OUR HEAVENLY PORTION
David H Marshall
Hebrews 1: 1-4
John 14: 1-3
I would like to speak simply, beloved brethren, as to the reality of what is heavenly. I was impressed in our Lord’s day afternoon reading in Hebrews. Hebrews is a fine book; it sets out firstly what I have read, the distinctive speaking that takes place now, the speaking by the Son. God has spoken in many other ways as it tells us, but we are favoured to be now in a dispensation when the speaking is of the highest order, the speaking of the Son. How wonderful! It goes on to tell us of the divine view, God’s view, of that beloved One and all that He has accomplished and how much He means and the glories that belong to Him, and it sets that out almost at the start of the book as if to say, ‘This is how I want you to read this epistle’, to understand that the speaking is of a new, distinctive character and the finest speaking that has ever taken place. We are privileged to be in this dispensation when that speaking continues.
But there is more to it than that because Hebrews is a book of better things, a book of excellent things. It compares a materialistic system with a spiritual and heavenly system, and that is what I would like to speak about, because the lot of the believer is one that is a heavenly portion. We have been given a heavenly inheritance, and it helps us to understand and to appreciate that the believer’s outlook should not be earthly; it should be heavenly. That is something that should encourage us, should uplift us. As we look around on this sad, benighted world, there is much to discourage, much to concern, much to occupy us, but the believer can rise above all of that as the overcomer whose outlook is heavenly. His outlook is not here. If our outlook is here, we will be sadly disappointed; we will be let down. Even the establishments of this world fail; there are flaws. Much comes in by way of unrest; much comes in by way of sorrow; much comes in by way of weakness. You can be engaged with all these things; but the believer need not be engaged with them because our outlook is upward:
The sky, not the grave, is our goal.
(Hymn 238).
The lot of the believer is a heavenly lot, and it encouraged me on Lord’s day as we were reading Hebrews to think that our outlook and our hope are not here. It is a heavenly hope and a heavenly outlook, and the whole thought in that is not only that we have that in prospect, but that it would characterise how we are here. That is a challenge to myself more than anyone. That is the divine intention that if we have this heavenly outlook before us, and if we get some appreciation as to the power and the character of the speaking that we come under now, that would characterise how we live, walk and operate here.
But, when you come to John’s gospel, there is this wonderful reality of what is heavenly. On Lord’s day it occurred to me, as it had never quite occurred to me before, that heaven is a place. It is not an idea; it is not a concept; it is not a theory; it is not something just to talk about; it is a place. In the Father’s house, a place has been prepared by our Lord Jesus for us. How wonderful that is! How wonderful that we can have that in prospect that that place has been prepared. He is coming one day to take us to share that place with Him.
But we can enter into that joy now, and I want to speak about that because that is the reality of our heavenly portion, that we can experience what is heavenly here. The world knows nothing of this; it is not something that the man or woman of the world would understand. This is for those that are His; this is for the redeemed; this is for those that belong to the Lord Jesus; this is for those that have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. That place has been prepared. But when the Lord Jesus comes in amongst us on a Lord’s day morning at the breaking of bread, that is the fulfilment of a promise. He says, “I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you”, John 14: 18. That is not future; that is now. He makes Himself known, and what do we do? We worship Him! How right it is that we worship Him! How right it is that we acknowledge His greatness and glory! But then He draws us to be near to Him, and we are associated with Him. How wonderful that is that we are associated with Him, and He shows us His current love for us, not only His historical love. That has been displayed, and is a wonderful, wonderful matter, but He shows us His current affection for His own, for His brethren, draws us to be near to Him, and where does He take us? “For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”, Eph 2: 18. He takes us to the place that has been prepared which we can enter into as we sang in our hymn:
He bringeth us to this blest place
Where we with Him can sing;
Where many sons – surpassing grace –
Eternal praises bring.
(Hymn 374)
That will be our eternal portion, but we can experience it now. How wonderful that by way of foretaste we can enter into what will be our heavenly portion in eternity. We can experience that. It is not a theory; it is not just something to talk about; it is something to be experienced, and it is real. It is reality. What the epistle to the Hebrews is all about is to illustrate that Christianity is a spiritual system and a heavenly system, not an earthly system or a materialistic system, but a system that is rooted in divine Persons and their love and grace and mercy for us, in all that they have in mind for us. And it brings out that so much of it we can enjoy now as we will do in eternity, the difference being that then we will never leave.
It is worth considering the joys that can be experienced in association with the Lord Jesus in that place. His distinctiveness, of course, for ever remains, but we are with Him. What a thought that we can be with Him in that place, He leads the praises, sons entering into the songs of sonship. What a choir of response that is!
He bringeth us to this blest place
Where we with Him can sing;
Where many sons – surpassing grace –
Eternal praises bring.
How real that is, and we can experience that, we can enjoy that; and I would say this to encourage us, for there is much to concern us. There is sorrow that we feel in our localities; there are wider sorrows; there is suffering amongst the saints - we understand all these things and we have body feelings in respect of all these things - but there is this wonderful matter as well, that our outlook is heavenly. It is our portion that we can enter into here and helps us to walk through this scene in which our lot has been cast. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit, and I felt in the reading on Lord’s day a sense of the Spirit unfolding things to us. These are well-trodden scriptures; Hebrews has been read many times before, but I felt there was a spiritual enquiry, and the epistle is there to encourage us, and these things are to cause us to reflect on what our heavenly portion is. We are not just here to have a discussion over the scriptures; it is an opportunity for the Spirit to guide us and to enlarge our appreciation of our heavenly portion, make it more real to us.
I think we have a lot to be thankful for in the day that our lot has been cast. You can look at failures and sorrows, and it is easy to become not only occupied but to become over-occupied with these things, but that is not the divine thought. The divine thought is that we should go on from strength to strength and be occupied, engaged and live in our heavenly portion. May we be encouraged for His Name’s sake!
At a ministry meeting in Edinburgh
21st January 2020