present is the Night;* and the night is far spent, the day is at hand, (Rom. xiii. 12;) for not only are they not to fear the day of the Lord, but to long for it, to be looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, (2 Pet. iii. 12;) to lift up their heads when they see it appear, (Luke xxi. 28;) to groan within themselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, (Rom. viii. 23;) for when the Son of man shall be manifested, and they shall see him again, their heart shall rejoice, and their sorrow shall be turned into joy, (John xvi. 22;) then in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, they shall be translated, (1 Cor. xv. 52;) caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess. iv. 17.) How striking is the description of the redeemed in Rev. xxi. 2, 3, and 22-24; "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. *The taunting inquiry of Edom to Israel, and the Prophet's answer, are most strikingly descriptive of present things: "Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night? the morning cometh, also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye return, come." (Isa. xxi. 11, 12; see also 2 Peter iii. 6.) And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it." But while the church of God will be thus happy and blessed in HER GLORY CELESTIAL, the ancient people of God, THE JEWS, will also be blest in THEIR GLORY TERRESTRIAL; for when the fulness of the Gentiles is come, all Israel shall be saved, for there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob, (Rom. xi. 26;) then shall their light be most bright, for this is the word concerning them :-" Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." (Isa. xxx. 26.) Then shall the nations come to their light, and kings to the brightness of their rising, (Isa. Ix. 1;) and, anointed in the fulness of the Spirit, they shall carry out the light to the nations, and Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit, (Isa. xxvii. 6;) and so shall Malachi's prophecy be fulfilled: "from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof, my name shall be great among the Gentiles," (chap. i. 11;) then shall the seventh angel sound his trumpet, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev. xi. 15.) Thus: To the wicked, that have heard the gospel and rejected it, all will be sorrow and darkness. To the Jew and converted Heathen will be great blessedness. To the Children of God, waiting for the Lord, will be light and glory. Beloved children, may God indeed bless you; may you be his own, and so shall the day of the Lord open to you with unutterable glory! Believe me to remain ever, Your affectionate Father. |