"READY"
We want the reader to dwell for a few moments on the little word which forms the heading of this paper. If we mistake not, he will find it to be a word of immense depth and suggestive power, as used by the Holy Ghost in Scripture. We shall just now refer to four pa.s.sages in which our word occurs; and may the One who penned these pa.s.sages be pleased to open and apply them in divine power and freshness to the heart of both writer and reader.
1. And first we shall turn to 1 Peter i. 5, where it is used in connection with the word "_salvation_." Believers are said to be "kept by the power of G.o.d through faith unto salvation, _ready_ to be revealed in the last time."
Here, then, we are taught that salvation is ready to be revealed at this moment; for we are, as John tells us, in "the last times." And be it noted that salvation as here used is not to be confined to the mere matter of the _soul"s_ deliverance from h.e.l.l and perdition: it refers, rather, to the deliverance of the _body_ of the believer from the power of death and corruption. In short, it takes in all that stands in anywise connected with the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We already possess the salvation of our souls, as we are told in the very context from which our text is taken.
"Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls....
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you _at the revelation of Jesus Christ_."
Thus we learn in the clearest way that the "salvation ready to be revealed" is linked on to "the revelation of Jesus Christ." This is confirmed, were confirmation needful, by Hebrews ix. 28, where we read, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time, apart from sin, unto _salvation_."
From all this the reader may learn that the salvation which is _ready_ to be revealed is at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For this we are taught, as Christians, to look at any moment. There is literally nothing so far as G.o.d is concerned, nothing so far as the work of Christ is concerned, nothing so far as the testimony of the Holy Ghost is concerned, to hinder our hearing "the shout of the archangel and the trump of G.o.d" this very night, this very hour. All is done that needed to be done. Atonement is made, redemption is accomplished, G.o.d has been glorified by the work of Christ, as is proved by the fact of Christ"s present place on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. From the moment that our Lord Christ took His seat upon that throne, it could always be said that "salvation is _ready_ to be revealed."
But it could not have been said before. Salvation could not be said to be ready until the divine groundwork thereof was laid in the death and resurrection of the Saviour. But when once that most glorious work of all works was accomplished, it could at any moment be said that "salvation is ready to be revealed." "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool" (Ps.
cx. 1).
2. But the apostle Peter gives us another instance and application of our word in chap. iv. 5, where he refers to some "who shall give account to Him that is _ready to judge_ the quick and the dead."
Here the word stands before us in a form of awful solemnity. If on the one hand it be true that _salvation_ is ready to be revealed for the everlasting joy of G.o.d"s redeemed, it is equally true on the other hand that _judgment_ is ready to take its course, for the everlasting misery of those who neglect G.o.d"s proffered salvation.[3] The one is as true, and as pointed, and as forcible, as the other. There is nothing to wait for in respect to the judgment, any more than there is in respect to the salvation. The one is as "_ready_" as the other.
G.o.d has gone to the utmost in demonstrating His grace; and man has gone to the utmost in demonstrating his guilt. Both have reached their climax in the death of Christ; and when we see Him crowned with glory and seated on the throne, we have the most powerful evidence that could possibly be afforded that nothing remains but for salvation to be revealed on the one hand, and for judgment to take its course on the other.
[3] As regards the solemn subject of eternal punishment, we shall just refer the reader to three pa.s.sages of Scripture which establish the truth of it beyond all question: Mark ix. 43-48, the fire is _unquenchable_, and the worm _never dies_; Luke xvi. 26, the great gulf is _fixed_; John iii. 36, the wrath of G.o.d _abideth_.
Hence it follows that man is no longer under probation. It is a grand mistake for any one to think so. It falsifies man"s entire position and state. If I am under probation; if G.o.d is still testing me; if He is even now occupied in testing whether I am good for aught; if I am capable of producing any fruit for Him--if this be indeed the case, then it is not and cannot be true that "He is _ready_ to judge."
Nature is not ripe for judgment so long as a probationary process is pending, if there is yet something to wait for ere judgment can take its course.
But no, reader; we feel bound to press upon you the fact that the period of your probation is over forever, and the period of G.o.d"s long-suffering is nearly run out. It is of the utmost importance to seize this truth. It lies at the very foundation of the sinner"s position. Judgment is actually impending. It is "ready" at this moment to fall upon the head of the unrepentant--the reader of these lines, should he be one of them. The entire history of human nature--of man, of the world--has been wound up and closed forever. The cross of Christ has made perfectly manifest the guilt and ruin of the human race. It has put an end to man"s probationary season; and from that solemn hour until now the true position of the world as a whole, and of each individual sinner--man, woman, and child--has been that of a culprit tried, found guilty, and condemned, but the sentence not executed. This is the present awful position of the unconverted, unbelieving reader.
Dear friend, wilt thou not think of this? Fellow immortal soul, wilt thou not, even this very moment, bend the undivided attention of thy soul to this eternal question? We must speak plainly and pointedly. We feel in some small degree the awfulness of the sinner"s state and prospect, in view of these weighty words, "_ready to judge_." We are convinced that the present is a moment which calls for serious and faithful dealing with the souls of our readers. We do not, as G.o.d is our witness, want to write essays or sermons; we want to reach souls.
We want the reader to be a.s.sured of this; that he is not now reading an article on a religious subject prepared for some literary purpose, but a solemn appeal made to his heart and conscience in the immediate presence of "Him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead."
3. But this leads us to the third pa.s.sage of holy Scripture in which our weighty motto occurs. The reader will find it in Luke xii. 40: "Be ye therefore _ready_ also; for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not."
If salvation is "ready" to be revealed, and if judgment is "ready" to be executed, what becomes us but to be "ready" also?
And in what does this readiness consist? How are we to be ready? It strikes us that there are two things included in the answer.
First, we must be "ready" in _t.i.tle_; and, secondly, we must be "ready" in our moral _state_--ready in conscience, and ready in heart.
The one is founded upon the work of Christ _for_ us; the other is connected with the work of the Spirit _in_ us. If we are simply resting by faith on the finished work of Christ, if we are leaning exclusively on what He has done and what He is, then are we in very truth ready in t.i.tle, and we may rest a.s.sured of being with Him when He comes.
But, on the other hand, if we are leaning upon our fancied goodness, upon any righteousness which we think we possess, upon not having done any harm to any one, upon our not being worse than some of our neighbors, upon our church-membership, upon our attention to the ordinances of religion;--if we are leaning upon any or all of these things, or if we are adding these things to Christ, then we may be a.s.sured we are not ready in t.i.tle, not ready in conscience. G.o.d can accept nothing, absolutely nothing, as a t.i.tle, but Christ. To bring aught else is to declare that Christ is not needful: to bring aught besides is to affirm that He is not enough. But G.o.d has borne ten thousand testimonies to the fact that we can do with nothing less, and that we want nothing more, than Christ. Hence, therefore, Christ is our all-essential and all-sufficient t.i.tle.
But, then, there is such a thing as professing to be ready in t.i.tle while at the same time we are not ready in our moral condition or practical state. This demands our gravest attention. There is a vast amount of easy-going evangelical profession abroad at the present moment. The atmosphere is permeated by the rays of gospel light. The darkness of the Middle Ages has been chased away by the brightness of a free gospel and an open Bible.
We are thankful for a free gospel and an open Bible. But we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that there is a fearful amount of laxity, unsubduedness and self-indulgence going hand in hand with the evangelical profession of the day. We notice with the deepest anxiety many young professors who have, or seem to have, a very clear insight, so far as the intellect goes, into the truth of the sinner"s t.i.tle, who, if we are to judge from their style, deportment, and habits, are not "ready" in their moral condition--in the real state of their hearts. We are at times, we must confess, sadly cast down when we see our young friends decking their persons in the vain fashions of a vain and sinful world; feeding upon the vile literature that issues in such frightful profusion from the press; and actually singing vain songs and engaging in light and frivolous conversation. It is impossible to reconcile such with "Be ye also ready."
We may perhaps be told that these things are externals, and that the grand point is to be occupied with Christ. It may be said,--it has been said,--"Provided we have Christ in our hearts, it does not matter what we have on our heads or in our hands." We reply, "If we really have Christ in our hearts, it will regulate what we put on our heads and take into our hands; yea, it will exert a _manifest_ influence upon our whole deportment and character."
We should like to ask some of our young friends this question: "Would you like the Lord Christ to come and find you reading a love-story, or singing a song?" We feel a.s.sured you would not. Well, then, let us, in the name of the Lord, see to it that we do not engage in anything which does not comport with our being "_ready_."
We specially urge this upon the young Christian reader. Let this question be ever before us, "Am I ready?--ready in t.i.tle, ready in state, ready in conscience, ready in heart?" The times are really very solemn, and it behooves us to think seriously of our true state. We feel persuaded that there is a lack of real, G.o.dly heart-exercise amongst us. There are, we fear, many--G.o.d only knows how many--who are not ready; many who would be taken aback and terribly surprised by death or the coming of the Lord. There are things said and done by those who occupy the very highest platform of profession which we dare not indulge in if we are really _looking_ for the Lord.
G.o.d grant that the reader may know what it is to be ready in t.i.tle and ready in state; that he may have a purged conscience and a truly exercised heart. Then he will be able to enter into the meaning of the fourth and last pa.s.sage, to which we call his attention. It occurs in Matt. xxv. 10.
4. "And while they (the foolish virgins) went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were _ready_ went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut."
How solemn! How awfully solemn! Those who were _ready_ went in, and those who were not ready were shut out. Those who have life in Christ, who are indwelt by the Holy Ghost, will be ready. But the mere professor--the one who has truth in the head and on the lip, but not in the heart; who has the lamp of profession, but not the Spirit of life in Christ--will be shut out into outer darkness--in the everlasting misery and gloom of h.e.l.l.
O beloved reader, let us, as we take a solemn leave of you, put this question home to your very inmost soul, "ART THOU READY?"
"HOLY BRETHREN"
"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, _consider_ the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus" (Heb. iii. 1).
"And let us _consider_ one another, to provoke unto love and good works" (Heb. x. 24).
The two pa.s.sages we have just penned, are very intimately connected.
Indeed, they are bound together by the simple fact, that the inspired writer makes use of the same word in each; and, further, that this word occurs only in these two places throughout the whole of this marvellous treatise.[4]
[4] The English word, "consider," occurs four times throughout the Epistle to the Hebrews; but it represents three different Greek words.
In chapter vii. 4, "Consider how great this man was." Here the word is ?e??e?te, which occurs, in its various inflections, about fifty-six times in the Greek Testament, but only in this one instance is it rendered by the word "consider." Its simple and general meaning is to "see" or "perceive."
Again, in Hebrews xii. 3, we have, "Consider Him who endured such contradiction," etc. Here the word is a?a????sas?e, which occurs only in this place throughout the entire New Testament, and expresses the idea of comparison or a.n.a.logy.
But in the two verses which stand at the head of this paper, the word is ?ata??e?, which has an intensive force, and signifies an earnest application of the mind.
We are to consider Jesus; and we are to consider all those who belong to Him, wherever they are. These are the two grand departments of our work. We are to apply our minds diligently to Him and to His interests on the earth, and thus be blessedly delivered from the miserable business of thinking about ourselves or our own interests: a morally glorious deliverance, most surely, for which we may well praise our glorious Deliverer.
However, before proceeding to the great subjects which we are called to consider, we must dwell, for a little, on the wonderful t.i.tle bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon all believers--all true Christians.
He calls them, "holy brethren." This, truly, is a t.i.tle of great moral dignity. He does not say, we _ought to be_ holy. No; he says we _are_.
It is a question of the t.i.tle or standing of every child of G.o.d on the face of the earth. No doubt, having through sovereign grace this holy standing, we ought to be holy in our walk; our moral condition ought ever to answer to our t.i.tle. We should never allow a thought, word, or act, in the smallest degree inconsistent with our high position as "holy brethren." Holy thoughts, holy words, holy actings are alone suited to those upon whom infinite grace has bestowed the t.i.tle of "holy brethren."
Let us never forget this. Let us never say, never think, that we cannot maintain such a dignity, or live up to such a standard. The very same grace which has bestowed upon us the dignity, will ever enable us to support it; and we shall see, in the progress of this paper, how this grace acts--the mighty moral means used to produce a practical walk in accordance with our holy calling.
But let us inquire on what does the apostle ground the t.i.tle of "holy brethren?" It is of all possible importance to be clear as to this. If we do not see that it is wholly independent of our state, our walk, or our attainments, we can neither understand the position nor its practical results. We may a.s.sert with all confidence, that the very holiest walk that ever was exhibited in this world, the highest spiritual state that ever was attained, could never form the basis of such a position as is set forth in the t.i.tle of which we speak. Nay, more; we are bold to affirm that not even the work of the Spirit in us, blessedly essential as it is in every stage of the divine life, could ent.i.tle us to enter upon such a dignity. Nothing in us, nothing of us, nothing about us, could ever form the foundation of such a standing as is set forth in the t.i.tle "holy brethren."
On what then is it grounded? Hebrews ii. II furnishes the reply. "For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are _all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed_ to call them brethren." Here we have one of the most profound and comprehensive statements of truth contained within the covers of the divine volume. Here we see how we become "holy brethren;" even by a.s.sociation with that blessed One who went down into death for us, and who, in resurrection, has become the foundation of that new order of things in which we have our place; the Head of that new creation to which we belong; the Firstborn among the many brethren of whom He is not ashamed, inasmuch as He has placed them on the same platform with Himself, and brought them to G.o.d not only in the perfect efficacy of His work, but in all His own perfect acceptability and infinite preciousness. "The Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one."[5]
[5] It is a fact of deepest interest, that, to "Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils," was granted the privilege of announcing to the disciples the glad tidings of the new and wondrous relationship into which they were introduced. "Go to _My brethren_," said the risen Saviour, "and say unto them, I ascend unto _My_ Father and _your_ Father; and to _My_ G.o.d and _your_ G.o.d." It is John who, by the Holy Ghost, records this profoundly interesting fact.