<< Revelation 4 >>

  1After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up  hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. 2And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 3And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. 4And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

 5And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 7And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. 8And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

 9And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, 10The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying 11Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

 It treats of the arrangement and preparation of all things in heaven for the judgment, to be executed from the Word, and according to it; likewise concerning the acknowledgment that the Lord is the only judge.

Spiritual Correspondences

 Verse 1. "After these things, I saw and behold a door opened in heaven,"
 
 A manifestation concerning the arrangement of the heavens preparatory to the Last Judgment from the Lord, about to be performed according to His Divine truths in the Word.
 
 "And the first voice which I heard, as of a trumpet, speaking with me, said, Come up hither,"
 
 Divine influx, and thence an elevation of the mind, followed by manifest perception.
 
 "And I will show thee the things which must be hereafter,"
 
 Revelations of things to come before the Last Judgment, and concerning it, and after it.
 
 Verse 2. "And immediately I was in the spirit,"
 
 He was let into a spiritual state, in which the things which exist in heaven manifestly appear.
 
 "And, behold, a throne was set in heaven,"
 
 The Judgment in a representative form.
 
  "And One sitting on the throne,"
 
  The Lord.
 
 Verse 3. "And He that sat was in appearance like a jasper and a sardine stone,"
 
  The appearance of the Lord's Divine wisdom and Divine love in ultimates.
 
 "And there was a rainbow round about the throne in appearance like an emerald,"
 
 The appearance of the same also round about the Lord.
 
 Verse 4. "And round about the throne were four-and-twenty thrones, and upon the thrones I saw four-and-twenty elders sitting,"
 
 The arrangement of all things in heaven preparatory to the Judgment.
 
 "Clothed in white garments,"
 
  From the Divine truths of the Word.
 
 "And they had on their heads golden crowns,"
 
 The things which are of wisdom from love.
 
 Verse 5. "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunders, and voices,"
 
 Enlightenment, perception, and instruction from the Lord.
 
 "And there were seven lamps of fire before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God,"
 
 The New Heaven from among Christians.
 
 Verse 6. "And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, there were four animals,"
 
 The Word of the Lord from first to ultimates, and its guards.
 
 "Full of eyes before and behind,"
 
 The Divine wisdom therein.
 
  Verse 7. "And the first animal was like a lion,"
 
  The Divine truth of the Word as to power.
 
 "And the second animal like a calf,"
 
  The Divine truth of the Word as to affection.
 
 "And the third animal having a face like a man,"
 
 The Divine truth of the Word as to wisdom.
 
 "And the fourth animal was like a flying eagle,"
 
 The Divine truth of the Word as to knowledges and thence understanding.
 
 Verse 8. "And the four animals each by himself had six wings about him,"
 
 The Word as to its powers and as to its guards.
 
 "And they were full of eyes within,"
 
 The Divine Wisdom in the Word in its natural sense from its spiritual and celestial sense.
 
 "And they had no rest day and night, saying, `Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,"
 
 That the Word continually teaches the Lord, and that He alone is God, and thence that He alone is to be worshiped.
 
 "Who was, and who is, and who is to come,"
 
 The Lord.
 
Verse 9.  "And when the animals gave glory, and honor, and thanks to Him that sat upon the throne,"
 
  The Word ascribes all truth, and all good, and all worship to the Lord Who is to judge.
 
 "Who liveth for ages of ages,"
 
 The Lord alone is life, and that life eternal is from Him alone.
 
 Verse 10. "The four-and-twenty elders fell down before Him that sat on the throne, and adored Him that liveth for ages of ages,"
 
 The humiliation of all in heaven before the Lord.
 
 "And cast their crowns before the throne,"
 
 The acknowledgment that their wisdom is from Him alone.
 
 Verse 11. " Saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power,"
 
 The kingdom is the Lord's by merit and justice, because He is the Divine truth and the Divine good.
 
 "For Thou hast created all things, and by Thy will they are, and were created,"
 
 All things of heaven and the church were made and formed, and men reformed and regenerated from the Lord's Divine love by His Divine wisdom, or from His Divine good by His Divine truth, which also is the Word.
 
Author: Emanuel Swedenborg (Apocalypse Revealed)

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THE THRONE IN HEAVEN, THE FOUR BEASTS, AND THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS.

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IN the fourth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and at the 9th, 10th, and 11th verses, you will find the Word of the Lord thus written: And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

In our remarks on Sunday evening last, we pointed out that there were two great leading lessons that were afforded in the contemplation of these magnificent scenes in the Book of Revelation. The first is the lesson that the kingdom of heaven--the kingdom which to us is like Canaan was to the Israelites--the land whither we go to possess it--is not so distant as is commonly imagined. In more senses than one this was unfolded by Our Lord in the gospel--the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is a comfort thus to familiarize ourselves with this important idea, for it enables us to understand that when that period shall come, which is almost the only thing of which we are really certain, the termination of our life here and our entrance upon our everlasting home, that we are not to go into some far distant, unknown, altogether incomprehensible state of being, but that it is simply, as explained by the Lord Jesus, as sleeping and waking.

The second lesson is the history of the Church.

You remember in the account of the Lords Divine goodness in relation to Lazarus, we are told, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. And this is really all. Death is as a stage in our progress. It is a sleeping in time, and waking in eternity. It is a grand thing to be familiar with this glorious lesson, amidst the varied ups and downs of this life’s changing scenes, amidst the different appearances of things around us, some pleasant and some unpleasant, to look up, and feel, with one of our poets:

This world is all a fleeting show,
For mans illusion given,
The smiles of joy, the tears of woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow,
There’s nothing true but heaven

It is a grand thing to feel that this true and glorious state of being is all around us, and when we come to the condition in which we resign all the shades of time, very soon we awaken, and our angelic friends are near us as they were when the Savior went through the sleep of death, and there were angels at His head and at His feet, so will it be with us. He has given His angels charge concerning us here, and He has given His angels charge concerning us there, and if we have but learned to obtain the victory over the evil passions of our false nature, then these angelic voices will soon be heard welcoming us. O death where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory. We too, like John, shall hear angelic voices, we shall hear the most delightful music, and see the blessed friends of our eternal home. We shall find ourselves with the loving servants of the Lord Jesus, who said to John, Fear not, I am the First and the Last.

This nearness of the spiritual world is shewn by the circumstance of these scenes being immediately present with John when he was in the Isle of Patmos, without his going to any distant region; still, while he was bodily present on earth, his spiritual sight being opened. That was all the change that took place. Then he saw either in the world of spirits, or intermediate state, where some of the scenes were represented, or in heaven itself, as in the case now before us. It is said, And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And then he proceeds to describe the various circumstances which were thus presented to his spiritual sight.

In considering this subject you will notice that he saw heaven itself, and then a throne set in heaven. He describes the aspect of the One who sat on the throne, then of the four living ones, rather unfortunately denominated beasts. The real expression in the original language is tessara zoa, simply, four living ones. Resides these there were four and twenty elders who were seen near, and who composed the rest of this sublime picture, which was shown to St. John in heaven. These were not definite, distinct personal existences, but heavenly representations.

I have called your attention to this circumstance because, as we mentioned in our first discourse, it is one of the laws of the inner world to present the appearances visibly of such things as are intended to be taught. The real person of the Lord was not seen as a lion or a lamb, or as having a sword extending from His mouth. It was not the real person of the Lord, but a representation, nor was this throne really heaven. It was in heaven, and it was a representation of heaven. In studying the varied parts of the description, we shall see how very beautiful and how very important are the lessons that come from meditating upon these divine representations. Some persons have a very limited and exceedingly inadequate idea of the heavenly world. They are in the habit of thinking that heaven is a comparatively small place, as if it were end. A comparatively small number of people are allowed to enter, and all the rest of mankind are rejected. But this is altogether an inadequate description of the most glorious collection of the good and the true, from the solar system, and not from this system alone. We shall easily obtain far more extensive ideas of heaven itself if we think, for a moment even, of our own world. Twelve hundred million of human beings leave our earth in each generation of thirty-three years, or thereabouts. These people pass into the eternal world, and some narrow minds think very few out of these will get to heaven. They imagine that only those, at best, that have heard something of the gospel have any well-founded expectation of ever getting to heaven, and of these only those that interpret the gospel in their way, have any secure warrant of getting in. They must just hold to their particular notions, or else there is no possibility for them of everlasting happiness. But this is ascribing the prejudices of narrow minds to the Judge of all the earth, who always does right. There is no authority whatever for any such curtailment of the Divine mercy and love, and I am thoroughly satisfied that he comes much nearer to the Divine way of teaching who says:

Let not this weak and erring hand,
       Presume Thy bolts to throw,
Nor deal damnation round the land,
       On each I judge thy foe.

You may depend upon it, that none will be admitted to heaven because of his particular notions; none will be rejected from heaven because you happen to differ from him; it will depend upon whether he has lived uprightly and lovingly to what he believes to be true. If he has not got quite all the truth now, he will get it in the eternal world, for they love honest minds there. Other sheep have I the Lord Jesus said which are not of this fold: them also must I bring, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd. Oh yes, the good heathen that have lived more faithfully perhaps to their light, than many of the tenants around St. Pauls do up to theirs, will surely be received in heaven. The good of every land and clime will be welcomed by the God who made all lands, who makes His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, Thou hast created all things, the blessed ones who glorified the Lord, in the words of our text declare, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. He has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. The pleasure of the Lord is, to raise to happiness all that are capable of happiness, not one child of His was ever intended for anything else, than to be blessed in as much happiness as his obedience and capabilities would admit. It is not the will of our Father Who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Well, this then will help us to see, that even if the majority of the twelve hundred million that pass away about every thirty years get to heaven (and I have no doubt that will be the case), and we multiply those hundreds of millions, by the generations we know to have existed on this earth, how grand an assembly is the kingdom of heaven.

But we must not think of this world only, we are but one of thousands of worlds, nay, of thousands of suns, each sun having also its hundreds of worlds revolving round it, and each world being a school, out of which the Lord is forming immortal children. Gods love is infinite. We have no more adequate conception of the grandeur of His universe, in all these respects, than the tiny ant running about its little hill in a field, has to the greatness of the world about it. all are under the Lords eye, and in His glorious bosom of love, all these are noticed that He may make them happy. And if the millions of suns were multiplied by millions, that would still be nothing to the infinite affection of the Infinite Lord, He desires perpetually to pour out His happiness, to ever increasing numbers, while generation after generation rolls on.

All thought is lost and reason drowned,
       In the immense survey,
We cannot fathom the profound,
       Nor trace Jehovahs way.

Let us then comfort ourselves, my beloved friends, with these things, and feel how great a God, how glorious a Lord, how Divine a work is that which is opened up by this magnificent view of the kingdom of the heavens.

The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works; Jesus is the Saviour of all, because He is the only God.

Let me then ask you not to suppose that you have got a view of all heaven in what is described here, but only that you have a view of a representation in heaven, that was presented before the spiritual eye of St. John, in order that his readers might study the elements of heaven, the real character of the Divine Being and of His glorious operations.

John says, I saw a throne in heaven, a representation of a large throne, and heaven is regarded in scripture as Gods throne, because He is enthroned in the hearts or the angels.

The Lord God governs by His Holy Spirit every angel in heaven, fills with the sphere of His love, their whole souls, and thus governs them as a king governs on his throne. He is enthroned in their affections, and there is not an angel in heaven but embosoms Him in his inmost being, and delights to bless their King who rules with the golden scepter of His love and wisdom. This is to regard heaven as Gods throne.

You remember how oft3en, in the sacred volume, a throne stands for heaven. The first verse of the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah contains a very grand instance. Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. But it is not that the Lord puts His feet literally upon the earth, nor more than He sits literally upon a seat in heaven; it means that by the lower laws of His being, as the feet of the Deity, he governs and arranges all things in the world; the laws of His Divine Providence govern all the earth earth is His footstool; and by the laws of His inner life and wisdom He governs all things in heaven. Heaven is Gods throne.

So when each single heart receives the Saviors loving, guiding, and blessed influence, it becomes a throne on which He sits. It is this, therefore, that was pictured by One represented as sitting on the throne, and that One was evidently the Lord Jesus Christ, the same glorious Being whom I endeavored to describe to you in our last discourse--He is the One sitting on the throne.

He is described as the One Who liveth for ever and ever. If you will turn back to the 18th verse of the 1st chapter, upon which we dwelt in the previous discourse, you will find that such is precisely one of the attributes of the Lord Jesus: I am He that liveth and was dead, He says, and behold I live for evermore; for the words of the original, for evermore, are precisely the same as the words of this chapter, I live for ever and ever. Whenever, therefore, we read subsequently of the worship which is offered by adoring and falling down before Him who liveth for ever and ever it describes the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, who announces Himself with the passage I have just named as having the keys of hell and of death, and says, I live for ever and ever.

His appearance it is said, was to look upon like a Jasper and a Sardine stone, Jasper is the symbol of the utmost cleanness, and it represents the glorious beauty of the Divine Wisdom of the Lord. The Sardine stone is red, and represents the Divine Love. The Divine Love of the Lord all glowing, and the Divine Wisdom of the Lord all bright. These were what were presented to us, the face of the Divine Redeemer.

It is further written and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. The rainbow round about, represents the Divine Love, and Wisdom, accommodated to those who form the outer circles of the happy.

The green stone, the emerald, corresponds to the truths of the letter of the Holy Word. You know green is the color most agreeable to tender eyes, it is a common color of nature--all grass is green. When we have just entered upon a new life, the truth we see is just like the color of the emerald, it is the bow of hope, the bow of promise, only green yet, but it is the green of those sacred pastures, of which is written, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters. To represent the Lord as blessing all the heavens, His loving influences to illuminate and bless the inner circles of the angels, are as the jasper and the sardine stone; and those adapted to lower ranks of the happy multitudes, as the rainbow like the emerald.

And then John says, In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living ones. I have already mentioned the very unhappy rendering that we have here beasts. But we shall easily see what is meant, when we know that in the sacred volume, love and life are interchangeable things. Life is described in scripture, as the principle of love, which makes the good man warm in good things. God is life: I am the resurrection and the life the Lord Jesus says. To be spiritually minded, says the Apostle, is life. When a person is a recipient of heavenly affection, it makes him alive to all that is good and right, hence heaven has for one of its appellations, the land of the living. I had fainted unless I had hoped to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the LIVING. It is the land of the living because it is the land of the LOVING. You will not come unto Me, the Lord Jesus said, that you may have life. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you, I am come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.

These four living ones were just the representation of the distinct principles which form heaven; that make men into angels. These were the things which were represented in the midst of the throne, shewing the principles that prevail in the very midst, and are the very center of heaven; they constitute the essence and form of all the blessedness there. They are in the midst of heaven, and round about heaven.

They were full of eyes before and behind. Regenerated minds are filled with heavenly affections, and these give heavenly discernment both before and behind, both within and around, they see what is good and true, and they acknowledge the Divine Goodness in all things. These affections prompt the adoring confession, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. Let us dwell a little on the particulars.

The first living one was like a lion; the second like a calf; the third had a face as man; the fourth was like a flying eagle. The order here is the order of the regenerate life. The first thing when a person begins to turn away from an unhappy course of life, and to enter upon a better life, is to have the courage of goodness. He will never realize the course that he set out to attain if he has not a brave courageousness, a determination to act up to the purpose that he sees to be right. The lion has a double signification in Scripture, as in fact have all things; the bravery of goodness is expressed by a lion, also the boldness of the bad; a bold bad man who has become fiendish in his character, is represented often in Scripture, as a lion tearing to pieces. The devil is said to go about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That is the lion in its bad signification. But on the other hand, a person receives the truth, when he is satisfied that the Lords will concerning him is that he should become an angel, he must dare to say no when he is enticed to do wrong. He must become as a young lion daring to do right, daring to speak what is right, daring to say to any one who would fain entice him into evil company, I dont go there. When the young prince, afterwards Henry V., became a Reformed character, it became one of the things remarked of him, that if any one ventured to suggest what was improper or false, he at once said, impossible that cannot be done. A young christian must just be of that character, when anyone suggests what is unjust, mean, or untrue, he must say, Impossible; that cannot e done; he must be like a young lion, not a pert sermonizer of others, but a courageous champion of what is right. He must in this respect be one of those described in the 11th chapter of Isaiah, where the happy condition of things is portrayed to us; The young lion and the calf and the fatling shall lie down together, or as in Micah, (chap. V. and 8 ver.) And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peo9ple as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

The next quality point3ed out to John is represented by the living one like a calf. The calf represents the new born spirit of obedience. You know oxen and animals of this class are patient, plodding, servants. In Eastern countries they are yoked together just patiently and quietly, to bring out their strength in the work of agriculture. The Lord represents these as types, when he says My yoke is easy. The Lord teaches such souls, and they go on ploughing the good ground, and preparing it for good seed. It is of these that it is said in the last chapter of Malachi, verse 2, Ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall, and again, Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn. Hosea x., 11.

The spirit of obedience, the kindly quiet plodding of a man who not only resists what is evil, but does what is god, this is that which is represented by the second living one being like the calf, and every young soul must thus purpose to do what is right in his daily work.

In doing his duty from hour to hour, and time to time, feel from day to day, that he is walking in the Lords path; then he gets a second feature of the angels character.

It is next said that the third living one had a face as a man. When a person has got into the habit of doing right because it is right, after a little time he comes into that state in which he acquires a wise and heavenly manliness. Manliness in scripture represents a state of mind in which we discern what is right by reflection, and do it because it is right. Animals act from instinct and impulse; a true man from rational reflection, thus the Lord describes heaven as being the abode of true humanity, of angelic men. In the 1st ver., 5th Jeremiah, you will read, Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. And in the chapter going before, the Prophet describes the decay of things all around him (25th verse), I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens are fled.

Now the angels are all men of this class. They would not stoop to anything that is wrong. The third living affection is represented by having the face of a man. In common conversation the remark is often heard concerning a worthless individual, well, thats no man. He has not the principles of a man within him. All the angels, however, are heavenly men, and therefore true men.

Then, lastly, it is said that the fourth living one was like a flying eagle, because the eagle, you know, is the bird that has a wide expanse of vision. That bird sees far around, and it represents the capacity for large thought, for sublime reflection, for perpetual progress. Each soul in heaven is continually going on, and beholding more of the Wisdom of the Lord. Their progress is like the flight of the eagle in all that is true, beautiful, and good. They realize this in heaven still more than on earth; This is meant when it said in the last verse of the 40th Isaiah, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. In heaven all classes of the happy ones are making perpetual advancement to higher and grander attainments for ever and ever.

The living ones had, each of them, six wings about him, because these describe truths which defend and protect them in all directions.

Such, then, is the description that is here given of the principles that form heaven. They permeate the angels within and around. These are the things that are in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne.

The four and twenty elders are the representation of those wise ones who embody these principles in themselves. Those who were wise enough to embody heavenly affections in themselves were thus symbolized. The four living ones of heaven, ceasing not day and night, saying Holy, Holy, Holy, teach the gracious lesson that Love never sleeps. Love is like the blood of the soul, it always circulates. Blood is the life of the body, and love is the life of the soul. The life of heaven, which is love always saying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! When these blessed emotions are filling the minds of the happy, represented by the four and twenty elders, they fall down on their faces and worship God. They cast their crowns before Him.

This act represents that every victory achieved is from the Lord. There is no merit, there cannot be any merit, in man or angel. By the grace of God we are what we are. Not a hair of our head is our own, not a faculty of the body or mind but is His gift. Every grace which we have or shall have, every victory over self which we have achieved, or shall achieve, all our progress, all things that are good on earth or in heaven, are the gifts of the Savior God. He has created all things, and for His pleasure--the pleasure of making immortal beings happy--the pleasure of making men and women into angels of His kingdom.

The crowns imply conflict and victory, again and again, and such is the Christian life. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crowd of life.

The work of repentance is a conflict, and requires faithful self-examination, and acknowledgment of our actual sins, and then a resolute resistance steadily maintained. There is a general admission of being sinners which is often and readily made, when the words come readily, but unaccompanied by deep and penitent thought. This is not the temper which fights a battle, or wins a crown.

The genuine Christian will see his sin, his individual misdoing or shortcoming, and pray earnestly to the Lord Jesus for strength to reform and overcome his bad habits. The battle, or rather the campaign of the Christian life, is one that must be faithfully fought out under the Captain of our Salvation, and by His help we are sure to win. There are intervals of rest, of happiness and peace, but when temptation comes, we must renew our efforts, and win another crown.

Every Heavenly Virtue we attain becomes supreme with us, and thus a Crown--a Crown of Life. There are three great stages of spiritual progress, first, OBEDIENCE; second, HEAVENLY INTELLIGENCE; and third, a state of SUPREME CELESTIAL LOVE.

The first is the struggle against outward sin, and to attain to conformity with the Divine Commandments the drunkard must become sober, the swearer curse no more, the violent must become gentle, the impure virtuous, and the fraudulent upright.


These victories can be attained, and the Crowns of Life be worn, if we are faithful, and pray to Him for strength, Who says for ever to the penitent spirit, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We must not, however, be satisfied with obedience only, we must strive for heavenly intelligence. The letter of the Bible has many grand truths, but the spirit is grander still.

There are the pearls of great price; there is the hidden manna; there the white stone.

We must hunger and thirst after these treasures, and we shall be satisfied.

To the fervent disciple who has done his Lords will in the first degree, the Divine voice comes again and again, Arise, shine, for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord has arisen over thee. He advances from light to light, even to the perfect day. Crowns of heavenly intelligence are his. He struggles, seeks, finds, and rejoices in treasures that never fade away.

But a higher class remains, the class of celestial love. These are they with whom purity of motive, and lamb-like innocence are the ever desired attainments. They are more than conquerors, they live in peace. They are in the midst of the throne. They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.

As each of these states becomes accomplished and supreme in the soul, it becomes a crown, and all who win these crowns know that their entire light, succor, strength, and triumph have come from the Lord Jesus Who created all things, redeemed all souls, saves all the faithful from their sins, and pours His joys into all the blessed.

All these things come from Him that liveth for ever and ever, and Whom, with the angels, let us for ever bless. Thou, Lord, hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

To Him be glory for ever and ever.

Author: JONATHAN BAYLEY----- THE MAGNIFICENT SCENES IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION (1878)