the presence of God from The
Night Watches by John McDuff. In your presence is fullness
of joy. Psalm 16 verse 11. Even in this world, where the
Christian can only dimly apprehend God, how sweet is the sense of
His presence and friendship and love. What will it be in that
eternal world, where he is seen in open vision? If the foretaste
is blessed, what must be the fruition? If the rays of the
divine glory are gladdening, what must be the full blaze of
that sun itself? Believer, do you often delight
to pause in your journey? Does faith love to ascend its
Pisgah mount and get a prospect of this land of promise? What
is the grand future, an element which swallows up all the circumstantials
in your future bliss? Let patriarchs, prophets, and
apostles answer. It is your presence. In my flesh
I shall see God, says one. I shall be satisfied, says another,
when I awake with your likeness. They shall see his face, says
a third. Amid all the glowing visions
of a coming heaven granted to John and Patmos, there is one
all-glorious object that has ever a peerless and distinctive
preeminence, God Himself. There is no sun. Why? For the Lord God gives them light.
There is no temple. Why? For the Lord God and the
Lamb are the temple thereof. The saints dwell in holy brotherhood.
But what is the mighty bond of their union, their chief joy? He who sits on the throne shall
dwell among them. They have no longer the intervention
of ordinances and means. Why? Because the Lamb who is
in the midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them to living
fountains of waters. They no longer draw on the storehouses
of the promises. Why? Because God himself shall
wipe away all the tears from their eyes. Reader, here is a
true penial. where you will see God face to
face. Here is the true Mahanam, where
the angels of God meet you. In heaven is the true communion
of saints, the glorious fellowship of prophets, the goodly fellowship
of the apostles, the noble army of the martyrs. Yet all these
will be subservient and subordinate to the first, the vision and
fruition of God. Even the recognition of death-divided
loved ones, that sweet element in the believer's prospect of
bliss, will pale in comparison before this glory that excels.
Are you among these pure in heart who are to see God? Remember,
the Bible's solemn warning, without holiness no man shall see the
Lord. Remember its solemn admonition,
and every man who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself
even as he is pure. To see God, oh what preparation
is needed for so magnificent a contemplation. infinite unworthiness
and nothingness to stand in the presence of infinite majesty,
purity and glory. Can I wonder at the much discipline
required before I can be thus presented faultless before the
presence of His glory? How will these needed furnace
fires be dimmed into nothing when viewed from the sapphire
throne? Heart and flesh may be fainting
and failing, but remembering that the same God is now the
strength of my heart, who is to be my portion forever, I may
joyfully say, I will both lie down and sleep in peace. For
you alone, O Lord, make me live in safety. Psalm 4 verse 8