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T H E By J O H N.B U N Y A N, A Servant of the Lord's Christ. 1665. Written from Bedford Prison. |
Having thus in brief shewed you something concerning the resurrection of the
saints, and that they shall count with their Lord at his coming, both for the burning
up what was not according to the truth, and rewarding them for all their good. It
remains, that I now in few words,
FOURTH, Shew you something also of that with which they shall be rewarded.
THE REWARD OF THE JUST.
irst then, those that shall be found in the day of their resurrection,
when they shall have all their good things brought upon the stage; they I say, that
then shall be found the people most laborious for God while here; they shall at that
day enjoy the greatest portion of God, or shall be possessed with most of the glory
of the Godhead then. For that is the portion of saints in general (Rom 8:17; Lam
3:24). And why shall he that doth most for God in this world, enjoy most of him in
that which is to come? But because by doing and acting, the heart, and every faculty
of the soul is enlarged, and more capacitated, whereby more room is made for glory.
Every vessel of glory shall at that day be full of it; but every one will not be
capable to contain a like measure; and so if they should have it communicated to
them, would not be able to stand under it; for there is "an eternal weight in
the glory that saints shall then enjoy" (2 Cor 4:17), and every vessel must
be at that day filled–that is, have its heavenly load of it.
All Christians have not the same enjoyment of God in this life, neither indeed were
they able to bear it if they had it (1 Cor 3:2). But those Christians that are most
laborious for God in this world, they have already most of him in their souls, and
that not only because diligence in God's ways, is the means whereby God communicates
himself; but also because thereby the senses are made more strong, and able, by reason
of use, to understand God, and to discern both good and evil (Heb 5:13,14). To him
that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance (Matt 13:11,12).
He that laid out his pound for his master, and gained ten therewith, he was made
ruler over ten cities; but he that by his pound gained but five, he was made ruler
over but five (Luke 19:16-19). Often, he that is best bred in his youth, he is best
able to manage most, when he is a man, touching things of this life (Dan 1:3,4);
but always he that is best bred, and that is most in the bosom of God, and that so
acts for him here; he is the man that will be best able to enjoy most of God in the
kingdom of heaven. It is observable that Paul saith, "Our - affliction - - worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor 4:17). Our afflictions
do it, not only because there is laid up a reward for the afflicted, according to
the measure of affliction; but because afflictions, and so every service of God,
doth make the heart more deep, more experimental, more knowing and profound; and
so more able to hold, contain, and bear more (Psa 119:71). "Every man shall
receive his own reward, according to his own labour" (1 Cor 3:8). And this is
the reason of such sayings as these–Lay up for yourselves a good foundation against
the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life (1 Tim 6:19), which eternal
life, is not the matter of our justification from sin in the sight of God; for that
is done freely by grace, through faith in Christ's blood; (but here the apostle speaks
of giving of alms) but it is the same that in the other place he calls "the
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And hence it is that he in
his stirring them up to be diligent in good works, doth tell them, that he doth not
exhort them to it because he wanted, but because he would have "fruit that might
abound to their account" (Phil 4:17); as he saith also in another place, "Beloved
brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch
as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor 15:58). Therefore
I say, the reward that the saints shall have at this day for all the good they have
done, it is the enjoyment of God, according to their works: though they shall be
freely justified and glorified without works.
Second, As the enjoyment of God at that day, will be to the saints, according to
their works and doings–I speak not now of justification from sin–so will their praise
and commendations at that day, be according to the same, and both of them their degrees
of glory; for I say, as God by communicating of himself unto us at that day, will
thereby glorify us, so also he will for the adding all things that may furnish with
glory every way, cause to be proclaimed in the face of heaven, and in the presence
of all the holy angels; everything that hath for God, his ways, and people, been
done by us while here we have been. "Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall
be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall
be proclaimed upon the housetops" (Luke 12:2,3). Again, He that "shall
confess me," saith Christ, "before men, him will I confess also before
my Father which is in heaven" (Matt 10:32).
Now as he of whom Christ is ashamed when he comes in his glory, and in the glory
of the holy angels, will then lie under inconceivable disgrace, shame, dishonour,
and contempt: so he whom Christ shall confess, own, commend, and praise at that day,
must needs have very great dignity, honour, and renown, "for then shall every
man have praise of God"–to wit, according to his works (1 Cor 4:5). Now will
Christ proclaim before thee and all others what thou hast done, and what thou hast
suffered, what thou hast owned, and what thou hast withstood for his name (Mark 8:38).
This is he that forsook his goods, his relations, his country, and life for me: this
is the man that overcame the flatteries and threats, allurements and enticings, of
a whole world for me; behold him, he is an Israelite indeed (John 1:47), the top
man in his generation, "none like him in all the earth" (Job 1:8). It is
said, that when king Ahasuerus had understanding of how good service Mordecai the
Jew had done to and for him, he commanded that the royal apparel and the crown, with
the horse that the king did ride on, should be given to him, and that he should with
that crown, apparel, and horse, be had through the city, in the presence of all his
nobles, and that proclamation should be made before him, "Thus shall it be done
unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour" (Esth 6:9-11).
Ahasuerus in this was a type to hold forth to the children of God, how kindly he
will take all their labour and service of love, and how he will honour and dignify
the same; as Christ saith, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights
burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return
from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily
I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will
come forth and serve them (Luke 12:35-57). The meaning is, that those souls that
shall make it their business to honour the Lord Jesus Christ, in the day of their
temptation; he will make it his business to honour and glorify them in the day of
his glorification (John 12:26). "Verily, I say unto you, that he will make them
sit down to meat, and shall come forth and serve them. If any man will serve me,"
saith he, "him will my Father honour." It hath been God's way in this world
to proclaim the acts and doings of his saints in his word before all in this world,
and he will do it in that which is to come (Mark 14:9; Rev 3:4; 14:1-6).
Third, Another thing that shall be yet added to the glory of the saints, in the kingdom
of their Saviour, at his coming is, they shall every one of them then have his throne
and place of degree on Christ's right hand, and on his left, in his glorious kingdom,
according to the relation they stand in to Christ, as the members of his body; for
as Christ will have a special eye on us, and a tender and affectionate heart, to
recompense to the full every good thing that any man doth for his name in this world:
so also he will have as great regard, that there be to every member of his body,
the place, and state that is comely for every such member. When the mother of Zebedee's
children petitioned our Saviour that he would grant to her, that her two sons might
sit, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom: though
he did not grant to her the request for her children, yet he affirmed that there
would be places of degrees and honour in heaven, saying, "To sit on my right
hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom
it is prepared of my Father" (Matt 20:20-23). In the temple, there were chambers
bigger and lesser, higher and lower, more inward and more outward: which chambers
were types of the mansions that our Lord when he went away, told us he went to prepare
for us. "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2,3). The foot here,
shall not have the place prepared for the eye, nor yet the hand, that which is prepared
for the ear, but every one shall have his own place in the body of Christ, and the
glory also prepared for such a relation. Order, as it is comely in earth, so much
more in the kingdom of the God of order, in heaven; where all things shall be done
in their utmost perfections. Here shall Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David,
with the prophets, have every one his place, according to the degree of Old Testament
saints. As God said to Daniel, "Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt
rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days" (Dan 12:13). And here also
shall Peter, Paul, Timothy, and all other the church officers have their place, and
heavenly state, according as God hath set them in the church in the New Testament.
As Paul saith of the deacons, "They that have used the office of a deacon well,
purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in
Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 3:13). And so of all other saints, be they here of what
rank, quality, or place in the church soever, they shall have every one his state,
his heavenly state, according as he standeth in the body. As he saith, seeing those
members that are most feeble are necessary, to them shall be given "more abundant
honour" (1 Cor 12:22,23). Of this heavenly order in the kingdom of Christ, when
his saints are risen from the dead, was Solomon a notable type in his family, and
among his servants and officers, who kept such exactness in the famous order in which
he had placed all about him, that it did amaze and confound beholders. For "when
the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of
his ministers, and their apparel; his cup-bearers also, and their apparel; and his
ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in
her" (2 Chron 9:3,4). "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God"
(Psa 87:3).
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