1
THRONE WORTHINESS
Throne power is one of the great
rewards of the faithful servant, and comparatively
few attain this honour. There are
many great ones of the Church who will be accounted
small indeed when brought before the judgment seat of Christ. There are those, according to the statement
of our Lord Himself, who are first among their fellows on earth, who will be
last when the assizes of the Son of Man will have pronounced judgment upon
them.
But there is a group occupying
the most outstanding official position that both heaven and earth can
offer. What are the qualifications for
such outstanding rank? It is begging the
question to say that their places have been given them through grace, and it is
also contrary to the teaching of Scripture.
The Book of Revelation takes particular pains to point
out that it is he that overcometh that is
the recipient of divine favour. Throne worthiness is the only guarantee for
throne possession. And those who prove
themselves worthy are not necessarily great preachers or clever expositors or
even great soul-winners. They are those
who have put into practice the
lessons of holiness the Spirit has set in the Word of God, and have heeded with earnest care the applications
of these to their hearts by His constant inward monitions. They have done justly, and loved mercy, and walked humbly with their
God. They have paid more attention to the subduing of their own lusts than the
attaining of a reputation for holiness. They have learned the meaning of perfect love toward God and man, and have
been, as with unveiled face they reflected the glory of the Lord, transformed
into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.
The Emperor Napoleon, to emphasise the fact that it was possible in his
service to rise from the lowest rank to the highest, made the epigrammatic
remark that every private soldier carried a field
marshals baton in his knapsack.
And so the Almighty, as He sets
forth the glories of the age to come and the surpassing magnificence of the
eternal city, in which have been centred all the hopes of the ages as they ran
their course, broadcasts to the race a similar announcement:- He that
overcometh shall inherit all things a promise of joint heirship with His
overcoming Son.
There is no believer in Christ
to whom the highest honours of heaven are not open. But, sad to say, the number is small who give themselves to the quest, and seek first
(in time and importance) the
-The
-------
THE
UNDERSTANDING SAVIOUR
(Written
during a night of intense pain)
The way
is dark, the path so rough,
The
cross so hard to bear,
I cannot
trace His ways of love,
And yet
I trust His care.
The pain is strong, the sorrow deep,
I seem to be alone;
My faith
at best is now so weak,
Yet God
is on the Throne.
I try to
pray, it seems a fight,
And
never can I rest
But
Jesus says, Im doing right,
My
child, I know the best.
Thy Word has seemed to lose its power,
No comfort do I find;
Oh,
Jesus, come this very hour.
And heal
my tortured mind.
Come, heal the wounds, take my poor
heart
And fill with love to Thee,
The One
Whom men denied, betrayed,
Then killd at
He knoweth sorrow, pain and loss,
He trod his path alone,
And
through His death at
His
perfect peace I own.
I know that my Redeemer lives,
He gives, He takes away;
To Him, my love, my life I give,
There is no other way.
- ALAN G.
FISHER.
* * *
2
FOUNDATION AND SUPERSTRUCTURE
Let us begin with a
parable. Here, in a library holding on its
shelves all the so-called Christian volumes ever issued, is a brazier of
burning coals. Two patriarchs - one
named Time, the other named Eternity - are testing the
volumes. One by one they slowly cast
them into the fire, and they are burned.
Here is a Breviary, full of prayers in an unknown tongue: it burns
slowly, but it burns. Here is a whole armful of criticisms on
the Scriptures, portly and erudite. These, says Time,
as he flings them into the fire, are the labour of a hundred universities; but as
they quickly burn away, Dust and ashes, says Eternity. Philosophic volumes,
scientific volumes, ecclesiastical volumes, poetical volumes - together with
170,000 volumes on peace, gathered in the Palace of the League of nations in
Geneva: Time remarks, with a sigh, -
Here is the
brilliance of converted genius; but as they all fall away into
silent ash, Eternity remarks, - Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. At last Eternity
takes up in his hands one Book, and casts that into the burning coals, and
lo, all the room and the faces of Time
and Eternity are lit with the white
glory of a Book unconsumed; and it is called, - The
Word of God. The Bible -
learned and lived - is the imperishable book of eternity.
The Foundation
We first observe that it is God
who lays the foundation for the soul. Behold, I lay in
* Acts 4: 11, 12.
A Warning
But at once a warning
follows. But
let each [disciple] take heed how he buildeth thereon. Works do not emerge into sight until Christ
has been laid as the foundation of life: works before faith not only do not
save, but they are sins to be repented of, - repentance
from dead works (Heb. 6: 1). But implies
that while there is one foundation, there
are many superstructures: take heed implies that grave consequences attach to how a disciple
builds after conversion. Some
of Pauls passages are masterpieces of revelation; clear as crystal, and
flashing with a truth like a gem. Stage
by stage he takes us through the different lives which disciples lead after
conversion, and their consequences. Let
us ponder it. Slowly, surely,
imperceptibly a house of works is rising round every disciples life: tier over
tier, every day adds an arch or lays a stone: blocks of granite and marble,
pillars of solid silver, and cornices of gold; or else wooden doorways, hay
mixed with mud for the walls, and straw thatching for the roof. And the supreme fact is this:- one set of materials stands fire; the other feeds
fire; and since fire is coming let
each disciple take heed how he
buildeth thereon.
A Choice
Therefore we all have a
choice. If
any buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble: that is,
every disciple has absolute control over the material with which he builds. He
may build with stubble if he choose; if he choose
also, he may build with gold. Now contending motives sway the choice:
popularity, social prestige, wealth, carnality, on the one hand - love to
Christ, fidelity, a sense of truth, fear, on the other. What is the material that will stand
fire? Material that matches the foundation. What
is the foundation? The personal Word of God. Then what ought the superstructure to be? The written Word of God. There are a
thousand voices in the world to-day: to the wise man there is only One. Every
thought, every word, every act, is to be built out of the quarries of Scripture. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away: that is, the Scriptures will survive
the fires of judgment, which
will consume the universe. The highest
level which a Christian teacher can reach is to frame a not altogether
inadequate setting to the jewels of revelation; and the highest a Christian
disciple can reach is to translate into actual life the mind of God as revealed
in the Word of God. The work of the teacher is to get the Book into the soul: the work of
the disciple is to get the Book into the life.
An
Exposure
Next follows an exposure. Each
[disciples] work shall be made manifest: for the day
shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire. The
believers life is a palimpsest,* the invisible lines of which steal forth into sight as it
nears the fire. Observe, there is no
testing of the foundation: it is, as Isaiah
says, a tried stone, an already tested Stone: it is the superstructure which the fire
searches. No [regenerate] believer will be tried for his standing, but for his walk;
not for his faith, but for
his works; not for his life, but for his living; not for his foundation, but for his superstructure. And the exposure - at all events between God
and his soul - will be complete. For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the
things done by means of the body, according
to what he hath done (2 Cor. 5: 10), in the day
when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ (Rom.
2: 16). Suppose this day next
month all the hidden things of our life, all the secret motives of the heart,
all the thoughts in which we most delighted, were to be disclosed to
multitudes:- how watchful, this month, we should be over our hearts, what an
agony of apprehension sin would cause us!
It compels us to Whitfields
words, - O could I always live for eternity,
preach for eternity, pray for eternity, and speak for eternity! I want
to see only God. That Day
dominated Pauls entire vision: the single eye,
as Robert Chapman says, is the eye that is
fastened on the judgment Seat of Christ.
[* That is: a manuscript which has
been written upon twice, the first writing having been rubbed off to make room
for the second. (The
New Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language).]
The Test
So the testing follows.- The fire itself shall prove each [disciples] work of what sort it is. What
is the fire? His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as
snow: and his eyes were as a flame of fire (Rev. 1: 14). This is also clearly stated by Malachi. Who may
abide the day of His coming? for
He is like a refiners fire (Mal. 3: 2). The
fire, you observe, does not cleanse, it tries, and, if the material be inflammable,
it destroys: it is not that Christ purges our works, but He searches them
judicially. We have already seen
this definitely judicial process in actual operation. These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like a
flame of fire, - there is the fire; I know
thy works - there is the fire playing into the material; and thy love and faith and ministry and patience - there
is the fire testing the quality and finding gold; and that thy last works are more than the first (Rev. 2: 19) - there is the fire testing the
quantity, and finding much pure gold.
The fire proves.
Reward
One consequence is reward. If any
[disciples] work shall abide which he built thereon, he
shall receive a reward.
If the work abides
the fire - reward:
for while [eternal] salvation is attached to the foundation, reward (or
loss) is attached to the superstructure: reward is utterly conditional on what our
own hands have wrought. Again and again our Lord rings this truth
in our ears. Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each [disciple] according as his work is (Rev. 22:
12); or, as Paul puts
it in this very passage (v. 8), each shall receive his own reward according to his own
labour. One of the costliest diamonds in
Or it may be loss. If any
[disciples] work shall be burned, he shall suffer
loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as
through fire. The truth could not be
presented with a more crystal clearness. Himself [eternally] saved - for
no disciple can ever be swept off the mighty foundation of Christ; but his work burned - for it is solemnly possible
for a [regenerate]
believer to spend his life in a
discipleship which will end in a conflagration. The picture is that of escape from a burning
ruin. As the fire-balls descend upon the
labouriously-constructed house, the inmate within, to his amazement it may be,
suddenly sees a burst of flame, and, running for his life, escapes through a
blazing corridor of fire: he himself shall be
saved, yet so as through fire. It is a
sorry thing to have all ones life-work fall away into silent ash because of a
wrong choice of materials. Oh, the
tremendous importance of building rightly now!
An Appeal
So the
appeal is to every child of God for the sacrifice of absolutely everything, if
need be, to the Divine Word; to build with the adamant of eternity. Let
each [disciple] prove his own work (Gal. 6: 4). Let us mark well: isolation is the price of
purity; but better be shamed now than shamed then:
better discover the stubble and burn it with our own hands, than meet the
exposure of that day. Let us not suffer
ourselves to remain in a position where we are forbidden to do what God commands,
or commanded to do what God forbids. Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it. A soldier once came to Lord Kitchener to
explain why he had not carried out an order.
Lord Kitchener replied:- Your reasons for not doing what
you were told to do, are the best I ever heard.
Now go and do it. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me (John 14:
21). Finally, that thou doest, do quickly. The shadows are falling across a dying
world. A doctor whom I know visited
An Experience
For the sake of our young
readers, before whom a dying dispensation opens with enormous possibilities,
perhaps the writer may be allowed to record his own experience which may give
them light. As a young man God revealed
this truth to me so clearly that for all
eternity I can never unsee it again. In the vast cross-currents of university
life, in which many a young man gets swept off his feet for ever, I came out
absolutely sure of one thing, and of one thing
only. That was the Word of God. God
mercifully revealed to me the tremendous fact that the Voice of God had been heard
in the world, and that that Voice had been enshrined in a Book. I saw that all Christians were based, whether
they acknowledged it or not, on this Book; that this was the guide, the chart,
and the final account, that lay at the root of the whole Christian faith. What followed? I resolved that, at all costs, I would spend
my life in shaping it to the Book. Life
became a thing of extraordinary value because it could be lived with
God, for God, and unto God: it was
possible to please God. What followed that? An inevitable collision,- not only with the
power and influence and wealth of the world, but with all the tremendous ecclesiastical systems, which have cleverly,
though I believe largely unconsciously, mixed the rubble of human tradition
with the pure gold of Divine Revelation. I saw that I must be willing to stand alone; that isolation is the penalty of
Purity; and I found that to shape ones life to the Book, without fear
and without compromise, meant the sacrifice of ambition after ambition, and
sometimes the most painful divisions from the hearts you love best. It meant all that: but it meant also the
transplanting of the heart to a better world.
God wants us to be crucified in
this world [or age] that we may be crowned in the world [or age] to come.
This is gold, silver and precious
stones.
We close with the golden
goal. Now
unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy (Jude 24). Is that not a possibility that fairly
staggers the soul? But what does it mean
now? It means absolute obedience to every word of God. After an address on this subject in
- D. M. PANTON
-------
DEMAS HATH FORSAKEN ME,
HAVING LOVED THIS PRESENT WORLD.
You have accepted Christ as your
personal Saviour. You are eternally
saved, redeemed and have eternal life. If
obedient (Acts 5: 31), the
Holy Spirit is dwelling in that earthly tabernacle of yours [Acts 5: 32]. God has so
graciously saved you by His grace and has given His all for you, but the
question is, Are you at this moment giving
your all for Him? In Colossians 4: 14, Paul
had a companion by the name of Demas,
and he includes Demas in the
* * *
3
THE HINDERER AND THE HINDRANCE*
[* This tract was published in March,
1948. Today our prisons are overflowing with hardened criminals who are
not being punished as severely as they deserve; our streets are saturated with
perverted, sex-crazy individuals: drug abuse and theft has increased at an
alarming rate; little children are being abused and molested; Government
officials are passing laws to accommodate unnatural behaviour - and not a word
of prayer to God for help and guidance in their decisions! It is beyond belief, that with all of this,
now happening on our doorstep; and coupled with the irresponsible behaviour of
bankers throughout the world; there are Christians who
still maintain this evil and corrupt world is going to get better! When are Gods
redeemed people going to face up to facts, and believe the prophecies of God?]
It is one of our keenest joys
that we have amongst us young men and women of active powers of thought, and of
deepening piety of life; young men and women who, when some of us have passed
from the scene, may be plunged into the vortex of the last conflicts; around
whose brows may gather the burning lights of the last battles Gods Church will
ever have on earth.
Panic
Now there is one safeguard which
young folk need in the present world-convulsions, and that safeguard the
Scripture supplies. The Thessalonian
panic - the shock of believing that they were caught in the Great Tribulation -
is a danger for us all which will grow sharper every year, and which will be
most dangerous for the youth of to-day.
So Paul says:- We beseech you, brethren, by the coming - the parousia, the presence in the heavenlies
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together
unto him - our rapture that ye
be not quickly prematurely shaken
from your mind, nor yet be troubled terrified as that the day of the Lord is now present (2 Thess. 2: 1 R.V.).*
* The verb is so translated in the
other passages where it occurs (Rom. 8: 38;
1 Cor. 3: 22; Gal. 1: 4; Heb. 9: 9), except in 2 Tim. 3: 1, where it ought also to have been so rendered (The Pulpit Commentary).
The Day
of the Lord
Now a terror at being overtaken
by the Day of the Lord is fully justified.
The descriptions of that Day given by the Holy Spirit are
appalling. One quotation will be enough. The
great day of the Lord is near, it is near and hasteth
greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man crieth there bitterly.
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of
wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and
thick darkness. And I will bring
distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind
men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured
out as dust, and their flesh as dung. (Zephaniah,
1: 14). Our Lord sums it up:-
Tribulation such as there hath not been the like
since the creation, and never shall be (Mark 13: 19).
Apostasy and Antichrist
So Paul now unveils two vital facts which must first become manifest,
without which the Great Tribulation is impossible. For it will not be
except (1) the falling away - the Apostasy, the worldwide abandonment of the Christian Faith come first, and (2) the man of
sin - the Antichrist,
the man who embodies all sin be revealed. That is, two vast evils fill the Day of the
Lord: (1) the Apostasy; [many regenerate]
individuals are now apostate, but the crash of the whole Church left on earth
is yet to come: and (2) the Man of Sin, when all
that dwell on the earth shall worship him (Rev.
13: 8).
Lawlessness
The Apostle next gives the
reason on which their fear that they were in the Day of the Lord was founded -
a fear already pressing on us, beyond the Churchs experience in all
history. For
the mystery of lawlessness - lawlessness disguised, but
working secretly in all nations, and in all sections of society doth already work.
The murder of six million Jews, the atomic bomb, the world wars, the
steady rise of crime in all countries, the industrial strikes all over the world
- the temptation is to believe that the Age of Anarchy has arrived.* The extraordinary increase of crime in youth
is one extraordinary apparent reason.
The latest official statistics show that since 1939, 39 per cent. of the burglars and thieves were under the age of 14; only
one-fifth of the burglars and housebreakers since 1939 were over 21 years of
age. In
[* What
better description could we use to describe the Arab spring today?]
The Hinderer
So now the Apostle reveals the
foundation fact. Only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. Here one Person only, on earth, is singled
out as alone blocking the worlds final wickedness: such a person is
inconceivable save One - the Holy Ghost. Only one Person of the Godhead is on earth,
and He alone is creating all good, and blocking all
evil. Therefore all depends on the
moment of His removal. There is one that restraineth now, until he be TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY; and then shall be revealed the lawless one.
The
Hindrance
But there is another hindrance here
on earth which, so long as it is here, makes the Day of the Lord
impossible. And now ye know that which restraineth- in this case, not a person, but a thing - to the end that he - the Antichrist - may be revealed in his own season - that is, after the Gospel era. Here is a hindrance manifestly created by the
Hinderer, and to be removed from the earth with Him. Paul had already revealed it: Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind (ver. 1). With the Hinderer disappears the hindrance:
the Holy Spirit accompanies the rapture: so long as the rapture has not
occurred, the Day of the Lord is not here.*
* This is a decisive overthrow of the view of the post-Tribulationist - namely, that the whole Church must pass
through the Great Tribulation: the Thessalonians were not to think they were in the Day of the Lord, because there had been no
gathering together unto Him.
Salt
But now we observe that the
Apostle is careful not to say that they
are not to be in the Great Tribulation because they cannot be in it: all he says, guardedly, is
that a rapture must have occurred before the Day is here. Then who are the believers that are to be removed? Words of our Lord cast a remarkable light. Ye are the salt of the earth - salt
is that which prevents corruption, and preserves from rottenness: the presence
of the holy believer, as of the Holy Spirit, the Hinderer, is the sole cheek on
corruption, the sole block which makes the arrival of the Antichrist
impossible. Ten righteous men would have
indefinitely postponed the doom of
Savourless Salt
So our Lord is careful to add a
very grave warning. The hindrance to Antichrist
vanishes with the purity of the salt. But if the salt have lost its savour - if
the regenerate soul has fallen into an insipid, graceless life wherewith shall it be salted? it is
thenceforth good for nothing - its hindrance of evil has ceased
- but to be cast out and
trodden underfoot of men (Matt. 5: 13). It still looks like salt; it still is salt;
but it has lost the use of salt: it has
become as refuse. What an exact picture
of the backslider! When
the Son of man cometh, will he find the
faith [see Greek] on the earth? (Luke 18: 8).* So our Lord tells the Philadelphian Angel,
that because
he had kept the word of His patience,
he would not be trodden underfoot of men: I
also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the
whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev. 3: 10).**
* The Lord will find faith - in this very context, they shall believe a lie (ver. 11) - but He will not find the Faith.
** It seems certain that the beloved Thessalonians would have
been rapt had our Lord come then (1 Thess. 4: 17); but what if His coming were deferred
for months or years? A [regenerate]
believers conduct to-day is no
certainty of his conduct tomorrow.
A Right Fear
So then the Apostle, like
Christ, is very guarded in his comforting assurance that without a rapture
having occurred the Tribulation is impossible. We
beseech you, brethren, that ye be not quickly -prematurely, before the event - shaken from your mind, that the day of the Lord is now
present. In the words of Professor T. Croskery:- Their disquietude and distress
arose from the belief that the Lord had already come without their sharing in
the glory of His kingdom. Their relatives
were still lying in their graves without any sign of resurrection, and they
themselves saw no sign of that transformation of body in themselves that was to
be the prelude to their meeting the Lord in the air. A fear lest they be caught in the Day of the
Lord was a perfectly right emotion in the hearts of the splendid Thessalonian
believers - and in ours; but if we wait
for his Son from heaven, HE DELIVERETH
US FROM THE WRATH TO COME (1 Thess. 1: 10).
Watch
and Pray
One fact,
and one fact supremely, the imminence of the Advent forces upon us. Our Lord says:- One is taken, and one is left: watch therefore, for ye know not on what day your Lord
cometh (Matt. 24: 40). In the words of beloved Samuel Wilkinson, of the Mildmay Mission to the Jews:- Watch ye, therefore, and
pray always, that ye may be accounted
worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand
before the Son of Man. This exhortation, this command, was uttered
by our Lord after His own recital of the programme of catastrophes which are to
overtake the worlds population during the period immediately antecedent to His
public appearance in glory. Thus escape
from the awful period of earth-judgments is possible. It is
possible but conditioned:- What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
conversation and godliness? What indeed?
Can any standard of consecration be too high, any present sacrifice of
self too great, any devotion of service or substance too great, if escape from
the judgment described is its reward.
- D. M. PANTON
-------
NEVER DO LESS THAN YOUR
BEST
Nothing is done,
said Napoleon, if anything is left undone: thoroughness won him his
battles. Scatter-brained people never
arrive anywhere. Tax heart and brain and
muscle to the utmost for God: every life-drop counts in the coming [Millennial] Glory,
every heart-throb tells in the struggle now.
Whatsoever ye do, do it from the soul, as unto the
Lord, and not unto men; knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance:
ye
serve the Lord Christ (Col. 3: 23). Rom. 13: 11. Ezra 7: 23.
John 9: 4. Concentrate all time, focus every energy, on
the irreducible ultimate of things:- for the believer,
the Judgment Seat of Christ; for the unbeliever, the Great White Throne, and
Him who sits thereon. The single eye (to
cite Robert Chapman) is the eye that
is fixed on the Judgment Seat of Christ.
- D. M.
PANTON
* *
*
4
OUT-RESURRECTION
FROM AMONG THE DEAD
An exceedingly remarkable
example of a single resurrection, consisting of selected saints alone, has
already occurred.* And the
tombs were opened, and many of the bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep - not
all were raised; and coming forth out of the tombs
they entered into the holy city and appeared unto many (Matt. 27: 52).
[* The question being: Was this a resurrection of selected saints unto immorality? Or was it a
resurrection similar to that of Samuel? (1 Sam. 28:
8-19). See R. Govetts
commentary on this event in his Hades.]
It is exactly such a [select] resurrection
[unto immortality]
of selected saints, yet to come, of which Paul stresses the emphasis of his
whole soul. All that he once valued he
says he cast overboard as so much dead cargo:- I do count them but dung; and
why? if by any means - if possible (Meyer); if anyhow (Eadie) - I may attain - the
word attain* here
means to arrive at the end of a journey - unto THE OUT-RESURRECTION, OUT FROM AMONG THE DEAD (Phil. 3: 11); that is, not the [general]
resurrection of the dead, but a [select] resurrection out from the dead, leaving the rest
sleeping in their graves.** That Paul is speaking of
bodily resurrection is clear from the closing verse of this chapter:- We wait for a Saviour who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be
conformed to the body of His glory.
As Professor T. Croskery puts it:- It is not a part in
the general resurrection; it is not
spiritual resurrection, for that was already past (in the experience of the
Apostle): it is a part of the
resurrection of the just, the resurrection of life. It must be the First Resurrection, for only that resurrection leaves dead still in the tombs; the rest of the
dead lived
not until the thousand years were finished (Rev. 20: 5); and so it is the First
Resurrection which here rises before Paul as the mighty goal of a mighty
effort.
[* The word
attain is defined as: to gain by effort. Hence,
this is a resurrection of reward, at
the time of Christs return, Luke 14: 14; 1 Thess. 4: 16.
cf. Luke 20: 35; Heb. 11: 35b.
** Keep in mind: the soul (that
is, the Person) remains in Hades for as long as the body
(the souls covering or tent) remains
decomposed in the grave: that which Death
separates, Resurrection will reunite: Christs
body lay in Josephs tomb for as long as He as a disembodied soul - preached to the spirits in the underworld of
Hades. It is not a standing up out from
amongst those who will be resurrected; it is a resurrection - after
judgment (Luke 20: 35; 22: 28) -
through the gates of Hades (Matt. 16: 18), into an inheritance
in the
Never was Paul so anxious to
impress uncertainty on the Church as he is here, touching the first
resurrection: he piles phrase on phrase implying extreme difficulty of
achievement. Not that I have already
obtained - that is, attained to the standard [of
personal righteousness, (Matt. 5: 20)] qualifying for the prize - the word means to win a
prize (as in 1 Cor. 9: 24): but forgetting the things which are. Behind - the failures,
the disappointments, the follies I press
on - toward the maturity required for the reaping sickle of the
First Resurrection: or am already made perfect - I am
in hot pursuit if so be that I may apprehend that
for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have apprehended. It is a statement crammed with deliberate
uncertainty: if by any means is used when an
end is proposed, but failure is presumed
to be possible (Alford).
The Apostle states not a positive assurance, but a modest hope (Lightfoot). So high was Pauls inspired conception of the
standard required by God, that most of all in the Apostolic Church he disowned
all self-confidence, though more abundant in labours, in sufferings, in
confessions than they all; for the
clearer our spiritual vision, the more sharply distinct is the distance of the
goal. Let us ponder Bishop Lightfoots paraphrase:- Be not mistaken. I hold the language
of hope, not of assurance. I have not
reached the goal: I am not yet made perfect.
But I press forward in the race, eager to grasp the prize, for as much
as Christ also has grasped me. My
brothers, let other men count their security.
Such is not my language. I do not
consider that I have the prize already in my grasp. This, and this only,
is my rule. Forgetting the landmarks
already passed, and straining every nerve and muscle in the onward race, I
press forward ever towards the goal that I may win the prize. Paul is now in prison; and the nearer he is to martyrdom, the keener
is his pursuit of the prize - and the
closer to it, for all martyrs are
crowned (Rev. 20: 4).
Now the Apostle reveals the
profound yet simple truth explaining the uncertainty:-
namely, the out-resurrection is not a gift in grace, but a prize to be won by
devotion and sanctity. Nothing could be clearer than
the Apostles words. First, the renunciation - I count all things but dung: next, the aim if by any means I may attain unto the select resurrection from among the dead:
finally, the reason I press on toward the goal for THE PRIZE of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Morally and practically, a gift and a prize are worlds asunder: if a
gift has to be won, it is not a gift, but a prize; and if a prize is received
without effort, it is not a prize, but a gift. Here is the solution of the whole problem,
and of words of Paul which have puzzled thousands. Unlike simple [eternal] salvation, the select resurrection is a prize, not
a gift: I press on for the prize, he says. For obtaining simple salvation Paul has just
stated that all works he had
jettisoned for ever overboard, for Gods
[eternal]
salvation is a pure gift - the righteousness of Another given out of hand;
but so from this truth producing carelessness in Paul, or the conviction that
works after faith are of
little account either for time or for eternity, by a counter-truth Pauls
master-passion now is to attain to the Select Resurrection as the
prize. I press on to seize
the prize, to attain which Christ seized me: it is Christs wish that I should
win the prize: it is our heavenward calling (Lightfoot), for
God is invoking us all so to run that we shall break up with the first through
the shattered tombs. A prize is never
won except at the goal: the runner who, at any point of the track, calculates
that he has out-distanced all competitors; or gets out of the running tracks;
or lingers to look back in satisfaction at the ground covered; or runs with
anything but intense concentration - loses [or may well risk loosing]
the race. Seest
thou, says Chrysostom,
that even here they crown the most honoured of the
athletes, not on the race-course below, but the king calls them up and crowns
them there. I press on, cries Paul, toward the prize of our high calling - the
heavenward, upward, Godward call in
Christ Jesus.
Paul finally presents us with a
priceless cluster of truths that shine out like stars. First, our
resolve: Let us therefore, as many as be
perfect (full-grown, mature) be thus minded. That is, of Pauls mind: not doubting or denying that there is such a prize; not foolishly
scorning the doctrine of reward; not despairing of ourselves, or ruling
ourselves out as competitors; not absorbed in discussion as to who shall win
the prize, or wondering how near, or how far, we are ourselves; not reposing on
past victories, or resting on past laurels, or crushed and hopeless over
past failures; but making the supreme effort of our lives to attain. There is a difference between the perfect and the perfected;
the perfect are ready for the race; the perfected are close upon the prize
(Bengel). All the mightiest of mankind have been men of
one idea, for concentration is the secret of power; and they are the mightiest saints who have no less an aim than a perfected
holiness, the top-stone of which is a bursting upward [first] from the
tomb.
Now follows a golden
promise. And
if in anything - in any detail of this truth ye are
otherwise minded - if you think that the prize is for all believers without
effort, or that there is no prize, or that the first resurrection is not the prize, or that it is not worth a lifes devotion, or that you
have, by effort, already secured it even
this - always assuming a single eye for Gods truth shall God reveal unto
you: the verb indicates an immediate disclosing
to the human spirit by the Spirit of God (Lange). To differ from Paul
is, of course, to confess oneself in error: nevertheless, Paul says, walk with
me so far as you can see your path; where you fail to agree with me, or with
one another, ask God. Paul teaches, but
God enlightens (Chrysostom). This meets the inevitable challenge, foreseen
by Paul all down the ages:- Paul, your doctrine of the
Prize will plunge the Church into chaos, and sharply sunder the babes from the
adult. This is the answer. Seek the best you know, and God will give
you a still better best: be
perfect in devotion, and a passionate runner, and God is pledged to show us what is
the hope of your
calling (Eph. 4: 4). Seek God about it, and even this - the most golden ideal that
ever hovered before human vision - shall
God reveal unto you: only whereunto we have already attained, by that same rule
let us walk. For Paul himself the crowning fact remains:- This ONE THING I do; it
remains the master-passion of my life.
- D. M. PANTON.
-------
KEET
ALERT: KEEP AT WORK: KEEP PROGRESSING.
The moment we begin resting on
our oars, that moment we begin drifting downstream: Satan finds a prompt use
for those who have the employment of Christ.
Mark 13: 34-36. The only way to be
kept from falling, says McCheyne, is to grow. Luke 8: 18. Grow in faith (2 Thess. 1: 3); in works (Rev. 2: 19); in
fruitfulness (Phil. 4: 7); in love (1 Thess. 3: 12); in Christlikeness (Eph. 4: 15):- we exhort you, brethren,
that ye abound more and more. Learn the grace of patience.
- D. M. PANTON.
* * *
5
WOMEN AND THE MINISTRY
One by one the Free Churches in
this country have accepted the principle that there
is no barrier in principle to the admission of women to the ministry.* The Church of England (through the Report of the Archbishops
Commission on the Ministry of Women) has gone so far as to say:- We do not deny that a reunited Church may in the future have
the power to contradict its past and to declare that women can be priests and
that as women they ought not to be debarred either from the priesthood or the
episcopate. It is one of the grave symptoms of to-day. For the
Holy Spirit, whose exaltation of womanhood is exquisite, nevertheless prohibits
all public authority of the female in the church; and it is an
extraordinarily impressive fact that throughout its history the Church of God,
practically without exception, has accepted these Scriptures as final,
and has acted on them for two thousand years.
* As far back as thirty years ago it was written:- There are no fewer than seven thousand ordained women in the
Free Churches of America (Nineteenth Century, Sept., 1916).
Prohibition
The Holy Spirit lays down the rule in unmistakable terms. LET THE WOMEN KEEP SILENCE IN THE
CHURCHES: FOR IT IS NOT PERMITTED UNTO THEM TO SPEAK (1 Cor. 14: 34); a
Scripture so clear, so decisive, that no one doubts what it seems to mean: let us
ponder, therefore, the explanations advanced to prove that it does not mean what it seems to mean - namely, the absolute silence of sisters [in the churches].
Objections
(1) It is said that the word
here should be translated wives, not women, and that thus it is a rule for
the married only. But the vast majority of
women, as of men, are married: this
objection, therefore, would give but little relief; the rule would still be
binding on the vast majority of womankind.
Moreover, if so, it compels the inference that while godly and mature
matrons are enjoined to silence, girls in their teens (as well as mature
unmarried women) may rise and teach the Church; a statement which has only to
be made, to be rejected.
(2) It is said that the word
means chatter, and refers only to thoughtless
or flippant interruption. But the word
is used twenty-four times in this very chapter, and never once in the sense of chatter or interrupt:
it is used throughout of prophecies
and inspired utterances; and once (ver. 21) of
Gods own utterance. The Greek word
exactly corresponds to our English word speak,
covering all utterance, dignified or undignified. Moreover, the Holy Spirit has already said,- Let the women keep silence: the injunction
is thus wholly unmistakable, for it is affirmed both positively and negatively.
(3) It is said that this is a
restriction belonging to the Law of Moses, from which the Gospel has freed
women. But Paul says, - Let them be in subjection, as also saith the law; that is, on this point, according to the
Apostle, the Law and the Gospel are identical.
Womens ministry in synagogue and temple was wholly unknown and
forbidden; though, as nothing to that effect is explicitly recorded in the Mosiac Law, the restriction has actually advanced in
definiteness under the Gospel.
(4) It is said that the
regulation was for Corinthian women, accustomed to loose habits, and educated
in a lawless atmosphere. But the Epistle
is addressed (1: 2) to all who call upon the name of the Lord in every place: let the women keep
silence; and not, in the Church at
(5) It is said that these are rules confined to
the miraculously gifted of the
(6) It is said that Paul
elsewhere (1 Cor.
11: 5) allows the woman to pray and prophesy, if covered. Obviously the gift of prophecy is for both
sexes; but there is no New Testament
example of a womans public prayer or prophecy:
* Does the regulation cover public prayer also? It would seem so. This very chapter regulates prayer in the
assemblies, - If I Pray
in a tongue, my spirit prayeth (ver. 14):
and then the [Holy]
Spirit says, - Let the woman keep silence.
Is not audible prayer a breach of silence? and is
it not an assumption of some degree of authority in leading an assembly to the
Throne? In 1
Tim. 2: 4, 5, the word for men is man inclusive of woman: God
willeth that all men [all human
beings] should be saved; but in ver. 8 it is man as distinct from woman; let
the males pray everywhere. So, moreover, Alford:- The English Version
[A.V.], by omitting the article, has entirely obscured
this passage for its English readers, not one in a hundred of whom ever dreams of
a distinction of the sexes being here intended. Even questions, which are no assumption of
authority, are (ver. 35) forbidden.
Collective singing (Col. 3: 16) is
commanded.
(7) It is said that God has set His seal of
approval on womans ministry, at least in evangelism, by granting conversions
under her words. But nothing that can
occur, not even conversions, can unsay
what the Holy Spirit has said: only a rescinding order from the Spirit
Himself, verbally expressed, can authorize disobedience. The kindred fact that conversions can occur
under an unregenerate preacher is no Divine authorization of an unconverted
ministry, but merely demonstrates that the
life is in the Seed, not in the hand that sows it. The
Word of God is liable to convert from any mouth. Moses may strike the rock, rebelling against the word of the Lord, yet the waters flow (Num. 20: 11-24) - for the Holy Spirit will flow forth to parched lips from the smitten Christ
even when disobediently invoked.
(8) Finally - (and this exhausts
the objections known to us objections, we may add, never advanced, so far as we
are aware, by front-rank commentators) - it is said that exceptional women have
been raised by God above this rule. The
answer is obvious. God is sovereign, and
may make what exceptions to His own rules that He chooses: but I may not make them. And is it certain that there have been
any such exceptions in this dispensation as will stand the searchlight of the
Judgment Seat of Christ? There is a Deborah
in the Old Testament: there is no Deborah in the New. No female pastor, apostle, ruler, or
evangelist, - no head or teacher in any
church except Jezebel (Rev. 2: 20) - is named throughout the New Testament.*
* Whoever believes sane, catholic-hearted Paul guilty of
sex-prejudice which he has embedded deeply in Holy Scripture, not only tramples
underfoot the doctrine of inspiration, but is spiritually incompetent to
comprehend the Apostle. In private, she may instruct the
other sex (Acts 18: 26).
Divine Authority
But God has not left us to human
reasoning, however loyal, or to human scholarship, however careful and
competent: it is most startling to observe that He has made obedience to this
rule one discriminating test, Himself assuming full and final responsibility
for the decree. For the Apostle,
foreseeing the strongest opposition, challenges the Church at
The Fall
It is vital for our beloved
sisters to realize that their
subordination is a part of our original creation and of the Fall: it is no question of ability, or
suitability of gifts - many women are spiritually and intellectually superior
to many men: she may publicly teach (her own sex) more than half of the human
race, and address ten thousand women in the Royal Albert Hall. It is part of the original design of God, and
also of the womans primacy in the Fall. I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have
dominion over a man, but to be in
quietness. FOR
ADAM WAS FIRST FORMED, THEN EVE; and Adam was not beguiled, but the
woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression (1 Tim. 2:
12). Nevertheless the woman is the glory of the man (1 Cor. 11: 7); and for all eternity a supreme glory rests
on womanhood - last at the Cross, and first at the Tomb.
- D. M.
PANTON
-------
(1) AMBITION GOOD OR
BAD?
Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not: (Jer. 45: 5).
If you read [Marks
gospel] carefully you will see that part of the
reason that the colleagues of James and John were incensed at the brothers
coveting the top positions [in Christs coming
Kingdom, (cf. Matt.
20: 21)] was that the other disciples
wanted those positions for themselves!
And Jesus did not dash their ambition.
He simply reminded them that EVERY
AMBITION HAS A PRICE, asking them, Are you able to
drink the cup of suffering I have to drink?
Ungoverned ambition, of course, has been the
source of boundless mischief. Much of
human history is stained with the sordid stories of men [and women] striving for power and sweeping
aside all considerations
in their rage for greatness and control.
- DAVID CLARKE
* *
*
(2) THE IDEAL OF
WOMANHOOD
A clear majority of all adult American women are
engulfed to-day in emotional difficulties.
They come to me complaining about their nerves,
and generally confide that they feel everlastingly ill at ease, empty, out of
step with the world, unhappy and neurotic.
And the more they are involved in careers, the more they are childless,
the more they are fashionably dressed and elaborately made up, the longer is
the list of their troubles.
A large proportion of the patients who consult me
about emotional disorders are feminine careerists, women who have invaded the big league of male competition and have held their
own successfully. Behind their chic
facades, they are usually a sorry sight a bundle of nerves, frustrations and
anxieties. If they have married at all,
typically they have at least one divorce behind them.
Then there are the women who have no careers
but wish they did. Apologetically they
explain to me that they are just housewives. They lament the boredom
and drudgery of their lives; they fiercely
resent the fact that they are women. To
occupy themselves, they gamble away their husbands money at bridge, fritter it
in aimless shopping, or listen hour after hour to silly soap operas.
To-day the typical home is becoming an empty
shell. People rarely stay home to have
their fun.
There are now a multitude of outside diversions: movies, dance halls,
taverns, night clubs, bowling alleys, golf courses. The home, an efficient yet dreary
hole-in-the-wall, has morning and evening rush hours, but during most of the
day it is either vacant or practically so.
There is one type of woman rarely seen in the
psychiatrists office. This is the woman she is glad she is a woman. Although now a minority in our female population,
she honestly enjoys home-making, and
more than anything in the world wants to raise a family of healthy, normal
youngsters. During 20 years of
listening to distressed patients, I have never met her in my office because
she doesnt need help.
Acclaim goes to the woman who acquires two
college degrees, becomes a foreign correspondent, emerges from three marriages
as from train wrecks, brings one neurotic brat into the world, and sounds off
regularly on current affairs, just like a man.
Despise such propaganda, the fact is that a woman who succeeds in rearing several normal,
well-adjusted youngsters to maturity is actually accomplishing a feat of much
greater difficulty, intricacy and importance than most men accomplish in their
lifetimes. No one thinks to give such a
woman credit if one son becomes a judge, another a great engineer, a third a
scientist. Yet certainly such an
achievement requires vastly more skill and ingenuity than being a high-powered
female sales-executive.
It is time
that we recognize motherhood as our most vital and one of our most
highly skilled professions, and exalt it as such.
- MYRNIA
F. FARNHAM, M.D.
* *
*
6
GLORY OR SHAME*
* The book from which these extracts are taken is a remarkable proof
that sections of the
SHARING
OR FORFEITING CHRISTS GLORIOUS REIGN.* By W. F. Roadhouse.
[* Does anyone have this book; and are they willing to let me
borrow it for others to read on the website?]
-------
The Bema has been said, for a
generation or longer, to be but for the adjudication of Rewards. The usage cited, out of the eleven times the
word is employed, indicates otherwise and for us, New Testament usage
determines its meaning. For example, Pilate sat on the Bema - did he reward Christ, or condemn him? (Matt. 27:19; John 19: 13). Herod
sat upon a Bema, trying both criminals and good men (Acts 12: 21). Gallio heard accusations against the Apostle Paul (Acts 18: 12, 16, 17, used twice). Festus sat
on the Bema which Paul said was also Caesars
Bema (Acts 25: 4-19, used
twice). This Bema (translated judgment seat) is to dispense not only happy rewardings
but also the opposite. The word
itself means - a step, or foot-room; then a platform, or raised place; then it
became the word for tribune, or place where judgment
was administered. It is used but twice
in its ordinary, secular way (as in Acts 7: 5), not so much as to set his foot on. Thus we have what the New Testament itself
yields and settles for us its meaning. By this we stand.
Paul is stretching forward to what (Phil. 3: 11)?
IF BY ANY MEANS he may attain
unto the out-resurrection (exanastasis,
Gr., found only here in the New Testament) from the
dead. This expression, if by any means (ei pos, Gr.) is used five times in the New Testament, always with the possibility
of failure in it and once positive failure (Pauls shipwreck). Just this uncertainty is what the expression
means. And assuredly his figure, that
follows this, clearly indicates the same, namely, Stretching forward (the intense Greek runner) to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal
unto THE PRIZE of the upward calling
of God in Christ Jesus. This
is precisely his picture in 1 Cor.
9: 24-27 where Paul says, Know ye not that they which run in a race run ALL, but ONE receiveth the prize.
This is the prize of the crown, which too many, altogether too many, will
not receive! IF BY ANY MEANS is absolute
uncertainty. And the winner
of the prize
must be ever on the stretch like the self-disciplined athlete of both ancient and modern times. Ever seeking to lay
hold of that for which he had
been laid
hold of by
Christ Jesus. There is no other
life than this glorious intense one, if we would share in this PRIZE OF THE UPWARD CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS. There
will be non-successful runners aplenty.
One receiveth the prize. Even so run that ye may obtain. The
Lord help us all!
Hear the Divine pronouncement - 1 Cor. 6: 9, 10, the unjust, of God the
Christ refers to what the Lord
bestows upon His servants of these
days. He gave
ten pounds to each of ten servants to
trade with. Returning from the far
country, having received the kingdom, he now
requires an accounting of their stewardship.
One had gained by trading double
his bestowment; another had secured half that increase. To both he gave his commendation, Well done! But the third had merely hid
his entrusted gift, leaving it idle (even chiding his lord for hardness); him
the master (note it well) strips of
all ministry, designating him a wicked servant. He got no share, in what is assumed here, in his coming kingdom-rule. The others are rewarded by authority over
ten, or five cities. Note that they were
ALL bondslaves (doulos, Gr.) bought and owned by their master
- the third class here, the citizens,
outsiders, were not his stewards, and were slain because they refused his right
to reign over them. How perfectly all this fits
into the whole plan of Divinely-bestowed stewardship. This ever-recurring
going to Rome to be invested there with the Imperial authority to rule a Roman
province with its vivid incidents so familiar to the Palestinians, Jesus used
to picture His disciples ministering for Him in His absence until His
crowning day had come, and then the time of bestowal of rulership - rewards in His
glorious [millennial]
reign. Hence the
necessary adjudication at His Bema (as that of the Roman governors) of the
awards for days ahead. We shall be excluded from all reigning with
Him because we left our gift only
unused! Behold I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that
no man take thy crown (Rev. 3: 11).
In Matt. 25: 1-13 the Lord teaches again the
possibility of failure to those who, professing to watch, carelessly get into an unprepared
condition. Purity of life virgins and the Spirits fullness the oil - are the essentials for preparedness here. Let those deny who will what a simple
concordance study will show any seeker (Lev.
8: 10-12; 21: 12; 1 Sam. 10: 1, 6; Rev. 14: 1-5), that the oil is ever emblematic of the Holy Ghost - both of these groups of
five had [at one time or another] the lamps and the oil. ALL
were virgins, ALL had oil. ALL
waited to go forth to meet the Bridegroom. The wise while
waiting professedly, slumbered and slept, but
were safeguarded by the oil in
their lamps - the foolish were
not ready, for they cry, Our lamps are going out! Not that they were never lit. They were alight before. Manifestly their testimony had ebbed until it
faded out - and now the Bridegroom was at hand!
With going out lamps it was too late to be ready and none was there to help. How true to experience - from the first days
of this century many are to-day sadly failing; once full of joy of the [Holy] Spirits
fullness they are to-day outwardly dead and fruitless. They could truly say Our lamps are going out! We believe many prophecy
students have lapsed in holy living, in sacrifice, in giving, in prayer
life, and what not. And they will be amongst those for whom the door was shut. For when the Bridegroom came
... they
that were ready went in with
Him to the wedding feast.
And the foolish shouted, Lord,
Lord open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know (oida,
Gr.) you not. This last phrase presents no difficulty, for
this is not [eternal]
salvation truth, but refers strictly to
the subject of SHARING IN THE [MILLENNIAL]
KINGDOM
JOYS. It is absolutely different from the case of
the false teachers of Matt. 7: 21-23 - deluded ones to whom Jesus says, I never knew (egnon, Gr.) you: depart from Me, ye workers of
lawlessness. In Matt. 25: 1 the virgins are
prospective, potential members of the reigning personnel of the
kingdom-reign. No
error nor departure from Gods truth is in sight - they fail because of unguarded and ill-prepared watchfulness, and thus
are the sorrowful subjects of an exclusion judgment when the Lord returns. Watch
therefore, Christ concludes. And
He never says this to the unsaved world - why
should He?
Far too greatly have we been
taught that if but once in grace without
further obedience, or loyalty, or keen following of the way of the cross, entitles us to literally
everything that God has for His people.
It is our conviction that so has
this been stressed that it lies at the back of the backslidden, dry rot condition of the church - even within
the ranks of much-professing Fundamentalism to-day. Potentially, of course, literally all is ours
- it is not actually, possessively so, until by
faith and deep renunciation we begin to
possess our [millennial] inheritance.
No longer any folding of hands, no longer any
easy-living, fully-indulging our pampered selves - but living after the pattern of the devoted followers of Christ in
other days. No other kind or
degree of Christian life will see us through to Gods highest and best.
NOW
UNTO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO KEEP US FROM FALLING, AND TO PRESENT US FAULTLESS BEFORE THE PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY WITH EXCEEDING
JOY; TO THE ONLY WISE GOD OUR SAVIOUR, BE GLORY AND MAJESTY, DOMINION AND
POWER, BOTH NOW AND EVER AMEN!
A. T. Pierson, D.D. The greatest of
all the revelations about the future conditions of the saints is, that they are
to be identified with Jesus Christ in His reign - that is, those who
overcome. Not all saints are to be
elevated to this position; this is for victorious
saints.
Dr. J. Hudson Taylor
of China, the outstanding missionary, said:- We wish
to place on record our solemn conviction that not all who are Christians, or think themselves such, will attain to
that resurrection of which St. Paul speaks in Philippians 3: 11, or will thus meet the Lord in the air. Unto those who by lives of consecration
manifest that they are not of the world, but are looking for Him, He will appear without sin unto salvation. - From
R. Govett, M.A. It is a matter of sad observation that every species and degree of crime is committed, and has been committed,
by believers after their conversion: so that there may be positive and entire forfeiture of the kingdom, and only
the lowest position in Eternal Life after it. The native magnitude of this truth must
speedily redeem it from all obscurity.
Those who have the single eye will perceive its amplitude of evidence,
and embrace it, in spite of the solemn awe of God which it produces, and the
depth of our own personal responsibility which it discloses. Many such testimonies can be adduced from
those who have not been regarded as teachers of the foregoing message. - W.F.R.
- W. F. ROADHOUSE
-------
OBEY:
OBEY: OBEY. John 14: 21.
The Scripture sets before you a
most difficult standard: the Church expects that you will fulfil it. The higher our ideal, the more men will flog
us with it if we fail: yet life gone is gone forever, and any ideal short of
the highest is folly. God
is able to produce in us that which He commands. 2 Cor. 9: 8. Our Lord has told us the secret. Luke 11: 9.
Make it a life-aim to sell your life as dearly as possible against the
Foe. Seek His approval whose praise
outweighs a thousand worlds.
Let no man think that sudden in
a minute
All is accomplished and the work
is done;
Though with thine earliest dawn
thou shouldest begin it
Scarce were it ended with thy
setting sun.
- D. M. PANTON
* * *
7
OUR WILL AND GODS
Our Lord uncovers a fact of
enormous importance to us all. If any man willeth to do his [Gods] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be
of God (John 7: 17, R.V.): that is, our will to do
Gods will uncovers for us all revelation.
Many years ago the writer was deeply impressed by a young mans remark.
The real question is not, Is
the Bible true? but, Do we wish the Bible to be true?
Long decades of experience deeply confirm the fact that, in all
controversy, in all the world-wide differences on doctrine and belief, the
battle - to be paradoxical - is lost or won before it is fought. Is
the Scripture final to us - final in the sense that the moment we know it, we will do it? Three-fourths of our controversies and
divisions would be annihilated if we could all answer that question with
truthfulness and with perfect sincerity.
The soil on which the Word falls alone determines the harvest. Some seed fell on
the rock; and it withered
away (Luke 8: 6). Our attitude to the Word of God, before
we understand it, makes us know it is Divine when we see it.
Willing to Do
Now see the momentous principle
our Lord has laid down once for all. The
statement He makes is this:- If any
man - for it is a universal law, and it covers the whole human
race - WILLETH
- it is not the future tense of to do, but a
separate verb and the word on which the stress is laid: if any man resolves, makes up his mind, is set on it
to do His will - to Christs hearers, that would mean the
Old Testament, together with all that they knew to be right by conscience and
experience he shall - it is
a rule which never fails know - knowledge, not opinion; certitude, not
conjecture; fact, not fancy whether it be of
God - whether the whole Christian Faith is an embodied revelation
let down out of Heaven or whether I speak from
myself - that Christianity, therefore, is the invention of a peasant
Jew, of genius, but unauthorized by God.
Jesus says that there is one infallible rule, of universal application,
by which a man himself, through the action of his own will, decides whether he
will know saving truth, when he sees it, or not - that is, whether he will be
saved. And so of all
truth. Observe carefully, it is
not that he wills to admire the will of God, but wills to do it. Renan, one of the greatest
infidels of all time, said:- The
hero of Nazareth is without an equal; his glory remains perfect and will be
renewed for ever: yet he wrote a Life of Jesus of which Philip Schaff says,- We can hardly
trust our eyes when we see Renan digging from the
grave of disgrace and contempt the exploded hypothesis of vulgar imposture. Alive and alert, our ideal is to be that we
are eager to do Gods will the moment we know it.
Commentators
Commentators have clearly seen
the truth. As
it now stands in the English Version, says Bishop Alford, and he stresses it by placing his whole sentence in
italics, a wrong idea is conveyed: that the bare
performance of Gods outward commands will give a man sufficient guidance in
Christian doctrine; whereas what our Lord asserts is that if a man be really
anxious to do the will of God, the singleness of purpose and subjection to the
will of God will lead him to a just discrimination of the divine teaching.
The text explains, says Bishop Wilberforce, why so many miss God,
not from lack of any mere powers of intellect, nor from mental perplexities,
not from obscurity of texts or Bible difficulties, but from alienation of the
soul. These words promise the great
benediction to him who wills to do the Fathers will; to him who, in the midst of failures and discouragements, still holds
on [to
the divine truths God has shown him] because his will is set. Christ, says Dr. E. Mellor, contemplates the man to
whom all light is welcome from any quarter.
It may disturb old convictions,
alter the proportions and relations of truths, but to know the will of God
is worth it all. It is the heart, as Robert Govett says, that has most to
do with a mans religious views.
Or in the words of John Wesley:- I am sick of opinions. Give me a humble, gentle, lover of God and
man, a man full of mercy and good fruits; without partiality or hypocrisy. Let my soul be with such Christians,
wheresoever they are and whatsoever opinion they are of. Whosoever doeth the will of my Father, the
same is my brother.
Scientists
But it is exceedingly remarkable
that both ancient thinkers and modern men of science have had more than a
glimmering of this truth. Aristotle said:-
Things we learn to know, we learn by the doing of them. Sophocles,
the Greek poet, says:-
A heart of mildness, full of good intent,
Far sooner than acuteness will the truth behold.
Coming to the middle ages, Pascal says:-
The perception of truth is a moral act; and Fichte, - If the will be steadfastly and sincerely fixed on what is good, the understanding will of itself
discover what is true. But the
most remarkable corroborations come from Nineteenth Century men of
science. Prof. Tyndall says of all inductive inquiry:-
The first condition of success is an honest receptivity, and a willingness to
abandon all preconceived notions, however cherished, if they be found to
contradict the truth. Believe me, a
self-renunciation which has something noble in it, and of which the world never
hears, is often enacted in the private experience of the true votary of science. Still more remarkable is Professor Thomas Huxleys statement of the principle:- The great deeds of the
philosophers have been less the fruit of their intellect than of the direction
of that intellect by an eminently religious tone of mind. Truth has yielded
itself rather to their patience, and their self-denial, than to their logical
acumen.
Experience
Now we further find, as a
curiously convincing fact, that all experience reinforces our Lords
statement. There are different kinds of
truth, and we reach these different truths differently. Some truths are purely intellectual, like
mathematics, and we reach them through intellectual reasoning; some are
aesthetic, like music or painting, and we reach these through cultivated senses
- all that is needed is a naturally gifted ear or eye, sufficiently trained;
but other truths - and these include God's
will named by our Lord - are moral, and we reach them only through
a moral wish to understand them. Science
can never disprove the Decalogue: they move in different spheres. If a man pronounces the Decalogue evil, or
the Sermon on the Mount immoral, it is proof positive that he is immoral
himself. Thus, experience reinforces our
Lords statement. Good people uniformly
believe the truth: wicked people uniformly disbelieve or neglect or hate
it. It is a knowledge which is
certainty. When Sir Michael Faraday was dying, he was asked by a visiting
journalist to voice his speculation as death approached. Speculations!
said Faraday in astonishment; I know nothing of
speculations. I am resting in
certainties. He then quoted:- I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep
that which I have committed unto Him against that day (2 Tim. 1: 12).
The Jews
Now we apply this truth to our
Lord's hearers. Why did they not believe Him? They believed Moses miracles, though they
had never seen one of them; they believed very doubtful things, such as things
not even probable - such as wild Rabbinical fables: yet Christ they believed not. Why?
It was no lack of evidence - our Lords miracles, wrought before their
eyes, have had no parallel in the history of the world; it was no obscurity of
Scriptures that spoke of Him - the Old Testament prophecies and the facts
fitted exactly; it was no lack of intellectual ability - the Jew has, and had,
one of the keenest intellects in the world.
It was what He taught. Men question the truth because they hate
its practise. Their attitude is
expressed by Giovanni Papini, who said:- He who has
read the Sermon on the Mount without once experiencing a throb of grateful
tenderness, a tightening in his throat, an impulse of love and remorse, a vague
but pressing need to do his part that these words may not remain mere words,
but become an immediate hope, a source
of vitality to all the living, is more deserving of our loving pity than
anyone else, for not all the love of mankind can suffice to compensate him for
what he has lost.
Salvation
Now we see the extraordinary simplicity
with which our Lord thus invests salvation. It is not, If
any will do Gods will - a
vast obedience before saving knowledge can ever come; but, If any man wills to do - simply longs to know
the truth in order to live it he shall
know - in a flash, as he sits whether
it be of God: he will see God, instantly, in the Gospel. The simplest, the youngest, the most
ignorant, the most wicked, willing, will know. Just WILL and saving truth floods the soul. It is true of all truths, and of all stages of truth - therefore it is for us
Christians too. The cured blind man
exactly expresses it. Jesus said to him,
Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who
is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?
Jesus said unto him, He it is
that speaketh with thee. And he said,
Lord, I believe (John 9: 35).
He had but to know Gods incarnate will to accept it instantly.
- D. M. PANTON
-------
READ:
THINK: PRAY.
Sow an act, and reap ma habit;
sow a habit, and reap a character; sow a character, and reap a destiny:
therefore read hard, think hard, pray hard.
Habit is tyrannous: make it tyrannous for good. Give heed to
reading, to exhortation, to teaching. Be
diligent in these things, give thyself wholly to them; that thy
progress may be manifest unto all (1 Tim.
4: 13, 15). Phil. 4: 8. Read
much in Christian literature, but live within the covers of the Book. Jas. 1: 15.
Read, that you may know the mind of God; think,
that you may assimilate it; pray, that you may fulfil it. 2 Tim. 2: 15; 3: 14-17. No backslider can ever be created except
outside the prayer meeting. Heb. 10: 25,
26. Never plant your foot down without
having a Scripture under it.
- D. M. PANTON
* * *
8
THE TEN VIRGINS
CALL TO
CONSECRATION
Few of
the Parables have aroused such interest as this (Matt.
25:1). Over none has there
been more divergence of opinion. This
expositor advances one interpretation; that, another. Often the interpretations are mutually
contradictory.
Forgetting for the moment the
innumerable tracts, pamphlets, dissertations, and sermons on the subject, let us adopt the attitude of a child
which opens its lesson book and ponders some simple yet vivid allegory for the
first time; depending on the context for conclusions and unembarrassed by
theological subtleties and niceties.
If, in biblical symbology, ten is, in fact, the number of testing, and five
the number of grace, the ten virgins seem to figure the church of the end. The kingdom of heaven is likened, not to five
virgins, but to ten. Ten was sufficient
for a company. Ten Jews were entitled to
a synagogue.
Thus the ten virgins represent
the visible church at the moment of the Second Coming. Nay, more: they typify the actual church
militant; the genuine, not the sham believers.
Yet, though all were entitled to the robe of virginity; though all went
forth to meet the bridegroom; though all were differentiated from the
surrounding neighbours who had little or no interest in the approaching
wedding, nevertheless their degree of preparedness was not uniformly the
same. Five were wise and five were
foolish.
The wisdom of the wise consisted
in providing sufficiency of oil the folly of the foolish, in not providing
enough.
An oriental wedding commonly
takes place at night. In the present
instance, the ten virgins were to join the bridal procession en route to the
bridegrooms house, the future home of the bride. There, they were to share the
festivities. The party, however, was
long in coming; the hours dragged by; the night wore on. The virgins first nodded, then slumbered,
then slept. Meanwhile, the lamps, the
wicks becoming charred, began to burn low.
Though their preparation was
complete, even the wise virgins lost somewhat of, should we say, the excitement
over the interesting scene in which they were shortly to be participants. But, at midnight, when least expected, when
all were sunk in deep sleep, the cry rings out Behold,
the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!
And now it is that the scene
assumes a solemn and dramatic aspect; but nothing to the anti-type. A few moments suffices the wise to replenish
their lamps and clean the wicks. The
foolish, on the other hand, find that the oil which lasted during the hours of
waiting is not enough for the crowning ceremony. They trim their lamps and find them dying.
Nor can their wiser sisters help
them. The oil is incommunicable. It is no more available at the crucial moment
than intercessions of saints, mothers prayers, and so-called works of
supererogation will be at the Day of the Lord and the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb.
Furthermore, their own prayer
for admission; was unavailable the failure was irretrievable; the door was
shut.
Late,
late, so late; and dark the night and chill!
Late,
late, so late but we can enter still!
Too
late, too late ye cannot enter now!
When studying parables, we have to
distinguish between the essential part and the trappings. The tarrying is an essential part. It was a hint of long delay. So were touches here and there elsewhere,
scattered through the New Testament.
Such were My lord delayeth his coming;
After a long time the lord of those servants cometh; and so
forth. The early Church was organized on
a permanent basis. Yet the possibility of an immediate coming was never
overlooked.
How are we to interpret the
midnight cry? Does it foreshadow that
mighty, world-wide preaching of the Second Coming which has gathered in
millions of souls during the past hundred years? One believes it does; but the point cannot be
laboured, inasmuch as the said converts were allowed ample opportunity for
salvation and sanctification.
That the oil typifies the Holy
Spirit, with His gifts and graces, and, in particular, love to the Lord, all
enlightened exegetes are agreed. This,
in fact, is the crux of the parable.
Are we, then, to write down the
five foolish virgins as lost?
Here we have deep divergence of
opinion, with sometimes, alas, acrimony more fitted to a Council of Trent than
assemblies of modern believers. Rightly
or wrongly, one sees two classes, and, by implication, a third: the
consecrated; the unsanctified; and the unsaved.
It is primarily a question of attitude.
I anticipate an abundant salvation for the first class, a lesser
blessedness for the second, and total rejection for the third.
This interpretation seems to harmonize
with other outstanding prophecies.
Though a member of the household, the unfaithful minister who ate and drank with the drunken was to
be assigned his portion with the unbelievers - the
outsiders, at the Great Tribulation.
Equally significant are the
apocalyptic groups.
Most suggestive of all, however,
is the First Resurrection. Only the
blessed and holy have part therein. The attempt to divide
mankind into definitely good and bad breaks down; for, between blessed and holy
and cursed and unholy, rank intermediate grades. One is forced to the conclusion that only the
consecrated will be taken at the Rapture of the Saints. Nevertheless, seeing that divine mercy is
still operant on a great scale, many who are left behind may stand with the
Tribulation martyrs on the sea of glass and win the crown of life.
Too much stress should not be
laid on the words I know you not or,
rather, they should be interpreted discreetly.
There are many senses in which Christ knows mankind. Citing Augustine,
Trench takes the knowing here as a
mutual, a reciprocal knowledge. He
deduces from the Parable that the preparation for eternity is the work not of a
moment or an hour but a lifetime. The
lesson our Lord inculcates is: Watch, therefore,
for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Whatever our school of thought,
how incumbent is it on each of us not to have counted himself to have
apprehended, but to strive earnestly if haply we may through grace be reckoned
worthy to attain that resurrection from among the dead, and to
enter in with the Lord at his coming!
- H. S. GALLIMORE, M.A.*
* Chaplain, Chinese
-------
DIVINE
FILLING
Take us
Lord, oh, take us truly,
Mind and
soul, and heart and will!
Empty us and cleanse us thoroughly,
Then with all Thy fullness fill.
Lord, we
ask it, hardly knowing
What
this wondrous gift may be;
Yet fulfil to overflowing
Thy great meaning, let us see.
Make in us Thy royal palace
Vessels worthy of the King;
From Thy
fullness fill our chalice
From Thy
never-failing spring.
Father,
by this blessed filling,
Dwell Thyself in us, we pray!
We are waiting, Thou art willing!
Fill us with Thyself to-day!
- FRANCIS RIDLEY HAVERGAL.
* *
*
9
THE VISIBLE RETURN OF CHRIST
GODS
ANSWER TO INFIDELITY AND ERROR
The return of our Lord Jesus in
glory will be Gods answer to infidelity.
The promises regarding that return that are found in the Bible, both the
Old Testament and the New, are very plain; and they are also, humanly speaking,
very improbable and apparently impossible of fulfilment; and, when they are
fulfilled, they will constitute an unanswerable proof of the Divine origin of
that Book that contains these promises and prophecies. The promises and prophecies regarding the
first coming of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, the place of His birth, the
time of His manifestation to His people, the manner of His reception by His
people, His death and burial, and the detailed circumstances connected with it,
His resurrection from the dead, and His victory subsequent to His resurrection,
seemed most improbable when made; but
these predictions have been fulfilled to the very letter, and by their
fulfilment in Jesus of Nazareth we have conclusive proof of two things: first,
that Jesus is the predicted Messiah of the Jews, and second, that the Old
Testament is the Word of God.
But the Old Testament contains
far more detailed and explicit predictions regarding the second coming of
Christ than it contains concerning His first coming, and in addition to these
Old Testament predictions we have in the gospels and in the epistles and the
book of Revelation in the New Testament still more detailed predictions
regarding the same event.
And when these numerous predictions are fulfilled to the letter, the
prediction for example regarding His descent from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel and the trump of God, the rapture and all the events
predicted as to follow the rapture, the manifestation of the Antichrist, the
time of Jacobs trouble and the coming of the glorified Christ visibly and
bodily to the deliverance of His people, and His blessed and glorious reign,
then every infidel mouth will be stopped and every knee shall be forced to bow
and every tongue has to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God
the Father (Phil. 2: 10, 11). There will be no possibility in
that day of denying the Divine origin of these predictions and the supernatural
inspiration of the Book which contains them.
The second coming of Christ, the visible and glorious return of Christ,
will be Gods final answer to the destructive criticism. One of the fundamental postulates of the
destructive criticism, and of pretty much all that in our day is called Higher Criticism,
is that there can be no such thing as minute and detailed and supernaturally
inspired, predictive prophecy. So,
whenever any minute and detailed prophecy is found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
or Daniel, or any other Old Testament prophet, the destructive critics take
that at once as conclusive proof that these passages could not have been
written by the person whose name it has borne for so many centuries, but that
it must belong to a later period.
This fundamental postulate of
the destructive criticism has already been proven untrue time and time again by
the many minute and exact literal fulfilments of prophecy that have already
taken place: for example, by the prediction in Micah 5: 2
regarding the place of the birth of the Messiah; the prediction in Daniel 9: 25-27 regarding the time of the Messiah and His cutting off, i.e., His death; the many predictions
concerning the manner of His reception by His people, the manner and details of
His death, burial, and resurrection contained in Isa. 53, for we may bring these
predictions down to the latest date that the most daring destructive critic
ever thought of assigning them to, and still they will be centuries before
their minute, detailed and literal fulfilment in Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore the fact that there are many
minute, detailed and specific predictions regarding the Jews in the Scriptures
of the Old Testament and the New which are being fulfilled before our very eyes
to-day.
But when the Lord Jesus comes
again and the many and detailed predictions connected with His second coming
are fulfilled to the letter before the very eyes of men in a way that cannot be
misunderstood or mistaken, then the utter folly of the fundamental postulate of
the destructive criticism will be seen by all. So the second coming of Christ, His visible return in glory, with all the
events connected with it will be Gods final and crushing answer to destructive
criticism in all its forms.
Lastly, the second coming of
Christ will be Gods final answer to all would-be world conquerors and world
rulers. His coming will be the solution
of all the worlds problems and the cure for all the ills of human society. He alone can bring [lasting] peace, and
He will. If I did not know that
Christ were coming again, I would necessarily be
plunged into the depths of a hopeless pessimism and despair. War will continue, more frightful wars even
than this, until He comes; but His coming, the Prince of Peace, will end it
all. Boastful man tells us how he will
bring all evil to an end by his evolutionary progress and the growth of
knowledge. When He comes war will end,
except for that brief space at the end of the Millennium when Satan shall be
loosed for a little season that he may meet his overwhelming and final
defeat. Then war ends, tyranny will end,
unbelief will end, every evil will end, and The
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea
(Isa. 11: 19).* Then, and not till then. Even so come, Lord Jesus; come quickly.
[* NOTE. This
unfulfilled prophecy refers to this earth and not to the New Earth, where we read: And
there was no longer any sea (Rev.
21: 1, NIV).]
- Dr. R. A. TORREY
-------
CHRISTIAN
LOOK UP
Christian,
look up! The dawn will soon be breaking
The
glorious dawn of which Gods Word doth tell,
Though
wars increase, and all the earth is shaking,
Fear
not! Look up! Await Immanuel!
Soon
thou wilt see the Lord of Glory
Oh, what
a sunrise will His advent be!
Till then, proclaim the precious Gospel story
Redemption
through the Lamb of
Christian,
look up! Soon will be past forever
The
pilgrim journey through this vale of tears.
A Home
awaits thee built by Christ, the Saviour;*
No night
is there, no pain, no death, no fears.
With
loved ones thou again will be united;
No more
to say Goodbye, no more to part.
The
flowers of
Og blessed
hope! Christian, look up! Take heart!
[*John 14: 2, 3.]
Christian,
look up! When draws that glorious
morrow,
Thy
every burden thou wilt soon forget.
Now,
with Christs Gospel, comfort those in sorrow;
So many
eyes to-day with tears are wet!
The way
is dark, but Christ, the Light Supernal
Will
bide with thee till thy last pilgrim mile;
Soon
thou wilt sup with Him, the King Eternal!
Oh,
blessed hope! Christian, look up and
smile.
-
ANNA
HOPPE
* * *
10
THE
GREAT ESCAPE
In 1888 the
writer watched, in St. Pauls Cathedral, a white-robed conference of all the
Anglican Bishops of the world; and was deeply impressed by the closing words of
Dr. Thomson, Archbishop of York:- The Church of God, with lifted face and caught-up robe, should
stand on the tip-toe of expectation, as she watches for her returning Lord. Today, as we stand before world-shaking
events, never was it more necessary than now to watch for the most stupendous
event of all like unto men looking for their Lord
(Luke 12: 36).
Suddenness
For the suddenness of what is
coming is signally shown in Elijah.
Elijah and Elisha still went on, and talked,
and behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses
of fire, and parted them asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven
(2 Kings 2: 11). Here was a tremendous suddenness that is
coming again. Two of us may be talking
together, when suddenly one is gone, and the talk is never finished. Then
shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left: two women shall
be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left: watch therefore
(Matt. 24: 40) - for we
never know which one will be taken.
Reward
The only other Old Testament
rapture reveals the ground on which alone rapture occurs. The removal of Enoch from the earth depended
on his walk with God: God translated him, for - that is, the reason for which
translation occurred before his translation he hath had
witness borne to him that he had been well-pleasing unto God (Heb. 11: 5). It is extraordinarily significant that one of
the only two raptures recorded in the Old Testament is stated to be a reward,
not a gift of grace.*
* In the words of Dr. E.
C. Craven, editor of Langes Apocalypse:-
There is a growing conviction in my mind that the Firstfruits do not include all true
Christians, but consists of a select portion of these - the specially faithful.
The Tribulation
Now we face a momentous
utterance on rapture. Watch ye and pray always that ye be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand - be
set, that is, by rapture [see Greek] before
the Son of man (Luke 21: 36). The first point to discover is what are the
things we do well to escape? Our Lord
says He has just stated them:- to escape all these things. He had spoken of the crowding miracles of the
last days: great signs from heaven (v.
11); signs in sun and moon and stars (v. 25); the powers of the heaven
shaken (v. 26); and,
immediately following these, the Son of man coming in great power and
glory. Beyond all question, it is the
Great Tribulation which is the momentous event to be escaped.
A Day of Horror
But miracle, by itself, is not
alone the terrible feature of these days rather, the awful and universal
suffering; for these, our Lord says, are the
days of vengeance (v. 22), when
Gods servants shall be hated of all men (v.
17), when there shall be distress
of nations (v. 25), and
mens hearts fainting for fear. The
foundations of society broken up; the salt of the earth gone; spiritual
temptations of a power such as the world has never known; judgments broadcast
in war, plague, pestilence, and famine; and the horror of a world at open war
with God. Evil
shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up
from the uttermost parts of the earth (Jer. 25: 32).
Escape
The second definite fact is a
golden one - that there is a possibility of escape. Pray
always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things; the Revised Version is, - that ye may prevail to escape. To escape an evil means a grave danger of
failing into it. Since the vengeance is to
be universal it shall come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth - the
escape can only be out of the earth into the heavens; for, also, it is to be to stand before the Son of man, who
has just been named as in a cloud with power
and great glory. If either current view
be accepted - that all the Church must pass through the Tribulation, or all the
Church will never enter the Tribulation at all - then, in either case, we need not watch or pray to escape, for escape is
either impossible or else it is certain.
To whom was our Lord giving this command? To believers only ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake (v. 17). In the words of Matthew Henry:- Those that would escape
the wrath to come must make watchfulness and prayer the constant business of
their lives; and those shall be accounted worthy to live a life of praise in
the other world that live a life of prayer in this.
Accounted Worthy
So we reach the moral crisis of the
problem: the escape is revealed, not as a privilege attaching to simple, saving
faith, but as a priceless privilege
strictly conditioned by our conduct.
Watch ye and
pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape. So a
tremendous truth springs out of the words.
No one can escape the coming terrors on the mere ground that he is a
child of God, but solely on the ground that he is a watchful and prayerful
servant of God, who has attained that
standard of worthiness which is known only to God Himself: and the
worthiness can spring only out of constant watchfulness - squaring our life to the Judgment Seat of Christ;
and unceasing prayer watch and pray always. There is no truth of more intense urgency to
every child of God.
Confirming Scriptures
Four other Scriptures put the
Churchs share in this passage beyond all possible doubt. (1) To the Philadelphian Angel, the head of a
church recognised as such by Christ Himself, our Lord says:-
Because thou didst keep the word of my patience - that
is solely on the ground of righteous conduct I
also - I correspondingly will
keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the
whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev. 3: 10) - manifestly the Great Tribulation. (2) To the Angel in
* The theory that the whole harvest is gathered at once has
already been made impossible by one historical fact. Many bodies of the saints
that had fallen asleep were raised (Matt.
27: 52), and surely they have not died again. A rapture has
already taken place of specially consecrated saints. That the whole harvest is reaped before our
Lord is seen by all eyes descending is obvious.
The final clearing of saints from the earth Christ
Himself states. And then after that
tribulation (ver. 24) shall he send
forth the angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from
the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven (Mark 13: 27).
This cannot be a restoration of Jews to
The Consequent Urge
It is most profitable to
remember the immense urge to holiness which this truth compels. When a man confronts coming facts, not words,
his whole being is moved to its foundations, and he will square his life to the
facts. For watch is one of the great comprehensive words of
the Bible. Watch oneself; watch the
advance of world-crisis; watch for the highest interests of Christ; watch for
dying souls; watch for flying opportunities; watch Satan; and, above all, watch
God. Our whole faculties are to be alive
and alert in every quarter: watch always. But
there is something higher still. God
does not only want our powers: He wants us.
Watchfulness is my invoking all my powers for God: prayer is my invoking
all Gods powers for me. It is the
exquisite charm of prayer that it is never out of reach: never a moment need be
lived outside the presence of God: pray always. Live
with Him whom we are so soon to meet.
Watch
Finally, one joyous truth
over-rides it all. One is taken - one
alone, any one - therefore
anyone can prepare himself: we are in no way responsible for mass preparation, we can perfectly achieve our own. The
standard of worthiness has never been revealed: therefore we can never say, - I have reached it; and the sole way of reaching it is
to watch and pray until the last moment.
Therefore, in the words of our Lord, Let
your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and be ye yourselves like
unto men looking for their lord. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall FIND WATCHING (Luke 12: 35).
-------
CRUCIFIED
WITH CHRIST
Oh what happiness it is for a
soul to be subdued and subject! What
great riches it is to be poor! What a
mighty honour to be despised! What a
height it is to be beaten down! What a comfort
to be afflicted! What a credit of
knowledge it is to be reputed ignorant!
And, finally, what a happiness of happiness it is to be crucified with
Christ! Let others boast of their
riches, dignities, delights, and honours; but to us there is no higher honour
than to be denied, despised and crucified with Christ. But what a grief is this,
that scarce is there one soul which prizes spiritual pleasures, and is
willing to be denied for Christ, embracing His cross with love. Many are they who are called to perfection,
but few are they who arrive at it; because they are few who embrace the cross
with patience, peace, and resignation.
- MICHAEL DE MOLINOS.
* * *
11
THE TEN VIRGINS
The
virgin character is one of Gods symbols for the regenerate soul. I
espoused you, says Paul - you, all the Corinthian Christians to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11: 2). In
the TEN VIRGINS - virgins in Christs
sight, not merely virgins before the world (Stein) - this truth is strongly
reinforced by the figure of lit lamps. The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord (Prov. 20: 27): oil is the unfailing figure of
the Spirit of God: so all ten virgins are souls burning with the flame of
spiritual life; lamps actually kindled; Gods lights in the world; like John, a burning and a shining lamp (John 5: 35).
Moreover, all are Bridesmaids, and so already clothed, as invited
guests, with the wedding garment - the imputed righteousness of Christ: the
parable belongs to bridesmaids alone. All
Ten - with torches in hand - thought that the Advent was immediately at hand,
and eagerly responded to its call.
But it is the responsibility side of the Virgin Character, as ten - so Ten
Commandments, Ten Plagues, Ten Talents, etc. - always indicates responsibility:
so the Ten Virgins are divided not into good and bad, much less into saved and
lost, but into wise -
prudent, far-seeing, rightly regardful of their own interests - and foolish - imprudent, improvident,
spiritually thriftless. The same reward is proposed and suggested to all, the
inaugural Banquet of the [Millennial] Kingdom.
The Distinction
So then we
find that the one quality which is emphasised, which severed the Virgins into
two groups, and which made the startling distinction of destiny, is
Readiness. The foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with
them: but the wise took oil in their vessels - the
cans or flasks they carried with the torches, for replenishing‑ - with their lamps. The wise and foolish virgins are identical in
nine points, they differ only in one.
All were virgins - regenerate; all ten lamps were lit by the indwelling
[Holy] Spirit;
all expected the Bridegroom - at the Second Advent; all go forth to meet Him -
outside the camp; all fall asleep - in death; all hear the midnight cry - the
Advent shout; all [hope to] rise together - in [the
first] resurrection; all trim their lamps -
anxious to appear shining before the Lord; and all appear, for separating
judgment, before the Bridegroom. The
solitary difference between them lies in the absence of a supply of additional
oil: it is not a difference
between those who have some oil and those who have no oil; but between those
who have some and those who have more. So far from the foolish being unlit lamps,
unregenerate souls, it is the very forefront of their offence that their
self-security rests on their being lit lamps they are confident that the flame of regeneration, the
indwelling of the [Holy]
Spirit is [was]*
amply sufficient preparation for the Advent.
The lamp, possessed by all, is an invitation to the Wedding Festival: the mistake the Foolish make is to regard
it as a passport. The prudent virgins, on the contrary -
corresponding to the faithful servants who trade with the talents - made ready,
consciously and deliberately, by an experience of sanctity unknown to the
foolish, and a sanctity achieved after the kindling of the torch.
[* See Acts 5: 32. cf.
John 15: 5, 10: and note the conditional
promises of our Lord. To assume
the Holy Spirit indwells disobedient believers is to bury ones head in the sand!
The Sleep
Now one great
event befalls all Ten Virgins. Now while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered - fell
sick and slept -
died. That the sleep is innocent is
obvious, because it befalls the wise equally with the foolish, and is nowhere
rebuked, and so nearly all the ancient interpreters expound it as death: had it
been spiritual sleep, the conferring on the wise virgins of supreme reward
would have been utterly impossible. It
is extraordinarily significant, and pregnant with warning, that all believers -
manifestly believers, with shining lamps - can fall asleep exactly alike,
indistinguishable, both supposing themselves perfectly prepared for the Advent;
yet half are ready for the Lord, and half are not - and nothing but the event will
reveal which is which. The very
delay is designed as the discriminating test: as years and decades pass we are proving ourselves wise or foolish. For here is the whole slumbering Church. The Ten asleep - divided into wise and
foolish - and the Two awake, - two are in the field,
one is taken, and one is left: watch therefore - one
rapt and the other un-rapt - make up the Twelve of the whole
The Waking
Now comes
the crash of Advent, with its earthquake-shock, bursting all locks and betraying
all secrets. But at midnight - midnight is the point of
junction between two separate days, a division of epochs there is a cry - apparently from the Lords
attendant angels - Behold the bridegroom!
Come ye forth to meet him. The virgins had come forth before, from the
world: now they come forth, from the tomb.
As all [accounted
worthy (Luke 20: 35)] arise at once, all are believers: for the rest of the dead lived
not until the thousand years
should be finished (Rev. 20: 5): it is an
axiom of Scripture that the wicked and
the holy do not rise together. All
the lamps had gone on burning through the night; all saving grace
survives death: but now the foolish discover their disastrous mistake. Our lamps, they cry, are going out (R.V.):
not gone out, for the virgins do not ask for kindling, but for oil. It is the same word as is used (1 Thess. 5: 19) for the
quenching of the [Holy] Spirit. They
had thought that they would shine before the Lord by regenerating grace alone:
now, shocked into wisdom, they are not called foolish after arising - too late:
not an hour, not a minute, remains for readiness. He is here. In that day no man can
protect us from the revelation of our own works; not because he will not, but
because he cannot. And they that were READY
went in with him - the Bridegroorn for the
marriage feast.
The Refusal
For now, though at last
appearing WITH the oil - therefore
now as fully equipped as the rest - they have lost the Banquet. Afterward
came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord - they
are hearts that feel acutely their separation from Christ open to us; for
nothing but the Lords own utterance will convince many believers of the truth of
exclusion, albeit even only exclusion, not from the [eternal] Kingdom, but merely from its inaugural
banquet. They hope to get as a favour
what they had forfeited as aright. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you
not. Our Lord is most
careful not to say what He said to empty professors,- I never knew you;
depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity
(Matt. 7: 23) : nor could He say it, for had He come earlier in
the first shining of their lamps, they were ready. He says, instead, I do not recognize you as guests, or, as we often put it, I cut
you; I know you not in the capacity for which I invited you: as you
have not paid due honour to either the Bride or the Bridegroom, I cannot rank
you with those who have.* They were Bridesmaids,
but they had fallen our of the procession.
As a young lady strikingly said some time back, when asked why she
passed a certain young man of her acquaintance without notice:-
I have unknown him.
* The words, I know you not, as spoken by
the bridegroom of the parable, signify in strictness, I have no personal
acquaintance with you.
(Govett).
Watchfulness
For, finally, we are left in no
manner of doubt by our Lord as to what the whole purpose of the parable is, its
overwhelming stress and strain. Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour: not,
wake to life by conversion; but, watch, as those already wide awake. All the Virgins begin prepared, but all do
not end prepared; and nothing is so deadly as the easy doctrine that all will somehow come
right, apart from urgent warning and constant watching. The sacred oil of sanctity can be got, for
keeping a blazing lamp and a radiant life: but
without constant watchfulness, prudent foresight, incessant guarding against
danger and surprise, it will become the dying throb of an exhausted motor. Every kind and
degree of Christian goodness is an energy of Christian
vigilance (Greswell).
Keep the oil-stores replenished: keep the soul brightly
burning: grace consumes itself in burning, but He
giveth more grace. The wisdom of the child of God consists in readiness; and readiness can only be maintained by constant grace.*
* That the Ten Virgins are the dead saints of nearly two thousand
years, and that half of them possess the extra oil, makes it impossible that
the extra oil is confined to the miraculous gifts; for all supernatural gifts
had vanished by the end of the second century.
The distinction between salvation and sanctification - all saved, for
all have lit lamps, but half losing sanctification, for their lamps are going
out - exactly fits the parable. The [foolish] five are
bridesmaids, but their backsliding has
lost them the marriage feast. In the words of Calvin:- This
exhortation is to confirm believers in perseverance. Christ says that believers need to have
incessant supplies of courage, to support the flame which is kindled in their
hearts; otherwise their zeal will fail ere they have completed the journey.
The Lamp
Now this Bridal Procession has
spoken life to dead souls. For what is
the vital point to the unsaved? Your lamp is unlit. You have oil neither in torch nor
flask. The
spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord; but a lamp is utterly useless
unlit. Painted fire needs no
oil. In the Canton de Vaud, in
- D. M. PANTON
-------
ETERNAL LIFE IS A FREE GIFT: OVERCOMERS WILL REIGN IN THE AGE TO
COME.
Eternal Life in a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21: 1, NIV), is the Free Gift
of God (Rom. 6: 23, RV) to all
regenerate believers; but to have a part in the First
Resurrection (Rev. 20: 6) and
Reigning with Christ on His Millennial Throne is only promised to, and attained
(i.e., gained by personal effort) by, OVERCOMERS. This God given honour is not a Free Gift, but a REWARD for whole-hearted devotion and
service to Christ: for the fine linen is the RIGHTEOUS ACTS OF THE SAINTS
(Rev. 19: 8, RV)/
I am sewing, sewing day by day
A dress in time I shall display;
I want to make it fit and fair,
This dress my soul will have to wear;
And every day and passing minute,
Im putting common stitches in it.
If the
reader desires to be a Caleb, he will
have to be prepared to stand alone amidst the very people of God. He will have to go further and deeper into
the subject than popular Periodicals and Preachers will take him. (D. M. Panton).
* * *
12
THE NATIONS AND THE JEW
[They are the tribes of sorrow and for ages
have been fed
On brackish desert-wells of hate
and exiles bitter bread.
They builded up fair cities with no threshold of their own,
They gave their sigh to
And they have not had tears enough, this people shrunk with
chains?
Must there be more Assyrias, must
there be other
- EDWIN
MARKHAM.
* The story of
In spite of the immense strength of the Church of Spain, in spite, too,
of the power of Rome, in our own day and almost before our eyes bishops,
priests, nuns, lay brothers, and laymen, too, have been tortured and murdered,
churches and monasteries pillaged and burnt, sacred things disgustingly profaned,
and other horrors committed, the full tale of which cannot yet be told.]
-------
Daniel saw a vision of the world
from the Jewish standpoint in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, the
last of the Babylonian kings. At this
time the Medo-Persian armies were near the gates of Babylon and the judgment of
which Daniel spoke was about to fall.
The Babylonians knew Daniels prediction and the nearness of their
enemy, but the warning was ignored.
Daniel knew that the first of the four great world empires was about to
fall but was anxious to learn more about the other empires which were so soon
to dominate the world in succession.
Daniel was transported in spirit to the
The first thing Daniel saw as he
looked to the river was a ram with two horns (Daniel
8: 2). The ram represented
the kingdoms of Media and
While Daniel is gazing at this
ram, he sees the he-goat coming from the west.
In a previous vision
* Alexander
is referred to in the Koran as The two-horned.
Out of one
of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great. Following these generals was a very wicked
man named Antiochus Epiphanes. A number of incidents in his life, as well as
details of his character, agree with the prophecy, but not all prophecy was
fulfilled in him. No doubt, Antiochus
was but a picture of the one who is to fulfil the prophecy, for we are
expressly told that at the time of the end shall be the
vision. And in the latter time of their Kingdom, when the
transgressors are come to the full. The vision relates to the close of this age -
when the earth will be dominated by the one great figure - Antichrist. While Antiochus Epiphanes was a very wicked
man, Antichrist will far outstrip him in wickedness. He waxed exceeding great, toward the south and
toward the cast, and toward the pleasant land, or the land of the glory. Victories will be in the south and east and
then he comes to the prize - the
He is described as the king of fierce countenance. We see this feature in Nebuchadnezzar when the
three Hebrew youths refused to bow down to the image that he had set up. Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego: therefore, he spake,
and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it
was wont to he heated (Dan. 3: 19). This coming man will know nothing of mercy or
love, but will rule all nations with a rod of iron. And understanding dark sentences. The word for dark
sentences is used of a riddle in Judges 14: 12. And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto
you. In 1 Kings 10: 1, it is translated hard questions.
When the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of
Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard
questions. Satans purpose
regarding his false Christ is to make him as near a true copy of Christ as he
possibly can. Christ spoke to the people
in parables; Satans man will be able to understand dark sentences. No doubt this ability will be a master
attraction for the people. Mans quest
for more and more knowledge is an insatiable activity. When not according to
the mind of God this quest for knowledge has always been attended with fatal
consequences. Knowledge obtained
according to the will of God is most profitable, but once we leave Gods
methods trouble ensues. We see in the
present thirst for astrological predictions how great is the
desire to know the future. This
ability will attract apostate Jews and unconverted Gentiles.
And it
waxed great - great in his own sight, great in the sight of the world,
great in his wickedness. And his power shall be mighty. His power will be greater than any seen
before, for his greatness is not by his own
power. Being Satans man,
Satan will invest him with tremendous and universal power: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great
authority (Rev. 13: 2). And he shall destroy
wonderfully; Even to the host of heaven - a
reference to
According to the instruction of our Lord, many Jews will leave
And
through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand. Successful intrigues will be his great
masterpiece; the intrigue of fifth column activity brought the downfall of
Yea, he
magnified himself even to the prince of the host, or Prince of princes.
When this phrase prince of the host is used
on other occasions the reference is undoubtedly to our Lord Jesus Christ. In the words of Paul, he opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,
or that is worshipped (2 Thes. 2: 4).
By him the
daily sacrifice was taken away. The
Jewish temple has yet to be rebuilt and the sacrificial rites to commence. The Antichrist (we learn from the next
chapter of Daniel) will make a covenant with
Let us pray earnestly that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall
come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man (Luke 21: 36).
- GORDON CHILVERS
-------
OUR
DEATH
To me, says the inspired apostle Paul, to live is Christ and to die IS GAIN (Phil. 1: 21).
Friends of that useful and much loved Jewish Christian, the
Rev. Joseph S. Flacks, were given a
fine reminder of his faith in the promises of God. They received a post card from him, which he
had caused to be mailed on the very day of his death, in August, 1940, saying:-
This
is to announce that I moved out of the
old mud house (2 Cor.
5: 1); arrived in Gloryland
instantly, in charge of the angelic
escort (Luke 16: 22); absent from the
body, at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5: 6).* I
find as foretold (Ps. 16: 11); in thy
presence fullness of joy
pleasures for evermore! Will look for you on the way up at the
redemption of the body (Rom. 8: 23). Till then, look
up. - J. S. FLACKS.
[* That is, at home with the Lord
for our God is omnipresent (Psa. 139: 8) and therefore in the
- The Sunday School
Times.
* * *
13
DEVOTION
TO THE WORD OF GOD
Probably no man that ever lived has
so revealed his heart-life as David; and no other man is ever described by God
Himself (Acts 13: 22) as a man after His own heart. It is a priceless thought, therefore, that we
may learn what is a man after Gods heart by studying Davids heart-life where
it is supremely revealed - in the Psalms; and, by closely following it, can
become (to some degree) such ourselves.
And a golden discovery on the threshold is that by far the largest gem
in the tiara of the Psalms is a single psalm devoted exclusively to Davids
heart-attitude to Scripture.* The One
Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm is the longest chapter in the Bible, and every
one of its 176 verses (except two)
carry an explicit reference to some form of Scripture - whether (1) statutes or
(2) commandments or (3) judgments or (4) laws or (5) testimonies or (6)
precepts or (7) words or (8) ways. What
God has said has come from the heart of God; and therefore the closer we
approximate in life and character to what He has said, the expression of His
very heart, the more we must, automatically and inevitably, become after Gods own heart, in our own reproduction
of His character through His Word.
* The Psalm is accepted as Davids, and it is probably safe to
assume his authorship; but in any case it is a heart-life in relation to
Scripture beyond anything recorded in revelation or in history. It is Davidic in
tone and expression: we feel a kind of critical certainty that the hand of
David is in this thing, yea, that it is altogether his own (C. H. Spurgeon).
A REVELATION
David begins with a complete
absence of doubt that it is Gods actual utterance which is in his hand, divine
in its entirety. It would be impossible
to express it more explicitly: The sum of thy word
is TRUTH; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for
ever (verse 160). Not to trust the sum of Gods Word is to lay all open to doubt,
and if we doubt any one of His utterances, basing our faith only on our own approval
of special passages, all is undermined; but we have
not followed cunningly devised fables (2
Pet. 1: 16), and the Scriptures, both in their detail and in their sum,
are truth. The Bible of each of us is a
much smaller book than the Bible God has given us. But the man after Gods own heart says:- Therefore I esteem ALL thy precepts concerning ALL things to be right (verse 128); every command, however costly
- every warning, however unpalatable - every precept, however difficult:
equally to be loved and followed in every part, a rock under his feet for his
entire life, he embraces the whole
revealed Word, without any exception.
Therefore in the value of Divine Revelation, as the sum of truth, the
world has nothing in it with which to compare:- The law
of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver (verse 72).
A STANDARD
The Word of God next looms above
the horizon as the sole standard and criterion of life and our master-purpose must
be to change the Scriptures into conduct, exactly as we cash a cheque; first
endorsing the printed slip with our own signature, and then changing it into
concrete and current gold. I have chosen, says David, the
way of faithfulness: thy judgments have I SET BEFORE ME (verse 30). To Gods pilgrim His Word is a staff, to
Gods soldier it is a sword, to Gods mariner it is a compass, to Gods traveller it is a map: it is the chart on our
ocean, the model for our statue, the blocks for our building, the sealed orders
on the eve of battle. Therefore David
says:- I will never
forget thy precepts; for with
them thou hast quickened me (verse 93). My heart was regenerated, my life
transfigured, by Scripture: therefore every word of revelation or command or
encouragement can electrify with the same life, and nine times in this Psalm David asks for this quickening: every
precept holds the breath of God. My soul hath observed thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly (verse 167) - loving them for their beauty, their holiness, their practical goodness;
therefore I made haste, and delayed not, to OBSERVE
thy commandments (verse 60). If we had a hundred necks, says Augustine, we would submit them all to
this yoke. For all Scripture, Paul says, is profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in what is righteous; that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every
good work (2 Tim. 3: 17).
A TEST
For the standard by which our
life will be judged is Holy Scripture. Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes; that I be
not ashamed (verse 80): for thus,
and thus only, shall I not be ashamed before Him at His coming. My heart is to be perfect in thy statutes - whole-hearted, true-hearted, as distinct
from half-hearted; delivered into the mould of the Word (Rom. 6: 17); whole, as a burnt-offering on
the altar. So David persists in removing
every disposition, inclination, habit, or self-interest which would prevent or
dilute obedience:- I have
refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might observe thy word (verse 101). We are to analyze our judgment, dissect our
aims, control our affections, curb our habitual and
allowed practise - all in order that I may observe
thy word: with a view to the Judgment Seat of Christ,
and to the presentment of a white life, we are to shape every step by the
Book. ORDER MY FOOTSTEPS IN THY WORD;
plant my every step on Scripture: and - as a
consequence let not any iniquity have dominion over me (verse
133). If our steps are not Scripture-ordered, some old sin will recapture its
dominion: only of the man of whom it
can be said the law of his God is in his heart, can it also be said, none of his steps shall
slide (Ps. 37: 31). There is no real
reverence for the Book where there is not carefulness to avoid every
transgression of its precepts (C.
H. Spurgeon). As Mr. Moody wrote on the opening leaf of
his Bible:- This Book will
keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from this Book. For the Book is our arsenal in a land of
deadly danger, filled with every conceivable weapon, without which we shall be
helpless and defeated: precious and exceeding great promises, in
which He hath granted unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Pet. 1: 3, 4).
A WITNESS
So for our witness also, and not
for our service only, the whole Scripture is an unrolled chart. With my
lips have I declared ALL THE JUDGMENTS
OF THY MOUTH (verse 13); that
is, the whole counsel of God (Acts 20: 27). The
lips of the righteous, says Solomon
(Prov. 10: 21), feed many: it is
a cause for constant watchfulness and prayer that we do not withhold the food
that lades our own table. I will speak of thy testimonies before kings, and will not be
ashamed (verse 46)*; for scorn - as David found -
is one of the utterly inevitable fruits of Scripture fidelity; and the proud, he says, have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not swerved from thy
law (verse 51). Demetrius, is the
remarkable word of John (3 John 12), hath the
witness of all men, and of the truth itself. The wise hearer is quick to know
the sound speaker: Let those that fear thee turn unto me,
and they shall know thy testimonies (verse
79). So David sums up his experience:- Thy
commandments make me wiser than my enemies (verse
98) - for the wisdom of God lies buried in Scriptures that look
like counsels of defeat, but are complete victory in the end: I have more understanding than all my teachers (verse 99) - for the university professor who mishandles
the Word of God commits blunders obvious to the simplest lover of the Word: I understand more than the ancients (verse 100) - for later revelations have so
illumined the past, and unveiled the future, that we know what Isaiah never
knew.
* This was the chosen motto of the great Augsburg Confession at the Reformation; and it may yet have to be
ours, before modern dictators.
A PRAYER
Nothing
pulsates with a hotter throb through all this revelation of a heart that was
learning, and growing more like, the heart of God than its cry for light. Open
thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law (verse 18): give me understanding,
that I may know thy testimonies (verse 125): make me to understand the way of thy precepts (verse
27): let my cry come near before thee, O Lord -
GIVE ME UNDERSTANDING (verse 169).
For Gods deepest secrets are
truths perfectly plain, yet perfectly hidden from the wise and prudent, and
revealed to babes (Matt. 11: 25). So then I will
run the way of thy commandments, David cries, when thou shall enlarge my heart (verse 32). The Divine power and Godhead, as Paul says (Rom. 1: 20), we can learn from nature; but
only in what He has said can we launch
out on the boundless ocean of Gods heart; and what a heart we shall
require! Therefore for this we
pray. By enlarged vision, enlarged understanding, enlarged ambition, enlarged
affection, enlarged devotion, we shall not only run the way of His
commandments, but become men and women after His own heart.
- D. M. PANTON, B.A.
-------
MY KING
My God, I fain would learn to sing to Thee.
I seek no human ear;
I own no
poet-skill - can claim no fee -
Do Thou
but deign to hear!
I long to please Thee.
Deeds make melody
(Ive read) if nobly wrought:
Then chaunt both deeds and words His honour high
Whose
blood my soul has bought!
Why must I shamed and dumb for ever
rest?
Thou canst have perfect art
In
angels song wheneer Thou wilt. My best
I bring
- a grateful heart.
And as with children grown fond
parents hold
Wise converse, yet in truth
Still
love to bid their little ones be bold,
Nor
chide them for their youth,
Do Thou Whose
rolling spheres make harmony
To whom strong seraphs raise
Melodious
adoration ceaselessly
Suffer
my halting praise.
For soon I too, to perfect
stature grown,
More worthily shall sing
Glory to
Him Who reigns in power alone
My Saviour, and my King!
- HELEN
RAMSAY.
* * *
14
SEEK YE FIRST
1. What Kingdom is it we are to seek? (Matt. 6: 33) The Kingdom of grace? Nay,
we are in it already, as disciples (Col. 1: 13). As yet it is the kingdom in mystery only: it is concealed; for the King, on
whose power depends its manifestation, is away.
We are to seek the future kingdom, the kingdom in
manifestation, the kingdom of
glory. For
that, Daniel, the witness of its futurity,
is waiting (Dan. 12: 13). Daniel
was made witness of the
The call by John
Baptist and by Jesus in Gods
appointed time referred to these prophecies.
The kingdom of heaven hath drawn near! All expected thereupon the fulfilment of Daniel 2: 44: Now is the God of heaven
about to break in pieces all other kingdoms, setting up His own alone. Moreover,
signs of power supernatural burst forth in the ministry of Jesus. All eyes and ears were attent on the
realization of the promises of the prophets.
But for these blessings
But what mean the words: Seek his righteousness?
1. They do not
mean imputed righteousness. That was needed to present acceptance; and
the hearers possessed imputed righteousness already, as disciples of
Jesus. Nor was the Saviour exhibiting
Himself, in the Sermon on the Mount, as the righteousness of the believer. But He
was teaching those who would listen the principles which were to guide their
conduct, if they would enter the millennial kingdom. So in other passages of Matthew it has the
same active sense. Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Obedience also is directly stated as the
condition of entering it. Who shall
have part in it? He that
doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven (7: 21). So Peter
speaks of those who fear God, and work righteousness
(Acts 10: 35). So Paul. Through faith the worthies of old wrought
righteousness (Heb. 11: 33. Also 2 Cor. 9:
9, 10; Phil. 3: 6).
New principles of far greater height and depth
than the old ones of the Law are in the Sermon on the Mount disclosed by
Jesus. They were Gods words put into
his mouth. While they were sayings of mine, as he says, they were still the will of his
Father in heaven. Thus obedience
to Jesus novel principles and precepts is the means and the way; and the kingdom of glory is the bright end set before us. The precepts are so lofty and so difficult
beyond those of the Law, because the way is now opened to a higher and more
glorious department of the kingdom than was known to
2. Let us confirm this by a view of Pauls
attitude in Philippians 3: 8-16. The
apostle rejects the righteousness he wrought himself while under law, and
accepts with gratitude the righteousness wrought by Christ, presented by the
Father, to be the clothing of each believer.
He calls it - the righteousness which is from God upon
faith (Greek: ver. 9.) But though
he accepted this as a gift, at the outset of his Christian career, there
was yet something set before him as a prize. He desired to know the power of Jesus
resurrection, and to suffer with Christ now, even to the endurance of martyrdom
if by any means I may attain,* unto the (select) resurrection from among the dead (Greek). To obtain a part in
the resurrection of the dead after the thousand years demands no faith at
all. The wicked will
receive that. It could, therefore,
be no object of his desire. But to
obtain [by effort]
a place in the first and blest resurrection, this he might well covet. And tribulation is Gods appointed way
thereto. Confirming the
souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must
through many tribulations (plur.) enter the
[* NOTE. The word attain
means to gain by effort.]
What kingdom was that? The Gospel?
Nay, the disciples were in that already.
The Church? They were there
also. It can only mean, then, the
future millennial kingdom of glory; which answers to the select resurrection from the dead in
Philippians. Paul continues: Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect; but I
follow after if that I may apprehend (lay hold of) that for which also I was apprehended (laid hold of) by Christ. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended - though all others did
believe it of him but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
behind, and reaching after those things which are before, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high
(or heavenly) calling
of God in Christ Jesus.
In our day, many [regenerate
believers] are utterly unbelieving about any
future kingdom of miracle and of resurrection, to be set up by Jesus at His
return. And of those who retain that
belief many are provoking God, and hardening their hearts against the testimony
of His true-hearted ones. They refuse to
believe Gods threatenings against His peoples partial unbelief, and
disobedience. They get rid of any threat
levelled by God against hardness of heart and disobedience, by the cry: Thats Jewish! It
does not refer to us. We are the members
of Christ, the bride of Christ; we are above commands, and beyond responsibility! The Holy Spirit foresaw this; and has in Hebrew 3.
4.
furnished the antidote thereto. By the
whole tenor of the appeal, its conditionality appears. Whose house are we, if
we hold fast the confidence (Heb. 3: 6). We became associates* of the Christ,
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end (Heb. 3: 14). Here
Paul (or the inspired believer, who wrote this epistle) places himself on the
same level with those he warns. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in
any of you an evil heart of
unbelief. Exhort one another ... lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Let not, then, a view of your privileges
harden you, oh believers! Eternal life,
through grace, you cannot lose: but your
being associates of Christ in the millennial kingdom of His glory depends on
your not giving up this hope, and not provoking the Lord.
* A reference back to 1,
8, 9. We are Jesus fellows of Psalm 45.,
under condition of persevering in
right hopes and profession to the end.
This is the force of the appeal in Hebrews 3:
15-19. You will say: Ah!
that does not apply to us.
* Verse 16 should be read as a
question, as critics generally are agreed, and as the two following verses
show.
** So it should be
translated. The word is a different one
from that for unbelief.
Yes! it was the partial unbelief of believers! Twice does
Moses record their faith: at his
first propounding to them their hope; and when the sea had overwhelmed their
foes. By faith they kept the Passover,
by faith they passed through the
Let us labour, then, to enter into that
rest, lest any fall by the same example of disobedience. All believers enjoy, or may enjoy, present
rest from their own works for justification, through the finished work of Christ.
But all ought to be seeking by the obedience of faith for the future [millennial] rest,
which the apostle has set before our eyes.
It is worthy our highest, our
most sustained, efforts. A thousand years of glory and bliss with
Christ! A thousand years to be
blessed and holy, the priests of God and the Christ, reigning jointly with the
Son! For this Paul sought with his best
vehemence, with his most assiduous endeavours.
Be not cast down by diffiulties; but be not presumptuously
confident. Where Paul could not speak
confidently till toward the close of his career, how should you? Loud is the call to circumspection. Beholding the misconduct of
So then seek the
- ROBERT GOVETT.
* * *
15
MEEK AND
LOWLY IN HEART
In the spiritual life we grow up
by growing down and it is a deep comfort to-day to realize that the troubles that surround us - our
disappointments, our trials, our losses - if taken rightly are only deepening our
humility, and therefore our Christlikeness.
Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled Himself (Phil. 2: 5). Matthew
Arnold said:- Every time
that the words contrition or, humility drop from the lips of prophet or
psalmist, Christianity appears; and it was Augustine who, when asked what were the first elements in
Christianity, answered: The first, humility; the second, humility; and the third, humility. Nor is humility ever more needed than in the dangerous
neighbourhood of judgment - never more needed in our lifetime than in the
judgments we are now watching.
Out Lords example is an extraordinary proof
of humility in the ideal man. His
self-humiliation did not end with the humility
of Godhead being made in the likeness of man: on the
contrary, in order to present the ideal man in the sight of God, he repeats and deepens the humiliation. For, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself (Phil. 2: 8). So his first beatitude Blessed are the poor in spirit, (Matt. 5: 3); and few words were oftener on
His lips than I must. It is most remarkable that heathen religions
have many conspicuous imitations of virtue, such as fortitude, self-denial,
temperance; the one quality of which they
know nothing is humility; and as the source of all sin of the universe (in
the fall of Satan) was pride, so to-day the most powerful wickedness the world
has ever known - the Fascist and Nazi philosophy - teaches man that he is God:
man become God, the exact reverse of Christ - God become man. So our Lord finally submits to what in the
ideal man is martyrdom - obedience at the price of death, even the death of a
criminal. So the Apostle Peter stresses
Gods approval of humility:- All of you gird yourselves
with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth
grace to the humble (1 Peter 5: 5).
But
humility is also a characteristic of the ideal believer; and our past can work for us a miracle of
meekness: whereas we ought to be humble even if we had never fallen, the nightmare of what we once were, and
would have been for all eternity but for the grace of God, can produce
exquisite humility. It is supreme in
Paul. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief
(1 Tim. 1: 15): I am less than the least of all saints
(Eph. 3: 8).
Paul has not forgotten his past. I am not meet to be called an apostle, because
I persecuted the
Yea, Thou forgivest, but
with all forgiving
Canst not renew my innocence again:
Make Thou, O Christ, a dying of my living,
Purge from the sin but never from the pain.
But the ideal believers present,
as well as his past, works the humility for which we long; and here also Paul
is a surpassing example. He is able to
say what none of us would dream of saying, Ye are
witnesses, and God also, how holily, and
righteously, and unblamably we behaved ourselves
(1 Thess. 2: 10):
I know nothing
against myself (1 Cor.
4: 2). Yet the canker of indwelling sin forces an almost despairing cry. When I
would do good, evil is present with me:
for in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: O wretched man that I
am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
(Romans 7: 18). Paul knew that every present striving of the
flesh would send him to Hell but for the blood of Christ. So lowliness is normal for
us all, because none of us can truly be anything else: if we are not lowly, it is only because we have
not yet realized the facts, nor squared our heart to them. In
nothing, says Paul, was I behind the
very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing (2 Cor. 12: 11). Moreover, the Christian Faith, if so accepted
as to saturate the personality, creates humility: nevertheless our very orthodoxy can become an unconscious source of
pride.
But humility not only constitutes the ideal man, and also the ideal believer,
but creates the ideal saint, with all the immense reward that is the
consequence of sanctity. It is
extraordinarily revealed in Christ Himself.
Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself: WHEREFORE God highly exalted
him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name (Phil. 2: 7). Our Lord, sinking from the glory of the
Godhead into the incomparable shame of the Cross - that is, sinking from a
higher height, the Godhead, to a lower depth (being made sin) than any other being could sink - reaches a corresponding
reverse inconceivable to any other: that in the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things on earth,
and things under the earth. No
human step ever moved toward a more stupendous goal, of holy ambition than the
step of Christ - the salvation of the world: none ever yielded less in uttering
every jot and tittle of the Word of God - His rebuke of the Pharisees is
probably the most awful ever made: none ever met a more rightful storm than
Jesus met and conquered. Humility is not cowardice, or
insensibility, or weakness: it is infinite strength stooping in the tenderness
of divine compassion, and rewarded by an exactly corresponding glory.
So
therefore the Scripture makes it perfectly plain that ours is to be a
corresponding experience. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that
he may exalt you in due time
(1 Peter 5: 6) for, our
Lord says, who is to be the Judge, every one
that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted
(Luke 14: 11). There is
even danger of our being proud of our humility. Thus present self-abasement,
is an act of holy prudence. It is a law of the coming [Millennial] Kingdom
that humility is a passport without
which there is no entrance; the meek - and the meek only
shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5: 5). He set a little child in the midst of them,
and said, Whosoever therefore shall humble himself
as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven (Matt. 18: 4). Every degree and kind of coming glory in each
disciple depends absolutely on our own
present self-abasement.
So therefore we gain the deep
comfort of affliction; and once again that marvellous man of God - made
marvellous solely by how much he absorbed of the grace of God - enlightens
us. After telling of his absolutely
unique experience of rapture into the third heaven, Paul says:-
On my own behalf I will not glory, save in my weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my
weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses (2 Cor. 12: 5). All
that breaks the spirit, whether our own fault or the fault of others; every
humiliation, every reproof, just or unjust; every injury, every defeat, every
trouble; every person that vexes or annoys - all are painting on the canvas of
our character the colours of Christ.
More precious to Paul even than the unutterable things he heard in
So our Lord Himself
singles out humility for our master-imitation.
He says:- Take my
yoke upon you and learn of me: for I
am meek
and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls
(Matt. 11: 29). As someone has beautifully
said:- He who carries other
graces without humility carries a precious powder in the wind without a cover. Learn of
me - that is, study Me, and study
under Me: the proof that we are learning of Christ is our becoming like Him; and the chief lesson He names for our
learning is a meek and lowly heart. Spurgeon
puts it thus:- As certain silk-worms have their silk
coloured by the leaves on which they feed, so, if we were to feed on Christ,
and nothing else but Christ, we should become pure, holy, meek, gentle, humble;
in a word, we should be perfect even as He, is. Christ Himself, though
sinless, was made perfect through sufferings: as the
bud becomes the rose, as the acorn becomes the oak: sunshine alone would kill
both; but through sunshine and rain-storms they are made perfect. In the words of George Whitefielld:-
Oh that I may learn, from all I see, to desire to be nothing, and to think it my
highest privilege to be an assistant to all, but the head of none.
-------
16
DO SAINTS GO TO HEAVEN WHEN THEY DIE?
-------
INTRODUCTORY
NOTES
Now the body
without spirit is dead (Jas. 2: 26), and the soul,
the man, cannot use or inhabit a dead body.
The spirit imparts to the body vitality, animation, and makes it usable
by man. Thus so long as the two are
united man is a living soul, but when God recalls the spirit which He gave, the body
ceases to have life, the soul vacates it, and thenceforth, until resurrection, the man is dead*.
- G. H. LANG.
[* That is, spirit, soul and body are separated by Death until the time of
Resurrection, when they will once again be reunited in an immortal body. Hence, the lake of
fire is the eternal place (after resurrection) prepared for the lost.]
* * *
This is important, as testifying against the
mistake made by many. Many suppose that
our Lord mounted up to His Father as an unclothed spirit, between the time of
His death on the cross, and His resurrection.
The Word of God, however, is very distinct respecting the general truth,
that none may present themselves to God in the glory, while unclothed of their
bodies. God refuses to accept the naked
(Ex. 20: 26; 28: 42; 32: 25). And this general
truth is here specially authenticated to us by the testimony of our Lord
touching His own case. If He did not
ascend to God till after [His] resurrection [John 20: 17], much less has any of the spirits - [i.e., disembodied souls] - of
the departed done so. David is not ascended to the heavens.[Acts 2: 34]
R. GOVETT.
* *
*
The statement will probably come as a great
surprise to the vast majority of modern Christians, even including the bulk of
prophetical students, that for the first five centuries after Christ the
mediaeval and modern doctrine that dead saints are in heaven was unknown. But such is the fact. The most
ancient of all the Fathers, says Dr. Pearson in his classic work on the
Creed, were so far from believing that the end
of Christs descent into Hades was to translate the saints of old into heaven,
that they thought them not to be in heaven yet, nor ever to be removed from that
place until the general resurrection: very few (if any) for above five hundred
years after Christ did believe that Christ delivered the saints out of Hades.
Thus the comfort Jesus gives to John thirty to
forty years after the [His] Ascension, when the
apostle falls at His feet as one dead, is I hold the keys of
Death and Hades (Rev. 1: 18), Hades being
no more emptied than Abaddon, but both being now in
the direct, personal custody and control of Christ. For our Lord has led captivity captive (Ephes. 4: 8) He has enslaved
the underworld, dying, that he might become
Lord of both the dead and the living (
D. M. PANTON.
* * *
It is a serious loss to many believers that they
regard the book of Revelation as beyond comprehension, and are afraid to accept
its symbols and visions as a revelation.
Hence, when appeal is made to it they decline to accept its testimony.
One of the most illuminating portions of
Scripture upon our present interesting and necessary themes is in Revelation 6: 9-11. John says: And
when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of
them that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they
held: and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O sovereign ruler,
the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth? And there was given to
them, to each one, a white robe; and it was said unto them that they should
rest yet for a little time, until their fellow-bondmen also and their brethren,
who should be killed even as they were, should have fulfilled their course.
At the time here in view the resurrection of the godly has not yet come, for the roll of the
martyrs is not complete. These
brethren therefore are still without their resurrection bodies. But to John, rapt in spirit into the
super-sensuous world (c. 1: 10: I became in spirit. That is, in an ecstatic state), those souls were visible. Therefore death does not end the existence of
the soul. Moreover, they are conscious: they remember what
befell them on earth at the hands of the godless; they know what the future
will bring of vengeance; they ponder the situation, and they wonder at the
seeming delay of their vindication by God; they appeal to their Lord; they are
given answer, counsel, and encouragement; they receive the sign of their
Masters approval, the white robe, at once His recompense for that they did not
defile their garments in this foul world, and His assurance that they shall be His personal and constant associates
in His Kingdom (Rev. 3: 4, 5). This last item
the giving of the white robe shows further that not all saints await a
session of the judgment seat of Christ when at last He shall come from heaven;
for His decision and approval are here [in Hades] made known to these in
advance of His coming and of their resurrection.
- G. H. LANG.
-------
That all saints do go to heaven
immediately after death is a sentiment almost universally preached from our
pulpits in this age, and especially upon all funeral occasions. It is sung in the songs of all our
worshipping assemblies, and Sunday-schools.
It is deeply bedded in our religious thoughts, and has become an
unquestioned article of our faith, and the sentiment with which our prayers are
closed. The one who will presume to question it,
arrays against prejudices of the entire community. The fathers have preached it for generations,
and it will be taken unkindly for their soundness to be suspected. Children have received it from their fathers,
and their prejudices are all arrayed in its favour. But it is intimately connected with this
discussion, and I hazard a candid, scriptural investigation of it, severely as I must suffer for it from hands of
my friends who have accepted the faith of others without, I believe a careful
personal examination.
Let us look unto it.
1. Heaven is, unquestionably, a
place, not a mere state.
The Scriptures recognize three
heavens.
First, the region of the air
through which the birds fly; hence we read of the
fowls of heaven, the dew of heaven, the clouds of heaven, etc.
Second,
the firmament above the clouds, in which the sun, moon and stars seem to be
fixed; hence the sun in the midst of the heavens,
the stars shall fall from heaven, etc.
Third, the third heaven, the
high and holy place, of which the Jewish holy of holies was a type, the place
of Gods special abode, the centre and metropolis of
the universe, in which the Omnipresent Deity affords a nearer and more
immediate view of his perfections and more sensible manifestations of his glory
than in the other parts of the divine kingdom. It is from this place that Gods messengers
come to earth on their missions of love, and to which they return. The
Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, etc.; the Lord is in his holy temple, the Lords throne is in
heaven. Thus saith the Lord: The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. That place called heaven may be the grand
central orb around which all the countless
suns, with their systems, in the whole universe, revolve as our planetary
system revolves around its sun. This orb
might justly be called the heaven of heavens. There is no fancy in this position.
2. We are taught that nothing
incomplete, imperfect or un-glorified can enter or dwell in heaven in the
presence of the Holy One. All its
inhabitants must be perfect - glorified in these respects like him, that they
may see him as he is.
3. The Scriptures also teach us
that the dwellers in the presence of God are the recipients of the
fulness of joy, and of pleasures for evermore, of uninterrupted and
inexpressible bliss-hope lost in a boundless fruition.
All such must be fully redeemed - perfected, glorified and satisfied. They
can certainly look forward to no future change, as respects their bodies, which
will add to their perfection or happiness.
If these positions be correct,
it is evident that Christians do not go to heaven when they die, for - SAINTS, AT THEIR DEATH, ARE NOT FULLY
REDEEMED. Their bodies, as well as their souls,
are embraced in the covenant of redemption.
They must be redeemed from the
effects of sin, from the power of death and the dominion of the
grave, purified and glorified, made like unto Christs
glorious body, that they may be fitted for the [heavenly] presence
of the great King.
This change in the body of a
saint does not take place at his death,
and therefore, no saint at his death is
prepared to dwell in the presence of God.
Not until the second coming of
Christ will the body of any saint be redeemed from the corruption of the grave
and glorified; and even at that time not all will be so redeemed, but only those who sleep in Jesus, with those
who are living upon the earth when he comes.
But the whole number of the saved
will not be redeemed or perfected until the close of the millennial age,
during which time millions will be converted and saved through the ministry of
the sainted priests of Christ. The
saints of all the ages past died in the firm faith that at some future period,
not revealed to them, their bodies would
be ransomed from the power of death, vindicated from the disgrace of the grave,
and made like unto Christs glorious body, when, and not until then, they would
be fully redeemed, made complete, and glorified. They are represented as resting in this
hope. David says: Therefore my heart is glad and my
glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my
soul in hades [the unseen
world]; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see
corruption.* He believed that he would be
ransomed from the grave to an immortal
and glorious life, of which the
resurrection of Christ - of whom he himself was a type - was a pledge. He further expresses his faith: As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I
will
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.**
This
certainly implies that David did not expect to be perfected or satisfied, until
he did awake in the likeness of his Redeemer - until his [bodily] resurrection
from the grave. If David is not
perfected or satisfied he certainly cannot be in heaven. But heaven was not promised to David in the
covenant God made to him, nor a perfected salvation, or fulness of joy in
heaven at his death; but God did
promise him a resurrection from the
grave to an immortal life in the presence of his Son and Lord, whom God
promised to raise up to sit upon his throne. David declared that in this promise was all his salvation and all his desire. He has
not yet entered upon the enjoyment of a promised blessing, but, like the saints
who lived before him, his flesh rests in hope.
* Psalm 16: 9, 10. ** Psalm 17: 15.
Peter, in his memorable sermon on
the day of Pentecost,* found
it necessary to explain the two remarkable prophecies of David concerning
Christ to his Jewish hearers. The first
- i.e., thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell [sheol];
neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.** Peter taught them. David spoke concerning Christ, and not
concerning himself, only as a type of Christ.
It certainly was not true of Davids body, for he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulchre containing his corrupted body is with us unto this day.
* Acts 2: 34. ** Psalm 16: 10.
And touching his second
prophecy:* The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I
make thy foes thy footstool, was also spoken of Christ, whom
God raised up and exalted at his right hand.
This could not have been spoken
of Davids soul, for David hath not yet ascended unto heaven. If Davids soul had been exalted at the right
hand of God in heaven, though his fleshy garment was left behind, Peter could
not have said in this connection, David is not ascended unto the heavens.
* Psalm 110: 1.
If David is not in heaven, we
may safely conclude no other saint is there.
It would not be meet for some to be there and
not all.
In Hebrews 11 we find this position clearly substantiated. Paul, in referring to the illustrious company
of martyrs - witnesses of the faith - from Abel down to the last one slain
under the old dispensation, says: And
these all
received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they
without us should not be made perfect.
If they went to heaven when they died, as it is so generally preached now that
all saints do, then they must have
been perfected without us, and they must have obtained the promise, and have
for thousands of years been enjoying the fulness of joy in the presence of God
without us. But this is not the teachings of Gods word. They, having fulfilled their mission -
witnessed the faith, have entered a state of rest, where they wait a little
while for their perfect conditions, which will be consummated when the last
saint has testified and suffered as they had; and then all - [who attain unto the out-resurrection out
from the dead (Phil. 3: 11)] - will be perfected, glorified, and receive
the promise together. The marginal
reference directs us to Rev. 6: 9, in corroboration of this: And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw, under
the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the
word of God and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud
voice [indicative of great anxiety and impatience], How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood
on them that dwell on the earth? And
white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that
they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and
their brethren that should be killed as they had been, should be fulfilled.
These martyrs included all whom
Paul mentioned in Hebrews 11., as well
as all who had been slain when the fifth seal was opened, which was but a short time before
Christs second coming, for the advent is introduced at the breaking of the
next seal, and it was said unto these anxious, impatient waiters that they were
to rest for only a little season longer. All these - the most illustrious saints
that ever lived on this earth - had not ascended into heaven, but had for ages
been impatiently waiting in a comparatively depressed state, indicated by their
being seen, not at the right hand of
God, in the most holy place, but under the altar of sacrifice, which was
placed in the court, but never in the holy of holies - the type of heaven itself.
They were in an imperfect, un-glorified, and, consequently, in an unsatisfied condition. This
state could not have been heaven.
Now, if not one of the most
illustrious saints who ever lived on earth - who laid down his life for Jesus -
is permitted to be perfected and glorified, or to enter heaven itself at [the time of] death, can we believe, unless the Scriptures expressly declare
it, that those who have never suffered and who deserve so much less, are there,
and go directly there now, from earth daily?
There is, also, an oft used figure
of speech of great significancy, found throughout the Bible, and especially in
the New Testament, which, if I understand it, is conclusive in the settlement
of this question. The church of Christ, which, in this sense, embraces the
whole number of the caved, is spoken of as the (betrothed) bride* of Christ, and which he will one day bring into his
Fathers house and present her before the King complete, perfected and
glorified, and after this the marriage will be celebrated and she will become
his wife. To make clear this beautiful figure, it
may be well to refer the reader to the marriage customs of the ancient
Jews. The
first act was the betrothal, which was celebrated by a feast. Between the
betrothal and the marriage an interval elapsed, varying from a few days to a
full year.* During this period the bride elect lived with her friends, and all
communication between herself and her future husband was carried on through the
medium of a friend deputed for the purpose, termed the friend of the bridegroom.** She was now virtually regarded as the wife of
her future husband. Hence,
unfaithfulness on her part was punishable with death,*** the husband having
the option of putting her away.**** The essence of the marriage
ceremony consisted in the removal of the bride from her fathers
house to that of the bridegroom or his fathers. The bride makes herself
ready. The bath, with perfumes, precedes
her attiring in robes of purest white linen, sometimes embroidered with gold
thread and jewels. When the fixed hour
arrives, the bridegroom sets forth from his or his fathers house, attended by his companions, the children of
the bridechamber, preceded by a band of musicians and
singers, and a procession suitable to his rank.
Having reached the house of the bride, who is anxiously expecting his
arrival, he conducts the whole party back to his fathers house, with every
demonstration of joy, when the presentation, and then the marriage is celebrated with protracted festivities.*****
[* NOTE. The Church
is never described in Scripture as the Bride!
The
* Gen. 24: 53. ** John 3: 29. *** Deut. 22: 23, 24. ****Matt. 1: 19; Deut.
24: 1. ***** See Smiths Bible
Dictionary, art. Marriage.
The bride of Christ is aptly termed the Kings daughter. The following are some of the allusions to
Christs bride: The Kings daughter is all glorious
within! Her clothing is of wrought
gold. She shall be brought unto the
King in raiment of needlework. The virgins - her companions - that
follow her, shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be
brought; they shall enter into the Kings palace.* Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage supper of the lamb is come
and the bride bath made herself ready, and to her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright; for the linen is the righteousness
[righteous acts] of the saints. And he saith unto me, write, Blessed are they
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb**
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be
holy and without blemish [defect
of any description].*** Now
unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory,
etc.**** But this presentation of the church-bride
unto Christ by his friend, and of his bride unto his father, when he shall have
brought her, in her perfected and all glorious condition, into the Kings
palace, manifestly cannot take place until she is complete in all the members of
her body until the last sinner is saved and glorified. If
a portion of the saved were presented before the Father - brought into the
Kings palace, the bride could not be said to be prepared - all glorious,
without blemish, spot or winkle, or any such thing. She would be incomplete, a deformed and
disgusting personage. Therefore I feel
warranted in the conclusion that no saint has gone, or will go to heaven; but, as a component member of the body
of that bride, will, with all the members, be presented together with that
body, which will be at the close of the millennial age.
* Rev. 19: 7-10. ** Eph. 5: 25. *** Jude 24. ****Jude 3.
These, with many other passages
of similar import, are conclusive to my mind that no saint has yet ascended to
heaven, and it is evident that no sinner has descended into hell [i.e., the lake of fire];
the Devil, himself is not yet consigned to the final prison-house of woe; and a
very good reason why they have not - neither sinners nor Satan have had their
trial; the final judgment awaits them, and then penal fires. The reader will remember that the demons were
alarmed upon a time, fearing that Jesus had come to torment them before the time, and they besought him not to command
them to go away into the abyss, but to permit them to remain in the country.
I conclude the evidence upon
this question with the express declaration of Christ to Nicodemus.*
* John 3.
NO ONE HATH
ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN BUT THE SON OF MAN, WHO IS IN HEAVEN.
This alone will be sufficient to
every devout mind. If no mortal had then
entered heaven, I am satisfied that no one has since. Enoch and Elijah were translated, but not
necessarily to the third heaven - the presence of the Most Holy, else what
shall we do with the declaration of Paul, and with the unmistakable one of
Jesus just referred to NO MAN HATH ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN?
- J. R.
-------
* *
*
17
THE LAMP AND THE LIGHT
Of John the Baptist several
things are said which have never been said of any other man. John is the only man - apart from Christ and
Antichrist - who was personally foretold in the Old Testament. John is the only man of whom it has ever been
said that he was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mothers womb. John is the only man who - so far as we know
- has ever seen the Holy Ghost upon the earth. John is the only man whom our
Lord ever called great, and Jesus declared that no greater had ever been born. John was one of the most wonderful men who
ever lived.
One consequence is obvious. We might ransack the ages and search through
all nations, and find no witness to Christ so extraordinarily competent. The Levites, Gods appointed teachers of
Johns first direct testimony to
Christ springs out of the challenge of the Levites. Why
then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ? It is most remarkable that the Levites did
not object to the Baptism: they objected to the Baptizer. Johns answer is profound. This is the answer that he implies. Isaiah, and other prophets, predicted two
baptisms: one of water - wash
you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings (Is. 1: 16) - a baptism of repentance; and
one of spirit - I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed (Is. 44: 3). Now men can wash themselves - the water
baptism is human: but no man can immerse himself, or others in the Spirit of
God - the Spirit baptism is Divine. John could baptize in water, and did; but
the Baptizer in the Spirit must be God.
The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in
the wilderness the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high way for our God.
What did the Voice next say? No
sooner had the Voice revealed Who had come than he revealed why; though
he goes back again to the Who, because
the Why is
valuable, or worthless, entirely according to the Who. This is He of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is
become before me: for He was before me. Jesus ranked above John because Jesus had
come out of eternity. This alone justifies and establishes the
Atonement. The North American Indians asked Brainerd, - How
can one man alone die for a world?
Brainerd answered, - A sovereign is a solitary gold coin; but it equals in value
240 pence, because its quality is so much greater: so Who Christ was makes all the difference to
what He did. Weigh God against the world, and which outweighs the other?
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the
world.
What does the Voice mean by the Lamb? Once a year the Mohammedans of Calcutta -
though Islam is no believer in Sacrifice - offer up an annual lamb or kid. The person who presents the offering lays his
hand on the animals head, saying, - For my head I
give thine. Then he touches the
ears, mouth, eyes, etc., each time repeating, For my
ears, thy ears; for my mouth, thy mouth; for my eyes, thy eyes. Lastly,
the priest, or moulvie, takes a knife, and, as the
offerer says, - For my life, thy life, he
plunges it into the heart of the lamb or kid; and then absolves the offerer
from sin. The blood of Christ is
efficient in all believers, but it is also sufficient for the whole world. Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John
does not see the blood, he only sees the Lamb: God says, When I see the blood - the blood is visible only after a lamb is
killed I will pass over you (Ex. 12: 13). John saw
What is the next utterance of
the Voice? John now reveals how he
recognized Jesus. I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, He
said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see
the Spirit descending, is the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost. Jesus so veiled Himself
by taking flesh, and the flesh He took was so much that of a common man - He
came not with the beauty of an Absolom or a Saul -
that He could not be
recognized as Messiah by bodily sight.
Jewish tradition said that Messiah was to remain unknown until Elijah,
as forerunner, should anoint him, and so make him known. Now our Lord Himself says that John came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1: 17); and though John did not
baptize Him with the Spirit - God is the sole Baptizer with the Spirit - John saw
the Dove descend, and abide on Christ.
How exquisitely this reveals the spirit of the Gospel! Humility - that the Persons of the Godhead
should stoop to be pictured by animals: sacrifice- both the Lamb and the Dove
were sacrificial animals: harmlessness - probably the two most defenceless
animals in the world: an earthly and a heavenly - the incarnate Christ upon the
earth and the heavenly Dove alighting for a time upon the world: the Lamb to die, the Spirit to give life:- what a picture of Gods love!
Johns last testimony is the
most pathetic, and in some respects the most important, of all. I have
seen, and have borne witness, that this is the Son of God. I have lived: the purpose of my life is over:
the lamps go out one by one - the Light is extinguishable for ever. A man once heard two ministers on one
Sunday. In the
morning, he said, I could not see the Master
for the man: in the evening I could not see the man for the Master. So John
had said, - He must increase, but I must decrease; and
the Voice, which had been foretold for centuries, dies at thirty because the
Word has come, and so he closes his testimony on the climax of revelation. For Who is the Son
of God? Let God
answer. Of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God (Heb. 1: 8). Here is the apex of revelation, the
touchstone of conversion, the guarantee of salvation; for WHOSOEVER SHALL
CONFESS THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD, GOD DWELLETH IN HIM AND HE IN GOD
(1 John 4: 15).
- D. M. PANTON.
-------
BAPTISM
The form of the ritual
is placed beyond challenge. Even the
great Anglican Bishop, the beloved Dr.
Handley Moule, translates the passage thus:- We are entombed
therefore with Him, by means of our baptism, into His death; and he
adds, - All commentators of note (except Stuart and
Hodge) expressly admit or take it for granted that the ancient prevalent mode
of baptism by immersion and emersion is here implied (Lange).
Therefore the sprinkling of holy water
on an infants brow is not baptism in any sense or form; the infant is neither
spiritually buried nor spiritually risen with Christ; and thus the truth for which the rite stands is
totally destroyed.*
* The wish to bring the
family to Christ, and to dedicate each infant, is a noble motive; but to confound it with the ritual of the born again and,
still worse, to make it the cause of
re-birth is a blunder as obvious as it is grave. Nor is
baptism given as a badge of a sect: we are nowhere told to refuse
fellowship to the un-baptized believer.
* *
*
18
LEAVEN IN THE HOUSE
The types of the Old Testament
are exceedingly important, and not least so because,
by checking our understanding of New Testament truths, they make us certain
whether we are interpreting these truths correctly or not. Gods ancient People held the purse, and ours
is the gold which the purse held; theirs was the leather jewel-case, ours the
diamonds and rubies within it; or - to bring out the value of the types more
clearly so far as corroboration goes - the Old Testament type is the photograph
of the New Testament reality, and so we are able to make absolutely certain of
the face by comparing it, point by point, with the photograph. It is a divine rule:-
By the mouth of two witnesses shall every word be established
(2 Cor. 13: 1).
The photograph we ponder
contains both our justification and our sanctification. The blood is outside the house, the leaven is
cast forth from within the house; for it is Gods work outside us that saves, while it is His work inside
us that sanctifies: salvation
is the work of a moment, sanctification is the work of
a life-time. As someone has expressed it:- it took but a few days to get
What
then is the commanded that immediately follows?
Ye shall observe the feast of
unleavened bread: seven days shall there
be no leaven found in
our houses (Ex. 12: 17, 19). The Passover is in Egypt - we were born
again, blood-sprinkled, right where we
were in the world: through the Red Sea of baptism
we have passed into the pilgrim life: now the Church enters its seven days -
six days of holy activity, culminating in the
Sabbath Rest for the people of God. And,
in the beautiful symbolism,
Now what
is the leaven?* Unleavened bread is simply pure meal, all
water having been parched out by the action of fire: leaven itself is a piece of dough gone bad, and with a singular
power of spreading, corrupting, and making good dough sour. Paul reveals its spiritual significance. Let us
keep the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness. This is
sufficiently comprehensive: wickedness covers all gross sin, of every kind. Paul began this application of the type with
the words:- It is
actually reported that there is fornication among you. His list elsewhere is most compre hensive: The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh - in the [regenerate]
believer: now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies,
wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings,
drunkenness, revellings,
and such like: of the which I forewarn
you, even as I did forewarn you, that they which practise such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5: 19).
* The
But it is
remarkable that the leaven can be mental sin. Let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth; transparent
sincerity and truthfulness (Dean Stanley). So our Lord said:- Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which
is hypocrisy (Luke 12: 1). The bread on which we are to feed all the time, and which goes to make
our character, is sincerity and truth: the
single eye; the unbiased study; the absorption of the Book; the unceasing
obedience; a perfect correspondence between thought and word and action. And there is a still higher form of the bread
on which we are to feast. Jesus said:- I am the bread which came down from
heaven. We need all of Christ
to feed upon: we need all His power to save; all His grace to cleanse; all His
wisdom to guide; all His love to bless; all His urge to use; all His presence
to fill the soul. Thus keep the feast.
So now
the whole responsibility is cast upon us.
PURGE OUT the old leaven,
that ye may be a. new lump. Canon Hay Aitkin tells
how a friend of his watched a Jewish carpenter search for leaven in his house
in
So now there
dawns the confirmation, in the Old Testament type, of the solemn warnings to
the child of God in the New. Whosoever eateth that which is leavened - so
far from purging out the leaven, actually eats it that soul shall be CUT
OFF from the congregation of
Finally, it is well to heed
Pauls warning on the extremely dangerous character of any sin. Could you weigh the
least sin (someone has said) in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it
as from a serpent. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth
the whole lump?
Nothing corrupts so quickly as a live body out of which the life has
gone; nothing rots more quickly, and nothing corrupts others quicker: and
leaven is dead dough. No matter how great the mass of flour,
unhindered leaven will penetrate it through and through. One woman sinned, and the whole human race
was leavened: a doctor fails if he does not cut out the roots of a cancer;
otherwise, it is only a question of time when the cancer kills. One nourished sin can ruin a whole life; and
why? because it never remains one sin. On the other hand, the more we dispossess
ourselves of sin, the more God can possess us, and the new lump is a saint in the world, a bit
of heaven on earth. The Israelite gave
up leavened bread, but he soon had angels food.
So once more the Gospel stands
out in all its crystal clearness. Every
unsaved soul who attempts to achieve self-righteousness by purging out the
leaven from his house, in an effort (it may be) of twenty, forty, sixty years,
while yet there is no blood on the door - that threshold is doomed to be crossed by
the Destroying Angel. Dr. A. T. Pierson tells of a Hell Club
in
- D. M.
PANTON
-------
19
A DYING UNIVERSE
One enormous catastrophe has swept
the world: another, far worse, will consume it.
The heavens that now are - for
the coming ruin embraces the heavens also and the
earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire (2 Pet. 3: 7) - either stored for
fire, or stored with fire. Three hundred volcanoes vomit flame every day;
and at one of the British Association meetings in Edinburgh it was seriously
advanced that the explosion of a single atom, with the fire stored in it,
igniting others, might blow up the universe, which would roll away in flaming
gas. The fire that fell on
Population
It will help us to know that we
are watching a dying universe if we note a few facts concerning the tiny
fraction of that universe on which we live.
Taking the figures of a past generation (Fortnightly Review, July, 1920), in 1701 the population of
Food
Next, we take the sharp
boundaries of the food production of the globe.
Prof. J. W. Gregory, F.R.S.,
president of its Geographical Section, informed the British Association in
Toronto (August, 1924) that it is calculated that 6,600,000,000 is the maximum
population the world can feed; and that that limit will be reached in 120
years. Even if the food supply - the
Professor said - were indefinitely multiplied by the precipitation of the
nitrogen of the atmosphere as a constant rain of manna, by the year 3,000
living room - apart from the
Science
Again, Science, devoted to
annihilation for war purposes, menaces the world. There is nothing,
says Mr. Edison, to prevent twenty to fifty aeroplanes flying tomorrow over
Morale
The worlds moral decay is no
less a forecast of death: the deepening iniquity, above all else, must reach a
limit compelling the miraculous intervention of God. We take the most Christian nation in the
world. The murders in the
The Millennium
It is true that our Lord is
about to delay the death of the universe.
For the universes final years the evil angels are cast out of heaven;
the population of the earth is to some degree restored; wildernesses are
changed into fruitful fields; and by His marvellous redemption the sin-cursed
earth fulfils Gods creative design of a glorious world. But sin bursts out once more: war on God and
His Christ went up over the breadth of the earth
and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them (Rev. 20: 19): no fact could be more dynamic
for the annihilation of the universe.
But, thank God, a marvellous future lies beyond new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Pet. 3:
13).
Mockers
But our threatened world takes
not the slightest heed to the threat. In the last days mockers shall come with mockery, saying,
where is the promise of his coming, for all things continue as they were - the
unceasing, uninterrupted reign of law from
the beginning of the creation (2 Pet. 3: 3). For
this they wilfully forget - they resolutely put it from
their minds, it requires an effort of will to shut it out that the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished: that the entire race of men, with the sole exception of a
single family, was miraculously swept out of existence. The words of the
infidel Hume sums up the unbelief:- A miracle is a violation of a
law of nature; but the universal experience of ourselves, and of the whole
human family, proves that the laws of nature are uniform, without exception. To one further catastrophe, immeasurably appalling,
which will instantly shatter all their mockery, the world is blind.
A Warning
But, as so often in Scripture, a warning is given to us believers also. Ye therefore,
beloved, knowing these things beforehand - the whole mass of Second Coming
truth beware lest, being carried away
- swept from your bearings by the
error of the lawless, ye fall from your own steadfastness. And the Apostle reveals a chief source of
this backsliding. The ignorant and the unsteadfast wrest
the scriptures unto their own
destruction: that is, we allow ourselves sins which, by carefully
distorted Scriptures, we come to regard as venial or even permissible. In the words of Dr. James Hastings:- If it be true that he who is faithful in that which is least
is faithful in that which is greatest, it is also true that he who permits
himself some private but real disloyalty to Christ, without immediate
self-rebuke or repentance, is allowing forces to gather within him which will
bring about a shear, and it may be an irreparable fall.*
* For example, Unitarianism, Christian Science, Mormonism,
Christadelphianism,
etc., all abound in quoted Scriptures, but Scriptures warped and expounded
lawlessly.
Godliness
So the Holy Spirit unfolds the
tremendous spiritual consequence for us all.
Seeing that these things are thus all
to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be, as you
stand beside the deathbed of a universe; in all
holy living - perfected conduct and
godliness - Godlikeness, perfected character; looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of
God. The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever
(1 John 2: 17). See the marvellous wonder
and value of the little interval between an eternity when there were no worlds
and the moment when there will be no worlds again. Holiness is the only asbestos of God. Godliness is the life of heaven lived on
earth: it is the activity of God reproduced in a human soul: it is the air of
the coming eternity blowing through a human life. And the suddenness sharpens the preparation: the day of the Lord will come as a thief. As no pleading can postpone it, no flight avoid it, no secrecy escape it, so nothing but
holiness in time can meet it.
Immortal
Many years ago I asked a little
girl of eight, years of age why she wanted to be saved. Because,
she replied, I want God in my heart. If she lives to eighty, she will never give a
better answer. [Regenerate] Believers are temples
of the Holy Ghost for ever.
- D. M.
PANTON
-------
CONTROVERSY
Today every truth is challenged, every doctrine assailed,
every landmark assaulted, and every battle has to be fought over again.
The crises has its dangers, but it also enters
like iron into the blood: for all who rest on the infallible Word of God,
enormous accession of strength comes with every truth mastered afresh for
oneself. CONTROVERSY, therefore, can be a channel charged with blessing, as
well as an occasion of every subtle peril.
If all controversy is avoided, Satan
has but to stir up controversy on a given truth, to silence its testimony
forever. The mere statement of truth is a challenge to error: to speak
on Justification by Faith was once violently controversal. Merely a glance at Jude
10-13 is a terrible revelation of how bitter even inspired comment can
be on the enemies of truth. The call not
to flinch is imperative. Why? Because truth may be one thing, while what a
man
thinks to be the truth may be quite another, and gulfs asunder; and
no sincerity or devotion will save a man from the consequences of his error. A doctor writes a perscription, containing
deadly ingredients: may a man not a chemist, and wholly ignorant of dispensing,
if
only he be sincere, be trusted to make up the prescription? If so, the patient goes in peril of his life.
In contending for the Faith we are fighting for the very life of the
world. So also with the
Church. Sanctify
them through
Thy truth (John 17: 17):
truth unknown, or ignored, or disobeyed, makes sanctification impossible; and
each truth is designed for its own spacific sanctification: so, in contending
for the truth, we are fighting for the very life of the Church.
D. M.
PANTON.
* *
*
20
TITLES AMONG THE SAINTS
Nations have their national
honours to confer upon those who render distinguished service to their country;
whether it be for their contribution to learning, for
their munificence, for victorious generalship in time of war, or for any other
benefaction.
We are to give due respect to
those thus honoured, as also saith the Scriptures:- Render therefore to all their dues fear to whom fear; honour
to whom honour is due, (Romans 13: 6, 7).
The
The church
of Rome assumes the position of reigning now during this time of Christs
rejection, and claims both temporal and spiritual power over the nations and
over her followers. In keeping with this
position of reigning she dispenses her rewards in titles and dignities as she desires. The pope reigns as a king with his triple
crown, and in regal splendour, supported by his cardinals. Lesser titles and dignities follow, down to
those who hold only the coveted name of priest, or the
forbidden title of father.
Leaving, however, this
usurpation and those in other sacerdotal churches which similarly adopt high
sounding titles and ornate dress, it may be helpful to ask if the New Testament
gives guidance on this important matter, and as to whether Christianity has,
like Israel of old, divinely appointed priestly names and priestly clothing.
It would seem that the Lord
anticipated this love of pre-eminence among those who professed to be His
disciples, for when referring to dignities among the nations, He at once adds:
- But it shall not be so among you. Whosoever desired to be great was to be the
servant of all (Matthew 20: 20-28).
Only One
among them was titled. Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am
(John 13: 13); but as for themselves, all ye are brethren (Matthew
23: 8-10). He alone had and has
this unique honour; and His names and titles are many and great.
Not that there was to be no
distinction as regards office and service to the Lord among them. Paul and others were apostles,
some were overseers (bishops), others evangelists, pastors and teachers, gifted
of the Lord, and such were to be esteemed very highly for their works sake and
obeyed in the Lord. But there were no
titled ones among them, and because they were all children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus, born of His Spirit, they
each had freedom of access in true priestly service to draw nigh to God and
offer up spiritual sacrifices well pleasing to Him (Hebrews 10: 20; 13: 15). This is
the only priesthood mentioned under the New Covenant which God hath enjoined.
The title father is especially forbidden by the
Lord, call no man your father upon earth
(Matthew 23: 9), that
is, in a spiritual way. It is good to
realise that this name as a title is renounced by evangelical Christians
generally in obedience to their Lords command, yet many take another title, even that of Reverend, to differentiate themselves from their
brethren. Also is it not strange
that a title should be chosen only once mentioned in Scripture, and which
refers to God Himself Holy and reverend
is His Name (Ps. 111: 9)? Should not this impress our hearts?
Closely allied to this subject
is that of distinctive
dress, and it may also be asked, have those who adopted the title Reverend or wear distinctive dress, any
real answer to those in sacerdotal circles?
It is realised that the above
rites enter into evangelical circles where there has been much blessing, and
where the Lord has been honoured; yet there have been, and are also, gifted and
honoured servants of God who, for the Lords sake, have refused to take or wear unscriptural distinctions, or to
transgress so important a scriptural principle, and those who thus humble themselves shall be exalted in that day [2 Pet. 3: 8], in His
Kingdom, at the resurrection of the just [Luke 14: 14].
- R. L WHEELER
-------
THAT THOU DOEST, DO
QUICKLY
One word of our Lord is pregnant with warning to
all, saved and unsaved alike:- That thou doest, DO QUICKLY
(John 13: 27). The
time is short.
A fundamental truth is expressed by Solomon:- That which hath been is that which shall be (Eccl. 1: 9); and our Lord confirms it by the tremendous statement
that Gods judgments will be exactly repeated.
As it came to pass in the days of Noah, EVEN SO shall it be in the days of the
Son of man. Likewise even as it came to
pass in the days of
The sommons to the unbeliever is inexpressivly
solemn. In the day that
Lot went out of
To all [regenerate] believers our Lords word is equallypregnant with
warning. This I say,
brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth those that have wives be as
though they had none; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and
those that use the world, as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world [or age] passeth away (1 Cor. 7:
29). The children of God are to live as citizens
of eternity. Is there a dispute? agree with thine adversays quickly: is our
heart sore with a brother? let not the sun go down upon your
wrath:
is there a command of God we have
not obeyed? Make haste to keep the commandments of God: is there work at our door lying undone? the Kings business requires haste. Speed the work, obey the commands, fill the
moments, glorify the Lord. The last soul
will soon be won; the last tear will soon be shed; the last sick-bed will soon
be visited; the last crown will soon be won; the last golden opportunity will
be gone forever.
* *
*
A PERSONAL
PRAYER
In my use of time and health and
all the opportunities of life, [grant me the grace, strength and willing obedience
to Thy commands] to act with reverent care,
redeeming the time, buying up each opportunity, conserving my body as the pure temple
of the Holy Ghost, so partaking of recreation, food, natural scenery, travel,
and all lawful pastimes, that I may the
better serve Thy purpose in my creation and redemption. Show me what Thy talents are which Thou hast
entrusted to me, and help me to make the
two four and the five ten.
Now bless me, even me, O Lord; I
am Thine; Thy Father gave me to Thee before the world was made; Thou didst
purchase me for Thyself by Thy most precious Blood; Thou has begun a good work
within me by Thy Holy Spirit; and now afresh take me to Thine heart and seal me
with Thy Spirit. May He enlighten, comfort, and sanctify me, teaching me to pray, and
opening the eyes of my heart that I may know Thee and the power of Thy resurrection, that as Thou hast ascended into the
heavens, so I may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with Thee
continually dwell, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen.
* *
*
21
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Matthew 6: l - 4
1. Take heed not to do your
righteousness before men, with a view to be seen by them: otherwise ye have no
reward with your Father who is in heaven.
Critics
are in general persuaded that we should read righteousness, instead
of alms in this
verse. The weight of evidence is greatly
in its favour.
Thus read, these words are a
general principle, applying to the three cases of ALMS, PRAYER, and FASTING.
The righteousness here spoken of
is not the imputed righteousness
which is received by faith. It is a righteousness which is to be done by the person possessed of imputed
righteousness. It answers, therefore,
nearly to good works. Thus Jesus says - Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works (v.16). And again
Suffer it be so now: for thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness (3: 15). He dispersed abroad,
he gave to the poor, his righteousness remaineth for ever (2 Cor. 9: 7-9). Our Lord appears to be now referring to His
previous sentiment - Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
He had given hints of the need
of a better righteousness than that of human obedience, in the blessing on the poor of spirit; and in the previous call of
all Israel to repentance, followed by the baptism into a greater than
Moses. But the discovery of the
imputation of Messiahs righteousness to the believer,
was a truth left for the Holy Ghost to testify, after Jesus ascent.
The good works which the Saviour
proceeds to specify, are not to be done before men. But had He not commanded
us to let our light shine before men? Is not
this inconsistent? No! There are two opposite tendencies in human nature,
to one of which one class of men and one period of time are prone, and another
class and men of another period to the opposite. The Spirit of God gives directions against
both these deviations. Some men are
swayed by fear, and would keep
secret their faith. Against these Jesus
requires the profession of faith, and the manifest doing of good works. But another class is prone to vain glory, and
to pride. Against
this danger our Lord is now arming us.
He forbids not the doing a good work in the presence of others; but it
is not to be performed from the motive of desiring their applause.
Do not your righteousness before men,
with
a view to be seen by them.* Our good deeds are to flow from us,
as light from a lamp. The lamp shines
not only when men are present, but when the room is empty. The witnessing eye of men is not the
regulating principle of its shining or not.
The
reason of this caution is added Otherwise ye have no reward with your Father
who is in heaven.
* Here is the same phrase which our Lord used in his warning
against heart-adultery, taken in the same sense, designating the motive of the
agent.
You have no reward with your Father. That is, none is being treasured up by Him
for you. And as this reward is to be given
at the kingdom, the Saviour uses the future tense in Luke 6: 35, Your reward shall be great. It is a phrase of similar meaning to that Your reward is great in heaven. Save, of course, that here the
negative is used, it is nearly equivalent to that other expression of our Lord,
Ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
In this passage, as in many
others, our Lord appeals to a sense of our own interests. The glory of God is the highest motive
possible. But the desire to act
prudently for ourselves, is a motive authorised and
enforced by our Lord.
We are
directed to seek reward in the kingdom. Seek first the
But is not the being moved by the hope of reward a mercenary affair?
Is not the love of God to prompt us?
We have
not to mend our Lords
words, but to receive and obey them. The Saviour was urged
to His wondrous work of self-devotion by a prospect of the prize before Him (Heb. 12: 2). It is not the only motive in the matter. There is no antagonism between the hope of
reward, and the love of God as our Father.
The Saviour, wherever in this Sermon He is speaking of reward, connects
it with the Fatherhood of God; so
little did He regard it as mean or mercenary. Could not a human father say to his children?
My dears, I am very desirous that you should know
the Scripture well. I wish you therefore
each one to learn me as many verses or chapters as you can, and say them to me
every morning. And observe, at the end
of a year I intend to give rewards in proportion to the number of chapters
learned by each of you.
Would there be anything
mercenary or mean in the childrens anxiety at once to please their parent, to know
the Scripture, and to win the reward?
Would there be any opposition or collision between the motives? Would not all conspire harmoniously to
produce the desired effect?
The principle which our Lord
lays down in this passage is one of great moment. He more than once offers it to our notice,
and in varied forms. Reward is an
alternative, or choice between two things. (1) You may either have it now, and from men. (2) Or
you may have it hereafter, and from God. But you cannot have both. Sense and passion say, Let me have my reward now! Faith says, Let me wait to receive it from God in His kingdom!
But Jesus here affirms, that if we seek our reward from men now, we have
here below all the reward we shall obtain.
Take heed then,
that you act not, so as to lose the future recompense!
Herein then lies the answer to Mr. Binneys
scheme of making the best of both worlds.
The thing cannot be done!
Have your reward here in wealth, mirth, affluence and reputation and you
cannot have it in the age of reward to come.
Blessed are ye poor says Jesus to his disciples, for
yours is the
Jesus holds up hypocrites, as
examples to be avoided in the performance of this duty. By the
hypocrites our Lord no doubt intends the Scribes and Pharisees. The very spirit of their religion was
hypocrisy, as He tells us (Luke 12: 1). All their works they
do to be seen of men (Matt. 23: 5). They were alms-givers
indeed, and this is a part of righteousness.
But if His disciples advanced not
beyond their standard, and gave with their motive, they would have no reward hereafter.
[2] The Saviour then exhibits the open vainglory of these
almsgivers. They sounded a trumpet before them.
Is this to be taken literally? or in a figurative sense?
1. There is no difficulty in understanding it in
the literal sense. The poor might have been
called together to receive gifts by sound of trumpet. It is not needful that this custom should be
testified to us from some other quarter, ere we believe it.
2. But it may be taken
figuratively. Suppose notice to be given
by one of the synagogue officials at the service of the sabbath The alms of Jonathan the son of Zedekiah, will be dispensed
at ten oclock tomorrow, in this place, when a talent of silver will be given
away to the poor, - and you have as public and ostentatious a notice,
as if given by sound of trump.
They chose out also the most
public places, as the spots for distribution of their bounty. Nothing less open to the eyes of men than the
place of religious assembly, or the street open to every passer-by, would suit
them.
This is Jesus first notice of
the failures of the Pharisees. He
reproves them here for errors in practice, not in theory. Their faults as teachers are not exhibited by Him in the Sermon,
but only as doers. In Matt. 23 He sets forth their faulty teaching. But
here, we, as doers of Gods will,
are set to exceed their deeds.
Their motive was thus manifested
that they may have glory of men.
Then comes
the sentence of the Saviour thereon.
Verily
I say unto you, they have their reward
at once.*
* This is the force of the [Greek] word
. The preposition denotes its being received off-hand. So
in a parallel place (Luke 6: 24) Alford considers it to mean, to have in full, exhaust.
Jesus adds His Verily I say unto you, where any momentous truth,
dependent on His testimony, is to be laid down.
He knows best, who
will be the Distributor of reward in the kingdom. He
therefore forewarns us; that we may believe, and glorify Him by obedience
to His words of grace, and find His words fulfilled hereafter.
Jesus admits,
that an effect did follow on this public dispensing of alms. They did gain what they sought. They won the
character of most liberal, most religious men. The beholders, and
the receivers of the alms spread throughout
They did reap earthly results,
as they sowed for them. But this was
hypocrisy. It was not religious: it was done with no reference to God, or
desire for His reward. But the only
true spirit of religion and almsgiving must be founded on that.
The difference between the Law
and the word of the kingdom is here
apparent. The Law promised present
reward as the fruit of
obedience. If thou shalt indeed obey his voice. ... There shall
nothing cast their young, or be barren in thy land: the number of thy days I
will fulfil (Ex. 23: 22, 26). If ye walk in my
statutes, and keep my commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in
due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall
yield their fruit (Lev. 26: 3, 4,
etc.) But now Jesus says in effect, Be not you of the number of those who have their reward now
on earth, and from men!
3. But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand is doing. 4. That thine alms may be
in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee.
When
thou doest alms. The time is left open,
at your disposal. Only remember, the
season is short: the night cometh, wherein these good works can no longer be done. And riches, even while we live, make
themselves wings, and flee away.
Let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand is doing. Tis not a proverb, but one of the
Saviours strong and beautiful expressions. In taking money out of a purse both hands are
ordinarily employed. But the Saviour
would have His disciples ways such a contrast to the doings of the hypocrites,
that, as if the right hand would suffice for the taking out the money and
bestowing it, He would have the left not to be employed, as if it had eyes, and
would be aware of the deed of alms. The
hypocrite would have all others know his good works. The
disciple should conceal it, if possible, even from the knowledge of the
parts of himself engaged in
the act.
Hence, methinks, the proceedings
of our Religious Societies in printing the names, addresses, and gifts of their
contributors, are infringing the spirit of this admonition.
And whereas the hypocrite chose
the public place as the scene of his alms deeds, the disciple should select the
private spot, that his alms may be in secret.
It is enough for the child, that the Fathers eye is on him.
And then follows the blest
consequence of such obedience. God will
approve. It will be evident to yourself
and to Him, that you are no hypocrite; that you intrust
the fact to His eye to note, and to His hand to reward. Good
deeds done from right motive, are to be recompensed in
the kingdom. There the cup of cold
water only given because he is a disciple of the Lord Jesus, shall not go
unrewarded.
God himself shall reward deeds
done for His eye. He will reward them
openly. For
we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of the Christ, that each may
receive the things done by the body, according to what he did, whether it be
good or evil (Greek) (2 Cor. 5: 10).
The Pharisees then would be
excluded from the millennial kingdom, as having had their good things here, and
their reward now. But disciples acting
as Jesus thus bids, would be admitted into it.
Thus the Saviour points out what
is to be avoided as destructive of reward, what to be done in order to obtain
it. Christians, go and do as your Master
commands! Give to this subject the place
in your hearts and lives which it held in the teaching of our Lord and His
apostles.
Said the trumpet of the
hypocrite Come all
Christian! is
this new to you? If you are wise, you
will make room! Look, builder, at the plan of the
great Architect! You must take down that
gable of your house, and build it afresh!
See you have left out a whole wing of the building! Look at the plan! Pull down whatever stands in the way! Give grace its first and foremost place.
But both Jesus and His apostles speak oft of our deeds and reward. Do not think yourself wiser than they.
Believer, are you suffering
persecution for His name? The hope of
reward is given to cheer you, to stay the flowing tear, to lift the heavy
heart. Rejoice!
leap for joy, your reward is great in heaven! Great as your sorrow on earth, aye far
greater! For it
worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Is it difficult to act out these
words of the Redeemer? True, but reward
is in proportion to difficulty. Is your
toil for Christ unpaid now? Do you often
receive but trial and sorrow, where you are seeking to do good to your
brethren? Persevere; a true view of your
own interests, as well as love to Christ, would keep you engaged at service
which is not paid for now. Entrust your
work to the memory and generosity of the liberal Son of David.
Sow on! the
more you give, the larger the amount of seed you sow, the greater the
reaping. There are no frosts there to blight,
no rains to rot, no enemy to cut and carry off the harvest, ere it reaches your
barns. Go on! In due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Behold, I come
quickly, and my reward is with me to give to each according as his work shall
be! (Rev. 22: 12). Our God becomes the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him (Heb. 11: 6).
Be patient for your reward! A
wealthy but niggardly gentleman was waited on by the advocates of a charitable
institution, for which they solicited his aid, reminding him of the divine
declaration (Prov. 19: 17), He that hath
pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord; and that
which he hath given will he pay again. To this he profanely replied, The security, no doubt, is good, and the interest liberal;
but I cannot give such long credit! Poor man! the day of reckoning was nearer than he thought. Not a fortnight passed, ere his soul was
required of him.
But some, I fear, do not give as
Christ here assumes His saints would do.
What think you? You have an acre of good land there ready ploughed. What crop have you put into it? None! What! none! No! the seed costs too much. Of course then you do not expect any harvest? Oh yes, I do: as good a crop as my neighbours? Is not
that farmer a fool? Mind
you dont imitate him then!
Dotard, rouse thee, from thy sleep
Sow thou must, if thou wouldst reap!
- ROBERT GOVETT
-------
22
A CHRISTIANS SINS
That the Word of God, over and
over again warns professing Christians of the truth that sin will and does
separate them from God is of little value or interest to those fundamental
preachers who have built their
ministerial popularity and success around entertaining, frivolous and shallow preaching.
They have forgotten, or at least lost sight of the fact, that apostolic
warning given to Timothy (2 Timothy 4) urges
(nay charges) them with the responsibility of reproving, rebuking and exhorting
with all long-suffering and doctrine of
their audience.
Where is the reproving of Christians in our present-day pulpits? Where do we find any rebuking of Christians
along Biblical lines? Where can we find
any doctrinal and Scriptural exhortation along the lines of which Paul speaks
here in 2 Timothy 4 - exhortation, warning
against sin, selfishness, shallowness and worldliness - a condition which
characterises the everyday living of a great mass of professing Christians,
even in our fundamental and conservative Churches?
Indeed, when we read verse 3 of this chapter, we are given the reason for this type of
entertaining and shallow ministry. The
apostle Paul says:- And
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their
own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Let me give this to you in literal form from
the Greek:- For
there will be a time when they will not endure the healthful teaching, but
having itching ears (itching as to hearing) they will for themselves heap up teachers
according to their own desires (fastidious
tastes): and will turn
away their ears (the hearing of their ears) from the truth, and will turn aside to the fables (stories, myths). This statement does not have reference to
those who prefer liberalism or modernism or other false teaching alone. It
includes also all Christians who are determined to have their own way, living
shamefully in sin, shallowness, worldliness and for self alone. It includes
all Christians - preachers and church members alike - who are determined to
disobey any part or portion of the whole truth of Gods Word. It makes no difference how fundamental, how
orthodox, how evangelical they may think they are - if they cannot endure healthful teaching from Gods Word - then this Pauline statement applies to
them.
The Scriptural teaching in this
Pauline statement is so strong that it shows us all too plainly what too many
of our fundamental preachers fail to see -
that men do not fall away into
liberalism and modernism in one single step.
There is a long process to this falling
away which begins when
Christians fall into sin that is not only permitted and tolerated, but remains
unconfessed and unforsaken. Then follows a conscious or unconscious denial of the reality of punishment, and a hearty acceptance of the
age-old lie of the ever ready deceiver, the Devils words, Ye shall not surely die. And, together as pastor and flock, many of
our evangelical and fundamental churches are echoing to the sinning Christians,
Yes, ye shall surely not die. You will lose your reward, but you will still
be caught up to meet Christ in the air.
What distortion of the Scriptures!
The Word of God plainly teaches that the soul
that sinneth shall surely die!
There are no ifs or ands about it. God never excuses [wilful,
(deliberate)] sin - never in the unregenerate
sinner, and never in the regenerate or
Christian sinner. Of course, there
is the provision of 1 John 1: 9, - If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But that forgiveness of sin requires confession of sin as a
prerequisite. And confession of sin implies and involves repentance - godly
sorrow because of their commission. And there can be no true confession and
repentance of sin without a willing forsaking of sin. This is very clear and plain, for it is
understandable that there can be no
cleansing from sin by God until there has been first a willing forsaking of sin
by the Christian sinner. Oh, how
patiently God has warned His people about this great and solemn truth over and
over again! How clear and plain are the
statements in His Word!
But in times of apostasy, men with itching
ears heap unto themselves teachers who tickle their itching ears with the assurance that God
does not punish as severely today as Christians in former generations believed
that the Bible taught, and so we have our fundamental, conservative and Bible-believing churches (so-called) filled today
with multitudes with itching ears who turn away from sound doctrine
(healthful teaching) - to entertaining, shallow preaching
in the pulpit which helps them to forget that God will surely punish them for their
sins, their selfishness, their worldliness, and their disobedience to His Word.
More than this, is the fact,
that the preachers who would and do preach
the Word, and are urgent in season,
out of season; and who do reprove, rebuke and exhort with all long
suffering and doctrine - are not only
unpopular but being crowded out of our so-called fundamental, conservative and
evangelical churches. Moreover,
Bible teachers and evangelists who expound the word of God and thunder out the
warnings of God against sin are given little or no place in these churches
today.
Again, there are pastors in some
of these churches, who would reprove and rebuke members in these churches for
sin, and who would exercise Scriptural discipline in cases of unrepentant and
unconfessed sin; but who dare not
because it would mean the loss of their job. They dare not - because leaders in the local church would not tolerate or support
them in the exercise of that Scriptural discipline; and they dare not, because of the unsympathetic attitude which
ecclesiastical leaders in the denominational machinery hold toward all pastors
who would dare to clean house - and which
unsympathetic attitude would close all doors in that denomination to these
pastors for further service. And
so, we have ever-increasing apostasy
- apostasy that you cannot blame entirely upon the modernists and liberals.
And with the increasing apostasy there is an ever increasing deadness,
spiritual deadness, in our churches.
Many earnest Christians have been praying for a revival. But we are being told today that the days of revivals are past. But this is only a smoke-screen
- to cover up the fact that many
preachers and churches are unwilling to pay the cost of a heaven-sent
revival. The days of revival are not
past, so far as God is concerned! He is
an unchanging God! God is not willing
that any should perish. For I am the Lord, I
change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed (Mal. 3: 6). And again and again, He calls in love and
mercy, - Come now, let us reason together.
... if ye be willing and obedient
(Isa. 1: 10-20).
Behold, the Lords hand is not shortened that
He cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that He cannot hear: But your sins have separated
you from your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will
not hear (Isa. 59:1, 2).
Return
unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith
the Lord of hosts (Mal. 3: 7).
No, Gods day of revivals is not
past! But a heaven-sent revival costs,
and costs very dearly! If you want a
revival, you will have to pay the price: there is no other way. What is Gods way for a revival? What is the
price He has placed upon a heaven-sent revival?
You will find the blueprint of it in 2 Chronicles 7: 14. - [If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and will
heal their land: NIV.]
- H. B. SANDINE, D.D.
-------
APOSTASY
The degree of apostasy already reached in
nominal Churches is incredible. The World Council of Churches has appointed
Dr. T. C. Chao as President of the
World Council in
* *
*
The inevitable judgment of God on a world of
darkening sin is well expressed by Goeoge
Fulham, (Times, Jan. 15. 1951) Bishop of North and
* *
*
[In June, 1950 Dr. A. W. Smith, of
The present outlook is
black, and the future is even darker. Speed has reduced the world to the size of a
small garden plot, where all can see
each other, shout at each other, and smite
each other. Nations can no longer live apart, and yet they cannot live in harmony.
There is a clash of class,
colour, and creed; with no way of escape.
There is apostasy, anarchy, and
confusion. The sanctions, traditions and restraints of the past are gone; and we
live in a lawless, godless age.
* *
*
23
DARKNESS ENDING IN DAWN
(Written
by NORDENBERG, an eminent engineer,
in
I was appointed an officer in
General Mannerheims Army. It was a terrible time: a number of Red prisoners
were under my guard and seven of them were to be shot on Monday. I will never forget the preceding
Sunday. The seven men were kept in the
basement of the Town Hall, and in the passage my men stood at attention with
their rifles. The atmosphere was filled
with hatred, my soldiers were drunk with success and taunted their prisoners,
who swore and beat on the walls with their bleeding fists. Others called for their wives and children
who were far away. At dawn they were all
to die.
Then something happened. One of the men doomed to death began to
sing. He is
mad, was everybodys first thought; but I had noticed that this man, Koskinen, had
not raved and cursed. Quietly he sat on
his bench, a picture of utter despair. Koskinen sang rather waveringly at first, then his voice grew stronger and became natural and
free. All the prisoners turned and
looked at him as he sang:-
Safe in
the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast,
There by
His love oer shaded, Sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark tis
the voice of angels, Borne in a song to me,
Over the
fields of jasper, Over the crystal sea.
Over and over again he sung that
verse, and when he finished everyone was quiet for a few minutes, until a wild
looking man broke out with Where did you get that,
you fool? Are you trying to make us
religious?
Koskinen looked
at his comrades with tear-filled eyes as he quietly said, Comrades, will you listen to me for a minute? You asked me where I got this song; it was
from the Salvation Army. I heard it
three weeks ago; my mother sang about Jesus and prayed to Him. He stopped a little while as if to gather
strength. Then he rose to his feet,
being the soldier that he was, looked straight in front of him, and continued,
It is cowardly to hide your beliefs: the God my
mother believed in is now my God. I
cannot tell how it happened. I lay awake
last night, and suddenly saw mothers face before me, and it reminded me of the
song that I had heard. I felt I had to
find the Saviour and hide in Him. Then I
prayed, like the thief on the cross, that Christ would forgive me and cleanse
my sinful soul and make me ready to stand before Him Whom I should meet so
soon. It was a strange night, there were times when everything seemed to shine around
me. Verses from the Bible and the Song
Book came to my mind. They brought
messages of the crucified Saviour and the Blood that cleanses from sin, and the
Home He has prepared for us. I thanked
Him, accepted Him, and since then this verse has been sounding inside me. It was Gods answer to my prayer. I could no longer keep it to myself; within a
few hours I shall be with the Lord, saved by grace.
Koskinens face
shone as it by an inward light. His
comrades sat there quietly. He himself
stood there transfixed. My soldiers were
listening to what this Red Revolutionary had to say. You are right, Koskinen, said one of his comrades at last, If only I knew there was mercy for me too, but these hands
of mine have shed blood, and I have reviled God and trampled on all that is
holy. Now I realise that there is a
hell, and that it is the proper place for me. He sank to the ground with despair on his
face. Pray for me, Koskinen,
he groaned, to-morrow I shall die, and my soul will
be in the hands of the Devil; and these two Red Soldiers went down on
their knees and prayed for each other.
It was no long prayer, but it reached Heaven; and we who listened to it
forgot our hatred; it melted in the light of Heaven; for here were two men who
were soon to die, seeking reconciliation with their God. A door leading into the Invisible stood ajar,
and we were entranced by the sight. Let
me tell you shortly that by the time it was four oclock, all Koskinens comrades had followed his example and began to
pray, the change in the atmosphere was indescribable. Some of them sat on the floor, some on the
benches, some wept quietly, others talked of spiritual things. None of us had a Bible, but the Spirit of God
spoke to us all. Then someone remembered
those at home, and there followed an hour of intense letter writing.
Confessions and tears were in those letters.
The
night had almost gone and day was dawning.
No one had had a moment of sleep.
Sing the song once more for us, Koskinen, said one of them, and you should have
heard them sing, not only that song, but verses and choruses long
forgotten. The soldiers on guard united
with them. The power of God had touched
all.
The
clock struck six. How I wished I could
beg grace for these men, but I knew it was impossible. Between two rows of
soldiers they marched out to the place of execution. One of them asked to be allowed to sing Koskinens song once again, and permission was
granted. Then they asked to be allowed
to die with uncovered faces, and with hands to Heaven they sang with might and
main, Safe in the arms of Jesus. When the
last line had died out, the Lieutenant gave the word, Fire!
and the seven Red soldiers fought their last fight. We inclined our heads in silent prayer.
What happened in the hearts of
the others I do not know, but as far as I was concerned, I was a new man from
that hour. I had met Christ in one of
His lowliest and youngest disciples, and I had seen enough to realize that I
too could be His.
-------
CASTING OUR BURDENS ON GOD
I believed the Word. I rested on it and practised it. I took God at His Word. A stranger, a foreigner in
Now, this is not, as some have
said, because I am a man of great mental power or endowed with energy and
perseverance - these are not the reasons.
It is because I have confided in
God; because I have sought God and He has cared for the institution which,
under His direction, has one hundred and seventeen schools with masters and
mistresses, and other departments of which I have told you before. The difficulties in such an undertaking have
been gigantic, but I read that they that
put their trust in the Lord shall not be ashamed. Nearly twenty years ago a beloved brother
from
My
dear brother, I said, I have always rolled
the burden on the Lord. I do not carry
one-hundredth part of it. The burden
comes to me, and I roll it back to Him.
I do not carry the burden. And
now, in my seventy-sixth year, I have physical strength and mental vigour as
great as when I was a young man in the University, studying and preparing Latin
orations. I am just as vigorous as at
that time.
How comes this? Because in the last
half-century of labour Ive been able, with
the simplicity of a little child, to rely upon God. I have had my trials, but I have laid hold on
God, and so it has come that I have been sustained. It is not only permission, but positive
command that He gives us to cast the burden upon Him. Oh,
let us do it, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall
sustain thee. Day by day I do it. This morning again sixty matters in
connection with the church, of which I am a pastor, I brought before the Lord,
and thus it is day by day, and year by year; ten years, twenty years, thirty
years, forty years. And now, my beloved
brothers and sisters, come with your burdens, the burdens of your business,
your profession, your trials and difficulties, and you will find help.*
- GEORGE
MULLER
* *
*
* In the lifetime of Muller
over ten thousand orphans were provided for; since his death many thousands
have been given a start in life. Many of
them are ministers and missionaries and full-time Christian workers in many
lands. In June, 1944, the legacy of Lady
A.E.T., of twenty-seven thousand pounds was received, which, by far, is the
greatest single sum ever donated to the orphanage.
Goeorg Muller to the last hour of his life,
said, Since I undertook
this task, I have never lost a moments sleep, or had the least shadow of doubt
or worry. I took God at His Word, and
have proved Him ever faithful, ever sure.
-------
24
THE LAST, FIRST
He was in the final stage of
leprosy, and was clad in a bit of burlap and a scrap of matting, tied round him
with string.
He had not a relative in the
world, and had long wandered about in utter wretchedness, so it was a new and
strange experience to be treated kindly and invited to meetings in the brick
church.
He settled down in the room allotted
to him, and the Chinese pastor visited him there. After having told him the story slowly that
he might take it in, he asked if he did not wish to become a Christian. No, he said, he did not! Or rather, he could not do so. And why not?
asked the other gently. Because, he began falteringly, you say your Jesus died for me. He gave Himself for me. I have nothing to give Him in return for a
gift like that.
The Chinese idea of propriety is
that when you receive a gift, you must make one in return, however small, as a recognition of the kindness. He wants no gift
except yourself, said the pastor. But this was too strange for belief,
altogether impossible and unimaginable, so the visitor had to leave him
unconvinced. At the door he said, When Seegu
(Teacher - Auntie) comes, she will tell you just as I
have done, that Jesus wants you.
The Seegu
came not long afterward for a day of dispensing and general inspection. All the lepers gathered round, about a
hundred of them, and they were as eager as children to tell her of the new
inmate who could not believe the Gospel, because it was too good to be
true. There he was in the midst, ready
to add his own word.
They
say He wants me, he broke out incredulously, but
how could He possibly want an ill-smelling, rotten old leper like me? It is not so, Seegu,
is it?
My friend told me she felt at
that moment as if eternal issues hung on her reply. A human soul was at stake! Could she so speak as to convince Him of the
love of God? At last she said - and I
know the divine love shone out of her eyes as she spoke He sent me all the way from
He learned to love the word of
God, and the Gospel hymns they sang in the church. Chiefly he enjoyed crooning to himself the
song about the Fathers house, where the many
mansions be.
He was never tired of telling the story of the Cross. Some thought him crazy, and said so. He is always
talking about somebody who loves him and wants him. Now how could anyone ever want such a poor
creature as he is? But it is a good
thing he has that notion, for it seems to help him bear his pain.
The days of his pain were soon
to end for him, however. He lay in the
little room awaiting the Home-call, and Miss
Simpson went to see him. By this
time both feet had dropped off, and both eyes were gone. But he could talk with her of his happy
prospect. His only regret was that he
had not been able to do more for his Lord.
He had learned the news so late, when already he was hardly fit to move
about. When I reach the Fathers House, he
said, will Jesus blame me, Seegu,
for not getting any more, or will He remember I was just a rotten old
leper? I only got fourteen. Only
got fourteen! What did
the old man mean? Was his mind
wandering? Oh no; he meant that he had
only won fourteen souls for Christ during the two years that he had known Him.
In the great day that is coming,
when many that are first shall be last and the last first, will not that dear
old saint be likely to take precedence of nine-tenths of professing
Christians? What percentage of the
members of our well-organised churches can say, after years of experience and
opportunity, I have led fourteen souls to Christ? Perhaps
it might be more practical to ask how many of us have ever brought in a
single one!
- CHRISTINE
TINLING
-------
LEPROSY: THE DISEASE
Leprosy is a disease caused by the bacterium
called Mycobacterium leprae. This
bacterium affects the bodys nervous system, concentrating on the cooler parts
of the body. Affected areas are skin, eyes,
and muscles in the hands and feet. There
are two different initial reactions to the disease; some people develop clearly
defined pale skin patches indicating the bacterium are isolated in one area. In more extreme cases where the patient has
no resistance to the disease, there is very little definition between the
patches and the healthy skin. With this
type of case, it is much more difficult to detect the disease in its early
stages.
As the disease progresses the symptoms only get
worse: numbness in hands and feet make the patient vulnerable to cuts and
infections that cant be felt, stiffened muscles cause clawed hands, loss of
the blinking reflex leads to total blindness, and in some cases amputation of
fingers, an arm or leg is necessary.
Leprosy is thought to be infectious, transmitted
through airborne droplets, such as when someone sneezes or coughs. But most people about 95% of the population
are naturally immune. Yet there are
over 1,100 new cases detected every day.
People who contact leprosy are affected both
physically and socially.
People with
leprosy are ostracized, shamed and forced out of their communities and
homes. The person with the disease is
usually so humiliated and frightened they go into hiding, failing to get
treatment as the disease worsens.
Although the disease is not yet fully
understood, there is a cure. A blend of
drugs known as Multi-Drug Therapy [MTD] is effective in killing all known
strains of leprosy bacteria.
* *
*
I often find myself
wondering, writes A. Colin
Ferguson, just why did Jesus touch the man with
leprosy.
With so many of His
other healing miracles, touching the patient wasnt either necessary or even
attempted. We read in Mark 1 that when
Jesus met the man with leprosy he was filled with compassion. He felt an overwhelming need to respond to
the mans suffering. Jet Jesus knew that
it was against the law to touch someone who was unclean.
So it was no accident
that Jesus touched him and in so doing, Jesus took the first step in what has
been a long battle against stigma and ignorance. All of us are made in the image of God for
some, that image may have become distorted through suffering and illness. As Jesus looked at the man, He still saw in
him the image of His Father. For us it
can be very hard sometimes to see Jesus in people who disagree with us, who
annoy us, who seem to be against us.
Brother, sister, let
me serve you; let me be as Christ to you
writes Richard Gilliard in his hymn
what we are really saying is let me give you His love, in word and in deed.
We reach out, as Jesus
did, to touch, to love, to care
and we do so only because He has shown us
how.
May you be blessed as
you bless others in His name.
* *
*
25
THE FIRST RESURRECTION
As we draw rapidly nearer to the
breaking tombs, we are met by a pregnant and most arresting fact. A select resurrection from the dead has
already occurred. For we read:- The earth did quake - a shock such as shall end the
world, and dissolve the earth and the
rocks natures hardest adamant, and the very foundations of the
Holy City were rent; AND THE TOMBS WERE OPENED
(Matt. 27: 51); - as a consequence of the
rending earthquake, and in the very moment of the crucifixion, to show that the
saints rising was the fruit of Christs dying.
The voice of the dying Son of God was heard in the tombs, and they that
heard, lived: the loud death-cry like the shout before the sepulchre of
Lazarus, penetrated the halls of Hades with the life-shock of creative power.* If the Lord Jesus emptied tombs in
the very moment of His dying, at the apex of His weakness, how much more shall
He liberate the dead when He comes on the clouds of heaven, in the apex of His
power? Earthquakes are the travail-pangs
with which that with which earth labours - the holy dead - are born afresh (Is. 26: 19) out of death; and it is immediately
after the enormous earthquake in Rev. 6: 12
- that which our Saviour calls the beginning of birth-pangs
(Matt. 24: 8) - that we find the
countless multitude in the heavens (Rev.
7: 9).** I will
ransom them from
the power of the grave (Hos. 13: 14) - and the moment the ransom had
been paid, the graves power snapped: the shock that will shatter the world
will only liberate the redeemed.
* The type
lies in perhaps the most extraordinary miracle ever wrought; for no sooner did
the bones of Elisha - so steeped are even the bones of Gods anointed in the Holy Ghost - touch the dead Moabite than he sprang to life (2 Kings 13: 21); the death of Gods Holy One is the
life of the dead.
** Everything which shall yet occur in
the fullest extent in the Parousia was thus indicated partially in Christs
First Advent (Olshausen).
A First Resurrection
And now, we see an actual
historical example of what is foretold in prophecy as still to come to pass - a select
resurrection from among the dead. And MANY - not
all saints: not only was it a
resurrection in which there were no wicked, but a resurrection from which
the vast majority of the saints (so far as we can judge) were absent bodies of the SAINTS
- the only place in the Gospels where the disciples are called saints, because blessed and holy (saintly) is he that hath part in the first resurrection (Rev. 20: 6); and only on distinguished saints, and saints
distinguished for their saintliness, could the honour of ascending with the Son
of God be conferred.* Our Lord alone is the solitary Sheaf (Lev. 23: 10), the
first-begotten from the dead (Col. 1: 18): so
that while the earthquake burst the graves, our Lords flinging open the gates
of Hades as He came up liberated the souls of the dead. The graves were unlocked by the crucifixion:
the occupants were summoned up after the resurrection.**
So we learn, by a vivid example before our eyes, that all resurrection
is graded: the only Holy One of God rises first and alone; after His
resurrection, these; after these,
resurrections yet to come: until at last arrives (with no honour in it) the
resurrection of the wicked.* For whilst the
Incarnation ensures the tomb-emptying of the whole of mankind (1 Cor. 15 : 21, 22), priority in blessing involves
priority in issuing from the grave. Observe
the extraordinary emphasis laid by the Holy Spirit on resurrection being
physical. Not saints that had fallen asleep were raised, but the BODIES of
saints that had fallen asleep were raised: no phantoms, no ghosts,
no unsubstantial visitants from the spirit-world - such as Spiritualists have
daily contact with, and are pressing upon us as if they were resurrections -
but the bodies which had been laid in the tombs; the bodies that had died, rose
- thousands of years (if Old Testament martyrs like Abel were among them) after
death. Miraculous power will restore
even as it cures: and his flesh came again - for in leprosy the flesh disappears,
together with whole limbs like unto the
flesh of a little child (2 Kings 5: 14) -
sweet, sound, pure.
* There must have been some ground of selection; and it will hardly
be contended that the carnal among the dead saints were chosen. All emptied graves were refilled in the Old Testament,
yet a better resurrection was known and sought.
Women received their dead by a resurrection - a
temporary resuscitation of the body: and
others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance; that - as a
golden goal they might obtain - for it depended on fidelity even under torture
a BETTER
resurrection (Heb. 11: 35). Thus the First Resurrection was a constant prize before the eyes of Old
Testament saints, so precious that they were willing to undergo torture to
attain it.
** The words after His resurrection
belong to the whole sentence, not merely coming forth (Alford).
[* NOTE. Always keep in mind: the word wicked
is also descriptive of some regenerate believers! What business is it
of mine, says the inspired apostle, to judge
those OUTSIDE the church? Are you not to judge those INSIDE?
Expel the WICKED
man from among you: (1 Cor. 5: 12, 13); Matt.
18: 32-35. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: How long will this WICKED community grumble against me:
(Num. 14: 14: 27, NIV.)]
Unnamed Saints
So resurrections still to occur
will simply be a continuation of an already historic event. For coming forth out
of the tombs, they entered into the holy city - an exquisite
forecast of the flight of the risen into
* Since Scripture holds no hint of any spiritual change in
Hades, there is no ground to suppose
that saints already found unworthy to ascend with Christ will, at the next
breaking of the tombs, suddenly be found worthy: nevertheless, as saints by
calling if not by practise, ascending from Hades as distinct from Death (Rev. 26: 13) after the First Resurrection (that Age) is over, their names are revealed (Rev. 20: 15) in the Book of Life.
Rapt Saints
Suddenly the veil drops no word
is uttered of the next step in their history: they are simply gone. It is not credible that they died again. For it would have been no true proof of our
Lords resurrection, nor a true sample of the
First Resurrection incorruptibility - had they died afresh*: nor, as a matter of fact, were
their bodies ever found on earth as corpses, like that of Lazarus: nor is there
any record of God having buried
them, as He buried Moses. Moreover, all
cases of mere resuscitation, the temporary suspension of death, lived out their
restored life on earth, and amongst men; and it is hardly conceivable - and
there is no adequate purpose visible - that these should have died again,
thirty or forty days after, when our Lord ascended. Moreover, it was as saints they rose, in
honour and glory; not as Lazarus, merely to show forth the power of Christ:
they were Enochs, who was not, for God TOOK him
(Gen. 5: 24). So, from where Elijah came for the
Transfiguration, thither doubtless these saints were rapt; and the very
discussion of what became of them is an exact reproduction of the search that
was made for Elijah by the sons of the prophets. The mystery that enshrouds them is the
mystery that is coming again. Augustine,
followed by a host of expositors, supposes that they died again; Origen and Jerome, followed by a still greater
host, assert that they ascended with Christ to glory.**
Efforts have also been made by various expositors to ascertain their
identity. Who
are these that fly as the doves to their windows? (Isa. 60: 8) asks
the Jewish prophet, in amazed and questioning wonder. We hunt as vainly for their names or their
corpses as the band of searchers scoured the mountains for Elijah. They
sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found (Elijah) not;
and Elisha said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go
not? (2 Kings 2: 17). No human searcher will ever find the man
whom God has rapt. Enoch
was NOT FOUND, because GOD translated him: for before his
translation he hath had witness borne to him that he had been well pleasing
unto God (Heb. 11: 5).
* If it had been a mortal life, it
would not have been a proof of a perfect resurrection (CALVIN). Of those in the First Resurrection our Lord
says:- They that are accounted worthy to attain to that age, and the resurrection from the
dead - for that age and the resurrection from the
dead are synonymous terms: it is not the mere act of rising, but the
permanent state of resurrection - neither marry, nor are given in marriage: FOR NEITHER CAN THEY DIE ANY MORE
(Luke 20: 35). It is those
only who [attain
to that age] inherit the [Millennial] Kingdom (1 Cor. 15: 50) of whom Paul says that they rise incorruptible:
temporary resuscitations for presentation
at the Bema, found in the Book of Life (Rev. 20: 15),
are ultimately raised to eternal bliss.
**The survival of Davids sepulchre unbroken (Acts 2: 29) goes far to prove it an exclusively [future] Christian resurrection, composed, of companions of our Lord deceased.
A Reaping in Groups
Thus it has been established by
actual historic fact that the first resurrection is not a general rising, but a
reaping in batches or groups, one of which has already actually occurred.*
Nature has its own lovely little parable. The snowdrop is the first flower to herald
the rebirth of nature in spring; it breaks up through the hard, frozen ground,
and it always comes up alone; only one species is known, a bulb which, falling
asleep, awakes first, breaking up through the ground before winter has left the earth; drooping in
perfected humility, it is clothed with an inner cloak of green - the colour of
mercy; and it appears in a garment of snowy white, with just the touch of
yellow in its antlers to hint the crown of gold. Thou
hast a
few
names in
* The First Resurrection is not one
summary event, but is made up of various resurrections and translations,
receiving its last additions somewhere about the final overthrow of the Beast
and his armies (J. A. Seiss, D.D.)
** White heads of snowdrops have
already shown themselves upon a grass bank in
Walking With Christ
Now the Holy Ghost definitely uses
this thought for the First Resurrection.
For - says
the Apostle, picking up the thread of the newly baptized walking the
clean-washed life; and now revealing the consequences of such holiness of walk
if we have become fellow-plants - seeds
sown together, germinating together, and organically grown into one: if we have
become one and the same plant (Godet), interlocked until we interlace in the likeness of His death - its
visible emblem or picture, which is baptism we
shall be - in
the future (fellow‑plants) of His
resurrection (Rom. 6: 5) -
companions with Christ in the resurrection of glory.* The good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom (Matt. 13: 38); and as the burying of a seed is its planting, so we were buried with Him - seeds
planted in the same seedbed through baptism - the
baptismal trench cut in the ground is the seedbed into death: THAT - to
the intent that like as Christ was raised from the
dead, so we also (Rom. 6: 4). No farmer ever buried a seed in order to get
a crop more surely than God buries His child with a view to resurrection. So Paul
elsewhere shows that our body is a seed deliberately planted to
grow again; for of the
resurrection to glory he says,- Thou sowest a bare grain; and God
giveth to each seed a body of its own (1 Cor. 15: 37); and so
in the ritual grave the eye of faith sees not only the burying of the bulb, but
the springing of the bloom.
* The reference to the resurrection of the body is altogether
authorised by v. 9. if
we regard the new life as continuing to the bodily resurrection - therefore an
ethical and physical resurrection
(Lange). So Tertullian, Chrysostom, etc.
The
[Greek] word
occurs more than forty times in the New Testament,
and always in one uniform and exclusive sense - the coming up of the fallen
body from the grave (Seiss). So also Govett:- We are already partakers in
baptism of the likeness of Christs
resurrection: what we hope for is the reality.
For now we reach the grand ethical secret of select
resurrection:- Knowing
this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that - as
the great purpose of our salvation the
body of sin might be destroyed (crippled,
disabled), that so we should no longer be in
bondage to sin: such only are ACCOUNTED WORTHY to attain
to that age, and THE RESURRECTION FROM
THE DEAD (Luke 21: 36). The Christian ought to live now as if already
risen, his old man steadily dying in crucifixion; and if he so lives, earlier emergence from his tomb will prove his earlier
sanctity. Yet the rite of baptism, while it alone can force no plant up through
the frozen ground, is of enormous
consequence. For he cannot be
regarded as with the saintliness of select resurrection who gives a steady and long
refusal to the initial act of faith: if a man contend
in the games, is not crowned, except he have contended LAWFULLY
(2 Tim. 2: 5).* For blessed - each of the
seven beatitudes of the Apocalypse embraces only a selection of believers and HOLY is he** - not the redeemed corporately, enjoying a collective privilege
founded on grace, but an individual attaining through personal holiness THAT HATH PART IN THE
FIRST RESURRECTION (Rev. 2O: 6).*** Thus taught almost the earliest
sub-apostolic Christian known to us, an actual disciple of the Apostle John:- If we please Him in this present Age, we shall receive also the Age to come; and if we
walk worthy of Him, we shall also reign together with Him
(Polycarp).****
* So (in the type) the Red Sea had to be crossed; and while
Israel as a whole failed to enter the Land, no one did enter except through
baptism in the sea (1 Cor. 10: 2). So our Saviour says:-
Except a man be born of WATER and
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
** Not
only happy, but holy; he is in the highest degree worthy of the name of Saint
(H. B. Swete,
D.D.)
*** Holiness, conformity to the mind and
will of God, is the condition of this resurrection beatitude. The rewards of Christ are not mere external
things, but inward and spiritual possessions. Therefore to say that we shall be content with
the lowest place in heaven may sound like humility and Christian meekness; but it means being content with less of
likeness to Christ, less of His Spirit, less of His love. The share in the first resurrection is
according to these things; and how can we be content with but little of them? It is
not humility, it is a wrong to Christ Himself, to be
indifferent to this reward. Oh,
then, seek, strive, pray for his holiness of heart and life, that
you may be of those blessed ones who have part in the first resurrection!
(Pulpit Commentary.)
**** Since Polycarp
three views have prevailed on the Kings associated with Christ in the
Millennial Kingdom:- some holding that they are all the saints; others that they are only
the martyrs; others still, that they are the specially faithful, including the
martyrs (Lange). The inspired forecast (Rev. 20: 4) certainly
lays enormous emphasis on the martyrs, who compose three out of the four divisions
of Thrones, and to all the martyred our Lord assures the First Resurrection (Matt. 16: 25): nevertheless other passages, while
confining it to overcomers within the Church (Rev. 3: 21), and
the early rapt (Rev. 12: 5), embrace -
happily for us - more than martyrs (Luke 20: 35).
In a
preliminary period of the Kingdom of glory upon earth there will be thrones and
cities (Luke 19: 17, 19), and, for a time yet, first and last: to be first rather
than last - to attain to the first resurrection - after this we ought all to strive. There will indeed remain, in eternity, also
the less exalted members of the one Body (Stier). Dr. Swete, though no Millenarian, also so understands John:- The limitation of the First
Resurrection is to the martyrs, and (as a second class) to those who have suffered reproach, boycotting, and
imprisonment without winning the martyrs crown. Also Lange:- The truly perfected Christians, the approved ones, with all the
martyrs.
Select Resurrection
Our Lords own up-springing is
wonderfully portrayed. Defined to be the Son of God by the power (according to the
Spirit of holiness) of the SELECT RESURRECTION from among the dead
(Rom. 1: 4): AS FIRST of the select resurrection from among the dead He is about to
announce light to the people (of
* Govetts
translation, which reads
as one word. It seems a just (if startling) inference from Dan. 12: 2, that a select resurrection of wicked
souls will also antedate their general rising - certainly including Nero (Rev. 13: 18), and probably Judas (Rev. 13: 11) - as firstfruits of the damned,
stamped, by prior resurrection, as ripe in wickedness as the risen saints are
mature in grace.
The Cost
We now arrive at the supreme
passage on the select resurrection from the dead. All that Paul once valued, he says, he cast overboard
as so much dead cargo; I do count them but dung: and why? if by any means - if possible (Meyer): if anyhow (Eadie) I may attain - the word attain means to arrive at the end of a
journey unto the select resurrection from among the dead (Phil. 3: 11); - that is, not the
resurrection of the dead, but a resurrection out from among the dead, leaving the rest [of the souls in Hades, and their
bodies] sleeping in their graves. The
rest of the dead lived not until the
thousand years should be finished: this is the FIRST resurrection
(Rev. 20: 5). In the words of Bishop Ellicott:- As the context suggests, the first resurrection; any reference here to a merely ethical resurrection
is wholly out of the question.* That Paul is speaking of bodily resurrection is clear from
the closing verse of this very chapter: we wait for a Saviour who shall fashion
anew the
body of our humiliation, that
it may be conformed the body of his glory. As Professor
T. Croskery, D.D., puts it:-
It is not a
part in the general resurrection (for it is an out-resurrection from among
the dead); it is not spiritual resurrection,
for that was already past (in the experience of the Apostle); it is [to have] part in the resurrection of just, the resurrection of life.
* The context forbids us to adopt the notion that the noun
refers to spiritual or ethical resurrection (Eadie).
The Standard of Attainment
Never was Paul so anxious to
impress uncertainty on the Church piles phrase on phrase implying extreme
difficulty of achievement. Not that I have already obtained the standard qualifying for the
prize;* the
word obtain means
to win a prize (as in 1 Cor. 9: 24): or am already made perfect - with
the maturity required for the reaping sickle of the first resurrection: but I press on - in
hot pursuit if so be that I may apprehend
that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have apprehended. It is a statement crammed with deliberate
uncertainty: if by
any means is used when in end is proposed, but
failure is presumed to be possible (Alford); the Apostle states not a positive
assurance, but a modest hope (Lightfoot);
the idea of an
attempt is conveyed, which may or may not be successful (Ellicott). So high was Pauls inspired conception of the
standard [of personal righteousness] required by God, that more than any in the
* Jus ad resurrectionem beatam (Grocius).
A Prize
Now Paul
reveals the profound yet simple truth explaining the uncertainty: namely, that
the out-resurrection is not a gift in grace, but a prize to be won by devotion
and sanctity. 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
(G.
H. Pember). Tertullian tells us that the Church of his age prayed for a share in the First
Resurrection. For a gift and a prize
are worlds asunder. Here is the solution
of words of Paul which have puzzled thousands.* For obtaining simple
salvation [by grace through faith alone] Paul has just stated that all works he had jettisoned
for ever overboard, for Gods [eternal] salvation is sheer gift, the righteousness of
Another given in grace; but so far from this truth producing carelessness in
Paul, or the conviction that works after
faith are of no account, either for time or for eternity, by a
counter-truth Pauls master-passion is now revealed as the attainment of the Select Resurrection as [the gateway (Matt. 16:
18) leading into the millennial inheritance and] the prize. I press
on to seize the prize, to attain which Christ seized me: the prize consequent on the faithful carrying out of that
summons which I received from God in heaven (Alford): it is Christs wish that all [regenerate] believers
should win the prize: it is our heavenward calling (Lightfoot), for God is invoking us all
so to run that we shall break up with
the first through the shattered tombs. For no prize is won except at the goal: the
runner who, at any point of the track, calculates that he has out-distanced all
competitors; or gets out of the running-tracks; or lingers to look back in
satisfaction at the ground covered; or runs with anything but intense
concentration - loses the race.** Seest thou,
says Chrysostom,
that even here they crown the most honoured of the athletes, not on the race-course
below, but the King calls them up and crowns them there? God give us to cry
with the saintly Fletcher of Madeley:- Oh, that the thought,
the hope of millennial blessedness may animate me to perfect holiness in the
fear of God, that I may be accounted worthy to escape the judgments which will
make way for that happy state of things, and that I may have part in the first
resurrection!
* With the right motive of safeguarding our eternal security, numberless
commentators, confounding the resurrections and oblivious of a peculiar
resurrection of reward, wrest the plain grammar so as to force the passage to
assert a certainty which it is Pauls whole aim to repudiate. But [the Greek word (1)
], means resurrection simply;
and [the
Greek word (2)
], means OUT-resurrection.
If in one place the Spirit uses
[the Greek word (2)
], and in every other [the
Greek word (1)
], there must be a divinely perfect reason; and he who
refuses to recognise it does so at his own peril (E. W. Bullinger. D.D.)
Let us suppose, says
Prof. Moses Stuart, a first resurrection to be appointed as a special reward of high
attainments in Christian virtue, and all (in the passage) is plain and easy.
** Of
carnal believers Hudson Taylor, than
whom none did a vaster work for Christ in the nineteenth century, and few (I
imagine) walked closer to God, says:- They have forgotten the warning of our Lord in Luke 21: 34-36, and hence
are not accounted worthy to escape: they have not counted all things but loss,
and hence do not attain unto that resurrection, which Paul felt he might
miss. We wish to place on record our
solemn conviction that not all who are
Christians will attain to that resurrection, or thus meet the Lord in the air.
The Best
Paul finally presents us with a priceless cluster of truths
that shine out like stars. First, our
resolve: Let us therefore, as many as be perfect (full
grown, mature, as distinct from the neophyte, the newly planted, the newly
born) be THUS
minded: that is, of Pauls mind; not doubting or denying that there
is such a prize; not foolishly scorning the doctrine of reward; not despairing of ourselves, or ruling ourselves out as
competitors; not absorbed in discussion as to who shall win the prize, or wondering
how near, or how far, we ourselves are; not reposing on past victories and
resting on past laurels, or crushed and hopeless over past failures: but making
it the supreme effort of our lives to attain. There
is a difference between the perfect and the perfected: the perfect are ready for
the race; the perfected are close upon the prize (Bengel). Concentration is the
secret of power. Now follows a golden
promise. And if in anything (or in any detail of this truth) ye are otherwise minded - if you think that the
prize is for all believers without effort; or that there is no prize; or that
the first resurrection is not the prize; or that it is not worth a lifes devotion;
or that you have, by effort, already secured it: even this - the
Apostle makes the enormous assumption of a single eye for truth in us all shall God reveal unto you: the verb indicates an immediate disclosing to the human
spirit by the Spirit of God (Lange).
To differ from Paul is manifestly to confess oneself in error;
nevertheless, Paul says, walk with me so far as you can see your path; where
you fail to agree with me, or with one another, ask God. Paul teaches, but
God enlightens (Chrysostom).
This meets the inevitable challenge all down
ages:- Paul, your doctrine of the Prize will plunge
the Church into chaos, and sharply sunder the adults (if they follow your
counsel) from the babes (who for the most part will refuse it). This is the answer. Seek the best you know, and God will give
you a still better best: be perfect in devotion, as a passionate
runner, and God is pledged to show us what is the hope of our calling (Eph. 1: 18), the most golden ideal that
ever hovered before human vision. Only -
and here we reach the divine closing word -
there must be no mutual excommunications:
whereunto we
have already attained by that same rule let us walk. The unity of the Church lies not so much in
the mind, as in the heart: all who have received the Gift are for ever within
the Fold, whether running for the Prize, or scorning it: YE ARE ALL ONE IN
CHRIST JESUS (Gal. 3: 28).
Follow light, and do the right, for man can
half control his doom,
Till you find the deathless angel seated in
the vacant tomb.
- D. M. PANTON
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26
[Photograph: Jessica
on the train home from
Our Lord lays down the
fundamental fact that childhood can be converted: that He blessed little children is absolute
proof of their conversion. Jesus called them [the little children] unto him, saying, Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not (Luke 18: 16); and he took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his
hands upon them (Mark 10: 16). So the Apostle John:-
I write unto you, little children, because your
sins are forgiven you for his names sake (1
John 2: 12). Jesus called the children to him; and then pressed
them to His heart, as He blessed them.
It has often been pointed out that far the larger number
of conversions occur in early age.
One writer puts it thus:- Some years ago I gathered together the testimony of 1,000
believers in Christ, at what age they were converted. 128 gave the age of conversion under 12
years. 392 from 13 to
16 years of age. 322 from 17 to 20 years of age. 118 from 21 to 24 years,
and only 40 from 25 to 60 years of age.
Thus it would appear that 52 per cent. of
conversions took place before the age of 16 years, 84 per cent. before the age of 20 years, 96 per cent. by
the age of 24 years, and only 4 per cent. after that
age. These are momentous figures.
Little Children
It is lovely to observe that
those whom Christ called to Him - in what has been called the most beautiful
scene in the Bible - and who came to Him at His call, are little children.* A little
Chinese boy asked his father that he might be baptized. The father replied that he was too young, and
that he might return to heathenism if he was baptized so young. The little lad replied:-
Jesus has promised to carry the lambs in His
arms. I am only a little boy; it will be
easier for Jesus to carry me.
This was too much for the father: he had him baptized; and the whole
family joined the mission church at
* Babes were also brought (Luke 18: 15), but needless to say there is not the
remotest reference to baptism: Jesus speaks of little
children which believe on me
(Matt. 18: 6). The dedication of infants fully fits in with
the passage; but the dedication is fulfilled when (as He says) the little ones
come unto Him.
Disciples Forbidding
But it is startling to learn who
it was that forbid the parents to bring their little ones to Christ. They
brought unto him little children, that he should touch
them; and the disciples rebuked
them (Mark 10: 13): not
the hard, inhuman Pharisees, but hearts in which the Divine love had been
kindled. What the disciples, including even the apostles, had not realized is
that beneath the brightness, and the innocence, and the laughter of the little
children lies a deadly germ which will require all a
Saviours grace; a seed in them which holds in it the potency of every
sin. The children are about to launch
into life: if they slip from the rock without Christ, they will plow the ocean without helm and without pilot; and the
horizon bristles with mastheads of wrecks.
Even the Antichrist will have been once a
little child. As Solomon said long ago:-
Remember now thy creator, in the days of thy youth. A little
lad only six years old gave as lovely a definition of prayer as any ever given:- Whenever we kneel down in
Sunday School, my heart talks.
Displeasure
A very grave challenge
follows. When
Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation (Mark 10:
14). The word is used only three
times in the New Testament, and here only is it ever used of Christ. It is perhaps the only time our Lord is
recorded as severely angry. It is
remarkable that childrens love also roused the anger elsewhere:- When the chief priests and the
scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in
the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the
Son of David, they were sore displeased (Matt. 21:
15). Again, when Mary Magdalene poured the ointment on
our Lord's feet, when his disciples saw
it, they had indignation, saying,
To what purpose is this waste? (Matt. 26: 8). How wonderfully this sore displeasure of
Christ proves His welcoming love to the little ones!
Its Value
For the value of child
conversion can be so wonderful. There is
deep wisdom, as well as love, in our Lords taking them into His arms. Convert an old man, someone has said, and you
convert a unit: convert a child, and you convert a multitude. If Paul had been converted at eighty, you and
I would have had no Paul. Gypsy Smith says:-
The great influence in my life leading to my
conversion was my fathers life and example. What tens of thousands of conversions
followed that fathers bringing his son to Christ! The future is in the hands of the
children. When
to-night you return home to the cradle-side, declared Signor Bottai
to the mothers of the
The hand
that rocks the cradle rules the world.
The Kingdom
On the strength of the
blundering ignorance of children by His disciples, our Lord utters a remarkable
warning to us all, a warning addressed even to apostles. Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the
kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18: 3).* Be quite a child, and you will soon be quite a saint. As Lange
puts it:- In children there
is confidence instead of suspicion;
self-surrender instead of self-distrust; truth instead of hypocrisy; modesty
and humility instead of pride. Jesus says:- Whosoever shall humble
himself as this little child,
the same is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven (Matt. 18: 4). The wicket-gate into the coming [Millennial]
* Jesus does not say infants -
for He is not telling us to become babyish; nor does He say children - children (especially modern children) can
show grave sins: He says little children -
perhaps between the ages of three and seven.
The Law of Great Britain says that a child under seven is incapable of forming a guilty mind in a criminal matter.
Mothers
Though all of us are to bring the
little ones to Jesus, it is naturally the function of one of us supremely.
Listen to the words of William Buxton. Although women may
have produced no work of surpassing power, have written no Iliad, no Hamlet, no
Paradise Lost; have designed no Church of St. Pauls, composed no Messiah,
carved no Apollo Belvidere, painted no Last judgment;
although they have invented neither telescopes nor steam engines - they have
done something better and greater than all this: it is at their knees that
upright men and women have been trained - the most excellent productions in the
world. It was the patient, gentle schooling of Monica which turned Augustine from a profligate to a saint:
it was the memory of a mothers lessons
which changed John Newton from a
blasphemous sailor to an earnest minister of God.
The Child
So our Lord sums up our
attitude. And
he took a little child, and set him in the midst of them; and taking him in his
arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such little ones in my
name - that is, on the ground that the little one is born of God - receiveth me; and whosoever receiveth me, receiveth not
me, but him that sent me (Mark 9: 36). We receive Christ in the little
believer. How unutterably solemn also is
the final warning:- Whoso shall cause one of these little
ones which
believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great
millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the
depth of the sea. See that ye despise not one of these little ones (Matt. 18: 6, 10).
Guardian Angels
Our Lords final reason is most
wonderful. See that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say
unto you, that in heaven their angels do
always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven (Matt. 18: 10).
God so loves them that not only are special angels appointed as their
guardians - it is possible we all have guardian angels (Ps. 34: 7; 91: 11; Heb. 1: 14) - but little
believers, who naturally are exposed to countless dangers, have angels who,
unlike other angels, have constant access to God, and so can report any need at
any moment. They
are so precious in the sight of God that He selects for their protection His
most exalted messengers (Gerlach).
Soul-Winners
So we
now reach the climax of the blessing on the little folk. Little
children can lead others to Christ. One day a man said to Dr. Wilbur Chapman:-
Would you like to shake hands with a redeemed drunkard? Dr. Chapman said that he would. Then the man put his hand into Dr. Chapmans
hand. He said, Listen
to my story: Once I was a big businessman in this city. I had a lovely home, a wonderful wife, and a
dear little boy. Strong drink became my
master. I soon fell low. One day, I was helplessly lying in the
gutter, drunk, when someone came and said, If
you want to see your boy alive, hurry home. The words aroused me from my drunken
stupor. I arose and quickly went
home. I went to the dark room where my
sin had forced my wife and boy to live.
We had lost our beautiful home. I
found that a truck had passed over my boy and seriously hurt him. He was dying.
My boy took me by the hand, and pulled me down by his side and said, Father, I love you.
Even though you get drunk, I love you. I will not let you go until you
promise to meet me in Heaven! Still holding my hand, he died. From that
day, I have felt him pulling me Heavenward.
I am now a saved man. The Lord
Jesus is my precious Saviour. How I
thank God for my little boy who loved me and would not let me go until I
promised to meet him in Heaven!
-------
WE MUST ADOPT THE
ATTRIBUTES
OF LITTLE CHILDREN
Childlikeness, not
childishness, is our Lords model for us.
The Apostle Paul safeguards us on the point: When
I was a child, I talked like a child - ignorantly; I thought like a child - erratically; I reasoned like a child - with small mental
grasp: When I became a man, I put childish
things behind me, (1Cor. 13: 11):
Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to
evil - impurity be infants, but in your thinking be adults, (1 Cor. 14: 20).
Our Lord always
moved on a background of the infinite. He takes a lily, and unfolds the
petals of the providence of God; He sees the massive stones of the Temple, and
He depicts the last earthquakes; and He meets a little child - a lovely little
human dew-drop - and at once His thoughts are on those who will walk with Him in white; and He revolutionizes the thinking of the
Apostles by a revelation which
is for all of us, - all of us who are His disciples - grave,
(serious, requiring careful consideration,) urgent, vital. I tell you the truth, unless you change [repent] and become like little children, you will
NEVER ENTER the kingdom of heaven, (Matt.
18: 3).
For our Lord bodily
presents our model. He called a little
child - old enough to be called, but young enough to be lifted (Mark 10: 16). Not infants, and not children,
but little children; perhaps
between the ages of three and seven, are those whom our Saviour gives us as a
photograph of kingdom saints. and had him
stand among them (Matt. 18: 2):
there - if our Lord had never spoken another word - is the greatest:
for ever, amongst us for all time, is a mute, living symbol of the enthroned
in the
So we ponder a
little child. A little child is perfectly simple, without being a
simpleton: it is wide awake, and constantly learning through sense: it is
extraordinary open to the truth, and extraordinary sincere: it responds
wonderfully to affection: its purity is crystalline: it is exceedingly quick to
forgive: it has not the faintest trace of worldly ambition: the thought never
enters its head to doubt its fathers word: it has an awe of God, and its
conscience is singularly tender. Our Lord does not set a sinless
seraph in our midst, or a blazing angel: winsome as childhood is, and tenderly
beautiful, it has its waywardness, its tempers, its
foolishness: nevertheless such are the Kingdom saints. God wants the manlike intellect, the childlike heart, and the
godlike character and conduct.
The Lord closes
with the practical. The Apostles had been grasping for glory on the
wrong side of the grave; so He says:- Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child (the same) is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18: 4).
Satan lost the highest of
all created thrones through pride:
we can win the highest thrones through humility. A child is humble; we
must become humble; and this attainment, as superior to a childs
as holiness is superior to innocence, is within our grasp.
Whoever HUMBLES HIMSELF - self-emptied because God-filled: it is
possible not only to become great in the
- D. M.
PANTON
THE END