And into the city will be brought the glory and honor of the nations. Sermons
I. THE NIGHT A COMMON EMBLEM OF THINGS EVIL. The Bible notices of it are, like this of our text, almost always of a disparaging and deprecatory tone. It is represented as undesirable, and as telling of things that are evil. Sorrow (Isaiah 21., "Watchman, what of the night?" - speaking of Edom's affliction). "Songs in the night" mean songs in sorrowful seasons. Ignorance. "Darkness shall cover the land, and gross darkness the people." And concerning this land it was said that "it sat in darkness," so dense was the ignorance of the people. Sin. "Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil;" "We are not the children of the darkness, but of the light." Death. "Work... while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." The power of Satan. "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." And there are many more of a like sort. And yet - II. THE NIGHT IS ONE OF GOD'S GOOD GIFTS. In plant-life it is essential to their growth. Night - so naturalists tell - is the time that the root of the plant feeds. During the day the light acts as a force upon the lining of the bark of the plant or tree, by which the nutriment is drawn up from the root. Now, at night that action ceases, and the root is able to thrust itself downward, deeper and deeper into the soil, wherever it can gain the nourishment it needs, and which it will have to supply when again the light comes, and yet more when the spring comes. The night is needed for this. And it is the time when the plant rids itself of that which would be hurtful to its life. The sap that the light and warmth of day have drawn up from the roots returns thither at night, but changed because charged with elements that the root will reject. It is these rejections of the root that render necessary the rotation of crops. The soil is poisoned for the same plant, but is ready for others. Now, for this, and much more in vegetable life, the night is needed. And for animal life. Psalm 104. sings, "Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God." Night is their feeding time, the sleeping time of most of their victims. Thus much suffering is avoided, and yet "the young lions" are fed. And for human life. The body is compelled to rest if its powers are to continue in vigour, and the night time is plainly given for that end. They who turn night into day and defraud the body of its due rest, frustrating the purpose for which night was given, violate the Creator's laws, and must pay the certain and severe penalty which such violation involves. And the mind owes much to the night season, for it gains enlargement and instruction by the spectacle of the starry heavens; they, then, declare the glory of God. And the soul is uplifted by the contemplation of that glory. Thus, and for yet other reasons, is night to be regarded as one of God's good gifts to met. Nevertheless, in the new heavens and the new earth it is said, "There is no night there." III. HOWEVER UNDERSTOOD, THE TEXT IS A BLESSED PROMISE. 1. Suppose we understand it figuratively. Then the promise is that all those varied ills of the mind and the soul which night has been the symbol of - as in the declaration that there shall be "no more sea" - shall be absent from the saints' eternal home. 2. Or if we take the words literally - and it is possible that this may be meant - then they involve other glorious elements of the future which God's Word leads us to look for; e.g. a new physical nature. For if there be no night, then no need of rest. Indeed, we are told "they cease not" in their high employ "day nor night." But for such unresting and yet untiring occupation a body not limited, frail, and easily fatigued, like our present body, must be given; a physical nature altogether different from the present. And that which we should have inferred is clearly stated in other Scriptures. "There is a natural body," such as we now have, "and there is a spiritual body," which is what we shall have. But if there be a new and a more glorious body, that is the index of a new and more glorious spiritual nature. The external is the fit clothing of the internal. There is congruity between them, so that we argue, and for the most part rightly, from the outward to the inward, and we gather much as to the character of any creature from its external form. If, then, there shall be a new and glorious body, what shall be the spirit within, which is furnished with so glorious an instrument for the carrying out of its purposes? But if a new physical and spiritual nature, then there must be a new mind towards God. For it is plain that the embargo laid upon our present nature, by which it is "made subject to vanity," has been taken off. That limitation was because we were not to be trusted with larger powers. "And now," said God, "lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Genesis 3:22); "so he drove out the man." Man was, because of sin, made as he is, because if more had been given him he could not be trusted to use it aright. That is the teaching of the verse in Genesis. But the possession of the new physical and spiritual nature proves that that restriction has been removed. But that proves that a new mind is in man towards God. No longer a rebellious disobedient mind, but "the mind of Christ," of "a dear child." But if this, then there must be a new social state; no longer discord and strife, because there is one mind towards God, and hence all are one. But this is the Paradise of God, the kingdom of heaven itself. That we may have ever-growing surety that we shall come to that blessed home of God's saints, let us look within the region of our own hearts, and see if there be no night there - no darkness of sin and unbelief. If there be, then at once let us turn to him, who giveth to all who seek, that he may "shine into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." - S.C.
No night there. I.II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. (T. Nunns, M. A.) 1. It is the season of repose. 2. It is the time of evil — the season chosen for the performance of deeds of darkness and of sin. 3. And it is the time of fear. Yet notwithstanding all this I praise God for the night. 4. Night is suggestive of sorrow. This is the inevitable lot of the good on earth. But "there shall be no night" of sorrow "there!" No tears shall be shed, no hopes shall be frustrated, no disappointments felt, no friends removed, no graves opened. Night, as we have seen, is associated with deeds of darkness. And hence, when it is affirmed of the heavenly state that "there shall be no night there," we are reminded of the perfect purity of our eternal home. Further, night is associated with weariness and fatigue. To affirm, therefore, of the heavenly world that there shall be no night there, is to declare that weariness and fatigue shall be unknown. One of the most difficult questions is that of the exact nature of the glorified body the redeemed will possess. And then, night is associated with obscurity. Its shades conceal much from our vision, and hence it has ever been regarded as an appropriate emblem of mental obscurity. Mystery surrounds us on every hand. Questions are continually arising to which we can return no complete answer. Now it is night with us. The unclouded day is yonder. (S. D. Hillman, B. A.) II. THE ABSENCE OF NIGHT IMPLIES THERE SHALL BE NO IGNORANCE THERE III. THE ABSENCE OF NIGHT IMPLIES THERE SHALL BE NO WEARINESS THERE. Here God's people are wearied with labours. IV. THE ABSENCE OF NIGHT IMPLIES THAT THERE SHALL BE NO CHANGE THERE. V. THE ABSENCE OF NIGHT IMPLIES THAT THERE SHALL BE NO DEATH THERE. (B. W. Bucke, M. A.) 1. Among the mansions of the blessed, there shall be no fatigue, no tendency to lassitude, and no reason for repose. 2. There shall be no hostile intrusion there; there is no reason for precaution. 3. There is no impurity and no sin. 4. But night is a season of privation; and when we are told of heaven as a state where no privation shall be, we are well reminded that no night shall be there. Do you speak of privation of society? In heaven you will have delightful and hallowed fellowship. Do you speak of privation of knowledge? In heaven, illumination will be poured upon our faculties to the utmost extent which those faculties can, by possibility, bear. Do you speak of privation of happiness? In heaven, perturbation and pain, and fear, and distress, will be removed for ever. 5. "No more death" — "no more death" to our persons: "for this corruptible shall put on incorruption." "No more death" to our happiness; "no more death" to our attainments; "no more death" to our joy. All unchangeable, and all imperishable, and all for ever! II. THE CONCLUSIONS WHICH OUR CONTEMPLATIONS OF THE HEAVENLY STATE UNDER THIS REPRESENTATION OUGHT FORCIBLY TO IMPRESS UPON OUR MINDS. 1. Our contemplations ought to induce preparation. 2. Our contemplations of the heavenly state ought to induce gratitude. You were the slave led captive by the devil at his will, and now have been brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God — a liberty which is to be consummated in the skies. 3. These contemplations of the heavenly state should induce desire. And truly there is nothing — if we are preparing for such scenes as those which have now been laid before you — there is nothing which should keep your desires from heaven. (J. Parsons.) 2. Night is the symbol of ignorance. How often do the Sacred Writers represent the intellectual and moral blindness of men under the figure of darkness! Thus Job, describing the errors and follies of the devotees of human wisdom, says, "They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night." And the fearful ignorance of God and of truth, which overspread the world at the period of the Redeemer's advent, is pourtrayed by the graphic declaration, "Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." In this emblematic sense, a deep and cloudy night stretches over the sphere which we now inhabit. How imperfect are our faculties! How narrow the limits of our knowledge! How obscure and uncertain our researches! What barriers of gloom and mystery meet us on whatever side we attempt to push our investigations! But in heaven there will be no intellectual night. All the errors that now shade and darken our minds — all the obstacles which here impede and limit our acquisitions-shall there be for ever removed. The faculties of the soul which, amid the fogs and illusions of sense, are so restricted in their range, and so distorted in their vision, will, in that radiant world, expand into seraphic strength, and under the beams of eternal day receive a new impulse, and a right direction. The veil also, which now hangs over so many departments of Truth, will then be lifted, and we shall enter her inmost temple, and worship at her most secret shrine. 3. Night is the symbol of sin. The time which God has ordained for rest, man has appropriated to crime. All classes of the depraved and lawless look upon night as their chosen patron and protector. "The way of the wicked is as darkness." "Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." When, therefore, we read of heaven as being without night, the expression evidently implies that into those holy realms no impurity can ever be admitted. "There shall in no ease enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the Lamb's book of life." 4. Night is the symbol of danger. The hours in which darkness broods over the earth are peculiar for their insecurity. It is then that the robber, the housebreaker, the incendiary, and the whole tribe of depredators on property and life, steal from their lurking places, and roam abroad on their work of mischief. And then it is that perils easily avoided by day deepen and multiply their terrors. The exclusion of night from heaven may, therefore, be interpreted as a pledge that, in that secure asylum, no adversary shall assail us, and no possibility of evil ever menace our peace. The seductions of the world, and the treachery of our own hearts, will not follow us there, nor can Satan cross "the great gulf fixed" between hell and heaven to vex us with his assaults. 5. Night is the symbol of want. Sleep is the sister of death. During its reign over us, we retire within ourselves; the senses close their portals, and the soul is shut in from all its wonted delights. Communion with man and with Nature has ceased. Perception is suspended. Reason is in abeyance. Gone are consciousness, memory, hope. And even should slumber be interrupted, what a dreary blank does the eye behold! Hidden is the rich land-scape — stream, and forest, and mountain — all the grand things and the lovely on which the daylight looks. Above us may glimmer the watching stars and the silvery moon, but they only awaken regret for the nobler luminary departed. So is it that night typifies want; and the fact that heaven knows no night is a most expressive sign that it also knows no privation. Want, in one or another of its forms, is inseparable from our earthly condition. Pilgrims in the desert, we must expect to sigh in vain for much that is essential to perfect felicity. But when we reach the land of Divine fulness above, every need will be supplied. Everything around us, every scene, every object, every employment, will be adapted to exclude disquietude, and to minister delight. Every faculty, every passion, will be absorbed in adoration, and overflowing with ecstasy. And He that sitteth on the throne will bring out His treasures to augment our bliss, showering down upon our spirits all the raptures which Almighty Goodness can bestow. 6. Night is the symbol of death. There are few analogies in the whole range of sacred imagery more suited to represent death than the season of night. And thus we find it very frequently employed by the inspired writers. The Psalmist, in speaking of the removal of his friends by death, says, "Mine acquaintance hast Thou put into darkness." Job calls death "the day of darkness," and the grave "the bed of darkness," "a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." "Our Divine Teacher has also given us a very striking description of death under the figure of night. "I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh in which no man can work." To beings situated as we are, it is hardly possible to form an idea of a state of existence in which death is unknown. Yet this is true of heaven. "There shall be no more death." Oh, what a soul-ravishing announcement is this! No more death! Then hope has dawned on the midnight of the tomb; the King of Terrors is despoiled of his power, and the all-conqueror is himself conquered! No more death to our persons — no more death to our attainments — no more death to our usefulness — no more death to our joys! All are changeless and perfect. God is our portion, holiness our vesture, happiness our allotment, eternity our home. Oh, what a boon is Immortality when it thus stamps its own endless duration on all that awaits us in "the Better Land!" (Dr. Ide.) II. THESE PRINCIPLES ARE POWERS OF GUIDANCE IN THREE IMPORTANT — NAY, MOMENTOUS — QUESTIONS OF CONDUCT. 1. What is seriously necessary for any soul in order, in its mortal journey, to be useful and happy? The answer is — Not to live at random, but to have an object in life. 2. What is to be my view of the world? What is the attitude of the soul of the Christian towards the mass of mankind? The optimist views it all through the medium of a rose-coloured dream. All is going onward as merry as a marriage-bell. The only objection is — theories do not alter human suffering, and to this theory facts do not square. It is impossible here reasonably to deny the darkness. It is true it is blessed to remember "there shall be no night there." 3. There is here a revelation of the future. The eternal city is in fact the working out of the twofold Divine benediction. It is the completion and beatified result of purified characters. "Blessed are the undefiled in the way," and "Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven and whose sin is covered." This is the glorious end of innocence and penitence. The breaking of the dawn! It is coming, there is a land of brightness after darkness; amid all sorrow hope will yet have its triumph: "there shall be no night there"! III. NIGHT HERE, HOWEVER. WHY? From the absence of the sun: from the accumulation of the clouds. 1. There is sin. Wills opposed to the will of changeless goodness: wills almost fixed in evil — eyes from which all vision of brightness seems gone: hearts which seem to keep no trace of pity. Ah me! — a ruined soul, or a soul on the road to ruin, how terrible! To be growing worse instead of better: to be losing foothold, not climbing boldly on. Soul of a sinner! Pause, think twice. It is hard to imagine deliverance: hard to believe at times that God's grace, that fresh breezes from the heavenly courts, can disperse such clouds, but it is true. Look up, march eastward; repent, cry for help, take heart; though the path be rough it is the path of the Holy Passion. The city of the saints is the land of the sunlight. "There shall be no night there." 2. There is sorrow. Ah! who has ever read, who can ever read, the mystery of tears? But there it is. There is a home where no sorrow enters — there dwelleth no evil, "there is no night there." 3. There is death. However it be lightened by the faith of a Christian, what thinking mind can fail to acknowledge there is the solemnity of night about the grave? Well, the dawn of eternity shall break, and death itself shall die. IV. THERE ARE MANY DIFFICULTIES, MANY SORROWS; YET ARE THERE NOT SOME ALLEVIATIONS? Life is never altogether darkness When it is illuminated by hope. Look upward, take courage, never allow the cowardice of permanent despondency, or the blasphemy of final despair. Trust God. Surely even here are streaks in the darkness. There are quiet hours of rest and blessing; such a converse with a dear friend; such a happy day of pleasure; such evidence that the sun is there, though veiled by the vapour; such approaches of the daylight; such streaks of the dawn. To repent, heartily, manfully, thoroughly, when you have sinned; to receive trial and sorrow with loving submission, and willingly to taste the sweet "uses of adversity"; to love goodness, truth, duty, God in Christ, and by the power, the moral power of love, to help and make men better — this, this, surely, whatever happens, is to plant your feet firmly on the track of the dawn. V. WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE? Well, John assures us that there lies before us something beyond all words happy, which he can only convey to us by speaking of it as "a city." Remember that in that city you will find the result of your toil and the end of your journey. (Canon Knox Little.) 5659 bride July the Twenty-Fifth no Temple Therein He that Overcometh. A New Creation 29Th Day. A Nightless Heaven. 31ST DAY. The Vision and Fruition of God. The Disciple, -- Master, it is Clear to Almost Everyone that to Disobey God And... The Foundation of the Church among the Jews The City that Hath Foundations The Land of Rest The Heritage of the Lord's People. --Rev. xxi. 5-7. Whether God Always Loves More the Better Things? The Impassibility and Immortality of the Risen Body. Christ's Finished and Unfinished Work All Fulness in Christ A Word for the Persecuted Why they Leave Us The Apostolate. An Impossibility Made Possible 'Three Tabernacles' Departed Saints Fellowservants with those yet on Earth. Greeks Seek Jesus. He Foretells that He Shall Draw all Men unto Him. |
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