WHAT would this earth be if it were without a heaven? Only a scene of darkness and chaos. So is the heart of man unless light from heaven illumines it. Moral darkness like a pall hangs over this world. And light from heaven can alone show us a way through a pathless desert earth. Heavenly rule and order can alone put straight that which is crooked and perverted in the heart.
In Psalms 19 we read, “The heavens declare the glory of God... in them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun.” From thence also is the light of the “Sun of righteousness.” We read further in this Psalm that “the law of the Lord is perfect.” In its varied character, it converts the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, and endures forever; and this law was spoken by the living God Himself. It is not the question here as to the ability of man to keep it, but of its own intrinsic character. Moreover, it was from heaven that God talked with Israel (Ex. 20:2222And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. (Exodus 20:22)); and again, Moses said ‘to them, “Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice that He might instruct thee” (Deut. 4:3636Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. (Deuteronomy 4:36)). So whether it be light or instruction, both come from heaven.
We may now ask the question, ‘How could man on earth be put into association with heaven?’ Yet what a necessity that it should be so. The answer is found in Jesus the Son of God, “the second Man out of heaven.” In His converse with Nicodemus (John 3) the Lord said, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.” His speech and testimony were not that of a Jewish Rabbi, as Nicodemus thought Him to be, but of One who came down from heaven, and indeed as He spoke to the teacher in Israel He was “the Son of man who is in heaven.” He alone could speak of heavenly things. He could tell the full truth of heaven as to Himself. He spoke, therefore, what He knew, and testified what He had seen. He alone could; as He said, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven.” And what did this One say as to Himself: “the Son of Man who is (not was) in heaven”? “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” He could also speak the thoughts of God, thoughts of eternal love which subsisted in heaven, and which He well knew and came down from heaven to testify: “For God so loved the world” (not merely the Jews, as Nicodemus might think) “that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Who could possibly tell out such a secret of heavenly love, but One who in His spirit was always there? My reader, as I write this my heart o’er flows with thanksgiving and praise. Does yours so overflow as you read it? Do you say, I could not do without heaven? The ruling power there is God’s love ― grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I have adverted to the giving of the law. I do not enter into the question of man’s ability to keep it, but into its intrinsic perfection. I have pointed out what David said of it in Psalms 19. Psalms 119 speaks of its perfection in detail ― that perfection could be seen in Jesus, and in Him Israel will yet learn to say, “O, how I love Thy law.” Besides the law. God would bring “heaven, His dwelling-place” near to His people upon earth. Hence He said, “Make Me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them,” and the Tabernacle was made ― a pattern of things in the heavens (Heb. 9:2323It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. (Hebrews 9:23)). In dwelling therein God surrounded Himself with the patterns of heavenly things. Every whit of it spoke of Christ, the One who came from heaven to manifest God upon earth. These things were patterns; but when Christ came His holy body was the temple of God upon earth (John 2:2121But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:21)).
My object is not to enter into the details of this typical manifestation, but rather to point out the way in which God gave a very blessed testimony of the link thus formed between heaven and men upon earth. I pause to refer again to the sentence in Psalms 19 “The heavens declare the glory of God.” That is God’s side; while in Psalms 8:3,3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; (Psalm 8:3) we read, “When I consider Thy heavens,” and then we come to glory set above the heavens, and strength ordained in the weakest, “Out of the mouth of babes and suckling’s hast Thou ordained strength”―strength that stills the enemy. Now, think of a godly Israelite after a toilsome march through the wilderness, wending his way to the Tabernacle. It did not belong to the wilderness; its foundations of silver were simply laid on the floor of the desert, but every whit of it spoke of the heavenly arrangement which belonged to the dwelling-place of God amongst His pilgrim people. That Israelite would find himself in another scene altogether, and as he entered the door he would have his back to the circumstances of the outside daily life ― and his face? Heavenward. We sing sometimes: ―
“Jesus, Lord, we come together
In the bonds of Thine own love,
Thou hast drawn our footsteps hither,
Its deep meaning now to prove.”
Oh, Christian! would you realize that of which Paul spoke, “Forgetting the things which are behind” ― if only for the few minutes spent in the company of the Lord― “and reaching forward to the things which are before”? Betake you again and again to the sanctuary of the Lord’s presence and at once you will find yourself in the light of heavenly things.
The first thing that would greet an Israelite would be the ever-ascending fragrance of the sacrifice on the Altar ― the fragrance of the work of Christ for us is ever before God. He, too, is there, our great High Priest and Forerunner within the vail. The Israelite could not enter there; still, heavenly things, indeed, met his eye, if in anywise he realized the desire of God to dwell among His people.
But I would take my reader to another tabernacle spoken of in John 1:14,14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) “The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us,” for that is the force of the word “dwelt”; His own dwelling-place being in the bosom of the Father. Blessed was it for John and others in that day who could behold beneath the vail of His humanity the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father. Now that He has ascended up where He was before, He fills heaven, and the light of that tabernacle of His glory shines down upon us by the power of the Holy Ghost. As Jesus said, “He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you.” Thus heaven is brought very near to us.
“Sing without ceasing, Sing
The Saviour’s present grace,
How all things shine in light divine,
For those who’ve seen His face.”
T. H. R.