Man in heaven.
"They cast their crowns before the throne." Far am I from pretending to the power of explaining this book. There is ample scope here for the play of imagination. Here is a field which, under the culture of a vivid fancy, is capable of producing theories and speculations suited to every variety of taste, every grade of intellect, and every degree of culture. In this chapter John has a mental, Divine, and symbolical vision of heaven: the "door is opened," and a voice commands him to ascend and enter. By "heaven," of course, I do not mean heaven as a place, but as a state of the Christly soul—the heaven within, a subjective paradise. The text leads us to infer—
I. THAT MAN IN THIS HEAVEN HAS REACHED THE HIGHEST DIGNITY. He has "crowns." We are not to suppose, of course, that there are material crowns in heaven; these, whether formed of gold, or diamonds, or both, are the mere toys of earth; but crowns are used here as the emblem of the highest dignity. The earth has nothing higher to offer man than a crown; men have hazarded their lives and waded through seas of Blood to get a crown. Because of the importance which universal man attaches to a crown, it is employed to represent the dignity of men in heaven. This crown is called in the New Testament "a crown of righteousness." Earthly crowns are often associated with iniquity; their history is one of violence and wrong. But the dignity reached by men in heaven will be "righteous"—it will be in harmony with universal rectitude. There is no Being in the universe that can charge them with having reached their position by unjust means. It is called "a crown of life." The crown which the visitors in the Grecian games obtained soon withered and died; the weaved garlands soon became dust. The crowns which sovereigns wear in more modern times are corruptible, the diamonds will grow dim. and. the gold will wear out; but the crown of man in heaven is "a crown of life." It is not something pat on; it is the expression of his being. The crown is to the man what the blossom is to the tree, what the halo is to the sun—something rising out of the being—the fruit of his life. It is called "a crown of glory." What is glory? Paul says, "There is one glory of the sun and another of the stars; and we may say there is one glory of the earth and one of the heavens. The things to which men attach the idea of glory are puerilities in the estimation of Heaven. Take the most magnificently attired sovereign of the world, surpassing all other monarchs of the earth in the pomp and pageantry of his movements, what is the glory of that poor mortal, on which the empty crowd stares with wonder? It is only the glory of a gaudy actor on the stage, garbed in the tawdry and tinselled robe, put on for the hour for popular effect. But this is a glory altogether different. It is the glory of an intellect in harmony with the truth, the glory of conscience in sympathy with the right, the glory of the soul centred in God. What is there so glorious as a noble soul? If this be the state of man in heaven:
1. Let us have faith in the improvability of our nature. When we look round upon society, and see the gross sensuality, the dishonesty, the profanity of men, we feel disposed to loathe our very species: but when we look to heaven, we feel that the worst are capable of improvement—that "dry bones can live." "Such were some of you," etc.
2. Let us be consoled under the departure by death of the good. "I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord;" "These are they which came out of great tribulation;" "Sorrow not as those that are without hope."
3. Let us not judge of providence without taking into account the future as well as the present. "I reckon," says the apostle, "that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
II. THAT MAN IN THIS HEAVEN ASCRIBES THE DIGNITY HE HAS REACHED TO JESUS CHRIST. "They cast their crowns before the throne." This implies:
1. A conviction that they owed all their honorers to Christ. Whence did they obtain their crowns?
2. A readiness to acknowledge their obligation. The greater our natures the more ready to acknowledge our obligation.
2. The surpassing glories of Christ. He is in the midst of the throne, and all ascribe their all to him. Napoleon I., after he had conquered empires, and planted his foot upon the neck of kingdoms, determined to be crowned emperor. To give pageantry and lustre to the occasion, he compelled the Pope of Rome to be present. In the act of coronation, the emperor refused to receive the crown from the pope; his proud spirit told him he had won it himself: he placed it upon his own brow, thus declaring to the spectators and the civilized world the fact that he was indebted to himself only for imperial power. How different this to our Cromwell, who in spirit towered high above all the Napoleons of history! After the crown of England had been offered to him by successive Parliaments, he refused it! Great souls are above crowns. All in this subjective heaven of goodness cast their "crowns" at the feet of Christ, and say, "Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory."—D.T.
Revelation
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