Christ!
It is very delightful, Brethren, when we come to such a text as this, to observe that what was in the beginning is now andever shall be, world without end, Amen. In that millennial state of which the text speaks, Jesus Christ is to be the lightand all its Glory is to proceed from Him. And if thetext speaks concerning Heaven and the blessedness hereafter, all its light and blessings and Glory stream from Him-"TheLamb is its light." If we read the text and think of its connection with us today we must confess that all our joy and peaceflow from the same fountain!Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness to us as well as to the saints above.
I shall try, then-though I am conscious of my feebleness to handle so great a matter-I shall try as best I can to extol theLord Jesus, first of all, in the excellence of His Glory in the millennial state. Next, in Heaven. And then, thirdly, in thecondition of every heavenly-minded manwho is on his way to Paradise-in all these cases, "the Lamb is its light."
I. First, then, a few words concerning THE MILLENNIAL PERIOD. We are not given to prophesying in this place. There are someof our Brethren who delight much in that. Perhaps it is well that there should be some who should devote their time and thoughtsto that portion of God's Word which abounds inmysteries. But for our part we have been so engaged in seeking to win souls and in endeavoring to contend with the commonerrors of the day that we have scarcely ventured to land upon the rock of Patmos, or to peer into the dark recesses of Danieland Ezekiel.
Yet this much we have ever learned most clearly-that on this earth, where sin and Satan gained victory over God through thefall of man-Christ is to achieve a complete triumph over all His foes! Not on another battlefield, but on this. The fightis not over. It commenced by Satan'sattack upon our mother Eve and Christ has never left the field from that day until now. The fight has lasted thousands ofyears. It grows sterner every day. It is not over. And it never shall be over until the serpent's head is effectually bruisedand Christ Jesus shall have gottenunto Himself a perfect victory.
Do not think the Lord will allow Satan to have even so much as one battle to call his own. In the great campaign, when thehistory shall be written, it shall be said, "The Lord reigns." All along the line He has gotten the victory. There shall bevictory in every place and spot. And the conquest ofJesus shall be complete and perfect. We believe, then, that in this very earth where superstition has set up its idols,Jesus Christ shall be adored! Here, where blasphemy has defiled human lips, songs of praise shall rise from islands of thesea and from the dwellers among therocks!
In this very country, among those very men who became the tools of Satan and whose dwelling places were dens of mischief-thereshall be found instruments of righteousness-and lips to praise God and occasions of eternal Glory unto the Most High. O Satan,you may boast of what you havedone and you may think your scepter still secure, but He comes, even He who rides upon the white horse of victory! And whenHe comes you shall not stand against Him, for the two-edged sword which goes out of His mouth shall drive you and your hostsback to the place from where youcame. Let us rejoice that Scripture is so clear and so explicit upon this great doctrine of the future triumph of Christover the whole world!
We are not bound to enter into any particulars concerning what form that triumph shall assume. We believe that the Jews willbe converted and that they will be restored to their own land. We believe that Jerusalem will be the central metropolis ofChrist's kingdom. We also believe that all thenations shall walk in the light of the glorious city which shall be built at Jerusalem. We expect that the Glory which shallhave its center there shall spread over the whole world- covering it as with a sea of holiness, happiness and delight! Forthis we look with joyfulexpectation.
During that period the Lord Himself, by His glorious Presence, shall set aside the outward rites of His sanctuary. "The cityhas no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it." Perhaps sun and moon here are intended those ordinary meansof enlightenment which the Church now needs. We needthe Lords' Supper to remind us of the body and blood of Christ. But when Christ comes there will be no Lord's Suppers, forit is written, "Do this until He comes." But when He comes, then will be the final period of the remembrance-token becausethe Person of Christ will be in ourmidst.
Neither will you need ministers any longer any more than men need candles when the sun rises. They shall not say one to another,"Know the Lord: for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest." There may be even in that period certain solemn assembliesand Sundays but they will not be ofthe same kind as we have now-for the whole earth will be a temple and every day will be a Sunday! The avocations of menwill all be priestly-they shall be a nation of priests-distinctly so and they shall, day without night, serve God in His temple.Everything towhich they set their hand shall be a part of the song which shall go up to the Most High.
Oh, blessed day! Would God it had dawned, when these temples should be left, because the whole world should be a temple forGod. But whatever may be the splendors of that day-and truly here is a temptation to let our imagination revel-however brightmay be the walls set with chalcedonyand amethyst, however splendid the gates which are of one pearl-whatever may be the magnificence set forth by the "streetsof gold," this we know-that the sum and substance, the light and Glory of the whole will be the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ,"for the Glory ofGod did lighten it, and the Lamb is its light."
Now I want the Christian to meditate over this. In the highest, holiest and happiest era that shall ever dawn upon this poorearth, Christ is to be her light! When she puts on her wedding garment and adorns herself as a bride is adorned with jewels,Christ is to be her Glory and her beauty! Thereshall be no earrings in her ears made with other gold than that which comes from His mine of love. There shall be no crownset upon her brow fashioned by any other hand than His hands of wisdom and of Grace. She sits to reign, but it shall be uponHis Throne. She feeds, but it shallbe upon His bread. She triumphs, but it shall be because of the might which ever belongs to Him who is the Rock of Ages!Come then, Christian, contemplate for a moment your beloved Lord!
Jesus, in a millennial age, shall be the light and the Glory of the city of the new Jerusalem. Observe then, that Jesus makesthe light of the millennium because His Presence will be that which distinguishes that age from the present. That age is tobe akin to Paradise. Paradise God first made uponearth and Paradise God will last make. Satan destroyed it. And God will never have defeated His enemy until He has reestablishedParadise-until once again a new Eden shall bless the eyes of God's creatures! Now the very Glory and privilege of Eden I taketo be not the riverwhich flowed through it with its four branches, nor that it came from the land of Havilah which has dust of gold. I do notthink the Glory of Eden lay in its grassy walks, or in the boughs bending with luscious fruit.
I think its glory lay in this-that the "Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day." Here was Adam's highest privilege-thathe had companionship with the Most High! In those days angels sweetly sang that the tabernacle of God was with man and thatHe did dwell among them.Brethren, the Paradise which is to be regained for us will have this for its essential and distinguishing mark-that theLord shall dwell among us! This is the name by which the city is to be called-Jehovah Shammah-the Lord is there. It is truewe have the Presenceof Christ in the Church now-"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." We have the promise of His constantindwelling-"Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."
But still that is vicariously by His Spirit. Soon He is to be personally with us. That very Man who once died upon Calvaryis to live here! He-that same Jesus-who was taken up from us shall come in like manner as He was taken up from the gazersof Galilee. Rejoice, rejoice, Beloved,that He comes, actually and really comes! And this shall be the joy of that age-that He is among His saints and dwells inthem, with them, and talks and walks in their midst. The Presence of Christ it is which will be the means of the peace ofthe age. In that sense Christwill be the light of it, for He is our peace. It will be through His Presence that the lion shall eat straw like an ox,that the leopard shall lie down with the kid.
It will not be because men have had more enlightenment and have learned better through advancing civilization, that they shallbeat their swords into plowshares. It is notorious that the more civilized nations become, the more terrible are their instrumentsof destruction. And when they do go towar, the more bloody and protracted their wars become. I venture to say that if in a thousand years' time Christ shall notcome, if war were to break out, where we now fight for ten or twenty years we shall have the venomous hatred of one anotherand the means of carrying on a warfor a century!
Instead of advancing in peacefulness, I do fear the world has gone back. We certainly cannot boast now of living in calm daysof peace. But Christ's Presence shall change the hearts of men. Then spontaneously, at sight of the great Prince of Peace,they shall cast away their armor and their weaponsof war and shall learn war no more. In that sense, then, because His Presence will be the cause of that happy period, Heis the light of it.
Again, Christ's Presence is to that period its special instruction. They shall need no candle, neither light of the sun, norof the moon. Why? Because Christ's Presence will be sufficiently instructive to the sons of men. When the Lord Jesus Christcomes, superstition will not need an earnesttestimony to confute it-it will hide its head. Idolatry will not need the missionary to preach against it-the idols He shallutterly abolish and shall cast them to the moles and to the bats. Men and women, at the sight of Christ, and at the knowledgethat He is reigninggloriously upon earth, will give up their unbelief.
The Jew will recognize the Son of David and the Gentile will rejoice to worship Him who was once slain as the King of theJews. The Presence of Christ shall do more for the enlightenment of His Church than the teaching of all her officers and ministersin all ages. She shall then, in the sight ofher Lord, come to a fullness of knowledge and have a perfect understanding of God's Word. Once again, Christ will be thelight of that period in the sense of being its Glory. Oh, it is the glory of the Christian now to think that Christ reignsin Heaven! In this we boost in everyseason of depression and when we are downcast-that He is exalted and sits at the right hand of the Father!
But the glory of that age shall be that Christ is come, that He sits upon the throne of David as well as upon the Throne ofGod-that His enemies bow before Him and lick the dust. Think, my Brethren, of the splendor of that time when from every nationand land they shall bring Him tribute!When praises shall ascend from every land! When the streets of that city shall be thronged every day with adoring worshippers!When He shall ride forth conquering and to conquer and His saints shall follow Him upon white horses!
We sometimes have high days and holidays when kings and princes go abroad and the streets are full and people crowd even tothe chimney pots to see them as they ride along. But what shall it be to see King Jesus crowned with the crown which His mothercrowned Him in the day of His espousals? What acontrast between the cavalcade winding its way along the streets of Jerusalem, along the Via Dolorosa up to the mount ofexecution-what a contrast, I say! Then women followed Him and wept, but now men will follow Him and shout for joy! Then Hecarried His Cross, but now Heshall ride in state! Then His enemies mocked Him and gloated their eyes with His sufferings-now His enemies shall be putto confusion and covered with shame! And upon Himself shall His crown flourish! Then it was the hour of darkness and the timeof the Prince of the Pit, butnow it shall be the day of light and the victory of Emmanuel and the sounding of His praise both on earth and in Heaven!
Contemplate this thought. And though I speak of it so feebly, yet it may ravish your hearts with transport that Christ isthe Sun of that long-expected, that blessed day! Christ shall be the highest mountain of all the hills of joy, the widestriver of all the streams of delight! Whatever there maybe of magnificence and of triumph, Christ shall be the center and soul of it all! Oh, to be present and to see Him in Hisown light-the King of kings and Lord of lords!
II. And now we will turn our thoughts another way from the millennial period to THE STATE OF THE GLORIFIED IN HEAVEN ITSELF."The city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it." The inhabitants of the better world are independentof creature comforts. Let us think that over for aminute. We have no reason to believe that they daily pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Their bodies shall dwellin perpetual youth. They shall have no need of raiment. Their white robes shall never wear out, neither shall they ever bedefiled.
Having food and raiment on earth we are content, but in Heaven, "they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you,That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Yet the fields yield them neither flax nor any othermaterial for clothing, neither do the acres ofHeaven yield them bread. They are satisfied by leaning upon God, needing not the creature for support. They need no medicineto heal their disease, "for the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick."
They need no sleep to recruit their fatigue and although sleep is sweet and balmy-God's own medicine-yet they rest not daynor night, but unweariedly praise Him in His temple. They need no social ties in Heaven. We need here the associations offriendship and of family love, but theyare neither married nor are given in marriage there. Whatever comfort they may derive from association with their fellowsis something extra and beyond-they do not need any- their God is enough. They shall need no teachers there. They shall doubtlesscommune with oneanother concerning the things of God and tell one another the strange things which the Lord has worked for them, but theyshall not need this by way of instruction. They shall all be taught of the Lord, for in Heaven "the Glory of God does lightenit and the Lamb is its light."
There is an utter independence in Heaven, then, of all the creatures. No sun and no moon are wanted-no, no creatures whatever!Here we lean upon the friendly arm, but there they lean upon their Beloved and upon Him alone. Here we must have the helpof our companions, but there they find allthey want in Christ alone. Here we look to the meat which perishes and to the raiment which decays before the moth, butthere they find everything in God. We have to use a bucket to get water from the well, but there they drink from the wellheadand put their lips down to the LivingWater. Here the angels bring us blessings, but we shall want no messengers from Heaven then.
They need no Gabriels there to bring their love-notes from God, for there they see Him face to face. Oh, what a blessed timeshall that be, when we shall have mounted above every second cause and shall hang upon the bare arm of God! What a glorioushour when God and not His creatures, God and notHis works, but God Himself, Christ Himself shall be our daily joy!-
"Plunged in the Godhead's deepest sea, And lost in His immensity."
Our souls shall then have attained the perfection of bliss. While in Heaven it is clear that the glorified are quite independentof creature aid-do not forget that they are entirely dependent for their joy upon Jesus Christ. He is their sole spirituallight. They have nothing else in Heavento give them perfect satisfaction but Himself.
The language here used, "the Lamb is its light," may be read in two or three ways. By your patience, let us so read it. InHeaven Jesus is the light in the sense of joy, for light is ever in Scripture the emblem of joy. Darkness betokens sorrowbut the rising of the sun indicates the return of holyjoy. Christ is the Joy of Heaven. Do they rejoice in golden harps, in palm branches and white robes? They may do so, butthey only rejoice in these things as love-gifts from Him. Their joy is compounded by this-"Jesus chose us, Jesus loved us,Jesus bought us, Jesus washed us,Jesus robed us, Jesus kept us, Jesus glorified us: here we are entirely through the Lord Jesus, through Him alone."
Each one of these thoughts shall be to them like a cluster from the vines of Eshcol. Why I think there is an eternal sourceof joy in that one thought, "Jesus bought me with His blood." Oh, to sit on the mountains of Heaven and look across to thelowly hill of Calvary and see the Savior bleed! Whatemotions of joy shall stir the depths of our soul when we reflect that there upon the bloody tree He counted not His lifedear unto Him that He might redeem us unto God!-
"Calvary's summit shall I trace, View the heights and depths of Grace, Count the purple drops and say, 'Thus my sins werewashed away.'"
In Glory they think of the Character and Person of Jesus and these are wells of delight to them. Thus they muse- Jesus iseternal. God. His enemies reviled Him but still He is God. Jesus became the virgin's Child. Jesus lived a life of holinessand Jesus died. But see what triumph springsfrom His condescension and His shame-He rises, He ascends and leads captivity captive-He scatters gifts among men! He reignsover earth and Hell and Heaven-King of kings and Lord of lords. "The government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shallbe calledWonderful, The Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
When I have listened to Handel's music in "The Messiah," where that great musician wakes every instrument to praise the nameof Jesus, I have felt ready to die with excess of delight that such music should ever have been composed by mortal man tothe honor of our great Messiah. But what will be themusic of celestial choirs? How would such hearts as ours burst and such souls as ours leap out of their bodies if they couldbut know, while here, such joys as celestials know above!
But, Beloved, our faculties shall be strengthened, our capacities shall be enlarged, our whole being shall be expanded andthus we shall be able to bear the full swell of seraphic music and join in it without fainting from delight, while they singof the Glory of the Son of Man-the Son ofGod! Christ is the Light of Heaven, then, because He is the Substance of its joy. Light may be viewed in another sense.Light is the cause of beauty. That is obvious to you all. Take the light away and there is no beauty anywhere. The fairestwoman charms the eye no more than a heapof ashes when the sun has departed. Your garden may he bright with many colored flowers, but when the sun goes down youcannot know them from the grass which borders them.
You look upon the trees, all fair with the verdure of summer-but when the sun goes down they are all hung in black. Withoutlight no radiance flashes from the sapphire, no peaceful ray proceeds from the pearl. There is nothing of beauty left whenlight is gone. Light is the mother of beauty.In such sense the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Light of Heaven-that is to say, all the beauty of the saints abovecomes from God Incarnate. Their excellence, their joy, their triumph, their glory, their ecstatic bliss all spring from Him.As planets, they reflect thelight of the Sun of Righteousness. They live as beams proceeding from the central orb, as streams leaping from the eternalfountain.
If He withdrew, they must die. If His Glory were veiled, their glory must expire. Think of this, Christian, and I am sureyou will be reminded how true this is beneath the sky, as well as above, that if light is the mother of beauty, Christ isthe Light! There is nothing good, nor lovely, norgracious about any one of us except as we get it from Christ and from Christ Jesus alone. "The Lamb is its light." Anothermeaning of light in Scripture is knowledge. Ignorance is darkness. Now in Heaven they need no candle, nor light of the sunbecause they receive light enoughfrom Christ-Christ being the fountain of all they know.
I think it is Dr. Dick who speaks about the enjoyments of Heaven consisting very likely in going from star to star and viewingthe works of God in different portions of His universe, admiring the anatomy of living creatures, studying geology, ferryingacross the waves of ether and voyaging fromworld to world. I do not believe in such a Heaven for a moment! I do not conceive it a worthy employment for immortal spirits,and, if there were nothing else to make me think so, the text would be enough. "And the city had no need of the sun, neitherof the moon, to shine in it."There is no need of the works of God to give instruction to its inhabitants, "for the Glory of God did lighten it. "TheGlory, not of God's works, but of God's Son, is their glorious Light-
"The spacious earth and spreading flood Proclaim the wise and powerful God. And Your rich glories from afar Sparkle in every rolling star But in His looks a glory stands, The noblest labor of Your hands. The pleasing luster of His eyes Outshines the wonders of the skies."
They need no light of the sun and moon where Jesus is. However well the sun and moon may tell of God, we shall not need themfrom day to day to send forth their light throughout all the earth and their word unto the end of the world, for the Gloryof Christ will teach us all we wish to learn. And beholding the unveiled Glory of God will be far better than prying intothe works of Nature even though we had an angel's power of discovery. We shall know more of Christ in five minutes, when weget to Heaven, than we shall know in all our years on earth. Dr. Owen was a master of theology, but the smallest child whogoes to Heaven from a Sunday school knows more of Christ after being in Heaven five minutes, than Dr. Owen did.
John Calvin searched very deep and Augustine seemed to come to the very door of the great secret. But Augustine and Calvinwould be but children on the first form there-I mean if they knew no more than on earth. Oh, what manifestations of God therewill be! Dark dealings of Providence which you never understood before will then be seen without the light of a candle orof the sun. Many doctrines puzzled you and you could not find the clue to the labyrinth of mystery. But there all will besimple and plain so that the wayfaring man may run and understand it. You have had many experiences and tossing to and froand you have felt your ignorance, your corruption and weakness. But there you shall see to the very bottom of human nature-youshall understand the virulence of man's depravity and the heights of God's Sovereignty-the marvels of His electing love andthe magnificence of His Divine power by which He has made us to be partakers of the Divine Nature-
"There you shall see and hear and know All you desired or wished below, And every power find sweet employ In that eternalworld of joy."
And this knowledge, I say, shall not come from any inferior agent but from the Lord God who shall be your Glory and from JesusChrist Himself who shall teach you all Truth. I must not dwell longer on this point except to say this one thing, that lightalso means manifestation. "Everyone that doesevil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth comes to thelight, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are worked in God." Light manifests. In this world it does not yet appearhow great we must be made. God'speople are a hidden people-their life is hid with Christ in God. They possess God's secret and that secret other men cannotdiscover.
Christ in Heaven is the great revealer of God's mind. And when He gets His people there, He will touch them with the wandof His own love and change them into the image of His manifested Glory. They were poor and wretched but what a transformation!Their rags drop off and they are acknowledged asprinces. They were stained with sin and infirmity, but one touch of His finger and they are bright as the sun and clearas crystal-transformed even as He was upon Mount Tabor-whiter than any fuller can make them.
They were ignorant and weak on earth but when He shall teach them, they shall know even as they are known. They were buriedin dishonor but they are raised in glory. They were sown in the grave in weakness but they are raised in power. They werecarried away by the hands of remorseless Death butthey arise to immortality and life. Oh, what a manifestation! Light is sown for the righteous and Christ is the sacred rainthat brings the harvest above ground. The righteous are always pearls but they are hidden, as it were, in the oyster and Christbrings them forth. They werealways diamonds, they were far away in the Golconda of sin. But Christ has fetched them up from the deep mines. They werealways stars but they were hidden behind the clouds. Christ, like a swift wind, has blown the clouds away and now they shinelike stars in the firmament foreverand ever.
In this sense Christ is the Light of Heaven, because it is through Him that the true and real character of all the saintshas been manifested. Come, my Soul, take wing a moment-it is not far for you to fly-mount and walk the golden streets andas you walk you shall see nothing but Jesusglorified! Come up to the Throne and you shall see Christ on it. Sit down and listen to the song-Christ is the theme! Goto the banquet-Christ is the meat! Mingle with the dancers- Christ is their joy! Make you one in their great assemblies andChrist is the Godthey worship-"Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry-
"To be exalted thus- 'Worthy the Lamb,' our lips reply, For He was slain for us."
III. Let us turn to our last thought. And here I hope we can speak experimentally, whereas on the other two points we couldonly speak by faith in the promise of God. THE HEAVENLY MAN'S STATE MAY BE SET FORTH IN THESE WORDS. First, then, even onearth the heavenly man's joy does not depend upon thecreature. Brethren, in a certain sense we can say today that, "the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, toshine in it." We love and prize the happy brightness which the sun scatters upon us. As for the moon, who does not admirethe fair moonlight when the waves aresilvered and silent Nature wears the plumage of the dove?
But we do not need the sun or the moon! We can do without them for the Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing beneathHis wings. There are Brothers and Sisters here this morning who are very happy and yet it is long since they saw the sun.Shut up in perpetual night, through blindness, theyneed not the light of the sun nor of the moon, for the Lord God is their Glory-Christ is their Light. If our eyes shouldbe put out, we could say, "Farewell, sweet light, farewell, bright sun and moon-we prize you well, but we can do without you-ChristJesus is tous as the light of seven days."
As we can do without these two most eminent creatures, so we can be happy without other earthly blessings. Our dear friendsare very precious to us-we love our wife and children, our parents and our friends-but we do not need them. May God sparethem for us! But if they were taken itdoes not come to a matter of absolute need, for you know, Beloved, there is many a Christian who has been bereft of alland he thought, as the props were taken away one after another, that he should die of very grief. But he did not die-his faithsurmounted every wave and hestill rejoices in his God!
I know that at the thought of those dear ones who are taken from you the sluices of your grief are drawn up, but still I hopeyou will not be so false to Christ as to deny what I now say-that His Presence can make amends for all losses- that the smileof His face will make a paradise sosweet that no sorrow or sighing shall be heard in it-
"You, at all times will I bless. Having You, I all possess! How can I bereaved, Since I cannot part with You?"
It is a very happy thing to be placed in circumstances where one knows no lack of bread-to have a house, a comfortable homeand sufficient monies for our family is very pleasant-but O dear Friends, if it comes to actual need, the Christian does notwant this! He needs no sun nor mooneven here! Look at the chosen sons of poverty-they toil from morning to night and never get a single inch beyond. Livingfrom hand to mouth they are happy! Ah, some of them infinitely happier than the rich man with all his sumptuous fares andthe fine linen with which he wrapshimself. Why there have been men reduced to all but beggary who have rejoiced far more in their poverty than others in theirwealth-we have seen some of God's saints in the workhouse-or lingering in a dark ill-furnished alms room and we have heardthem speak as joyouslyabout God and their state as if they were dwelling in mansions or palaces! Yes, many a poor child of God has learned tosing-
"I would not change my blessed estate For all the world calls good or great. And while my faith can keep her hold, I envy not the sinner's gold."
For "this city has no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it, for the Glory of God does lighten it and the Lambis its light." Health, too-who can prize it enough? When stretched upon the bed of sickness-then we begin to know how pricelessa gift was a sound body! But ah, theChristian, though he loves health can do without it. I have heard of Christians who have been blind and who have been bedriddenand have not stirred from their bed for many years. They could scarcely lift their hands through paralysis and never had stoodupon their feet for manyyears through some stroke of God's hand. Yet they have delighted themselves in the Lord!
They have laid there ill-nursed, ill-cared for-simply living to illustrate to what degree a mortal man may become a mass ofsuffering and a prodigy of grief! And yet, as I have sometimes stood by such bedsides, I have heard more rapturous expressionsconcerning present joy and futureprospects than from God's strongest saints in their healthiest hours! The dying girl, when consumption has paled her cheekand taken the flesh from off her poor aching bones, has nevertheless appeared in a sacred majesty of might which showed methat she needed no moon nor sun tolighten her, no health nor strength to give her spirits-for the Presence of Christ made her conqueror in the extremity ofweakness and victorious in the grim presence of Death itself!
The Christian, then, dear Friends, leans upon the arm of God-he has pressed through the crowd of creatures-he has bid themall retire that he might live nearer to his All-Sufficient Lord! And if, when he has reached his Lord, the creatures turntheir backs and go away, he says, "There,you may all go! I have Him now! I embrace Him now! He has kissed me with the kisses of His lips. You may spit on me andyou will-now He has spoken softly to me-you may curse me if you please. Now that He has told me I am His and He is mine, evenmy father and mother mayforsake me, for the Lord has taken me up." Yes, the heavenly man, even before he gets to Heaven has no need of the sun norof the moon, for the Glory of God does lighten him.
We finish by observing that such a man, however, has great need of Christ-he cannot get on without Christ. O Beloved, if thesun were struck from the spheres what a poor, dark, dreary world this would be! We should go groping about, longing for thegrave. But that would be nothing comparedwith our misery if Christ were taken away! O Christian, what would you do without a Savior? We should be of all men themost miserable-we who have once known Him!
Ah, you who do not know Christ-you can get on pretty well without Him-like a poor slave who has never known liberty and restscontent in bondage. The bird in its cage which never did fly over the fields-which has been born in the cage-can be prettyeasy. But after we haveonce stretched our wings and once know what liberty means we cannot be shut out from our Lord. As the dove mourns itselfto death when its mate is taken away, so should we if Christ were gone. We can do without light, without friendship, withoutlife-but we cannot live withoutour Savior! Oh, to be without Christ? My Soul, what would you do in the world without Him in the midst of its temptationsand its cares? What would you do in the morning without Him when you wake up and look forward to the day's battle?
What would you do if He did not put His hand upon you and say, "Fear not, I am with you"? And what would you do at night,when you come home jaded and weary, if there were no prayer, no door of access between you and Christ? What should we do withoutChrist in our trials, our sicknesses? Whatshould we do when we come to die with no one to make our dying bed feel soft as downy pillows? Oh, if the infidel's laughhas truth in it, it may well ring bitterly in our ears, for it were a bitter truth to us. No Christ? Then to die is dreadful,indeed!
To have such high hopes and to have them all blasted! High, loud boasting and to have our mouths stopped forever! But, Beloved,we need not suppose such a thing for we know that our Redeemer lives and we know that He never forsakes the work of own hand.Married as He is to our souls, He will neversue for divorce against any one of His dear people, but He will hold and bless us till we die. And we on our part will confessof our spiritual life that the Lamb is its light. Of every day and every night-of every joy and every sorrow-the Lamb hasbeen until now ourlight and shall be till we die.
If this is so, how dark is the case of those who do not know the Lamb? In what misery and ignorance do you grope who do notknow the Savior? Would you know Christ, would you have the happiness of resting upon His bosom? Trust Him, then-for whoevertrusts Him is saved. To trust Christ is thatsaving faith which brings the soul out of condemnation. "He that believes on Him is not condemned." Trust, guilty as youare-trust to His Atonement and it shall wash you! Trust to His power-it shall prevail for you! Trust to His wisdom-it shallprotect you! Trustto His heart-it shall love you, world without end. Amen.