Revelation 22:3-4 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:… I. WHAT PRESENCE OF GOD AND THE LAMB THIS PRESENCE UPON THE THRONE IS, WHICH MAKES HEAVEN, AND THE HAPPINESS OF IT, TO THE SAINTS. 1. The presence of His glory. So is the presence of God upon His throne expressed (Jude 1:24). By the glory of God is meant the conspicuous lustre of His perfections shining in the highest excellency of their brightness. 2. A second view of the presence of God upon His throne, that it is the facial presence of God, the presence of His face. For, in the next verse to our text, it is added, "His servants shall see His face." 3. His immediate presence, manifested no longer through obscuring mediums, as in our present state. 4. His countenancing presence. 5. The fixed and abiding presence of God and the Lamb. 6. An efficacious and influxive presence. II. SHEW, BY COMPARING SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE, WHAT MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY OF GOD, AND OF THE LAMB, THE SIMILITUDE OF A THRONE POINTS OUT UNTO US, AS PECULIAR TO HEAVEN. 1. The throne of God in heaven points out, that there is the highest manifestation of His absolute sovereignty and dominion over all. 2. The throne of God and of the Lamb being in this city, hints to us, that as kings use to display all their glory and majesty upon their thrones, so in heaven the shining excellency of His majesty is most bright, and the glory of His perfections most splendid. 3. A throne is the place where the deepest respect and homage of subjects is paid to their sovereign. Heaven is the place where God hath the most solemn worship from His creatures, all His courtiers attending about His throne with a pure love and glowing zeal. 4. A throne is a place where solemn addresses are presented and answered. It is to God in the heaven, upon a throne of grace, that we are directed to come with boldness, "that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." 5. The throne of God, and of the Lamb, expresseth this to us, that glorious Christ appears not only in His Father's glory, which is naturally His, as He is one God with the Father, but also in that glory, honour and majesty, conferred upon Him as man and Mediator, as the reward of His sufferings and obedience. III. SHEW HOW THE THRONE OF GOD AND THE LAMB, BEING IN HEAVEN, CONTRIBUTETH TO THE HAPPINESS OF ITS INHABITANTS. 1. All contraries to happiness are inconsistent with this presence of God and the Lamb; and therefore the least opposite to blessedness can never enter into this city where this throne is. 2. As the throne of God and the Lamb, being in this city, excludeth all contraries and opposites to blessedness, so it is an immediate productive cause of the most perfect positive happiness to the utmost capacity of all its inhabitants. 3. The glory of the mediation of our Redeemer will appear to all eternity, in this city, as the procuring cause of all the happiness the saints possess in it, and the glorious Mediator Himself shall remain for ever as the mean through whom the glory and blessedness of God shall be seen by, and communicated to the saints in heaven.Uses: 1. Doth the throne of God and the Lamb make the happiness of the heavenly Jerusalem, by its being there? then, how dreadful will your misery be, who shall for ever be shut out of this city where this throne shall be. (1) Your loss, of being banished from the presence of God and the Lamb, will be infinite. (2) You shall then have a full sense of the greatness of your loss: here it doth not affect you, because you know not the infinite excellency of God and Christ; but then your eyes will be opened, and your understandings cleared to know this, and so the greatness of your loss, from what you shall see of the glory of Christ upon His tribunal. (3) If you are banished from the presence of God and the Lamb, and from this city where the throne of God and the Lamb is, you will be shut up in hell under positive torments. 2. The people of God should comfort themselves in the hope of being for ever where the throne of God and the Lamb shall be. (1) This comfort is to you who have received a whole Christ as Prophet, Priest and King, and believe upon Him with a Divine, practical, heart-purifying, and life-sanctifying faith. (2) This comfort is to you, who repent and are converted from all sin, in affection, in purpose and endeavour, unto God and His way; who have ceased to do evil, and learned to do well. (3) This comfort appertains to the upright. (James Robe, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: |
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