THE CHURCH AND ITS MEMBERS
By
G. H. PEMBER
*
* *
CONTENTS
PUBLISHERS COMMENTS AND PREFACE Page iii-ix
Chapter 1 THE
CHURCH AND THE CHURCHES Page 3
Chapter 2
PREDESTINATION Page 8
Chapter 3
PREDESTINATION AND WORKS Page 17
Chapter 4 REDEMPTION BY BLOOD.
A KINGDOM AND PRIESTS Page 20
Chapter 5 THE FIRST
RESURRECTION
(John 5: 24-29) Page 26
Chapter 6 THE PRIZE,
WHICH IS THE FIRST
RESURRECTION (Phil. 3: 10-14) Page 36
Chapter 7 THE KINGDOM
AND
EVERLASTING LIFE Page 43
Chapter 8 THE
CONFLICT AND THE CROWN
(1 Cor. 9: 24; 10: 11) Page 50
Chapter 9 THE REST
THAT REMAINETH FOR THE
HOUSEHOLD OF
GOD (Heb.
3. & 4.) Page 65
Chapter 10 SUMMARY AND
CONCLUSION Page 92
*
* *
PUBLISHERS COMMENTS
[iii]
George
Hawkins Pember, a contemporary of Robert Govett, G. H. Lang, and D. M. Panton,
shared many of the same unique (to their time and to ours of this era)
hermeneutic principles which categorized them into a ‘set’
by themselves. They were vastly ahead of their time and produced teachings which perplexed many and blessed many others. It is the latter group that feels deeply indebted to Mr.
Pember and his colleagues for heavenly instruction. The best
known work of Mr. Pember is EARTHS
EARLIEST AGES (Kregel Pub. Co.,
The
publisher solicits your original letters from: G.H.
PEMBER, ROBERT GOVETT, G.H. LANG, and D.M. PANTON, for a future (D.V.)
publication now being readied. With this statement, we mention that one of Mr.
Pember’s letters in reply to a request for a photograph of himself,
stated that he intentionally avoided leaving behind a photograph of himself ...
as he didn’t want others to look at a sinner ... but to the Saviour. Mr. Panton
suggested to Mr. Lang that they should reprint Mr. Pember’s works ... of which
the latter three volumes were condensed into a one-volume
edition in May of 1941. Since this time, only the very fortunate were able to
secure the vast riches of Mr. Pember’s studies in the second-hand book stores.
With
Mr. Lang, we say: “He was
pre-eminently a teacher of teachers, and one of the best exponents of prophetic
Scripture during his period, so rich in great teachers of the Word of God. It
is in the hope that, in the kind and perfect providence of God, the present
volume may reach other and younger readers, eager for all heavenly knowledge,
that it is issued. It will guide and fortify honest
hearts for the wars of the Lord now upon us, in which the [iv] faithful
must meet fierce and dangerous conflicts, and meet them with few older soldiers
of Christ to lead and encourage them. The labour of preparing it is but a debt
of gratitude paid cheerfully. If God shall graciously use it to enlighten, to
sanctify, and to strengthen the witness of some of His servants, He shall be glorified and I shall be satisfied. There are other
writings of Mr. Pember of high value which 1 shall be glad to issue, if God
shall open the way.”
(from the Editor’s Preface of
the
1941 GREAT PROPRECIES condensation)
SCHOETTLE PUBLISHING CO., INC.
-------
PREFACE
[v]
AT a time when momentous changes are taking place in
the Ecclesiastical world, and our National Church is not merely commencing, but
has almost accomplished, a retrograde movement from Bible light to Mediaeval darkness,
it behoves sincere and thoughtful believers to consider the situation. What
could have made the present religious tendencies possible in the twentieth
century, in our own country, and after all the sad experiences of the past? For
surely we might have hoped that the English Church, after having recovered so
much truth at the time of the Reformation, would, from that epoch, have
continued to draw nearer and nearer to the Apostolic ideal of the first
century.
This, however, has been by no means the case: on the
contrary, her course has ever been fitful and unsteady; and she has, at last,
deliberately reversed her steps, and set her face determinedly toward the
veiled Paganism of priests and sacraments - even as the five-and-twenty men
seen by Ezekiel had turned their backs upon the Temple of the Lord, in order
that they might worship the sun toward the East.*
* Ezek. 8: 16.
[vi]
The
causes of this portentous change are, doubtless, many. Among
them we might mention the enmity of the carnal mind against God, which prompts
men to instinctive disobedience; the mighty power with which Satan holds sway
over human minds, and casts obstacles, absolutely insurmountable to mere human
efforts, in the way of the servants of God; the fact that a National Church, with
honours and emoluments to bestow, must inevitably number among her
clergy many who, though upright and sincere according to the world’s standard,
are not actuated solely by the love of Him Who died for sinners, and,
therefore, cannot enjoy the guidance of His Spirit; and so on.
But it is
to another cause of decadence that we would now invite attention - a cause
which affects, more or less, every church and sect. We mean the fact, that each succeeding generation of men is found to
depend too much, if not altogether, upon ancient custom, vague tradition, the
laws of some church, or its own idea of what is right, and so does not
continually refer for motives of belief and action to the written and
unchanging Word of God. And yet it is for obedience to this latter that men are
responsible to Him, and by it they must be judged before His Throne, even as He
has said;-
“He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My sayings, hath one that
judgeth him: the Word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the Last Day.”
* John 12: 48.
[vii]
Now,
the consequence of this sin to those who
are guilty of it is twofold. For, in the first place, not being acquainted with the Word of God and the promises commandments
and predictions contained therein, they
have no means of becoming conformed to His mind; while
they are, also, depriving themselves of the most powerful incentive and aid to
holiness. And, secondly, for the same reason, they fail to remove the old leaven of Paganism and human methods from
their creed and worship, and so leave it to work, from time to time, with
disastrous issues.
It
is hoped that the present volume may afford some help to those who are
conscious that they have fallen into such errors as we have described, but are,
nevertheless, honestly desirous of following out and realizing the Lord’s
words:-
“He that hath My commandments,
and keepeth them,
He it is that loveth Me:
And he that loveth me shall be
loved of My Father,
And I
will love him,
And will manifest Myself unto him.”*
*
John 14: 21.
It
is, then, His commandments that must be learnt
from His Own Word and scrupulously observed, if we love Him. From all other pretended authorities we must stand aloof: it
was to guard us from these, and from every admixture of guile and evil, that He
[viii] preserved for us a
written revelation, which all may read and understand.
We
have, therefore, essayed, in the following pages, to
search that revelation anew, with diligence and prayer. Beginning with an
investigation of the meaning and Scriptural use of the word ecclesia, usually rendered “Church,” we have endeavoured to point out the practical
bearings of that meaning and use. This is followed by an attempt to discover what conditions and behaviour the Scriptures
require of those who [are regenerate, and] would be members
of the now invisible Church [of the
firstborn * (see Heb. 12: 15-17, R.V.)], which shall hereafter constitute the Body of Christ
and the [Messianic and] Heavenly Kingdom: to what laws, ordinances, and church-government, they ought to be subject; and with what gifts they should be endowed. And, in the first part of this inquiry, we have striven to show the clear distinction drawn by the New
Testament between the gift of God which must be accepted as such, and the prize of our upward calling for
which we must earnestly contend.
[*
NOTE: The true ‘church’
of God, consists of those members of His ‘body’
who are ‘called out’ from the world by
the Holy Spirit; but, the ‘church of the
firstborn,’ consists only of regenerate members of His
‘Church,’ who will be ‘accounted
worthy,’ at the Judgment Seat of
Christ, to have a double portion of the Inieritance -
to be partakers in their Lord’s promised Messianic Kingdom of “a thousand years” (Rev. 20.) - six times, (by the
Holy Spirit), mentioned in this chapter!
Firstborn
sons
of God, are those who will be judged as “accounted
worthy” of a share in their Lord’s coming inheritance (Psa. 2: 8; cf. Ps.
72 & 110:
1-3,
R.V.)! That is, those who will be judged, to have qualified
themselves (Matt. 5: 20, 7: 21, R.V.),
worthy of the ‘reward’ (1 Cor. 9:
17, R.V.), - the ‘inheritance’
(1 Cor. 6: 9. cf.
Gal. 5: 21, R.V.), and the ‘crown’
(2 Tim. 2:
12, cf. Rev.
2: 25, 3: 21, R.V.),
after having initially received eternal salvation by God’s ‘grace,’ as the ‘free gift of God’ (Eph. 2: 8; Rom. 6: 23, R.V.) which is ‘ETERNAL life’.]
Lastly, since many laws ordinances and
Ecclesiastical Hierarchies, which pass for those of Christ, are found to be very different from, and even antagonistic to, the teaching of Himself and His Apostles
in the written Word, an effort has
been made to unveil the source of the influence by which so marvellous a
corruption was effected.
But this book, although complete in itself, is designed,
also, as an introduction to the third volume [ix] in the series of which it forms a part, that is, to The Great Prophecies of the Centuries concerning the Church. For it seemed necessary to set forth
what appeared to us to be the Scriptural idea of the Church, before we
proceeded to consider the Divine forecast of its course upon earth.
To
avoid confusion, it may be well to say that we do not use the word “Catholic” in its generally accepted meaning. It is not found in Scripture; but was adopted, in a technical
sense, by those Ecclesiastical Christians who, taking their model from the
Pagan Mysteries, believed in salvation by priests and sacraments. And with them it was used to indicate the orthodox - that
is, the orthodox from their own point of view - as distinguished from heretics.
We, therefore, resign the word to those to whom it of right
belongs; and regard it as a designation of Hierarchical as
opposed to Evangelical and Apostolical Christians, of those who profess to recognize two authorities, the [so called] Church and the Bible, as contrasted
with [regenerate] believers who will receive
nothing as Divine Truth, unless it can be proved, and that in an intelligible and straightforward manner, from Holy Writ.
*
* *
Chapter 1
THE CHURCH AND THE CHURCHES
[Page 3]
In our former volume, which deals with
During
its course, which commenced spiritually with the rejection of the Lord Jesus,
but historically with the dispersions by Titus and Hadrian, and which seems now
to be nearing its end, Israel is alienated from God, and no longer holds the
official position of His people upon earth. But the
two high prerogatives attached to that position, the sovereignty and the
priesthood, have not been abolished. For the former, of which the nation was
deprived long before its dispersion, passed in succession to the Four Gentile World-powers, and is now in the hands of the Kings of
Christendom, who represent the broken parts of the Fourth Empire - parts soon
to be reunited. Meanwhile, the priesthood, changed in its character in accord
with the changed circumstances, is vested in the body
called the Church, which is the subject [4] of this volume, and every real member of which is a
priest unto God.
Hence all
such Hebrew predictions as relate to the progress and glory of the Israelitish
nation, or even to God’s special dealings with it, are for the present suspended: only the fearful
threats of exile and suffering are now in process of fulfilment, as, indeed,
they have been for more than eighteen centuries.
On
the other hand, those prophecies which refer to the Gentiles
and the Church span the whole of the wide chasm between the two Advents.
And, since we have already examined the Divine
utterances respecting the former, we must now turn our attention to what is
said of the Church.
It
will, however, be well first to inquire into the meaning and use of the Greek
word ecelesia, which we usually render by “church”; and also, if we can, to discover what manner of
persons are recognised by the Most High as members of the body so called, and
what are the laws and ordinances to which they are subject.
Now, the ecclesia of the Greeks was the assembly, in a free city, of
those who, being possessed of the full rights of citizenship, were summoned
from the population for the transaction of public affairs.* No [5]
stranger, nor slave, nor any one who had
been convicted of crime, could be admitted into its honoured circle.
* Originally the word seems to have meant “the calling out,” or “summoning,”of
the citizens to an assembly by the herald or crier: then it was transferred to
the assembly itself. In the Septuagint,
it is often used as an equivalent for the Hebrew […] “congregation.” Hence in one passage of
the New Testament (Acts 7: 38) it retains its old application,
and refers to the Israelites in the
wilderness.
In
Matt. 16:
18, however, the Lord uses it of a society
not in existence when He spoke, but which He was about to form - “Upon this rock I will build My Church.” And so, His Apostles recognised the term as appropriated for
the assembly which He claimed as peculiarly His own, and which was incorporated
on the memorable Day of Pentecost.
Hence the
peculiar appropriateness of the term when applied to the Church, whose members
are now being called by God out of the masses of mankind, in order at they may
rule the world in the coming age. For all who are appointed to this dignity must be citizens the
“Neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the
So
much, then, for the meaning of the Greek word which the Lord Himself selected
as the designation His Church. But a knowledge of the
manner in it is used in Scripture is, also, of the last importance; since by it
an ominous secret, a hidden pathway of
apostasy from God, is revealed to us. In the teaching of the New Testament,
the term “church” is found only in two senses.
First,
the Church, absolutely, is the great Assembly which is now being summoned by
God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, the complete and
heavenly body which the Lord will shortly present Himself as a glorious Church,
not having spot or [6]
wrinkle or any such thing; but holy and without blemish.*
*
For this meaning see Matt. 16: 18; 1 Cor. 12: 28; Eph. 1: 22; 3: 10, 21; 5: 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32; Col. 1: 18, 24; 1 Tim. 3: 15; Heb. 12: 23.
** See Matt. 18: 17; Acts 2: 47; 5: 11; Acts 8: 1, 3; Acts 11: 22, 26; Acts 12: 1, 5; Acts 13: 1; Acts 14: 23, 27; Acts 15: 3, 4, 22; Acts 18: 22; Acts 20: 17, Acts 28; Rom. 16: 1, 5, 23 - Gaius
probably gave up his house for church-meetings; 1 Cor. 1: 2; 1 Cor. 4: 17; 1 Cor. 6: 4; 1 Cor. 10: 32; 1 Cor. 11: 18, 22; 1 Cor. 14: 4, 5, 12, 19, 23, 28, 35;
1 Cor. 15: 9 - i.e., the church at Jerusalem (comp. Acts 8: 1, 3); 2 Cor. 1: 1; Gal. 1: 13; Phil. 3: 6; Phil. 4: 15; Col. 4: 15, 16; 1 Thess. 1: 1; 2 Thess 1: 1; 1 Tim. 3: 5; 5: 16; Phdem. 2;
James 5: 14; 3 John 6, 9, 10; Rev. 2: 1, 8, 12, 18, Rev. 3: 1, 7, 14.
And,
secondly, every local assembly of believers is also
called a church,* perhaps because it ought to be a miniature of the
whole Church. Hence we read of “the church which was at
* Acts 8: 1. ** 1 Thess.
1: 1. *** Philem.
2.
In
exact accordance with these examples, whenever the assemblies of a district,
province, or country, were to be mentioned collectively, the plural was always
used.* So we have, “the churches of
* See Acts 9: 31; 15: 41; Acts 16: 5; Rom. 16: 4, 16; 1 Cor. 7: 17; I Cor. 11: 16; 14: 33, 34; 1 Cor. 16: 1, 19; 2 Cor. 8: 1, 18, 19, 23, 24; 2 Cor. 11: 8, 28; 2 Cor. 12: 13; Gal. 1: 2, 22; 1 Thess. 2: 14; 2 Thess. 1: 4; Rev. 1: 4, 11, 20, 11, 20; Rev. 2: 7, 11, 17, 23, 29; Rev. 3: 6, 13, 22; Rev. 22: 16. From
these passages it is evident that the Lord Jesus never contemplated any
hierarchical unity of all Christian believers during the present age - not even
in one province or country, much less in Christendom or the world.
** 1 Cor.
16: 1. *** 2 Cor. 8:
1. **** Gal. 1: 22. *****1 Cor. 14: 33.
[7]
It
thus appears, that the use of the term “the church” to
designate in the aggregate all the assembles of a particular sect, of a kingdom
or country, of Christendom, or of the world, is absolutely
unscriptural. “According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the Tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it,”* was the commandment given
by God to Moses. Nor can there ever be departure from Divine instructions
without a speedy sequel of disorder and apostasy.
* Exod. 25: 9.
In the case before us, by speaking of the “churches,” in the plural, whenever more than one local assembly
was intended, the Lord has manifestly signified that every several assembly,
consisting of all the believers of any one place or district, should be
independent and self-governed - a microcosm of the Church which is His Body. Had this intimation been respected, no room would have been
found for sects, for national and international Churches, or for any such idea
as the Union, or
* Rev
2: 2.
Who
can look back upon the history of the past without detecting the many disasters
that are due to single divergence from the Divine pattern!
[8]
Chapter
2
PREDESTINATION
HAVING thus investigated
the meaning of the term “church,” and the
correct use of the word according to the New Testament, we must now inquire
what manner of persons will be ultimately found in the
glorified assembly. For it is, of course, a gross mistake to suppose that the
aggregate of the visible churches upon earth - made up, as they are, of all who
choose to profess belief in the Lord Jesus, however careless their behaviour or
corrupt their creed - will hereafter form the glorified Church above: this fact
few will venture to deny. But we must go still
further; for, as we shall presently show, not all even of those who truly
believe, and are saved through faith, will necessarily be incorporated in the
Church, which is Christ’s Body.
Hence it
becomes a matter of the last importance to discover what qualifications are
required for so great an honour. If, then, we turn to the Bible, we shall find
them divided into two classes: for one of them is such that it can be
absolutely known only to God; while the others, which depend upon the first,
are, also, more or less open and manifest to men.
As
regards the first, then, no one can be a member of Christ’s Body unless he was predestinated thereto by God before the foundation of
the world. This truth is unmistakably affirmed in the well-known words of
Paul;-
“Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who
blessed us with every spiritual blessing [9] in the supercelestial* places in Christ; even as He chose us out for Himself in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blemish before Him in love; having
predestinated us unto adoption as sons, through
Jesus Christ, unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”**
* […] “in the places upon the heavens,” or “above”; that is, apparently, above the created heavens
of this earth. For the expression seems to include the Second Heaven (cp. 2 Cor. 12: 2), into
which evil spirits still have access (Eph. 6: 12; Job 1: 6; 2: 1; 1
Kings 22: 19-22),
though they are, probably, not able to penetrate into the Third. Compare the
expression in Ps. 8:
1;- “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth! Who hast set Thy glory above the
heavens.”
** Such is the meaning of […]: it is strange that the R. V. has not
fully expressed it.
Here
Paul invites the Ephesians to join with himself in blessing God as the One Who blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the supercelestial places in Christ. And in the Greek, the aorist tense indicates that His blessing was
bestowed at some definite point of time in the past, that is, when He raised
Christ “from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the
supercelestial places.* For in that same moment the Father also “put all things in subjection
under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all
things to the Church, which is His Body.”**
*
Eph. 1: 3-6. ** Eph. 1: 22.
Now,
when we are told that God gave Him to be Head over all
things to the Church, we are, so far, merely informed that He became its
governmental Head or King. But, when it is added that the
Church is His Body, much more is indicated; for it then [10] appears, that
He is not as an earthly ruler, having no further connection with His subjects
than to enforce their obedience, but is One Who directs them by means of a
vital union, of a life-power which, flowing from Himself, pervades them, and
transmits both the perception of His will and the instinctive desire and
capability of carrying it out.
And so,
when Christ, the Head, was exalted with every blessing to the supercelestial
places, far above the toil and anguish which He had voluntarily undergone below,
it was as the Representative and Forerunner of the members that He rose. And hence they, too, must soon pass into the same glory, and
experience to the full the blessings of their Head, from Whom even now
vitalising currents are ever being communicated to them, while they are yet
tarrying in the weary land. Thus the blessings
bestowed upon the Head were at the same moment secured to the meanest of His
members.
But why
does God thus favour some men above all others, so as even to make them members
of the Christ, His Son? Because He chose them for this
honour, in Christ, before the foundation of the world; because, in short, they
are His elect.
If,
then, this be so, surely another and very serious question arises. Upon what
ground did the Great God make such a selection from the human race? Was His choice arbitrary, and without reference to anything save
His own absolute will?
Had
this been the case, His action would have been perfectly just; for a Creator
has an indisputable right to dispose as He wills of the creatures
which He has called into being. Here no human rule of justice could
apply, since there is no relation among [11] men which bears the slightest resemblance to that of
a Creator to the created.
But the Bible, while it carefully reserves for the
Creator the right of arbitrary choice, never asserts that He exercises such a
right. On the contrary, it affirms that His election is based upon His
foreknowledge, as we may learn from the Epistle to the Romans;-
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among
many brethren: and Whom He predestinated,
them He also called: and
whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He
also glorified.”*
* Rom. 8: 29, 30.
Similarly,
Peter describes those to whom he is writing as “elect according to the foreknowledge of God.*
*
1 Peter 1: 2. Comp.
Now,
this fact of the foreknowledge of God must, course, be remembered and applied when
we are with such passages as the well-known words ting Esau and Jacob:-
“For the children being not yet born, neither done anything good or bad, that the purpose God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of Him
that calleth, it was said unto her, The
elder shall serve the younger. Even as it
written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”*
* Rom. 9: 11-13.
Here,
then, in accordance with the previously quoted text,*
we must understand God’s preference to be based upon His foreknowledge of the
characters of Jacob and Esau. He perceived that the former, however inferior in
some respects to his brother, would ultimately yield to the Divine discipline,
and suffer himself to be [12]
moulded by it. Esau, on the other hand, would not do so; and, therefore, could not be delivered from all sin and evil, as his brother
was.
* Rom. 8: 29.
It
thus appears, that, when God confines a spirit within its human body, He has
already, by His infallible foresight, perceived whether it will yield to His
discipline, and so be restored to obedience, or not; and if He has seen that it
will do so, He has also predestinated it to be conformed to the image of His
Son. In due season His predestination is sealed by an effectual call; and when,
in response to the call, the man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, his
gracious Creator at once justifies him from all his sins, and, as soon as the
process of salvation is completed, exalts him to glory.
But how
great should be the feelings of awe excited in our mind by the disclosure, that
the elect of God were chosen before the foundation of the world! What possible
connection could the faithful of to-day have had with a period so far remote?
How did God then know them individually, and so thoroughly, too, that He was enabled to make His choice?
Revelation
offers no answer to this question: its solution lies among the secret things
that belong unto the Lord our God. Hereafter He may reveal it, and then will all the enigmas and difficulties that group around the
conditions of our present life be dispelled in a moment, and the great
truth, that in all things God is love, shine forth gloriously, as the sun in a
cloudless sky.
For,
even in the case of those who will not be softened by the gift of the Beloved Son,
God, to the last, remains true to His own words:-
“As I live ... I have no pleasure in the death [13] of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way, and live.”*
*
Ezek. 33: 11.
Therefore,
He does not predestinate to destruction, though He may set the self-doomed upon
the high places of the earth, and so give him further opportunity of learning
the Divine power and forbearance; until, at length,
ruin descends upon persistent obstinacy, and flashes forth another warning
against the folly of contending with God.
This was exemplified in the case of Pharaoh, whom God,
as Paul tells us, willed to harden.* But the story cannot be understood, unless
we carefully examine its details in the Book of Exodus. There we shall find the
statement, that, on six consecutive occasions, Pharaoh hardened** his heart, or, that his was hardened.*** And it is
only after these many provocations that we meet with the
terrible words;-
* Rom. 9: 17, 18. ** Or, “made heavy”
* The inaccuracy
of the A.V. has concealed this fact; but the English reader will be able to
discover it in the more correct renderings of the R.V. See Exod. 7:
13, 22; 8: 19, 32; and 9: 7.
“And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.”*
*
Exod. 9: 12. The third clause of this
verse, “as the Lord had spoken unto Moses,”
connects it with Exod.
7: 3, and
reminds us that God had foreseen and predicted what would ultimately take
place: that is, that Pharaoh would continue to harden his heart, until, at
last, God would complete the awful process by withdrawing His Holy Spirit, and
so leaving the obdurate rebel to perish in his sins.
Thus, as in other recorded instances, God bore with Pharaoh, and suffered His Holy Spirit to strive
with him, until his obstinate rebellion had exhausted even Divine patience.
Then the oft-rejected [Holy] Spirit ceased to strive, and the forsaken king was delivered into the hands of the Wicked One.
[14]
In
no case, then, does God arbitrarily predestinate men to destruction: the fault
lies in the lost themselves; for His [Holy] Spirit is ever ready to assist them to repentance,
until they have crossed the boundary of His forbearance. To a careless reader,
indeed, and one who does not compare spiritual things with spiritual, certain
passages might seem to be opposed to this view. But,
if they really were so, they would contradict others which affirm, that God
does not desire the death of sinners. These apparently contradictory verses must, therefore, be capable of some different explanation.
Let
us, then, take, as an instance, the passage in the ninth chapter of the Epistle
to the Romans, which, regarded
superficially, is, perhaps, the most difficult of all. Paul has just inferred
from the history of Pharaoh, that whom God wills He
hardens. And a supposed objector, who has not troubled
to examine the history, and, consequently, has failed to observe the critical
point at which God willed to harden the proud king, exclaims;-Then “why doth He still find fault?
For who withstandeth His will?”
Now,
the spirit that prompts this question is manifest: the man does not propound it
because he desires a reasonable answer, but only to express his own opposition
to the ways of God. Therefore Paul offers no explanation, but merely admonishes
the arrogant objector, that it is the duty of mortals to yield to Divine
decrees, whether they can understand them or not. “Nay but, O man, who art thou that
repliest against God?” “Why dost thou strive with Him? For He giveth not account of any of His matters.”
Thou wouldest not refuse to the meanest artificer the right to dispose as he
pleases of the work of his own hands, [15] and wilt thou refuse the same to the great Creator
and Lord of all? May He not, if He so wills, bear long with vessels of wrath
that have been prepared for destruction,*
in order to show forth His wrath and make known His power?
* Rom. 9: 22.
It should be observed, that, in the original, the perfect
passive participle is here used; but we are not told by whom the vessels of wrath had been “fitted
for destruction.” In the next verse, however, it is said of the vessels
of mercy “which He (God) afore made ready for glory.”
This difference is significant, and evidently implies that God does not
predestinate men to perdition. For such a doom they fit themselves, as we may
learn from his same Epistle;- “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that
the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? but after thy hardness
and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God?” (
With
Rom. 9: 22 and 23, we
may compare Matt.
25: 34 and 41.
For, in verse 34, the Lord says to the sheep;- “Come ye blessed of My Father,
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world”; while, in verse 41,
He dismisses the goats with the words;- “Depart from Me,
ye cursed, into the
eternal [Gk. ‘aionios’] fire which is prepared for the
Devil and his angels.” Thus we see
that the Lord has been careful to make ready abodes of joy for the saved, but
has prepared no special place of punishment for unsaved men, who, consequently,
have to be cast into the fire prepared for Satan and his angels. This again,
emphasises the fact that God has not foredoomed any man to perdition.
Such
is the only kind of answer which murmurers against God
will ever obtain from Him. It is not to rebels that He reveals His secret
things; and hence the words under our consideration merely indicate His stern
refusal to concede to His creatures any right of questioning His purposes or
actions. But to humble faith, as we have already seen,
He will, at least partially, raise the curtain of His mystery even in the
present age.
One
further remark in connection with the subject of this chapter may, perhaps, be useful. The fact [16] that God can foresee what use each spirit will make
of its earth-life before He encloses it in the body, and yet can avoid
influencing for evil the many spirits that are being lost, seems to our finite
minds incomprehensible, nay impossible.
Nevertheless,
the fact is beyond dispute. For - to cite a single instance -
how, unless He could foresee the course of every earth-life, could He have
predicted, some seven hundred years before the event, that certain spirits,
whom He would by that time have placed upon the earth, would dare to subject
His own Beloved Son to shame and spitting?* And if He had intended to impel them to
so appalling a crime, how could He have declared that He desires not the death
of a sinner?
*
Isa. 50: 6.
Thus
the Divine predestination is guided by the Divine foreknowledge;
nor does it interfere with the freewill of man. But, truly, when our thoughts
are directed towards God, we have need to remember that we are finite beings
striving to contemplate the Infinite, and must be careful lest we regard Him
merely as a magnificently endowed man; for the impossible is unknown to Him. In
such a quest, then, humility, awe, and faith, are the qualities
which become us; for to the humble alone He giveth grace and revelation.
But these qualities alas! seem
to be disappearing from among men; for
we are already entering upon the days of the final apostasy.
Chapter 3
PREDESTINATION
AND WORKS
IN the foregoing chapter we have seen, that no one can
become a member of the Church, which is Christ’s Body, unless he was so predestinated by God before foundation of the world;
and that this seal is invisible to men and known to God Alone. But there are also other seals which are not hidden from
human ken, and which, indeed, must be openly exhibited in every member of
Christ before he can be recognised, either by his fellows or by his own
conscience, as one bearing the mark of the Lord.
To
speak briefly, these visible seals are as the fruits of a tree
which prove it to be good: they are the outward conduct of the man as
the result of the [Holy] Spirit’s work within him, the walk, more or less
worthy of his vocation, which shows that he is following after the Lord Who
bought him.
Sometimes
in Scripture the invisible and the visible seals are
mentioned together, so that we can perceive their connection. Thus, in regard
to salvation, the Lord Himself first says;-
“And this is the will of Him That
sent Me, that of all that which He hath given Me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at
the Last Day.”*
*
John 6: 39.
Then,
having thus described God’s side of the matter, He continues in the next verse
as follows;-
“For this is the will of My Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son,
and believeth on Him, should
have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at
the Last Day.”*
* John
6: 40.
[18]
Here
the Father gives to the Son those whom His foreknowledge has appointed to life;
and the chosen are revealed to themselves and to
others as, one by one, they are led to believe on the Lord Jesus, and to know
that He will raise them up on the Last Day.
So,
in the second Epistle to Timothy, we read;-
“Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord
knoweth them that are His: and, Let every one that nameth the Name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”*
* 2
Tim. 2: 19.
Here, again, the first seal is known only to the Lord
while the second refers, not, as in the previous instance, to the simple faith
of the elect person, but to the fruits of that faith as manifested in his
careful walk and avoidance of sin - to the conduct, in short, for which, since
his Lord has perfectly fulfilled the law in his stead, he can receive a reward.
Yet
once more, in the eighth chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans, Paul says;-
“And we know that to them that love God all things work
together for good, even to them that are the
called according to His purpose.”*
* Rom. 8: 28.
The
arrangement of this passage is different from that of the other two, in that
the visible seal is mentioned first. But those who
manifest by their lives that they love God, and are His devoted servants in
Christ Jesus, cannot but rank high among His saints: they discover in
themselves so much of the nature of their Head that we need not hesitate to
recognise them as His members. And so, Paul goes on to
tell us, that a grace so wondrous has been bestowed upon them because they are
the called according to God’s purpose. Foreseeing that they would respond to
His touch, He [19]
had predestinated them before the foundation of the world. At the right moment
He called them, set before them their sins more in number than the hairs of
their head, and then showed them that all that was against them should be
blotted out for ever by the Blood of Jesus Christ that
was shed for them. Forgiven so much, and moved by His Holy Spirit, what could
they do but love much?
These three instructive examples exhibit to us the
connection between the invisible and visible seals. Where the first is, the
others must follow in due course: if any one be
predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s dear Son, the signs of a
Christ-like disposition will presently begin to be developed in him. And these last are visible to mortal eyes, or can be
detected by human perception: indeed, they afford the only proof by which we
can know that we have become the children of God.
Hence
they are often set forth in the Scriptures though they were the actual means by
which we gain the great prize as distinguished from the gift of everlasting
life; and the outward and practical means they undoubtedly are. But other passages make it clear that behind such symptoms
are the energies of the indwelling [Holy] Spirit, Who joins us to the Lord as one spirit, and
so makes holy thoughts and deeds possible to us.
So,
then, the disposition and the conduct that win the prize are really as much
gifts of grace as everlasting life itself; for, although we must both will and
run, it is, nevertheless, not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God That showeth mercy.
And the prize, as we hope presently
to demonstrate, is the First Resurrection - that
path by which alone [20] we can attain to membership with Christ and a
place in the [Millennial, Messianic and]
To
sum up, then, what has been said in this and the
preceding chapter, predestination is the secret stamp of God set upon those in
whom His foreknowledge discerns the capability of becoming His children. In no
way does it interfere with man’s freewill, but merely indicates the prescience
of God as to the possible right tendency of that freewill, and His fixed
purpose to render it every needful direction and assistance. Our attention, therefore, must be concentrated, not upon speculative
searchings into predestination, but upon prayer and sanctified effort to
develop in ourselves, and in others, such signs as will testify that the
invisible mark of God is indeed upon us, that we are verily scaled by His Holy
Spirit unto the day of redemption.
Chapter
4
REDEMPTION
BY THE BLOOD.
A KINGDOM
AND PRIESTS
THE first
characteristic of the members of Christ’s Body is one which they have in common
with all the saved, and which is put forward by Paul when he speaks of the
believers in
* Acts 20: 28.
This they are represented as
doing in the grand ascription of praise contained in the first chapter of the
Apocalypse, where also they add some important particulars. “Unto Him That loveth us,” is their triumphant cry, “and loosed us from our sins
by His Blood; and He made us to be a Kingdom,
to be priests unto His God and Father - to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever.
Amen.”*
* Rev. 1: 5, 6.
Here
the redemption by the Blood is first mentioned, and
then the Lord is said to have made His redeemed people “to be a Kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father.” We must, therefore, try to
discover what is involved in these words, not forgetting to notice, that, the
word “Kingdom” is in the singular number, “priests” follows in the plural.
The
reason for this difference is obvious. Believers can act as priests
individually; but it is only after the whole Church has been
gathered in that her members can be formed into the Kingdom. They must reign collectively, since every single member has a post
foreordained for him in the Divine purpose, the vacancy of which would render
the governmental incomplete.
And,
indeed, it is in the appearing of the Kingdom the unity of the Church will be
first displayed to angels and to men;-
“When Christ, Who is our life, shall be
manifested, then shall ye also with Him be
manifested in glory.”*
* Col. 3: 4.
[22]
It
is to this great event that our Lord refers when He says;-
“That they may all be
one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also
may be in Us: that the world may believe that
Thou didst send Me.
“And the glory which Thou hast given Me
I have given unto them, that they may be one,
even as We are One;
“I in them, and Thou in Me,
that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them even as
Thou lovedst Me.”*
* John 17: 21-3.
Many are striving to reduce this glorious prayer
to a prophecy of the miserable uniformity in apostasy which they are hoping to
bring about under the name of the Reunion of Christendom. But a moment’s passionless consideration will
show that such words have no place in the present order of things. For how can the Lord and His people be
manifested to the world as One, when some of those people are in
Moreover,
the Lord intimates that the effect of the visible unity of Himself and His
Church will be, that the world will believe on Him. We
are, however, assured in many Scriptures, that such a change in the feelings of
men can never take place in the present [evil and apostate] age; but that
they will continue to grow more determined and unanimous in their rejection of
the Saviour, until He appears in flaming fire, and establishes [23] His Kingdom. Then, but not till then, as we learn
from Isaiah;-
“The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”*
* Isa. 11: 1-9. The reader will carefully notice,
that the spread of the knowledge of the Lord is attributed directly to His actual [messianic] reign in righteousness.
But it is at the time of His [manifested] appearing that He will share His glory with His
own. For, to quote again a verse we
have just used:
“When Christ, Who is our life,
shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be
manifested in glory.”*
* Col. 3: 4.
With
this fact in our mind, that the Church cannot reign until all her [‘holy’] members have been gathered in - [at the time of “the first
resurrection” (Rev. 20: 5, 6,)] - we can understand the vigorous irony by which Paul strove to break up
the complacency of the Corinthians;-
“Already ye are filled, already ye became rich, ye reigned without us:
yea, and I would that ye did reign, that we also might be reigning
with you.”*
* 1 Cor. 4: 8.
It
is easy to grasp the situation expressed in these words. While the Apostle was
labouring and suffering for the Gospel,
the Corinthians were living in ease, were acting as if the time of toil and
pain had already passed, and the Kingdom were really established. I would, Paul
says, that it were even as you seem to suppose; for then we Apostles, also,
should be reigning with you. For he knew well that one part
of Church could never begin to reign without the other.
But the
priestly functions of the Church can be [24] discharged by her members individually, because each
of them is a priest unto God. Hence, also, these functions can
be exercised, to some extent at least, in the present age. What they are
here below, may be inferred from the duties of the Israclitish priesthood, if only those things be changed
which have to be changed in such applications. For, in the first place, there
is no priestly caste in churches, as there was in
*
1 Peter 2: 5. **1 Peter 2: 9.
So, too, in the verse which we are considering, the
whole Church, men and women alike, claim, in reference to the next age, to have
been made a Kingdom and priests by the Lord.*
In another place, again, we are told, that all those who have part in the First
Resurrection “shall
be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign
with Him a thousand years.”** Hence we find that the First Resurrection is the great prize for which
Paul was striving,*** since it is the only means - [after that resurrection] - by which we can attain to the celestial
priesthood and the heavenly Kingdom.
* Rev. 1: 6, verse 10. ** Rev. 20: 6. *** Phil. 3: 11-14.
Thus,
even in the present age, all the members of the Church that
are upon earth stand in the same relation to the world as the Levitical
priests did to the other tribes. But, in the next age, the whole Church will, probably,
take the place of that heavenly priesthood which furnished a pattern for the
Levitical; [25]
while the Israelitish nation, no longer deputing the single Tribe of Levi to
represent them, will be unto God a Kingdom of Priests* upon the earth.
*
Exod. 19: 6.
But, to
return to our immediate subject, what were the duties of the Levitical priests
in the times of the Law? We will mention but two things which were specially
important: they had to offer sacrifices for themselves and for others, and they
were to hold themselves in readiness to advise,
exhort, or instruct, the people. “For,” as Malachi
has it;-
“The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and men should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.”*
*
Mal. 2: 7.
Since,
however, the One and Only Sacrifice for sin now been offered, members of the
Church cannot present typical offerings as the Aaronic priests did.
Nevertheless, in their intercessions before the Throne of God, they must plead
the awful and never-to-be-repeated Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, whether their
prayers be on behalf of themselves, or of their
brethren in Christ, or of the outside world.
Moreover, it is incumbent upon them to communicate to
others whatsoever knowledge they may have received of the Lord; to strengthen,
stablish, settle, and instruct, those that are within the fold of Christ; and
to give a reason for the hope that is in
them to those that are without,* while they
act as ambassadors for Christ in beseeching them to be reconciled to God.**
* 1 Peter
3: 15. ** 2 Cor. 5: 20.
And he who is engaged in such services, because the
desire of his heart is to do the will of God, may have confidence that he is a
full member of the earthly priesthood, and a probationer of the heavenly.
[26]
Chapter
5
THE FIRST
RESURRECTION
JOHN
5: 24-29.
THUS the
The
Pharisees, it will be remembered, were accusing Him of breaking the Law,
because He had not only healed an impotent man on the Sabbath day, but had
actually directed him to carry away his bed forthwith. And
His reply to the first part of the charge was, that His Father was working up
to that very moment, and, therefore, that He also worked.
Now,
the assertion that the Father was working on the very day on which He rested
from creation, and which He blessed and hallowed, has perplexed many. But a solution of the difficulty may be found in what, on
another occasion, the Lord Himself says respecting the Sabbath.
In the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, He shows that the disciples did no wrong
in plucking ears of corn, and rubbing out the grain to appease their hunger, on
the Sabbath; because this was a work of necessity; and, again, that He Himself
did not violate the Law by healing a man on the hallowed day; because that was
a work of mercy. “For,” He adds, “the Sabbath was made for man, and
not man for the Sabbath.” In other
words, God instituted [27]
the day of rest for the benefit of man; and so, if at any time its obligations should, through temporary circumstances, be adverse to man’s
real interests, they might be waived for the nonce, lest the institution should
defeat its own purpose.
Upon
this principle, we can readily understand, that, as
soon as the fall had occurred, God’s Seventh Day’s rest was broken. Once more
He took up His work, began the new creation, which will occupy as many thousand
years as His previous work did days, and succeeded by the glorious Millennial
rest, the Sabbath-keeping that remains for His people as well as for Himself.
Hence in
repairing the consequences of the fall on the Sabbath day, the Son was acting
in concert with His Father; and all those who love Him must do likewise. For the entrance of lawlessness and misery into the world has
rendered it necessary to defer the rest, until a reign of righteousness can
again be established.
Perhaps, one might summarise the Lord’s teaching on
this subject as follows;- Man should still cease from his own work on the
Sabbath - except in cases of necessity, or of showing mercy - but he is
required to give up the rest for the present, in order that he may do God’s
work, that is, everything that helps forward the new creation.
The
Lord’s answer made the Jews still more eager to slay Him; for now, they said,
He had not merely broken the Sabbath, but had also claimed God as His Father,
thus making Himself equal with God. And
by this last charge they showed how fully they had comprehended His intimation,
that He was literally the Son of God, and, therefore, of the same nature as His
Father.
[27]
This
truth He assumes in His further reply. As being of one nature and one will with
the Father, He can do nothing save that which He sees the Father doing. And the
Father loves Him, and shows Him all that He Himself does, wakening His ear
morning by morning to hear as they that are taught.*
But soon the Father would show Him greater works than any which He had hitherto
done - works of resurrection and judgment. For the Son, also,
had the power of quickening, or bestowing everlasting life, upon those who were
dead through trespasses and sins; and, moreover, was entrusted with all
judgment to decide who should be quickened, and [when,*
and] who
should not. For it was the purpose of the Almighty God, that all men - [sooner
or later]
- should honour the Son, even as they honoured the Father.
*Isa. 50: 4.
[* See Luke 14: 14; 20:35; Phil. 3: 11; Heb. 11: 35b, cf. Rev.
20: 4-6, 13-15, R.V. - and pay attention to the conditional
clauses within both texts - for God’s Word makes mention of more
than one general resurrection unto eternal life!]
Such
is the argument up to the twenty-fourth verse, in which the Lord proceeds to
explain what He means by the power of quickening and of judgment, and reveals
the three mighty acts by which He will manifest His possession of that power to
the universe. This paragraph is most important: we must,
therefore, examine it verse by verse.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth My word, and believeth Him That sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment,
but hath passed out of death into life.”
With His most solemn formula the Lord introduces this
wondrous and gracious revelation, that, at the very moment when we receive His
word, and believe the testimony which His Father has given concerning Him, we
have crossed the boundary which separates death from life - aye, and have done so before the [29] awful judgment-throne is set up between them. In that instant, by
the word of His power, by that mighty working whereby He is able even to
subject all things unto Himself, a germ of immortality has passed into our
being, which - like all the gifts and callings of God when once given, can never
be withdrawn.* For have been transferred into the covenant of grace,
whereby He Who knew no sin was made sin for us,** so that we are now
reckoned by God as having died on the cross in Him, and, therefore, as having
in Him expiated to the full all our sins. Thenceforth it may be said of
us;- “Ye died, and your life is hid
with Christ in God,” *** safe for
ever.
* Rom. 11: 29. ** 2 Cor. 5: 21. *** Col. 3: 3.
Yes,
that life is now worth preserving; for the object of God in suffering the sinless
Christ to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in
Him.* And He “was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption.”** Such
being the case, how could we ever perish? How could God sanction so great a
waste as the destruction of those whom He has created anew in Christ Jesus, and
made perfect in Him! Nay, could He abandon those of whom we read in the most
astounding verse in the Bible;- “I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them even as Thou lovedst Me.”***
* 2 Cor. 5: 21. ** 1 Cor. 1: 30. *** John 17: 23.
True,
then, were the words of the Lord when He said;- “Whosoever liveth and believeth
on Me shall never die.”* And true, also, the words of His Apostle;-
* John
11: 26.
“And this is the record, that
God gave unto us eternal and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son [30] hath the life: he
that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.”*
*1 John 5: 11, 12.
The
first, then, of the three mighty acts is a resurrection of the spirit, or the
spiritual resurrection, which involves everlasting life, and is identical with
the new birth, or the new creation in Christ Jesus. It is an absolute and
undeserved gift from God, and can only be obtained as
such.
But
we must carefully notice, that it is said to be conferred upon those who hear
and believe His word* whether directly from His Own lips, as in the
transitional period of His ministry upon earth, or from the inspired record of
the New Testament, in which He has been speaking to all men until now. In the
twenty-fifth verse, He proceeds as follows:-
*
[…See Greek].
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, An hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself,
even so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is a Son of man.”
With
equal solemnity the Lord predicts His second great act
of power. And, in this case, He gives a note of time- “An hour cometh, and now is.” But
John, who records this discourse, uses elsewhere the Greek original for “hour” in the sense of “dispensation” or
“age”*;
and such seems to be the meaning of the word in the passage before us, the
present dispensation being evidently signified by the coming hour.
*
1 John 2: 18.
Again,
a dispensation may be said to be coming, and yet, in a
sense, even already present, during the transitional period between the
preceding age and [31]
itself. And such an interval between Israelitish and Christian time is clearly
marked out for us by the Lord’s own words;-
“The Law and the Prophets were until John from that time the
Gospel of the
* Luke 16: 16.
Thus the
transition-period began with the preaching John the Baptist, and continued
until that Day Pentecost on which the new dispensation was fully established by
the descent of the Holy Spirit. Hence we may see why
Peter, in unfolding the Gospel to Cornelius, describes it as -
“That saying ... which was
published throughout all Judaea, beginning from
* Acts 10: 37.
That we have here given the true interpretation of the
phrase “coming
and now is” may, apparently, be
proved by a reference to our Lord’s discourse with the woman of
* John 4: 21. ** John 4: 23.
The event, therefore, to which the Lord alluded must
take place within the period of the Christian dispensation, which was then coming, and, indeed, since
the [32] transition to it had
commenced, might have been said to be already present.
But what is the event itself? “The dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” Now, in this sentence, the expression “the dead” must be taken
literally of the physically dead. For we have no qualifying clause to
intimate that the spiritually dead, the dead by reason of
trespasses and sins, are meant.
Nor
is there anything in the context to suggest such a sense to us, as there is in
the oft-quoted, but by no means parallel, passage in which the Lord says;- “Let the dead bury their dead.”*
*
Matt. 8: 22.
And,
lastly, it is said that the dead will hear the personal voice*
of the Son of God, not His recorded word** as in the twenty-fourth
verse. This voice is evidently His bidding, or word of command;*** and those of the dead who hear it shall
immediately live. Just as at the
tomb in
* [… Greek.] *** *] ***[See
Greek…] 1 Thess. 4: 16. The
rendering of the A. V. and R. V., “with a shout,”
is not very intelligent.
But there is here
a division among the dead: it is only
they who have heard that will live - a
plain intimation that some of the dead will not hear, and, therefore, will not live [at
that time] and that the Lord is speaking of a select, and not of the general, resurrection.
Now,
that the New Testament recognises two resurrections in the future,
scarcely needs proof - though proof in abundance may be culled from the following
pages by those who require it.
Consequently, we find in the Greek original two different expressions, which [33] are carefully distinguished for us in the Revised
Version, but not in the less accurate rendering of the Authorised. These are, “the
resurrection from the dead,” and “the resurrection of the dead” - the
latter obviously pointing to the general resurrection of all that are at the
time their graves*; while the former indicates the coming
forth of one or more persons from the innumerable multitude of the dead, and is
hence applied, exclusively, either to the resurrection of the Lord or to that
of the Church of the Firstborn.
[*
It goes without saying, that while the ‘body’ lies in the ‘grave’,
the disembodied ‘soul’ must remain in ‘sheol’ / ‘Hades’ - in
the underworld of all the dead “in the heart of the
earth” (Matt. 12: 40; cf.
Acts 2: 27,
31, 34; 2 Tim. 2: 18, R.V.). Resurrection
reunites body, spirit and soul) - which Death separated. We cannot read
anywhere in Holy Scripture, of a literal resurrection of those who are alive!]
Since,
then, the verse
which we are considering speaks of some only of the dead as hearing and
living, it must refer to the resurrection of those who are to form the Church,
which is also called the First Resurrection.
In
the next two verses, the Lord shows that He is fully able to bring about the
resurrection of the body as well as that of the spirit*
[or His disembodied soul], since the
Father has conferred His Own power of quickening whom He will upon the Son. And so, in the twenty-fifth verse, the voice that will
summon the dead is called “the voice of the Son of God.”
[* NOTE: Our Lord surrendered His animating ‘spirit’ into His Father’s hands at the time of His Death:
“Father, into Thy hands
I comment by spirit: and having said this He
expired (Lit. ‘breathed out.’ See a literal Greek translation.)]
But the
Lord is not merely a life-giving Agent Who restores the dead: He also possesses authority to decide who is
worthy to attain to the First Resurrection. And this authority is given to Him, because He is a* Son
of Man: for men must be judged by one of themselves, and the Lord Jesus is the
Only Sinless Man.
* The A.V. and
R.V. should not have inserted the definite article. The Lord has power to raise
the dead, because He is the Son of God - there is but One Begotten Son of God: He
has authority to exercise judgment over men, because they
must be judged by a peer, and He is a Son of Man, One belonging to their
own race.
To Him, therefore, appertains the right of judging the
whole human race.* And to this fact Paul, in [34] declaring the true God to the Athenians, alludes in
the words;-
“He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man
Whom He hath ordained.”*
*Acts 15: 2: 31.
In
the twenty-ninth verse, the Lord foretells the last of His three great acts of
power, the general and final resurrection, elsewhere called the Last Day;-
“Marvel not at this; for an
hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs
shall hear His voice, and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto a resurrection of life, and
they that have done ill, unto a resurrection of judgment.”
Here
He repeats the formula, “An hour cometh,”
but does not add, “and now is.” For the resurrection of the dead takes place at the close of the Millennium,
or age to come,* and not - [when our Lord Jesus will
return (1 Thess. 4: 16. cf. John
14: 3, R.V.)] - in the present dispensation.*
* Rev. 20: 7-15.
[* That is, not at the end of this evil “age”. See also Rev. 2: 25; 3: 21; Rev. 20: 4; 22: 12, R.V.]
Then,
not merely some of the dead, as in the twenty-fifth verse, but all that are at
the time in the tombs, shall hear the voice of the Son
of God - “the voice,” as in the twenty-fifth verse, not “the word,” as in the twenty-fourth - and shall come forth, though
to very diverse fates. For some when they hear shall live, as
in the twenty-fifth verse, and shall not come into judgment,*
because they believed the Word of the
Lord when they were upon earth. But the evil-doers, who would not work
the work of God by believing on Him
Whom He sent,**
will come forth to judgment.
* 3
John 5: 24. ** John 6: 29.
We
may find a description of this awful scene in the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse, where John sees the
Great White Throne, and the dead, the great and [35] small,
standing before it. “And if any one,” he tells us, “was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into
the
* Rev. 20: 15.
Thus the
revelation which we have been considering resolves into an announcement, that
all power in regard to the resurrection and judgment of the human race had been
given into the hands of the Lord by His Father; and that He would exercise that
power in three distinct ways.
1.
By the spiritual resurrection of all who
are willing to believe on Him. This act, which we sometimes call
conversion, confers everlasting life as
a [free] gift of God that
can never be recalled. But it does not decide when the saved believer will enter upon the full
fruition of life,
by receiving a glorious and immortal
body in place of that which sin has made subject to death.
2.
By the First Resurrection; when, as we shall presently see, those only,
whose love and conduct after conversion
have caused Him to deem them worthy, will
come forth [out] from the dead, to form the complete Church [of firstborn sons], to act as
members of the Heavenly Kingdom.
3. By the final resurrection of all
the remaining dead
[from ‘Sheol’ / ‘Hades’]; when [1] those who have been saved, but did not attain [i.e., ‘gain by effort’] to the First Resurrection, will be raised to life: and [2] those who
have rejected the Saviour will come forth for judgment - [at the ‘great white throne’ (Rev.
20: 11, R.V.)]. This resurrection does not take place until
the close of the Millennial reign, that
is, until at least a thousand years
after the First Resurrection.
[36]
Chapter 6
THE PRIZE, WHICH IS THE
FIRST RESURRECTION
Phil. 3: 10-14.
SEEING, then, that the whole Church is to be manifested
in glory with Christ, when He appears to bring the present [evil
and apostate] age to a close, and
to establish His [Messianic] Kingdom,* it follows
that all her members must have part in the First Resurrection. Therefore, if we
can discover what qualifications are required of those who would win that
prize, we shall know, also, the conditions of membership in the Church which is the Lord’s Body.
* Col.
3: 4.
And, perhaps,
the passage which supplies the simplest information on this point is the third
chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, in which Paul has explained the
course adopted by himself in order that he might attain to what he calls “the select resurrection out
from among the dead.”*
*
This is a literal rendering, for Paul
does not use the simple word [… see
Greek], but [… see Greek], that is, “resurrection out from”
(among the dead); and he repeats the preposition ek
before [the 1st. Greek word …]
In
the beginning of the chapter, he warns the Philippians to beware of the
Judaizers, whom he stigmatises as mere mutilators*
of the flesh; “for
we,” he urges, “are the circumcision, who worship
by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh.”
It was not, however, because he was unable to boast of the flesh, after the
manner of the Judaizers, that he thus spoke. Far from it: for none of them
could claim more advantages in [37]
that way than had fallen to his lot. He had been circumcised
on the eighth day. He was of the genuine stock of
* Called in
our versions “the concision.”
As
regards religious standing in his nation, he was a Pharisee; and, if that was
not enough, he had been a persecutor of the Church, as every orthodox Pharisee
must be. Nor could any blame be cast in his teeth so far
as the outward requirements of the Law were concerned.
Such
qualifications as these, coupled with his natural abilities and fervour, might
have placed him at the head of Judaism; but what was his own view of them? He
had caught a glimpse of something far better, and now
summed up all these advantages under the one head of loss. Nay,
he counted as loss all things whatsoever that held him back from the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, his Lord; for Whose sake he did, indeed, literally forfeit all
things at his conversion, and still, after a calm survey of his position,
reckoned them as mere refuse, if he could but gain Christ, could but be found
in Him on the Great Day, not having a righteousness of his own, such as was
supposed to come from the outward observance of the Law, but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
[38]
Such
is the first part of the knowledge of Christ, that which brings [eternal] salvation,
and of which we read;- “By the knowledge of Himself shall My righteous
Servant justify many; and He shall bear their
iniquities.”* But Paul had no intention of stopping at [his
initial]
salvation: he wished to draw ever nearer to Him “in Whom are all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden;”** to gain the great prize of
standing before Him in the happy [millennial] days of the age to come. And
this desire he expresses in words which we must carefully examine.
* Isa. 53: 11. ** Col. 2: 3.
“In order that I may
know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship
of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death; if by any means I
may attain unto the select resurrection from the dead.”*
* Phil.
3: 10, 11.
In
these verses, we may learn
what should be the aspiration of every
one who has believed unto [a future]*salvation.
[* See 1 Pet. 1: 6, 9; cf. Heb. 9: 28, R.V.)]
Paul
had given up all things that he might win Christ, and be
saved from sin and death by His Blood and righteousness. And, that purpose having been accomplished, he would make it a stepping-stone to
something more. For now, as one of the sons whom God was bringing to glory,
he would go on to know the Leader of his salvation, not merely as a Saviour, but
intimately, and experimentally.
Only in this way could his sanctification be completed:
only by a continual contemplation of the glory of the Father, as mirrored in
the Lord Jesus, could he be changed from glory to glory into the same image.
It
has, however, seemed strange to some, that, when he
entered into particulars, he should have desired to know the power of Christ’s
resurrection [39] before
he had experienced the fellowship of His sufferings, or become conformed to His
death. But no man can endure - much less desire - the
fellowship of the sufferings, until he has first been strengthened by the power
which proceeds from faith in his Lord’s resurrection. He must
be assured in his mind, that that wondrous event was the seal of his own
justification, the proof that Christ, although He submitted to every human condition,
has been a spotless sacrifice on his behalf, and so has burst the bonds of
death, because, as a sinless man, He could not be holden of them. He must have
perfect confidence, that, in the purpose of God which
cannot be broken, he himself was as certainly raised from death and lifted into
the heavenly places, when his Lord arose, as if he had been actually and
corporeally exalted at the same moment.
So,
then, knowing that he was raised together with Christ,
he can now seek those things that are above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God: he can set his mind on the things that are above, and turn
away from the things that are upon the earth. For to these last he knows that
he died in Christ, and that his life is now hid with
Christ in God. Therefore, he exults in the full assurance, that, when Christ, Who is his life, shall be manifested, then shall he with Him be manifested in
glory.
He
that with the eyes of faith has beheld this ineffable vision, this hope that
cannot be disappointed, has seen a great light, and, filled with the Spirit
of God will be drawn on, rejoicing, over
mountain and plain, through thorns and marshes, until he gains the place from
which the celestial beams shone forth upon him. For, when he has entered upon
this phase, he has become dead to the world, even as his Lord [40] was: the pain of suffering is rendered tolerable by
the love of Christ: the darkness from below is penetrated by the rays of glory
from above, and, like Paul, he can rejoice even in tribulation.
But what
was the goal towards which Paul was thus directing his efforts? “If by any means,” he continues, “I may attain to the select resurrection out from among the
dead.” In other words, his aim was to be numbered with those blessed and holy ones who shall
have part in the First Resurrection.* But we must note, that he had, at the time, no certain assurance that he would compass
the desire of his heart. His diffidence is shown in the expression, “if by any means,” and contrasts strongly with his perfect confidence in
regard to his [initial, and eternal] salvation
by faith. For, in the latter case, nothing was required of him, save to receive
the gift
of God which is without repentance. But the First Resurrection is a reward for obedience rendered after the
acceptance of salvation, and Paul
knew not the standard which God had fixed in His Own purpose.
*
Rev. 20: 6.
Just before his death, however, it was graciously
revealed to him that he was one of the approved.*
And, accordingly, in his latest Epistle, he triumphantly exclaims;- “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give to me at
that day, and not only to me, but to all them that have loved His appearing.”**
*
Comp. 1 Cor. 9: 27;- “Lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be disproved.”
** 2
Tim. 4:
7, 8. Comp. Heb. 3: 14;- “For we are become partakers with”
- or, “companions of” - “Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of
our confidence firm unto the end.”
[41]
But, at the time when he was writing to the
Philippians, he could not speak with
such confidence; and was anxious that they should
understand his position, probably because he perceived
among them some tendency to abuse the Gospel of grace, the perhaps half-unconscious admission of a feeling, that, since Christ
had done all for them and given them His righteousness, it did not so much
matter what their own conduct might be.
This
is an error which develops in many ways, and most common and disastrous in our
own times. And was, doubtless, to check its silent
workings among the Philippians that Paul continued so earnestly and
affectionately to press the point
“Not that I did at
once attain,* or have been
already made perfect; but I am pressing on, if so be that I may lay hold of that for
which I was laid hold of by Christ. Brethren, I count not myself to have laid
hold; but
one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching out
after the things that are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of
God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus.”
* [The Greek …] is an aorist,
and not a perfect tense: it must, therefore, refer to a particular time, that
is, to the time of Paul’s conversion. Similarly two other aorists
in this passage, … (I suffered
the loss of) in verse 8, and … (I was laid hold of) in verse
12, point to the same crisis in the life of the Apostle.
Here
Paul again urges the fact, that, devoted as he is to his Master, he had as yet no absolute certainty of
attaining to the First Resurrection. For,
as he taught the Colossians, that question depended upon own conduct, whether
he could continue in the faith, grounded
and steadfast, and without being
moved away from the hope of the Gospel.*
For, otherwise, [42] though most assuredly saved by grace, he would be
disproved for the heavenly prize.
* 1
Cor. 1: 22, 23.
What,
then, was his purpose in the face of this uncertainty? Would he seek some
Cabbalistic means of discovering the exact standard of merit required by God,
and so set himself to attain to it? No:
the Holy Spirit had shown him the folly of Rabbinical
speculations and niceties: he would neither calculate nor
conjecture; but, by the help of God, his prayers, his efforts, the whole
business of his life, should be
directed to one object, if so be that he might lay hold of that for which
he had been laid hold of by Christ. And
the glow of hope must have flashed brightly as he wrote the last words; for it
was in order that he might attain to the First Resurrection and the [coming,
and promised] Kingdom that the Lord Jesus had laid hold of him for conversion on the
road to
Once
more, with affectionate vehemence, he repeats, that he does not count himself
to have yet laid hold; but that there is one thing upon which he is firmly
resolved. He will not waste time by dwelling upon the past; for, whatever sins
or services it may have recorded, these cannot now be either
recalled or improved. And so, stretching forth
after the glorious [millennial] possibilities of the future, and pressing on in the
direction of his goal, he will earnestly strive for the prize of the heavenly
calling in Christ Jesus.
The
upward, or heavenward, calling is, of course, contrasted
with the earthly calling of
Are a prize and not a gift, and are accessible only by
the gate of the First Resurrection - a gate through which, after all his
sacrifices and labours and sufferings for Christ, he was not yet absolutely sure that he would
be permitted to pass.
Chapter
7
THE KINGDOM
AND EVERLASTING LIFE
Here it will be well to investigate another point. We
have already seen, that the members of Christ are to
be formed into a Kingdom, and to live and reign with Him. Accordingly, in
writing to the Colossians, Paul, after mentioning Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus, says;- “these are my fellow-workers
unto the
*
Col. 4: 11. ** 2 Thess. 1: 5.
It
is, however, important to see that we have a clear conception of the Kingdom.
For Daniel, also, speaks of a Kingdom which the God of Heaven will set up upon the
earth, and which will destroy all others, and will stand forever.* This is, undoubtedly, the Millennial Kingdom of
Israel: is it, then, identical with that for which we are bidden to hope?
* Dan.
2: 44.
[44]
Apparently
not: yet the two are parts of one great
whole. The relations between them may be inferred
from a passage of Isaiah, wherein the prophet declares, that the Lord will punish two governing bodies
- “the Host of the High Ones on high, and the Kings of the Earth upon the
earth.”* Now, the former of these are, doubtless, Satan and his angels, the present
spiritual rulers of the earth; while the latter are the kings of Christendom.
Hence we may infer, that God’s present arrangements for this world comprise two
governing bodies, a spiritual or heavenly, and a human or earthly. And, since both of these bodies have
failed to rule in righteousness, both will be
deposed by the Lord Jesus, Who, together with His Church, will then take the place of the former, and will establish the Twelve Tribes of
*
Isa. 24: 21.
These governments will form the great
Kingdom of God, which will thus consist of two spheres, the heavenly and the earthly,
the last mentioned being the
*
2 Tim. 4: 18.
The
glorified Church, then, which is Christ’s Body, and
the Heavenly Kingdom of God, are merely different expressions for the same
assembly. Since, therefore, the whole Church must be revealed
in glory at the Lord’s appearing, at which time also the Kingdom will be set
up, it is clear that no one can become a member of
the
And since, again, as we have already proved from [45] the words of Paul to the Philippians, the attainment
of the First Resurrection
does not follow as a necessary result from simple faith in Christ, but must be won, in the
strength of the Lord, by self-denial
and faithfulness after conversion - since this is so, it appears
that membership in Christ’s [ruling] Body and a place in the Heavenly Kingdom are a reward for works done after
conversion, being, indeed, “the things which
God has prepared for them that love Him.”*
*1 Cor. 2: 9, 10.
This
conclusion will be found, not merely to be in accord with
all other Scriptures, but also to throw
much light upon certain obscure passages. And, if
we run through the New Testament, we shall find, that, while simple faith
and eternal life are linked together, the [Millennial
and Messianic]
Kingdom is invariably connected,
directly or indirectly, with the fruits of faith, with love, work, and conduct.
As
an instance of the first of these cases, we may quote the following words of
the Lord;-
“And this is the will of Him That
sent Me, that, of
all that which He hath given Me, I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up at the Last Day.
For this is the will of My Father, that every one that contemplateth the Son, and believeth on Him, should
have eternal life; and I will raise him up at
the Last Day.”*
* John
6: 39,
40.
Now,
the first of these verses, as we have already is explained
by the second. Those who are given to the Lord come to
Him, because His Father draws them; and so contemplate Him, and believe on Him.
To all such, eternal life is assured by the very
definite promise that follows: they can never be judged for their lives,
because they have already passed from death
[46] unto life;
and, consequently, the Lord will raise them up on the Last Day.
But which is the Last Day? It is, of
course, [after our
Lord’s millennial reign, on] the day of the
General Resurrection, and of the Great White Throne. All doubt as to the
correctness of this interpretation may be speedily removed by a reference to
the solemn words of the Lord;-
“He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My sayings, hath one that
judgeth him: the Word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the Last Day.”*
*
1 John 12: 48.
Here
it is certain that the reference is to the judgment of the Great White Throne; for no despiser of the Lord Jesus will have
part in the First Resurrection.
Hence, to those who believe on Him, but go no further, the Lord does, indeed, give eternal life; but the fruition of it will not
begin until the Last Day, until the
thousand years of the Millennial reign are ended. Such persons will not, therefore,
be permitted to enter the Kingdom of the Heavens.
And so,
whenever mere believing is in question, without any reference to what
should follow it,
we shall find it connected with eternal
life, but not with the [coming] Kingdom. The [Messianic and
Millennial] Kingdom, on the other hand, as we remarked above, is
always set before us, either
directly or indirectly, as the reward of the conduct or works of the saved - [after having received initial and eternal salvation].
For
the poor in spirit, and those who have endured persecution for righteousness’
sake, will inherit it.* Unless
our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees,
we cannot enter into it?** A mere assertion
that Jesus is our Lord will not [47] procure admission for us;1 the forceful
take it by force. 2 No one who looks back is fit for it: 3
except man be born again, he cannot
even see it: 4 and except he be born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter into it. 5
We can only reach it only by passing through much tribulation: 6 the condition is, that, if we endure with Him, we shall also reign with Him. 7
* Matt. 5: 3, 10. ** Matt. 5: 20. 1
Matt. 7: 21. 2
Matt. 11: 12. 3 Luke 9: 63. 4 John 3: 3. 5 John 3: 5. 6 Acts 14: 22. 7
2 Tim. 2: 12.
Very
significant, too, is the reason which the Lord gives for His promise to the
disciples on the eve of is death;-
“Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations;
and I appoint unto you a Kingdom,
even as My
Father appointed unto Me.” *
*Luke 22: 28, 29.
Because
they had willingly shared in the trials of their Master, therefore the [coming] Kingdom was
theirs.
Similarly,
Peter, after enumerating the qualities that must be - [foremost
in mind]
- and abound in believers, adds;-
“For if ye do
these things, ye shall never stumble. For thus shall be richly supplied unto you the
entrance into the eternal [Gk.
‘aionios’]
Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”*
*
2 Peter 1: 10, 11.
Since,
then, the [coming ‘age’-lasting] Kingdom is the reward of works after conversion, we are not surprised to find only the [‘accounted] worthy’* can obtain it. So, as Paul tells Thessalonians, God, by exposing them
to persecution had given them an opportunity of exercising faith and patience, in order that they might “be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God,” for which they were suffering.* Nor must we omit
to notice, that the Lord Himself
speaks of those “that have
been [48] accounted worthy to obtain that age and the
resurrection from** the dead.”*** For, since “that age”
is coupled with the resurrection [out ek.] from [amongst] the dead, or the First
Resurrection, it is clear that
the former must be the Millennial Age, during which those who have part in the
First Resurrection will reign with Christ, while the rest of the dead will not be raised until the Last Day.****
* 2
Thess. 1: 4, 5. **See pp. 32, 33. *** Luke
20: 35.
****
Rev. 20: 4, 5.
By
this utterance, the Lord not only declares that the worthy alone will enter
into the [promised (Ps. 2: 8, R.V.) coming Messianic] Kingdom, but also gives us the clue to another of His sayings, which
will be more fully examined by-and-by. In explaining to Peter what those shall
have who have left all to follow Himself, He says, that they “shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit* eternal [Gk. ‘aionios’] life.”* Here, then, it is to be observed, that the reward is
placed before eternal life. And this points again to
the fact, that the reward will be given during the thousand years which precede
the Last Day. The same lesson seems also to be taught
in the parable of the “Labourers in the Vineyard,” of which we shall have more to say elsewhere.
[* NOTE: the
Christians’ future inheritance is not “the free
gift of God…” (Rom. 6: 24, R.V. Cf.
Gal. 5: 21; Eph. 5: 5, R.V.)!
The Christians’ inheritance will only be realised at a time, yet future, “If God permit,” during “the age
to come”: (Heb. 6: 3, 5, R.V.).]
* Matt. 19: 29.
Seeing,
then, that the saved are involved in some uncertainty in regard to their reward
- though they are sure of their [initial
and eternal] salvation - the Scriptures, as we might reasonably
expect, do not fail to warn them of the
danger [and apostasy] to which they are exposed. We have already seen that
transgressors of various kinds - that is, of course, transgressors
after conversion - such as [apostasy (see Num. 14: 21-23; cf. 2 Pet.
1: 4-10; 2: 1; Jude 4, 5, R.V.)] -
those whose righteousness does not exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, or those who have not been born of water
and the Spirit, cannot enter into
the Kingdom. So, [49] again, when our Lord declares that the poor in
spirit, and those who have passed
through persecution for righteousness’ sake, will be admitted, He
manifestly implies that the high-minded, and the cowardly who avoid persecution at the cost of faith, will be rigorously excluded. And there are many other passages from which
similar inferences may be drawn.
But there
are also warnings of, another type. For instance, Paul, after
reminding the Colossians that the Lord had reconciled them by His death, in
order that He might present them “holy, and without blemish,
and unreprovable, before Him,” adds the
very significant words, “if, at least, ye continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and be not moved
away from the hope of the Gospel which ye heard.”* Are
we, then, to regard the “if” as
meaningless? Or does it furnish us with a fearful comment on the
case of those who run well, but do
so no longer; or of those whose
grows gradually colder as their years increase? We cannot doubt that it does; and
are not, therefore, surprised when the same Apostle exhorts us,
in reference to obedience, to work out our own salvation with fear and
trembling.** Nor is he singular in giving advice; for Peter also
forcibly urges the same when he says;-
* Col. 1: 21-23.
** Phil. 2: 12.
“And if ye call on
Him as Father, Who without respect of
persons judgeth according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear.”*
* 1
Peter 1: 17.
Have
such searching passages as these received the attention which
they certainly demand from all [regenerate] believers?
Alas! no: they are almost entirely [glossed
over, and wilfully] disregarded. And so, we see the nominal churches filled with
Laodicean complacency and self-satisfaction,
while [50] we know not where to
find the man that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at God’s word.* But there are many similar notes of warning [addressed
to God’s redeemed people] in the New Testament, and two of
them, at least, are so striking and
instructive that they may claim each a chapter for itself.
*
Isa. 66: 2.
Chapter
8
THE CONFLICT
AND THE CROWN
1 COR. 9: 24 - 10: 11
IN the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul is addressing [regenerate] believers who
deemed themselves already full
and rich, and acted as if they were even now reigning, and had left
the time of toil and trial behind them.
Nay, they had among them men who frequented the festivals of idolaters; were giving
the reins to their lusts, instead
of cleansing themselves from every filthiness of flesh
and spirit; were going to law with each other before Heathen
magistrates; and, apparently, would deny themselves
in nothing for Christ’s sake.
To
this sin-bespattered church the Apostle describes his
own life of self-denial, and his
habit of yielding to others in all indifferent matters, so that he might, at least,
save some. He then exhorts the Corinthians to similar conduct,
likening the Christian’s struggle against indolence, self-indulgence, and every
other kind of sin, to the conflicts for victory at the Isthmian Games, which
were celebrated every two years in the vicinity of
“Know ye not that they which
run in a race run [51]
all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run, that ye may attain. And every man that
striveth in the games is temperate in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an
incorruptible. I therefore, so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I,
as not beating
the air: but I buffet my body, and bring into bondage: lest by any means,
after that I
have preached to others, I myself should be
disproved.”*
* 1
Cor. 9: 24-27.
Now,
in this passage, it is abundantly evident that Paul is not dealing
with the gift of God, but with something, that must be won by effort, that is, with the prize that is set before those who are already [eternally] saved.
Every
Corinthian would be acquainted with the rules customs of the Isthmian Games. He
would know only freeborn Greeks could enter the lists, and that foreigners and
slaves were rigorously excluded. Hence he would readily
learn, that only those whom the truth in Christ Jesus and the second birth had
made free could take part in conflicts for the prize to which Paul was
pointing; and that none of the subjects
of other lords than Christ, none of the many slaves of sin might be permitted to
run on the spiritual course. The prize, which in the Isthmian Games
was a crown, would appropriately indicate that [Millennial]
Readily,
too, would Corinthians be able to see the application of the words;- “Even so run, in order that may attain.” For they knew well that the athlete, when he was
starting for the race, would fix his eye upon the goal, and merge every other
thought and care in the struggle to reach it. So must it be with
the Christian runner: he must have the glory of the
King [52] and the [coming] Kingdom ever before his eyes, and his one great effort must be, - [after
the time of Death, Judgment (Heb. 9: 27, R.V.)
and Resurrection, as “accounted worthy”] - to reach it.
In
the twenty-fifth
verse, Paul turns to another feature of the Games, the fact that those
who would take part in them were compelled to pass through a long and severe
course of training. During the ten months immediately preceding
the day of the contest they were subjected to a continual round of exercises,
and were expected to practise the strictest self-control, and to abstain from
every kind of food, or other gratification, which might tend to impair their
strength or shorten their breath.
Similarly,
the [regenerate] believer, if he would obtain the prize, must deny himself, and take up his cross
daily, and follow his Master. The delicacies
of this world, its self-indulgences, its pastimes however refined, its honours,
or even its intellectual pleasures, would [have
a tendency to]
render him totally unfit to run the race that is set
before him. Like the athlete,
he must [be prepared
to] turn away even from those things which in themselves are lawful and innocent, if they
be not expedient for his great purpose.
And he must remember, that, while the athlete endures
the discipline and severities of his training for a corruptible crown that is,
for the garland of pine-leaves which was the meed of
victory at the Isthmian Games - the believer is called to do so for an incorruptible crown, which in the
next age will distinguish him as one of those who are living and reigning with
Christ.
Such
is the Apostle’s advice; but he is careful to follow in his own case the precepts which he gives to others. For he too, is subject to
the same conditions as the Corinthians and all other believers; and, therefore,
runs “not as
uncertainly,” that is, not as one [53] who does not see the goal clearly, and so cannot run
in the straight direction to it.
Or, if he
may compare himself to a boxer in the Games, his blows do not miss their aim as
if he were beating the air, but smite his adversary with crippling force. And this adversary is his own body, in which he strikes down every craving for
indulgence, mortifying its deeds by
the power of the [Holy] Spirit, and driving
it away from its life after the flesh.
For,
if he fails to do this, he knows well that he will be disproved and rejected by
the Lord at His Conming; and that neither his
salvation by the Blood of the Lamb, nor the fact that he has preached to
others, avail to secure his entrance into the Heavenly Kingdom.
Thus
Paul has plainly distinguished between salvation and the reward [by works], and
shown, that, although a man may have been saved by grace, so that he will be raised to eternal life on the Last Day,
it has yet to be determined whether he will obtain the reward of Millennial
Age. He now points out, that this way
of God with man is not new, but is in
perfect analogy with His treatment of Israel in the days of old;-
“For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant,
that our fathers
were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual food; and did all drink
same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual Rock That followed them, and the Rock was the
Christ. Howbeit with most of them God not well pleased: for they were
overthrown in the wilderness.”*
*
1 Cor. 10: 1-5.
[54]
After
the Israelites had been brought out of
They
were on the march to the Promised Land, the occupation of which ought to have
been to them as the Millennial glory. But, like runners who miss the prize through their want of
self-denial and endurance, all the male adults who left
The
“for” of the first verse, which is undoubtedly the true
reading, connects the following paragraph closely with the last verse of the
ninth chapter. The danger of disproval was real; for, in spite of all their
privileges, the Israelites who came out of
Of
course, in saying that he did not wish the Corinthians and the Jews that were
among them to be ignorant of the history to which he alludes, Paul does not
mean to imply that they were unacquainted with the facts, but that they did not
understand the all-important bearing of the events upon themselves.
It is to be observed, also, that he says nothing of
the deliverance of Israel from death by the blood of the lamb sprinkled upon
the side-posts and lintel of their houses, which
answers to conversion and salvation;
for he is writing to believers, who
have passed that stage, with the
view of teaching them what they must do after conversion. Accordingly, he begins with a mention of that event in the history of
The expression, “our fathers,”
used in addressing a church of mingled Jews and Gentiles, intimates that [55] the Church, in her official position as God’s witness
upon earth, springs from the Jews, consisting, as it does mainly, of branches
of wild olive grafted upon the Jewish stock.*
Hence the fathers of the Jews may be
regarded as also the fathers of the churches. And so, Paul in this passage
becomes all things to all men, in order to
blend them into one in Christ. Towards the end of the ninth chapter, he
becomes a Gentile to the Gentiles, and evolves lessons for them from their own
Isthmian Games. In the first verse of the tenth chapter, he comprehends both
Jews and Gentiles in the one word, “brethren,” and
gives the Gentiles a share in the Jewish fathers. And,
finally, he turns to the Jewish Scriptures, and proceeds to teach the whole
church from them.
* Rom. 11: 17, 18.
In
the expression, “all
our fathers,” we may detect a
reference to the preceding words, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize.” For all those fathers left
Yet
again, all these fathers went through an experience answering to baptism. They
passed between the watery walls of the
[56]
But not only were the fathers baptized into
their own covenant: they were also
sustained by supernatural food. In the journey from
Here,
however, there is an apparent difficulty. For what meaning can we give to the
word “spiritual” in its application to the manna and the water, each
of which gifts was, without doubt, material in itself? The difficulty will be
obviated if we take the adjective in the sense of “created
by the Spirit’s power,” “super-natural.”
This will be very near to its usual meaning; for is not a similar creative
power indicated by the expression “born of the Spirit”:* or by the verse, “If any man be in Christ Jesus,
there is a new creation.”**
* John
3: 8. ** 2 Cor. 5: 17.
Indeed,
the creative energy of the [Holy] Spirit
seems to be mentioned at the very beginning of the Bible: for, in the second
verse of Genesis, it is said, that “the Spirit of God moved,” or, rather, “brooded,” “upon the face of
the waters.” Also in the thirty-sixth Psalm;-
“By the Word of the Lord were
the heavens made,
And all the host of them by the Spirit of
His mouth.”
[57]
A further illustration may be
obtained from the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, in which
Ishmael and Isaac are contrasted as the son “born after the flesh” and the son “born after the Spirit” - the birth of the former having occurred in the ordinary course of
nature, while that of the latter was brought about by the power of the Divine
Spirit, in circumstances which rendered nature impotent.
But
Paul’s explanation of the miraculous nature of the water presents another
difficulty. He says, that the water was spiritual, because it came from a
spiritual Rock Which followed the Israelites in their
journeyings, and Which was the Christ, or the Messiah. It is, therefore, clear
that he is not alluding to the material rock from which the water gushed; for that was not spiritual. Nor could we for a moment
accept the Rabbinical fable, that the rock rolled after the Israelites
whithersoever they went, or allow that Paul would have agued from so grotesque
a story. To us it seems evident, that the two epithets “spiritual” and “following,”
together with the absence of the definite article, point to something quite
different.
In
the account of the miracle at Rephidim, the Lord says to Moses;-
“I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb;
and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it.”*
*
Exod. 17: 6.
It
is, probably, to this Presence upon the rock that Paul alludes;
and we must remember, that it was the Second Person of the Trinity, the Christ
or the Messiah Himself, Who dealt with
And it
seems probable, that this truth was declared to the Israelites by Moses, and
that we may thus account for the fact, that, in after time, “the Rock” became a frequent appellation of Jehovah. In the Song
of Moses, we find the following instances;- “The Rock, His work is perfect:” “And lightly
esteemed the Rock of his salvation:” “Of the
Rock That begat thee thou art unmindful:” “Except
their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had
delivered them up:” “For their rock is not as
our Rock.”*
* Deut. 32: 4, 15, 18, 30, 31.
Such,
then, were the privileges of the fathers, all of whom were
blessed with these seals of God’s favour. Yet with the most of them He was not well pleased: unlike His Beloved Son, they
were disobedient, and so fell in the wilderness. They had
been brought through the Red Sea with a mighty hand and with an
outstretched arm; they had been fed with supernatural food, and supplied with
supernatural water; and yet, with only two exceptions, they perished by the
way, and never possessed the
Let
us, however, be careful that we take a true view of the case. The fathers who
died in the wilderness were not, on that account, necessarily [eternally] “lost,” in our sense of the term. With
the exception of those who were destroyed in the act of rebellion, time for [59]
repentance was usually accorded to them, and pardon for sin might be obtained; but not the restoration of their hope: they
could not now taste the milk and honey of Palestine, or be set over the kings of the earth: they had lost the Land, and
the sovereignty of the world.
“These things,”
the Apostle adds, with a reference the judgments
implied in the word “overthrown,” “became figures of us, to the
intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” That is, the Lord caused these things to be recorded,
in order that [regenerate] believers of this age might know what manner of
treatment to expect, if they should provoke Him as
Paul then mentions four of the evil things of
*
See 1 Cor. 10: 7-10.
The first of them is illustrated
by the sin of the golden calf. The people themselves would not have called this
idolatry; for they intended the creature to represent the Creator, the Lord God
That brought them out of the
[60]
Moreover,
the utter folly and profanity of the Israelites, in representing the Almighty
Jehovah under the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, showed
clearly enough from what source their inspiration had come; while, as usually
happens in such cases, the manner of worship, also, was Pagan. In the
presence of their golden calf, “the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” Now, the expression “to play” refers
to the lascivious dances which were customary at Pagan
festivals, and were deliberately intended to rouse the passions, and to
stimulate the demon-worshippers, already inflamed with food and wine, to the
abominable acts which were to follow.
The warning, however, produced but a temporary effect. Some while afterwards, men of
The
third sin, the tempting of God, is that to which Satan vainly urged the Lord
Jesus, when he bade Him cast Himself down from the pediment of the
This
is one of the worst of sins, and many a time did the Israelites commit it in
the wilderness, until, at last, God swore in His wrath that they
should not enter into His rest. The particular instance to which Paul here alludes
occurred towards the close of their wanderings, just after the second
miraculous production of water, which took place at Kadesh. They were near to
the borders of Canaan, but the king of
Forgetful,
as usual, of all the great things which the Lord had done for them, and even of
their recent deliverance at Kadesh, they began to tempt when they should have
entreated, and actually dared to speak against God, and against His servant
Moses, with the sullen cry;-
“Wherefore have ye brought us up out of
* Num. 21: 5.
Then
it was once again necessary that judgment should take the place of mercy: fiery
serpents swarmed into the camp, and much people of
[62]
Lastly,
murmuring is a sin to which the Israelites were ever prone, and from which
nothing seemed able to deter them. Here Paul, probably, alludes to what
happened after Korah and his company had been consumed by
fire from the Lord, and Dathan and Abiram, together with all their
families, had been engulfed in the earth. For the people, though abjectly cowed
at the moment, had recovered themselves by the morrow,
and began to murmur against Moses for having “killed
the people of the Lord.” But, in the midst of their
blasphemies, they were appalled by the sudden appearance of the Glory. In a moment the Destroyer was upon them, he who had slain the firstborn of
*
Num. 16: 41-50.
But what
have these ancient events to do with us? They were recorded for our
admonition, in this last of the ages before the coming
of the King.* For [regenerate] believers,
also, are prone to the same sins as
* 1 Cor. 10: 11.
[** Malachi
3: 6; cf. Col. 3: 25, R.V.]
And, if
we turn to the specified sins, is not idolatry, in its most undisguised form, reappearing
among ourselves, even in this enlightened country? What mean those shops filled
with images - crosses, crucifixes, Madonnas, and
saints? Why is the interior of our churches so utterly
changed from the simplicity of fifty or sixty years ago? What has that altar
and wafer-throne to do with the worship of the Lord Jesus [63] as commanded in the New Testament, the only Divine
authority in the world on such matters? Is it urged that the wafer represents the Presence of the Lord Jesus, and that He
is adored through it? So said the Israelites of the calf:
but the Apostle calls them idolaters, and God smote many among them for their
sin, and threatened the whole congregation with death.
The
Israelites, moreover, had not only worshipped their idol: they had also
commenced the ordinary Pagan dances. And, as is well
known, some of the dances indulged in by modern society are lineal descendants
of those ancient and lascivious performances. Nor would it be difficult to find
men who could readily explain the connection between such amusements and
fornication. Yet many [regenerate] believers
sanction them by their presence, if they do not actually take part in them. How
can such persons expect even to see the [coming] Kingdom of the Heavens!
And,
besides all this, the Christian law extends to our words and thoughts; so that
anything which leads our mind from God is reckoned by Him as idolatry, whether
it be covetousness or some other of the countless forms of worldliness.
But, as
soon as any kind of idolatry has turned us from God, we are close upon the
confines of the second sin, and know not into what abyss of abominations we may
fall. For men who do not like to retain Him in their knowledge are given up to
a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting, and even to
unnatural feelings, as Paul has shown in the first chapter of his Epistle to
the Romans. And, as the Lord Himself explains, even where no crime is actually
perpetrated, if we cherish an unclean thought [64] in our hearts, God regards us as adulterers,
fornicators, or abominable,
according as the case may be.
As
regards the third sin, is it not a matter of frequent experience to hear “Christians” expressing wonder, sometimes one might
almost say annoyance, or even exasperation, because God does not immediately
hear their spasmodic prayers, and work deliverance for them from some trouble
into which they never ought to have fallen? And, perhaps, these complainers may
be persons who rarely if ever pray - but, at best, only say prayers in a
perfunctory manner - unless they are in bitter distress, or are eagerly lusting
after something earthly. Nay, it is by no means uncommon to
find [regenerate] believers deliberately walking into temptation, or, for their own convenience or worldly benefit, taking a step which they know to be contrary to God’s will, and stifling conscience with the sentiment, that one can be kept in any circumstances. All such conduct is a direct tempting of
God.
The
fourth sin is, alas! only too prevalent among [regenerate] believers
of our time. How many murmurings and words of discontent may
be heard on all sides of us! And are there none
within us? Yet, from whomsoever they may proceed,
such expressions reveal a terrible fact, namely, that those who give utterance to them are seeking their own glory at the
expense of their Lord’s. For Him they are representing, more or less, as
unjust or even cruel, and themselves as undeserving sufferers. Moreover, such
complaints disclose another secret, that the
murmurers have no adequate consciousness of their own sin: for, otherwise,
they had not dared to complain of any circumstances in which they could have been placed; nor would they have lacked meekness
to take the lowest room. But if [65] they do not
realise the fathomless depths of their own iniquity, then Christ cannot be
precious to them: they know nothing of that overwhelming sense of His love
which makes every service that can be rendered to Him sweet, whether it be the
highest or the lowest, whether it be done in conditions of honour or of
dishonour, of pleasure or of pain.
If,
then, we desire entrance into the Kingdom of the Heavens, we must put away from
us the four great sins, idolatry, fornication, the tempting of God, and
murmuring against Him; and that, not only in their grosser manifestations, but
also in their most spiritual and insinuating forms.
Chapter
9
THE REST THAT REMAINETH
FOR THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
HEB. chs.
3: and 4.
THERE is yet
another among the many passages on this momentous subject
which we must not pass by - that which is contained in the third and
fourth chapters me Epistle to the Hebrews.
To discuss it verse by verse, as we would fain do,
would occupy more space than our limits will afford. We must,
therefore, ask the reader to study the two chapters carefully, in the Revised Version, before he peruses our
explanatory sketch of their contents.
The
Epistle was written to Hebrews who believed in the Old Testament; it was,
therefore, necessary to prove to them, that Christ as the Son of God is greater
than all other celestial messengers. Now, the
Israelitish dispensation was ordained through angels by the hand [66] of a mediator, that is, of Moses. Hence
the Lord Jesus had to be exhibited as far above both the angels and Moses.
Accordingly,
His superiority to angels is demonstrated in the first chapter; while, in the
second, there is an answer to the very natural question, Why,
then, was He made lower than the angels?
But the
answer involves a revelation of the Lord Jesus as sent of God to be the Leader
and High Priest of His people. And to this Paul refers
when, in the third chapter, he proceeds to show that the Lord is also greater
than Moses, the human lawgiver. For he calls upon the Hebrews as holy brethren
in Christ, and partakers, no longer of the earthly, but of the heavenly
calling, to fix their attention upon the perfect fidelity of this Envoy from
God and High Priest, this wondrous Being Who united in Himself the functions of
Moses and Aaron.
They
are to notice, that He is faithful to Him That appointed Him; even as Moses was
in all God’s House,* that is,
among the people through whom God was then acting upon the world: for these are
His House upon earth. And they must carefully consider
this, in order to perceive why the Lord Jesus has been thought worthy of far
more honour than Moses. For, while His faithfulness was perfect like that of
the Lawgiver, His authority was greater, inasmuch as He was the Founder of the
House over which Moses presided simply as an exalted member of it. For every
house is founded by some one; but it is God That has founded all things, and
Christ, as His Son, stands in the same relation to them as His Father [67] does. Thus Moses was
faithful in all God’s House a servant, to bear witness to the things which
should afterwards be spoken; but Christ is over the whole House as a Son,
wielding all the authority of His Father.
* Or, “household.”
[The Greek …] is is often used in this sense, as in Acts
16: 31.
Now,
the House, or Household, itself is, doubtless, the institution of God upon the
earth, the aggregate body of those through whom He acts from time to time, upon
mankind. And in the days of Moses this body was formed
out of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, which are destined to rule over the earth
in the coming [Millennial and Messianic] age.
But now it is composed of true believers in the Lord
Jesus, whose calling is to be with Him in the supercelestial places.
Of the relation between these two classes, Paul gives
us a clear idea when he represents Israel as an olive-tree, the branches of
which were broken off in order that those of a wild olive might be engrafted
upon it.* In this latter condition,
the tree corresponds to the churches upon earth in the present age, deriving
all their life, as they do, from a Hebrew stock. “For,” even to
us, “salvation is
from the Jews”:** the Lord Himself and His Apostles were Hebrews, and all
the Scriptures were given through the medium of the
same people. But as Paul hints, the wild branches will, in
their turn, be broken off, and the natural branches restored.***
Soon the Lord will have gathered to Himself all the true
members that constitute His House, the now
invisible Church, from among the
churches below; and then He will
reject what is left, spuing the
Laodicean assemblies out of His mouth,
and resuming His dealings with the Twelve Tribes, which, from that time, will be once more the House of God upon
earth.
* Rom.
11: 17, 18. ** John 4: 22. …***
[68]
Perhaps
the plainest definition of the House of God, as it is at present, is that which
is given by Paul after he has told the Corinthians that they are God’s building;* -
*
1 Cor. 3: 9.
“Know ye not that ye are a
*
1 Cor. 3: 16, 17.
And
again;-
“For we are a
* 2
Cor. 6: 16.
But
there is an important passage in the First Epistle to Timothy, in which the
House of God is identified with the Church, and another of its features, which
is, of course, but a consequence of the indwelling of God, is set forth;-
“These things write I unto thee ... that thou mayest know
how men ought to behave themselves in the House of God, which is the Church
of the Living God, a pillar and ground of
the truth. And confessedly great is the Mystery
of Godliness, He Who was manifested in flesh, justified in spirit, seen of
angels, preached among nations, believed on in the world, received
up in glory.”*
* 1
Tim. 3:
14-16.
Here,
then, the House of God, in the present age, is identified with the Church of
the Living God. And the epithet “living” points
to the difference between the true and only God and Apollo, Diana, the Madonna,
the saints, and any other idols, pictures, or fetishes; even as Paul says to
the Thessalonians;-
[69]
“Ye turned unto God from idols, to serve the Living and True God, and to
wait for His Son from the heavens.”*
* Thess. 1: 9, 10.
The
House, or Church, is said to be “a pillar and ground,”
or “foundation,” of the truth. Now the pillar of
a structure supports its roof; while the base, or foundation, sustains the
pillar. Thus, since the Church is said to be both
pillar and foundation, we must understand her to be represented as the sole
upholder of truth upon the earth.
But here
many have found a difficulty; for, as they have justly remarked, the Truth
needs no support, but, on the contrary, must sustain the Church, and is, in
fact the Lord Jesus Himself. This is indisputable, but we must distinguish
between the absolute Truth and truth as revealed and acknowledged in the world.
It is the latter which is here meant; and that does require the Church as an
agency upon earth to preserve and to propagate it, even as the Lord Jesus
declared to her earliest members, “Ye shall be my witnesses;”* and so gave them this very
commission.
* Acts
1: 8.
We
must, however, be careful not to fall into the pit
digged for us by certain zealous ecclesiastics. The passage is concerned
exclusively with the real and invisible Church, not with any human hierarchy.
There is here no monopoly granted to some visible society, no infallibility
conferred upon any organized community which chooses
to call itself the
Any
society, then, which would be regarded as such, must not base its claims upon
Apostolical Succession, even if there were such a thing, or upon a display of
holy living according to popular conceptions, or upon an apparent power of “doing good.” For all these things Satan
causes his own people both to teach and to do, whenever it suits his purpose to
transform himself into an angel of light. Simple Scriptural doctrine and
Apostolical teaching are the only reliable credentials for a
Let us, therefore, not be deceived, but always apply
the test which God has given; and apply it, not only to corporate bodies, but
also to ourselves as individuals; that we may know whether we are members of
the real and, at present, invisible Church, or whether we are still to be
reckoned among mere professors and hypocrites whose hope shall perish.
Having
thus set forth the real Church as the upholder of the truth in the world, the
Apostle introduces the great Mystery of Godliness, evidently with the view of
suggesting that the latter is the all-important centre of the truth which it is
the Church’s duty to preserve and proclaim. No one, he intimates, to whom the
Mystery has been communicated, can possibly doubt its
greatness. And he refers to it again in the ninth verse
of this chapter, where he says, that a deacon must hold “the Mystery of the Faith in a
pure conscience.”
It
is called the Mystery of Godliness, because its [71] apprehension is the root of all godliness, and the
power whereby we are drawn nearer to God, and led to follow after that holiness
without which no man can see Him. Consequently, in the latter days, the
departure from faith in it is that which will bring about the apostasy
described in the opening verses of the forth chapter.
The
Mystery, as we are presently shown, is the Lord Jesus
Himself- His manifestation in flesh, His work for us, and His return, by the path
of resurrection, to glory. It is
through the effect of these wondrous truths, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit,
that our sanctification is carried on; so that God may
presently bring us whither our Saviour Christ has gone before.
But we
have allowed ourselves to be drawn into a digression, and must return to our
subject. Since the Jews are now rejected, the members
of the true Church, who are from time to time upon the earth, form the House
during the present age; but a solemn warning follows. We really belong to this
body only “if we hold fast our confidence and ground of
rejoicing in the hope firm unto the end.”* It is impossible to ignore
this clause. Our membership does not simply depend upon the fact that we have
believed but is conditioned upon
the retention of our confidence and ground of
rejoicing to the end. For these blessings, if our faith be real,
were given to us when we believed according to the glowing words of Paul;-
*
Heb. 3: 6.
“Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through Whom
also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”*
* Rom. 5: 1, 2.
[72]
Here
the verb “rejoice” is the root of the substantive rendered “ground of rejoicing” in the verse which we are
considering.
But may
we entertain a reasonable hope that the
fulfilment of this condition is possible? Not if we are minded to walk in
our own wisdom and strength; but, if we rest our
confidence upon that grace, or favour, of God to which the Lord Jesus has given
us access, then we certainly may rejoice in hope. For what is there that can
hinder the accomplishment of our desire, when He has said,
“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the age”;*
when He
has promised,
“My grace is sufficient for
thee; for My strength
is made perfect in weakness”;**
when His Apostle comforts us with the words,
“Faithful is He that calleth
you, Who will also do it?”***
* Matt. 28: 20. **2
Cor. 12: 9. ***1 Thess. 5: 24.
And what
is the hope that we must hold fast to the end? It can only be the “one hope” of the
heavenly calling,* “the hope of glory,”** “the hope of the glory of God,”*** “the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of
our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,”**** “Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation,
that it may be
conformed to the Body of His Glory.”*****
* Eph. 4: 4. ** Col.
1: 27. *** Rom. 5: 2. **** Titus 2: 13. ***** Phil.
3: 21.
Unless
this hope be found in us, fresh and vigorous, when the
Lord calls us, we shall not be
counted worthy to stand with the Church of the Firstborn, and shall lose the reward of the Kingdom. For this, and this alone, can testify that we are
prepared for glory, because [73] it proves, that we have learnt the lesson of
sublunary life, have detected the vanity of all that is earthly, and have no
hope or expectation, save in the Lord our Creator and Redeemer.
In the next verse, Paul begins to
illustrate, from God’s dealings with
“Wherefore, even as the Holy Ghost saith,
To-day, if ye shall hear His
voice,
Harden not your hearts as in the Provocation,
As in the day of Temptation in the
wilderness,
Wherewith your fathers tempted Me by proving Me,
And saw My works forty years.
Wherefore, I was displeased with
this generation,
And
said, They do alway err in their hearts:
But they
did not know My ways;
As
I sware in My wrath,
They shall not enter into My rest.”*
*
Psa. 95: 7-11.
To understand these words from the Ninety-fifth Psalm, it will, first, be
necessary to enquire into their historical
allusions.
Now,
in the Hebrew original of the passage, instead of the expressions “in the Provocation,” and “in the day of Temptation,” we find “at Meribah,” and “in the day of Massah.” The change was made by the Septuagint translators, from whom Paul quotes, and who, doubtless, intended to give the meaning of the Hebrew names in the words “Provocation” and “Temptation.” For
it will be remembered that Kadesh and Rephidim were significantly changed to
Meribah and Massah, respectively; because it was in
these two places that the Israelites, when distressed for water, strove with
and tempted the Lord, daring to insult Him [74] with their
murmurings, as if He were unable to supply their needs.
The first mentioned of the two provocations took place
in the fortieth year of their wanderings;*
but it was no result of hope deferred; for the other instance happened in the
first year after their departure from Egypt.** Thus the identical results of these two trials of faith by means of
water-famines, one at the beginning and the other at the end of their sojourn
in the wilderness, prove that the same obdurate unbelief was found in them
throughout the whole period.
*
Num. 20: 1-13. ** Exod. 17: 1-7.
And,
probably, it was to set forth this fact that Moses, when pronouncing his
farewell blessings upon the Tribes, said in regard to Levi;-
“Thy Thummim and Thy Urim are
with Thy godly one,
Whom Thou didst prove at Massah,*
With whom Thou didst strive at the waters of
Meribah.”
* Deut. 33: 8.
But
the special sin of the Israelites,
which caused the Lord to swear in His wrath that they should not enter into His
rest, was their murmuring and
disobedience after they had
heard the evil report of ten of the spies. For the whole congregation believed it,* and began to speak against the Lord, declaring that He had brought them to the
borders of
[* NOTE: Today’s ever-growing popularity by multitudes of
regenerate believers in Anti-millennialist teachings, is of a similar nature to
what happened to the Israelites’ beliefs and apostasy at Kadesh-Barnea (Num. 14.)! This
is a devilish and philosophistic interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, which is
now deceiving multitudes of regenerate believers, by spiritualising the plain
and easy-to-understand, unfulfilled, prophetic statements in God’s Word! And this deception will prove to be both a fearful and
costly mistake, for it is designed to deprive the Lord’s redeemed people of
their future “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God”: (Eph. 5: 5ff, R.V.).
For a regenerate believer to deny their Lord and Saviour of His
promised inheritance (Psa.
2: 8), is
indeed a ‘special sin. “One day” (2 Pet. 3: 8) will surely be avenged by God, when “the powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6: 5, R.V.) will be openly displayed for all to see. And this sin-cursed world (Gen.
3; 17, 18)
will then be restored (Rom. 8: 19-21) to its former glory, when our Lord Jesus will return!
But not
all of His redeemed people will judged ‘worthy’
after death (Luke 20: 35; cf. Heb. 9: 27, R.V.) of having a share in His
manifested
“Glory” (Isaiah 11:
10; Habakkuk 2:
14) of “a thousand
years” (Rev. 20.).
“For I the Lord change not” (Malachi 3: 6. cf.
Col. 3: 25, R.V.)! Therefore, God’s conditional promises and accountability
truths cannot be ignored (see Ezek. 33. and Amos), without suffering the dire consequences of
His displeasure, both now and in the future! See Heb. 10: 26-31; cf.
Luke 20: 35;
Phil. 3: 11; Heb. 11: 35b and Rev. 20: 12-15, R.V.]
* Num. 14: 1-4.
What wonder that God was wroth with these [redeemed,] ungrateful and insolent sinners! Had it not been for [75] the intercession of Moses, He would have destroyed
them in a moment; but, yielding to the entreaties of His faithful servant, He
said;-
“I have pardoned, according to thy word. But
as truly as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of
the Lord, because all those men which have seen My Glory, and My signs,
which I wrought
in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted Me these ten times, and have not
hearkened unto My voice; surely they shall not see the Land which I sware unto their
fathers, neither shall any of them that despised Me see it.”*
* Num.
14: 20-23.
Only,
Joshua and Caleb were exempted from this sentence; and, after the Lord had
pronounced it, He commanded;-
“To-morrow turn
ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way
to the
*
Num. 14: 25.
As
we have already remarked, many of those who fell in the wilderness may have
availed themselves of the time graciously given for repentance, and so have
obtained mercy and hope in resurrection. But, for the moment in which God
uttered their doom, they had lost, irrecoverably for that age, the Land and the
sovereignty over the world which had been promised to them; for such was the
prize of their calling, the rest which God had prepared for them, even as the Heavenly [and Messianic
coming]
Kingdom is our hope.
We
can now see what the [Holy] Spirit in David*
intended to convey by the Ninety-fifth Psalm. It is a solemn
warning to the Israelites of David’s time to learn [76] wisdom
from the punishment of their fathers in the wilderness. “To-day, if ye shall hear His voice,” if He should chance to speak to you [Christians] to-day, - [of the ‘Land of Promise,’ and of the coming Messianic ‘inheritance’ which you, as a redeemed and regenerate
believer, can lose] - beware, and do not let your hearts become hardened in disobedience, as they did. Nine times they tempted Him, and nine times He suffered His anger to
pass by; but they sinned the tenth
time, and the end of His forbearance had come. The inexorable word was
uttered: there was now no
fair land of rest for them they must get them back into the wilderness to die.
*
David was the writer of the Ninety-fifth Psalm, we
learn from Heb. 4:
7.
This
direful event happened in the second year after they had come out of
In
the burning words that follow, Paul applies the teaching of the Ninety-fifth Psalm
to the Hebrew Christians of his own times, and through them to all believers of
the present age.
“Take heed,
brethren,
lest haply there
shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in [77] falling
away from the Living God: but exhort one
another day by day, so long as it is called to-day;
lest any one of
you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
For we have become fellows* of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the
end; while
it is being said,
To-day, if ye shall hear His
voice,
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”
* Not “Partakers of,” but “companions
of.” The word is the same
as that which is used in chap. 1: 9;- “Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee
with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.”
Now,
it must be carefully noticed, that in these verses Paul is addressing “brethren” in Christ, all of whom had obtained [initial
and eternal]
salvation, because they had believed in the Lord Jesus. It is to the [eternally] saved that he says;- See to it, lest there should be in any one of you an
evil heart of unbelief, in falling
away from the Living God, lest any
one of you should be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. To such falls, then, the saved are liable;
and, if we cease to watch and pray, the spirits of evil will sometimes bring
them about almost imperceptibly. An unbelieving heart will often lead a man in
its own way without causing him any anxious care. But
he is on a down-gradient, and That from Which he is gliding so smoothly is the
Living God, the only Source of life and light.
Sin
may, however, for a while, be difficult even to it is, perhaps, no more than a
waning of the first love, a little carelessness in duty, a somewhat zeal in
prayer: nevertheless, it ceaselessly carries on the process of heart-hardening,
and will soon grow worse and worse, yet without causing uneasiness to its
victim, who is becoming correspondingly callous.
[78]
As
a precaution against such depths of Satan, Paul urges that believers should
exhort one another daily so long as their probation lasts, that they who fear
the Lord should speak often one to another. But by how
many ordinary believers is this command obeyed?
What
result will follow if his admonition be neglected, Paul signifies in a very
striking though indirect manner. He reminds us that we have become fellows, or
companions, of Christ on a condition,
that is to say, “if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.” But, if our love waxes cold,
and unbelief commences its work of ruin, the close connection with our Lord
will be severed, the unfruitful branch will be removed from the Heavenly Vine.
We cannot, indeed, be deprived of eternal life, because that is the gift of God
in His Son; but we shall not enjoy it until [after
the Millennium and Resurrection of all at] the Last Day, and shall lose the honour and glory of being the Lord’s companions and
assessors during His coming reign.
Very strongly has Paul set forth the
condition of the promise in another passage, where he says;-
“And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we
suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him.”*
* Rom. 8: 17.
In
the remaining verses of the third chapter, the absolutely
essential condition of obedience is pressed home by further reference to
the case of the Israelites.
“For who, when they had heard, did
provoke? Nay, did not all they that
came out of
There
were, indeed, two exceptions; but this number is so insignificant, as compared
with the whole [79]
remainder of the people, that Paul does not here stop to notice it. Only two of
the fathers escaped, and all the others fell! How fearful a lesson for those
who think, that, if they sin with a multitude, their transgressions may pass
unnoticed.
“And with whom was He displeased
forty years? Was it not with them that sinned,
whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest,
but to them that were disobedient?* And we see, that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.”**
* The A.V. has, “to them that believed not.” This is a gross mistake.
** “Because of faithlessness,” would, perhaps, be better.
Here
we may observe, that sin in those who have
believed is punished by God with the greatest severity; for it is the
sin of treason and rebellion. It was the disobedience of
Again,
however, Paul reminds us, that this sad history is recorded as a warning to
ourselves, because God’s dealings with us are precisely analogous to His
treatment of
“Let us fear,
therefore, lest haply,
a promise left
of entering into His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
For, indeed, we have had good
tidings preached to us, even as also they; but the
word of the report did not [80] profit
them, because it
was not incorporated by faith in them that heard.”*
* Heb. 4: 1, 2.
Here,
as so often, [regenerate] believers are expected to
fear. Many think, that, when they have once received [eternal] life from the Lord Jesus, all that is necessary has been done. But, we repeat yet
again, they are entirely mistaken: they have come only to the beginning, not to
the end, of the struggle. Up to the time of conversion, all was
done for them: but, by accepting the gift of God, they have entered the lists for the race and the battle, and have, in very truth, need of His
grace to enable them
to overcome.
No
promise of entering into God’s [millennial] rest is left in express
terms; but Paul presently shows us how we may infer it. And
our great business is to take care that none of us should seem to have come
short of it.
There
is much delicacy in the use of the verb “should seem,”
which, probably, conveys a hint, that we have no power to pronounce judgment
upon another: that must be left for the Righteous
Judge. Nevertheless, if any man should have manifestly lost the desire for
spiritual things, or should begin to walk carelessly before his God, there
would be grave reason for anxiety on the part of his fellows.
We
might, however, prefer the rendering “should think that he has come
short of it.” The meaning would
then be, Lest any of you, in reviewing his life, and
in noting how often the carelessness that springs from want of faith has led
him into sin, should lose the power of the promise, become demoralised, and so
fall into despondency.
For
every promise of God, if received in faith, [81] brings with itself a strength for the recipient,
sufficient to sustain him until the time of its fulfilment. But,
if faith wanes, the promise also begins to fade from our view: its certainty is
gone, and the power which God bestowed with it is broken. The faithless one
becomes spiritually nerveless, and his hope is obscured
by the dark-gathering clouds of doubt.
To
be living in godly fear is, therefore, the only safe condition for us: we must
take heed lest we fall, even when we think that we stand, and ceaselessly pray,
that the Great Saviour, according to His promise, will never leave us nor
forsake us.
“For, indeed, we have had good tidings preached us, even as also they: but the
word of the report did not profit them, because
it was not incorporated by faith in them that heard.”
Our
case, then, is exactly analogous to that of the Israelites: a heavenly rest* has been offered to us, just
as the
[* It should be
apparent by the context, that the word ‘heavenly’ above is a description of the
promised millennial “Rest”: it is not a ‘rest in heaven’, as many may
Anti-millennialist’s imagine!]
“Yea, they despised the
pleasant land:
They believed not His word;
But murmured in their tents,
And hearkened not unto
the voice of the Lord.
Therefore, He sware unto them,
That He
would overthrow them in the wilderness:
And that He would
overthrow their seed among the nations,
And scatter them in the lands.*
*
Psa. 106: 24-27.
They
were not cheered and encouraged by the description of the
pleasant land, because they did not believe that God was able to give it into
their hands.
[82]
Thus the
word of the report did not profit them, since there was no faith in them
to make the promise effectual.
For,
as Hedinger
puts it, faith is here represented as that which unites and combines
together the Divine Word and those that hear it; in some such way as the
chyle in the human system serves to combine the
nourishing particles of the food with the sustaining principle of natural life,
the blood.
“For we which have believed are
entering into the rest; even as He hath said,
As I sware in My wrath
They shall not enter into My rest:
although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For He hath said somewhere of
the Seventh Day on this wise,
And
God rested on the Seventh Day from all His works.
And
in this place again,
They shall not enter into My rest.
Seeing, therefore, it remaineth that some should enter thereinto,
and
they to whom the good tidings were before preached failed to enter in because
of disobedience,
He again defineth a certain
day, saying in David,
after so long a time, To-day, as it hath been before said,
To-day, if ye
shall hear His voice,
Harden
not your hearts.
For if Joshua had given them
rest, He would not have spoken afterward of another
day.
There remaineth, therefore, a Sabbath-rest for the people
of God.”
If,
then, we have attained to faith, the immediate consequence of the promise to us
is, that we are even [83]
now entering into the rest; for we have actually commenced the journey that
leads to it, even as Israel reached Canaan by the passage through the
wilderness. We have been delivered from death, in the
spiritual Egypt by the Blood of the Lamb: we have subsequently manifested our
obedience by causing ourselves to be baptised into Christ’s death, just as the
Israelites were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and now we
are crossing the desert that lies between us and the rest, and every day’s
march is bringing us nearer to the desired home.
The
first clause of the third verse should not be rendered,
“We who have
believed do enter into rest,” but “are entering into the rest.” And, as the context plainly indicates, the reference
could not be, as some have suggested, to any rest for our souls which we may
find in the present life; but is that of which God spoke when, in the time of
Moses, He said;-
“As I sware in My wrath,
They shall not enter into My rest.”
And yet, so far as He was concerned, the works had been
finished from the foundation of the world: He had even then made all things
good. And, in the second chapter of Genesis, we are told, that “He rested on the Seventh Day from all His work which He had
made.” Thus He had both prepared the rest, and had Himself
actually entered into it.
But His
purpose was, that His people should share it with Him; and that purpose was
delayed by the Fall. Moreover, the ruin of the First Creation caused Him to
resume His work, in order that He might undertake the Second.
And so it
was, that, until the times of Moses, no one had been found ready to enter into
the rest. [84] Then a special
invitation was given to the sons of
Since,
then, it remained that some must enter into it - for, although the purposes of
God may be delayed, they cannot be frustrated; and
since those who were first invited did not enter in, because of disobedience on
their part, the invitation was renewed by the Spirit of God in the days of
David; but was not even then accepted. For the awful admonition remained
unheeded,
“To-day, if ye shall hear
His voice,
Harden not your heart.”
Men
were still carnal, self-willed, and estranged from God, and were quite unable to respond to an impulse, or direction, of the [Holy] Spirit
whenever it might come to them.
And
now the offer is made to us, a fact which proves that the rest, or, as it is
now called, the Sabbath-keeping - for at this point the word is significantly
changed - still remains for the people of God, that is, is still in the future.
For,
although God’s earlier work was finished in the Six Days, yet the goodness and
perfection of creation were not at that time final, but were speedily marred by
the Fall. Thus it was that God commenced a new
creation, by which those who were subjected to it should attain to the destined
and final end of their being, to a condition in which they should be fitted to
enter into His eternal [Gk. ‘aionios’] rest.
Now,
it should be noticed, that, in the ninth verse, the substitution of the word “Sabbath-keeping” for [85] “rest” is
evidently intended to connect the latter with the Six Working Days of the New
Creation. For “the rest” is the Millennium, or period of one thousand years,
in which God will reward His faithful servants.
And,
since we know the duration of “the rest,” or
Sabbath-keeping, we seem able, also, to determine length of the Six Working
Days of the New Creation, each of which must, it would appear, be of the same
length as the period of Sabbath-keeping, that is to say, one thousand years.
And it was, probably, for the purpose of making this Divine proportion clear to
us that Peter was inspired to say;-
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”*
*
2 Peter 3: 8.
It
is, therefore, not unlikely that the frequent
introduction, or suggestion, of the word “day” in the
passage before us* refers to
the Days of the New Creation, each of them a thousand years in length. In this
case, the day in which God spoke to
* We find, “To-day if ye shall hear”; “he would not have spoken
afterward of another day”; and “a Sabbath-keeping,”
or Sabbath day.
[86]
Now,
if this exposition be correct, the Sabbath-keeping will begin after the end of the six thousandth
year from the Fall; and such a calculation is, apparently, the only one
revealed to us which throws light upon the appointed length of the present age.
Practically, however, it does not afford us any more definite information than
we can deduce from a study of the signs of the end, as described by our Lord
and His Apostles. For, since human chronology has become hopelessly confused,
we can only arrive at an approximate conclusion as to the year of the world in
which we are now living.
“For he that has entered into his rest, hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”*
*
Heb. 4: 10.
The
promised rest, then, is to be truly Sabbatical; for none can enter into it,
save those who have ceased from their works, even as God did from His works on
the Seventh Day. Now, in regard to this verse, we must
not forget that the whole passage before us is concerned, not with mere salvation,
which is assumed throughout, but with the reward for works done after salvation - with the prize, and not with the gift. In
other words, we are here dealing
with matters that pertain to sanctification,
and not to justification.
The
work, then, of the man who has been already saved is that to which Paul refers
when he says;-
“Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God That
worketh in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.”*
* Phil. 2: 12, 13.
Here
it is taken for granted that salvation has been
obtained through faith in the Lord Jesus; it is the man’s own, and he must work from it. He has been [87] laid hold of by Christ - to use Paul’s words in
another place - and he must now strive
to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of him at his conversion, that is, to attain to the First Resurrection.*
*
Phil. 3: 12;
see P. 42.
And
the first work to this end which Paul points out to the Philippians, who were
in like circumstances, is as follows;-
“Do all things
without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God
without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are
seen as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life.”*
* Phil. 2: 14-16.
Is
this the manner of our conversation? Are we thus meek and gentle, doing quietly
what love and duty dictate, and finding fault neither with
God nor man? Do we make it our chief business to teach others the Word
of God, first by our lives and then by our words; so that we are, to some
extent at answering to our Lord's description of His disciples;-
“Ye are the light of the world”?
Unless
we are thus living and walking, our sanctification cannot be progressing. And yet, if it be not completed by the hour of death,
or the moment when all the members of
the Lord’s Body that are still left upon earth hear the summons, Come up
hither! we shall lose the Millennial
glories; and, while others - [after ‘the
first resurrection’] - are living and reigning with Christ for a thousand years, we shall have to remain disembodied, and in - [‘Sheol’/ ‘Hades’] - the place of the dead.
Is
it not worth some inconvenience to avert such a loss? Is it not worth a
struggle, worth many labours [88]
and pains, and much endurance of neglect and the slight of the world, if we may
so become priests of God and of Christ and reign with Him? Can we not watch
with our Lord one hour; that we may be with Him on that
glorious Day, when He shall see of the travail of His
soul, and rejoice - He,
Who once, for our sakes, “was despised and
rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”?
Happy
will the believer be who shall be approved of Him on that Day: with rejoicing will he stand before the King. For his
sanctification will have been accomplished: the toil, the mourning, the pain,
every kind of suffering, the ordeal of death, all the discipline that was found
necessary to perfect the New Creation in him, will be as a forgotten dream, and
sweet and eternal peace will have come at last!
“Let us, therefore,
give diligence
to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same
example of disobedience.
For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and
marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature that
is not manifest in His sight: but all things are
naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with Whom
we have to do.”
Some
such thoughts as we have just expressed make the Apostle once more urge [regenerate] believers to labour, to use all zeal, that they may enter into such a rest. For, if they lapse into carelessness and disobedience, and so grieve the Holy Spirit of God, the prize - [unless
repentance is forthcoming] - will suddenly be removed from their sight, and their fate will resemble that of the Israelites who were commanded
to get [89] them back into the wilderness, and who never saw the pleasant land.
For if we do come short of God’s standard, there is no
escape from justice. His Word, whereby we must be tried and
judged, is a living Word, even as its Author is a Living God. Instinct
with His life, it is an active witness, ever presenting new aspects of truth to
us just as they are needed; so that we are without
excuse.
Moreover, it is all-piercing, penetrating
dividing and dissecting our whole being more sharply than any two-edged sword:
nay, it reaches even to the separating of soul and spirit, as well as of the
joints and marrow; that is, of both our immaterial and our material parts; and
so exposes even our deepest and most hidden motives, and passes judgment upon
the inmost thoughts and feelings of our hearts. For nothing can be concealed from Him Whose Word it
is; but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him to Whom we
must render account.
To some these words may, perhaps, seem little more
than vague sentiment. But they are not to be so regarded: we shall find
them a stern and inexorable truth when we stand before the Judgment-seat of
Christ; or, if not there, at least when
we - [a thousand years later] - cower in the resplendent of the Great White
Throne. We may avoid the probing of
the Word now, if we are sufficiently
foolish to do so; but, in the coming hour of judgment, - [before the time
of ‘the
first resurrection’ (Heb. 9: 27; Rev. 20: 6, R.V.)] - we must
submit to it.
Let
us briefly consider but one instance of its piercing and dissecting power. In
the twelfth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, the Lord thus sums up a terrible
discourse;-
“And I say unto you, that every idle word that [90]
men shall speak, they shall give
account thereof in the Day of judgment.
For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by, thy words thou shalt be condemned.”*
*
Matt. 12: 36, 37.
Do
we feel disposed to exclaim against such a revelation; to cry, How can I check
and control every, chance thought that comes to my lips? But
the Word of God, which can penetrate and dissect our whole being, affirms that
we are able so to do, and that the utterance of our mouth affords a logical
ground upon which we can be judged. If, then, our opinion be different, we had
better change it as soon as may be. There can be no greater madness than to
spring wildly against the knowledge or the decree of the Almighty.
And,
indeed, if we quietly examine the passage, and see how the Lord leads up to its
awful conclusion, we shall scarcely feel able to offer an objection. For this
is what He says;-
“Either make the
tree good, and its fruit good or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit
corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.
Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh.
The good man out of his good
treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man
out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”*
* Matt. 12: 33-35.
Yes:
however we may strive to blind ourselves to the fact,
words are the true index of the heart; and that is the principle upon which
God’s judgment proceeds. If the words be haughty or vain, it
is because the heart is haughty or vain: if they be frivolous, it is frivolous:
if they be harsh, it is cruel: [91] if they be hypocritical, it
is hypocritical: if they be rebellious and blasphemous, it, also, is rebellious
and blasphemous: if they be humble God-fearing and full of grace, it, too, is
humble God-earing and full of grace. A terrible secret to know, but one which may be made as salutary as it is terrible. For the
Bible is not only the inexorable Law of God’s future Judgment: it is also given
to us in the present life, that we may profit withal. And the passage which we have been considering is a specimen
of its value. For if we use the searching verses aright, they will show us how to
judge ourselves, by taking heed to our words, and tracing them to what in God’s
sight is their true source, that is, to our own hearts, which are, naturally,
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And,
if we can judge ourselves, and act upon the Judgment, we shall not be judged of
the Lord.
But who
is sufficient for these things? Who does not feel overwhelmed as he thinks of
the condition of his heart, even so far as it is revealed by his words; who is
not inclined to doubt the possibility, that such a one as he can hold fast the
confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end? Yet, whenever the Word
of God wounds, it is also ready to heal: and, in the very next verse, the Great
High Priest is set before us - He Who, after putting away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself, has now gone into the Presence of God, there to appear for us.
Very
tenderly we are reminded, that He is no stern, cold,
unsympathetic, and lofty Being, incapable of fellow-feeling with our
weaknesses. Nay, He has Himself lived in the flesh, and was
tempted in all points like as we are, though He did not for an instant yield to
temptation.
[92]
He
will take our sins upon Himself: He will wash them away with His Own Blood, and
will intercede effectually for us with His Father. And
in Him we may have boldness to approach even to the Throne of Grace, where, for
His sake, we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in every time of need.
So
closes this searching and memorable appeal. The Lord grant that it may be effectual in our
case, and in that of many others upon whom it is our duty to press it.
Everlasting Life is, indeed, the inalienable gift of God: but, if its bestowal be not followed by obedience on our part, the result will be
fearful [millennial] loss. The crown of the [Messianic] Kingdom will fall from our heads: we shall have no
boldness for the Judgment-seat of Christ, but shall shrink with shame from
before Him at His coming.
Chapter
10
SUMMARY AND
CONCLUSION
WE have by no means exhausted the revelations that bear
upon the subject before us: but can only commend the remainder of them to the
attention of the interested reader. For the evidence which
has been already adduced is amply sufficient to convince him, if he be willing to learn,
of the Scriptural distinction between the ‘gift’ and the ‘prize’, and of the
necessity of striving for the latter.
According
to Divine revelation, as we have plainly seen, eternal life is the free gift of
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord: but those who receive it unconditionally,
and go no further, cannot claim the full enjoyment of it until the Last Day,
the time of the General [93]
Resurrection. If, however, they can, also, win the prize, they shall then be
thought worthy to attain to the First Resurrection, which involves membership - [as a first-born
son (Heb. 12:
17,ff. R.V.)]* - in Christ’s Body, and a participation with Him in His
glorious Millennial reign.
[*
See “Firstborn Sons Their
Rights and Risks’ by G.
H. Lang.]
And we have found, that, as soon as the gift has been
accepted, we become eligible for the prize, which is straightway set before us;
and we are invited, in the strength of the Lord, to range ourselves in the
course for the race, and to put on the whole armour of God, that we may begin
the good fight.
Very strangely, however, the distinction, on which
have been endeavouring to fix attention, is seldom pondered, or even known, by
the great masses of professing Christians. On the contrary, they are accustomed
to rest on a vague and general idea, that, if, as they say, they believe in
Christ, they must, from that fact, become members of His Body, and, presently,
partners with Him upon His throne. For they regard these transcendent
privileges as included in the gift of eternal life; forgetting, that, although
all things are possible to him that believeth,*
they are not immediately certain; for only to him that overcometh is the definite promise given, that he shall inherit all things.**
* Mark 9: 23. ** Rev. 21: 7.
But, if
any one demur to their soothing and comfortable but sloth-inducing creed, they
straightway cry out, that he is denying the grace of God.
Very
different, however, as we have seen in the preceding chapters, is the language
of the Bible. For, while it tells us that the gift of God is
eternal life,* it, at the same time, insists that we must run the race,
and contend for the mastery, if we would win the crown;**[94] that
we must finish the work which we came here to do, if we would enter into God’s
Millennial Sabbath-rest;1 that we can be heirs of God
and joint-heirs with Christ, only “if so be that we suffer 2 with Him,
that we may be also glorified with Hirn”;3 that it is to the overcomer
alone that Christ will give to sit with Him upon His throne:4
that we must endure 5 with Him now, if we would
reign with Him hereafter; 6 that we cannot be members
of His House and companions of Himself, unless we hold fast the beginning of
our confidence firm unto the end 7 that we have no right to
expect the crown of righteousness, unless, when death is drawing near, we can
say with Paul;-
“I have fought the good fight; I
have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” 8
*
Rom. 6: 23. ** 1 Cor. 9: 24-27. 1 Heb. 4: 9, 10. 2 [See Greek …] 3 Rom 8: 17. 4 Rev. 3: 21.
5 [See Greek …] 6 2 Tim. 2: 12. 7 Heb. 3: 6, 14. 8 2
Tim. 4: 7.
Alas,
then, for the vain imagination of many who suppose, that, as soon as they have
believed - or have persuaded themselves that they believe - and have obtained
their standing in Christ, they are in virtual possession of all the
glorious possibilities that are set before us! They should rather be grasping
the solemn truth, that they have only just reached the field of battle, are
only now entering the lists for the race; and that the agonising struggles and vicissitudes of the conflict are
all before them.
With such foolishly optimistic views, it is not
strange that they neglect the admonition to pass the time of their sojourning
in fear;* that they ignore the
warning, “Many are called, but few chosen”;**
and, that they are not rendered anxious even by the thought, that those [95] only who are accounted worthy shall escape the
things that are coming to pass,* and shall obtain that age and resurrection [out] from the dead.***
*1 Pet. 1: 17. ** Matt. 22: 14. [* That is, by a selective pre-tribulation rapture (Rev. 3: 10, R.V.)] *** Luke 21: 36 and
[by a select resurrection (Phil 3: 11,
R.V. and Luke] 20:
35.
But the
consequences of this grave mistake are serious and far reaching. To it we must attribute, in a large degree, the apathy of Christendom,
the general indifference to the Mysteries of God, the worldliness, the desire
for amusement and self-pleasing even in what is supposed to be worship, the lack of love and of effort in the
service of the Lord, and the dismal
absence of spirituality, all of
which are now such conspicuous characteristics of the churches.
If
our hope of the Lord’s speedy return be well-founded, we can scarcely expect
that the great bodies of professing Christians will be raised from their
present low estate: apostasy, coupled with Laodicean complacency, is likely to grow worse and worse, until the comes. Yet none the less must we strive in ceaseless
prayer, that we may be enabled to act as the salt of
the earth and the light of the world; that we may be permitted, in some slight
degree, at least, to check the corruption and dissipate the spiritual ignorance
around us. And this we shall most effectually do, if the Spirit of the Lord be
with us, by bringing forth His Divine teachings fresh from the Scriptures, and
by endeavouring to set once more in the front those instructions and commands which, for many
centuries, have been ignored and consigned to oblivion, because of their inconvenience
to nominal Christians.
We
have had much Gospel-preaching in the last half-century; but although it has been blessed to very many individuals, yet its general
and permanent effect can scarcely be called satisfactory. And
the main [96] reason of this
seems to be, that so little
real [prophetic and accountability] teaching
is available for those who have received the Gospel. For, if sheep be not fed,
they will die, even though they still remain within the precincts of the fold.
We must, then, pray the Lord of the Harvest to send us
more teachers who may follow in the wake of the evangelists - students who have
no opinions of their own or of their sect to defend; and are, therefore, able
to receive with simplicity, and without reserve, whatever the Scriptures
contain, and to expound it in plain terms to others.
*
* * *
* * *
[To be continued Christian BAPTISM from page 99,
D.V.]