The Mystery of God
"The Lord is my Shepherd.."
So sang the psalmist of ancient days.
But how much did he know about his Creator?
How much do we?
Throughout the ages the pages of God’s Holy Word have been
searched for answers to the mystery of God and His purpose in the bringing into
being of so wonderful yet so complex a world.
"That I might know Him..." (Paul)
The object of this project is the stirring of minds curious
as to the source and the object of our existence, by exchange of thought with
other pilgrims of the way intent upon the same goal.
Perhaps you may wish to join us in this journey.
e-mail address is Pilgrim@dholliday.world.online.co.uk
In the subject line just type "Pilgrim"
This is a private invitation. No organisation is involved.
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The Mystery of God.
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When man comes into being, he is confronted with mysteries
which cannot be denied, and yet are beyond human comprehension.
Perhaps the first mystery, is life itself. What is this
mysterious force which is active all around us, active within us? Why am I
breathing now? Why does my heart beat-out like a tireless metronome responsive
to life’s pace? What is this mystery we call "life"?
And what of consciousness. What is this "me" that
is aware of all around, receiving signals both of sight and sound, taste, smell
and touch? The "me" that now hears a voice, interprets the message of
sounds into meaning. The unseen realm of thought, creative, contemplative and
reflective of the past.
And what is reason? Yes, we can describe by dictionary
definition what its functions include. "The capacity for logical,
rational, and analytic thought; intelligence. Good judgment; sound sense."
But WHAT IS it?
How precious to us these things are, -life, consciousness,
sense of environment, reason... yet each (is) a complete mystery.
Another mystery is the infinity of space. Our logic tells
us that should we travel in any direction through the universe and beyond we
should never come to a point where there is space no more. If space had a
boundary, it would beg the question, "What lies then beyond?"
The immensity and vastness of the heavens and all therein
directs our minds towards the infinite realms of boundless space.
The minute design, order and structure of the smallest
creature, likewise directs our minds towards the same wonderful wisdom in the
infinitesimally minute which also lies beyond our comprehension.
Time is another such source of wonder. Our senses tell us
of the passing of something we call time. It consists of a sequence of moments,
each of which is a point in time impossible to measure. However, we mark off
such a sequence in terms of seconds, minutes, hours, days, and so on. These
measurements are related to the cyclical action of the earth in relationship to
the sun, which gives us times and seasons.
The cycles of time are sometimes allotted great
significance by man. The passing of the cycle of a thousand years is quite an
intangible occurrence, yet it is presently occupying the minds of all mankind
as what they regard as a new millennium approaches. (96 days to go.)
Preparations are already underway in Jerusalem for the
expected pilgrimage of thousands to mark this event, and thousands more are
expected to make their way to Armageddon in curious anticipation of the end of
the world. Which of us, who have a different concept of the birth date of Our
Lord, is going to tell them that their third millennium began a year or two ago?
We may compare the passage of time to the flowing of a
stream. However, while we may temporally dam up a stream to halt its flow,
there is no way that we can halt the flow of time.
Time is one of the great mysteries that every man accepts,
most, usually, without giving it a thought.
If time is a mystery, what may be said of eternity? Again,
it is logical that beyond our many measures of time, even millenniums, it is
impossible to conceive a first moment of time before which there was nothing.
Like space, time must, it would seem, be without boundary,
without beginning, without end, yet this again is beyond the comprehension of
human minds, creatures of time, whose lives may be counted in years and days.
So many revolutions of earth round sun, (at 64 thousand 8 hundred miles per
hour)... and we are gone. During this last minute we have traveled 1110 miles
in our orbit round the sun. Life is racing on!
Eternity conveys the thought of the endlessness of that
which also has no beginning. If we combine the thought of eternity with that of
the infinity of space we have a concept of a vast immeasurable realm in which
our human life is launched as a tiny capsule within a measureless ocean..
[ We but barely
comprehend even the boundaries of this realm of earth. The magnitude of this
tiny planet is more than we can grasp. From loftiest point on mountain peak our
furthest view is lost in misty horizons. Yet we are told that 98% of the total
mass of our entire solar system lies in the sun itself. That means that,
enormous as this planet earth seems to us, if its mass was combined with that
of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and every other planet circling round our sun, they
together form only 2% of the total mass of this solar system. The remainder
lies in the sun itself. Scientists have been recently observing enormous
outbursts of gasses escaping from its surface and travelling in fiercest flame
thousands of miles at incredible speed. What a vast source of energy it is!
—It dazes the mind! Yet our sun, we are told, our mighty
sun, is a dwarf compared with other stars.]
We live as finite beings, like ants, in material realm too
vast for human minds to grasp.
The sum of what we have mentioned even thus far reveals
that we each already live in an eternal and infinite expanse, even with regard
to this material realm.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in
its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom
what God has done from beginning to end." (NIV)
Unlike some lower forms of life, man has been equipped with
the ability to think, to remember, plan ahead, and delve into those things
beyond immediate experience. Every day progress is made by pioneering minds
extending the frontiers of knowledge into the fixed laws which hold together
the very world in which we live. Knowledge is being increased at remarkable
speed. The sum of accumulated knowledge of man’s years upon this earth is being
doubled in ever decreasing epochs. Yet each step of increasing knowledge
reveals a whole further world yet to discover.
Isaac Newton, (scientist and Bible student,) made what has
been described as "the most magnificent discovery that was ever made by
man-the principle of universal gravitation." Gravity is the great
mysterious force which binds together the universe, the attraction of each star
and its system to every other star, the earth to the sun, ourselves to this
earth, and so on. We still do not know what this force is. It is another
mystery. But Newton came to realise its significance for the whole material
creation.
When some of his friends were complimenting him on the
great results he had achieved, he replied, "I know not what the world will
think of my labours, but to myself it seems to me that I have been but as a
child playing on the seashore; now finding some pebble rather more polished,
and now some shell rather more agreeably variegated than another, while the
immense ocean of truth extended itself unexplored before me."
All of man’s achievements of knowledge since, amount to
just a few more pebbles from that beach.
The more we come to know the more we become aware of the
vastness of our ignorance. Nor is man morally equipped to cope with the waves
of increasing knowledge.
The most recent telescopes have revealed a vastness of the
great universe that takes away our breath. We are able to gaze upon galaxies,
nebulae, and solar systems so far way that their light travelling at 670 million
miles per hour takes many thousand years to reach us.
Now, when we stare at the distant stars we see things not
as this moment they are, but as they once existed long, long ago. We are
looking back through past ages of celestial time.
The nearest galaxy outside our own Milky Way is the
Andromeda Galaxy. This is one of the few galaxies visible to the unaided eye as
a milky blur. Its diameter is approximately 200,000 light-years. It is located
about 2,000,000 light-years from the Earth; We are like time travellers when we
look at this vast galaxy for we are viewing it as it was two thousand
millenniums ago.
When we thus consider the heavens our minds are being
stretched and tuned towards the infinite realm beyond the whole material
expanse where time has no meaning. This has to be a realm of immeasurable
dimensions.
Not easy is this for us to grasp, for our experience thus
far is limited to the things that occupy very small space and time.
We know that we cannot fully conceive or explain even the
material world in which we live within the realm of human experience.
We can only begin to comprehend something of the things
that lie within the limitations of our human minds, bounded by space and time.
Yet we know that the mysteries of which we have spoken defy any such
limitation.
Then we come to the greatest mystery of all for unaided
human minds. We know that every effect demands a cause. And could we trace in
theory each cause in turn to its own cause, we know that ultimately we must
come to a first cause. By its very nature, that first cause would have no
beginning.
What was that great FIRST CAUSE that had no beginning?
It is here that the testimony of Scripture, accepting these
logical conclusions, soars far beyond them.
There is indeed a realm beyond all boundaries of space and
time, where dwells that great First Cause, a Great Law Maker, our Great Creator.
Not only does such Scripture identify that Cause, but, thankfully, it also
reveals in Our Creator a mind of mercy, understanding, and tenderness towards
the things that He has made.
In every created thing we find the same identifying mark of
a wisdom beyond our comprehension. Evidence too of a loving Being, capable, in
all the wonders of creation, of a wise and loving objective in the forming of
each part.
Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of
the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
The mystery of existence is solved for us by that Word of
our Creator Who dwells in that eternal and infinite realm, yet condescends
towards the tiny beings He has made.
De 33:27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are
the everlasting arms:... # Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the
everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.
Ps 90:2-4 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or
ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to
everlasting, thou art God. 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as
yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Job speaks with wonder of the mighty phenomena of this
material realm. And he adds, in # Job 26:14 "Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how
small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can
understand?" (NKJ)
These are but the edges of His ways Who inhabits eternity.
We perceive but the fringe of the enormity of the power of our great Creator.
The testimony of every created phenomena unites in mighty chorus like thunder,
to realities beyond all human comprehension.
Day unto day uttereth speech...
In # Job 8:9, we read, "For we are but of yesterday, and know
nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:"
The ages that have passed since man was created upon this
earth are as minute when compared with eternity as one flake of snow in a
storm. Yet, -that one tiny snowflake reveals a unique symmetry and beauty of
its own. So it is with time since man appeared.
A beautiful symmetry of divinely ordered time periods runs
through the whole of human history. Pattern upon pattern is superimposed one
upon another, some great some small. The pattern of ‘sevens’ runs through the
whole. The complete plan of God involves 1000 seven-year cycles. Seven times
(2520 years) from man’s fall, sin reigned from Adam to Moses, then exactly a
thousand years followed of shadowy kingdom development. Again from the end of
that thousand years a further seven times of Israel’s treading down under the
gentile times leads us into a further thousand years of true kingdom
development.
But this is not all. Other periods of this great seven times
cycle reappear throughout the whole plan of the ages. Some link interesting
parallel periods in the chart of time.
E.g. The days of Shem, son of Noah, the first of the line
of the promised seed from the flood, are thus linked with the emergence of that
true seed in Jesus and the church by the great seven times measure.
Now, the Lord gave Israel instructions concerning the feast
days. These were appointed by God, each with typical significance to His plan.
The death and resurrection of Jesus, even the anointing of the church, each was
fulfilled in strict accordance with the Passover and Pentecostal feast days.
Yet there is more.
The Creator set in motion two great systems of measuring
time on this earth, the sun, and the moon. By the sun we have our days and
years, by the moon we have our lunar months. These two systems do not concur,
so the Jews needed to add a month every so many years to bring their lunar year
into line with the established seasons of the solar year. But there is a point
of time when both systems return to the same relationship with each other. This
is called the solar/lunar cycle, and it consists of 33 years, 7 months, and 7
days. There is reason to believe, that this was, in fact, the length of first
advent of Jesus.
The feasts of the Lord are spread over seven months of the
year. If we take the solar/lunar cycle of 33 years, 7 months, and 7 days to
represent each day of these months, then each month represents 1000 years, and
the six months between the 10th day of the first month and the 10th day of the
seventh month corresponds to the first 6000 years of human history. The results
of this comparison will be e-mailed to any enquirer. [Ask for ‘Feasts of the
Lord’.] These are just glimpses of the manifold wisdom of God revealed in His
Plan. Add to these the further time periods and parallels, too many to now even
mention. All reveal a wonderful symmetry of order and beauty, like that of the
snowflake. Yet, like the snowflake, this whole period of human history on this
planet is but a tiny speck of evaporating time compared with eternity.
If such wise order and beauty is here revealed in this one
single snowflake of time, what of the beauties of the eternal years! And what
of the glory of this great God Who inhabits eternity.
We dwell in a world of incomprehensible dimensions and
mystery, and central to all lies the mystery of God Himself. Who is He, this
Being of immeasurable ability and skill, Who brought into existence the
celestial galaxies, and was the Designer of the wings of the butterfly?
In # Re 10, John beholds a mighty angel coming down from heaven,
"clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow upon his head, his face is shining
with radiance as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:"
Either this mighty angel is reflecting the divine glory of
the great God Whose messenger he is, or this is the Redeemer Himself, for his
description compares with that of the ‘One like unto a son of man’ in chapter
one. He comes, in this vision, to proclaim the final judgements upon those
false systems of religion that have been used of Satan throughout the age to
persecute the true saints of God. So long their blood cried out for recompense.
# Re 6:10
"And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and
true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth?"
At last their trials are within sight of the end, for the
angel speaks of the seventh and final trumpet of God.
In # Jos 6 the decadent city of Jericho, represented the present evil
order of the god of this world. The time had come for its destruction.
Six days the people of God were to circle that city, the
priests blowing seven trumpets. On the seventh day they were to encircle the
city seven times blowing those seven trumpets, and the walls of the city, its
formidable defense against intrusion, would collapse into rubble.
In # Re 10 the same message is proclaimed. 6 And (the angel) sware by
him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that
therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and
the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: 7 But in the
days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the
mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the
prophets.
The "mystery of God.." What is this mystery? So
many aspects of Our Creator’s works are mysterious to us.
To which mystery of God does this refer?
1) Time features. The mystery of God here mentioned may
be considered in various aspects. In
its context the meaning of this term
has clearly to do first of all with the time features of the plan of God.
When the angel says, "there is time no more," he
refers to the "How long" of saints under Satan’s domain, longing for
the kingdom. It is equivalent to saying, there will be no longer delay...
judgment must begin at the house of God.
A great seven times cycle from the fall of apostate Israel
in 721/722 BC, (a fixed date in history,) also fixes its end in 1799. This
seven times period was divided into two equal parts, its second half being the
three and a half times, or 1260 years, of Papal supremacy. Thus was marked and
fixed the beginning of the "Time of the end", spoken of in Daniel.
—1799.
Well, it is now 2000, and over two hundred years have
elapsed, long enough for us to reflect on the sequence of events of the double
century in connection with the winding up of the false kingdom of Christ. Long
enough too, for us to recognise the pace of the Lord in the outworking of His
purpose concerning the downfall of Babylon the Great, and the first tangible
signs of the Kingdom development; -the process of Israel’s restoration.
Literal Babylon took well into three hundred years to
completely fade away, and it has now become clear that the antitype bears
remarkable similarity in this respect. If the same time-scale is in fact shared
by the downfall of ancient Babylon and now of this ‘Mystery Babylon’ of
Revelation, then another century must yet pass before it sinks, completely
spent, into the dust. The same century, however, would also see the manifest
development of the new city of God, that Kingdom of righteousness prefigured,
so it seems, by the ancient city of Seleucea.
One of Alexander’s generals, Seleuceus, was given charge of
the area including Babylonia, and the great city of Seleucea was built. The
inhabitants of the old city were transferred to the new. Seleucea became the
new centre of commerce, and thus it drained the life-blood from what was left
of Babylon, until that great city crumbled into dust. That was how Babylon
eventually collapsed and disappeared. The new greater city that overcame
Babylon in this way would seem thus to foreshadow the Kingdom of Christ. Time
alone will tell whether the same time-scale is also intended. It is interesting
to note the correspondences thus far in the gradual outworking of the Divine
purpose.
Another seven-times period has meaning to us today. This
began around 606 BC when Judah’s treading down under Gentile rule began with
the captivity in Babylon. This cycle has also been completed. It has run out.
"There is time no more." 1914, a date that marked the shattering of
kingdoms and the beginning of a sequence of world events of universal crisis.
Historians recognise 1914 as a pivotal date in world history.
Psalm 46:2,3; describes the once-stable earth being
removed, and the mountains being carried into the midst of the sea; with the
resulting roaring of troubled waters. How graphically this describes our day!
As one by one the grip of the great empires over the tribes of earth has
collapsed, what a swirling rage of turmoil has resulted. The image has been
smitten. We are living in a time of fragmentation everywhere, and the sea and
the waves roar.
Again, this great seven times cycle has unmistakably
reached its end. With the ending of the times of permitted rule of the Gentile
powers came the time to favour Zion. Again, the unmistakable signs of Israel’s
national resurrection are drawn out over a long period of progressive stages,
just as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Yet in each case, the end is now in
sight.. The count-down to the kingdom has begun.
The secret time-units of the prophetic word were sealed up
in the days of Daniel, to be gradually unsealed during the present age. When
that first sealing took place, Daniel was told that at the time of the end the
"wise" would understand.
This aspect of the mystery of God, the times and seasons
that were concealed under His hand, are now revealed. The time is up. It was in
the fulness of time at the first advent that Jesus came.. We live again today
in the fulness of prophetic time.
All the great time-prophetic cycles have run out. There is
time no more! We are in the time of the end, the winding up of the present evil
order and the bringing in of the new. Blessed indeed are those whose minds are
enlightened to perceive the full implications of this day.
2) Secret work of God during this age. We see then that
the mystery of God includes those
secret seasons and
times of the permission of the mystery of iniquity.
The mystery of God also relates to the secret work of this
age now also nearing the point of completion... the hidden mystery of the
Christ of many members.
The psalmist {in # Ps 139} was prompted to use the illustration of the human body
and its forming in the womb to depict the development of the Christ, each Body
member, throughout this age.
Scientists are discovering more and more about the
"book" in which all the members of the human frame are written before
the babe is formed within the womb. There is also another "book"in
which are written all the features of the members of the ‘Body of Christ.’ It
is in compliance with that Word of God that each new creature is developed
day-by-day.
But the language of the psalm seems to change when in # Ps 139:15 we read
"My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and
curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth." This may still refer
to the womb, which, in its secret workings, resembles a hidden place or cave of
earth. In recent years, however, the discovery has been made of the underground
quarry in which the Temple stones were cut and prepared for Solomon. So
accurate was this process in the quarry that we are told in Scripture, _ 1K6:7. "And the house, when it was in
building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that
there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while
it was in building."
The working of each Temple stone is in the secret place of
the Most High.
What an awing thought, our contemplation of that finished
secret work of God in each one of us. Even more, the thought of that whole
completed Christ. Each member, in character, a perfect copy likeness of Jesus.
Each bound with their Head in inseparable blessed oneness, each adorned with
the beauty of holiness. How beautiful the description of # Re 21.. An edifice of
many jewels.
That secret work of God is all but complete... Soon there
will be no more be heard the sound of "hammer nor axe nor any tool of
iron." The mystery of God will soon be finished, and in it may we each
have part.
3) Looking upon the face of God. Even here the thought of
the completion of the "mystery
of God" may not yet be exhausted. Wave
upon wave of transporting thought lead from one glorious vision to another. For here we see a glimpse of
that moment when the earnest longing
of Paul, and the prayers of all saints, are
satisfied. "That I might know Him.."
In # Mt 11:27 we read the words of Jesus. "All things are delivered
unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth
any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal
him." There was never a fuller revelation of God than that which Jesus
brought when, in flesh, He walked this earth, a life full of the Spirit of His
Father.
The apostle John recorded in # Joh 1:18 "No man hath seen God
at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him." But Paul’s words reveal that the knowing of God, and
all that He is, and the development of an intimate relationship with Him, is a
process. It is related to the enlarging of our heart to comprehend the
dimensions of divine love, and to become acquainted with His ways. It is a walk
with God that becomes ever closer, as we share with Him more of His own
feelings and attitudes to all things. It is a holy contemplation and absorption
of His glory in the face of Jesus.
Yet there awaits, even for the closest follower, that
moment of full revealing when we shall see Him as He is. This Wonderful Being
Who created and Who fills all things.. Our Father.. -What will that moment be
like when we see Him face to face? -This One Whose name is Holy, and Who
inhabits eternity...! # Isa 33:17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land
that stretches afar. NIV (OR land of far distances.) (—All the immeasurable
dimensions of the eternal realms..)
That final break-through of the fetters of flesh, to look
upon the face of God.. And to see Him as He is. What a wonderful moment of
truth that will be. That first full beholding of the glory of Our God. When
"sons of ignorance and night, shall dwell in that eternal Light."..When
we.. "shall live, and look on Thee."
Brethren, the time is short. In our present knowing of God
eternity has for us begun, yet still we thirst.- -As the hart panting after the
water brooks. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come
and appear before God? # Ps 42:1,2
That moment of complete fulfilment may not be far off for
any one of us. The countdown to our change is already underway.
4) When Knowledge of His glory floods the earth.
Another aspect then arises. Will the mystery of God be
finished for the saints alone? We believe that there will be a sense in which
the "mystery of God" will be finished also for mankind in this
blessed age now opening before us.
To the philosophising Greeks He was "The unknown
God." As we travel over the earth and through the history of mankind we
are confronted with a vast array of beliefs concerning the nature of God.
Almost every form of created thing has been worshipped by man in the place of
the true and only living God. This will not ever be so. As Jesus revealed the
Father to his Own, and has done throughout this age, so through the completed
Christ-will the Father be revealed-until all the mists have been removed and
the earth is full of the knowledge of His glory as the glistening waters covering
the great deep.
What privilege is this to reflect his glory to mankind as
the lights of heaven, # Mt 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. So shall they
shine until none shall need say to his neighbour "know the Lord.. For all
shall know Him from the least to the greatest."
As we move through a crowd on a bright day the sunshine
reflects in each face. Can we picture those same faces radiant with the
reflection of the glory of God, each bearing the likeness of God? Can we
picture the nations walking in the Light of that New City, the light of New
Jerusalem, -the Bride, the Lamb’s wife.
It will not happen in an instant. Charles Taze Russell, in
‘Studies in the Scriptures’, Volume 6, page 359, speaks then of the gradual
retracing and rewriting of His Laws in the hearts of men. This will be the
result of the work of an age. It will be progressive for mankind, as it is even
now with us. But the end, the blessed permanent result of the work of
righteousness, how wonderful that will be, when, mystery no longer enshrouds
that God Who tabernacles amongst them.
1) We have seen this prospect in terms of the times and
seasons of the present age. 2) We
have also reflected upon the
implications for saints changed into his likeness, to see Him as He is, to know Him, as they are known of
Him.. 3) We have contemplated the
rising of the sun of righteousness until the knowledge of His glory fills this earth. There is one
more concept, if we stand
spiritually upon tiptoe, that we may just
begin to glimpse.
4) The crown of God’s glory.
What did Paul mean when he was prompted by the Spirit of
God to use the language of # Eph 1:22,23 "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him
to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of
him that filleth all in all." Again in #
Eph 3:19 "And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of
God." We have been called into that same holy and perfect oneness that
Jesus shares with the Father. The saints are described as the inheritance of
God.. His peculiar treasure... His jewels... the crown of his glory. There is
something here in the completion of the mystery of God that defies imagination.
To be part of... His glory. As saints here below we become more and more
absorbed with the glory of God. A translation is taking place within our
hearts. A power mightier far than that which brought forth the galaxies, is
even this moment at work, and it is working in us. A New Creation is being
formed, something more awing than any past creative act of God. This New
Creation is being filled with all the fulness of God.
Many times in Scripture appear the thought..as in # Eze 44:4 "and,
behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD:" Paul said, # 1Co 3:16 "ye—are
the temple of God..."
John, in vision, heard the angel say... {# Re 21:9-11} Come hither,
I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10 And he carried me away in the
spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy
Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and
her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear
as crystal;
That Bride, that city, is to be, as it were, an extension
of the very glory of God, —part of that very radiance that surrounds His
throne. She is to be the crown of His glory. —Part of the glory of God.. —His
inheritance of the saints in light. And His requirement of us for this work to
proceed to its blessed completion? That our faith stagger not!
_____________________________________________________________
Brethren, it is almost our going-home time. As this day we
part may the prospect of that future meeting fill our hearts with a joy that
can only grow brighter as the hour draws nearer and dear to us. —Meeting one
another in the full perfection of God’s finished work, beautiful in holiness.
—Meeting the Lord Jesus, our "Isaac", "laughter",
"with joy unspeakable and full of glory." —Meeting our Heavenly
Father in Whose embrace is everlasting bliss, and joy forevermore. Then shall
we know Him, and for each saint the fulness of the mystery of God will be
complete. _____________________________________________________________
Meanwhile let us take the Lord with us to our homes.....