pass before your vision; you may climb the lofty Alpine
summit and behold the snow-streaked and snow-capped peaks towering to
the heavens around you--or you may listen to the best music ever
composed by a Mozart, a Handel, or a Beethoven, or the finest ever
executed by a Liszt, a Rubenstein, or a Paderewski; yet I must tell you
upon the authority of God's word 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." 1 Cor. 2:9.

This vision shows very clearly the lofty position to which Christ has
been exalted, possessing "a name which is above every name"; for the
entire company of angels and redeemed saints unite in extolling him with
songs of praise, and that, too, before the very throne of the Deity and
in the presence of his infinite Majesty. Surely we can not doubt that
ours is a divine Savior, and one worthy of all praise, honor, power and
dominion both now and forever.

Though John beheld this wonderful vision in heaven, yet we must remember
that it was given and recorded for the benefit of God's people upon
earth. The plan of redemption was not actually revealed in heaven, for
"Jesus Christ came _into the world_ to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15), and
it was here that he was ordained to "taste death for every man." Heb.
2:9. The ransomed company thus brought to view is intended to point out
the redeemed of earth; for there is no salvation to be obtained in
heaven, in which place no blood was shed--the blood is one of the agents
that bears witness in the earth. 1 John 5:7, 8. The central figures of
this vision were God, the Holy Spirit, and Christ, around whom the
living creatures and elders were gathered, and they, in turn, were
surrounded by the angelic throng. This entire scene was doubtless
intended to represent the exalted character of spiritual things on
earth, where the plan of redemption was revealed and the redeemed host
gathered out of all nations. In a very important sense the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost all dwell in the spiritual church, or new
Jerusalem, and are thus "in the midst" of God's people, surrounded by
the redeemed host who unceasingly worship them, and they, in turn, have
the promise that "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them"
(Psa. 34:7); yea, "an innumerable company of angels" reside in this
"heavenly Jerusalem," or "city of the living God," unto which we, as a
part of the "genera