THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR
[p. 124] THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR
John 1: 29 - 39; Matthew 25: 1 - 10; Revelation 22:16,17; Revelation 22:20
It would hardly be questioned, I suppose, that for a number of years there has been considerable interest amongst believers generally in truths connected with the Second Coming of the Lord. Nor could it be denied that those truths have been very widely accepted by the children of God. It is a very striking feature of God’s ways with His saints that so much attention has been called to those truths during the present century. The significance of this has been often pointed out. There can be no doubt that the moment of the Lord’s return draws nigh, and “it is high time to awake out of sleep”. In view of this I desire to bring before you the scriptures I have read, and I trust they may come to our hearts in freshness and power as a present ministry from the Lord.
I want to press the importance of personal acquaintance with the One who is coming. There cannot be much desire for His coming on the part of those who are not personally acquainted with Him. And I think the great mark of personal acquaintance is that we seek His company. I cannot believe there is much true desire for His coming in any heart that does not seek His company now.
The passage I read from John 1 shows us how two disciples became personally acquainted with Christ. He was so presented to their hearts, and they were so attracted to Him that their one desire was to be in His company. Now, beloved brethren, I bring this before you because I am convinced that it is this alone which will make us “ready” in our affections for the return of the Bridegroom, and enable us to say “Come” in concert with “the Spirit and the bride”. It is all very well to read books and hear addresses on the Second Coming of [p. 125] the Lord, and to search the Scriptures on the subject, but something more than this is needed to make us “ready” to meet Him.
I take for granted that I am addressing believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that your sins are forgiven; you rejoice in the assurance that by the one offering of Christ you are “perfected for ever”. As to any question of imputation of sin you are clear through your Saviour’s blood. You are justified. We must begin with this. A purged conscience, and the Spirit as a divine link with Christ in glory, are needed before Christ can really be the object of the heart. He is presented to us here, first as the Lamb of God, then as the Baptiser with the Holy Ghost, and thirdly as the attractive and satisfying object of the hearts of His own.
God could not come out in the way of blessing to man until He had been glorified about sin. But the Lamb of God went into the place of sin that He might put it away by the sacrifice of Himself, and the first consequence of His death was that the “veil of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom”. The way was open for God to come out in the fullest blessing, and in the glory of unmingled grace. God is a SAVIOUR-GOD. If there is one here who feels that death and judgment are his due, I can say to you that the Lamb of God has been under judgment and in death that He might remove every barrier that stood between your soul and the blessing of God. I can say to every repentant sinner — to every believer in Jesus — that not only is every barrier righteously removed, but the way in which they have been removed is the most wonderful and blessed testimony to the love of God. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5: 8).
And now the Lamb of God is seated in all the light and glory of the Father’s throne. A shining track has been made from the depths of death and judgment to the heights of glory. We follow that shining track through the opened [p. 126] heavens to the right hand of God. We can go in. No device of hell can separate the redeemed from the Redeemer, or hinder Him from bringing the “many sons to glory”. By His one offering we are perfected for ever; our consciences are purged; we have peace with God. Every believer in Jesus is before God in the infinite efficacy of the blood of the Lamb, and is in God’s sight “whiter than snow”.
Then, further, the Son of God as risen and glorified is the Baptiser with the Holy Ghost. By His death we are cleared of everything that attached to us as children of Adam, and now by the gift of the Spirit we have a link with Him in the place where He is. All that the grace of God has effected for us by the work of Christ was in view of our having a link with Him. It is inconceivable blessing. We are cleared that we might have a link with the One who has cleared us. Alas! it is to be feared that, with many, the Holy Ghost is grieved and hindered, and is not at liberty to make good this link with Christ in the hearts of believers. But where this is the case the believer reaps but little benefit from the Spirit. The normal action of the Spirit would be to form a link of affection between the believer and Christ such as that which subsisted between Jonathan and David (1 Samuel 18: 1 - 4). And this would naturally result in His becoming the object of our hearts, and His company the supreme desire of our souls.
The great gain of having the Spirit is that He makes the glory of Christ shine in the believer’s heart, and this we see in figure in the two disciples who heard John speak. The glory of Christ shone into their hearts, and separated them from everything here. They were “ready” for His company, for He had thrown everything else into the shade, and made Himself supreme in their affections. They had previously been disciples of the greatest servant of God upon earth at the moment, but when the Son of God came into the vision of their hearts they left John. The glory of Christ eclipsed [p. 127] everything for them, and captivated their hearts. “One thing” they desired and sought after — His company. And this shows that they must have had a sense of His love. They might not have been able to explain it, but His love had established itself in their hearts. It is love that desires the company of its object. The Father was drawing them to Christ by giving them a sense of the blessedness and love of Christ. And, beloved brethren, it is not otherwise today. Would that all our hearts had a sense of this. The Father is working by the Spirit to bring about the same result today. I trust many here know something experimentally of the reality of this; and if not, that we may be thoroughly awakened in heart, and exercised in conscience about our condition.
We are here as professed followers of Christ, and He challenges all our hearts at this moment with the searching question, “WHAT SEEK YE?” Ah! He knows what we are after, but He challenges our hearts that we may be obliged, as it were, to declare ourselves. It is good sometimes to be obliged to give account of ourselves. Now are we prepared to be thus challenged? Are we so clear of the world, and so free from the tastes and motives of the flesh, that we can meet the challenge without confusion of face? Do our secret hours bear witness to the fact that we long after Himself? Or do they find us occupied with the ledger, the newspaper, with a thousand things that pertain to this life and to the world, so that — though we may sometimes sigh in the weariness of our way, and the Spirit of God may occasionally turn our souls heavenward with desire to breathe the atmosphere of divine love in the company of Christ — it cannot be said that we really “seek” His company at all?
The two whose course we are following were prepared for the challenge. Nay, it must have fallen on their ears as a most welcome sound, assuring and encouraging them. Such a challenge was just what their hearts desired. It gave them an opportunity to declare themselves, and to put themselves [p. 128] in touch with Him. Now, beloved, is it so with ourselves? Do our souls make us “like the chariots of Amminadib” to run after Him? He will cause those that love Him to “inherit substance”, and He will “fill their treasures”; and He says, “Those that seek me early shall find me”. May it be ours to take advantage of His love, and to seek His company, so that, going after Him with purpose of heart, we may be able to answer His challenge in the spirit of the earnest inquiry, “Master, where dwellest THOU?”
The great blessedness of the Lord’s gracious response, “Come and see”, has often, I am sure, been food for our hearts. They are wonderful words if we consider all that is implied in them. It is the place “where he dwelt” that they were invited to “come and see”. I suppose the youngest babe in Christ would instinctively understand that the Spirit of God intended to convey in these words something far deeper than the thought of a material dwelling-place. The glory that attracted the hearts of the two disciples to that Blessed One was a moral glory — a glory of divine perfections and love which only anointed eyes could discern or appreciate — and the place “where he dwelt” speaks to our hearts of a moral dwelling-place suited to Himself. In a word, the two disciples wanted to know Him in His own circle, and His love conferred upon them the freedom of that circle.
I should like to bring another scripture into your minds in connection with this subject: John 20: 11 - 20. Here we find another captivated heart — another follower — another seeker. What were the best things of the earth to Mary’s heart? Religion was keeping its “high day” in Jerusalem, but not for her. The excitement of the political circle was engrossing thousands, but its burning questions had no place in her heart. No doubt the cares of this life were known by her as by any of us, but they reigned not in her spirit. She had but one grief, as the disciples in chapter 1 had but one Object. His presence created a new world for their hearts,
[p. 129] and His absence desolated the old world for Mary’s heart. It cannot be said that she was strong in faith or hope, but she stands conspicuous for LOVE to His blessed Person. “They have taken away my LORD”. It may be she had little thought of where He dwelt, but it was the same affection which led the two disciples to ask, “Master, where dwellest thou?” that prompted her to say, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away”. And the same Voice that had said, “Come and see”, opened up to her a new world of everlasting love, and brought her consciously into a new association with Himself outside all the desolation of this scene of death, as by the one word “Mary” He called her into the presence of His unchanged and living love.
He revealed Himself to Mary, as He had in figure to the two disciples, in His own circle, and He made her the bearer of the wondrous message which was, we might say, the complete unfolding of all that was involved in the words, “Come and see”. He was no longer to be touched and known in the old associations “after the flesh”, but by the Spirit He might be touched in His new place as ascended to the Father. He takes a new place, but He will have His brethren in the most complete association with Himself in that new place. “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”. In this way He invites us to “come and see” His dwelling-place, and to share it with Him.
But let none of us think lightly of this wondrous privilege, for He could only secure it for us by His death. As in the flesh we could never be in association with Christ, and if He had not died this holy privilege could never have been ours. Blessed be His name, He has removed in death, to the glory of God, all that we were as children of Adam. His death has ended our history before God as in the flesh, and divested us in the presence of infinite love of every trace of unsuitability [p. 130] to that love. How could we be free in His company if we did not know this? How could He claim us as His brethren on any other ground? Well may we adore Him for the triumphs of His love.
“In the triumph and the glory
Of Thy rest in love divine,
Thou dost tell the wondrous story
How God’s counsels made us Thine;”
“How by dying Thou hast freed us
From the man of sin and shame,
That, unhindered, Thou might’st lead us
Now to know Thy Father’s name”. (161:3)
It is as we enter into this that our hearts are drawn to Him, and we find ourselves in spirit outside everything that is of the world and of the flesh. And until we know something of the reality of this we cannot be said to be in heart “ready” for His return.
The effect of Mary’s message was to gather the disciples together outside everything that was of man. They were outside everything because of what Christ was to their hearts. Their hearts were illuminated by His love. With the doors shut to exclude the religious man after the flesh, they got the company of Christ and were glad. The world was only to them the scene of His rejection and death. And thus they were fitted to be sent by Him into the world in His interests. This was the beginning of Christianity. Can you imagine what the church would have been if she had maintained her first love? A company of hearts espoused to Christ, and satisfied with His company and love, and walking in Strangership and rejection here in loyalty to Him. Surely if we got a true thought of it we should be ready to weep over the condition of the church today.
I now pass on to the second scripture which we read at the beginning (Matthew 25). This scripture is of great importance because it brings together in one view (1) the first love of the church, (2) the decline of that love, and (3) the awakening [p. 131] and revival thereof so as to make the wise virgins “ready” for the return of the Bridegroom.
1. The virgins “took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom”. I do not intend to occupy you at this time with the foolish virgins, who set forth the lamentable condition of those who have the profession of Christianity without the reality of its blessings. The wise virgins represent the company of true saints who have “oil in their vessels”; that is, they have received the Spirit. All such at the beginning went forth to meet the Bridegroom. Their hearts were engaged with Himself, and they left every earthly association to have the joy of His company. This was what marked them — they sought His company. This is the great characteristic of first love.
2. “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept”. Here we see in picture the state of things which rapidly succeeded the pentecostal brightness. How soon had the Lord to say, “Nevertheless I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2: 4). He had lost His place in their hearts, and if that is the case the Christian slumbers and sleeps. It may sound like a paradox, but I have no doubt there may be works, and labour, and endurance, and much fidelity in respect of many things, while the heart slumbers and sleeps. (See Revelation 2: 2 - 5.) What is the value of Scripture knowledge, or of correct views on prophecy and ecclesiastical principles, if our hearts are sound asleep? You may ask, What is it to slumber and sleep? Well, I think it is to lose the consciousness of our association with Christ, so that the believer settles down into things here. If our hearts lose the consciousness of our association with Christ we are sure to become earthly-minded. And this is what has happened to the church. “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s”, says Paul to the Philippians; and again, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, even weeping, ... . who mind earthly things”. It is this which [p. 132] has brought the church into the state of spiritual weakness and ruin in which it is found today. The virgins have “slumbered and slept”.
3. “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom; go ye out to meet him”. Here we see the intervention of God to bring about the result that there should be a company “ready” to meet the Bridegroom. And I think none would deny that there has been a very remarkable intervention of God in the actual history of the church. Every one of us here has benefited by that intervention, and some, it may be, to a very great degree. We have only to go back some four hundred years to find the almost universal sway of priestcraft and superstition in the Church. No doubt God maintained His elect all through, but so far as any public light or testimony was concerned there was a long period of appalling and almost unbroken darkness. The Reformation was a loud cry which echoed far and wide amid the darkness, and it was followed by other movements which, though not attracting the same amount of public attention, produced probably a far deeper spiritual result amongst many who had been delivered as a consequence of the first movement from the thraldom of Rome. The present century has witnessed the recovery of much precious truth unknown in the Church since apostolic days; and within the last few years the Person of Christ, and the blessedness of the saints’ association with Him in new creation, have been presented in a remarkable way to the hearts of believers. It is impossible to doubt that in this way the awakening cry, “Behold the bridegroom”, has gone forth in a very distinct manner. Nor has it been without effect. Many have left the religious associations and human systems in which they were found. There has been, to some extent at any rate, a going out and a trimming of lamps.
I believe it is of immense importance for us to recognize the true nature of the present testimony of the Holy Ghost.
[p. 133] It is the presentation of Christ Himself to the hearts of His own — “BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM”. We have often heard that the point of departure is the point of recovery. The point of departure in the church was when CHRIST lost His supreme place in the hearts of His own, and there is no recovery until He regains it. Some have thought that the cry, “Behold the bridegroom”, was figurative of the revival of prophetic truth. No doubt God has graciously given much light on prophecy during the present century, but it has been only the necessary accompaniment of truths “concerning Christ and the church”. I do not believe the Spirit of God would occupy us with a series of prophetic facts; His mission is to present a PERSON. And I cannot help warning my younger brethren against much literature that is abroad on prophetic subjects. Books and pamphlets which occupy you with events and dates, and especially those which connect events occurring at the present time with prophecy, are to be shunned. The effect of them is to occupy souls very much with what is going on in the world, and I am sure the Spirit of God is not seeking to do this. He would present to our hearts the One who is in glory, and separate us even now to His company outside everything that is going on here.
“Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps”. Here we see the effect of the midnight cry. The presentation of the Person who is coming immediately awakens exercise. It raises the question in the soul, “Am I suitable to Him?” If there is no exercise of this kind, it is a sure indication that the soul is asleep. The exercise of every awakened heart leads to the discovery that the lamp needs trimming — that there is that which needs to be judged and removed, so that we may be in conscious suitability to the One who is coming. When our hearts are illuminated by His love we are in conscious suitability to Him. It is not here a question of being perfected for ever by His one offering, of being cleansed by His blood, but of conscious suitability to Him by the [p. 134] Spirit. Many a believer who has no doubt as to the efficacy of His work is far from being in conscious suitability to Him, and where this is the case the lamp needs trimming. We do not reach this suitability without exercise, and may God enable each one of us to trim our lamps.
There are three steps by which the Spirit would lead us, if unhindered into conscious suitability to Christ.
1. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2: 20). Paul was conscious of a love which had divested him at its own cost of everything that was unsuited to itself. All that he was as a child of Adam had gone in the death of Christ from before God’s eye, and he was so in accord with this — he had so reached it experimentally — that he could say, “I am crucified with Christ”. He recognized nothing as life to God but CHRIST living in him; and the One who had thus set him free in the presence of divine love from all that attached to him as a man in the flesh was now the object of his heart. If you are saying, “Oh that I could be in suitability to Christ! but I cannot improve my wretched self, and I cannot get rid of it”, I should like you to consider the infinite love that is here brought before us. The Son of God has undertaken in love to remove all my unsuitability, and to accomplish this He has given Himself. He has gone into death that He might free me from myself, and have me for Himself. And by His death I am entitled to be with God and with His Son as one set free from all that attached to me as a child of Adam. I think we could not help being drawn to the Lord if we realized this. As another has said, “He has cleared the ground that He might occupy it”. It is a wonderful moment in the soul’s history when it gets the consciousness of being loved by the Son of God. It is a most blessed thing to know Him in His greatness and glory, and to know that there is an eternal link [p. 135] of love between Him and me — love which has removed for its own satisfaction and at its own cost everything that I am morally as of the race of Adam, so that I might be free in the presence of that love. The Holy Ghost would illuminate our hearts with the light of this love. And with the light and warmth of this love pervading our hearts, the dim and worthless, though often cherished idols of the earth, would retire into the shade to which they properly belong, and heaven would become supremely attractive because of the One who is there. We have not merely deliverance, but the personal love of a DELIVERER.
2. “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2: 11). Here we see a further unfolding of what His love has effected. It is not only that all our unsuitability as belonging to Adam’s race has been removed in His death, but we are now in association with the One who has removed it. We are of Him; we derive from Him; we are “all of one” with Him. This is not the flesh sanctified; it is not Christ made “all of one” with our flesh, as modern theology so falsely teaches; it is not our flesh made “all of one” with Him; it is a new creation in which we are altogether apart from the flesh, associated in life and relationship with Christ risen, so that His Father is our Father, and His God our God. He is not ashamed to call us brethren, because in this new creation order there is no disparity between Himself and those whom He has sanctified. We are “all of one” with Him. The Holy Ghost would light up our hearts with the glory and love of this wondrous association with Christ.
3. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” (John 13: 8). Such is the love of Christ that He cannot be satisfied without our company. It is to secure this that His priesthood is exercised to lift us above every pressure here, that we may join Him in the sanctuary. For this He washes [p. 136] our feet to free us from the influences of this present scene, so that we may have part with Him. To this end He is presented to our hearts by the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures, and in all true ministry, that our hearts may be drawn away from the earth where He is not to the scene of His exaltation and glory. He wants our company. His love delights to share with us the joys of that blessed world where He has gone, and to make us familiar with the Father’s presence — in a word, to have us near Himself.
Now, beloved brethren, is the light of all this love shining brightly in our hearts? I know that these precious things are true for all believers, but they are not made good to us until we appropriate them. They are things which have to be experimentally reached through exercise of soul. Every bit of Canaan from Dan to Beersheba belonged to the children of Israel by divine gift; but they had to take possession, and they did not possess any more than what their feet trod upon. Many of us are familiar with these scriptures but I put it first to myself and then to everyone here, Is the love of Christ the present illumination and joy of your heart? If not, the lamp needs trimming. It is the blessed work of the Holy Ghost to maintain the light of Christ’s love in our hearts — He would feed that flame of love in our souls — but this will not be the case if we are wrapped in the slumber of earthly-mindedness. Nor will it be realized apart from exercise on our part. It is of necessity that the lamp should be trimmed. I venture to say that with each one of us there are things which are a hindrance to the Spirit of God; but if our hearts are truly awakened it will be our joy to disallow and set aside everything that obstructs and grieves that Holy One. It may be with some of us there are links with the world that have never been broken. Many believers are like two men who got into a boat to row across a river one very dark night. They pulled away some time without reaching the opposite side, and eventually discovered that they had [p. 137] forgotten to loosen the rope that fastened the boat to the bank of the river. Beloved brethren, have we no links that need to be severed, links with the world that hinder our spiritual progress, and grieve the Holy Ghost, and cause the light of divine love to burn dim in our hearts? “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from among the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee”.
It may cost us something to trim our lamps, but who can measure the gain? A single eye will inevitably lead to a trimmed lamp. That is, the heart in which Christ is supreme is sure to be diligent in the judgment and renunciation of what is not Christ. Then the lamp will be trimmed, and the whole body be “full of light”. This is first love. Christ is everything, and the soul is in conscious suitability to Him. The awakened virgins with trimmed lamps got back to the point of departure. Then they were “ready” for the return of the Bridegroom.
Enoch in his day was “ready”. It is not at all surprising that God translated him. He had walked apart from earth’s din and noise in moral suitability to God for three hundred years, and his translation was, if one might so say, the appropriate termination of such a course. Translation was not a great moral change for him. His circumstances were changed in a very wonderful way, I admit, but morally he had been “with God” for centuries. He was in moral suitability for translation. He was “ready”. I do not think his departure created a gap in the political or social circles of the day. He had been outside all that for hundreds of years.
Elijah, too, had been apart from the idolatrous nation before he was translated. He was taking no part in the course of things around him. He was morally “ready” to go out of the world altogether. God grant that in this sense we may be “ready” for the return of the Bridegroom. I believe the special ministry of the Lord at the present time [p. 138] is to bring about this result, and all the activities of the Holy Ghost are to this end. God grant that we may know how to profit by it all — CHRIST becoming so really our treasure that our hearts may be with Him; and in result that our loins may be girded about, and our lights burning, and we ourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.
I turn now, for a few moments, to Revelation 22:16,17; Revelation 22:20. There is something inexpressibly sweet and precious — something which lays hold of the heart with singular power — in this last presentation of the Lord Jesus to the hearts of His own. Such a comprehensive view of His blessed Person in varied characters — such a combination of suggestive titles — is rarely to be found in such brief compass.
First the sweet personal Name by which He made Himself known to us in our deep need as sinners — the sacred and saving Name — “I Jesus”. In thus presenting Himself to our hearts does He not recall the untold grace in which He stooped so low that He might bring divine love into contact with all our sin and woe? Bethlehem, Nazareth, the shores of Galilee, come afresh before our hearts as we think of that Name, and the wondrous story of Calvary is woven into its precious syllables. “I Jesus”. How it carries us back to the moment when our leprous souls first felt His cleansing touch — when first His hand of tenderness and might was laid upon our restless and fevered spirits — when first the healing virtue flowed forth from Him, responsive to faith’s feeble touch — when first the music of His voice filled our hearts with gladness as we heard Him say, “Thy sins are forgiven. Go in peace”, and a great calm overspread our consciences, storm-tossed with doubt and fear.
But this book reveals Him in other scenes — His eyes as a flame of fire; His voice as the sound of many waters; the glory-throne His rightful seat; the many crowns upon His brow; the Kingly Name on vesture and on thigh; yet still to His own He speaks as “I Jesus”. For them He still wears — and delights to wear — His Name of saving love. What could appeal more sweetly to our hearts?
“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches”. Here we see Him as the Prophet making known the mind and ways of God, not indeed in the intimacy of affection, as when He declares the Father’s Name to His brethren, but in that administrative way in which He makes known the truth of God from time to time as it is needed in the assemblies of His saints. For this there is a medium of communication — “I ... have sent mine angel”. It cannot be doubted that the Lord still acts in a way similar to this. He sends a ministry by some chosen vessel or vessels suited to the condition of His saints and to the present ways of God in the actual history of the church. Who can doubt that there was such a special ministry in the days of Luther and J.N.D., not to mention others less distinctly known? Truth from God suited to His present ways was declared in the days of these men “in the assemblies”. Of course no new revelation was communicated, but special prominence was given to the truth needed at the time. We may look for, and count upon, this to the end. May we ever have an ear to hear the present testimony of the Lord in the assemblies.
“I am the root and the offspring of David”. Jehovah’s choice, and promises in sovereign grace, made David great. All that David was in a divine sense he derived from Jehovah — it was to Jehovah that he owed all the glory and power of his kingdom. Jehovah was the source of all those promises of kingly glory which, throughout the Word of God, connect themselves with David and his seed. It is this that I understand to be conveyed in the expression, “I am the root ... of David”. All that pertained to Jehovah is thus assumed in the most distinct way by Jesus. The Deity of the Messiah — so plainly asserted in Hebrews 1 — thus shines fully and clearly forth.
[p. 140] As the Root of David He bestowed the promises, but as David’s Offspring He will inherit them all in manhood. He is coming soon to bring all the glory in — to bind Messiah’s honours upon His brow and reign before His ancients gloriously — to present in His own person, and to secure by His power, all that is promised in the prophecies of the Old Testament. In coming into manhood He inherited the titles and honours of the Messiah, and He will yet manifestly assume and display them. “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1: 32, 33).
“I Jesus” carries our hearts back to the day of His humiliation, and fills them with thoughts of the love which stooped so low to win and secure us for Himself. “The offspring of David” makes our hearts glow with anticipation of that coming day of glory which will soon shed its brightness from pole to pole, and from the river to the ends of the earth. But what have we in the interval between the day of His humiliation and the day of His supremacy? While the dark night of His rejection casts its shade on everything here, while the church mourns her absent Bridegroom, while men claim His inheritance as their own, and while declension and apostasy are written large upon that which bears His name, what is faith’s resource and joy? It is HIMSELF, who, hidden from the eyes of a sleeping world, shines upon our hearts in heavenly lustre and beauty as “the BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR”.
Then “let us not sleep, as do others”, for the waking and watchful eye alone is refreshed by the Star in the sky. If we miss the blessed opportunity, which is ours now, of knowing our Saviour and Lord in this character, we shall never have it again. In the day of glory He will be known in other characters, but as the Bright and Morning Star He can only be known during the night of His rejection. Many peculiar [p. 141] privileges belong to those who are called by infinite grace to know Him in the time of His rejection, and not the least of these privileges is the blessed intimacy of a personal knowledge of Himself as the Bright and Morning Star. The empty glory of the world, and the self-aggrandizement and self-complacency of an unfaithful church become grief and sorrow to a heart that thus knows the Lord. For such a heart the shadow of His rejection rests on everything here, while every ray that shines from that Star is bright with divine love that attracts to its own circle everyone who truly knows it. If I have lost the world and its things, what have I gained? I have a Person, and the love of that Person for my heart. And when I think WHO that Person is, and how He has brought divine love to me, and how He draws my heart to Himself in an ineffable scene of divine affections, I begin to taste divine satisfaction.
Then I can say, “Come”. The soul must be satisfied before it can say, “Come”. I say, “Come”, because I know the blessedness of the Person, and of all that He will bring. I am so enjoying it all in my heart — so living in it in the knowledge of Himself — that I cannot help saying, “Come”. It is the spontaneous expression of a satisfied heart that feels the immeasurable need and loss of the scene where He is not, the expression, too, of bridal affection which desires to see Him honoured and supreme in the place where He died.
The effect of really knowing Him as the Bright and Morning Star is that, in concert with the Spirit and the bride, we say, “Come”. Our lamps are trimmed: we are “ready”. We are in spiritual suitability to the One who is coming. May it be so with us.