In considering the state of the world as foretold in prophecy preparatory to the advent of our blessed Lord, we have been led thus far to much matter of a distressing character; we have had to draw the picture of a busy world steeped in apathy, and a professing church full of apostacy; the prospect has in very truth been fearful, gloomy, and disheartening; but we are now to turn to brighter topics, and draw our thoughts to the beloved family of God’s faithful children, to the little band of justified believers, to those that are new born of God, to the blessed church of God’s elect: we are to examine prophecy respecting them; we are to search into their character, joys, and sorrows; and to gather from the testimony of the Spirit the condition in which they will be found at the advent of our Lord.
I. They will be found scattered throughout society.
Our Lord prayed for his people, “not that they should be taken out of the world, but that they should be kept from the evil;” and we are never to expect to find them externally separate from the surrounding world. They will not be gathered together in separate states and villages; there will not be one village of unbelievers and another of believers; but there will be some of both classes every where. The tares will grow with the wheat, and the wheat with the tares. This appears very plainly from the prophecy of our Lord already referred to; “I tell you, In that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left;” Luke, xvii. 34–36. This passage describes the separation of God’s children from the world, or the gathering in of God’s elect; and the point which at present we would particularly observe is this, that up to the very crisis they are together in society, in the same bed, the same shop, the same field; there is no visible separation, no drawing off from the duties of common life; all are together to the very night of the advent.
II. And we may remark, secondly, that the saints of God will not be distinguished by any ecclesiastical system.
There is a natural craving in the human mind for something tangible and visible. Hence the origin of idolatry; men want to see the object of their worship, and so create for themselves an image. Hence also the craving after that which God has declared impossible, a visible church free from error; an outward form inseparable from inward grace; a pure, holy, spotless framework, which, excluding all others, shall embrace in its system the whole of God’s elect. But this second fiction is quite as impossible as the first, and there is no more expectation of seeing God’s elect embodied in a form than of seeing God himself represented in an image. [51] God’s children are a scattered family; scattered not merely as to place but as to discipline. In saying this we do not undervalue a Scriptural discipline, or regard episcopacy as a thing which may be set aside at pleasure: as we find it in the bible we give thanks also that we find it in our church. But what we mean is this, that God’s grace is not tied down to ecclesiastical machinery; that a true church cannot command it, a defective church cannot exclude it. None can bind the life-giving power of the Spirit.
Thus all the descriptions of the saints of God in the latter days describe them not by outward form, but by inward grace; the distinguishing features are always spiritual, never ecclesiastical; they refer to character, not discipline. For example: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed;” Isaiah, lxvi. 5. There can be no doubt as to the date of this prophecy; it plainly carries us right up to the advent. “He shall appear to your joy.” Nor can there be any doubt again as to the persons addressed in it; they are the blessed company of the saved in distinction to the miserable multitude of the lost. “He shall appear to your joy.” And now how are they described? He does not say “Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye that are correct in your ecclesiastical arrangements; ye whose ministers are possessed of Apostolical succession;” nor “ye that are in communion with the Pope of Rome;” but “ye that tremble at his word.” Whoever therefore receives in faith the promises of the bible; whoever is brought by God’s Spirit blessing those promises to believe on Jesus, whoever he be, and wherever he be, whether he be churchman, dissenter, or even Romanist, that man is safe, and the Lord Jesus “shall appear for his joy.” [53]
It is just the same in the book of Revelation. In that remarkable prophecy we have repeated mention of the saints in direct contrast with the apostacy of the latter days: we have in several passages their portrait clearly drawn, as if to leave no doubt as to their character when that last peril should gather around the faith. Now this description is always of a spiritual character. The seed of the woman are those “which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ;” xii. 17. “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus;” xiv. 12. “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful;” xvii. 14. In all these passages there is not one word of outward form, they refer exclusively to inward life.
But still more. A corrupt church cannot exclude divine grace; for we have in this book a full description of the great apostacy which is to swallow up all other heresies in the latter days. In chap. xvii. and xviii. it is described under the name of “Babylon.” There is, we know, a difference of opinion as to the application of this prophecy. It may be an open question whether or not it applies to Rome. But on one thing all are agreed—that it is a description of a tremendous ecclesiastical apostacy which will be destroyed at the advent of the Lord. Now chapter xviii, gives a description of its fall,—a fall predicted in immediate connexion with the advent: “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird;” v. 2. And the remarkable point is this, that even in Babylon, just at the period of her fall, there shall be found scattered a little band of the chosen saints of God; for what saith the angels cry? “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues;” v. 4. Even there, and even then, will be some of the chosen people of the Lord.
But, on the other hand, a pure church cannot secure divine grace. A Scriptural liturgy, and Scriptural articles, cannot secure a Scriptural people. There will be weeds in the garden, as well as flowers in the waste. This appears very plainly from the parable of the virgins. There can be no doubt of the reference of this parable to the visible church before the advent. It is a description of those who professed to be waiting for the bridegroom. Now we see in the ten virgins a perfect oneness of ecclesiastical form. There was no visible difference between the foolish and the wise. They were watching together; they professed allegiance to the same bridegroom; they had the same vessels, and the same lamps; the passer by could have seen no difference: the distinction was within, not without; and because the oil was wanting to the foolish, the bridegroom said, “I never knew you.”
We are brought therefore to the conclusion that the saints of God will not be distinguished by ecclesiastical system. There will be nothing in them which the world can see, except it be the fruit of the Spirit. There will be no outward form, which can stamp them certainly as the elect of God. They will be knit to Christ by a living union, but the tie will be invisible. They will have the Father’s name written on the forehead, but no mortal eye can discern the character. They will be sealed by the seal of the Spirit, but there will be nothing external to enable man to pronounce with certainty upon their safety.