PISGAH, OR POSSESSION?

PISGAH, OR POSSESSION?

It is possible, in a way, to be tantalised by the beauty and perfectness of the glory, because there is nothing like it here; and yet it may be as seen in the distance, as Moses saw the land from Pisgah; admired and loved, but with no positive possession, no setting the sole of one’s foot solidly on it. If I only see glory as Moses saw Canaan from mount Pisgah, I have no sense of possession there; on the contrary, I see a better thing, in which I not only have no possession, but I am myself actually separate from it, and outside of it. This tantalises, if I may so say. If I were to die then, with this view fully before me, I should be a Stephen, but if I have to live here with a glimpse of it, but without any sense of possession, it is only tantalising. We must know the place and glory into which Christ has entered as our spirit’s present home, an actual possession in which God has set us now, in order to be strangers here. When we know this, everything here is strange to us, because we are here from another place, a bright and a heavenly place. It is not only that we are looking for and expecting this place at the end. This will not make us strangers here; for we may have this, and still be at home here, and though we may wish to go ^[p. 332] to heaven, we are as yet strangers there, for we have never enjoyed possession there.

There is often this beholding afar off, and there may be a great deal of true admiration, the heart captivated with the view from Pisgah, which does not help one on in one’s path down here, but, on the contrary makes one only feel the contrast between what is here, and what one has had a glimpse of; and in this case one is more unfitted for remaining here, instead of being empowered, because of moral superiority and elevation, to meet everything here as Christ’s witness on the earth. The fact is, we are not now as Moses on mount Pisgah, nor even as Stephen; we do not see the glory from earth, we are placed in heaven, and there we see it. Thus we behold the Lord where He is in glory, and as we behold Him, we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory; we are transformed into the condition of the place in which He is, and we in Him; and then we can walk here, expecting nothing from the scene, but able to contribute to it, as a rich man can contribute when visiting the haunts of the destitute. If he were one of them, or even in expectation of the riches he should one day possess, surely he could not contribute.

The Lord grant that we may indeed traverse the haunts of the destitute down here, with hearts full of the unsearchable riches of Christ; not merely seeing a future of unbounded wealth, but in spirit there now, our cup running over, and therefore not seeking for anything here; but, as opportunity offers, contributing to each according to his need.