So an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 2 Peter 1:11
Our last meditation was gloom and sadness: here the sun of comfort arises and sheds splendor, glory and joy upon us. O that we may now enter by faith into the joy of our Lord. Come, christian, it seems you and I must tarry a little longer on earth, absent from our Lord. How shall we employ ourselves? In studying the word of his grace; in being diligent in the use of means; in exercising ourselves unto godliness. What then? O blessed assurance! So an entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly. When? Both in life and in death.
In life. We shall find a free and open door into the kingdom of Christ's grace, love, and peace even now: we shall have joy in the Holy Ghost, and "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding," in our hearts. Thus shall we sweetly and swiftly pass the voyage of life. All is enjoyed in being diligent in the ways of Christ. Soul, thus press on, let who will say it is legal. What! legal to live and labor in the kingdom of love? Say, deluded objector, did you ever expect to enter your Lord's kingdom any other way than by Christ, who is the door? Do you expect to enjoy the comfort of his love and the assurance of his favor in a walk and way contrary to his word and will? Are we not to walk in Christ, abounding in the work of faith, the patience of hope, and the labor of love? Diligence of soul to enjoy his presence, and to be conformed to his image, is our delight below. To have every holy temper and heavenly disposition from Christ, puts the soul into a right frame to enjoy him: this is to have a constant and an abundant entrance ministered to us into the kingdom of Christ. So living and abiding in his kingdom of grace and love, our souls become dead to the kingdom of this world.
We rejoice also to think of an entrance into Christ's kingdom being abundantly administered to us at death. Fellowship with Christ, and diligence in his ways, makes us think of death with pleasure, and familiarizes it to our minds. By faith we see heaven open to admit us, God our Father with open arms to embrace ns, Christ to welcome us, and the Spirit to enable us to sing victory in death.