Many Shall Come

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Adapted from a Tract by

J. C. Ryle


Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 8:11

These words were spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ when he healed the centurion’s servant in Capernaum. They may be taken either as a prophecy or as a promise. Either way they are deeply interesting, and contain much food for thought.

Taken as a prophecy the words remind us that they are sure to be fulfilled.

The Bible contains many predictions of things most unlikely and improbable, which have yet proved true. All the different phases of the remarkable history of Israel were predicted long before they were reached. Their sojourn in Egypt and slavery there, as well as exactly how long it would last, was announced to Abraham. The Babylonian captivity of 70 years and the return of a remnant to occupy the land once more was announced by the prophets. It will be just the same with the prophecy before our eyes. “Many will recline in the kingdom of heaven.”

Taken as a promise, it was spoken for the encouragement of the Apostles, and of all Christian ministers and teachers down to the present day.

We are often tempted to think that preaching, and teaching, and exhorting, and trying to bring souls to Christ does no good at all, and that our labour is all thrown away. But here is the promise of One who “cannot lie,” (Tit 1:2) and never failed to keep His word. He encourages us with a gracious sentence. He would have us not faint or give way to despair. Whatever we may think, and however little success we may see, there is a Scripture before us which cannot be broken, “Many will recline in the kingdom of heaven.”

I. We have first in these words, the number of those who will be saved. Our Lord Jesus Christ declares that they will be “many.”

How strange that word “many” sounds! Will any be saved who are not born again, washed in Christ’s blood, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit? Will any be saved who have not repented of sin, believed on the Lord Jesus for forgiveness, and been made holy in heart? No not one, certainly not one. If men and women can be saved without repentance, faith and holiness, we may as well throw the Bible away, and give up Christianity altogether.

But are there many people of this kind to be seen in the world today? Sadly! there are very few. The believers whom we see and know are a “little flock.” (Luke 12:32) “The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt 7:14). Few are to be seen in the cities, and few in the country! Few among the rich, and few among the poor! Few among the old, and few among the young! Few among the learned, and few among the unlearned! Few in mansions, and few in cottages!

It is an ever present sorrow with all true Christians that they meet so few with whom they can pray, and praise, and read the Bible, and talk of spiritual things. They often feel totally alone. Many are the people who never go to any place of worship from the first day of January to the last day of December, and seem to live without God in the world. Few are the men and women who do anything for the cause of Christ on earth, or appear to care whether those around them are lost or saved. This is plainly the case in our day. Yet here is our Lord Jesus Christ saying, “Many will recline in the kingdom of heaven.”

Now, why did our Lord say so? He never made a mistake, and all that He says is true. How can there be many when we see so few around us?

(a) First, there will be “many” when all are gathered together who have died in the Lord, from Abel, down to the last who is found alive when the trumpet sounds, and the resurrection takes place. They will be a “great multitude that no one could number” (Rev 7:9).

(b) Then there will be “many” when all the believers of every name, and nation, and people, and tongue—the Old Testament saints, like Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, and the Prophets—the saints of the New Testament, like the Apostles—the saints among the primitive Christians, and the Reformers—when all these are brought together, they will be a “great multitude that no one could number.

(c) Also, there will be “many” when the true Christians are gathered together, who are now scattered over the face of the globe, and are not known either by the Church or the world. There are not a few who belong to no congregation though their names are in the Lamb’s book of life. Some of them live and die unknown and unvisited. Some of them get hold of the truth by hearing the Gospel preached by missionaries at home or abroad; but the preacher has never known them, and they have never been formally enrolled in the list of converts. Some of them are soldiers and sailors, who stand alone and are not understood by their companions. Only God knows the number of those who live the life of faith, and love Christ, and are known to the Lord, though not known by men. These also will make a large addition to the “great multitude that no one could number.”

The plain truth is, that the family of God will be found at last much larger than most of us suppose it is. We look at the things we see with our own eyes, and we forget how much there is going on in the world which our eyes never see at all. The inner life of the vast majority of everyone around us is a hidden thing, of which we know nothing. We do not think of the ages that are past, and the countless millions who are now dust and ashes, though each in his turn fell asleep in Christ and was carried to heaven.

No doubt it is perfectly true that “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many” (Matt 7:13). It is fearful to think what an immense majority of all around us appear dead in sin, and utterly unprepared to meet God. But, for all that, we must not underrate the number of God’s children. Even supposing they are in a minority, when judged by human estimate, they will still prove at last to be very many in the kingdom of God, an enormous company, a great multitude that no one can number.

There are many who are disposed to laugh at religion, because those who profess it are few in number. They secretly despise those who read their Bibles, and are conscientious about keeping their Sundays holy, and to try and walk closely with God.

Are you secretly afraid of making a profession yourself, because you think there will be so few with you and so many against you, and you do not like to be different, and stand out? Sadly! there have always been many like that!

When Noah built the ark, there were few with him, and many mocked at him: but he was found to be in the right at last. When the Jews were rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem after the return from Babylon, Sanballat and Tobiah scoffed at them, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing?” (Neh 4:2) When the Lord Jesus Christ left the world, only a hundred and twenty disciples met together in the upper room in Jerusalem, while the friends of the unbelieving Pharisees, and scribes, and priests were numbered by tens of thousands. But the disciples were right, and their enemies were wrong. When bloody Mary sat on the throne, and Latimer and Ridley were burnt at the stake, the friends of the Gospel seemed very few, and their enemies were a great majority. Yet the Reformers were right, and their enemies were wrong.

Take care of what you are doing! Beware of judging vital Christianity by the small number of those who seem to profess it. You may have the crowd with you now, and the tide may be on your side, but a day is coming when you will open your eyes with amazement, and find out, perhaps too late, that the very people whom you despised were not few, but many, a vast company, a multitude which no man can number.

Is there anyone here disposed to be cast down and discouraged, because he loves Christ, and tries to serve Him, but finds himself almost entirely alone? Does your heart sometimes fail you, and your hands hang down, and your knees want to give way, because you so seldom meet anyone whom you can pray with, and praise with, and read with, and talk with about Christ, and open your heart to without fear? Do you ever mourn in secret for the scarcity of such company?

Well, you are only experiencing something which many have experienced before you. Abraham, and Moses, and Samuel, and David, and the Prophets, and Paul, and the Apostles were all people who stood very much alone. Do you expect to fare better than them? Take comfort, and have faith. There is more grace in the world than you can see, and more Christians travelling towards heaven than you are aware of.

Elijah thought he stood alone, when there were “seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” (Rom 11:4) Take comfort, and look forward. Your good time is coming. You will have plenty of company before long. You will find many, and not few, in the kingdom of heaven—many to welcome you—many to rejoice and praise with—many with whom you will spend a blessed eternity.

How pleasant it is to meet a single saint now for a few short hours! How it encourages and refreshes us, like snow in summer or sunshine after clouds! What, then, will it be when we will see an enormous company of saints, without a single unconverted sinner to spoil the harmony; all men and women of faith, and no unbelievers; all wheat and no chaff; “a great multitude that no one (can) number!” (Rev 7:9) Surely the “many” we will see in heaven will make ample amends for the “few” that we now see on earth.

II. We have, secondly, in our Lord Jesus Christ’s words, the dwellings and position of those who will be finally saved. It is written they “will come from east and west.”

There can be little doubt that this expression is a proverbial one. It must not be taken literally, as if the saved were not to come from the north and south, but only from the rising and setting of the sun. We find the same expression in the 103rd Psalm, where it is said, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12) The meaning is simply this: The saved will come from different places—from distant places—and from places where you would have thought it most unlikely they would be found.

(a) They will come from various countries in every part of the globe.

Some will have been buried at sea with a sailor’s funeral. Some will have died the death of martyrs, and been burnt to ashes like some of the Reformers. Some will have fallen victims to malignant climates, or heathen violence in faraway missions. And some will have died like Moses, in places where no human eye saw them. But they will all come together, and meet again in the kingdom of heaven. It does not matter where we are buried, and how we are buried, and in what kind of a grave. China is just as near to heaven as Canada is, and the sea will give up her dead at the same moment as the land. Our coffin, and our funeral, and the burial service, and the long procession of mourners, are all matters of very secondary importance. The one point we should aim to make sure of, from whatever place we may come, is to be amongst those who will “recline … in the kingdom of heaven.”

(b) They will come from utterly different ranks, classes, and professions.

Heaven will be a place for poor as well as rich, for the unlearned as well as the learned, for tenants as well as landlords, for subjects as well as rulers. There is no royal road to heaven, and there will be no class distinctions when we get there. At length there will be perfect equality, perfect fraternity, and perfect freedom. It will not matter at all whether we had much money on earth, or none at all. The only question will be whether we have really repented of our sins, really believed on the Lord Jesus, and were really converted and sanctified people.

It is very likely that those who have done their duty in that state of life to which God called them, and have carried Christ’s cross in the Army or the Navy, in Parliament or at the Bar, in the bank or the merchant’s office, behind the counter or at the bottom of a mine, will be found in the first rank in the kingdom of heaven.

(c) They will come from most unlikely places.

They will come from positions in which you would have thought the seed of eternal life could never have grown up in a soul. Saul, the young Pharisee, came from the feet of Gamaliel, and from persecuting Christians, and rose to be the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who turned the world upside down.

Daniel lived in Babylon, and served God faithfully in the midst of idolatry and heathenism. Peter was once a fisherman on the sea of Galilee. Matthew was a public tax-collector, who spent his days in receiving money. Luther and Latimer began life as devoted Papists, and ended life as devoted Protestants. John Bunyan, the author of “Pilgrim’s Progress,” was once a careless, thoughtless, swearing young man in a country village. George Whitefield served in a pub in Gloucester, and spent his early days in cleaning pots and carrying out beer. John Newton, the author of well-known hymns and letters, was once the captain of a slave-ship on the coasts of Africa, and saw no harm in buying and selling human flesh and blood.

All these truly “came from east and west,” and seemed at one time in their lives the most unlikely people in the world to come to Christ, and “recline … in the kingdom of heaven.” But they did come unmistakably, and they are an everlasting proof that our Lord Jesus Christ’s words are strictly true. Men and women may come from the east and west, and yet be found at last in the kingdom of eternal happiness and glory.

Let us learn never to despair of the salvation of any one as long as he lives. Fathers ought never to despair of rebellious sons. Mothers ought never to despair of self-willed, headstrong daughters. Husbands should never despair of wives, nor wives of husbands. There is nothing impossible with God. The arm of grace is very long, and can reach those who seem very far off. The Holy Spirit can change any heart. The blood of Christ can cleanse away any sin. Let us pray on, and hope on, for others, however unlikely their salvation may seem to us at the moment. We will see many in heaven whom we never expected to see there.

Let us learn not to grieve “as those who have no hope,” when we part from friends who are true Christians, and part, perhaps, forever. The partings of this world are terrible things; but true faith in Christ and the resurrection to eternal life through Him, takes the sting out of the worst of partings. It enables a believer to look beyond the things seen to the things unseen, to the coming of the Saviour, and our gathering together to Him. Yes, it is a pleasant thing to remember when partings take place, “it is but a little time, and we will see them all again never to part again.” God’s people will come together from east and west, and we will all meet at last “in the kingdom of heaven,” and go out no more.

III. We have, thirdly, in our Lord Jesus Christ’s words, the future portion and reward of those who will be finally saved. It is written, they “will …recline … in the kingdom of heaven.”

That expression, “recline,” is a very pleasant and comfortable one. Let us dwell on it, and examine it, and see what it contains.

In the judgement day, believers will stand with boldness at the right hand of Christ, and say as Paul to the Romans, “Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Rom 8:33, 34). But when the judgement is passed and over, and the eternal kingdom begins, they will “recline.

(a) First, reclining implies a sense of confidence and being at home.

If we were in the presence of a stern judge, or of a king clothed in awful majesty, we would not dare to sit down. But there will be nothing to make believers afraid in the kingdom of heaven. The sins of their past lives will not make them tremble and feel alarmed. However many, however great, and however black, they will all have been washed away in Christ’s precious blood, and not one spot will remain. Completely justified, completely absolved, completely forgiven, completely “accepted in the Beloved,” they will be counted righteous before God for the sake of Him who was made sin for us, though He knew no sin (2 Cor 5:21).

Though the sins of their lives were “like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Is 1:18) Their sins will be ‘remembered no more,’ (Heb 8:12) ‘sought for, and not found,’ (Jer 50:20) ‘blotted out as a thick cloud,’ (Is 44:22) ‘cast behind God’s back,’ (Is 38:17) ‘plunged in the depths of the sea.’ (Mic 7:19) Believers will need no purgatory after they die. It is ignorance and unbelief to think so.

Once joined to Christ by faith, they are complete in the sight of God the Father, and even the perfect angels will see no spot in them. Surely they may well recline; and feel at home! They may remember all the sins of their past lives, and be humbled at the recollection of them. But those sins will not make them afraid.

The sense of daily failure, weakness, imperfection, and inward conflict, will no longer mar their peace. At last their sanctification will be completed. The war within will come to a perfect end. Their old besetting sins and infirmities will have dropped off, and melted away. At last they will be able to serve God without weariness, and serve Him without distraction, and not be forced to cry continually, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom 7:24).

Who can tell the blessedness of all this while we are yet in the body? Here in this world we do not realise the completeness of our justification, and “groan, being burdened” (2 Cor 5:4) because of our imperfect sanctification. Our best endeavours after holiness are accompanied by a sorrowful consciousness of daily failure. But when “the old man” is at last entirely dead, and the flesh no longer wars against the spirit,—when there is an end of indwelling sin, and the world and the devil can no longer tempt us, then at last we will understand what God has prepared for them that love Him. We shall “recline … in the kingdom of heaven.”

But this is not all.

(b) Reclining implies rest, and a complete ceasing of work, and toil, and conflict.

“There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” (Heb 4:9) Here in this life we are never still. The Word of God tells us that the Christian must “walk,” and “run,” and “work,” and “labour,” and “fight,” and “groan,” and “carry the cross,” and wear the “armour,” and stand like a sentinel on guard in an enemy’s land. It is not until we enter the kingdom of heaven that we must expect to “recline.”

Work for Christ, no doubt, is pleasant, and even in this life brings a rich reward—the reward of a happy conscience, a reward which the mere politician, or merchant, or man of pleasure, can never have, because they only seek a corruptible crown. “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.” (John 4:13) But even the Christian’s work is exhausting to flesh and blood; and so long as we dwell in a mortal body, work and weariness will go together.

The very sight of sin in others, which we cannot prevent, is a daily trial to our souls. No doubt the fight of faith is a “good fight,” but there never can be fighting without wounds, and pain, and fatigue. The very armour the Christian is told to put on is heavy. The helmet and the breastplate, the shield and the sword, without which we cannot overcome the devil, can never be worn without constant exertion. Surely it will be a blessed time when our enemies will all be slain, and we can lay aside our armour in safety, and “recline … in the kingdom of heaven.”

In the meantime let us never forget that the time is short. Even the devil knows that, and has great wrath because he has but a short time (Rev 12:12). Let us work on, and fight on, in full assurance of hope, with the blessed recollection that it will not be forever. Let this hope live in our souls when we are bearing the labour and heat of the day. Our King is soon coming, and when he comes we will “recline,” and toil and fight no more.

IV. The fourth and last thing which the words of our Lord Jesus Christ contain is, the company which those who are finally saved will enjoy for ever.

Now, company is one great secret of happiness. Man is by nature a social being. It is a rare exception indeed to find anyone who likes to be always alone. A palace filled with untold wealth and luxuries, would at last be little better than a prison if we lived in it entirely alone. A cottage with kind companions is a happier dwelling-place than a royal castle with no one to speak to, no one to listen to, no one to exchange ideas with, nothing to converse with, but one’s own poor heart.

Our blessed Lord, who formed man out of the dust of the earth, and made him what he is, knows that perfectly well. When, therefore, He describes the future portion of His believing people, He takes care to tell us what kind of company they will have in the kingdom of heaven. He says that the saved will “recline … with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” in the world to come.

Now, what does that expression mean? Let us look at it, analyse it, and see what it contains.

The companions of the saved in the eternal world will be all the believers who have ever lived on earth from the beginning to the end. The old soldiers, the old pilgrims, the old servants of Christ, the old members of Christ’s family—all, in a word, who have lived by faith and served Christ, and walked with God, these will form the company in which the saved will spend an endless existence.

They will see all the old worthies of whom they read in the Old Testament, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, and the holy kings, who looked forward to the coming of Christ, but died without seeing Him. They will see the New Testament saints, the Apostles, and the holy men and women who saw Christ face to face. They will see the early fathers who died for the truth, and were thrown to the lions, or beheaded under the persecution of the Roman emperors. They will see the gallant Reformers who revived the Gospel out of the dust , and unstopped the wells of living water which Rome had filled up with rubble.

They will see the blessed martyrs, who brought about the glorious Protestant Reformation, and gave us the Bible in the English language, and cheerfully died at the stake for the cause of the Gospel. They will see the holy men of the seventeenth and eighteenth century among them some whose writings have so much helped us along: George Everard, George Burder, Samuel Davies, and Horatius Bonar. Above all, they will see their own friends who fell asleep in Christ, and whom they once followed to their graves with many tears, and see them with the comfortable thought that they will part no more.

Surely the thought of such companionship as this should encourage us as we travel on the narrow way! It is a good thing yet to come.

There is little happiness in company unless there is entire sympathy and agreeability in taste. It is one of the heaviest trials of a true Christian upon earth that he meets so few people who are entirely of one mind with him about religion. How often in society he finds himself forced to hold his tongue and say nothing, and to hear and see many things which make his heart ache, and send him back to his own home heavy and depressed! It is a rare privilege to meet two or three occasionally to whom he can open his heart, and with whom he can speak freely, without fear of giving offence or being misunderstood.

But there will be an end of this state of things in the kingdom of heaven. Those who are saved will find no one there who have not been led by the same Spirit, and gone through the same experience as themselves. There will not be a man or woman there who has not felt deeply the burden of sin, mourned over it, confessed it, fought with it, and tried to crucify it. There will not be a man or woman there who has not fled to Christ by faith, cast the whole weight of his soul upon Him, and rejoiced in Him as his Redeemer. There will not be a man or woman there who has not delighted in the Word of God, poured out his soul in prayer at the throne of grace, and striven to live a holy life.

In a word, there will be none there who have not known something of repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and holiness of life and conversation. It is pleasant to meet a few people of this kind on earth as we travel along the narrow way that leads to heaven. It refreshes us like a brook by the way, and is like a little peep within the veil. But what will it be when we see ‘a multitude, which no man can number,’ of saints completely delivered from all sin, and not one single unconverted person among them to mar the harmony!

What will it be when we shall meet our own believing friends once more, at last made perfect, and find that their besetting sins, and our own besetting sins, have all passed away, and there is nothing left in us but grace without corruption! Yet all this is to come when we pass within the veil. The inhabitants are not to be a mixed multitude unable to understand one another. They are all to be of one heart and of one mind. We are not to sit down amidst ignorant, godless, and unconverted people, but “with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Heaven itself would be no heaven if all sorts of characters got there, as some people falsely teach. There could be no order and no happiness in such a heaven. People must be “qualified” to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Col 1:12)

(1) And now, before we close and leave this place, ask yourself whether you will be found among the many who will “recline … in the kingdom of heaven.”

Is this not the most important question of all? I charge you to give your soul no rest until you can answer it in a satisfactory way. Time is passing quickly away, and the world is growing old. The signs of the times ought to set us all thinking. The “distress of nations in perplexity” (Luke 21:25) seems to increase every year. The wisdom of statesmen seems utterly unable to prevent wars and confusion in every direction. The progress of art, and science, and civilisation appear entirely powerless to prevent the existence of enormous moral evils. Nothing will ever cure the diseases of human nature but the return of the Great Physician, the Prince of Peace, the second coming of Jesus Christ Himself. And when He comes, will you be found among the “many” who will “recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven?”

Why should you not be found among the many? I know no reason except your own lack of will, or your own idleness and laziness, or your own determined love of sin and the world. An open door is set before you: why not enter into it? The Lord Jesus Christ is able and ready to save you: why not commit your soul to Him, and lay hold on the hand which He holds out from heaven? I just see no reason why you should not be found amongst the “many” at the last day.

You imagine that there is time enough, and no need to hurry to a decision immediately. You had better be careful about this. It is not given to all men and women to live to 80 years old, and then die quietly in their beds. The notice to leave this mortal body sometimes comes very suddenly, and men and women are summoned to go forth in a moment into the unseen world. You had better use time while you have it, and not make shipwreck on that miserable rock called, “a convenient time.”

Are you afraid that people will laugh at you, and mock you, if you begin to care for your soul, and to seek a place in the kingdom of heaven? Cast that feeling behind your back, and resolve never to be ashamed of religion. Sadly, there are too many who will find at last that they were laughed out of heaven, and laughed into hell. Do not fear the reproaches of man, who at most can only injure your body. Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Lay hold boldly on Christ, and He will give you the victory over all that you now fear. He that enabled the Apostle Peter, who once ran away and denied his Master, to stand firm as a rock before the Jewish council, and at length to die for the Gospel: this same Lord is still living at the right hand of God, and is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him, and to make you more than a conqueror.

Do you think that you will not be happy if you seek to have your soul saved, and to sit down in the kingdom of heaven? Reject this unworthy thought as a lying suggestion of the devil. There are no people so truly happy as true Christians. Whatever a sneering world may be pleased to say, they have food to eat which the world knows nothing of, and inward comforts which the world cannot understand.

There is no gloominess in true religion, and no religion in looking gloomy, sour, or austere. In spite of cross and conflict, the true Christian has an inward peace compared to which the world has nothing to give; for it is a peace which trouble, bereavement, sickness, and death itself cannot take away. The words of the Master are strictly true, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). If men and women want to be truly happy, they should strive to be amongst those who “recline … in the kingdom of heaven.”

(2) Last, but not least, here is a word of exhortation and encouragement to those who have reason to hope that they are among the many who shall sit down in the kingdom of heaven.

Would you have much joy and peace in believing? Try to do all the good you can in the world. There is always much to be done, and few to do it. There are always many living and dying in ignorance and sin, and no one goes near them, and tries to save their souls. We live in days when little real Christian work is being done to repair the evils of the times! Too many, far too many Christians, seem quite content to go to heaven alone, and to care nothing about bringing others into the kingdom of God.

If you try to do good in the right way, you never need doubt that good will be done. Many a visitor returns home, and thinks he is producing no effect. Many a minister comes down from his pulpit desponding and cast down, imagining that his preaching is useless. But all this is disgraceful unbelief. There is often far more going on in hearts and consciences than we see.

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6) says the Psalmist. There are more being converted and saved than we suppose. Many will recline in the kingdom of heaven whom we never expected to see there. Let us read on, and pray on, and visit on, and speak on, and tell of Christ to every one whom we can get at. If we are only “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,” we will find, to our amazement, that our labour was not in vain in the Lord. (1 Cor 15:58).

But if we try to do good, we must always cultivate patience. We cannot have two heavens, a heaven here and a heaven hereafter. The battle is not yet over. The harvest-time is not yet come. The devil is not yet bound. The time when our Lord’s promise will be fulfilled is not yet arrived. But it will arrive before long.

Consider what will be the joy when the Captain of our salvation will gather His faithful soldiers round Him, and give to each one a crown of glory that will never fade! Surely we may well wait in patience for that day. It is coming, and will surely come at last. Remembering that day, let us cast behind us doubts and unbelief, and set our faces steadily towards Jerusalem. “The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” (Rom 13:12)

And not one word of the blessed promise before us will fail “Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”