REVELATION xxii. 14 393
" For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea : wherefore also through him is the Amen (2 Cor. i. 20).
(2) A right of inheritance. — "As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God" (John i. 12). And this Johannine assurance is confirmed by St. Paul : " Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (GaL iii. 26). " And if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ " (Eom. viii. 17).
(3) A right of fitness. — This is the special right of the text, and it is as sure as the others, however astonishing that may be. " Made fit for the inheritance of the saints in light " — that is one thing. That is the entrance which is abundantly ministered unto us through the gates into the city. Fitness also for fellowship so close and intimate that because He lives we live also ; and that " I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me." That is the right to the tree of life.
^ Almost beyond belief it seems blessed in the eternal kingdom to " have right to the Tree of Life." All is of God's grace, nothing of man's desert. Of His grace it pleases Him to constitute such a privilege our "right"; and our right thence- forward it becomes, whilst first and last all is of grace. " For he spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast." As the hart desireth the water-brooks, doth our soul so long after that Tree of Life ? Surely yea, if we be not lower than the beasts that perish. . . . Alas ! not " surely " at all, unless our present longings can stand one test which too often shames them. For already we have a right to our own precious Tree of Life, Christ in the Sacrament of His most Blessed Body and Blood. Whoso longs not for Christ here, wherefore should he long for Him there ? Because our Saviour longed for us on earth, we are con- vinced that He longs for us in heaven. If we long not for Him on earth, who shall kindle our longing for Him in heaven ?
Good Lord Jesus, our only Hope; because we cannot help ourselves, help Thou us. Because we cannot quicken ourselves, quicken Thou us. Because we cannot kindle ourselves, kindle Thou us. Because we cannot cleanse ourselves, cleanse Thou us. Because we cannot heal ourselves, heal Thou us. For Thou hast no pleasure in our impotence, lifelessness, coldness, pollutions, infirmity. If Thou desire our love, who shall give us love where- with to love Thee except Thou who art Love give it us ? Helpless we are, and our helplessness appeals to Thee.^
* Christina G. Rossetti, The Face of the Deep, 637.
Christ's Witness to Himself.
Literature.
Bellew (J. C. M.), Sermons^ i. 16.
Blackley (T.), Practical Sermons, i. 1.
Brown (A. G.), Forty Sermons, No. 37.
Cairns (J.), Christ the Morning Star, 1.
Cooke (G. A.), The Progress of Revelation, 164.
Cowan (R.), The Weakness of God, 277.
Hort (F. J. A.), Sermons on the Books of the Bible, 131.
„ „ Village Sermons, 257.
King (D.), Memoir and Sermons, 317. Kuegele (F.), Country Sermons, New Ser., v. 10. Mitchell (J.), Stones for Sermon Builders, 42. Norton (J. N.), Golden Truths, 59. Trench (R. C), Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia^
155. Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), iv. (1864), No. 489 ; xii. (1874),
No. 7. Wilkes (H.), The Bright and Morning Star, 1. Williams (I.), Sermons on the Epistles and Gospels, i. 83. Cambridge Review, ii., Supplement No. 27 (H. C. G. Moule). Christian Commonwealth, xxxi. (1911) 441 (R. J. Campbell). Church of England Pulpit, xli. 149 (J. Silvester). Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, ii. 675 (G. H. Box). Expositor, 7th Ser., v. 14 (W. M. Ramsay).
CHRIST'S Witness to Himself.
I am the root and the offspring; of David, the bright, the morning star. —Rev. xxii. i6.
1. This is the last place in Scripture where the Eedeemer bears witness to Himself. A few verses below He once more promises to return — " I come quickly " — but of His own words regarding His own excellence and majesty, this is the last : " I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star."
2. The hours of the great Vision were almost over. The Apostle, who had walked long ago with Jesus as His daily friend, had been entranced for awhile into immediate experience of His presence in the mode of endless life; and now the trance was closing. An influence wholly from above had been imprinting on his soul the message to the Churches, and the order of the future of the Church ; and now, at the end, the spiritual Voice has still this word to say ; the Lord speaks of Himself once more. Perhaps the cloud of literal night was rolling from the rock of Patmos, and the literal day-star shone above the region of the dawn. But the spiritual view and the inner word were all of the light and of the day. There came a sound full of immortality, " I am the bright, the morning star."