1 being raised with Him, the Head not born alone, but all the members with it, the Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh, and, the first-fruits being safe, the harvest, already sanctified by the first-fruits, shall also be gathered in. Oh glorious day, when our Lord and Head shall give of His treasure to His first-born, that they may with Him redeem all lands and all brethren; when with Him they shall judge their captive brethren, who through their unbelief have lost their own inheritance. Then shall the laver be multiplied into "ten lavers," 2 till the water of life become "a sea of crystal," 3 large enough even for Babylon the great to sink into it, and to be found no more at all for ever.1 Then shall the elect "run to and fro as sparks among the stubble ;" and as all sparks or seeds of light, though they may come forth at long intervals from one another, are yet congenial, if they have come out of a common root, as they can not only mingle rays with rays and embrace each other, but in virtue of a common nature have the same power of consuming and purifying that they come in contact with,—so shall Christ's members judge the world with Him, and consume the evil with that same fire which Christ came to cast into the earth, and with which He is yet pledged to baptize all nations. For our Lord, who gave Himself, with Himself will give us 1 Lev. xxv. 25, 47, 48. 2 Cf. Exod. xxx. 18, and 1 Kings vii. 38, 39. Cf. 1 Kings vii. 38, 39; 2 Chron. iv. 2-6; and Rev. xv. 2. 4 Rev. xviii. 21. all things, grudging His children nothing of that inheritance He has obtained for them. Here then is the key to one part of the apparent contradiction between "mercy upon all," and yet "the election" of a "little flock;" between "all the kindreds of the earth blessed in Christ," and yet a "strait and narrow way" and "few finding it." Here is the answer to the question, "Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" 1 The first-born and first-fruits are the " "few and "little flock;" but these, though first delivered from the curse, have a relation to the whole creation, which shall be saved in the appointed times by the first-born seed, that is by Christ and His Body, through those appointed baptisms, whether of fire or water, which are required to bring about "the restitution of all things." St. Paul expressly declares this when he says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,... that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in Him." 2 To say that God saves only the first See Psa. lxxxviii. 1-12. 2 Eph. i. 3-10. The same doctrine is stated in almost the same words, chapter ii. 4–7. born would be, if it may be said, to make Him worse than even Moloch, whose slaves devoted only their first-born to the flames, founding this dreadful rite upon the true tradition that the sacrifice of a firstborn should redeem the rest; a requirement, tender, as compared with that which some ascribe to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who, according to their view, accepts the election only, and leaves the rest to torments endless and most agonizing. The gospel of God tells us of better things, of a sacrifice indeed, even of God's Only-Begotten Son, who, because we were dead, came into our death to quicken us, who took on Him the darkness, and death, and curse, which bound and would have for ever held us, and broke through it in the power of His eternal life, and who having thus in His own person, as Man, broken through death, gives Himself now to as many as will receive and follow Him, that in and by His life they also may come forth as first-fruits and first-born from the dead with Him. But Scripture never says that these only shall be saved, but rather that "in this seed," whose portion as the first-born is double,' "all the kindreds of the earth shall be blessed." Our knowledge however of this or any other mystery will serve us nothing, yea be far worse than nothing, if, instead of running for the prize which the gospel sets before us, we sit down content merely to understand how the apparent contradictions of Scripture can be reconciled. Not so do the first-born Deut. xxi. 17. 4 win the prize. Christ has shewn the way, and there is no other. He died to live-He suffered to reignHe humbled himself; therefore God hath greatly exalted Him. If we be dead with Him, we shall live with Him-If we suffer, we shall reign with Him,2-joint-heirs with Christ, if so be we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together.3 Only by the cross can the change be wrought in us, which conforms us to Christ and His image,-which makes us, like Him, lambs for the slaughter, and as such fitted to bless and serve others. And as corn does not grow by any thinking of the process; as gold is not melted by any speculation of the nature of fire, but by being cast into it; so the change required is only wrought in us through that baptism of fire, which is so sharp that even the blessed Paul could say, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable,"5 a trial very different from that of the mass of professors, who suffer no more than the common lot of humanity. And indeed so narrow is the way, and so strait is the gate that leadeth to the life and glory of the first-born; so entire is the loss and renunciation of the things dear to the old man, whose will is entranced by the things that are seen and temporal; so bitter is the cross that few can bear it, and pass willingly through the fires which must be passed to win that "high calling."6 Here is the patience of the saints, to bear that fire 3 Rom. viii. 17. See Phil. iii. 8-14. 1 Phil. ii. 8, 9. 2 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12. in and by which the old Adam is dissolved and slain, out of which they rise, through "blood and fire and pillars of smoke," that is the Pentecostal offering,' as sacrifices to God, to stand as kings and priests before Him. (2) I pass on to shew that God's purpose, by the first-born from the dead to bless the later-born, as it is written, "So in Christ shall all be made alive,”is fulfilled in successive worlds or ages,2 so that the dead are raised, not all together, but, as St. Paul says, "Every man in his own order-Christ the firstfruits -afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming;"3 which latter resurrection, though after Christ's, is yet called "the resurrection from among the dead,"4 or "the first resurrection."5 6 Now it is simply matter of fact, that Christ, the first of the first-fruits, through whom all blessing reaches us, rose from the dead eighteen hundred years ago, while the Church of the first-born, who are also called first-fruits, will not be gathered till the great Pentecost. Some are therefore freed from death before others; and even of the first-fruits, the Head of the body, as in every proper birth, is freed before the other members. So far it is clear that this purpose of God is wrought, not at once, but through successive ages. But this fact gives a hint of further mysteries, and some key to the "ages of 1 Acts ii. 19; Cant. iii. 6. 2 αἰῶνες. 4 Phil. iii. 11 ; τὴν ἐξανάστασιν, κ.τ.λ. 6 S. James i. 18; Rev. xiv. 4. 3 1 Cor. xv. 23. 5 Rev. xx. 5. |