HIS earth belongs to God. He created it, and it is His. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Yet we do not see Him in His glorious presence. From a world which He pronounced “very good,” He has withdrawn His glory or veiled it in material forms. His power and wisdom are revealed in the shining stars by night, and the glorious sun by day, in the mighty mountain and the flowing river, in the sea and the land, in the forest tree, in the tiny floweret. Despite the ravaging marks of sin, we still see constant evidences of the Creator’s wisdom, skill, and power. His love is to some extent revealed in the changing seasons, in the beneficent gifts of earth to the children of men, in the common sunshine, common air, and other great common blessings of life; and yet these are marred more or less by sin, until men question the goodness and love of God. But to leave the questioner forever without doubt, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” He veiled His glorious presence and divinity in humanity in order that man might not fear, but might be won to God by the everlasting goodness of His glory. Through all these ages since God withdrew His glory from the earth, which His own creature yielded to the usurper, God has been pleading with man to receive Him,—His character; and to know by experience that God is righteous, that He is all-wise, all-merciful, that God is love; and throughout all the ages there have been witnesses to the effectiveness of His plan for saving men. He has longed to bring men to that condition where they would receive Him through His Son, through His Word, through all the various means by which He has appealed to the children of men. He has wanted not only some men to receive Him, but all men to receive Him. He has pleaded, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” His great heart of love and pity has been grieved with the sin-blot upon His universe. He would have sin removed forever; He longs for that time which He has predicted by His own prophet when “there shall be no more curse,” when death shall be no more, neither shall there be any more pain. His own presence would bring just that condition, but it would also result in the destruction of all those who have identified themselves with sin; “for our God is a consuming fire,” and His presence consumes sin. For all these centuries the children of earth could not look upon the face of the great loving Father of the universe. He has longed that they should see Him; but in man’s sinful condition, He Himself declared to His meekest prophet, “Thou canst not see My face; for there shall no man see Me, and live.” Yet the Lord Jesus promises, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they SHALL SEE GOD.” And the last prophet of His Book declares, “THEY SHALL SEE HIS FACE.” But in order that they may endure that glorious presence, that forth-shining of His character in all its majesty, that light which is absolutely unendurable to mortal gaze, they must be filled with His presence; and that filling must be the voluntary filling by faith. There must be that choice on their part to receive Him for all that He is, so that Christ shall be in them “the hope of glory.” He surely will come into His own; He has the right to come into His own; it belongs to Him. But when He does so come, those who have identified themselves with sin will perish with the sin. So the apostle Paul writes that they “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints.” 2 Thess. 1: 9, 10. And in the very next chapter we are told that “that wicked,” the strongest of all wicked aggregations in this world, shall come to naught by the forth-shining of His presence. And yet that very coming is in God’s goodness. It is only the revelation of His righteous character; it will not affect those who are in harmony with Him, only to change them from mortality to immortality, from the corruptible to the incorruptible. Such shall shout for joy, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” They have admitted His presence into their hearts, and it has transformed their lives. The same creative power which was manifest when the earth was called into existence, has been revealed in their own lives, and will be revealed in its fulness when Christ shall come again. Therefore, “our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself.” Phil. 3: 20, 21. The true children of Christ know that working in their own lives. They are ready for its last glorious development, the change to immortality when Christ shall come. How is it, reader? Do you know the presence of the Lord? Are you willing to meet Him when He comes in His glory? Do you really love Him? If you do, you love His personal presence.