by Eugene Higgins
Greater Riches Than the Treasures in Egypt
For any number of reasons, a photo can strike you as being unique or memorable. I saw a photo last week that was both of those things: “unique” because I have never seen one like it before, and “memorable” … because I had never seen one like it before.
It was a photo of half a dozen or so cruise ships – those mammoth monsters of the sea with row after row of decks and balconies. When seen in port, serenely riding at anchor, they resemble expensive, balconied, high-rise condos in an exclusive part of town. What was eye-catching about the photo was that these leviathans were in the midst of an otherwise empty, lazuline ocean; they were arranged in something of a circle, facing each other like 6 friends who happened to meet and stopped to have a chat. The reason for this mid-ocean cruise ship confab was an extremely practical one that was crew-related.
For a number of weeks, cruise ship companies world-wide had worked overtime to get their passengers home – or at least to a place from which they could reach home. As far as I know, as of today, (May 7), except for 8 people on one ship sailing slowly towards Europe, every cruise ship passenger in the world has disembarked. That in itself was a Herculean task. But the cruise ship companies faced an additional problem. How were they to get the crews from all these ships home to their own countries? Each ship had personnel from many different nations and to sail to each port would have been a logistical nightmare, as well as prohibitively costly and time-consuming. Hence, the session at sea. Crew members were swapped to combine the people who needed to go to a certain section of the world. Small boats ferried geographically-close people on to ships that could take them home. If a ship were sailing to Asia, it would take any from the other ships who needed to go in that direction – Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese, et al. Europeans would be swapped and grouped together and placed on a ship bound for a port in Europe; this way, each ship could handle a certain part of the world.
One result of this exchange was that crew members, who normally would have slept in very tight quarters, in a less than luxurious part of a ship that was jammed with passengers, could now enjoy glorious views and opulent comfort in suites that, previously, they never would have booked and, perhaps, never could have afforded. Since they were all crew members, I don’t know who would bring meals, fluff up pillows, or shape towels into swans; perhaps they had to do this themselves. At least they would sleep well.
Of course, they were not instantly “rich,” but they were instantly living “richly.” When I thought of that, and the word “richly” sprang to mind, I wondered how many times the Bible used that word; surprisingly, I found it was only twice. In case any from Sparta or Thebes are reading this, I’ll gratify you by adding that the Greek word also occurs two other times. While the related adjective occurs 28 times, there are only four times in all of scripture that God uses the adverb “richly.” And each of those four times He uses it in connection with you. Here are the references:
- Col 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
- 1 Tim 6:17, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”
- Tit 3:5, 6, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
- 2 Peter 1:11, “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Two of those statements are changeless truths that have already occurred; we stand in the good of the abundance to which they point. The other two seem to be conditioned on our life and application to God’s things.
Titus 3: When God saved you by His grace, He richly imparted to you His Holy Spirit. We may have experienced failure in our life like King Saul, but because of the redemption we have in Christ we will never have to cry out like Saul, “God has departed from me and answereth me no more.” Nor will we ever have to pray like David, “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” In the impartation of His Holy Spirit, God richly bestowed His presence, sealing you “unto the Day of Redemption.” He is “that Holy Spirit of Promise Who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” Not one of those Old Testament worthies – not Abraham, Job, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Ezra, Isaiah, Daniel – not one of them had the rich blessing you have. I sometimes condemn myself for thinking so infrequently about this third Person of the eternal Trinity Who indwells me – and then I remember that His work is to direct me to the Lord Jesus and cultivate in me a likeness to Christ. Remember the unnamed servant escorting Rebekah, through the wilderness, to the man whom having not seen she loved? So the Holy Spirit, constantly pointing us to the Lord, will bring us safely to Him, in the air, on that cloudless day that’s drawing ever nearer. When we hear the Lord’s call to rise to meet Him, instantaneous though it will be, I wonder whether we will hear another Divine voice whispering to our hearts, as Eliezer said to Rebekah, “It is the Master.”
1 Timothy 6: We have been richly blessed. While this is addressed first to wealthy people, to remind them not to be purse-proud since all that they possessed came to them from a gracious God, it certainly speaks to all of us. Whatever we have, we have from that same gracious God Who kindly gives us these things to enjoy and to employ. Concerning material blessings, as with spiritual gifts, the question might be asked, “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” He has richly met our physical needs as a Faithful Creator and our spiritual needs as a loving Heavenly Father. In less than 30 minutes from the moment the first few words struck him, Sanford Bennett wrote the lyrics (and Joseph Webster the music) for, “In the Sweet Bye and Bye.” He chose a wonderful adjective to describe our God: “bountiful.” He is richly generous, bounteous, and magnanimous. He is your “Father above,” Who “giveth and giveth and giveth again.”
Colossians 3: Letting His Word dwell richly in our hearts. Charles Wesley wrote, “My heart is full of Christ and longs its glorious matter to declare.” While he likely was thinking of Psalm 45, there is language in the Book of Ephesians, the companion epistle to Colossians, that is very helpful to our understanding. There, Paul wrote, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith…” Here he wrote, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in your richly.” The measure in which we will enjoy the presence of Christ dwelling in our hearts will be determined by the measure in which we allow the Word of Christ to richly dwell in our minds. His Word will always lead us to Him.
2 Peter 1: Our entrance into His eternal Kingdom. Imagine taking a root word in the Greek language and then adding a prefix that means “out” as well as one that means “in.” In Luke 9:31. When the Lord Jesus was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared and they discussed His “decease” (Greek, “exodos”) that He would accomplish at Jerusalem. It was His going out, His exit, His exodus from this world and His return to the Father. Here Peter takes the same root word and attaches the prefix “eis” to give us “eisodos,” our entrance. (This is the same distinction teachers of the Word have used to warn us about the difference between exegesis and eisegesis). Think of some of David’s mighty men having an abundant entrance into his Judaean kingdom, based on their service and devotion to him. Entrance into Heaven is by grace, based on the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. But when we come out of Heaven to enter the Kingdom with the victorious King, we will be coming from the Bema, reflecting the rewards His hand has bestowed. This is why so many preachers reminded us that they were not worried about going into Heaven (that was secure through the precious blood of Christ.) They were more concerned about how they would come out.
You and I have been richly blessed and are wealthy beyond words. Psalm 17 describes “men of the world, which have their portion in this life.” None of us ever will be as rich as a Buffet, Bezos, or Gates. But, apart from salvation, none of the men of this world, who have their portion here, will ever be as rich, eternally, as will you.
“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory” (1 Sa 2:8).
“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that He may set him with princes, even with the princes of His people.” (Psalm 113:7, 8).