Glorification

By Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton
1941

Part VI
THE RESURRECTION

IV.  THE NEW DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE LORD

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants the things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: Who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.  Blessed is he that readeth, and they which hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand." (Revelation 1: 1 - 3)

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him to shew unto His servants the things which must shortly come to pass, signifies Divine predictions concerning the state of the church, both in heaven and on earth, and this near the end, or at the time of the last judgment.  These predictions follow in order.  They comprise the Book of Revelation, which was given at the beginning of the Christian era, to foreshadow by spiritual representations the actual events which marked the end of the church.  They describe the events leading to that judgment, introducing it, and those which followed immediately thereafter, which last had reference to the formation of a new heaven and the establishment of a new church.

The means of this post-judgment formation and establishment of a new heaven and church was the giving of a new doctrine, here called the doctrine of heaven, bearing upon the Lord and His Divinity, the nature of which was veiled in obscurity.  This new doctrine was a revelation of the Lord's entire Divinity.  It was to the effect that He was Divine even as to His Human nature.  In other words, the new doctrine taught that Jesus Christ is the only God, and therefore inseparably one with the Father, and this by virtue of His Divine conception and subsequent Glorification.  His Divine conception caused Him to be, in a unique sense, the Son of God at birth.  His subsequent Glorification was that Divine process by which He successively returned into entire unity with the Father,' and in so doing caused His status as a temporarily separate individual to cease.  This conception was vaguely shadowed forth in the beginning of the church, but never openly revealed.  It found a partial expression in the several historic creeds, but was never therein given a clear or unqualified statement.  It was also involved in the text of Scripture, and it labored to come forth into rational credal form, but its emergence was ever partial and confused by notable contradictions.

This new doctrine concerning the Lord is the inner burden of the Book of Revelation.  It was ordained that it should come forth in fullness at the time of the last judgment.  This coming forth was identical with the Lord's Second Coming.  It was of order that the doctrine should be delivered at that time and not before, and indeed as the internal meaning of the Scripture, and especially of the Book of Revelation.  Therefore, that book opens with the words, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ."

The Scriptural appearance of God as one, and of Christ as another, is manifest, and it is a fact that when in the world He was the Son of God.  This so influenced His followers that it persisted to the end, dividing the thought of men.  Yet it was needful that the idea of His Human and His Divine should be united to preserve the fundamental truth of the unity of God.  This unity was first creedally expressed by the doctrine of three persons in one God; yet His unity in one Divine Person being the truth could not but prevail in the end.  This, in its finality, was that which was brought forth through the instrumentality of the last judgment revelation.  The appearance of two being thus overcome, the mind of the man of the church could be spiritually enlightened, and this while admitting the fact that a seeming distinction existed so long as the Lord was in a material body derived from the mother.  Yet this appearance of the distinction was carried over into the Apocalypse.  Hence we have the record of the text, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him to shew unto His servants," as if God were quite another from Christ.  Yet, as we know, Jesus then was glorified with the glory of the Father.

How then was this unity accomplished? By no process of increasing likeness may a human son become one in person with his father.  The soul of each man is a separate entity.  But just this was not the case with the Lord.  His soul, from conception, was one and the same with the indivisible Divine.  His body was from the mother.  This was finite, and therefore separable.  His maternally derived body was therefore that which was put off by His Glorification, and in finality, by death.  It then could not be otherwise than that He, after the death of the body, should be raised into entire unity with His own soul.

The Scriptural appearance of a distinction between the Father and the Son, while the Lord was, in the world, was therefore a fact; yet it was a temporary status.  However, His Glorification was completed at the time when the Apocalypse was given, but for reasons of Providence the truth was yet veiled in compliance with the common thought of His followers.  Therefore it is said, "which God gave unto Him to shew unto His servants."  Here His servants are the faithful who pass through the judgment.  To these at that time He revealed Himself anew in the glory of His unity with the Father.  To them it was given to know not only the things "which must shortly come to pass," but also to know Him through whom they came to pass.  These, His servants, were such that they would neither reject nor profane the new Divine doctrine.

The things "which must shortly come to pass" were those pertaining to the last judgment.  These, when they came to pass, cleared the spiritual atmosphere, and opened the minds of men to the truth.  The truth was pressing to be received.  It was certain to come forth because of its great need.  Moreover, the time was, at hand.  Wherefore it is said that "He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John."  John here stands for those who from charity hearken and obey.  To them the Lord, at His Second Coming, revealed the truth concerning Himself out of heaven.  This is meant by His sending an angel, - that is to say, the revelation of the doctrine came by way of heaven.  The heavens were involved in its giving; yet there was no self-conscious mediation by the angels, but there was an inflowing of the Divine through them.  Thus ever the Word was given.  The angels spoke, but not from their own minds or memories; yet an accommodation was effected through them.  As it was with the angels in this, so also it was with the prophets through whom the angels in turn spoke.  The Word so given was Divine.  John, in this case, was the prophet, and of Him it is said that he "bare witness to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus."  The Word of God is the Divine Truth, and the testimony of Jesus is the new Divine doctrine given for the revival of the church.  The virtue in this doctrine is that it brings the Lord anew to man in His true Divinity.

Of John it is said, that he "bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus."  A witness testifies to the truth of a thing.  No one can bear witness save he who acknowledges and confesses the truth in his heart.  Otherwise the witness is false.  This is especially true of the witness of spiritual things.  To witness concerning things in the world is to speak from knowledge, from memory and its thought, because man has so seen or heard.  On the other hand, spiritual things are inner perceptions of truth.  They fill the whole man from within.  Of these the heart speaks, the love testifies.  Because of this the testimony of the heart is the only true witness.  Indeed, such testimony arises from an inner God-given perception.  This perception alone has inner knowledge of the truth.  It both sees and feels.  Such testimony is beyond the proof of argument.  It is above logic, and transcends natural reason.  It is a vision purely spiritual, and a sense that is celestial.  It is a gift Divine to the celestial regenerate.  Science demonstrates to the senses; an argument may prove of reason, but perception alone guides the soul of man.  This high faculty is a heaven-born instinct.  It knows without knowing.  It is the ultimate goal of human life.  It was with man in the beginning, and it will again be his.  It is the high quest of every regenerate soul and is often achieved, but in part only.  To many of the reborn a substitute is given, a conscience which becomes a standard of spiritual life.  There may be some who gain superior perceptive power.  In the end there will be more of these, as the Divine doctrine is received livingly, and accredited with the testimony of the heart.  That doctrine is the inner light of all religions and the source of all celestial perception.  It is at once the newest and the oldest of doctrines.  It was in the beginning, and in the end it stands supreme.  It was in the beginning, in the Word, which was with God.  It stood forth in ultimation when the Word was "made flesh."  It was revealed in glory at the Second Coming.

This doctrine, the source of all celestial perception and every true testimony, is the doctrine of the God-Man.  It was known to Adam by inner revealing when he heard the voice of Jehovah God walking among the ancient trees.  Yet, at that time, there was fear in Adam's heart, for the Divine faculty was failing.  A judgment was impending which would cloud the inner light throughout the coming ages - a cloud not to be entirely removed until the coming of the Lord in glory, and then only by slow stages, as the human mind, in mercy and of Providence, should be opened ever more fully to the testimony of Jesus Christ.

"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."  Only those are blessed whose spirits abide in heaven.  These have heaven in themselves.  They have a living perception of truth.  This is signified by hearing the words of the prophecy.  Prophecy is that which comes forth from heaven.  This is called the doctrine of heaven or the Divine doctrine.  It is the Lord appearing by His Word concerning Himself.  His Word is prophecy of which He, Himself, is the life and soul.  This is that which came forth from Him at the time of the last judgment to bless all those who received of it.