Part 10 (2/2)

And we can become so absorbed in our glorious Bridegroom that we shall be almost oblivious of adverse circ.u.mstances which may beset us. Yes, even this is possible: ”He that believeth in Me shall never see death!”

”I will receive you unto Myself.” The last obscuring veil is to be rent, and we are to see Him ”face to face.” And that will be home, for that will be satisfaction and peace. The deepest hunger of the soul will be gratified in a glorious contentment, and we shall find that ”the half hath not been told.”

MARCH The Fourth

_THE GREAT COMPANION_

JOHN xiv. 15-31.

And so even the road is to have the home-feeling in it. ”_I will not leave you orphans._” Yes; there is to be something of home even in the way to it. I find something of Devons.h.i.+re even in Dorsets.h.i.+re; Shrops.h.i.+re gives me a taste of Wales. My Lord will not leave me comfortless. Heaven runs over, and I find its bounty before I arrive at its gate. The ”Valley of Baca” becomes ”a well.”

And there are to be wonderful visions to speed the pilgrim's feet. ”_I will manifest Myself unto him._” At unexpected corners the glory will break! We shall be a.s.suming that we have picked up a common traveller, and suddenly we shall discover it is the Lord, for He will be made known to us ”in the breaking of bread.” And at many ”risings” of the road, where the climbing is stiff and burdensome, we shall be inspired with many a glorious view, and we shall see ”the land that is very far off.”

The one condition is, that I keep His word. If I am obedient, He will appear unto me, and the humdrum road will s.h.i.+ne with miracles of grace.

MARCH The Fifth

_THE TENT AND THE BUILDING_

2 CORINTHIANS v. 1-9.

At present we live in a tent--”_the earthly house of this tabernacle._”

And often the tent is very rickety. There are rents through which the rain enters, and it trembles ominously in the great storm. Some tents are frail from the very beginning, half-rotten when they are put up, and they have no defence even against the breeze. But even the strongest tent becomes weather-worn and threadbare, and in the long run it ”falls in a heap!” And what then?

We shall exchange the frail tent for the solid house! ”_If the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of G.o.d, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens._” When we are unclothed we shall find ourselves clothed with our house which is from heaven. The glory of this transition can only be confessed by ”the saints in light.”

To awake, and discover that the creaking, breaking cords are left behind, that all the leakages are over, that we are no longer exposed to the cutting wind, that pain is pa.s.sed, and sickness, and death--this must be a wonder of inconceivable ecstasy!

And ”absent from the body” we shall be ”present with the Lord.”

MARCH The Sixth

_HOME-LIFE IN G.o.d_

JOHN xvii. 20-26.

The home-life in G.o.d is to be a life of perfect union--”_I in them, and Thou in Me._” Home is only another name for union. It is the perfect fusion of life with life, the harmonizing of differences as many different notes combine to form the mystery of choral song. And so will it be in the home-land! Our manifold individualities will be retained, but we shall ”fit into one another,” and in the perfect harmony we shall hear the ”new song” of heaven.

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