Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2230
“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 1:5, 6.
John was the beloved disciple, the choicest spirit of the twelve, the one nearest to the heart of Christ. Not only was he that disciple whom Jesus loved, but he was full of love to his Lord in return. John leaned his head on Christ’s bosom. All his soul seemed to be aflame with affection towards Christ. “We love Him, because He first loved us,” are words which come with great power from such a heart—they were so wonderfully true in his own experience. But now, when he comes to sing a Psalm of praise to his Lord, he does not mention his love to his Master. He dwells not on that, for his confidence lies deeper than anything in himself, even in the love of the Son of God to him. Would you not wish to be like he? Then “keep yourselves in the love of God,” as, on the opposite page of your Bible, you read in the Epistle of Jude. Meditate much on your Master and on your Master’s love—dwell with Christ—and whether you realize your love to Him or not, drink in daily the sweetness of His wondrous love to you. Live on that and often let your heart lift up a song of praise because of it. Then shall the blessing of Benjamin be yours—“The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders.”
This verse seems to me to be fit to be the song of Heaven. It is indeed the epitome of all those choral symphonies with which redeemed spirits circle the Throne of our great Lord and King. John, in vision, had caught glimpses of the Glory Land and had heard the great multitude which no man can number raise their hallelujahs, as they cast their crowns before Him that sat upon the Throne of God. And, as the refrain of a song hums itself over and over, again, even after the singer has ceased, John, when he began to write this Book, seems to have remembered the chorus of those who “came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” I think that I hear them, now, while we are listening, and this is the grand chorale of the skies—“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.” We, in feebler strains, fervently add our, “Amen.”
Would you not wish to be in Heaven when your life on earth is over? The time will come when you must die—would you not desire to have a good hope of entering into the felicities of the perfected ones? I am sure you would! But if you are at last to be numbered among the redeemed host on high, you must learn their song here! You cannot be admitted into the choirs above without having practiced and rehearsed their music here below! Therefore you must think much and believe much concerning Christ’s love to His chosen and how He showed it in washing us from our sins in His own blood. He is coming again! The next verse tells us, “Behold, He comes with clouds.” When He shall come and earth shall rock and reel, and the skies shall shrivel up like worn-out parchment, and the stars shall fall like fig leaves from the trees—in that day you will wish to be found at the right hand of the King and to cry with rapture—“Welcome, welcome, Son of God!”
But you cannot be there unless you first know Him as the Christ who has loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood. I pray, therefore, that while I talk feebly enough, myself, God’s Divine power may go with the word that you who know the Redeemer’s love may know it better and feel your hearts swell with glad emotion till you are ready to stand up and shout, “Glory and majesty, dominion and power be unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood!” I pray, too, that others who are strangers to the blood-washing and have never yet known the power of Christ’s atoning Sacrifice, may say, “By the Grace of God, we, also, will know something of that love, if it is to be
known, and we will pray that in us, also, that wondrous washing may take place, that we, also, may be clean through Jesus’ blood and stand among the ransomed throng to shout His praises forever and ever!”
Notice very specially that the exile of Patmos, having known much of Christ and lived in His Presence for many years, sings of love as manifested in the washing away of sins. Some years before he had written, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, those marvelous Words, “God is love.” But now, as the end of his life approaches, all love seems for him to be summed up in the blood-washing. This is the climax and summit of the love of Christ! I delight to dwell on this glorious theme! They tell me of God in Nature and speak of the warbling of birds and the beauties of the summer as revelations of the love of God, as doubtless they are. I read of the matchless life of Christ and I am charmed with its beauties and its blessedness. But when I would speak of the fullness of His love, I can find nothing to express it but the blood which He shed on Calvary!