The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 159

Ven. 1--5.-fle go,,itmimfflt fJ/ God. "And I eaw," eto. Concerning the govern.. ment of Gld, observe- . · L 'lBAT IT IS CONDU<n'ED ACCORDING TO A VAST PBECONCBBTBD PLAN. There WU a · book, seven pieces of parchment rolled together, and each one aealed, in the band of him that "sat on the throne." The Almighty never acts from impulM or caprice, but ever from plan or law. And this plan is truly vast, wonderfully comprehensive. It is" written within" and on the "back aide.• .This book contains ·the gel'lllll of all books-the archetypes of all existenCilS; the outlines of all biatories. " In thy book all my members were wri,teo, when aa yet there were none of them." All that shall happen through Uie vast futures of individuals, families, nations, worlds, are mapped out on the pa.,aes of this wonderful book. The .universe in all its. part.I ·and complicated movements is but the practical and palpable working out of its content.a. The w~ld ia God's great will in action. Predestination is no apscial doctrine of the Bible; it is written· on every part of nature. It includes •as truly the motions of IUl atom d the revolutions of • world-the growth of a plant as the conversion of • BOul. True philosophy, as well 118 Christianity, re&0lves everything but u into the predesti- nation of Infinite Love. · here suggested concerning its mystery. 1. That it tra~-. lL Toa VAST PREOOlfOBB'l'ED PLAN IS BJULED I1f JIYll'l'EBT. Two thougllta are all jinil.o ~ Some high spirit in the Divine empire is here represented as exclaiming," Who ia worthy to open· the book, and too lose the seahi thereof P." The question falls on .the ear of nniversal mind, and produces no response; the. challenge ringa through· the creation, and no one &c:!CBpta it.. "No man in ht'&ven ; nor in earth, nor under the earth. was able to open the book, neither to look thereon." I refer this mystery, uot to the Creator's intention, but to the creature', in,r,apacity. His glory is not in · concealing only, but in manifesting. Concealment arises not from any effort on hia part, but from the necessary limitations of finite intellect. The rleep purposes of the Infinit.e can, never be unsealed and decmhered by the finite. •• His judgmenta are a great deep.• 2. Hat ii ufre,JQM/y tu -ms</ ,mi, rMntal distrea. "I wept much, bec&UN 110 ,man was found worthy to open aml to read the· book, neither to look thereon." The DlOlli earneat thinkers in all ages have shed many tears in wrestling with aome of the dark problems of God's gmemment. Thil mystery is, however, an ille8timable meaua ohpimnal discipline. It soberizes, humbles, stimulates. III. THAT 'l'BB MTBTBBT ol' THB PLAN u TO B& BXPOUNDBD BY Omusr. "And one of the. elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Boot of David, bath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the 1eveo seals thereof.• . Both the meaning and the figure& employed, and the statements in succeeding verses, make it erident that the reference ia 1aere to Christ, He, indeed, i8 the Revealer of God's plans-the Logos. He disclosea the eternal purpose& in varioUB wayL 1. Ia ii, creative 11&11. .. .All things were oreated by him." Creation is a bursting of one of the seals of that book, and a publication of BOme of its contents. Stan, suna, and aystema are but the palpable forms or diagrams of infinite ideas. 2. In. Iii, fflUfnptiw opera- tion,. B7 hil personal history on this earth eighteen centuries ago. and by hia spiritual agency from Adam to that period, and from that period in a hi~her form to this hour, he burst other aeals, and brought to light tome deep things of the eternal mind. 3. In Ai, judicial corulua. "The Father judgeth no man, bu. bath committl)d all judgmentUDlo the Son." lnthelaatda7wbatnew discloenreawil,tlle madeJ-D.T. . r