Chapter XXXI

CHAPTER XXXI.

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"They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the honour, and the power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were, and were created."—Ekv. iv. 10-11.

IN chapter iv. of the Book of Eevelation we have the glory of God as Creator. The living creatures that are in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne have no rest, day nor night, as they sing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." As they show forth the glory of the Divine Person as Him who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down and worship Him in His works, and, casting their crowns before the throne, cry out, "Worthy art Thou to receive the glory and honour, for Thou didst create all things, and, because of Thy will they were, and were created." Then follows in chapter v. the glory of God as Redeemer, where the song of the ransomed, "Worthy art Thou," and of the angel hosts, "Worthy is the Lamb," is followed by the adoration of all creatures, " Blessing, honour, glory, be to Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever." Midway between the worship of God in the glory of His Divine Being as the Thrice Holy and Everliving One, and His glory of redemption with the Lamb in the midst of the throne, comes the glory of His Divine will as the Creator of all. "Worthy art Thou to receive the glory, for Thou hast created all things, and because of Thy will they were created." Our study of the will of God would be incomplete if we did not learn the place its worship has in heaven, and, from that, the place its worship ought to have in our hearts.

In heaven, where all veils are taken away, where everything is seen in the light of God, and God is known, the elders, at the thought that God has been pleased to will creation into existence, fall down on their faces in worship, cast their crowns before the throne, and give Him glory because of His will. God's glory shines out in His works. The connecting link between the glory of His Divine Person and of the works He has made is His will. This is the highest glory of creation, that the God of all glory has willed it, that it is the expression and embodiment of His all-perfect and almighty will, and so bears on it the stamp of His Divine glory. The glory of the Creator and the glory of the creature unite in the glory of the Divine will, the connecting link between the two. In heaven, creation is seen to be nothing but in every detail the manifestation of the presence, and power, and goodness of God. And the heavenly beings, as the mouthpiece and interpreter of creation, cease not to give glory to this All-creating "Will. And it is because they see the glory of God's will, and adore it, that they delight in doing it as it is done in heaven.

If we are to do God's will on earth as it is done in heaven, we need the same spirit of adoration and worship. Each of us needs to have our heart opened to the inconceivably wondrous thought, "Because of God's will I have, and am what I am. God has willed me into existence. That will maintains me every moment. In virtue of that will I am His redeemed child. On that will I can count to carry out its purpose and effect its object in me. Here I am, the workmanship of the glorious will of the Thrice Holy and Everliving God, as His handiwork partaking of and manifesting His glory. Every moment of my existence, every power of my being, may be the embodiment, the manifestation of God's will." Surely if our eyes and hearts are opened to see this, we too would fall prostrate and worship. "Thou art worthy to receive the glory, for because of Thy will we were created, and are what we are." And if we have as yet no crowns to cast before the throne, each of us has that which is as the crown of his being—his will, his heart, his life, his love, to offer to Him who sits upon the throne, as we ever say again, Thou art worthy to receive the glory, whose will has made us the objects of Thy creating and redeeming love.

It is to show forth in us the glory of His will that God created us. Does not this thought at the close of our meditations give new urgency to the call to live to the will of God? You remember how in our opening chapter we saw what the four great aspects are under which God's will is revealed to us. In regard to each of these, this adoring acknowledgment that we owe our being to God's will, will enable us all the better to give that will the place and the honour to which it has a claim. There is God's will in Providence. As I worship the will that brought me forth, and never for a moment ceases its work in me, and connect every trial that in Providence it allows to come to me, I shall be enabled to rejoice even in tribulation, and to bear all as part of that blessed will whose I am, and whom I serve. There is God's will in His Precepts. As I see how these have their origin in the will of Creating Love, and are the guides to that co-operation with Him which will ensure His perfecting His work in me, my whole heart welcomes every command with the same prostrate worship as that with which it gives glory to Him who sits on the throne. There is God's will in His Promises, These, too, acquire new preciousness, and certainty, and power, as so many assurances to an intelligent faith that the will that created and upholds all, cares in the minutest detail for our feebleness and need, and provides sufficient grace for a perfect correspondence on our part to what it is working in us. And then there is God's will in His eternal world-wide Purpose. The vision of the will that embraces all creation, has made me part of it, has made His own glory dependent on its and my own destiny, enlarges my heart to feel that my true and only glory is to yield myself a willing instrument to its service, and to live only that that will may triumph throughout the whole earth.

Oh, the glory of the will of God! In Him who sits upon the throne! In the Universe which He created to show forth that will! In the heavenly hosts who worship before the throne, where that will is enthroned in glory! In the Beloved Son, who came as man to do that will upon earth! In the heart of the believer, who has yielded his life to be conformed to it! In the Church, through which that will is working out its eternal purpose in the world! Oh, the glory of the will of God! Let us gaze, and worship, and give glory to God, until the will of God rule on the throne of our heart as on the throne of heaven, and be done in our life on earth as it is done in heaven.

Lord Jesus, who taught us to pray "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth," we look to Thee! Oh, teach us to live thus!