The girdle is also a token of service, and especially lowly and even menial service. Jesus rose from that last supper among His disciples, and took a towel and girded Himself, and then washed their feet. In another place He said of Himself 'I am among you as He that serveth.' The kings and princes of this world are called great. His teaching was 'Let him that would be chief among you be the servant of all.' The word minister means a high servant, in the New Testament, and servant a low servant, an underservant or slave, whose duty it was to wash the feet of the guests. Jesus uses the lower word.
I am among you as a bondservant, with an apron on ready to serve you at the table, ready to wash your feet or serve you in any lowly way. That is Christ's idea of service, and if you want any experience of serving Him you must get it in this lowly way. 'Which of you having a servant ploughing, or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shall eat and drink?'
This is the true interpretation of being His servant. Very tenderly Christ explains it to us and adds. 'So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.'
That is the meaning of putting on the towel. It is a literal going to work. Many Christians would like very much to honor the Lord Jesus Christ by some great service, and perhaps think they have done so when they have put a few dollars in the collection plate on the Sabbath. Christ says 'that is not even paying your board.' When we think of what it cost Him to procure salvation for us we must see that we are but unprofitable servants. How great is His work for the creatures of His care. Every morning He feeds the little fowls with open hand, beside all the greater He is constantly doing.
He is doing as much now as He did in those earthly years of lowliness and suffering. There is nothing for us but shame when we think of the best work we have done for Him. By His grace let us be more faithful in our work both in the large and in the small things. There is a great deal that can be done in little ways. Have you got the girdle on for these things also? Lay aside the grand and selfish robes. The great cause of our lack of energy in the little services for God is because we have the wrong garment on. We are dressed for the drawing-room, or the bedchamber, when we ought to be in the scullery or the kitchen or the dining-room with our apron on, finding plenty of service with Christ among the bond-servants.
III.
The girdle also is a preparation for a journey. When the angel brought Peter out of the prison, the first direction he gave to him was, 'Gird thyself.' After Elijah's contest with the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel was over and the fire from heaven had devoured his sacrifice, the heavens gathered blackness, and rain was about to fall. Then Elijah girded up his loins and ran before Ahab's chariot to the entrance of Jezreel. The flowing robe of the Orient was not a good one to run a race in. It was necessary to tighten it. Some Christians try to run the heavenly race, as boys run a sack-race, and are so hampered and fettered that of course they stumble.
Others attempt it in their night-robes instead of being girded with strength. They are much more ready to fall asleep than to win the prize at the end of the race. Indulgence in apathy and repose, and self-indulgence will not help us on this race. 'Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end.' That is God's call to you. If it is too loose you will soon become languid. Don't be afraid of buckling it in tightly, and let it be of genuine elastic. There must be some spring your spirit. You cannot even walk fairly because you are not girded.
Christian life is too apt to be loose, and flabby, and spongy, and soft, and lax, and languid. That is the reason you are so ready to stumble and fall over the slightest temptation. Gird up the loins of your mind. Prepare for the march. It is a long way to heaven. There is much yet to be accomplished before we reach the land that is very far-off.
IV.
The girdle is connected with war as well as walking and running. The soldier has not only his armor on, but he has a girdle for his sword. The Lord is represented as girding His sword upon His thigh, and going forth to meet His enemies. So when we are thus girded we are ready for victory. We shall never be able to say that we have no temptations, but we can say that we have Christ as our full victory over them. In the time when strong temptations pour upon us, we can meet them with Him, and thus have grace and power and victory forever. When the forces of the enemy come down in great numbers, go forth to meet them with the shield of faith in the left arm, the sword of the Spirit in the right hand, the helmet of perfect assurance in the head, and the breast-plate of Christ's righteousness on the bosom. But we are not to stand on the defensive alone.
We are to carry the battle into the enemy's country. We must be ready without loss of time when the victory is gained, to take the aggressive, and fight the next battle on the soil of the adversary. If it amounts to anything the devil will be sure to try to stop it. When Paul and Silas were preaching in Philippi, he managed to get them thrust into the common prison, but they were given the victory then in the conversion of the jailer. Every time a blessing comes there will certainly be something to oppose it from his hand, but if the conflict is carried on in Christ's name, and trusting in Him there will be ceaseless victory through His love. Gird on then the sword of the Spirit. Get it ready for the attacks of the adversary. You have been prepared for the conflict by the things you have suffered. When the battle is finished don't think it is all over. Be ready to do better fighting for the Master next time than ever before. Go forth with the old refrain: 'We'll work till Jesus comes, And then we'll rest at home.
Battling for the Lord.'
V.
The girdle is not only a symbol of the extension of our work, but of its compactness and conciseness. It means singleness of aim rather than a scattering of forces. The girdle firmly bound the whole dress together and made it secure. It speaks of a well-knit frame. It means that we should rise out of scattering aimless work, and say with Paul, 'This one thing I do.' There should be a united heart among God's children, a singleness of aim and a union of all their powers. It is a good thing to be united closely with some work for Christ, yet not in the sense of bigotry. Remember your brother's work is as good as yours, and yet be true to yours. Throw your whole soul into it. It is not merely your work. It is serving God.
Be careful not to do it through ambition, or desire to win an illustrious name, or through caprice, or for the excitement of the work. Are you girded for your work in this sense, or is your life scattered in its aim. God has a will for you, and He will show you that will, if you sincerely wait on Him for it. There is something in particular for you to do, some definite work which no other person can do. There is too much vagueness and idle drifting along in Christian work, and therefore there is not so much accomplished as might be. Concentrate your powers of service in one particular field, and do your best to serve Him there until His coming.
VI.
The girdle is a type also of readiness for action. Before the children of Israel started out of Egypt they had their loins girded ready for the march at a moment's notice. So the Lord tells us: 'Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning: And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when He will return from the wedding; that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately.' The girded loins indicate readiness for work, for trial, for temptation, or for the Lord's coming to receive our account.
Always ready, should be our watchword. If we are always full of the Spirit, we shall not so readily transgress. The quick word will not easily vex us. The sudden temptation will not so easily overcome us. We should always be in a recollected state, always ready for every battle, every enemy, every task. If we are asked to preach the gospel, we shall not need three days to prepare for it, but can be ready in three minutes. We shall be always watching, always ready. The Lord will keep us so if we are willing. Don't let yourself down for a moment, dear friends; don't get lax, and languid, and soft.
When the task is over, don't give a sigh of relief, and let go. If you do, the devil is watching, and before that hour is passed, will bring some little temptation that will weaken your Christian life, perhaps, without your being aware of it. Like a vessel with a small hole in it, your blessing will slowly leak away until it is lost. The service of the Lord needs to be followed by vigilance as well as preceded by it. In relaxing there, we give the enemy a chance to strike us, and we deserve to get the blow. The devil knows the instant you are not watching. Be on guard then every minute, with your loins girded ready for action.
VII.
The girdle speaks to us also of endurance. It is easy, perhaps, to follow a certain line of work or trial for three or four days, but we must be ready for prolonged pulls. There are heavy strains of sorrow and testing, and trial to be met and borne. The battle is not always easy. There are often days and days of waiting that try the soul. He that endureth to the end shall be saved. The charity, which God commends, endureth all things. It does not endure for a while and then get impatient and fretful, but it endureth all the way through to the very end. It suffereth long. That is the test of the quality of Christian character.
He that comes in ahead at the end of the race wins. 'We cannot gain in the heavenly race by a spasmodic, ephemeral burst of energy, but, by going on with patient plodding feet, day after day, steadily and unweariedly. There are hard lessons for us to learn, but they are needed. It is easy to go to Africa, or to the islands of the sea for one brief year, sent there by some sudden transport of emotion, but to wait for twenty-five years at the gate of China, for an opportunity to preach to Chinamen, is a very different matter. Judson was asked after laboring for years in Burmah, with little apparent result: 'What are the prospects of the work in Burmah?' His answer was, 'As bright as the promises of God.' Livingstone walked over nearly the whole of Africa, enduring privations and toils we would tremble to think of, and seeing very little to encourage him in his labors, yet when in England for a short time, he longed to get back to it, and one of his last utterances before leaving for the last time to go to Africa was 'Who would not be a missionary.'
Another aged servant of the Lord, who had spent nearly his whole life in India, and who came back to this country to stir up his brethren to more aggressive work there, was told that an incurable disease had fastened itself upon him and he probably could not live very long. 'Then let me go back to India,' he said, 'and finish my work there.' His body was ready to drop into the grave, but he sold out his possessions, took the savings of a life-time, and prepared to finish his course in the land where His Lord had called him to labor, and where he wished his bones to lie.
There is a great difference, beloved, between reaching out our arms to God and praying for His blessing upon ourselves, or our work, or our dear ones, and looking beyond these selfish interests to the great heathen world, and pouring out our soul to Him persistently for months and years, for His blessing upon the labors of His children there. That is being girded for endurance in His work. That is setting one's face like a flint, and being settled in the work He gives, not for a day or week but until He comes. May God gird us every one tenderly, yet strongly for endurance in His glorious service, impressing on us the importance of redeeming the time moment by moment and pressing forward with a zeal that shall never flag until He calls us home or comes Himself to reign on earth, in righteousness and beauty.
VIII.
Let us look a little at what this girdle is, that we have speaking of. The Bible calls it by different names.
1. It is the girdle of truth: 'Let your loins be girt about with truth.' That, of course, is God's truth, which is manifested to us in His promises. If your Christian life becomes lax and languid, dear friends, how are you to gird it up and feel that you have received strength? By recalling some of the promises God has made to you: 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.' 'Fear thou not, for I am with thee.' Some such marvelous words as these, ought to be sufficient to fasten our souls with a firmer clasp to God, and bring His life and divine energy into us.
2. It is called a girdle of righteousness: 'Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins.''Isa. 11, 5. Christ is our righteousness, not only imputed, but imparted to us. We are partakers of His very nature.
3. The same passage calls it also a girdle of faithfulness. We can lean upon it without fear, and commit ourselves wholly to it.
4. It is a girdle of strength. 'It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.' 'Thou hast girded me with strength to battle.' We are girded with God's own enduring might; clothed upon with the very strength of God.
5. It is a girdle of gladness. 'Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.' We must have this girdle on, or we would break down many times. The godly are delivered from gloom and despair. They have no right to hang out the black flag of discouragement. We should count it great disloyalty to look depressed, or to speak sadly. No matter if the spirit is groaning within, never let the lips give expression to it. An Indian never lets his tormentors know how much they are torturing him. Neither should we let the devil see that God's children are anything but joyous. Get His joy within the heart. Say, with Habakkuk, 'I will rejoice in the Lord.'
Do as Jesus did, who, for the joy that was set before Him, despised the shame and counted the sacrifice as nothing. He never allowed any one to pity Him, nor should you. Be like Paul, who was able to fill the air with his songs of praise while lying in a Roman prison. Take the joy of the Lord for your strength. Put on the garment of praise and partake of the oil of joy. Be a happy Christian wherever you are. Even in the valley of the shadow of death the devils need have no power to frighten you, if you are trusting in your dear Lord.
6. This is a girdle of love. 'Above all, put on charity which is the bond of perfectness.' Paul has been undressing a Christian splendidly in this 3rd of Colossians---even down to his bones. He says, put off, till everything is gone---even the old nature: then he begins to clothe him anew. The first thing he puts on is the bowels of mercy. The very body is new. The last thing he puts on him is charity, the girdle of love, to tie the clothing together.
Nothing keeps us up and gives us a firm footing like love. We need that burning, unquenchable love which never can be exhausted, and which God alone can bring to us. It is a poor thing to attempt to do any work for Him without that spirit of love within us. That only can keep us steadfast unto the end. I pray for it for you, beloved, and for myself, to keep us on fire with zeal for Him. We need the love that brought Christ down to die for us; we need His own love in our hearts to be our perfect girdle.
7. Then there is another bond that should bind all Christians together as one. It does not unite you to your special Christian friends, but it includes all the disciples of the Lord Jesus. That is the bond of peace. When travelers are crossing the Alps they are tied to each other and to the guide, so that, if one chances to fall over the cliff, the others plant their heels in the ice and their alpenstocks in some crevice of ice and snow, and hold on, and he is saved. The little rope that bound him to his brothers was the means of preserving his life. Oh! that we all might be so closely bound together in the blessed work of God!
8. The last name of this girdle is the girdle of hope. It is mentioned in the text we read at the opening. It is the last golden circle, which stretches far beyond the others and embraces the very stars. How much it holds out to us! Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. This glorious girdle of hope keeps us up by showing us a little of the great recompense that awaits us hereafter. We may be under heavy pressures here; we may have to bear loss, and sacrifice, and sorrow; but oh! hope, hope, hope! Everything will be given back to us by and by. Lift up your heads.
Keep always full of joy, hoping for that which is to come. When Christian was asked how he managed to drive away sadness and be always glad, he answered: 'Sometimes I look at the robe my Lord has given me, and that will do it: sometimes I look back at the cross where He died for me, and that will do it; sometimes I look ahead to the Delectable Mountains, and that will do it; sometimes I look ahead to the spires of the Celestial City, and that will do it.'
His vision was lifted gradually up higher and higher. Hope cannot fail. There is no cry of faith, no tear, or prayer that you have given for God or His work, but the results will be met. If you do not see them here, you will yonder. Go on, then, steadfastly with your work, hoping in God unto the end. May God gird us all with these girdles He has prepared for us, to the glory of His own great Name!
25. Human Relationships As Types Of Heavenly Ones
"And he answered them, saying. Who is my mother or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him and said: Behold my mother and my brethren!" Mark 3:33-34 THERE is something very tender and very dear to all our hearts in the ties of human relationship. The bonds of social life and kindred and fellowship are the dearest things on earth to all of us, dear as the link that binds soul and body together, and sometimes dearer. We come by these types to know all we do know about God. We cannot fully understand what home means without talking also of the heavenly home. We cannot know a human father well without understanding our Father in heaven better.
We cannot think of the love of friends, without being reminded of that dearer friend who sticketh closer than a brother. So God is drawing us up through these human links to the divine bonds of which they are the symbols, and we find the divine ties are larger and broader and fuller than the human. The earthly relationships are but types of the heavenly, and the Lord does not disapprove of them. He sanctions them and would raise us through them up to Himself, and the glorious everlasting relationship in which he seeks to bind us to Himself.
That is the thought our dear Saviour had in mind when He uttered the words of the test. He takes each of the ties of kindred that bind us so closely to each other, and would awaken something deeper in our hearts with regard to them. He reaches out His hands and clasps us in them in divine relationship to Himself, saying: 'Whosoever will do the will of God, the same may be my sister, my brother, or even my mother.'
Let us dwell on these ties a little till we feel our hearts moved by them and drawn out in greater tenderness to our dear Lord.
I.
The first of these human relationships through which God speaks to us, is the filial bond. We cannot know God as a father until we have become His child, and so God gives us human parents that we may understand this relationship in which we stand to Him. 'As many as received him to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' 'As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father.' Or, Papa Father, as it is translated in every language. It is the tender familiar name, by which a child can address a loving parent, lisping it out with its earliest accents. Many Christians are full-grown before they know the simplicity of its meaning. They too often become hoary-headed before they are children.
But God not only calls Himself, our Father, He gives us a softer and more tender name to address him by, the exquisite and resistless name of mother: 'As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.' These terms have all the sensibilities of the human heart embodied in them. God the Father is to us the loving tender father. God the Holy Ghost is to us the gentle compassionate mother. So God meets us in all the higher and deeper meaning of parental love. It is not so much fatherhood of which we speak as filialhood. 'Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us.'
We are to walk in the likeness of God, but to do that we must understand the relation in which we stand to Him. We must get so near to Him that we can know the outreachings of His loving heart to us, and we must know of the child's love and confidence going out from our heart to Him. As we come to comprehend all the meaning of this tender bond between us we can understand better His requirement of us that we shall be imitators of Him. As dear children our hearts are full of His tender love, our eyes are on Him always, we receive richly from His tender care and bounty. Then we are to give of all this to those about us.
Have we been always loyal and sometimes anxious and solicitous perhaps for His honor among the people? Has the true heart in the loyal child never wavered in allegiance and love to Him, which is the badge by which the sincere disciple can be known? There is a legend among the Arabs that shows the true filial test. A chief of one of the tribes was dead, and three sheiks came to claim the inheritance he left. One was his son and rightful heir, but he had been away for years, and it was impossible to tell which of the three was he. Each one had his partisans and friends. Finally a wise man from the east was called upon to settle the dispute.
His judgment was that as the father was known to be an excellent marksman, and his true son would undoubtedly be so, too; each of the three claimants should be furnished with a bow, and be required to shoot at the body of the dead chieftain, and that should settle the question of inheritance. Accordingly the body of the dead father was brought out and placed in an erect position, and the three men were told to aim at the heart. The first one shot and his arrow entered the quivering breast of the corpse very near the heart; the second came forward and with keen eye and steady aim sent his arrow straight to the very heart of the chief.
His look of triumph seemed to say that he had gained the prize. When the third stepped forward his eyes were moist, and his hand was trembling. His courage seemed to be gone, and when at last he pulled the bow string, the arrow went far above the father's head, and fell upon the ground at some distance beyond. The wise man instantly exclaimed, 'That's the father's child.' He loved him too well to wound his dead body, even for the sake of the inheritance.
It is not smartness, nor keenness of thought God wants of us, beloved, but that we shall be followers of Him as dear children, and walk in love. If we are to be like Him, we must love as He loved. Don't wound His Heart by any unfilialness. So it shall be known that we are His dear children. We can come to Him as closely as we will. We can bring to Him our greatest needs. We can tell Him the things we would tell to no one, but to our mother. There will come times in your life when you will feel you never needed a father so much as now. Then is the time to remember God is your Father.
There are many times in an orphan's life when tears have filled the eye and the longing of the heart has been, 'Oh! for a mother to run to now.' Oh! if you could but remember, you have a mother still. 'As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.' Draw near to God, beloved; do not stay afar off. Do not let even your mother be so near. You know how the big-hearted child will get nearer the mother's heart than the others will. God wants us to be dear, trusting, little children, too simple-hearted to have any doubts or fears; too loving to get away from Him for a moment. So may we ever be followers of Him as dear children.
II.
The next relationship we will speak of, is that of a brother. This bond we know was much more thought of in the East than it is now in more enlightened times. Our age rides over everything that is sacred, and blots out much that should be retained. Formerly the brother was the man who avenged all the wrongs inflicted on the family. Murder was not a matter for public justice. The brother was the avenger of blood. A judge was not needed. A person's needs or wrongs would always find a ready ear to listen to them, in his brother. The picture of Jesus as our brother is the most exquisite one the Bible gives of Him. He is a true-hearted brother, and unlike the most of earthly brothers we see.
He is full of gentleness and tenderness and discriminating love. He first convicted us of sin, then forgave us, then blessed and honored us, cared for us and provided for all our need. Jesus calls Himself our brother. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. That seems to mean very much. He has got good cause to be ashamed of us, and yet He is not. It is a wonderful thing. I am afraid the most of us have some relatives we would not like to introduce publicly as such. We would be a little ashamed of them. Jesus knows the worst of us, and He calls us brethren. He takes that poor fellow all reeking with sin out of the gutter, and He is not ashamed to call him brother. He is willing to take him up to His glorious home in Heaven, and confer upon him all the dignity that He Himself possesses.
He admits him to the aristocracy of Heaven, far'far higher than that of earth. Jesus says of him, 'I've got a new brother,' and He is not ashamed. Perhaps tomorrow, and again tomorrow, that brother will do something that will bring the mantling crimson of shame to our cheeks. Jesus says, 'I will forgive it. I will refuse to see it. I will wash it out, and bless him, and help him on until he is able to overcome. I will be his everlasting friend.' Yes, He is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. What merchant or business man would not hesitate to introduce some forlorn creature to his partner as His friend. Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren before anybody. Don't be ashamed of Him. Be true to Him everywhere.
I don't know, dear friends, what this means to you. I don't, of course, know what life has been to you. 'When we speak of a child, I cannot tell what picture of a father it recalls to your mind. If we speak of a brother, it may make you think of some noble-hearted brother who used to fight all your battles for you. I don't know what it means, but I know that Jesus should mean more to you than I can possibly express. Have you learned to lean on His strength, remembering He is your elder Brother? When a school-boy among larger and tyrannical boys, what a comfort it was to have a big brother to settle things for you.
So Christ is able to become all-in-all to you. We can be lost in the fullness of His love. He only can teach us all that this means. Are you a weak, shrinking woman, wishing you had a strong brother to lean upon? You have, beloved, One full of disinterested love, far more pure and unselfish than any human brother's can be. He is not far above us, but down here right at our side. He is saying God is my Father, and He is, therefore, your Father. Yonder is my throne, but it is your throne also. There is my God, but He is your God, too. I have strong faith in Him, but my faith is your faith, too. We are joint-heirs together of all these things.
It was a sweet meaning, a little Scotch lassie took out of the Lord's supper. The dragoons of Claverhouse stopped her one Sabbath, and asked her where she was going. She replied, 'My brother is dead, and I am going to hear the will read, and get my share of the inheritance.' 'Oh!' they said, 'if that is all, go along,' and she went on to partake of the Lord's Supper. She was going to hear His will read and divide His inheritance, but they did not understand it. Are we partaking of our Brother's riches? He died to make it ours, and it is freely offered to us.
III.
Jesus stands to us also in the relation of a friend. We can apply this bond to Him with all the deeper meaning it is capable of expressing. 'Henceforth,' he says, 'I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends: for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you.'
Jesus Himself gives us this name, but, knowing how apt we are not to take all His gifts, He says: 'Don't be too modest about taking it. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I gave you this name: don't be afraid to take it and call yourself by it.' Do you know what it is to have true friends? How your heart warms as their names come up to your mind! They were not related to you, except through the love they bore to you. They drew you because they had a heart fitted to attract you; they were in every way congenial to you. They were each a special selection, and you were bound to them by some quality they possessed, some peculiarly sweet characteristic that made it hard for you to understand how any one could fail to love them.
Do you know what it is to be true to such friends, to trust them unreservedly, to know the joy of standing for them, although they be misunderstood by others, and of suffering with them in all their trials? Such friendships are rare in this life, where there is so much that is drifting and unstable in hearts and lives. Do you know what this true friendship is? Have you ever understood this congenial tie, in which you have common joys, common tastes, common trials, and common temptations? There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Henceforth Jesus calls us friends. He has set His heart on us. We can come as close to Him as we please, and we will find His heart outreaching to us constantly.
The Bible is full of examples of strong friendship. Such was the tie that bound Jonathan and David together. The Holy Ghost lingers over this scene as if fascinated by the picture. Jonathan risks his father's displeasure in being truer to David. He was willing to give up all for David's sake, and finally died to get out of the way and let David be king. It was munificent generosity that, dying, blessed its friend with everlasting love. How beautiful a type of the love Jesus has to His people! A love in which we can rejoice, and sing: 'I am His, and He is mine. He has chosen me, and He will not let me go. I have taken Him, also; I will trust Him fully. By God's grace I will be true to Him.'
Notice how beautifully Christ speaks of this bond between us. It is not so much that Christ is our friend, as that we are His friends. Can He call you His friend, beloved? Can you call Him your friend? There is no doubt about that. Whatever the world may say, can you stand as the true and tried friend of Christ? The world may deride you for it, but do you cause them to know that you are His friend? The storm may fall upon you like lightning; but, let what will come, can you say, I am His friend? God marks you as you say it. You may have but little strength, but with that are you loving Him? You may have but little wisdom, but are you true to your Master? Are you saying, always and everywhere, 'This is my Beloved, O ye daughters of Jerusalem'? If you are, He is looking down upon you from the battlements of heaven and saying,' This is My beloved, O ye sons of light.'
IV.
Jesus calls Himself by another name, more expressive of tender love, and which may be ours even here in a heavenly reality'the name of Bridegroom. It means something more than friend: it means the exclusive love which can be typified by nothing so well as by the bond between a truly wedded pair. It is the love which separates each one unto Himself, and so dwells not with the many, but with the one. What has He a right to expect from His true-hearted bride? First, that she shall love Him only, then that she shall leave all for Him, and, lastly, that she shall be constantly watching for His appearance.
This is the Scriptural meaning of the tie all through the Word. It was the symbolic meaning of the union between Adam and Eve, and it was still more sweetly typified in the marriage between Isaac and Rebecca. The bridal of the Lamb awaits its consummation in the coming ages. Words can not explain to us what it shall mean to be thus united to Jesus. We know it is the most sweet and tender tie that earthly affection can put around our heart; and we know that, with Him, it means a deeper love and union than aught but the reality can express.
Christ is not only the Bridegroom of the Church: He has told each individual heart to say of Him, 'Thou art my husband.' Here in the heart's deepest holy of holies, He Himself will make the meaning known. Here in that most secret recess, 'Wrapped in deep, adoring silence,' He will teach us His own love as no one else can make it known, and will show us how tender it is, how exquisite, how holy and lifted far above the heat of earthly passion; how intensely real it is, bringing His spirit into our very life and blood, and His strength into all our being.
May He whisper its meaning to our hearts today so that in our very flesh and bones, in our inmost heart of hearts we shall know what the Marriage of the Lamb means, and learn to long intensely for that glorious home when the cry shall resound from the heights of glory. 'Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.' We must know the love of Jesus here if we would be with Him in that great day. It must be dwelling in our hearts, purifying us and transforming us into His likeness. Thank God it was granted to her to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. She did not have to make herself ready.
It was His love, and His purity, and His righteousness that she was arrayed in. And thus she was placed upon His throne to sit with Him forever. May God make us to understand these different relations in which He stands to us. May we hear Him saying to us this morning, 'Behold my mother and my sister and my brother. Behold my friend and my bride. For whosoever will do the will of God, the same is my brother and my sister, and my mother.'