NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 33
NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 33
Our great expectation in coming together ought to be to enjoy Christ’s presence. We remember Him in death - He died here where we are; but we know Him in glory, and there is a marked effect from His seeing us again. “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you”. To know Him in glory in His own things must have a most wonderful effect, and the better we know the effect the more we should expect when we come together. There are two types of Christ found together in Scripture (Luke 11: 29 - 32), Jonah and Solomon. Jonah is a type of the death of Christ, Solomon of His [p. 76] glory. We remember Him in death, but we know Him in glory. In 1 Kings 10: 3 - 9 we see the effect that Solomon’s glory had on the queen of Sheba. First of all her individual questions were solved, and then she was introduced into Solomon’s own circle. The first effect is that there is no more spirit in her; she is entranced with the blessedness of his presence. This must ever be the effect of being near Him who is greater than Solomon. To God we are beside ourselves. Christ so absorbs the heart that one’s self is in abeyance. Next, as the wisdom and prosperity of Solomon absorbed the queen of Sheba, so we, as our hearts behold the glory of Christ, or rather, as we behold Him in glory, must declare with her, “Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard”; and finally, like this queen, we are praising and blessing - we worship and we bless Him who has blessed us. The greater the sense of the blessedness of our portion, the more our hearts will estimate the blessedness of Him who has blessed us.