Revelation 21:9-14 And there came to me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying… Bearing in mind still that this is a description of the ideal Church, we have here four suggestive features presented to our attention. I. THE CHURCH IS A WALLED CITY WITH MANY GATES. "And had a wall great and high, and twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels." Evidently there is no exclusiveness here, but there is protection from unsanctified and unlicensed intruders. The wall is for a bulwark, but not for a barricade; it separates from the world, but it does not shut out the world. And angels stand at the gates-large-hearted, loving angels, not bigoted priests, not stern and crabbed formulators of creeds, but angels with the sweet face of charity; and they stand there, not so much to challenge intruders, as to trumpet forth into every corner of the world their summons, "Come in and welcome." A walled city, but with an abundance of open gates. That is the true idea of the Church. Separate from the world, yet always uniting the world; offering freedom of access to all, but license to none. But men have always been trying to improve on this idea. Heaven's methods are too simple for their self-conceited ingenuity. The pattern in the mount wants accommodating to the state of things below. Men have always been trying to improve on this idea of the Church, and in improving have defaced and marred and impoverished and corrupted it. On the one side we have the gates of the city closed, and nothing left but some narrow back stairs entrance, and that so covered over with a network of forms and creeds and subscriptions and questions that only the most pliable and yielding souls can worm their way through. But on the other side — and this is by far the greater danger at present — we have not only the gates multiplied, but the very walls thrown down, and the guardian angels dismissed, as though they were no longer needed. Come in where you like, how you like, believing what you like, or as little as you like. Let us take care that we abuse not in this way the sacred name of charity. I am willing to pay a great price for brotherly love, but to buy it at the cost of truth is a losing bargain. There are twelve gates lying open to all the world, and voices on every watch-tower singing the song of welcome: "Come in, come in. But come in the name of our Lord and Saviour." II. A CITY WITH GATES ON EVERY SIDE — NOT ONLY PROTESTING AGAINST EXCLUSIVENESS BY THEIR NUMBERS, BUT PROCLAIMING THE GRAND CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH BY THEIR POSITION. "On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates." It is another rendering of the Saviour's words, "They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north and south, and sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of God"; and a picture of the same kind as that magnificent vision which floated before the Saviour's eyes when He stood under the shadow of the Cross and looked through the scorn and mockery of universal rejection at a world bowing at His feet, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." All the ages travail for its fulfilment. The gates of this city which point north and west have been crowded for a thousand years. III. EVERY GATE HAS ITS OWN PECULIAR BEAUTY AND ATTRACTIVENESS. "The gates of the city were twelve pearls, every several gate of one pearl"; that is, there are no two gates alike, but they are all alike beautiful. Here, firstly, is the carrying out of the thought which runs through the whole description — that the Church below, like heaven above, manifests its life, and power, and graces in infinite variety. There are all manner of precious stones; all manner of fruits; all manner of gates; all imaginable colours and forms. It is God's vindication of individuality; God's protest against cramping uniformity — against all attempts to fashion Christians in the same mould and turn them out after the same pattern. It means that Christ, in fashioning men, never repeats a design; that no two Christians are beautiful in exactly the same way; that no two Christians have the same training, the same experience, the same thoughts and feelings, but that God sends every one a different school and subjects every one to a different discipline, that at last He may present every one perfect after a different fashion. All the pictures of heaven which I have seen are gross caricatures, for they represent rows of saints and angels as much alike as rows of pins. God does not fashion His jewels in that way. All very well for pins, but God's elect are not machine-made, turned out by the gross. They all glow with the same Christ-light, but each of them is cut after a unique pattern. But further: there is a special meaning in the distinction and variety of the gates. It means that men enter the Church by different ways, and are drawn to Christ by various attractions. The promise which brought me peace as I knelt at the Master's feet would perhaps hardly have touched you at all; and the word which thrilled you would perhaps have fallen dull and meaningless on my ears. Christ has a separate song for every heart. Here is a youth, restless, fiery, full of activity, eager for some great field of battle. Christ chants this battle-song to him: "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." Here is a student panting for knowledge, fired with a passion for truth, ready to suffer martyrdom for it. He hears a voice behind him saying, "In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Here is a mystic, who longs to break the veil of the unseen, dreamy, idealistic, half inclined to believe in spiritualism, courting fellowship with invisible souls. Christ sings to him thus: "Ye are come unto an innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant." IV. THE GATES ARE ALWAYS OPEN. "The gates shall not be shut by day." Yes, the gates are open! You have heard of that girl who had left her father's house and wandered into paths of sin; and one night there came over her a flood of shameful remorse and the agony of a great repentance, and she thought she would go back and look at the old home again, but not to enter. Ah, no! those doors were closed for ever. Just to look — one stolen look — at the old Paradise, and then back into darkness and despair! And with tear-blinded eyes and wearied feet she crept up to the door in the silent midnight hours, and half mechanically put her hand upon the latch; and lo, the door opened, and she entered. For the father had said, "It shall be left open night and day; it may be that she will come back again." And there she lay until the morning, and awoke to find him kneeling by her side, kissing her with the sweet kiss of forgiveness. (J. G. Greenhough, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. |
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