IN the seven epistles, which Christ on Patmos gave John to write to the seven churches, He, Who was already in heaven, braided seven heavenly wreaths, for those who as conquerors were to enter heaven.
To him that overcometh, so reads Rev. 2, 7, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death (2, 11).
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Manna that is hidden, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it (2, 17).
He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the Heathen, even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star (2, 26-28).
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels (3, 5).
Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name (3, 12).
And finally: To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne (3, 21).
And to every one of these seven wreaths of victory, stitched in gold, is attached the word of exhortation: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. It does not read: To “the congregation” in the singular, but: to the congregations or churches in the plural.
Thus it is not a wreath of victory for Ephesus separately, different for Smyrna from the church at Pergamus, and different again for the churches of Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
It is one spiritual rainbow with its seven tints that arches itself over all Christ’s churches together.
With nuances, be it so. Every one of these victor’s wreaths was braided from a particular sort of palm-growth, which stood related to what in every one of these seven churches was more strongly evidenced than in the other.
But yet always so, that only in these seven wreaths together we have the fullness of the promises of Christ to “those who overcome in the faith.”
Herein lies stimulus and urge to analyze these sevenfold promises more closely, since in their coherence they offer us the richest portrayal of the blessedness of the victors in the eternal light.
YET for this once we separate from the sixth wreath of victory this one palm branch: He that overcometh, shall stand in the temple of our God, and he shall go no more out.
It is this promise that joins itself directly to the dying unto sin, and carries in itself the promise of the perseverance of saints, not as is known on earth, but as it is known and enjoyed in the Father-house above.
“Perseverance of saints” on earth only means, that he who is implanted in Christ can apostatize, but not forever fall away.
“Although this power of God,” so confessed our fathers at Dordt, “by which He confirms and preserves true believers in a state of grace, is greater, than that it can be overcome of the flesh, yet converts are not always so influenced and actuated by the Spirit of God, as not in some particular instances sinfully to deviate from the guidance of Divine grace, so as to be seduced by, and comply with, the lusts of the flesh. They must therefore be constant in watching and prayer, that they be not led into temptation. When these are neglected, they are not only liable to be drawn into great and heinous sins, by Satan, the world and the flesh, but sometimes by the righteous permission of God actually fall into these evils. This the lamentable fall of David, Peter, and other saints described in Holy Scripture, demonstrates.”
And further: “This doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and the certainty thereof, which God hath most abundantly revealed in His Word, for the glory of His Name, and the consolation of pious souls, and which He impresses upon the hearts of the faithful, the carnal mind is not able to comprehend; Satan abhors it; the world ridicules it; the ignorant and hypocrites abuse, and heretics oppose it; but the Spouse of Christ hath always most tenderly loved and constantly defended it, as an inestimable treasure; and God, against Whom neither counsel nor strength can prevail, will dispose her to continue this conduct to the end. Now, to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be honor and glory, forever, Amen” (Canons of Dordt. Art. IV and Art. XV).
If now already here on earth this “perseverance of saints” affords those who may believe it, such unforgettable comfort, how much the more glorious must not the sense of the “perseverance of saints” be in heaven, that there never can be any more falling back into sin, never more one single slip, let alone a fall or apostasy.
And yet, this is what is expressed by the sealed promise of the Lord: He that overcometh goes into the temple, and shall never more go out.
Not: he can go out, he will always be sure to come back.
No, far more glorious and far more positive: his foot shall never more be found, standing outside of the sanctuary, outside of the temple of his God.
SIN brings anxiety.
It is a power around and over us. A power, no longer in the sense that it has dominion over us, or, that, when it attacks us, we can not tear ourselves away from its tyranny. But it is and still remains a power, which every time again attacks us; against which we have to struggle from morning until evening, and even in the night; and, … . a struggle in which we are yet so often worsted.
In that struggle there is also victory, but, alas, after victory there follows every time again defeat. And sometimes it even seems as if victory had defeat as a consequence, when, too confident of our victory, we neglected to watch, to pray and to strive.
This then brings that constant anxiety in life. That tension and restlessness of soul. A tension that decreases when we sink, and only increases in our best moments. “Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil” is only then most earnestly and most ardently prayed, when our heart came near again unto God.
And, when you enter heaven, that anxiety departs forever from the soul, never, never again to return.
Your dying unto sin, in your last gasp, is a breaking with sin forever. A bill of divorcement, which is never recalled. A tearing away from its grasp, without danger of being ever grasped by it again.
He who goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, sees then the entrance to the sanctuary above forever barred.
Here on earth the gain is merely, that sin has no longer dominion over believers.
Up yonder it can no more come near them.
THIS is yet more strongly expressed by Jesus.
It does not read, that sin can no more come near you, but that you will never more go out from the temple of God, that is to say, that for you there is no more even temptation to sin, that sin has lost all hold on your heart, and that for no single indivisible moment, the desire to go out from the temple of God, will ever arise in your heart.
Thus the stress of Jesus’ promise lies in this, not that sin can no more come near you, but that, even if it could show itself once more at the door of that holy temple in all its treacherous enticement, you yourself would never feel the inclination, the drawing, the enticement to go out to it.
And that is the blessedness.
That is the purity of heaven.
That is the holiness of just men made perfect.
Sin charms, entices and draws them no more. Sin finds nothing more in their heart. No fiber in the soul, which moves any more toward sin. All sin has become entire dissonance to them. No single echo of the whisperings of sin, can be raised any more within them. Sin has become to them altogether abominable, the absolute evil, consummately repugnant. Sin is become to them the breath of Satan, and they thank their God eternally, that that poisonous breath of Satan never enters the Father-house.
When Asaph wandered about outside of God’s temple, he was pricked in his reins, and sinful thoughts flamed up in his heart. And that lasted until he went back again into God’s sanctuary, and then every sinful thought in him was extinguished. Read it in Psalm 73.
Well, the latter is the continuous condition of the blessed above. They are in the sanctuary. They go never more out from the sanctuary, and therefore, not even the thought, let alone the image of sin ever rises again in them.
AND now the question is put, not to the superficial who ever yet play with their soul, but to him who tries to live a sober and godly life, whether a more glorious, richer, more blessed thought can rise in him, than of being thus forever rid of sin and its enticement.
Not still to have to overcome, and only after every victory to enjoy the love and fellowship of his God, but to have overcome, and now to know that there is no more enemy left, that watching and striving, struggling and torturing of oneself are now ended, ended forever; and that now there is an eternal cessation of your evil works, a resting with the soul in the peace of God, a living in the eternal Sabbath.
Never more the spirit of Satan, but always the Holy Spirit, and Him alone operating in you.
Never more the self, but forever bathing yourself in nothing but undisturbed love, and in that love to be blessed.
In the temple of God.
Not in the imaged temple as on Zion, but in the real holy temple of God above, and you feeling at home in that temple, because everything in you is in perfect, in holy harmony with that glory of the temple of God.
No more going out from that temple in all the ages of eternity thinkable for you!
Is not that glorious?
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