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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 56. Day Is Coming
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Day Is Coming
It's a long lane that has no turning. Every valley leads up a hillside to a hilltop. Every storm ends in sunshine at the last. Every night runs out; the dawn will break; the new day comes; the shadows flee before the new shining. The battle for right will end in victory, and in a decisive victory. There'll be no draw here. Faith wins at last. It's been a long night of fighting. Sometimes it seems endless.
The man in the thick of the fight, with moist brow, and clenched hand, and quick breath and throbbing heart, sometimes sobs out the prayer, "O Lord, how long before the night is over, and the dawn breaks?" And quietly through the smoke and din of the conflict a still, small voice says, "Steady, my child, steady; the day is surely coming, and with day victory; steady, steady a bit longer."
Now here in vision the fight is over, the victory won. And God's visions always become realities. The vision is yet for the appointed time, and it panteth breathlessly toward the real ization, and will not fail nor delay. Though it tarry, wait for it; it will certainly come on time; it will not be late. [Note: Hab_2:3.]
In the seventh view the kingdom follows immediately that decisive conflict and the putting of Satan out of the way for the time being. The redeemed ones at once begin their blessed service of fellowship with the King in reigning over the kingdom. Emphasis is placed on the fact that at this time there has been a resurrection of believers. And these resurrected ones join with those caught up without death in administering the kingdom. This kingdom is said to last for a thousand years, that length of time being named only here, and here six times.
There is much talk in our day about the kingdom. All Christendom has been repeating for nineteen centuries the petition, "Thy kingdom come." It will be of intense and practical interest to see just what the kingdom is, as pictured in the Bible. It is barely mentioned in this place in Revelation, to fit it into its place in the scheme of future events being outlined.
But it is the chief theme in these old prophetic pages, around which all others group. Immediate historical events furnish the setting, but there is a continual swinging to the coming future greatness. The yellow glory-light of the coming kingdom is never out of the prophetic sky. Jeremiah is the one most absorbed in the boiling of the political pot of his own strenuous time, but even he, at times, lifts his head and gets such a glimpse of the coming kingdom as causes him to mix some rose tincture with the jet black ink he habitually uses.
Let us look briefly at the kingdom picture of these older pages. Its capital is Jerusalem, which becomes the world capital. It will be the joy of the whole earth. Israel will be the first nation of the earth, to which all others will be tributary. But it will be not the Israel of these old pages, nor the Jew as he is known characteristically throughout history. Israel will be a new nation, made new in character by the power of the Holy Spirit. The winsome picture of the baptized crowds at Pentecost gives an inkling of the spirit that will sway the new nation. [Note: Act_2:44-47; Act_4:32-34.] They will be a nation of radiant faces and thrilled hearts.
The effect of this upon all other nations is marked. Through Israel's regeneration and new leadership, every other nation is to know a new spirit life. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Israel is to be followed by an outpouring upon all flesh. Pentecost is merely a beginning of what is to be universal. There will be a widespread voluntary coming to Israel for religious instruction. She becomes the world's teacher until the knowledge of God covers the whole earth as the waters cover the sea. But all this will be purely a voluntary movement among the nations. There will be war no longer, but universal peace.
There's one part of the picture specially comforting. That vast majority, the poor, will be specially guarded and cared for. There will be no hungry people, nor cold, nor poorly clad; no unemployed begging for a chance to earn a dry crust, and no workers fighting for a fair share of the fruit of their toil. But there are yet tenderer touches on the canvas. Broken hearts will be healed, prison doors unhung, broken family circles complete again.
A recent issue of The Sunday School Times tells a simple, touching incident of a mission hall in Korea. A Korean woman living in the country heard of the wonderful things happening there, and came to town to find out for herself, and get some help. But she didn't know where the hall was, nor what name it was called. So she inquired on the streets for the place where they cured the broken heart. And at once she was directed to the mission hall. That sort of thing will become a blessed commonplace in the beginning of the kingdom time.
Then there are certain radical changes in nature. Splendid rivers of waters are to flow through or by Jerusalem, suggesting radical changes in the formation of the land there. That fortress city, on the hilltop, Jerusalem, becomes as the world's metropolis, a mighty city, with rivers floating a world's commerce. The light of sun and moon will be greatly intensified, so influencing the fertility of the earth. Before their healing light and heat, in the newly tempered atmosphere, all poisonous growths, the blight of drought, and suffering of untempered heat, will disappear.
And with this goes a change in the animal creation. Hate will be gone. And so beasts that are dreaded because of their ferocity and treachery and poisonous power will be wholly changed. There will be mutual cessation of cruelty to animals by man, and of danger to man by animals, for all hate and violence will be gone.
And some one raises his eyebrows sceptically and says, ironically, "What fairy tale, what skipper's yarn, is this?" Well, I frankly confess that I don't know anything about this matter, except what I find in this old Book of God. But I confess, too, that I try studiously to get a common-sense, poised, Spirit-enlightened understanding of what this Book does tell. And then I accept it, and go by it, regardless of probabilities or improbabilities. It may seem like a fairy tale, yet it is only the picture of the coming kingdom soberly set forth in these old pages.
As we turn to the Gospel pages we find the kingdom to be the chief thing Jesus is talking about. The Gospel days are sample days of the kingdom in the personal blessings bestowed. Read through these accounts of blind eyes opened, the lame walking, the maimed made whole, the dumb singing, the distressed in whatever way relieved, the ignorant instructed, the sinful wooed, and the bad of heart and life being blessedly changed.
All this is a taste of the kingdom. Jesus was wooing men to accept King and kingdom. Today, as in all Church time, bodily healing is a privilege for those who can take it, and a gift for the rare few who can be entrusted with it. In these Gospel pages it was freely bestowed on multitudes, and the gift exercised with power by many. Even so it will be in the kingdom time.
Most of the parables are found to be connected in their first meaning with explaining about the kingdom. The kingdom will follow the law of growth that is common in nature, sowing, waiting, cultivating, and reaping. [Note: Mar_4:26-29.] Mat_13:31-32.] Its influence will spread gradually until all feel its presence and power. [Note: Mat_13:33.] It must meet and deal with the obstacles presented by different men's temperaments and dispositions and temptations. [Note: Mat_13:3-9; Mat_13:18-23.] There will be opposition, gradually overcome, but never fully. [Note: Mat_13:24-30.] Many will be carried along by the current of the day. It will be a good current, for righteousness will be the common thing then. But in their hearts many will long for something else, something different. [Note: Mat_13:47-50.]
But to many, the new blessed kingdom message will come as a treasure accidentally stumbled upon, not being looked for, but now valued as very precious. [Note: Mat_13:44.] To others it will come as the thing they have been eagerly seeking for, and which satisfies the deepest yearnings. [Note: Mat_13:45-46.] One who has had any touch with the pathetic yearning of years found in non-Christian lands can better appreciate the results of this kind in these glad coming days.
The characteristic spirit of the kingdom stands sharply out in contrast with the dominant spirit of our own time. The kingdom is said to belong peculiarly to those who are "poor in spirit," in whom self-assertion and pride have quite gone out, leaving them humble and lowly in heart. The meek will inherit the earth, and will take down all the walls and fences, for all conditions of life are radically changed. The penitent man or woman will be freely received regardless of their past, while the proud will find the doorway too low for their unbending heads. [Note: Mat_21:31.]
Rewards in the kingdom will not be given as a matter of merit, as in our present endless cutting and rivalry, but will be thought of wholly as evidence of the graciousness of the King. [Note: Mat_20:1-16.] And yet more striking, the rewards given will be the privilege of serving, some more, some less, according as they have become skilled in serving. [Note: Luk_19:11-27.] He who serves most truly will be given preferment. [Note: Mat_20:25-28.] The thing prized above all else will be glad obedience to the King.
It will be seen that the kingdom is to be a time of world-wide evangelization. Indeed this is the purpose of the kingdom. There are two periods of world-wide evangelization in our Lord's planning. The present is the Church time of such evangelizing. This is, of course, the true main objective of the Church. This is the reason for the Church's existence, to take the message of a crucified risen Christ to all men, that so the way may be prepared for His return, and through that for the next period of evangelizing.
The kingdom period of world-wide evangelization is under radically different conditions. Then the evil one will be removed from the scene of action, the Holy Spirit will have been poured out upon all flesh, and so the moral veil now upon men's eyes will be removed. The Jews, with all their characteristic aggressiveness and perseverance, now intensified by the Holy Spirit's presence, will be a nation of missionaries to all the earth. The redeemed ones in their resurrection bodies will have the blessed privilege of helping. And over all will be the presence and supervision of the King, our Lord Jesus Himself. That will be world-wide evangelization in earnest.
Such is a faint glimpse given in both Old and New Testaments of the kingdom spoken of in these Revelation pages in such few words. Almost the whole Bible lies back of those few words. What a time it will be for this old earth! With renewed fervour our hearts repeat, "Thy kingdom come."