November 27, 2019 – Revelation 5:5–6
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.
—Revelation 5:6
When the saints get to heaven, they will not merely see Christ and have to do with him as subjects and servants of a glorious and gracious Lord and Sovereign, but Christ will entertain them as friends and family.56 This we may learn from the manner of Christ’s conversing with his disciples here on earth: though he was their Sovereign Lord and did not refuse but required their supreme respect and adoration, yet he did not treat them as earthly sovereigns are accustomed to do their subjects. He did not keep them at an awful distance but all along conversed with them with the most friendly familiarity, as a father amongst a company of children, yes, as with family. So he did with the Twelve, and so he did with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He told his disciples that he did not call them servants but friends, and we read of one of them that leaned on his bosom—and doubtless he will not treat his disciples with less freedom and endearment in heaven. He will not keep them at a greater distance for his being in a state of exaltation, but he will rather take them into a state of exaltation with him.
This will be the increase Christ will make of his own glory, to make his beloved friends partakers with him, to glorify them in his glory, as he says to his Father: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me” (John 17:22–23). We are to consider that though Christ is greatly exalted, yet he is exalted not as a private person for himself only, but as his people’s head; he is exalted in their name and on their account as the firstfruits and as representing the whole harvest. He is not exalted that he may be at a greater distance from them but that they may be exalted with him. Instead of the distance being greater, the union will be nearer and more perfect.
When believers get to heaven, Christ will conform them to himself; as he is set down in his Father’s throne, so they shall sit down with him on his throne and shall in their measure be made like him.
—Jonathan Edwards
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