THE WAY OF GLORY
[p. 288] THE WAY OF GLORY
John 1: 9 - 14; Romans 9: 23,24; Revelation 21: 9 - 11
I wish to dwell on the thought of the way of glory, and to show, by the Lord’s help, how the final residence of glory is to be the assembly, of which we, as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, form a part. The glory of the holy city in Revelation 21 is like the latter glory of the house spoken of by the prophets. (See Isaiah 60:1, 2, etc.) it is a glory that, as it were, reflects backwards, and the understanding of it encourages the people of God at the present time. We see that whatever failure has occurred in the public body, God will unfailingly reach the end He has in view in the assembly. The latter glory of the house is secured infallibly, for John sees the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven having the glory of God. In Ephesians 3: 21 we are told there will he glory to God in the assembly to all generations, world without end. This latter is the nearest approach to any term conveying the thought of eternity. God will be glorified in this wonderful vessel “unto all generations of the age of ages”. Ephesians 3:21. In Ephesians it is the assembly in Christ Jesus; but in Revelation it is the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down. It is God, as it were, in service, for coming down has that in view.
As we who form the assembly have learnt by experience to maintain the service of love to men in this world, so we shall come down from God out of heaven as the city. We shall come down out of heaven from God. She is not said to be sent down, she comes down, in keeping within her Lord, of whom it is said, “Jesus, knowing that he came out from God”, John 13: 3. He came out from God in all the [p. 289] consciousness of His sonship and brought all that God is with Him. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”, John 1: 14. He dwelt amongst men. This was prefigured in the ark. In the tabernacle God graciously came near and dwelt amongst men; so the city, being formed after the pattern of Christ, comes down. She has the glory of God. What glory shines forth in this wonderful service!
Those who form the city have learned the way of love — what is called in 1 Corinthians 12: 31 the way of “more surpassing excellence” — but in order that we should learn that way, the Son had to come out as a Man and go before. He has shown us the way of love, and the way of love is the way of glory, and not one item of that love will be lost. John says, “Many other things which Jesus did, the which if they were written ... I suppose that not even the world itself would contain the books written”, John 21: 25. Not one iota will be lost; all will be gathered up in that wonderful city and will shine forth from it, as it shone from Him in His path of suffering here.
I will endeavour now to trace the movements of the Ark in the wonderful gospel of John, but in approaching such a subject, we do well to remember the injunctions in Joshua 3, which typifies what we are about to speak of. As the people came to Jordan they were told to remain three days in camp. They were about to cross over Jordan, and they had not gone that way before. They had become accustomed to seeing the ark go before them to find a resting-place, but they had never before been told in all the wilderness journey to remain two thousand cubits behind. The ark went three days’ journey before them to find a resting-place when they departed from the mount of the Lord; Numbers 10: 33 - 36. In each occasion of the ark going before them there was a witness of the love of Christ. The ark was the glory; as it moved, it was the movement of God. In every [p. 290] movement they had the opportunity of learning something of the surpassing glory of God. During the years of their wilderness journey they had this wonderful way of glory; for the ark was the glory of God. Christ became Man in order to carry out the will of God.
Now as they approached Jordan there was to be a three days’ exercise before God. They had not gone that way heretofore, so there must be the space of two thousand cubits between the ark and them. You can see what an opportunity they had for spiritual carefulness. The ark was to lead the way, and the steps of those who followed must be steady; they had to be taken with care and deliberation.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke we have the historical side, and the way of love begins with the mount of Transfiguration. The Lord’s way was in two parts. The first part is up to the mount of Transfiguration, and the second part is as He goes to the cross; we see His face set as a flint to go to Jerusalem. John does not record this but what I wish to show is the wonderful way of love that we see in John’s gospel.
In chapter 11, Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, was sick. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha, and Jesus loved him. But death was in view, so the Lord remained two days where He was. John’s narrative is a picture; everything is prearranged. John 10:17,18 says, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again”. Neither Satan nor man had anything to do with His death from this point of view nevertheless, death was real to Him. If John emphasises anything, he emphasises the humanity of Christ, He was a real Man, Jesus Christ come in flesh; 2 John 7. Hearing that Lazarus was sick, the Lord remained two days where He was, for Lazarus was to die, and his sickness and [p. 291] death should be for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. The Lord said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep”. John 11:11. Then He said plainly, “Lazarus is dead” John 11:14.
Jesus is now moving on to the cross; He begins now, as it were, to approach Jordan, but at the same time as He had this before Him, there was one whom He loved that He had in His heart; therefore He says, “Let us go to him”. John 11:15. What a comfort for us who may have loved ones asleep! Lazarus was in the grave, but the Lord says, “Let us go to him”. He does not say, Let us go to Martha and to Mary, but to him. Thomas said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him”. John 11:16. One may almost say, Thomas, steady, be careful; take care what you say. We do well to measure our words when we speak of dying with Jesus; our hearts may go further than our feet. Thomas was a twin; Didymus means ‘a twin’. He was intimately connected with what was natural. At the first great church-meeting in John 20: 24, when the Lord appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, Thomas was not there; perhaps he was with the other twin. If the Spirit of God uses a word, it has a significant meaning. If we make a profession, God expects us to answer to the profession. Thomas has to learn that there must be two thousand cubits between us and the Ark, when it is a question of going into death. He missed the first great meeting with Christ in resurrection, but we must thank God that he was at the second; we find then that he worshipped Him.
The Ark moves on, and Peter says, “I will lay down my life for thee”. Peter also made a profession (John 13: 37), but he did not think of the two thousand cubits. Thomas says, “that we may die with him”. He was ready, as far as his desires went, to die for Christ; his desires went faster than his [p. 292] feet; he had followed the Lord, but not this way. Jordan must be crossed. We must consider our steps well in following on this line. God looks for a steady, constant step, and as we maintain the distance between us and the Ark we shall take on the glory; as we read in Romans 9: 23, we are “vessels of mercy ... prepared for glory”; so we see we are formed for the purpose of being clothed for the glory of Christ. Every stone in the holy city reflects Christ in glory; each one is a vessel of mercy fitted for glory; hence the aggregate constitutes a city for God’s glory.
But Jesus moves on; He says, “Let us go to him”, John 11:15 and He arrives at the grave. Lazarus had been dead four days. There was no question about the actuality of his death. What comes out here is not only the glory of God in His power, but the glory of God in the affections and sympathies of Jesus. It was the “way of more surpassing excellence”. 1 Corinthians 12:31. Jesus had come to the tomb; He wept at the tomb. From the depth of His being He resented the power of Satan over a loved one. It was no weak resentment; He would deal with it in its stronghold. He was about to annul death and him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.
We are in the presence of a serious situation. The Ark is moving on. The affections of Jesus go out to His loved ones. He said to Martha, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” John 11:40. Look at the glory that shines in the affections and sympathy of the Lord before He raises Lazarus. From the grave He moves on to Bethany. Here we have a date given, “six days before the passover”. John 12:1. He is now to “drink of the brook in the way”, Psalm 110: 7. He is a real Man in His affections, capable, not only of loving, but of being loved in return. There they made Him a supper, and there He was anointed by Mary. What a [p. 293] precious stopping-place on the way to the cross! But He moves on. God witnesses to His majesty as King before He comes to Jerusalem. The Greeks come too, and say, “Sir, we would see Jesus”. John 12:21. Jesus says, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”, John 12: 24. It was to be real death, to go into the ground; and then He says, “Now is my soul troubled”. John 12:27. Everything was infinitely real to Him; hence He looks up and says, “Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name”. John 12:27,28. What a scene for our souls to contemplate! “Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again”. John 12:28. Jesus says, “This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes”. John 12:30. As we follow the Lord we learn things. What an experience to hear heaven speak to Jesus! He goes on to say, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die”. John 12:32. Had Thomas or Peter thought of this in their profession of loyalty? We have all to learn that a distance of two thousand cubits behind the Ark is the way by which we must go.
Now we come to John 13. Again we have a date, “before the feast of the passover”. John 13:1. He is now arriving at the moment when He has to meet the awful enemy. Satan had already put it into Judas’s heart to deliver Him up; but in the presence of all this He lays aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself. What shining forth of moral glory we see in the Lord stooping down to wash the disciples’ feet! To emphasise this the beloved disciple enlarges on it. On this last occasion when He met with His own, John records much more than the other evangelists do. He wishes to bring into prominence the love which moved the heart of Christ; how He thought of others. Having said these things (John 14, John 15, John 16, John 17),
[p. 294] the Lord went forth over the brook Cedron. He is now confronted with His enemies. “He went forth and said to them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus the Nazaraean”. John 18:5. Here the ark is seen fully, for His enemies went backwards and fell to the ground. It was as of old when the ark moved forward; Moses said, “Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee”, Numbers 10: 35.
The Ark was moving, but the Lord was not destroying His enemies, but showing His power. He says to them, “If therefore ye seek me, let these go away”. John 18:8. The way of love is to think of others, not of ourselves. As He laid down His life, so should we lay down our lives for the brethren. Paul says, “Yet show I unto you a more excellent way”, 1 Corinthians 12: 31. You think for others, not for yourself, and so, as we learn from Christ, we become like Him and reflect His glory. We are, as I read in Romans 9: 23, “vessels of mercy ... prepared unto glory”. This is what God has in His mind for us, but we must learn that the way of it is in following Christ in death. Peter followed; John followed. We can admire them as we see them following Him, but Peter denied Him in the palace of the High Priest. The Lord said to him, “Thou shalt follow me afterwards”. John 13:36. Their profession went beyond their ability, but it is encouraging to think of them. They had their desire granted. The Lord said to Peter, “When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not”. John 21:18. That means that Peter should suffer for Christ. He was truly a vessel of mercy fitted for glory. His name is on the foundation of the holy city, a wonderful witness of God’s mercy, which should encourage us all; but we should be warned that whilst in purpose of heart we would follow the Lord and bear about in our body the dying of Jesus, yet we must maintain [p. 295] the two thousand cubits behind the Ark. I believe dear brethren, that we can see from what has been said that God intends that we should be practically vessels of glory, so that as the city comes down we may shine as having the glory of God.