n the apostle venture on a word till is given him from above. Eiquisitely indeed hu the sculptor caught the spirit of the beloved apostle s.s he awaits the revelation from on. high. Let us, in arranging our homiletic ex.position, follow the leadings of the narra- tive. We bave-- L A GLIMPSE INTO THE UPl'ER woRtD. "A door was opened 1 in bes-yen." We need not look on this as if it were bare literalism. Yet, beyond all question, there are objective realities fu.r greater than those which John beheld. From beginning to end of these visions we see heavenly objects set forth iu earthly language, that we may be "raised from our -0.ead selves to higher things," and yet may not be bewildered and over-- whelmed at the representation. of a glory so far above us. Nor should we forget that, although this is the only book of the New Testament in which the heavenly world is set forth with anything of detail, yet the existence of that world is assumed by our Lord and his apostles throughout their teaching. This earth is not the only realm in which holy souls dwell, nor is the continuity of blessed life broken off as, one by one, they "go home." There are, moreover, " angels, principalities, and powers ; " a,nd over the two spheres of being, angels and men, our Lord is the Pre-eminent One. Thus, though the Apostle John gives us some fresh detail, he by no means takes us into an unknown land. It is "the Father's home." A voice is heard. Read, not "the first voice which I heard," but "I heard the :first voice" (cf. Dean Alford, in loo.; eh. i. 10); ,.e. the voice of him who is the Alpha and the Omega. Froni him the word comes, "Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter." (From this we gather with certainty that, whatever the events may be which were to be indica~ the commencement of them cannot poBBibly date from an earlier period than the imprisonment of John in Pa.tmos.) To this call the apostle responded. He l'Oll6 in the Spirit's might, and, with piercing spiritual gaze, looked into heaven.• In order fur a vision to be intelligible, it is'necessary that there should be one spot on which the eye can fasten, as a point of repose. Without this its glances would wander in painful nnrest. There is a law correspondfog to this in the mental constitution. In the study of'an1 ilcience whatever, minor matters have to be set in relation to some leading truth. It 18 IO in theology. If religious truth is looked at as all detail, without anything like a eentre, or like a V'ertebral column from which and to which the varied branchlets of truth diverge and converge, nothing will be rightly understood. So with t.he spiritual life. It requires its centre-point, which is Christ. If, moreover, in the vision before us, there were only a series of unconnected items, it would distract us. But it ls not IIO, ?'here is a centre. There i, a thr<>M, the seat of power and authority, from which all orders proceed, before which all creatures bow. A throne is set in heaven. Under this familiar symbol our God. vouchsafes to set before us the truth that there i1 & point around which the u1;1iverse revolves. A throne. lsaiah saw it; Ezekiel saw it; John sees it; and, with what 111 grouped around it, it gives us a glimpse of the glories of the heavenly world and of the dwellers there, and forms the background of the acenes of mingled.mercy and judgment which a.re to be witnessed on earth. 1. There i, On• upot&-tAe ~ t h e eternal Father, glorious in his majesty. 2. Enclrcliflfl the throne tliere i, a minbow,-the symbol and sign of a covenant of peace. Majesty and mercy are met together. While in this low region of cloud things often look so dark and lowering that we a.re tempted to think earth'• chariot-wheels are running wildly, could we but see things from tliat higher standpoint that saints and angels take above, we abonld see that the everlasting throne remained :firm and true, and that the rainbow of peace was encircling it around I S. Round about the throne there are four and twenty minor thrones. On these are four and twenty crowned elders; and from what is said of them in the ninth verse of the :fifth chapter, we gather that they are repre. sent&tives of God's redeemed Church. Why twenty-four? No suggestion so much approves itself to us as the one that they represent the twelve patriarchs of the Old 'l'estament and the twelve apostlea of the New. The two Churches of the two economies are one in Christ. "They .without us could not be made perfect." These elders are seen clothed in white, in token of their purity; crowned with gold, t. 1 " Not 'opening,' but • opell,' 10 that there may be the f'leelt intercourse between heaYen and earth" (Milligan, ifi Zoo.). '' 1n this oha.pter we pass from the BUfferin~ and temJ>t&tiona of the Ohurchea below t. 1
I.he unmllied glory above " (l3iehop Boyd Ca.rpeuter). 162 THE REVELATION OF BT. JOHN THE DMNE. [OIL rr. 1-11.