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THE
NEW LIFE by
John Marshall
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Chapter
24 • LOOKING
FORWARD IN AWE
The next stage will be the most awesome of all; the sweeping
away of poverty, the administration of a gigantic building
project, the world-wide and equal distribution of food and
clothing, the substitution of a common language, the establishment
of such communications and travel throughout the earth that
the men and women of the nations may go to Jerusalem from
"year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts"
at the "house of prayer for all people", and the
preaching of "the everlasting gospel unto them that dwell
on the earth".
The Purpose of the Kingdom
This last is the main purpose of the Kingdom rule, for the
work of Jesus and the saints will be to teach men and women
the knowledge of God, and to encourage them in service to
Him and to one another, so that they may be prepared for the
glory of the "all in all" in vaster numbers than
ever before. Thus "the saints" of the Most High"
will be in evidence in every city, town and village, and as
the people whom they teach will be mortal the saints will
need all the patience, understanding, compassion and mercy
that the Father has exercised throughout history. This will
be the kind of perfect service which will have had its seed
in the imperfect mortal life; without these qualities no saint
is fit for the Kingdom task.
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References
Zech 14v16, Isa 56v7, Rev 14v6, Dan 7v18
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Chapter
24 • LOOKING
FORWARD IN AWE
Of Jesus it was said that "for the joy that was set before
him (he) endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down
at the right hand of the throne of God". The joy of Jesus began
when he entered eternal unity with his Father. It will be multiplied
in the glory of the saints, and it will be completed in the vast
immortal host that will be the fruit of the Kingdom labour of the
saints. All will be gathered to the Father, and all, including the
Son, will then be subject to Him alone.
Whatever we have to endure today is little when compared with the
glory of helping Jesus to further the divine purposes in this life
and that to come, and it is by the richness of our characters, the
unconquerable strength of our dynamic faith that we can radiate
the light which Jesus said may persuade some to glorify God: and
such a character and light can shine even from those confined to
their beds!
The new life, then, is the school in which we learn to develop a
balanced spiritual character, one that will not have extreme characteristics;
one in which there will not be excessive exuberance in one direction
and ill-judgment in another, but an imitation of the most beautifully
balanced character in all history, the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the
Apostle Paul we must believe in our hearts that "for us to
live is Christ": because he is our hope of glory.
This sets us a very high standard of spiritual attainment, but the
vision of entering the ineffable glory of perfect unity with the
Father should stimulate in us such strength of conviction in our
spiritual purposes, such love in service to the household
of faith, such humility of mind in our relationships with one another
and with all men, and such awe of the Majesty of the Father and
His purposes that He in His mercy may consider us fit persons for
His glory.
The Marriage of the Lamb
In the meantime we must pray, we must wait in patience for the coming
of the Lord, and we must continue to work, for "the night cometh
when no man can work". Therefore, let us look forward to the
time when the heavenly multitude will exclaim: "Let us rejoice
and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory unto our God,
the Almighty: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife
hath made herself ready. And it was given unto her that she should
array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen
is the righteous acts of the saints . . . Blessed are they which
are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb."
END
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References
Heb 12v2, 1 Cor 15v28, John 9v4, Rev 19v7-9 RV
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