THE GREAT WHITE THRONE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20708, 4 May 1929, Page 27

THE GREAT WHITE THRONE.

Written for the Otago Dally Times. By the Rev. D, Gardner Milker. It is astonishing how the figure of speech “the Great White Throne” has gripped the imaginations of men throughout the centuries. Somehow or other, the strange book called. The Revelation has had an almost weird fascination lor most Christians. Unfortunately .many give it a prominence they deny (though they would repudiate this) to the Gospels. Instead of being ip the frant rank, it is in reality the least of all the New Testament writings. It had a terrible struggle to be included ip the New-Testament capon.. Were it not for the fact that amidst its trumpets and slaughter, its vindictiveness and brilliant pageantry, there are passages of spiritual insight that time cannot wither, it would never have been included in the New Testament writings. Tjhese passages have become the priceless heritage of the ages and alone make the book ope to be cherished, when the framework has been discarded. Among such passages the one referring to the “ Great White Throne ” enshrines a message and a hope -without which the world would be immeasurably the poorer. To it perplejted; people turn, as in confirmation 'of the., poet’s words, “ God’s in His heaven, all’s well with the world.” And in this they are right. Unless there can be given to men an instinctive belief that, sometime and somewhere, wrong will be righted and right vindicated, life would be without meaning and purpose. But that is not to say that the “ Great White Throne ” is a literal, actual structure. The Book of Revelation is an apocalypse, not a statement of facts. It should not be considered as a fanciful and weird picture of the “end,” but as the presentation of a great drama enshrining eternal truth—truth'- that shines out of the darkness of the time in which it was written. Indeed, to get away from the environment of the book is to lose a great deal of its meaning. John was a seer, not a fiction writer. The “Throne" is not go much a scene as it is a consummation. It stands for JUSTICE. To grasp this inherent idea one has to remember in contrast the “ Great White Throne,” with the throne, red with blood, of Nero. The early Church suffered much at the hands of that monster. Injustice, cruelty, and' sheer malignity were the weapon- he used to crush the followers of “ Christus.” No believer could ever dream of receiving justice at the hands of the Emperor. The throne of Nero, to them, was the symbol of all that was hateful and wrong. Despairing of ever receiving bare justice front an earthly tribunal, naturally their thoughts carried them into the future—carried them to that day, the very hour, when their wrongs would be righted,, when God from His Great White -Throne would vindicate them. Remember, the writer was writing to broken arid despairing Christians, and in common with all apocalyptic writers he visioned a final day when a balance would be struck and the .enemies of God and goodness would be, destroyed and the faithful, great tribulation, would enjoy eternal bliss. It is, of course, a truism with all of us that, even though we may never receive justice at the hands of man, we will receive ifc at the hands of God. • Withoutthat belief life would be without a centre and the moral order of the world without a governing power. God is the supreme Arbiter. We must hold on as those who “ see ” the invisible. We live in half-lights, but bye and bye we shall see ourselves and our purposes and God, in the undimmed splendour of perfect day. There must be COMPENSATION, or else God is less than Jesus. Such a thought is untenable. Jesus stated that there would be compensations to those who follow, and hold bn and suffer, for righteousness’ sake. God ■ Would be less than God if He had not surprises—the surprises of Justice—in store for those who have struggled and suffered during their pilgrimage,. Think of all the men and women upon whom the circumstances qf life have , laid a heavy hand and prevented from contributing something worth while to the common good of the world. There are young men and women who might have been in the forefront of great movements but for the claims—and let it be said candidly, sometimes very selfish claims—of parents. Will there be no compensation given them at the Great White Throne? It would be less than justice if God did not remember them. And how many fathers and mothers have suffered and sacrificed for their children! The kindly heart of God wifi not forget them. Life does not deal fairly with us all, the inequalities of life are too patent and too numerous for easy explanation. The railway shunter who should have been a poet; the grocer who should have been a Cabinet Minister; the unmarried daughter who spends her life serving others and who should have been a happy mother with bairns round her feet these, and many others, whom you ,come across on your journey through life, surely, nay, must, have wonderful surprises awaitin" them on that day when tho balance is redressed aqd the affairs of life are Wound up. It is in such wavs that I understand the meaning of the Great White Throne. It is not a stupendous -scene, encircled with fanciful and weird happenings, but the assurance that Eye hath not : seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”