The Works of John Bunyan, vol 1 by John Bunyan (best book clubs txt) 📖

‘a lamb as it had been slain’ (Rev 5:6). The words are to the purpose, and signify that in the midst of the throne is our sacrifice, with the very marks of his death upon him; showing to God that sitteth upon the throne, the holes of the thorns, of the nails, of the spear; and how he was disfigured with blows and blood when at his command he gave himself a ransom for his people; for it cannot be imagined that either the exaltation or glorification of the body of Jesus Christ should make him forget the day in which he died the death for our sins; specially since that which puts worth into his whole intercession is the death he died, and the blood he shed upon the cross, for our trespasses.

Besides, there is no sight more taketh the heart of God, than to see of the travail of the soul, and the bruisings of the body of his Son for our transgressions. Hence it is said, He ‘is in the midst of the throne’ as he died, or as he had been slain (Rev 7:17). It is said again, ‘The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them.’ The Lamb, that is, the Son of God as a sacrifice, shall be always in the midst of the throne to feed and comfort his people. He is the throne, he is the priest, he is the sacrifice.

But then how as a Lamb is he in the midst of the throne? Why, the meaning in mine opinion is, that Christ, as a dying and bleeding sacrifice, shall be chief in the reconciling of us to God; or that his being offered for our sins shall be of great virtue when pleaded by him as priest, to the obtaining of grace, mercy, and glory for us (Heb 9:12). By his blood he entered into the holy place; by his blood he hath made an atonement for us before the mercyseat. His blood it is that speaketh better for us than the blood of Abel did for Cain (Heb 12:24). Also it is by his blood that we have bold admittance into the holiest (Heb 10:19). Wherefore no marvel if you find him here a Lamb, as it had been slain, and that in the midst of the throne of grace.

While thou art therefore thinking on him, as he is the throne of grace, forget him not as he is priest and sacrifice; for as a priest he makes atonement; but there is no atonement made for sin without a sacrifice. Now, as Christ is a sacrifice, so he is to be considered as passive, or a sufferer; as he is a priest, so he is active, or one that hath offered up himself; as he is an altar, so he is to be considered as God; for in and upon the power of his Godhead he offered up himself. The altar then was not the cross, as some have foolishly imagined. But as a throne, a throne of grace; so he is to be considered as distinct from these three things, as I also have hinted before. Wouldst thou then know this throne of grace, where God sits to hear prayers and give grace? then cast the eyes of thy soul about, and look till thou findest the Lamb there; a Lamb there ‘as it had been slain,’ for by this thou shalt know thou art right. A slain Lamb, or a Lamb as it had been slain, when it is seen by a supplicant in the midst of the throne, whither he is come for grace, is a blessed sight! A blessed sight indeed! And it informs him he is where he should be.

And thou must look for this, the rather because without blood is no remission. He that thinks to find grace at God’s hand, and yet enters not into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, will find himself mistaken, and will find a DEAD,[9] instead of ‘a living way’ (Heb 10:19). For if not anything below, or besides blood, can yield remission on God’s part, how should remission be received by us without our acting faith therein? We are justified by his blood, through faith in his blood (Rom 5:6-9). Wherefore, I say, look when thou approachest the throne of grace, that thou give diligence to see for the Lamb; that is, ‘as it had been slain’ in the midst of the throne of grace; and then thou wilt have, not only a sign that thou presentest thy supplications to God, where, and as thou shouldst; but there also wilt thou meet with matter to break, to soften, to bend, to bow, and to make thy heart as thou wouldst have it; for if the blood of a goat will, as some say, dissolve an adamant, a stone that is harder than flint;[10] shall not the sight of ‘a Lamb as it had been slain’ much more dissolve and melt down the spirit of that man that is upon his knees before the throne of grace for mercy; especially when he shall see, that not his prayers, not his tears, not his wants, but the blood of the Lamb, has prevailed with a God of grace to give mercy and grace to an undeserving man? This then is the third sign by which thou shalt know when thou art at the throne of grace: that throne is sprinkled with blood; yea, in the midst of that throne there is to be seen to this day, a Lamb as it had been slain; and he is in the midst of it, to feed those that come to that throne, and to lead them by and to ‘living fountains of waters’ (Rev 7:17). Wherefore, Fourth. The throne of grace is to be known, by the streams of grace that continually proceed therefrom, and that like a river run themselves out into the world. And, saith John, ‘He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb’ (Rev 22:1). Mark you, here is again a throne; the throne of God, which, as we have showed, is the human nature of his Son; out of which, as you read, proceeds a river, a river of water of life, clear as crystal. And the joining of the Lamb also here with God is to show that it comes, I say, from God, by the Lamb; by Christ, who as a lamb or sacrifice for sin, is the procuring cause of the running of this river; it proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Behold, therefore, how carefully here the Lamb is brought in, as one from or through whom proceeds the water of life to us. God is the spring-head; Christ the golden pipe of conveyance; the elect the receivers of this water of life. He saith not here, ‘the throne of the Lamb,’ but ‘and of the Lamb, to show, I say, that he it is out of or through whom this river of grace should come.’ But and if it should be understood that it proceedeth from the throne of the Lamb, it may be to show that Christ also has power as a mediator, to send grace like a river into the church. And then it amounts to this, that God, for Christ’s sake, gives this river of grace, and that Christ, for his merits sake, has power to do so too. And hence is that good wish, so often mentioned in the epistles, ‘Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Rom 1:7; 1

Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; 1 Thess 1:2; 2 Thess 1:2; Phile 3). And again, ‘Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 1:2; 2

Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4). For Christ has power with the Father to give grace and forgiveness of sins to men (John 5:21-26; Mark 2:10).

But let us come to the terms in this text. Here we have a throne, a throne of grace; and to show that this throne is it indeed, therefore there proceeds therefrom a river of this grace, put here under the term of ‘water of life,’ a term fit to express both the nature of grace and the condition of him that comes for it to the throne of grace.

It is called by the name of water of life, to show what a reviving cordial the grace of God in Christ is, shall be, and will be found to be, of all those that by him shall drink thereof. It shall be in him, even in him that drinks it, ‘a well of water springing up into everlasting life’ (John 4:14). It will therefore beget life, and maintain it; yea, will itself be a spring of life, in the very heart of him that drinks it. Ah! it will be such a preservative also to spiritual health, as that by its virtue the soul shall for ever be kept, I say, the soul that drinks it, from total and final decay; it shall be in them a well of living water, springing up into everlasting life.

But there is also by this phrase or term briefly touched the present state of them that shall come hither to drink; they are not the healthful, but the sick. It is with the throne of grace, as it is with the Bath, and other places of sovereign and healing waters, they are most coveted of them that are diseased, and do also show their virtues on those that have their health and limbs; so, I say, is the throne of grace; its waters are for healing, for soul-healing, that is their virtue (Eze 47:8,9). Wherefore, as at those waters above mentioned, the lame leave their crutches, and the sick [obtain]

such signs of their recovery as may be a sign of their receiving health and cure there; so at the throne of grace, it is where true penitents, and those that are sick for mercy, do leave their sighs and tears; ‘and the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall,’ there, ‘wipe away all tears from their eyes’ (Rev 7:17). Wherefore, as Joseph washed his face, and dried his tears away, when he saw his brother Benjamin, so all God’s saints shall here, even at the throne of grace, where God’s Benjamin, or the Son of his right hand, is, wash their souls from sorrow, and have their tears wiped from their eyes. Wherefore, O thou that are diseased, afflicted, and that wouldst live, come by Jesus to God as merciful and gracious; yea, look for this river when thou art upon thy knees before him, for by that thou shalt find whereabout is the throne of grace, and so where thou mayest find mercy.

But again, as that which proceeds out of this throne of grace is called ‘water of life,’ so it is said to be a river, a river of water of life. This, in the first place, shows, that with God is plenty of grace, even as in a river there is plenty of water; a pond, a pool, a cistern, will hold much, but a river will hold more; from this throne come rivers and streams of water of life, to satisfy those that come for life to the throne of God. Further, as by a river is showed what abundance of grace proceeds from God through Christ, so it shows the unsatiable thirst and desire of one that comes indeed aright to the throne of grace for mercy. Nothing but rivers will satisfy such a soul;