Which may be more briefly disposed of after the preceding exposition, and that is, the private soldier's share in the Captain's victory and rest. I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also.'
Now with regard to the former of these, our share in Christ's triumph and conquest, I only wish to say one thing, and it is this--I thankfully recognise that to many who do not share with me in what I believe to be the teaching of Scripture, viz., the belief that Christ was more than example, their partial belief, as I think it, in Him as the realised ideal, the living Pattern of how men ought to live, has given strength for far nobler and purer life than could otherwise have been reached. But, brethren, it seems to me that we want a great deal more than a pattern, a great deal closer and more intimate union with the Conqueror than the mere setting forth of the possibility of a perfect life as realised in Him, ere we can share in His victory. What does it matter to me, after all, except for stimulus and for rebuke, that Jesus Christ should have lived the life? Nothing. But when we can link the words in the upper room, I have overcome,' and the words from heaven, Even as I also overcame,' with the same Apostle's words in his epistle, This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,' then we share in the Captain's victory in an altogether different manner from that which they do who can see in Him only a pattern that stimulates and inspires. For if we put our trust in that Saviour, then the very life which was in Christ Jesus, and which conquered the world in Him, will pass into us; and the law of the spirit of life in Christ will make us more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
And then the victory being secured, because Christ lives in us and makes us victorious, our participation in His throne is secure likewise.
There shall be repose, the cessation of effort, the end of toil. There shall be no more aching heads, strained muscles, exhausted brains, weary hearts, dragging feet. There will be no more need for resistance. The helmet will be antiquated, the laurel crown will take its place. The heavy armour, that rusted the garment over which it was braced, will be laid aside, and the trailing robes, that will contract no stain from the golden pavements, will be the attire of the redeemed. We have all had work enough, and weariness enough, and battles enough, and beatings enough, to make us thankful for the thought that we shall sit on the throne.
But if it is a rest like His, and if it is to be the rest of royalty, there will be plenty of work in it; work of the kind that fits us and is blessed. I know not what new elevation, or what sort of dominion will be granted to those who, instead of the faithfulness of the steward, are called upon to exercise the activity of the Lord over ten cities. I know not, and I care not; it is enough to know that we shall sit on His throne.
But do not let us forget the last of the thoughts: They shall sit with Me.' Ah! there you touch the centre--To depart and to be with Christ, which is far better'; Absent from the body; present with the Lord.' We know not how. The lips are locked that might, perhaps, have spoken; only this we know, that, not as a drop of water is absorbed into the ocean and loses its individuality, shall we be united to Christ. There will always be the two, or there would be no blessedness in the two being one; but as close as is compatible with the sense of being myself, and of His being Himself, will be our fellowship with Him. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.'
Brethren, this generation would be a great deal the better for thinking more often of the promises and threatenings of Scripture with regard to the future. I believe that no small portion of the lukewarmness of the modern Laodicea is owing to the comparative neglect into which, in these days, the Christian teachings on that subject have fallen. I have tried in these sermons on these seven promises to bring them at least before your thoughts and hearts. And I beseech you that you would, more than you have done, have respect unto the recompense of reward,' and let that future blessedness enter as a subsidiary motive into your Christian life.
We may gather all these promises together, and even then we have to say, the half hath not been told us.' It doth not yet appear what we shall be.' Symbols and negations, and these alone, teach us the little that we know about that future; and when we try to expand and concatenate these, I suppose that our conceptions correspond to the reality about as closely as would the dreams of a chrysalis as to what it would be when it was a butterfly. But certainty and clearness are not necessarily united. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him.' Take even as! also' for the key that unlocks all the mysteries of that glorious future. It is enough for the servant that he be as his Master.'
