The Lord may act on the dispensation by many external circumstances and orderings; He does not act in it but in this character: as such, He is primarily glorified: as such, the world is against Him, and Satan’s rage in its deepest and intrinsic character. The Church is seen in its dispensed perfectness (seven is the number for its abstract mystic perfection) ; because, though all through this period it was yet imperfect, yet here the government of the world is viewed,[1] not the dealing with the Church; and therefore, in placing the parties (if I may so speak, the dramatis personæ), the Church is viewed as a distinct whole. Although it is the supreme throne which is above all, and the source of all (it is He that sits on the throne, that makes all things new, and is here the object of supreme worship), yet, relatively it is not the throne of God at Jerusalem. It is not the filial relation of the Church, nor the ordered throne of the Son of man, but the throne in heaven;[2] and there the Lamb in the throne, with the power, knowledge, and holiness
- ↑ Viewed, that is, in its protracted character on earth.
- ↑ This can clearly apply but to two periods properly. The protracted period subsequent to owning the Churches upon earth, and the preparatory scene of judicial and providential governance subsequent to the taking up of the Church, and previous to the reign of the Son of man.
