CHRIST AND
LECTURES AND ADDRESSES
BY
ADOLPH SAPHIR, D.D.
AUTHOR OF CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.
COLLECTED AND EDITED BY
DAVID BARON
AUTHOR OF THE SHEPHERD OF
SCRIPTURE$ AND THE MODERN JEW, ETC.
WITH PREFACE BY
MR. JAMES, E. MATHIESON
-------
PREFACE
{Page V}
Fifty
years ago God favoured
On this occasion the good Earl of Shaftsbury took the chair,
and we secured the Hanover Square Rooms for the address. We all enjoyed the address, and Saphir had it
published shortly after under the title Christ and
the Scriptures, which was the first of his writings.
The gifted author died at the comparatively early age of
sixty, after a fruitful ministry of lucid, forcible, and earnest commendation
of the precious Word which he loved to proclaim. In the present day we need
similar ministry to counteract the sad reaction of unbelief and error, even among theologians,
some of whom poison the wells of truth.
Dr. Saphir produced a number of other valuable volumes, all
marked by his clear thinking and fervent love of his own people according to
the flesh. Indeed, his love for
I commend very earnestly to the reader the introduction to
this volume by Mr. David Baron, of the Hebrew
Christian Testimony to Israel, of Whom, as of {Page VII} Dr. Saphir, I may say that there is
not one who has a better knowledge of the questions which circle around Israel
or a deeper love for The People and The Book which form the subjects of this
new volume.
JAMES E. MATHIESON.
{Page IX}
INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR
TWENTY-ONE years
have passed since the voice of the great master in Israel, whose special
lectures and addresses on a theme which perhaps lay nearest his own heart are
here presented to the reader, was silenced by death, and the majority of those
in all the churches, who during the thirty-six years of Adolph Saphirs public
ministry were deeply impressed and blessed by him, have likewise now passed within the veil.
Yet there are some still alive from whose hearts the echo of that voice
has not vanished, and who are still to some extent under the spell of that
unique personality and exceptional ministry with which it was their privilege
to be brought into contact; while some of his books especially remain gems and
treasures in the biblical and devotional literature of the English language,
deserving of universal circulation in the Church of Christ.
In his childlike simplicity (though a man of genius, great intelligence, and wide knowledge), in
his large-heartedness, in his wonderful Insight into the Scriptures, and wide
and comprehensive grasp of the planof God as unfolded in them; in the unction
and fervency of {Page X} spirit
and devotion to the person of Christ as the Son of God; and in his almost
inspired eloquence and zeal in preaching those great foundation truths which
centre around the cross of Christ, there was something both prophetic and
apostolic in the character of Adolph Saphir.
But there is one thing in which he especially resembles the great
Apostle to the Gentiles, and that is in his fervent and unquenchable love for
his own nation,
Like Paul, the special mission assigned to him from God was
not to his own nation, but to build up and instruct Gentile churches in the
counsel of God; and it was given to him to command a hearing and the attention
of all classes - among them some of the highest in the land. But, like the Apostle, his heart was filled
with sorrow and unceasing pain for
Adolph Saphir, though converted to Christ when only a lad,
though well acquainted with all the modern philosophies and learned in all the
wisdom of the Gentiles, and especially called to minister to them, did not
cease to be a Hebrew of the Hebrews, nor to
yearn in Christ-like pity over his own nation.
Like the Apostle Paul, too, his interest and love for Israel
did not spring merely out of natural or patriotic sentiments, such as a Jew
might be supposed to have for his nation, but were the outcome of his
deep insight into the plan and purpose of God in relation to the whole world, of which Israel is the centre,
and of his deep conviction that the churches, by neglecting Israel are in
danger of drifting farther and farther from {Page XII} scriptural views, and eventually
from faith in the Bible itself as the record of the self-revelation of the God
of Israel.
It has been a desire of my heart for a number of years - in
which I was joined also by my dear friend and colleague, C. A. Schonberger, the
brother-in-law of Dr. Saphir - to gather some of his most notable utterances on
this great theme, and publish them in a permanent form, chiefly because of
their great intrinsic value, but partly also as a memorial of his love for his
nation and of his interest in the Jewish Mission.
These lectures and addresses are also in some respects more
characteristic of Dr. Saphirs general style of preaching than those contained
in some of his other books. They were
delivered at different periods of his public ministry. The longest and most comprehensive, and in
some respects also the most important,*
was a lecture delivered as far back as 1864 at Blackheath, afterwards written
out by him and published, but long ago out of print.
* The Restoration of the Jews: A Comprehensive Bible Study of
Israels Past, Present, and Future, Chapter VIII.
The same is true also of two or three which were originally
sermons preached on behalf of different Jewish societies. The others were found among his numerous
manuscripts, and printed by me first of all, in parts, in The Scattered Nation.
What slight editing has been required has been to me a labour
of love, and, as the reader will observe, I have supplied also a full list of
the contents, or very brief digest of the addresses, which may give at a {Page XIII} glance some idea of the different
subjects and points dealt with; but my hope is that no one will judge of the
lectures themselves, which are replete with thoughts of great beauty expressed
in his own choice and eloquent language, by the very dry summary of them thus
presented.
The reader will perhaps in two or three instances come across
the repetition of a thought which occurs elsewhere, but he will find that the
connection is a different one, and elimination would have marred the continuity
and organic unity of the subject in connection with which it occurs. Where there was no such danger all
repetitions have been omitted.
To many workers in the cause of Jewish evangelisation it will,
I am sure, be an added interest and pleasure to see the honoured name of Mr.
James E. Mathieson, a true and veteran friend of
And now the volume is sent forth with the prayer of the editor
that God, who has owned and blessed Christ and the
Scriptures, Christ and the Church, and
the many other valuable works of this gifted author, may also abundantly bless
this new book, Christ
and Israel, to the glory of His Name, and stir up a fresh interest
in the [Gentile members of His] Church in the people which, in spite of all its
sins and wanderings, is still beloved for the fathers sakes.
DAVID BARON.
{Page XV}
CONTENTS
PREFACE BY MR. JAMES E. MATHIESON {Page vii}
INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR {Page XI}
CHAPTER
I. THE ATTITUDE OF MODERN
JEWS TO CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY, ILLUSTRATED BY THE
EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR [Page
1]
(a) Love to Christ and faith in the promises
of God the motives which prompted the establishment of missions to the Jews.
(b)
(c) The Apostle Pauls sorrow and love for
(d) To dwell only on
(e) The moral
forces and influences which preserve the Jews from becoming effete as a nation.
(f) The success and
fruits of the Jewish
(g)
CHAPTER II THE MYSTERY OF
(a) The history of
(b) The confession of Hegel that Jewish history was a riddle
and enigma which he could not explain.
{Page XVI}
(c) A nation is known by its highest exponent - the Jewish
nation has its culminating point in Jesus.
(d) Quaint German inscription about Faith, Hope, and Love.
I. How Faith views the mystery of
(a) Faith sees the unconditional covenant and knows that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
(b) For the carrying
out of the purpose for which
(c) Prophecy, the interposition of God by His Word: Miracle,
His interposition by act. The
culminating point of prophecy and miracle is the incarnation of Jesus.
(d) What faith sees in reference to
II. What Hope sees in reference to
(a) Hope is built entirely on the Word of God.
(b) In the Word of
God the restoration of
(c) How the conflicting principles of Gods holiness and
(d) The Jewish nation
yet to pass through deep waters of affliction and judgment, after which it will
be a holy nation for ever.
(e) When
(f) Religion in common life
- now there is plenty of common life but no religion in it. Then the spirit of Christ shall permeate
everything, and Gods will be done on [this] earth as it is in heaven.
III. What Love says in reference to
(a) Why people do not love
{Page XVII}
(b) They remember their great sin, but forget that in that very
sin they are equally guilty with the Jews.
(c) Remember not only their sin, but
also their toils and sufferings.
(d) Think of Gods unchangeable love to
(e) Remember how
(f) If you love
(g) The blessing which has rested on
the Jewish Mission: the testimony of Dr. Barth, of Calw.
(h)
Faith, Hope, Love - Faith believes the testimony of God; Hope cherishes the promises of God; Love
loves where God loves.
CHAPTER III ALL
(a) There is no
history like that of
(b) The centre of
(c) What is meant by
(d) All
(e) This nation in all its crises acts as one man.
(f) This inspired testimony about
(g) The neglect and
misunderstanding of the Apostles teaching in his epistles.
(h) The Epistle to the Romans: the
doctrines of justification by faith, sanctification, &c., not the only
truths which the Apostle teaches: the mystery
concerning
(i)
(j) Now in Christ he knew what
(k) Can
(l) The love of Jesus for
(m) Two great objections which are brought forward against the fulfilment of the prediction:
I.
II. The hardness of
{Page XVIII}
III. Gods grace will wipe out the guilt,
and Gods Spirit will melt
(n) All Gods counsels
and purposes in relation to this world centre in
(o) The present condition of the Jews
should call forth the compassion of Christians - a story related by a Jewish
novelist.
(p) Final practical remarks about the
Jewish Mission.
CHAPTER IV. THE EVERLASTING NATION.
[Page
63]
(a) Paul, the type and embodiment of
(b) The reason why the Apostle is anxious
that Gentile Christians should not be ignorant of the mystery of
(c) To deny a
restoration and conversion of
(d)
Lest ye become
wise in your own conceit.
(e) The nation, as a nation, will yet
be converted; meanwhile God has not cast off
(f) Three facts which bridge over the period of
(g) The condition of the Jewish nation in unbelief: (1) No
national history; (2) perverse views of the law the reason of self-conceit and
self-righteousness; (3) degradation of the Scriptures and exaltation of human
tradition; (4) the idea of a personal Messiah vanished and inquiry on the
subject discouraged; (5) the substitution of the abstract doctrine of a unicity for faith in the one living God.
(h) The brighter elements which
characterise the present condition of the Jews - in contrast to Gentile
pessimism, strong hope of a national future.
(i) Modern efforts in the Church for
the conversion of
(j) Changing attitude to Christ of modern Jews. Notable utterances about Christ on the part
of Jews.
{Page XIX}
CHAPTER V.
WHY THE
THE WORK OF EVANGELISING THE JEWS. [Page 83]
(a) The Scripture teaching concerning
(b) The mediaeval
church was unable to evangelise the Jews because it did not itself possess the
gospel in sufficient clearness. The
two outstanding errors of Judaism - the degradation of the Scriptures by
tradition, and the seeking to establish a righteousness by works, also characterise
papal Christendom.
(c) It could only seek to convert the Jews by force.
(d) The Church of the
Reformation time was not equipped to do effective mission work among the Jews
because it lacked
prophetic light and the knowledge of Gods purpose in this dispensation.
(e) Luther an
outstanding example. He himself so like
Paul, yet so unlike in his lack of
patience and persevering love to the Jews.
(f) A fact deserving of notice that only Christians who believed in the divine authority of the Scriptures and accepted the scriptural
teaching that
(g) The impelling motive must be love to Christ. Lovest thou Me?
- feed My sheep.
(h) Contrast between missions to the heathen and the mission
to the Jews.
(i) Only converted and spiritually
minded Christians can take a real interest in the mission to the Jews.
(j) The Jewish Mission in the present is especially in harmony
with the characteristic feature of the present stage of the Church: (1) Because
the Church now possesses sufficient prophetic light; (2) because of the
battle which rages at present around the Old Testament; (3) because of the
change which is coming over the Jews and their changed attitude in relation to
the person of our Lord Jesus.
CHAPTER VI.
WHICH ARE WITHOUT REPENTANCE. [Page 98]
{Page XX}
(a) Moses and Paul most prominent among the saints of God for
their love and sacrifice for
(b) The
(c) The special gifts and privileges of Israel enumerated and unfolded:
(1) They are Israelites; (2) to them belongeth
the adoption; (3) theirs is the glory; (4) the covenants; (5) the giving of the
law; (6) the service; (7) the promises; (8) theirs are the fathers; (9) the
greatest and most exalted of Israel's privileges - of
them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.
(d) The terrible contrast between
(e) The sorrow which we feel for
CHAPTER VII. CHRIST THE TRUE CENTRE OF
(a) O
(b) Gods wonderful grace and condescension and long-suffering
displayed in the history of
(c) His self- manifestation to them in the person of Christ.
(d) How Jesus appeared in their midst as the gatherer of
(e) Jesus putting Himself in the place of God as the gatherer
of
(f )
(g)
(h) The present condition of the Jews; (1) Like unto Jacobs
sons after they sold their brother Joseph; (2) like unto the condition of the
nation when Moses was on the top of the mount and they said, We know not what has become of Moses. Up, make us gods.
{Page XXI}
(i) Yet
(k) The prominent lessons for Christians from God's dealings
with
CHAPTER VIII. THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS. [Page 138]
(a) There is one Book, one Nation, one
Man - different from all other books, all other nations, and all other men.
(b) These three must always be viewed together.
(c) The uniqueness
of the Book: (1) The two halves; instead of the Old
Testament and The New, it ought
rather to be called The Book of the Kingdom
and The Book of the Church; (2) the Bible
simple and perspicuous; (3) the inconsistency of the spiritualising
method - playing into the hands of
rationalistic interpreters.
(d) The uniqueness of the nation; the miracle of the continued
existence of the Jews.
(e) The uniqueness of the Man Christ Jesus; the Word made
flesh, Son of Abraham, Son of David; but Son
of God.
(f) Scripture testimony concerning the position of
(g) The condition of the Jews since the first Advent; the
different parties in Judaism.
(h) The different phases in the future
restoration of the Jews. (1) A
Restoration in unbelief; (2) their connection with Antichrist; (3) the dark
hour of judgment.
(i) The condition of the Jewish nation
after the second Advent: (1) The conversion of the remnant in the land; (2) the
gathering and conversion of all the tribes; (3) the rebuilding of
(j) The distinction
between the earthly and the heavenly
(k)
{PAGE XXII}
(l) Objections to the literal interpretation of Scripture in
reference to
(m) Practical inferences: (1) As regards the Scriptures, it
makes the Bible a living book; (2) it gives coherence to Gods plan in the
worlds history, and explains the place which miracles occupy in Gods
dispensational dealings with men; (3) this hope in relation to the future will
tend to deliver the Church from worldliness; (4) it will prompt us to adore God
for His faithfulness and enable us more clearly to behold the glory of His
character and the wonderfulness of His ways.
Note A. On the terms Old and New
Testament.
Note B. Count Zinzendorf on the conversion of
the Jews.
CHAPTER IX.
THE EXPECTANT ATTITUDE OF THE SAINTS OF GOD
IN ALL AGES
[Page 192]
(a) The Saints of God - the expression sums up the whole
history of
(b) In
(c) This follows from the fact that the religion of the Old
Testament is not Monotheism but Jehovahism.
(d) Jehovah is not only the
eternal sovereign, and unchangeable, but the Coming One - I shall be what I shall be.
(e) If Jehovah is the Coming One and
the Old Testament the Book of Jehovah, and
(f) From this fact are to be deduced three corollaries of
great importance in reading Scripture - (1) As the horizon of Israel must be the
ultimate future, all members of Israel in what {Page xiii} ever
time they may have lived, all saw the same thing. (2) They all saw the ultimate
future in connection with some proximate future; in every
deliverance and redemption God wrought for His people they saw already the last
great redemption. (3) The Old Testament saints expected the ultimate end
immediately.
(g) The seven bridges which mark the progress of the river of
the history of the Old Testament-waiting saints - (1) The Patriarchal - the
names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are engraven on this bridge. What did they see and wait for? (2) On the second bridge stands Moses - the
types and prophecies of the future contained in the law. (3) On this bridge we see David. David is in a sense an
instalment of Christ - a picture of the future Anointed One. (4) The times of the prophets. Take Isaiah as the representative. What wonderful things about the future are
revealed to him all centering in the Coming One - The
Servant of Jehovah, who through suffering enters into glory. (5) The fifth bridge stands in a strange land
-
CHAPTER X. THEY SHALL LOOK UNTO HIM
WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED. [Page 213]
A glimpse of
APPENDIX [Page 223]
* *
*
[Page 1 blank: Page 2]
CHRIST AND
CHAPTER I
THE ATTITUDE OF MODERN
JEWS TO CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY,
ILLUSTRATED BY THE
EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR*
* A special address delivered before the General Assembly
of the Free Church of Scotland on May 24, 1889, on the occasion of the jubilee
of that Churchs
It is
forty-six years this month of May since, in common with my dear father, then
more than sixty years old, and my mother, my brother and three sisters, I was
baptized into the holy name of our covenant God. That day shines forth in my memory above all
other days of my life - a day of intense solemnity, sweetest peace, and most
childlike assurance of the love of God in Christ Jesus, which bound all the
members of my family in a new and closer unity.
Though I am only eight years older than your
* The striking providential leadings of
God in the foundation of the Budapest Mission by the Church of Scotland as the
result of the report of the Mission of inquiry to the
Jews by Andrew Bonar, Robert Murray McCheyne, Dr. Keith, and Dr. Black,
which, after the Disruption in 1843, became
the Mission of the Free Church; and the blessing which attended the testimony
and labours of the first group of Scotch missionaries in that centre, may be
read in the Memoir of Dr. Saphir, by Rev.
Gavin Carlyle, M. A., which was published in 1893.
The outstanding figure among the first group of missionaries
in
Dr. Duncan made a great impression on the Jews and Roman
Catholics, not only by his erudition and linguistic acquirements, but by his
deep piety and prayerfulness. On reading
of these men, and of the beginning of the history of the Budapest Mission, one
cannot help longing and praying that God may raise up again men of the same
type for the mission-field at the present day.- D. B.
Nothing else could have encouraged you
to send a mission to the Jews, who had committed the greatest sin in rejecting
Christ and the testimony of the Spirit, and who were so prejudiced, opposed,
and inaccessible, but that you believed - you who had always borne witness to
the grand truths of election and the perseverance of the saints - that God had
not cast away His people; that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance; that there would always be among
the Jews a remnant according to the election of grace; that finally all Israel
will be saved; and that this [Page 4] Jewish Mission was according to the mind and purpose of God clearly
revealed in Scripture. I wish that all
ministers of the gospel would reply to the question, Has God cast off His people? with the same clearness, energy,
and decision as the Apostle Paul; for just as he exclaims, in answer to the
other question, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? so to thts concerning Israel, God forbid!
his whole soul turns away from the thought as one contradicting all
fundamental truths, all the history and the promises of Scripture, and the very
faithfulness of our covenant God. The
very expression, His people, is
significant, not His ancient people,
but His present and His future people; as the prophet Isaiah expressed it, the everlasting nation (am olam). The Apostle Paul has uttered very solemn and
severe words concerning his nation. He
says, They are enemies for the gospels sake, who do
always oppose themselves to the truth, and upon whom the wrath of God has come
to the uttermost. And yet, with
a deep insight into their guilt and spiritual misery such as no other man ever
possessed, he felt great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart; and his
encouraging and joyful experiences among the heathen could never diminish that
tender, constant, and intense love and sorrow with which
The apostle bears witness that the Jews had a zeal [Page 5] for God, though not according to
knowledge. If we dwell only on the guilt
of
The wild dove
hath its nest, the fox its cave,
Mankind its country,
But it is not true, sad as is
Both these aspects of the Jewish nation are clear to me from
what I have experienced in my own childhood.
My father was not a Talmudical Jew, but he feared God and reverenced the
Scriptures; and never to this day do I read the passage in Deuteronomy, These words
shall be upon thine heart, and thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt
talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and
when thou walkest by the way, without the image of my father rising before my mind. My mother often told me that I was born on
the day of Atonement - the day on which God forgives the sins of His people;
and this simple fact roused strange and sad thoughts in my heart. Mysterious day, when the Jews, clad in their
white burial-garment, confess their sins with weeping and fasting. In the Jewish evening prayer one verse, which
is repeated three times, made a deep impression on me: Stand in awe, and sin not. Commune
with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. And the problem which is so clearly solved in
the Epistle to the Hebrews pressed upon me heavily then, for it was evident
that we had no real and complete forgiveness of sin, seeing that the day of
Atonement had to be observed every year.
In the synagogue service, there was little to solemnise or attract a
child; but two things always impressed me.
One was the [Page 8] singing of the Trisagion (Isa. 6.,
Holy, holy, holy); and the other was when the roll of the law was brought out of the ark and
held up before the people, and it was said, God spake all these words.
With all my heart and soul I believed it; and I felt something of that
awe and trembling in the presence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
only true and living God, which my forefathers must have felt on that awful day.
Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking
out of the midst of the fire as thou hast heard, and live? There is something most real in this
continuity of the feeling of Gods nearness.
This solemn awe - I can say so from experience - still lives in the
Jewish heart. That faith in the five
Books of Moses is as strong in me now as it was then - nay, stronger, for I
have heard Jesus say, Moses wrote of Me; and I have read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the
tabernacle in the wilderness was not the result of human ingenuity, or the
gradual product of mans thought, but that it was after the pattern beheld on
the holy mount, and that the Holy Ghost symbolised in all its parts things
spiritual and heavenly. And yet, with
all these precious influences, the abstract metaphysical monotheism, the
constant emphasis laid on Gods unity and infinite and incomprehensible
essence, could not give light to the mind or peace to the heart. It is true that the synagogue dwells also on
the attributes of justice and mercy; but still it does not present the living
God as He reveals Himself in the Scriptures.
How human is the God of the Old Testament - the
God who appears, speaks, guides, [Page 9] who loves and is loved, even as the Man of the New Testament, Christ
Jesus, is divine!
This difference between the idea of an absolute and infinite God and
the God of Scripture is, after all, that which separates the true believer and
Christian from the natural man. I found
it years afterwards most forcibly described by Luther in one of his earliest
books on the Psalms, in which he says that human nature cannot understand and
have communion with the absolute God (Deus
nudus et absolutus); but that David speaks in the Psalms to the God who has
clothed Himself in His word and promises, of which Christ is the sum. I remember distinctly one day looking over my
fathers books. The title of one
arrested my eye. It was Die Menschwerdung Gottes (God becoming man). It was a new thought, and it thrilled my soul
with the most joyous solemnity. When
your Jewish missionaries came and preached to us the Gospel, this was the
deepest conviction in our heart, Now we know God; and with all the converts, however various their history,
the central point was the forgiveness of sin through the atoning death of
Christ. The verse through which I first
saw the gospel was, He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
These days live in my heart.
It needs no effort to recall them; and in the experience of that time I
find up to this day the brightest light on the pages of Scripture. I have, for the first time in my life, spoken
publicly of my own experience in childhood, not without [Page 10] reluctance, in the hope that it may make it easier to some to understand
the condition of the Jews.
God has given abundant success in your
Before I pass to the next topic and in connection with the
fact of a Jewish convert being a missionary to the heathen, I should like to
refer to the great impression made on the Pesth converts by the visit of Dr.
Wilson of
The Jewish Mission does not appeal to the general public as
does the mission to the heathen: for the sins and evils of idolatry are
obvious, but only a true Christian can understand the claim of the Jews,
because they only know that the righteousness of the law and mere morality are
not sufficient; while men in general stand very much on the same ground as the
modern Jews, and a nation whose morality is above the average does not seem to
them to need missionaries; and only the true Christian feels what is implied in
the Jews not recognising the divinity of Jesus, and that it is true what Jesus
says, No man
cometh to the Father but by Me. We have too much in our day of
the preaching of humanitarian views of Christ - the Greek, and not the
Scriptural representation of our Lord.
There is an immense amount of latent Socinianism in our
congregations. Men behold in Jesus the
ideal of humanity; whereas believers behold in the Word made flesh the glory of
the only-begotten of the Father. We
therefore need not expect that the Jewish Mission will appeal to the community
in general; but how strongly does it appeal to those who believe the Scriptures!
Notwithstanding all the difficulties of the work, there never
was a time like the present, offering so much encouragement and solemn
incitement to labour. There are now many
societies for
The memories of the past are solemn; the opportunities of the
present are urgent; and the hope for the future, according to the Word of God,
is secure [Page 13] and
glorious. I love the literalities of
Scripture, and believe that the literal view of Scripture history and promises
is truly spiritual; for what is meant by spiritual, if not that which is according to the Spirit of God and
revealed by the Spirit in the Word? It
is not only Moses and the prophets who declare the future of
And why should it be thought a strange thing that
In conclusion, I beseech you, give
* *
*
[Page 15]
CHAPTER II
THE MYSTERY OF
HAVE TO SAY INREFERENCE
TO THE PAST, PRESENT,
AND FUTURE OF THE JEWISH
NATION*
* I Found among Dr. Saphirs
manuscripts, and first published in The Scattered
Nation - the organ of the Hebrew
Christian Testimony to
I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery (ROMANS 11: 25).
It is
the duty of every minister of Christ to explain the mystery of
It belongs to the counsel of God. It is inseparably connected with the truth as
it is in Jesus.
There can be no true and full preaching of the Gospel without
explaining the mystery of
A minister is a steward of the mysteries of God - things which
no human wisdom, and things which no human mind - by its own exertions, can
understand, but which God has revealed unto us in the Scripture and by the Holy
Ghost. There is the mystery of
godliness, God
manifested in the flesh. There is the great mystery of the Church which is His body.
There is the mystery of
Now in these three mysteries there is one side which is patent
and intelligible to all men.
Jesus Christ is an historical character. The words of Jesus are read by all. It is a matter of history that there was
Jesus, and that He exerted a mighty influence in the world. But there is a mystery of godliness - God manifest
in the flesh; and no human analysis will be able to discover that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
We, then, if we are messengers of Christ, must tell every one we know
that there is a person, Jesus; but who
Jesus is can only be revealed to you by the power of the Holy Ghost. We declare to you the mystery of godliness. Likewise every person [Page 17] knows that there is a Church, that
there is a community of people who profess to believe in Jesus, but what the
Church really is, is a mystery - Christ the Head, and we the members.
In like manner, who is so ignorant as not to know the history
of the Jews?
Who is so ignorant as not to know the Ten Commandments, and
the wonderful revelations of God which through them have become the property of
all civilised nations? And who does not know
the fact that at this present moment there are twelve million descendants of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, scattered among all the nations of the earth, and
yet a people separate by themselves? But
the meaning of
And this is one great reason why God in these latter days has
raised up a mission to the Jews, because Christendom has become
apostate - because even [regenerate] Christians who believe in the Scripture in a certain way, and
in the Holy Ghost, do not believe [all] the testimony of the Scriptures, and that God, the Living One, is about to arise and to introduce
a new era into this world - that the history of the world is coming now
to its crisis, to its culminating point, and that the fifth monarchy, the
kingdom which shall never be destroyed, is about to be ushered in by the
appearing of the Son of Man. And, therefore, God is directing our
attention to this wonderful nation, beginning with Abraham, but not ending
until time shall be no more. Do not be astonished, and do not
let it be a hindrance to your acceptance of the truth, that this aspect of
Gods revelation has for many centuries been hidden even from Gods own
people. When we look back into the
history of the Church we find that the
whole truth was preached by the Apostles, but that immediately after the
days of the Apostles there was only a
partial apprehension of the truth, so that in the first ages of the Church
Gods people dwelt chiefly on the Incarnation.
Afterwards they dwelt on grace in the days of Augustine. The doctrine of justification by faith was
hidden from the Church for nearly fourteen
centuries, until in the time [Page 19] of the Reformation this bright jewel was brought forth to the light. And if this was so, why should we be
astonished that this mystery of
In bringing before you very briefly this great subject, and
only mentioning the culminating points, I want to view it in a threefold
aspect. How does faith regard it? How does hope regard it? How does love regard it? There is a quaint inscription on an old house
in a German city - Faith lays the foundation, love
builds the house, hope ascends the roof
and looks into the joyous prospect.
And so indeed it is. Let us take
the Scriptural order, faith and hope before love, because love requires both
faith and hope to sustain it. Now what
does faith say about
Supposing we take up our position with Abraham. There we shall see the land, the nation, and the Messiah promised to Abraham, and the nations of the earth blessed in
this central nation. Supposing we
ascend Mount Nebo with Moses: we see the same thing - Israel redeemed out of
Egypt on account of the covenant made with Abraham; Israel about to enter into the promised land; Israel chastised on account of their iniquity and unfaithfulness; Israel restored to show forth the praise of
the Most High. Supposing we take up
our position with David. There we see
the same thing - David speaking to his son and to his Lord, and David in Psalm 72.
beholding that universal [messianic] kingdom of righteousness and of
prosperity [Page 20] extending from the river to the great sea, the centre of which is the Son
of David, the King of
When we believe this, we who know Jesus as the centre cannot
place the centre anywhere else but where
[Page 21] God has placed it.
Round Jesus are the people of
This covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which embraced
the Messiah, our Lord Jesus, the nation
Unconditional is the covenant, and the counterpart of that is
the doctrine of grace. Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His own purpose and
according to His infinite love, has He given us salvation in Christ.
With regard to this covenant which the Lord God has made with
Israel, and of which our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ is the centre, in the
whole history of God in all His dealings with Israel, He has continually to go
back to His love, else He would have to give them up altogether; and so we find
that to reveal Himself to Israel and to carry out His great promises, there
appeared among the people of God two things, which do not appear among the
other nations, and which are a great stumbling-block to all unbelief. Why do people find such great difficulty in
accepting the Bible? There are two things
which they do not like. The first is prophecy, and the second is
miracle-prophecy and miracle. And
when I speak of unbelief I am sorry to say that I have to include a great many
people who think themselves Christians and Christian theologians. But faith they have not, whatever else they
may have.
Prophecy is God revealing Himself to man and foretelling the
future in a miraculous supernatural way.
Miracle is God Himself interfering and showing His [Page 23] direct power and goodness to rescue His people.
But if there is a living God there must be prophecy and miracle. Prophecy
is the interference of God by His word; miracle is the interference of God by
His act. The culminating point of
prophecy and of miracle is the incarnation of Jesus. Jesus is the wisdom of God, when the world
was not able to find out God. When all human
reason and speculation ended in nothing else but ignorance and darkness, then
God Himself came down from heaven, and we beheld the countenance of God in
Jesus Christ, His Son. That is the
incarnation of prophecy. And again, when
we were perfectly helpless as sinners and under the power of death, God, by
sending His own Son, took away sin and overcame death.
All the miracles that are recorded for us in the history of
And now there has been again a long pause, when there is no
miracle. But God is still living, and
the time is coming when there will be again a direct [Page 24] interference of God in miracle
through Israel; for as He has not begun and continued His people Israel without
the direct interference of His omnipotence, neither shall He consummate the
history of Israel but by appearing in such a miraculous way that all nations
shall be astonished, and the whole world shall exclaim, The Lord is
God and The Lord God
Omnipotent reigneth!
I have spoken of faiths vision of the past and of the future
of this wonderful and mysterious nation; let us now cast our glance more
especially at the present. In the whole
history of
Look again in the days of Elijah. Poor Elijah thought that he was the only one
left. There were seven thousand; but
they were scattered and hid. Look at the
days of our Lord. Who welcomed
Jesus? Who believed in Jesus of the
whole Jewish nation? Who gathered round
Him? Not the Scribes, not the Priests,
not the Pharisees, not the great or wise; because in those days it was just as
it is in our day. There were the learned
theologians, and there were those who were addicted to the ceremonial law, and
to the priesthood; and there were the Herodians - those that took statesman-like
views of things, and were always meddling with politics, and always studying
the interests of the House of Herod. But
none of these great men - none of these great parties - gathered round
Jesus. Oh, no! it was a poor afflicted
people that the Lord had left among them - a remnant.
So also there is a remnant now according to the election of
grace among
But now, after
Now, mark you, God says: You who know the sun and the moon and the stars; you who know
that every year there is spring after winter,
and summer after spring, and autumn after summer
- as surely as those ordinances exist, so sure is it that
[Page 27]
How does faith account for it?
It is written in the Prophet Hosea, They shall abide many days without a king, and without
a prince, without a sacrifice, and without an image, and
without an ephod, and without teraphim.
These are exactly the features which characterise the Jewish nation
now. Faith sees that they have rejected
the blessed Saviour; but has God rejected them on that account? The Apostle Paul asks you this question in
the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans: Has God cast away His people
But God has not totally rejected His people, and the
conversion of even one Jew - so Paul argues - is a proof of it. This then is how faith beholds
Brethren, let me speak to you freely on this subject. The apostasy of
Now let us see what hope says of
Our hope is built upon nothing less than the Word of God. It will require the omnipotence of God to
raise the dead out of their grave. But
so it is written in the Prophet Ezekiel that the dead bones shall live. It will require all the attributes of Deity
to bring about the wonderful things which God has promised to us in the
Scriptures. But God will do it. In the
Word of God the restoration of
Notice this. It is nowhere said that Jesus died for any nation,
except for the Jewish nation. He
died for that nation, and for that nation only.
He died that all the children of God should be gathered in: but you see
there is a difference. He died for the
nation, and He died for the rest as individuals. It is nowhere said in the Bible that any
nation will exist for ever; but it is said of the Jewish nation that they will
exist for ever. This nation has God
chosen, and when He divided the world unto mankind, it is written in the Book
of Deuteronomy that He planned it all in relation to the central nation of
[Page 32]
And as
What is Christian? Oh,
we are a poor, poor minority - strangers and pilgrims here upon earth, very
much as we were in the days of the Apostles; and the world, even with that
which is great and powerful and beautiful
[Page 33] in it, lieth in the wicked one. Still, the idea is perfectly correct. Christianity, godliness, ought to pervade
everything that God has created. The
world - the whole world - shall be full of His glory. Holiness unto the Lord shall
be written even upon the bells of the horses.
Politics will be Christian; science will be Christian; poetry will be
Christian; everything will be Christian.
In their seed-time and in their harvest, in their journeys and in their
commerce, in their work and in their recreation, in their garments and in
everything about them, from one end of the year to the other, there will be no
branch of life, there will be no branch of knowledge, there will be no branch
of activity, there will be nothing, that will not be sanctified unto the Lord,
for they shall walk in the name of the Lord, and the light of the Lord shall be
their light, and the glory of the Lord shall be their beauty, and all the
nations will follow their example.
Oh, we pray every day, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And this is what I hope, and what every Christian must
hope - that, through the intervention of Jesus Himself, and through the
mediation of the Jewish nation, there is a time coming when Gods will will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Talk of drunkenness; talk of profligacy; talk of all the crimes and
vices which now pollute the earth: they shall be done away. But that is only the negative side of
it. How is Gods will done in
heaven? There is no drunkenness there;
there is no profligacy there; there is no war and bloodshed there. True; but how is Gods will done? It will be an angelic world. As the [Page 34] angels above, so will men be here upon the earth, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Then the promise, In Thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blest, shall be fulfilled, and the Son of David shall rule over all the world, and righteousness shall
flow as a river, and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover all the earth as the
waters cover the sea. That is what we hope about
Now let me ask you what love says to the mystery of
Do you love
Remember how God loves
Oh, remember how
And if you thus love Israel, then it
is for you to show mercy to Israel, and to labour for Israel, that through your
instrumentality there may be gathered the remnant according to the election of
grace.
I notice that when speaking about the Jewish Mission to some
people, a kind of painful resignation comes over their countenances, as if it
was a very disagreeable duty that had to be performed, and one in which there
was no encouragement and no joy. Oh,
pity their ignorance, and pity also their lukewarmness; for if their heart was
in the right spot, they would soon know what has been done among
You do not see them.
They do not live in one country.
They do not live in one city.
They do not stand out conspicuously.
They have their different spheres of usefulness where God has planted them;
but this simple fact alone will show you that the Jewish Mission is
unparalleled, not only in the Scriptural importance which God has given to it,
but also in its result - that during the nineteenth century, as far as we can
compute, three hundred thousand converts have been brought to the Saviour, and
that this very day there are about three hundred ministers of the Gospel, Jews,
who by the grace of God have been brought to the knowledge of Christ.
Therefore faith believes the testimony of God; hope cherishes
the promises of God; love loves where God loves, and love rejoices that God has
blest us, and that His power and His Holy Spirit are with us in this work. In
all humility, and often in sorrow, this work must be carried on. In the Jewish Mission more particularly, this is the dispensation where we must sow
in tears, but it is the blessed
assurance that we shall reap with joy, for as sure as the mouth of the Lord has
spoken it, all Israel will
yet welcome Christ, and Christ shall yet be the glory of Israel.
* * *
CHAPTER III
ALL
* A
sermon preached on behalf of the British Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel among Jews in 1881.
And so all
ALL
* Acts 7:
2. ** Rom.
15: 4.
There is no people like
And, as we know the beginning of
* John 19: 31-37.
I need not explain what is meant by
And when it says All
* Jer. 31: 35, 37. ** John 11:
51, 52.
This assurance is given especially to you from the Apostle
Paul, and it is to this point that I now wish to direct your attention, as I am
speaking to Gentile Christians. No one
ever loved you like the Apostle Paul. He
is the gift of God to you. He belongs to
you; he is the Apostle of the Gentiles.
When Jesus the Lord, in His grace, appeared to him, He made him an
Apostle to the Gentiles first of all; and with what wonderful devotedness did
the Apostle Paul obey the commandment of the great Lord and Master! How he threw his whole energy and enthusiasm
into the work of Gentile evangelisation!
He considered himself debtor to the Greeks in their wisdom, and to the
barbarians in their rudeness. It was his
great desire to fill the whole world, even beyond
But this is not the only thing that the Apostle Paul
teaches. The Epistle to the Romans does
not conclude with the eighth chapter.
The ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters form an integral part of that
Epistle. There is another mystery about
which the Apostle Paul was exceedingly anxious that the Gentiles should not be
ignorant. He was afraid lest they should
be wise in their own conceit. The
position of
But the same Apostle Paul testifies to them that there is a
mystery about
Of the intensity of this feeling in the Apostle we can form no
conception; for, like Moses, he is even willing to sacrifice himself if thereby
* Rom. 11: 28; 1 Thess. 2: 14-16.
He was very proud of his nation before Jesus appeared unto him
- Pharisee of the Pharisees, and
according to the law blameless - and, like all the Jews, he said, Abraham is
our father, and we are the disciples of Moses.
Nor can we wonder at this. But
when Jesus appeared to him, and when he counted all things, even the things
that in themselves were good and precious, but loss for the transcendent
excellence of the knowledge of Jesus the Saviour, his nation became still more
precious to him. Who are Israelites, he says, unto whom
pertaineth the adoption and the glory, and the
covenants, and the giving of the law and the
fathers, and of whom, concerning the flesh, Christ
came, who is God over all, blessed for ever.*
* Rom. 9:
1, 2.
Now he knew what
[Page 50]
But, more than this.
[Page 51]
Jesus loved
Two objections may be brought forward
against this prediction - first, the guilt of
A second question is this - their hardness of heart is very
peculiar. Blindness has happened to
them; and, as is written in the sixth chapter of the Prophet Isaiah, there has
come upon them a hardness of heart in the righteous judgment of God. And this, also, the Apostle Paul was able to
answer by his own experience. God, who
causes the light to shine into darkness, is able to cause the light of the brightness
of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ to penetrate the grossest darkness. The Spirit of God is able to melt the
stoutest and the coldest heart; and, as the Prophet Zechariah describes it to
us, Jesus Himself will pour out upon Judea [Page 53] and the inhabitants of
God has not cast off His people finally, nor has God cast off His people totally.
Gods counsels and purposes centre in them. All the promises that are given to the
Gentile nations have their centre in
The Church is to evangelise
Think of the present condition of the Jews, and be filled with
love and compassion. They are without Jesus. They keep the
Passover; but where is the Lamb? Their house
is left unto them desolate. They are
religious. They are moral. They have retained many wonderful and noble
virtues. They bear the traces of the
Divine education, as well as the traces of deteriorating oppression. But they are without the knowledge of the Saviour. They have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God; and as they do not know the righteousness of God, and try
to establish a righteousness of their own, they naturally must lower the
standard of righteousness. [Page 56] They must take an external view of the law of God. They cannot enter into the depth and height
of that law, of which the Apostle says, It is spiritual. And, again, they
have not humbled themselves under the almighty hand of God. They have never yet acknowledged that one
sin, on account of which all the evil has come upon them. They have never yet come to the
consciousness, as the brethren of Joseph did, even before Joseph revealed
himself to them, that the reason why this famine and distress have come upon
them is because they have been guilty against their innocent brother. On the contrary, they boast of their
sufferings and patience. They have
indeed suffered and endured with marvellous patience and nobility, but they
have not yet seen and acknowledged their sin.
[* See 1 Pet.
1: 5, 9, R.V.).]
I read a story in a Jewish novel, which gives a picture of the
unsatisfied, yearning condition of
Now, remember that this work of the Jewish Mission has not
been long in existence. In the middle of
the eighteenth century there was a movement in
[Page 59]
Yet how thankful we ought to be for what God has done during
the time! People who know little about
the Jewish Mission think that it has been a failure. Even if it were so, this would not in the
slightest degree affect our duty in the matter.
But we know that it is not so. We
know that, through the mission, the knowledge of Christianity has been brought
to a very great extent among the Jews, who before had no idea of Christianity
except what they saw in the errors and superstitions of Romanism, or in the
shallow system of the Rationalists. The New Testament has been brought among
Jews in a variety of ways. A number of
good books, showing forth the truth as it is in Jesus, have been circulated
among them. Thousands of Jews have been
brought to the knowledge of Jesus through the mission. I might mention names that are well known,
men influential in the world and in the Church; but these men, who are
illustrious and gifted, are, after all, in the highest sense of no greater
importance than many hundreds of the obscure who walk faithfully with God, and
die in the faith of Jesus.
Several hundred ministers of the Gospel exist at present who
are by birth Israelites - and there is scarcely any other mission that can
mention a similar fact - some in the various countries of Europe, some in
Now I conclude with a practical
remark. The Jewish Mission work brings before
us, in the first place, the Jewish missionaries in the second place, the
mission or society who have the responsibility and guidance of the work ; and
in the third place, the Christian congregations. The Jewish missionaries need great sympathy,
faithful intercession, and every encouragement.
It is almost impossible for any one who does not know the Jews, or who
has not been a Jewish missionary himself, to understand the overwhelming
feeling of desolation, of helplessness, of hopelessness, that comes upon the
Jewish missionary as he enters into a strange city and thinks of his work. Here is no congregation that has been praying
and waiting eagerly to receive him; no habit formed from generation to
generation to gather round the minister and to listen to his instructions. Nothing but opposition, suspicion, ridicule,
unbelief. Where is he to begin? Oh, to wait - to watch - to pray - to adapt
oneself - to take hold of the least opportunities - to single out one by one -
to travail in soul in birth till Christ is formed in the inquirer; to work in
this way for days, for weeks, for months, quietly, without scarcely [Page 61] any response, without sympathy,
without help, with only, as it were, invisible help known unto God. That is a very difficult position. No Christian minister has any idea of
it. The Christian minister, with his
services and pastorate and organisations of activity, may have anxieties and
more work than he is able to overtake; but, after all, it is very easy; it is
very pleasant. It contains each day in
itself the stimulus and impetus for the next day.
But it is different with the missionary. And such a missionary- labouring in
loneliness, sighing, praying, waiting, discouraged, desponding - gets a letter
saying that the people in
* *
*
[Page 63]
CHAPTER IV
THE EVERLASTING NATION*
* An address delivered to his own congregation in Belgrave
Presbyterian Church, January 18, 1885. I
have omitted long references to the Rubinowitz movement in Kischineff, and to
the work and influence of Professor Franz Delitzsch, of
THE Apostle of the Gentiles combines in his own person the most
lucid illustration of
[Page 64]
For he himself had experienced that
But, lastly, the deep and inextinguishable love to his nation,
of which his conscience bore witness in the Holy Ghost, that it was not merely of
nature, but in communion with Christ, gave an intense earnestness to his
testimony, that according to the promises given unto the fathers, which were
confirmed by Jesus Himself, all Israel shall be saved; and the whole nation,
chosen and formed by God for His glory, will in the latter days acknowledge
Jesus, and be the centre of the divine kingdom on earth.
All these four points* -
facts rooted in the word of God - were embodied, as it were, in the person of
the Apostle Paul, and were organically connected with his apostolic
teaching. Hence we find in that epistle
which contains more than any other a systematic exposition of the whole counsel
of God, as it [Page 65] is to be made known to all the nations of the earth - the world-wide
Epistle to the Romans - the Apostle not merely explains righteousness and life
in Christ to every believer, but also the mystery of Israel. For this mystery cannot be omitted without
injuring the integrity and affecting the character of testimony.
* 1 Tim. 1: 12-14; Phil. 3.;
The Apostle is most anxious that the Gentile Christians should
not be ignorant of this mystery; and this for a twofold reason. If
* Isa. 44: 7 (Heb.); Jer. 31: 35-37.
But the second reason why the Apostle is anxious that the
Gentiles should not be ignorant of this mystery is because in this ignorance
they will become wise in their own conceits, and, appropriating to themselves
the promises given unto Israel as a nation, assume an unscriptural attitude in
the world, and forget to fix all their hopes on the return of Jesus according
to the Scripture.
As our Lord, when he appeared to Ananias, said of the Apostle,
He
is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name
before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of
Israel, so we may expect that the Apostle of the Gentiles will yet lift up his
voice to the children of Abraham, and explain to them the Scriptures in the
light of the cross of Jesus; while unto the Gentile Christians there will be
revealed through him in these latter days the
mystery of Israel, which at the time of the
Reformation was not understood.
Jesus came to the whole nation;*
*
In all Scripture
Israel is frequently spoken of as all
** Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us,
and on our children (Matt.
27: 25).
*** Matt. 22: 15 - ch. 23.
But as all
* This point has again been illustrated
by the recent discovery of the Doctrine of the Twelve
Apostles (through the labours of the Metro-politan Bryennios), a
document most probably written as early as 150 A.D.
Two points are thus given to us in the apostolic teaching -
In the first place, according to the Word of God, it is obviously
necessary that the Jewish nation should remain in existence as a nation until
these latter days. Their enemies must
not succeed in destroying them; their friends must not succeed in so favouring
them that they amalgamate through indifference and worldliness with the other
nationalities.* And also it is necessary that they should not be
absorbed by the Christian churches, so as to cease to exist as a separate
community. How marvellously has all this
been fulfilled every one can see, in the countries of
* The profound word of a Spanish rabbi, uttered during the
fearful persecutions of Ferdinand, deserves to be remembered: We are a nation, on whom rest both blessing and curse; now you
Christians wish to exterminate us, but you shall not succeed; for there is a
blessing resting on us; and a time is coming when you shall try to elevate us,
and you shall not succeed, for we are under a curse.
Co-existent with
[*
How marvellous are Gods ways!
As at the first advent through the rejection of Jesus the gospel came to
the Gentiles, so at the second advent of Jesus He will be received by
Such, I believe, are the outlines of what is clearly taught us
in connection with the Gospel and the mystery of the Church by the Apostle
Paul. In this light consider now the
condition of
Now what has been the development of this death? First, the law of God, which is spiritual, brings those who see it in its
spirituality to a knowledge of sin and to humility. Instead of that, the Jews have substituted
for the divine law, in its unity and spirituality, a number of commandments,
observances, and regulations; and instead of the law making unto them sin
exceedingly sinful, and showing them the need of a Saviour, it has made them
conceited and self-righteous, so that the consciousness of the need of an
atonement and of sacrifice has almost died out among them.
Secondly, not seeing the unity of the Word of God in Christ
(and Jesus Christ is the key of the Old Testament as well as of the New Testament),
they gradually began to think that the Scripture was inferior in importance and
in lucidity to the tradition and explanation of the rabbis, and therefore they put tradition not merely on a level
with the Word of God, but practically above it. The idea of a personal Messiah, which is the
culminating point of the Old Testament, also vanished. When they found that the [Page 72] Christians showed that the time
predicted by Daniel had been fulfilled, that
In the absence of so many vital points - the spiritual
understanding of the law, and the consciousness of sin, the unity and
all-sufficiency of the Scripture, and the expectation of the Messiah - we
cannot wonder that the idea of God, as it lived in faithful
This creed in the unity of God may be without vitality. We know, in order to illustrate this, it is
one thing to believe in justification by faith, it is another thing to be
justified by faith; and so it is one thing to believe in God, who is One, and
it is another to believe [Page 74] in the numerical abstraction, in the mere idea of unicity. Out of this abstract and dead notion of God
developed pantheism. It is a significant
fact that the father of modern pantheism was a Jew - Spinoza.
As the old-fashioned Talmudism lost its power and hold, the
spread of rationalism and scepticism in Christendom, the growing disbelief in
positive and revealed religion affected the Jews also, especially in Germany;
so that many of them have adopted a system of morality without the basis of
faith in God and His promises, as revealed in Scripture, while others are sunk
either in utter indifference and worldliness, or have adopted agnosticism and
other unscriptural systems of thought.*
* At the commencement of this century the German Jews especially
lost till faith in Talmudic Judaism, and many embraced, outwardly,
Christianity. A Jewish historian (Gratz)
writes: In thirty years nearly half the Jewish
community of
But it may be asked, How is it then that the Jews still keep
together? And the only answer is, that
God wills it so. Within the last twenty
years the national consciousness of the Jews is more vivid and vigorous than
ever. They feel that, although scattered over the face of the earth, they are
one nation; and although they are not clearly conscious of its nature, they
feel that they have a special position and mission in the history of the world. And so we have the apparently contradictory
phenomenon, that while Israel is dead, having forsaken their true centre and
life, the dead and [Page 75] dry bones, according to the prophecy
of Ezekiel, are coming together. We know
it is in order that the Spirit of the Lord may breathe upon them.
In describing the various features characterising the
development of death, I have only indicated the tendencies and principles at work; but I rejoice to add there are
other, better, and brighter elements, which by the grace of God have throughout
all these centuries been sustained in the nation. For even in the darkest period of
* The Jewish nation can only be understood in the light of their
whole history, past and future. The Jewish question, writes the well-known
theologian Baumgarten, in 1881, is a mystery,
absolutely sealed to all unbelievers.
From the call of Abram to the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem a stream
of eternal life flows through the depths of the nations and of humanity; and
only when the last seal has been opened the marvellous plan will be understood
and seen; only then shall we understand perfectly the import of our present
day. Of what avail can it be to point
out the failures, sins, and vices of the Jews, and to exhort them to be a
little more modest? Such slight
improvements can be of no use. A radical
conversion is needed. It is a historical
fact that, as a nation in its collective totality, they brought their King and
Saviour to the cross, and cried that His holy blood be upon them and their
children. The Athenians repented of the
judicial murder of Socrates soon after, but the Jews still lie under the old curse
and ban; and it is quite comprehensible that while the whole nation is in this
condition their originally grand nature drives them occasionally into fearful
abnormities, though the high nobility of their origin suffices to preserve
among them a large treasure of morality and good customs.
It would be very interesting, but beyond our limits, to give
even a rapid sketch of the conversions to Christ which have taken place among
In my prayers to God I have always
laid before the Lord three petitions. The
first for an outpouring of His Spirit on German Christendom; the second, for
the sending forth of labourers into the vast field of heathenism; and the
third, that God would raise up men filled with love to Israel. The two first petitions God has graciously
answered. Oh that the last also may soon
be fulfilled!
This word deeply affected Francke; he repeated it to his
students in
* He published his missionary travels in five volumes. An excellent biography appeared of late years
by De la Roi.
During the last century there has been abundant fruit as regards
individual conversions to Christ. The
feeling, therefore, which we sometimes hear expressed, that the mission to
Christianity has deepened the ethics
of the Old Testament. Read the glorious
Sermon on the Mount, or Pauls description of love (1 Cor. 13.). True, the essential ideas are already
indicated and expressed in the Old Testament; but what a difference! There, only in weakness and [Page 79] occasional; here, in the steady, strong light of the sun; there, in drops;
here, in a stream which carries away the heart.
Or such words as these about Jesus:-
He brought the gospel of love to humanity, teacher and martyr of
Truth. He proclaimed the message of
salvation to all nations. He was the
consoler of the weary and heavy-laden, the friend of man, and lover of the
poor. In Him was nothing but light,
harmony, and symmetry, and His image and name have been an inexhaustible
fountain of blessedness to millions who lived and died in His love.
There are many thirsting souls in
The movement in
Another, a learned Talmudist, says:-
As a spark among the ashes the thought
of Jesus lives in my heart, and since I have been less disturbed outwardly the
Eastern Star shines more brightly. God
alone knows my heart, and will open the way for me out of my difficulties. At present I am only anxious to keep my heart
loyal to the salvation-bringing Lover, and your valued words comfort me. We can serve God in every position, and to
them that love God all things work together for good.
[Page 80]
Such testimonies might easily be multiplied from various parts
of the world.
Let us then lift up our hearts in earnest hope, and continue
in believing prayer. Whether the present
remarkable events are more nearly or distantly connected with the great crisis,
we must always look to the end, to the fulfilment of that sure word of promise
which was sealed by the death of Christ, and in Him is Yea and Amen. Let us
remember that all these hopeful indications of which I have spoken are in
answer to prayer. The Spirit of God
Himself is dealing with the hearts and minds of Gods ancient people. The work is His, and our privilege and duty
are to be His remembrancers at the throne of grace. While thinking of the nation, let us not
depreciate or neglect the more obscure work of our missionaries day by day
seeking out individual after individual, and dealing with each personally.
In conclusion, let us raise our thoughts from the work to the
Master.
Think of Jesus. Think
of Jesus born in a manger. Behold the
Virgin Mary bringing a pair of turtle doves, the offering of the poor. Behold Jesus in despised
When you stand below that cross where the Jews crucified
Jesus, if you are like the beloved disciple John, you will read by faith the
superscription, Jesus Christ, the King of the
Jews, and you will see in hope the national
restoration and conversion of Israel; for it is written in the Prophet
Zechariah, They
shall look unto Him whom they have pierced.
My plea for the Jewish Mission, as my plea for every good
work, is nothing else but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Remember that
He who died that He might gather together in one all the children of God, died,
first of all, for that nation;* and that nation, as a nation, in its totality will
look upon Him whom they have pierced.
For besides that great multitude which no man can number from among all
peoples and kindreds and tongues, we read of the hundred and forty-four
thousand out of the twelve tribes of
* John
11: 51, 52.
By the love of Jesus, by the love of Jesus,
I charge you that you love Israel,
that you pray for Israel; and if you love Israel, and if you pray for Israel, I
have no doubt it will be your joy, as well as it is your duty, to contribute of
your substance to help the work; for do not forget that among the Gentile
Christian congregations in which the Apostle Paul laboured he never [Page 82] omitted to keep up their connection
with mother Jerusalem; and so he writes to the Romans, It hath pleased them of
Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints that
are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them
verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles
have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.
And if any one reads these pages who is not converted, who
does not know Jesus as the Son of Man, as the Son of God, as the Saviour, as
the beloved and adored One, who will surely come again, oh! come to Jesus! Do not rest in what is called Christianity; do not rest in the performance of
religious duties; do not rest in anything but Christ. Oh, warm, beating heart of man, and poor,
trembling, sin-defiled conscience of man, only Jesus, the Son of God, by His
blood, and by the manifestation of His present personal love to you, can bring
peace and joy. Amen.
* *
*
[Page 83
CHAPTRR V
WHY THE
NOW THE WORK OF EVANGELISING THE JEWS*
* An address
delivered at a Special Convention about the Jews at Mildmay, October 1, 1889.
CHRISTIAN friends, the object of this Convention, as I understand it, is to deepen our
interest in the work of evangelisation among the Jews, and the method which is
adopted is that, besides hearing what the Lord is doing among
But with regard to the Jewish nation especially it is
necessary that we should be clear as to the Scripture ground, and as to the Scripture
teaching concerning Gods people, for I am perfectly convinced that our only
strength is there.
The Jewish Mission is comparatively of recent date. The early Church very soon lost the true
understanding [Page 85] of the Old Testament Scriptures, and
in the mediaeval Church the interest in the Jews was exceedingly limited. Nor was the mediaeval Church in a position to
evangelise the Jews in an enlightened and in a successful manner, for they
themselves resembled too much the Jews; and as the Jews had corrupted the Old
Testament religion by their traditions, and as the Jews had forgotten that
righteousness was by faith, and went about establishing a righteousness of
their own by works, exactly the same thing happened in Christendom. Hence the medieval Church did not itself
possess the gospel in sufficient clearness and intensity to attack the Jews, or
to bring near to them the blessings of the Most High. Besides that, there was a paganising of
Christianity which was especially obnoxious' and hateful to the Jews. The image
worship and other things, into which it is impossible for me now to enter,
would, from the very outset, impress the Jews with the fact that this was not
the true religion of God, and that it was their solemn duty to keep as far removed
from it as possible. There were some
splendid exceptions. There were some men
who had already, more or less, the full light of the gospel burning in their
hearts, and love to Israel animating them.
Such a one was Bernard of Clairvaux, who, perhaps, of all Church fathers
came nearest to the teaching of the Reformers, and who, in words most touching
and most lucid, set before the Church the truth that Israel was still beloved
of God, and that the time was coming when she, who was now desolate and in
spiritual blindness, would be brought to Jesus, who would receive her with the
love of a Bridegroom. [Page 86] Besides that, the medieval Church, although not utterly forgetful of her
duty to Israel, and although bringing to Israel to some extent the great
leading facts of the incarnation, and the [actual] fulfilment of [some of] the Messianic prophecies in Jesus, yet, quite in accordance
with the whole spirit of the Papacy, did not fight the spiritual fight with
spiritual weapons, but with carnal weapons; and with persecutions and the
outward authority of the State they sought to frighten and terrify the Jews,
and to allure them with all kinds of temporal advancements to forsake their
religion.
It reads very beautifully when Portia says, The quality of mercy is not strained. Shylock, the
Jew, is represented as a hard, severe, cruel, and vindictive man; but what
quality of mercy did the Jews experience from Christendom during the Middle
Ages? Even in this country of
There is one fact which deserves to be noticed - that in the
Christian Church, since the middle of last century, Christians have taken an
interest in the people of Israel, and have made efforts to evangelise them; but
it has always been the case, that the Christians who took an interest in
Israel, and evangelised Israel, were those Christians who not merely thoroughly
and cordially and without any reservation believed in the divine authority of
the Scripture from Genesis down to the book of the Apocalypse, but who accepted the scriptural teaching that
Israel was Gods nation, and that, although set aside for a time, there
were still promises which must surely be fulfilled to them, and that that nation had a future before it when God
Himself should interfere, and, in a way which perhaps we are not able to
understand, show forth His power and His goodness, and bring them again unto
Himself in their own land. This is
the fact. This fact cannot be
controverted, and leads me to say this, that however much people may profess an
interest in the Jewish Mission, that interest is not strong enough to stand the
strain, that interest is not intense enough to stand the test of experience;
and it will soon decay and languish unless
it is grounded on the Word of God. A
parallel case is this: Jesus asks [Page 89] Peter, Lovest thou ME? Then He says, Feed My sheep.
It is not love to the sheep that will sustain Peter in feeding
them. It is the fact that they are
Christs sheep. It is not because the
sheep are lovable that his interest in them will continue. It is because Christ is lovable that his
interest in them will continue.
Likewise, unless you believe that
But let us contrast the mission to the heathen and the mission
to the Jews. I am anxious to show you
why it is especially true with regard to the mission to the Jews that it must be founded upon the prophetic
Word - and by prophetic Word I
mean the whole Bible; for the history of the Bible is also prophetic, written
by the Spirit of God, and intimately connected with the future. In the first place, none will take an
interest in a mission to the Jews except a converted man. There are many people interested in missions
to the heathen. Why? Because the sins,
the crimes, the degradation, the wretchedness, the misery of heathenism appeal
to our human feelings and to our human consciousness. And idolatry in itself is such an awful and
terrible thing that it seems to every one who has the belief that there is one
God a most desirable thing that idolatry should be destroyed. But when we come to the Jews, the Jews do
believe that there is one God; the Jews do possess the Ten Commandments; the
Jews, as far as morality is concerned, may compare themselves with any
nation. The Jews themselves feel hurt
and offended, and say to us, Why do you send 90
missionaries to us? Are we more immoral,
are we more irreligious, than the rest of the community in which we live? And so it is that unless we know that faith
in the divinity of our blessed Saviour is by the Spirit and essential, that
righteousness is not by morality and by our works, but by faith in a crucified
Redeemer, there will be no interest in missions to the Jews.
Secondly, the number of heathen nations compared with the
number of Israelites. There are only
about twelve million Jews. There are
many hundred millions of idolaters. And
then again, it is generally imagined, although this imagination is not founded
upon fact, that the amount of result and fruit of labour has been much greater
in the mission to the heathen than it has been in the mission to the Jews. If you look upon the mission to the Jews as
one mission among missions, it is quite legitimate for a congregation or for a
church to say, We cannot do everything. We like missions to
I have dwelt upon this point, perhaps, longer than many may
think necessary; but I am perfectly convinced, for it meets me in conversation
every day, that these simple and elementary truths are not known by the
generality of professing Christians, that they do not see them, and that many
do not understand why it is that there should be missions to the Jewish nation. We must go back to the Word of God, and to
what they are pleased to call our prophetical theories. I wish that it was otherwise. I would fain put the Jewish Mission upon a
foundation so broad that all who believe that Jesus is the only Saviour would
give to it their interest and their heart.
Why is it not enough? Are not the
Jews human beings? Are not the Jews
sinners? Is there any other Saviour to
deliver us from our sin? Is there any
Saviour to comfort us in our sorrow but Jesus?
Why should the Jews not excite your interest as much as any other
nation? And again, even the most shallow
reader of the Scripture must make a difference between the Jews and the other
nations. You cannot forget their past
history. You cannot forget the wonderful
revelation which God gave to their fathers, and the wonderful acts which He did
in their behalf.
The feeling of gratitude must still be burning within your
bosom when you remember that the whole Scripture was written by Jewish hands;
when [Page 92] you remember that
the Psalms, which are so dear to you both for prayer and for praise, came from
the sweet Psalmist of Israel; when you remember that your own Apostle, who
brought to you the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, was of the tribe of
Benjamin; when you remember that Jesus, according to the flesh, was of the seed
of David and of the seed of Abraham. And
if it is not merely that as human beings and as sinners they need the gospel,
and that there is a special interest attaching to them on account of their past
history, and that gratitude should prompt you to go forward and to rescue them,
are not your compassions moved when you think of the wonderful sorrows of this
nation, of the sufferings through which they have gone, of the persecutions
which they have endured, of the misery in which they still are in their
homelessness and many sorrows? And yet
all these things will not suffice. And
why not? Because it is only when we are
brought into harmony with the mind of God, and when we look upon Israel with
the eyes with which Jesus looked upon them, and with the eyes with which Jesus
wept over them, that we shall go on in light, and in love, and in perseverance
to the great, although the most difficult, work which is entrusted unto the
Church on Israels behalf.
But I think that the Jewish Mission in the present day is
especially in harmony with the characteristic feature of the present stage of
the Church and the world. There is an
old saying of which Bengel was very fond, Deus habet
horas et moras. There are pauses in history;
but during these pauses, which [Page 93] are occasioned by the unbelief, the ignorance, and the disobedience of His
own people, and are made subservient to the wisdom of God, the great Musician
does not forget the melody, and at the proper time it is continued. The mediaeval Church did not possess
sufficient gospel light, the
In the second place, the great
battlefield at present is the Old Testament.
The
And seeing now that the Old Testament
is the battlefield, never mind the apparent results, the difficulties of the
destructive criticism. We know that the
end of the conflict is sure, and for this let us thank God. The Church must look into the
Old Testament, and the Church must give up all the phantomising and vague
explanations which have been in vogue even among orthodox Christians for such a
long time, and must see that Israel, the concrete Israel, the descendants of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, form the subject of the Old Testament from beginning
to end. Old and New are one.
The whole Old Testament, the friend of the mission to the heathen, and
the guarantee of the mission to the heathen, says the idols shall be utterly destroyed.
The New Testament, the book of the Church based upon the [Page 95] Old, breathes also the promise of the
Old, and says, All Israel shall be saved.
I, therefore, say that the mission to the Jews at the present is the
mission for the present time, and that the
We speak much at present about realising the person of Jesus, that
Jesus is the centre of Christianity; and modern theologians boast of it as a
peculiar excellence that they do not look upon Jesus merely as the
manifestation of God, but that they have come nearer to an appreciation of the
humanity of Jesus. I do not enter into
what truth there may be in this assertion, but this I will say: What is the humanity of Jesus?
How do we understand the humanity of Jesus? He came not to Rome; He came not to Athens;
His goings forth are from of old He is the Son of David; He is the Son of
Abraham He came as the Minister of the circumcision, to confirm the promise
made unto the fathers. Jewish was His
humanity, and the more we are in harmony with Jesus as He lived in the Word of
God, in Moses, in the Psalms, and in the prophets, the more shall we understand
the human aspect of Jesus Christ.
It is no great understanding of the human aspect of Jesus Christ that I
know that He had a body; that He required to eat, and to drink, and to sleep;
that He was tired, or that I know that He had emotions like all human beings:
that He rejoiced, and that He was sad, and that He was moved with compassion,
and that He was angry. The spiritual
human life of Jesus is His real human life
- [Page 96] His faith in God, His communion with
the Father, His prayers, His conflicts, His love; and all this was Jewish, in
this sense - you will not misunderstand what I mean - that Israel was the
divinely prepared soil, out of which He came forth, and that He was the
realised Ideal, prefigured by the patriarchs and prophets.
The Jewish Mission in the present day has also reached another
stage on account of the peculiar change which has come over
Rabbinism for a number of centuries kept the Jews in its iron
grip, but Rabbinism and Talmudism have become effete. What has been substituted for them? Monotheism, but not Jehovahism; the idea of
the unicity of God, but not the knowledge of the living and the loving God, who
could not have communion with His people until at last He came down in the
person of His own Son. Monotheism is not
able to satisfy the conscience, or give peace and joy to the heart, and,
therefore, there are in Israel multitudes who are poor in spirit, who are
hungering and thirsting, who have the consciousness that they are blind, and
miserable, and [Page 97] wretched, and who are longing after the living water
that will satisfy the craving of their soul.
The attitude of Israel to the person of Jesus Himself has become
changed, and to the New Testament, which formerly thousands and thousands would
not even touch with their hands, regarding it as an unclean thing. It is most astonishing how many thousands of
Jews within the last few years have begun to read that book, and to read it in
an attitude of comparative candour. All
these clearly show that there is something special in the present day, that the
Jews have entered into a new phase, that the field is prepared, that the hour
has come, that it is our duty to go in faith and in love, and bring to them the
glad tidings of salvation.
* *
*
[Page 98]
CHAPTER VI
OF GOD WHICH ARE WITHOUT REPENTANCE*
* A sermon preached on behalf of the
Jewish Mission of the English Presbyterian Church, May 18, 1868.
Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving
of the law, and the service of God, and the promises: whose are the
fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
PRE-EMINENT among the saints of God, of whom we
read in the Holy Scriptures, are Moses, the servant of Jehovah, who was faithful
in all Gods house, and Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, who was able to say,
Be
ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ.
When we think of these two chosen vessels of God, of their wisdom, their
meekness, their self-sacrifice, their zeal for Gods glory, their unwearied and
ardent love, their sufferings, their patience; when we recall their tears,
their words, their labours, their prayers, we feel so amazed at the grandeur of
their characters and lives that we are lifted above the lower sentiments of
admiration, and above the common expresions of eulogy, and we can only glorify
God in them. As when we stand [Page 99] before a majestic Alpine mountain
height, or gaze on a bright and beautiful star, we say: How great is Gods
power, how beautiful are His works, how wonderful is His glory!
Moses and Paul show that love to God and love to man are one;
that he who stands highest on the mount of God, and sees most of the glory of
God, has the deepest compassion, the most burning love, the tenderest sympathy
towards his brethren. Moses in his
anguish said, Blot me out of Thy book.
He could not bear the thought of
Love to
Most impressive ought this assurance be to you, dear [Page 100] Gentile Christians,
for who ever loved you and lived for you as the Apostle Paul? Who ever devoted his life with such
earnestness and zeal to your welfare?
Who ever equalled him in the intensity of his love, in the compass as
well as the patience and wisdom of his labours?
Who ever suffered so much, and accomplished such great results for the
Gentiles, as the Apostle Paul? Your
salvation, your liberty, your position in the
For much as he loved you, he never forgot his people; much as
he rejoiced over your faith and your liberty in Christ, he continually mourned
over the unbelief and bondage of the chosen people of God; and as he abounded
with thanksgiving for the ingathering of the Gentiles, so he continued
steadfast in the sure [Page 101] hope that all
Israel shall be saved, and that the
promises given to the fathers would be fulfilled, for the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance.
And in this love, in this sorrow, in this hope, he is most
anxious that you, Gentile Christians, should be one with him; for it is God, it
is Christ, it is the Holy Ghost who have inspired him with this love, filled
his heart with this sorrow, and sustained his spirit with this hope.
The
Paul sees their blindness, their
unbelief, their death. But he remembers what they are and what God has done for
them, and in the position which God of His ,free grace has assigned them, and
in the gifts which He has bestowed upon them, he sees the pledge of their
future restoration.
They are Israelites, the children of
Jacob, of that man who wrestled with God and prevailed; seed of the prince who,
in that solemn night, achieved the greatest victory, when he wrestled with the
Angel, in whom was Gods countenance, and when in his weakness he was made
strong; the patriarch, who, on his death-bed, invoked on his sons the blessing
of the Angel who redeemed him from all evil, and wished that his name Israel be
named on them, as well as the names of Abraham and Isaac. God called His people
[Page 103]
To them belongeth the adoption. If men are by nature Gods children, why
speak of adoption as a privilege conferred, a grace bestowed? All men are Gods creatures, and under His paternal benevolence and providing care, but
all men are not Gods children.
Since the fall
of Adam we are a seed of evil-doers, in whose heart is no truth, children of
wrath and disobedience. But out of the
fallen race of Adam He chose
Theirs also was the glory. Not in the sense that they had anything
wherein to glory. The nations of this
world speak much and proudly of their glory: Free
The glory of the Lord appeared unto Moses. It was the glory of
the Lord that Isaiah beheld when he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high
and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
Ezekiel saw the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord,
even the appearance of a Man above the throne, which was like a sapphire stone.
The glory of the Lord went before the people in a pillar of
cloud and of fire in the wilderness; the glory appeared on
Theirs are the covenants.
God of His free mercy appeared unto Abraham and unto Isaac and unto
Jacob, and in His sovereign love established an ever lasting and immutable
covenant, which no disobedience on mans part can annul, which no power on
earth or in hell can destroy. In the divine
covenants there are no contingencies, no uncertainties, no failures. God secures their conditions and
fulfilments. He promises and His counsel
stands fast. Mens transgressions and [Page 105] failings cannot change the purposes
of His love; sinful and weak as we are, the covenants remain firm and steadfast
as the rocks and mountains which He has established. In the covenants which God in His sovereignty
made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He inseparably connected three promises: a
numerous nation, Messiah, the seed, in whom all families of the earth would be
blessed, and the
To them pertaineth the giving of the law. That was a wonderful manifestation of divine
power and love. God compares the exodus
of
To them pertaineth the service. Think not of ritual invented by man, imposed
by human authority, and arranged according to mans ingenuity and aesthetic
feeling. The tabernacle with its laver
and altars, its sanctuary and holy of holies, the institution of the priesthood
with its vestments, down to the detail of the colours, fringes, and
pomegranates; the festivals, fast-days, jubilees; the purifications and divers
washings, the whole cultus was God-given; here everything is of divine
authority and full of meaning. When
Moses was on the mount forty days and forty nights, God showed him these
things. Here are shadows and types of
glorious and everlasting realities; here the Holy Ghost Himself teaches by
signs. Thus we are taught [Page 107] in the Epistle to the Hebrews. It was not man who invented these
emblems. The Spirit of God Himself chose
to teach by these signs; representations of mysteries, of pardon and renewal,
of worship and consecration, hidden wonderful things, which David and all
God-fearing Jews besought God to reveal unto them - Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.
Here is a cultus, not invented by human ingenuity, and consecrated by
ancient tradition, but the gift of divine wisdom and love - adumbrations full
of light, shadows full of brightness - but the body is of Christ.
To them pertain the promises; promises which embrace the
Gentiles, and which are full of exultation and joy over the prosperity and
peace of the world, are given by
Theirs are the fathers.
Abraham, called the friend of God; Isaac, the son of promise, and Jacob,
whom God loved, and who during his whole life waited for the salvation of God.
But
How great and how painful is the contrast when we look from
the high position and blessings God gave to
Sorrow must fill our hearts when we
think of Israelites [Page 110] without Christ. But this sorrow
ought to express itself in the exercise of love, as it ought to seek
consolation in the hope of a bright future.
veteran;
and the company was silent. The existence
of the Jewish nation is indeed an unanswerable proof of the truth of the
prophetic Word.
But while they confirm the truth, and
while they have been the channel of blessing to you, remember that they have
been placed within your reach in order that you may bring nigh unto them the
gospel of peace. Through your mercy they
are to obtain mercy. You owe them a debt
of gratitude, you are bound to them by the most tender and sacred ties. The Scriptures, which make you wise unto
salvation, the apostles, who have brought the Name of Jesus to the nations, the
Lord of glory Himself, have come from
The future of
And as the mission to
*
El-Amen (Isa. 65:
16), translated in the Authorised Version, God of truth.
Creation also reminds you of
And as creation proclaims Gods purpose regarding His people,
our faith in the Resurrection points to the same great manifestation of divine
power.
Let us give then our aid to the Jewish Mission, in faith, in
love, in hope, and let us seek to enter into the mind of God, and to look
forward to that great promise which all the fathers embraced, and held fast
even unto the end. May there be given
unto us also, out of that wonderful and infinite ocean of divine love to
* *
*
[Page 114]
CHAPTER
VII
CHRIST THE TRUE CENTRE
OF
* A lecture delivered in 1868.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them
which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see
Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord. - Matt. 23: 37-39.
SORROW, love, and hope are blended in these
words of the Lord Jesus Christ; and when we think of
JERUSALEMS SIN,
JERUSALEMS PUNISHMENT, and JERUSALEMS RESTORATION; these are the three subjects to
which I desire to direct your attention for a few moments.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
came down from heaven. He was born of
the Virgin Mary, of the seed of David, and of the seed of Abraham, and He was a
minister of the circumcision, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (
How marvellous were the manifestations of His power and of His
grace unto this people! He brought them
out of
And not merely had God elected and chosen
Think of how God dealt with
And after a long period of silence, see how God still remembered
His promise, and how He gave unto them John the Baptist, in whom Moses and the
prophets, as it were, rose from the grave; in whom all the terrors of the law
and all the sweet promises of the prophets were summed up, and were sounded
forth again with greater power and with greater blessedness. There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John (John
1: 6). John the Baptist was a wonderful gift of God unto His
people Israel; for he preached unto them that they had sinned, and that they
had transgressed the holy will of God, thus summing up the message of the law;
and with loving tenderness he exclaimed, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! thus summing up the testimony of all
the prophets.
And, to crown all these benefits, God sent His own Son, Jesus
Christ, who was the heir; and Jesus came in order to gather
Think, again, of the mighty MIRACLES that Jesus performed - miracles in which
He showed that He was the lord of nature; converting water into wine;
commanding the tempest, so that there was a great calm; walking upon the waves
of the sea; - miracles in which He showed that He was the great power of God,
in order to heal all disease, and in order to restore unto man all that was
lost by the Fall: rebuking the fever; healing those who were bowed down with
many infirmities; opening the eyes of the blind; and giving hearing unto the
deaf; - miracles which showed that the Lord Jesus Christ had not merely the
power to be the lord of nature, or that He was that perfect Man of whom the
eighth Psalm prophesies; and not merely that He had power over all diseases, or
that He was that perfect Physician of whom Isaiah says, Himself beareth our
infirmities, but also
miracles which showed that in the invisible realms of evil spirits who had
fallen from God, and who were now exerting their power over the sinful race of
Adam, Jesus was acknowledged as God, and His word was immediately obeyed, so
that the devils themselves trembled at the word of Jesus of Nazareth; -
miracles which showed that He was greater and stronger than that strong one who
bound poor sinners in the iron fetters and chains of his cruelty; - miracles to
prove that Jesus had power [Page 120] over death, when He raised up that little maid by His simple and loving
word, Talitha, kumi; and when He raised up that young man,
the son of the widow; and when He raised up Lazarus, who had already been for several
days in the grave; - all these miracles were to gather Israel unto Himself.
But not merely did Jesus gather
Character and life of Jesus!
The two are coincident: His life is His character - His character is His
life; Himself you see in His words and in His works. Different from all other men is Jesus. What Jesus is He speaks and He acts; what
Jesus speaks and acts He is Himself. And
when we think of that life and of that character of Jesus, how perfectly free
is it from every spot and blemish, from every imperfection and onesidedness! How perfectly free is it from anything that
might mar its beauty or its symmetry!
Oh, what an astonishing influence that must have exerted upon all who
saw Him! It is one thing to analyse it;
it is another thing to feel the power of it.
The simple people, whose power of analysis is, perhaps, very feeble and
inadequate, are most impressed with the power of character and with the
influence of life; that gentleness, meekness, unselfishness, patience, love,
prayerfulness, which never for a single moment failed. It was manifest in everything that Jesus said
and did; and there was a holy atmosphere around Him wherever He was.
[Page 121]
But do I speak of freedom from any fault or imperfection? This is only a negative view of His
character. In Him was not merely no sin
and no guile, but in Him was every perfection.
Whatever is beautiful and dignified, holy and noble, was manifested in
Jesus; all virtue and all excellencies were shown forth in Him; by Him was
represented the whole idea of humanity; all that God ever required of man, all
that God ever expected in man, was realised and fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
Thus it was by His words, by His miracles, and by His
character and life that Jesus endeavoured to gather
And again, in the life and character of the Lord [Page 122] Jesus Christ, it is Himself that He
shows forth; that He is that centre around whom
And now, have you ever thought of it, what it was they
rejected in Jesus? They did not reject
anything in Jesus; they rejected Jesus Himself.
There was no point of controversy between Jesus and the Jews; Jesus brought
no new doctrine unto them. Jesus said,
What the masters in
Why was Jesus pained when they rejected Him? When any of us are rejected, or when men
speak against us, we may well examine ourselves as to whether it is for Gods
sake, or whether it is on account of some of our sins or our faults that we are
opposed. But Jesus knew perfectly that
He and the Father are one; that in all His doings and in all His sayings He was
constantly abiding with the Father, and that it was because He was one with God, because He was the express image of His being, because
He was the perfect manifestation of the character of God, that they hated Him; and therefore Jesus was pained, not because
they hated Him, but because they hated in Him the Father, because He was the
manifestation of Jehovah.
How often would I have gathered thy
children unto Me. Jesus was Jehovah, but they hated
Him, and in hating Him they hated the Father; for the Jehovah of whom the
Scriptures spoke, that Jehovah Himself who [Page 124] had brought them out of Egypt,
who had led them through the wilderness [into the land of promise], who had promised that He would come down and visit His people, He was before them, the countenance of God was beaming
upon them, but they hated both Him and the Father.
And thus they rejected Him: and after they had rejected Him,
Jesus sent down the Promise of the Father; and for years after the great
Pentecost at Jerusalem Jesus was preached unto them in the power of the Spirit;
but they hardened their hearts, and they resisted the Holy
Ghost. This was the sin of
And now what was their punishment? Behold your house is left unto you desolate.
We may take this expression in more than one sense. The most obvious sense is this:
But this is not the only sense in which the words are to be taken.
[* That is, a disbelief, denial and misinterpretation of all of Gods
unfulfilled prophecies and conditional promises; and of the Lords teaching
of an intermediate place and state of disembodied souls in the heart of the earth (Matt.
12: 40) -
from the time of Death until Resurrection from sheol
/ Hades. See Luke
16: 19-31; Acts 2: 27, 31, 34. cf. John 3: 13; Acts 7: 4b, 5; 2 Tim. 2: 18; Heb. 11: 13; 1 Pet. 1: 5, 9; Rev. 6: 9-11, R.V.!]
And then there is another portion among
Whereunto shall I compare the history of
Whereunto shall I compare
[Page 128]
Do not be mistaken., there are modern Jews
who will speak of Jesus with the greatest respect - who will say that Jesus was
a great prophet, that He was a wise man, and that it was only intolerance,
bigotry, and fanaticism that nailed Him to the cross. Do not imagine for a single moment that these
Jews are nearer unto the
But is it to be always so?
Your house is left unto you desolate. Ye shall not see Me
henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is
He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Ah, do not you [anti-millennialists] believe
Throughout the whole of the Word of God
one truth is written more clearly than any other - that
Dear brethren, look at it.
God has chosen
And is this to be the end of the history of
But then Joseph spake unto them words of affection. He went round and kissed them, and fell upon
the neck of Benjamin his brother, and Joseph wept and kissed him. And thus will it be when
[Page 132]
And now we have spoken of ages past and ages to come; of the
time when God first called Abraham; of the time when
I can see
Him even now,
With His pierced,
thorn-clad brow,
Agonising on the tree:
Oh, what love, and all for
me!
Now, when Jesus will come again I know not. Yet His coming is near. Faith knows no time. Behold, He cometh! We are waiting for the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven.
Jesus saw it all - past, present, and future - in a moment, when He exclaimed,
O,
[Page 133]
Let us glance at a few prominent lessons. Let us, in the first place, adore the
greatness of our God. How wonderful is
God! how wonderful is His wisdom! how wonderful is His power! how wonderful is
the symmetry of His plans! The times of
the Gentiles - behold, it is only a brief parenthesis; it is only a short
pause. The God of power and might will
come again, and the miraculous history will be continued, and
Above all things, let us learn the love of God. Who could have sinned more than
Again, let us learn this lesson - Jesus-Jehovah is
the only Saviour. That
was a strange scene when the scribes and the Pharisees, the elders and the
rulers of the Jews, and the great concourse of people, filled with rage, were
gathered together. One man was the
object of their enmity. But there was no
anger on his countenance; his face was like the face of an angel. There was
[Page 134]
What was the great difference between that crowd and
Stephen? Stephen looked up to heaven and
saw the Lord, the Son of Man, standing on the right hand of God; and with open
face beholding the glory of Jehovah, he was changed into the same image from
glory to glory.
While God has reserved the conversion of
If we have the mind of Jesus, then we cannot regard the
mission to the Jews in the same light in which we [Page 135] view other missions.
We send Missionaries to
And see what encouragement the Lord our God has given unto
us. We do not deny or conceal the
special difficulties of the Jewish Mission.
There is something peculiar in the blindness and hardness of heart which
we meet in
[Page 136]
There never was a time when God had not some of His people
brought unto the knowledge of Jesus. At the
time of the Reformation it might have been expected that the zeal of Gods
people, being directed again to the Word, would go forth unto Gods ancient
people; but the understanding of the
Reformers with regard to Gods plans for Israel was not clear, and
therefore we find that for a long time the Church did not think of Israel. During the last century God stirred up the
minds of His people to think of the Jews, and to pray for them, and to send out
to them messengers of grace; and during the last fifty years how many
Israelites have been brought to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Success, however, is not
the basis upon which we are to build.
The Word of God is the basis. Love unto Jesus is to be the motive; faith in the Word of the Most High
is to be our sustaining strength. Yet let us not forget to acknowledge with
gratitude the wonderful encouragement which God has given us, and that He has
brought out many from
* *
*
CHAPTER VIII
[Pages 138-191]
THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS - A
COMPREHENSIVE BIBLE STUDY OF
[* NOTE: This chapter is a classic, and it is shown under the
title: The Restoration of the Jews By AdolpH Saphire.]
* *
*
[Page 192]
CHAPTER IX
THE EXPECTANT ATTITUDE
OF THE SAINTS OF GOD IN
ALL AGES*
* An address delivered at a special conference on the Second Advent in February, 1879.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb. 11: 13).
My
subject is the waiting attitude of the saints of God from Abraham to aged
Simeon. The saints of God from Abraham
to aged Simeon - this brings before us the whole history of
For in
Therefore the Scripture is, on the one hand, eminently
historical; it is a record of the supernatural history of
Now, let me remind you that the religion of the Old Testament
is not monotheism, but Jehovahism. It is
very important that this apparent truism should be brought clearly before our
minds. It is a great thing for a human
being to know that there is only one God; but it is an infinitely greater thing
to know that Jehovah is THE God.
All people that on earth do dwell, shall sing with cheerful
voice unto the Lord; but only when they know that Jehovah He is the Lord (Ps. 100.).
[Page 194]
Again, as the Old Testament is the dispensation of law, what
is the foundation and basis upon which the whole LAW OF GOD rests? Certainly not upon any moral principle;
certainly not upon any moral abstraction not on any idea of the good and
beautiful, but on this I am Jehovah, thy God, which brought thee out of the
Now, if this be so, if the religion of the Old Testament is
not faith in an abstraction, but faith in the covenant God, who has the Name
Jehovah; the question, What is the meaning of Jehovah? is one of great
importance. When we say Jehovah, our first idea is of the eternal, sovereign,
unchangeable One; and this is true, but you must remember that it means that in
a peculiar sense. ETERNITY - Coming down into time to fulfil its own counsel. SOVEREIGNTY
- choosing a nation for itself, forming it for His own glory, and dealing with
it according to the purpose which He purposed in Himself. UNCHANGEABLE
- in this, that this Jehovah will carry out what He has purposed
Himself, notwithstanding all the sin, and ingratitude, and defilement of the
people; and notwithstanding all the obstacles which the enemies of God will
throw against Him. That is
the meaning of Jehovah.
Jehovah means the future One - the coming One - I shall be
what I shall be. It is the pledge unto
His chosen people that as He has begun His work, so He [Page 195] will perform it unto perfection, the
assurance that all the counsel of the Lord shall come to pass, and that
independently of their sins and shortcomings, and in spite of all the
opposition of Satan and of all the nations.
The best and fullest exposition of the meaning of the word Jehovah is
simply the coming One.
As [the Lord] Jesus said unto
the beloved disciple, I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, which
was, and is to come, the Almighty.
This is the Jehovah whom we expect; this is the Jehovah whom the
remnant in
Now, if you have followed me so far, and have seen that
prophecy and history are inseparably connected; that Jehovah is the centre of the
Old Testament; that Jehovah means the One that is to come, and to fulfil the
counsel He has purposed in Himself - the next step follows as it were at
once. If Jehovah is the coming One, and
if the Old Testament is the Book of Jehovah, and if Israel is the nation of
Jehovah - then the whole attitude of the Old Testament, and the whole attitude
of the nation, must be future-wards. And
they can have no other horizon, no nearer horizon, than that of the ultimate future. Nothing short of the ultimate future can be the horizon
of
From these thoughts I would deduce three corollaries of great
importance in reading Scripture.
The first is this, that as the horizon of
[Page 197]
From Adam to John the Baptist, the thing upon which the eye of
Gods people rested, was the ultimate future, the coming of Jehovah; stretching
through the millennial ages into the new heaven and the new earth.
The second thing I want to bring before you is this - not only
that all saw the same thing; but they each saw it connected with some proximate future, according to their individual
position. That is to say, the ultimate
future connected itself with their present, and hence with present duties. To make it more clear, the patriarchal
promise was this: God will bring your children into the
The same also we have in the other prophets; in every
redemption that God brought unto His people, they saw already the last great
redemption, and it was a very practical thing thus to look forward unto the
ultimate end. It decided upon this question, whether they would be worldly or
unworldly; strangers and pilgrims on this earth, or among those who seek an
abiding city here.
The third point: they expected the ultimate end
immediately. It seems a
contradiction. Abraham knew that his
seed would be four hundred years in
What is the meaning of Abraham, Moses, and all the prophets
expecting it quickly? They knew that in
the eternal spiritual world everything has life and movement; God does not delay. He has no object dearer to His heart than the
fulfilment of His promises. He comes as
quickly as He can. He comes immediately
to this the great and central point.
Therefore [Page 199] they also,
having the same mind, are able to see this which is last as the thing dearest
and nearest, the light which shines into them in their darkness.
Before I pass on, let me, for the sake of those who may be
troubled about the things said or written against the authority of the Word of
God, make this remark. The difficulty of
believing the Old Testament is very great, but it is neither greater nor less
than the difficulty of believing in the living God. What are the two things rationalists
attack? Miracle and prophecy. They might as well say simply, We do not like
to believe in the living God; for MIRACLE
is simply the omnipotent hand of God interfering in His grace; and PROPHECY is simply the omniscient eye
of God interfering in testimony and guiding His people; and therefore unto us
miracle and prophecy are the two pillars on which the whole edifice of divine
truth is resting.
Unless we believe in the coming One, it is impossible to
understand the Book of God, from Genesis to Malachi. It is only in the light of the future that we
can see any connection and meaning in the Old Testament. This is my deep conviction, that the moment
faith in Jehovah as the future One is given up, faith in the Word of God is
undermined. It may take centuries to
develop it, but it must surely develop; for without this faith in the future
Jehovah, the Bible is not intelligible, and is not interesting. You know that, to a great number of people,
nine-tenths of the Bible is not interesting; and if it is once uninteresting or
unintelligible, it will lose its authority.
[Page 200]
In reviewing very rapidly the Jewish
history, as the history of waiting saints, let us imagine it as a river, and
mark its progress by seven bridges. The
first bridge is called Patriarchal; the venerable names of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob stand engraved on it. After a
lapse of centuries we come to the second bridge - the Exodus and Wilderness;
Moses is the central figure of this epoch.
Running through a long period, dark and troubled, we come to the third
bridge, on which stand Samuel and David.
Of the fourth bridge Isaiah is the inscription. The fifth stands not in
Judea, but in
I. Look at Abraham, who is our
father. The Jewish nation has this
peculiarity - its beginning is not hid in mythic darkness, but shines out
clearly. We do not know the name of the
first Englishman, or of the first Russian, but the name of the first Jew was
Abraham. We know this, and can see down
to the very beginning of our history, like to a transparency.
But since Abraham was only
chosen for a blessing [Page 201] to you and to all nations, since it is a universal salvation, a salvation
of all nations, Abraham must be linked with the whole race; and therefore Jesus
said, Before Abraham was, I Am.
So I may also say, paradoxical though it may seem, before Abraham was
born, there were children of Abraham.
For he was the father not only to believers of the New Testament generation,
but also to the whole family of saints.
Thus, in the days of Noah, the promise was already given through
Shem. Enoch waited for the Lord; Adam
and Eve, when their first-born son was brought forth, thought he was the
promised Redeemer. They also looked for
the Messiah.
There were three divine promises given unto the patriarchs -
the promise of a numerous nation, of a country, and of a Messiah; and how were
these promises given unto Abraham?
Unconditionally. It is an
unconditional covenant. It does not
depend upon Abraham, or upon the obedience of the nation. Let me remind you that this is the foundation
upon which not merely the Old Testament rests, but your own salvation
also. God made the covenant with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob unconditionally.
A hundred times there is the echo of this in the Psalms and Prophets. When God says, For My own sake I will do it,
The patriarchs lived in the promise and embraced the promise,
dwelling as strangers and pilgrims on the earth; and Jacob expresses a long
pent-up communion of the soul with Jehovah, a recapitulation of all its past
life and struggles, as, interrupting the course of objective prediction, he
says, I have waited for Thy salvation.
II. Now we come to Moses - in one
respect a retrograde movement; but I cannot enter into that point here. Moses
not only gave the law, but also types of the gospel. Moses gives an outline of the future. Jehovah will always remember His covenant
with
III.
Come we now to the third bridge - David.
The children of
Now, in immediate connection with Davids history, God
unveiled to him the future kingdom. On
the basis of the glorious promise (recorded in 2
Sam. 7.) which fills David with
unspeakable gratitude, David speaks of his sons reign; by combining Psalms 2., 45.,
72., and 110.
we clearly see that Solomon is not this son, but One who is greater, who
possesses divine names, divine glories, divine attributes. Then there is a line of psalms, of which Psalm 22. is the [Page 204] greatest, in which we see deepest suffering connected with
glory. But with these we must combine
another aspect in the Psalms, according to which Jehovah Himself is seen coming
to the earth, conquering all enemies, bringing salvation to
IV. After David and Solomon there came
downfall. David was not the Promised One
after all; Solomon was not the Promised One.
Then came the times of the prophets, and of these earlier prophets I
have only reminded you of Isaiah. What
shall I say of him? Oh! what a wonderful
future is revealed to him. The first
cycle of prophecies is in connection with
* Isaiah 7: 3
- Shear-jashub - i.e., A remnant shall return.
V. The fifth bridge stands in a strange
land. According to the prediction of
But he was appointed to give this message unto Israel, and
when it was fulfilled - and this is what I think so Christ-like in Jeremiah -
when it was proved that he who had been rejected and persecuted by the king, by
the scribes, by the false prophets, and ecclesiastical authorities was right, there was no bitterness [Page 206] towards his brethren. He sat himself down on the ground and wept,
and poured forth lamentations which to this day are the expressions of
And so they were led away into
Whereas all the other prophets take their starting-point from
The four metals show power as it is given of God; we see the
world power in its good and God-appointed aspect (
Daniel beheld the Son of man coming from heaven, and this must
have been a problem to Old Testament saints, how He had first ascended. That He was to come out of the root of Jesse
and the stem of David, they could understand.
They expected Him from
[Page 208]
VI. Sixth bridge. The people returned, the temple was being
restored, yet the prophecy points to a future, far more glorious, fulfilment of
the promise. In Zechariah we find a
wonderful vision of the priest upon the throne, the Levitical and Melchisedec
types combined, and we have the Good Shepherd, Gods Shepherd, welcomed by the
poor, but rejected, and sold for thirty pieces of silver, Jehovahs sword
awaking against Him, who is called, the Man, My equal. And he sees also
Now I must leave the sixth bridge. Look only at Malachi, the last of the
prophets. He sees the Lord coming to His
temple, the angel of the covenant, in whom they delight. He is Jehovah; but before Jehovah there shall
be a man to prepare the way. But who
will stand this crisis, this coming? therefore he speaks to the ungodly and to
the stout-hearted: For who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?
He shall bum them up like stubble.
With great solemnity the whole past is reviewed: Remember ye
the law of Moses, My [Page
209] servant.
Notice the conclusion of Malachi.
It shows unto us, so to speak, the humility of the whole Old
Testament. All the prophets were only
stars in the dark night, the morning has not yet dawned. But says the last Old Testament witness, Unto you that
fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall
arise with healing in His wings. The whole Old Testament is waiting for
the sunrise.
VII. The seventh bridge. Four hundred years passed, the Maccabees were
wonderful heroes, but no one thought during that period of the advent of
Messiah. There were no false Christs
then. This is wonderful. It is because the people knew the time was
not yet come. When Messiah was not
predicted to come, when as yet the time had not arrived, then there were no
false Messiahs. But when the predicted
time came, then there were false Messiahs.
The long silence from Malachi is
broken, not by a son of Abraham, but by an angel. An angel comes down, and appears to
Zecharias, and afterwards to the Virgin Mary.
What does the angel say? No
German or English rationalist will charge the angel with human ignorance or
Jewish prejudice. He comes out of
eternity, if I may so speak, from heaven, and predicts that there would be born
to the blessed virgin, Jesus, who shall be great, and shall be called the Son
of the Highest, and shall have the
throne of His father David, and shall rule for ever over the house of
Jacob. How they understood this is
perfectly clear from the song of Mary, and from that of Zechariah. They expected deliverance from all [Page 210] their enemies, He being raised up to
fulfil the promise to Abraham, and his seed forever.
And now let us for a moment see how it came. In the Gospel of Matthew we see that
The little child he calls the Salvation of the Lord, the
ultimate Manifestation of the Redeemer God.
n the face of all nations - that is, to be seen and acknowledged by the
whole world, God had prepared Him, in His eternal counsel and in all His
dealings with His people. A light to
lighten the Gentiles, who [Page 212] are in darkness and in the shadow of death, and thereby also the glory of
His people
* *
*
[Page 213]
CHAPTER X
THEY SHALL LOOK UNTO ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED - A GLIMPSE OF
IN THE LIGHT OF
ZECHARIAHS PROPHECIES
I THINK there is nothing in the whole range
of Scripture more touching than the promise contained in these simple,
unadorned words. As they touch the
heart, they fix themselves on our memory.
Who can ever forget them? They shall
look unto Me whom they have pierced.
A whole nation is here brought before us - and what a
nation! Venerable for their antiquity,
remarkable on account of their marvellous history, their wonderful preservation,
their world-influencing literature, their mysterious future; a nation separated
from all other peoples, chosen by the sovereign grace of God, educated by His
wisdom and love, chastised and scattered by His righteous wrath and holy
severity, and reserved for the sake of One - whom alas! they know not - to be
yet more highly favoured than ever, and to become a blessing to all the world!
After the greatest manifestation of divine love and [Page 214] condescension,
their sin reached the highest, the culminating point. Prophets had been stoned, divine messengers
had been killed; yet divine patience and forgiveness, not exhausted, sent the
Son. Peradventure they will reverence
Him. But they, with cruel hands, nailed
Him to the cross. And rejecting the
testimony of the Holy Ghost, and the message of the apostles, they filled up
the measure of their sin, and judgment came upon them to the uttermost.
The words are simple, and in their luminous simplicity admit
no other interpretation. The expression
look is used of that intense, expectant
gaze which is [Page 215] characteristic of the attitude of humble, astonished, helpless, anxious
faith. The word pierced can only mean thrust through with
sword or spear. No other man in Jewish
history stands out whose death was the deed of the whole nation, and the
remembrance of whose death, brought home by the Spirit, causes such bitter
sorrow and blessed hope.
See how, centuries after the prophecy, John, the beloved
disciple, stands near the cross of
But let us return from the bright light of fulfilment to the
light of prophecy, and see how clear and great it was. Zechariah, one of the
three prophets who lived after the return of the Jews from their captivity, is,
next to Isaiah, the clearest evangelist of the old dispensation.
It was natural that the Jews should expect the immediate
advent of the Messiah after each crisis in their [Page 216] history. By renewed revelations
they had to be taught that the ultimate fulfilment of the promise was not yet.
Daniel, reading the Prophet Jeremiah, expected that after the end of the
seventy years the Christ would come; hence the prophecy is sent to him, that
again seventy times seven periods had to elapse ere the kingdom would
come. As in a long and winding river,
often when we expect to see its termination we discover that a new turn of the
stream opens to us another vista, and a protracted course, so did the [first]
advent of the Messiah
recede from time to time, and partial fulfilment of prophecy became the
starting-point of new and fuller disclosures.
Was not David the promised King? No; for to him is promised a son. Was Solomon, then, the Prince of Peace? No; he was but a new type of the King of
Israel. Thus the return from
Starting with Jerusalems renovation under Joshua the high
priest, and Zerubbabel the prince, Zechariah predicts the Messianic time; and
in the second portion of his prophecy he sees (without type, and directly) the
ultimate glory of his nation, and, the
reign of Messiah over all the earth.
In no prophecy do we find such comprehensive and evangelical statements
and such minute and graphic predictions.
Zechariah sums up the whole prophecy of Isaiah when he calls Messiah the
Branch, Jehovahs Servant. He sums up,
almost as clearly as the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Levitical and the Davidic
types, when he speaks o the Priest on the throne and the counsel of peace between him and [Page 217] the Lord. The prediction here
ascends from earth heavenwards. Growing
up out of
But still more marvellous is the subsequent prediction. The rulers of
This Shepherd is despised and rejected by the rulers; only the
poor, the common people hear Him gladly.
The great and mighty of the land reject Him. They weigh for His price, as if He was a
common slave, thirty pieces of silver; and in contempt the price is cast to the
potter.
Rejected by His nation, betrayed and sold and set at nought,
this Shepherd, whom God calls His Shepherd, nay, the Man who is His equal, enters
into still deeper suffering. The sword
awakes. The sword is the emblem of
divine punitive justice. And this divine
judgment awakes against the only Good and Holy One, against Him who is Man and
yet more than man. It smites the
Shepherd. And this, both according to
Gods will and appointment, and according [Page 218] to
I have been reminding you exclusively of Zechariahs predictions,
nearly six centuries before our era; and yet it is as if I had quoted the
Gospel of St. Matthew and the Nicene Creed.
The Branch, My Servant - behold the genealogy of Jesus, the Son of
David; behold His holy and spotless life.
The Shepherd, My Shepherd; whom the common people heard gladly, whom
Pharisees and Scribes hated and rejected.
Thirty pieces of silver they paid, because they wished to show that
Jesus in their estimation was simply a common man, neither more nor less than a
common slave. And yet such was the voice
of conscience, they hesitated to put the money into the temple treasury. The Shepherd is smitten, the sheep scattered
- the disciples and believers are dismayed and bewildered by the dark night of
sorrow and agony which bursts upon their Master. Jesus is pierced; thrust through. As Psa. 22. describes it more fully: He dies on the
cross. He dies by the hand of man; but
the sword that smites Him is, as the prophet foretells, unsheathed by God
Himself, for God made Him to be sin for us. Yet is He
the Man who is Gods equal; or, as the Creed says, God
of God, Light of light, begotten, not made. He liveth, and shall come
again with the [Page 219] clouds of
heaven, and they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced.
I pause here to impress on you some obvious and important lessons.
Do you believe the Scripture?
Do you believe that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost? Do you believe that the prophets [of God] spake not out of their own depths of
insight, knowledge, and feeling, but out of the depths of God, disclosed to
them by the [Holy] Spirit, who searched the deep things
of God? Do you believe the
Scripture? I know that you believe; but oh!
I wish you to believe with a firm, assured, joyous, unwavering and exuberant
faith. I wish the measure of your faith
not to be scanty, but full and pressed together and flowing over. I wish you to confess with a simple and clear
voice, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
Whence this prediction of Zechariah, if not by Gods Spirit? Take the ideas in their general, grand,
massive character. Davids Son, perfect
and holy, Priest and King; Shepherd, chosen of God and rejected by the rulers;
despised and put to death, descending from heaven a Prince and a Saviour. Who could have imagined such a person, such a
history?
Take the details. The
ass and the asss colt, the thirty pieces of silver and the potters field, the
death by piercing! Whence these
marvellous photographic pictures?
Prophecy is miracle stereotyped. If seeing were believing, who could doubt
after reading prophecy? But, alas! in
order to believe we do not need evidence merely, but a new heart. Notice, secondly, the great [Page 220] facts of our Christian faith in this
prophecy of Zechariah. Here is the
Incarnation, Jehovahs equal - a Man; here is
But, thirdly, what is it in the Gospel that appears to
And yet these two doctrines, or rather, these two facts, are
the very essence and life of the Gospel.
It is because man cannot believe the exceeding great and abounding love
of God that he cannot believe the Son of God became man and died for us. I do not wonder that man hesitates; that he
stands amazed, awed; that love so transcendent, so divine, overwhelms him. Thus did the love of God appear unto
Paul. He beheld Jesus, whom he had
persecuted. And he believed in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
And thus every Jew who, by the grace of God, since the day of
Pentecost, has been brought to Christ, fulfils this prediction; he looks unto
Him whom he has [Page 221] pierced. It is the look of
repentance; for only a sight of the crucified Jesus shows us our sin and
grief. It is the look of supplication
and faith; for He only can bless and save, and He saves all who believe. It is the look of peace and adoration; for
His love is infinite, unchanging, and omnipotent. It is the look which never ceases and never
ends; for now the veil is taken away, and we with open face beholding the glory
of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory.
While we are still looking and longing for the true and ultimate fulfilment of the
promise, when Christ shall appear in His glory to the nation, and all Israel shall be saved, let us thank
God that there is, and always has been, in
Israel a remnant according to the
election of grace. Let us be thankful that, through the
preaching of the Gospel, some sheep of the House of Israel are brought to the
fold of the Lord Jesus. Our mission to
the Jews may be as yet a feeble, as it is certainly a difficult, work; but it
is the Lords work, according to His will, founded on His Word, protected and
prospered by His grace, and bringing forth fruit, precious in itself, and
precious as confirming our faith and our hope.
I ask this day, as I ask every Lords day, Remember, consider
the Lord Jesus. By faith, and with a
loving heart, realise Him who came from heaven, Israels Messiah, your Saviour;
see Him as the Prophet Zechariah [ch. 6] brings Him before us, and as Jesus manifested Himself to His disciples - pierced, wounded, [resurrected out from amongst the dead,
and] bearing the marks of His death in His hands and feet. [Page 222] And, as we know, He liveth now and will come again to melt the hearts of His brethren, and restore
them to faith and blessedness; so for His sake, and in sympathy with
Him, let us love
-------
COVID-19
CHRISTIAN COMPROMISE & THE CAPITULATION OF THE PROFESSING CHURCH
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the
ungodly. (Psalm 1:
1)
[Back cover writing]
The so-called COVID-19 pandemic of 2019 struck the professing Christian
church like a bolt from the blue. Professing Christians, ministers, and entire
denominations were caught off guard and, in the mass hysteria and panic that
was to mark 2019 and beyond, churches across the globe closed their doors on
their people, either by Government edict, or by their own accord.
Many bought into the media narrative
and alarming medical models warning that millions would die. In response,
church buildings were closed, meetings were moved online,
congregational singing was halted, as well as baptisms, the Lords table, and
the Great Commission. On an individual level, Christians donned face masks,
self-isolated, and many have now heralded the arrival of the liquid saviours - the COVID-19 experimental [mRNA] vaccines.
In the light of such momentous events
in modern church history, we would be wise to ask, were these actions taken by
the majority of churches and Christian denominations right or wrong? This
booklet attempts to answer this most important question.
-------
[Page 1]
Contents
Establishing Doctrinal Truth Page 2
Chapter 1. COVID Doctrines Defined and
Refuted Page 5
A. An Unhealthy Trust in the World Page 5
B. Unbiblical Submission to the Powers That Be Page 9
C. The Love thy
Neighbour Excuse for Compliance
Page 23
D. The Strange Doctrine Concerning Touching
the Dead Page 28
E. The Unholy
Chapter 2. Spiritual Warfare and The Satanic
Nature of COVID Doctrine Page 36
Appendix:
1. Who is to Blame?
Page 41
2. Making a Stand and the Way Forward
Page 45
A word from the Author Page 48
Useful Links and Resources Page 48
-------
[Page 2]
Chapter 1
Establishing Doctrinal Truth
It has
been said that the Bible is like a fiddle - you can use it to play any tune
that you want. Today we live in a world full of false doctrine, which can often lead to great deception and confusion amongst believers. As you read this booklet, it would
be wise to ask, How do I know what I am reading is
true? As pointed out in Part One of this series, COVID-19 In Light of the Bible, it is God and His
Word, the Bible, that we turn to first when trying to establish truth about
anything. But how then should we interpret Scripture so as to avoid failing
into error and false teaching? The following guidelines are intended as an aid:
1. Always view the Bible as your FINAL AUTHORITY: The Bible has
the final say at the end of the day, even if what Scripture is teaching goes against
what we think is right, or what others tell us is correct. Scripture trumps everything, including all preachers,
teachers, denominations, books and commentaries. Gods Word is perfect and
without error - everything else in this world is corrupted to a lesser or
greater degree. So always trust the perfect Word of God over everything else,
otherwise you will only ever be discouraged and disappointed when all other inferior authorities fail you.
2. Allow the Bible to shape your beliefs, not your beliefs to
shape the Bible. Go to
the Bible FIRST, then use your biblical worldview to discern the world around you. Many Christians miss this! They
soak up what the media and ungodly government tell them, and then force
Scripture into their ungodly mindset. For example, when the COVID-19 Pandemic
came onto the scene many Christians filled their [Page 3] minds with all that the world had to
tell them FIRST, then complied with and bought into what the world was telling
them (e.g. stop going to church and meet online), then tried to use the Bible
to later justify their actions.
3. Do not cherry pick Bible verses. To arrive at a correct interpretation of Scripture, all verses found in the Bible concerning a certain subject should
be taken into account and compared. Use the Bibles own INBUILT DICTIONARY: by
using the Bible to interpret the Bible. Do not use a handful of Bible verses
that suit a certain agenda to formulate doctrine. This is a classic deceptive
approach that the cults use to prove their
false doctrines.
4. Be careful of INTERPRETING the Bible:
Be very sceptical of anyone that says, Well actually
that verse doesnt mean that, it actually means... and then they go on
to give you their interpretation of what that
verse or passage of Scripture means. Take the Bible as it comes ... do not twist the Word of
God to fit in with a certain view. It is also advisable to be cautious of very complicated and confusing explanations of Bible verses and teachings.
5. Take the Bible LITERALLY unless the Bible says otherwise: For example, in Genesis Chapter One, a day
is a literal day, not a figurative millions of years.
God means what He says and says what He means!
6. Reject the PLURALISTIC approach to the Bible adopted by so many. Pluralism is the belief that multiple
truths about a certain subject, in this case
Bible doctrine, can be held at the same time,
even if these truths are totally opposed to each
other. Today there is quite often a spirit of you
have your truth about this subject, and I have mine [Page
4] amongst many
professing Christians, and an attitude of well, we
will just have to agree to differ whenever conflict over doctrinal
truths occurs. This is not the way to approach establishing biblical doctrine! Just
like a detective, tirelessly searching for evidence and clues to help solve his
case, and arriving at THE TRUTH of what happened, so too should the Christians
attitude be when it comes to arriving at doctrinal truth. Pick any doctrine you
want from Scripture, there is ONE TRUE interpretation of it;
all other views are in error.
Multiple, contradicting interpretations of Scripture, logically CANNOT all
be true at the same time. Your task as a Christian is to discern, the spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error (1 John 4:
6).
It can also be added to these points that it is a very wise
move to be in the habit of prayerfully reading the Bible every day without fail, and making a point of reading the Bible
from cover to cover multiple times. This ensures a steady feed of truth
coming into your mind straight from the Word of God, as well as helping you to
take in truth from the whole Bible,
not just the more popular sections.
To illustrate the importance of this by way of an example, when
the whole COVID-19 situation arose back in 2019, the Christian who had read the
whole Bible all the way through multiple times, would have been more aware of what the book of Leviticus has to say regarding Biblical guidelines for disease control.
In contrast, believers who have never read the book of Leviticus, and have
never heard it preached on at church would be much more likely to be in the
dark on this subject, and thus more susceptible to an ungodly
world view or false doctrines corrupting their thinking.
* *
*
[Page 5]
Chapter 1
COVID Doctrine
Defined and Refuted
The vast
majority of professing Christians, churches, and denominations have bought into
the COVID narrative and, sadly, have gone along with all the regulations
associated with it. Churches have allowed the state to open and close their
buildings, Christians have forsaken the literal gathering together as an
assembly of Gods people, churches have adopted policies on face masks,
government track and trace schemes, the
cessation of baptism, congregational singing, and the Lords table. It should
be noted that this monumental disruption to the
functioning of church life has not been implemented based on thin air.
Particular doctrines have been adopted and used as
justification for such action - which, so their adherents would stress, are
based on the Bible. There are a number of elements that make up this COVID set of doctrines, each overlapping the other.
It is the intention of this booklet to define and then refute each of these
elements of COVID doctrine that have been used to seemingly justify the actions
of the majority of professing Christians, churches, and denominations in recent
times. COVID doctrine, or more correctly, COVID false doctrine is made up of
the following...
A An
Unhealthy Trust in the World
Part of the package that makes up COVID doctrine is what seems
to be an unhealthy trust in what the world would tell us is true. Many
Christians tune in to their daily dose of the news
on whatever platform that may be and generally accept what they are being told
about the COVID-19 pandemic. This is
evidenced by the altered behaviour observed in many
Christians over recent months, putting on masks, self-isolating even if not
sick, no longer visiting friends and relatives, sanitising rigorously, and with
many too afraid to even leave their own homes. All of this altered behaviour
has come about as a result of trusting what the world is
telling them about COVI D-19, The same goes for the actions of the
majority of churches and denominations, that now open and close their churches
based on the latest medical data, or the latest advice from the Chief Medical Officer. Church
for them, operates based on truth coming from the world,
instead of the Bible (Hebrews 10: 25). Are Christians, churches, and denominations right to have
become so trusting in the world when it comes to the COVI D-19 situation?
It is bizarre in the extreme to see how so many Christians,
churches and denominations have become so trusting of the world and its science in regards to COVID-19, when we as believers
should know full well that ungodly governments and media LIE to their people.
Yes, the Bible exhorts Christians to pray for those who rule over us (1 Timothy 2: 1-4), and to be a witness in the world, but we are not to trust the world for
truth! Christian, EVERYTHING the world tells you should be taken
with a healthy dose of scepticism - why? Because
governments and media around the world LIE to their people all of the time.
Governments and mass media constantly tell us that the Bible is a book of
myths, that a child in the womb is just a foetus, that a man can change into a
woman, that two men can be married to each
other. These are all LIES which Christians are (hopefully) aware
of, and yet when news and facts are presented to us about COVID-19 it is
accepted as truth by so many.
[Page 7]
The counter argument from many believers is, well the majority of scientists support the COVID-19
measures, and the official narrative of what is going on ... so it must be true. This faulty line of reasoning
has been used before. Christian, think about the LIE of evolution theory. This is
presented to us on a daily basis in the media and from the state as truth
supported by the majority of the worlds
scientists. So according to this line of reasoning it must be true, right? No!
WRONG! Christians (should) know this! When they flick on the TV and hear [man
was created] millions of
years ago..., they should know what they are hearing is nonsense, no matter
how sincerely it is presented by those who believe it. Why then, when the news is presented, do Christians accept what they
are being told is the truth in regards to COVID-19?
As we read the New Testament we often find Jesus battling with
others over the subject of truth. He concluded this as he spoke to the
Pharisees (the religious leaders of that day), Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John
8: 44) Scripture warns us about the unsaved world, the god of
this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not (2 Corinthians 4:
4). Christian, are we wise to accept as truth what we are told by
such people? See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because
the days are evil (Ephesians
5: 15-16).
There is also another point worth
mentioning here. Not only does the world lie to us, but it also CONSPIRES against truth, and against Gods people. Yes the powers that be should be witnessed to
and prayed for, but as Christians [Page 8] we should also understand that, the whole
world lieth in wickedness (1 John 5:
19), and that, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6: 12). Think of Queen Esther and wicked
Hamans plan to destroy the Jews, think of the Philistines conspiring against
Samson, and even the religious leaders of Christs day conspiring to crucify
Him. Evil men with evil agendas plotting in secret to destroy Gods
people - a very common theme that runs throughout the Bible and into church
history. Is anything different today?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and
the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD, and against his
anointed (Psalm 2: 2).
Of course, not everything is a conspiracy - that is not the point
that is being demonstrated here. But rather, dear Christian, at a minimum, treat what you hear from ungodly media
and government with a healthy dose of scepticism. Always ask yourself, is what I am
being told on the TV actually true? Is it exaggerated? Why am I being fed this
information? Am I being manipulated into believing a particular narrative (or
story line)? Discern the world around you, dont follow after its hysteria. Be sober, be vigilant, because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour (1 Peter 5: 8).
[Page 9]
B. Unbiblical Submission to the Powers That Be
Another key element of COVID doctrine has been the wholesale acceptance of all government Coronavirus measures imposed on the
Church by the powers that be. Examples of state interference with the
functioning of church include the actual closure of church buildings for
prolonged periods, the outlawing of any literal assembly of Gods people in ANY setting indoors, the cessation of singing, baptism and the
Lords table, mandatory wearing of face masks, and implementation of social
distancing. According to those who hold to this element of COVID doctrine, all
such requirements are perfectly reasonable and should be obeyed out of our
Christian duty towards those in authority.
However, despite the seemingly Bible-based argument for such
compliance (leaning heavily on Romans Chapter 13), the question is, should believers and churches obey the
higher powers and go along with any and all government regulations imposed upon
them? Or is there a point where it is scripturally right to not comply?
To answer this question, let us first lay a foundation. Romans 13: 1-7 gives a clear demonstration from Scripture when it is right for Christians
to obey the civil authorities.
1. Let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers. For
there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that
resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. [Page 10] Wilt thou
then not be afraid of the power? do that which is
good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4. For he is the minister of God to thee for good.
But if thou do
that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the
minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5. Wherefore ye must needs
be subject, not only for wrath,
but also for
conscience sake.
6. For for this cause pay ye
tribute also: for they are Gods
ministers, attending
continually upon this very thing.
7. Render therefore to all their dues:
tribute to whom
tribute is due; custom to whom
custom; fear to whom fear;
honour to whom honour.
Verses 1-2: Christians are NOT anarchists. Law and order in a country, whether
the powers that be are Christian or not for the most part is a good thing. In fact, when law and order breaks
down in a nation, it is often the Christian community that suffers the most
(e.g. in recent times, consider the plight of Christians in countries such as
Romans 13 emphasises the whole point of government for us, as repeated
multiple times in this passage: the execution of justice and the punishment of the
evildoer (see also: 1 Peter 2: 12-17 which
reinforces this theme). Other responsibilities for the Christian towards the
powers that be are detailed in verses 5-7, even detailing how Christians should pay their taxes, in
line with what Jesus [Page 11] told His followers in Matthew 22: 21, Render therefore unto Caesar the
things which are Caesars; and unto God the
things that are Gods. As Christians we are to do what God wants us to do, and do what the powers
that be require of us also. In an ideal world, the two should never be at odds
with each other, after all, the powers that be are ordained of God.
Upon reading the passage in Romans 13 alone, it almost seems as if the Bible is teaching
that the Christian ought to obey the civil authority no matter what. But are
there any exceptions to total obedience to the powers that be found in the Bible?
The answer to that question is, yes! There are many examples to help us arrive
at a correct understanding and APPLICATION of this
doctrine. It is error to conclude that Christians should ALWAYS obey the powers
that be, NO MATTER WHAT the state may ask them to do. The following are
examples of when it is right for the Christian NOT to obey the civil
authority.
1.
Christians should disobey government when the powers that be require them to
obey a civil law which would then result in them breaking Gods law.
In most circumstances, in our Western culture (founded upon
generally Christian values), this rarely is an issue. For example, Gods law
says, thou shalt not steal (Exodus
20: 15), and civil law mandates that theft is a criminal offence.
Gods law and civil law are in agreement in this case. Sadly, however, there
are times when the laws of the land and the law of God are in conflict with
each other. What is the Christian (who wants to please God, and also honour the
powers that be) to do? To help answer this question, let us consider the
example of the Hebrew midwives found in Exodus 1: 15-21. In this passage, Pharaoh King of
2.
Christians should disobey government when the powers that be require them to
worship another god, or when the
worship of the true God is hindered in any way.
There are two
elements to this point: 1. Forcing the believer to do wrong (worship a false god), and 2. Restricting the believer from doing right
(worshipping the true God). This is a form of government control we are not
accustomed to in our Western culture. For centuries (thanks to the sacrifices
made by our forefathers) Christians have enjoyed a great measure of religious
freedom, with the functioning of the Western New Testament Church largely being
left unhindered by the state. This is in direct contrast with many other
nations of the world, where state control and persecution of Christians is
commonplace. Sadly though, as our Western culture becomes progressively
decadent and post-Christian, an increasing state censorship and interference with
church affairs is becoming more and more apparent. Many Christians in the West
can sense the noose of state control tightening! To help guide us in regards to
this aspect of Christian civil [Page 13] disobedience, let us consider other examples in
Scripture: that of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and Daniel, four men who
found themselves in a state transitioning over from religious tolerance, to religious intolerance.
Firstly, we read in Daniel Chapter Three of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who found themselves
caught up in a government edict from Nebuchadnezzar the king, commanding that ALL people at the appropriate time should bow down and worship the
image he had set up, in the plain of Dura, in the
province of Babylon (Daniel 3: 1). Desiring to obey Gods law, thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image ... Thou shalt not bow down
thyself to them, nor serve them (Exodus 20: 4-5), these three Hebrew men openly defied the authorities and refused to
bow down to the image of gold. In their own words, Be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve
thy gods, nor worship the golden image which
thou hast set up (Daniel 3: 18). We then read further of the kings fury, the death sentence
passed upon the three men, and the great miracle of their delivery from the
flames of the fiery furnace. With the choice before them, of either obeying the
powers that be and bowing down before the false god, or obeying Gods law not
to worship false gods, these three brave young men chose to obey God rather than men.
Secondly, we read in Daniel Chapter Six of an unrighteous decree
made law by King Darius of the Medes and Persians. It forbad praying to any god
other than the king for the space of thirty days. Notice that in this example Daniel
was not being forced to pray to a false god, but rather that his worship of the
true God was to be limited. This very short term decree was deliberately passed by the enemies of
faithful Daniel who was in the habit of daily [Page 14] prayer to the true God. Upon learning
of this new law, notice how Daniel did not change anything in his daily
routine before the Lord: Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed,
he went into his house, and
his windows being open in his
chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his
knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime (Daniel 6:
10). No change whatsoever in Daniels
worship - despite the danger of death for doing so!
3. Christians
should disobey government when the powers that be require them to cease
preaching the gospel, or when the
preaching of the gospel is hindered in any way.
Numerous times in the book of Acts the civil and religious authorities tried to hinder and, as
much as they could, shut down the preaching of
the gospel of Christ. We read of instances of the apostles being detained (Acts 4: 3,
5: 17-18), threatened (Acts 4: 17), and of attempts to ban them from preaching (Acts 4: 18). In response to the growing pressure
not to preach and teach in the name of Jesus, Peter and John answered and
said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight
of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge
ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we
have seen and heard (Acts 4: 19-20). In Acts Chapter Five the apostles were further interrogated: Did not we
straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled
[Page 15]
The common theme found here in all three of these points is
that when man tells us to do one thing, and God tells us to do another, we OUGHT ALWAYS TO OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN. In other words, we should obey those in authority
(for the powers that be are ordained of God), but when the powers that be
require us to go against what God tells
us to do, we obey the Lord despite the consequences. Obviously this is not the
easiest path to follow, but it is the right one, with the Hebrew midwives,
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel, and the Apostles being great examples
to us. Let us now apply these principles to the various aspects of church life
in the light of COVID-19 government restrictions.
1.
Have the COVID-19 regulations (forced or voluntarily adhered to by many
Christians and churches) resulted in disobedience to what God wants us to do?
Consider Hebrews 10: 23-25, let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering; (for
he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto
love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. Does this exhortation for Gods
people to meet together to worship the Lord sound like a suggestion in this
passage? Or more like a command?
The pattern for Christian worship for the last two thousand years has been the literal gathering of Gods people to worship God as an assembly of Gods
people upon the first day of the week. Despite this clear instruction from
Scripture, plus two thousand years of Christians obeying this command in a LITERAL sense (whatever the risks involved for doing so), many modern
Christians, churches and denominations have now forsaken this commandment in
the New [Page 16] Testament, excusing their disobedience because of the apparent pandemic
and in order to honour the powers that be.
Some feebly point out that gathering to worship God online is a reasonable substitute for the literal
gathering of Gods people. But are we really to believe the Holy Spirit would class
Zoom meetings, and live broadcasts in the same category as the literal physical
gathering of Gods people? Or has the internet become a convenient excuse
for Christians and ministers to disobey this clear command in Scripture and
avoid any trouble with those in authority? What if there was no
internet? What would the church do then? Not
meet at all?
Online church raises further
serious issues. The ordinances of baptism and
the Lords table cannot be administered online. These are perpetual commandments to be fulfilled by the New Testament Church until
Christ returns (Matthew 28: 19, 1 Corinthians 11: 20, 24-25). Another area tragically forsaken
when it comes to online church is congregational singing. Many of Gods people have now
ceased singing praise to their God in the context of the assembly of believers
together. Granted, we can watch Christian teaching online, but does this count
as a church gathering together? Rather, New Testament Christianity is the
literal gathering of Gods people PLUS the full programme of what a
Some cite drive-in church
services as reasonable substitutes for gathering to worship the Lord. Whilst
preaching and prayer is possible at these meetings, they again fall short of [Page
17] a full New
Testament gathering of Gods people. Most drive-in church meetings abandon congregational singing, as well as the ordinances of
baptism and the Lords table. Therefore, drive-in church is another poor substitute for a fully functioning New Testament Church meeting.
A further attempt to justify the stoppage of church meetings
is to claim that it is merely the church buildings that have been shut down,
not the actual gathering of Gods people. This counter argument is a half-truth. In fact, during the various lockdowns
forced upon the
The bottom line is this: during the unscriptural lockdowns
imposed on the UK, and indeed across the globe, the literal gathering of God's people was made illegal, and
therefore in order to obey Hebrews 10:25 to forsake not the gathering together
of God's people, Christians would have been right to openly disobey the powers that be and gather anyway despite the
restrictions. Some Christians and churches in the
Dear reader, by what authority do MEN (whether
in or out of the church) have to stop and start Christian worship? By what
authority does a minister have to stop and start the [Page
18] ordinances of
baptism and the Lords table? Surely there are some holy things that God has
ordained that are not to be touched or interfered with! What if
Christ were to return to earth during one of the lockdowns,
to find His ministers hiding behind computer screens instead of occupying their
pulpits? What if Christ were to find His people not meeting to worship Him, not
singing His praise, not remembering His death at His table, not baptising His
new converts, and not evangelising this lost world? Did not He say to His
followers, Blessed is that servant, whom
his lord when he cometh shall find so doing
(Matthew 24: 46)? Do we really grasp the magnitude of what
many in the professing church have done? Two thousand years of New Testament
Church history now marred by professing Christians who should
have known better than to obey men rather than God. Sadly, in recent times we
have witnessed the utter weakness and cowardly capitulation displayed by the
vast majority of those in the role of church leadership.
2. Have the COVID-19 regulations forced Christians to worship
a false God,
or hindered the worship of the true God in any way?
Thankfully for us as Christians, the COVID-19 regulations
forced upon us have not included any directives to worship false gods. This
omission from government restrictions has been interpreted by some to mean that
the church has not in any way undergone any form of persecution. However, if we
consider the question, Has the worship of the true
God been hindered in any way?
surely the answer to that question is a resounding YES! As detailed in the previous point, lockdowns
outlawed the literal gathering of Gods people in ANY setting, and even when
churches have been allowed to reopen, restrictions on the worship of God [Page
19] (such as no
singing, baptism, or Lords table) have remained in place. To see all this disruption
take place before our eyes and then conclude that the worship of God has not
been hindered in any way is to be wilfully blind.
The motive for this self-imposed blindness? The fear of man bringeth a snare (Proverbs
29: 25).
Some argue that the disruption to church worship is only a temporary measure, and that all will go back
to normal once the restrictions have eased. This argument may have had
more clout when the measures were first brought in, and were promised to only last
a matter of a few weeks. However, as each fresh round of lockdown measures were
imposed, and the months have dragged on, the naivety of such wishful
thinking has become apparent. Interestingly, when Daniel faced the prohibition
on the worship of God, the measures signed in to law were only to last for thirty days (Daniel 6: 7). Daniel could so easily have reasoned
to himself that in order to keep the peace and respect the powers that be, a temporary cessation of prayer would have been the easiest solution.
However, this was not to be his course of action: He kneeled
upon his knees three times a day, and prayed,
and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime (Daniel 6:
10). Not only did Daniel openly disobey the powers that be, he
also made sure to change nothing in his routine
of worship. He simply prayed, as he did aforetime.
Ah but some say, the virus is the reason the government gave for closing the
churches and banning Christians from gathering. This has been the official
excuse used by the powers that be to impose these measures, but as said by
William Pitt the Younger in his observations concerning tyrannical government,
Necessity is the plea for every [Page
20]
infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of
tyrants; it is the creed of
slaves. We do well to learn our lessons from
world history. History never repeats, but it often rhymes.
As for the severity of COVID-19, this we hope to discuss in a further
publication.
As the old saying goes, if you give
an inch, they will take a mile.
This principle is so clearly true in the spiritual realm. Thats why the
Bible warns, Neither give place to the devil (Ephesians 4: 27), and that just, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump
(Galatians 5: 9). Freedoms are often taken away from a
population in an incremental fashion (a
little at a time), and so to prevent this erosion the wisest counter to this is
a zero tolerance of giving ground to the enemy (with Daniel and the
others we have considered being great examples of this). Compromisers always end up retreating! With initial promises at the start of these lockdowns
of churches only needing to close for a few weeks in order to flatten the curve, churches and denominations were
naive in the extreme to think that by handing over control of the
functioning of their churches from Christ to the state,
that such a move would only be a very temporary one. Now, the enemy has
come in like a flood, and the wholesale disruption to the functioning of the
3.
Have the COVID-19 regulations resulted in the shutdown of preaching the gospel, or hampered the preaching of the gospel in
any way?
We must have our heads in the sand to say that the preaching
of the gospel has not been hampered in any way [Page 21] by the COVID-19 restrictions imposed
in the
As we read about the prohibiting of preaching the gospel in
the book of Acts, the context of
the type of preaching the Apostles were doing was that of open air preaching. They had, by this means,
turned the world upside down with their doctrine (Acts 17: 6), much to the irritation and dismay
of the religious leaders of the day. Now, these religious leaders sought to
shut down this specific area of gospel preaching because of the
effect it was having on the local population. Private/secret preaching and
teaching would not have alarmed them so much, but rather the bold public
proclamation of the gospel had to be stopped.
When the command to cease preaching in the open air came, the Apostles
could easily have obeyed the local authorities and temporarily halted open air
preaching, and moved all their meetings to a private setting. This would have
pleased the religious leaders, and the Apostles could have consoled themselves
that at least preaching could continue in some setting. However, their response
was to ignore the authorities and keep the open-air preaching going.
They knew that to surrender this arena of preaching the gospel, the
result would have been a limiting and hindering of the preaching
of the truth. Can the same not be said for the COVID-19 regulations that forbad
preaching to the literal assembly of Gods people in any setting? As discussed
earlier, preaching was moved online, but this
has proved a poor substitute for preaching to the literal gathering of Gods
people.
[Page 22]
It is true that many hear the word of God online in this
modern world, but this form of spreading the truth has already met with great
success over the last few years anyway, long before COVID-19 restrictions came
along.
There is another point worth mentioning here: the real fruit of online church. The reality is that many tune in to
online church and then tune out again, or dont bother tuning in at all. How
many actually sit and listen from start to finish we will never know. Many, due
to the natural disruption and settings of sitting at home do not pay attention
to what is being said, as opposed to real church which is a more ideal setting for paying attention, keeping children in good order,
and a place with less worldly distractions. It should also be mentioned the
disastrous impact online church has had on the good habit of routine
church attendance. Good habits take years to form, and sadly for many,
regaining this habit may never happen. Sunday schools closed, young people
missing out with youth fellowships forsaken, meetings moved online, starvation of fellowship - far from being a
blessing, lockdown substitute church has been
a miserable disaster.
Finally, some argue that the COVID-19 regulations imposed upon
the church should not be counted as persecution because the measures have not
been specifically targeted against Christians.
But persecution it is nonetheless! When the prophet Daniel was commanded to
pray to the false god, so too were all the citizens of that land. It
was a universal removal of religious freedom - not just a law targeted against
Christians. The same with the unrighteous decree imposed on all the people of
the land by Nebuchadnezzar at the time of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - ALL citizens had to comply. These unrighteous [Page
23] laws were much broader in their scope and were not targeted only towards these faithful men.
In the same way, the COVID-19 regulations imposed in the
C. The
Love thy
Neighbour Excuse for
Compliance
This is one of the key COVID doctrines used by many professing
Christians, churches and denominations to justify their compliance with any and all
of the COVID-19 regulations and new normal
forms of behaviour. Churches have been closed out of love for their neighbour because of the
level of perceived risk from the virus. Face masks are worn at church out of consideration and love
for ones neighbour, and now many believers have even used this false doctrine
to justify taking an experimental vaccine made with, and/or containing, aborted foetal tissue out of love for their
fellow man. Interestingly, it is this exact same doctrine that has been
used by governments and media to coerce citizens to comply with the COVID-19
rules. Stay at home - save lives, I wear a face mask because I care for others, Look me in the eye and tell me you did all you could to
follow the guidelines, are examples of the COVID-19 mantras filtered
through to us in this great psychological attack upon the minds
of the public.
[Page 24]
Regardless of the perceived
level of danger posed by COVID-19 (which has been grossly exaggerated by governments and media), it is a fact that in the
Bible, and down through the centuries Christians have still met at church,
and/or literally assembled together despite the sometimes very high level of
danger posed to their lives. Think of the disciples gathering in fear just
after the resurrection. They were wanted men, and feared arrest and possible
execution by the authorities, just as had happened to the Saviour (John 20: 19). Despite this danger they still met!
What a sorry story it would have been in the New Testament if we read of the
disciples staying home to save lives. Think
of the early Church Christians, who still met and functioned as a New Testament
church despite the huge danger to life from the various Christian-hating Roman
Emperors. The list is endless of examples that could be mentioned
here of Christians who have met, often in defiance of civil authorities despite
the high risk to life for doing so. Why then, it must be asked, have churches
closed down because of a threat comparable to the flu?
When it comes to true love for our neighbour in times of
plague the Bible is clear in what
action we should take. Washing and
cleanliness, and separation if sick is the biblical way we love our neighbour (See Part 1 of this series).
Mask wearing, quarantine, and social distancing is for those who are unwell,
NOT those who are healthy.
If we are to adopt the love your
neighbour and stay away from church logic, then what other areas should
we now curtail in our personal lives in order to reduce the risk to others?
Should, for example, Christians now think twice about even travelling to
church? Danger to life from car accidents is a very real one, so perhaps out of
love for our [Page 25] neighbour we should all stay safe and
stay at home? What about other deadly diseases other than COVID-19? There are
plenty of them. Perhaps before ever leaving home again, we should now make sure
we are tested for the full spectrum of deadly diseases, just in case we pass
something on to someone and kill them. When we depart from Gods guidelines for
loving our neighbour, these are the kind of logical absurdities we can end up
believing.
The age old question asked down through the centuries has
been, At what price freedom?
Freedom in a society always comes at a cost - there is
always an element of risk involved. For example, the government
could pass a law banning all driving in an effort to reduce the number of road
deaths. Such legislation would surely work, but at what cost? The loss of
freedom and the ruin of the economy. The cure
would end up doing more harm than the disease. When trying to
reach the correct view on safety on one hand and freedom on the other, the
Bible in regards to plague gives us the perfect balance.
The guidelines for disease control in the Old Testament for leprosy were
never intended as a means of wiping out the disease; the leprosy we read about
in the Old Testament still continued to infect and kill people all the way
through into the New Testament and beyond. Rather, the Levitical measures were
put in place to help contain and reduce the spread of
leprosy, whilst at the same time preserving the freedom and functioning
of society for the healthy population.
Thinking on the theme of love for our
neighbour, is it really loving that we close down church? What about the
spiritual and mental well-being of Gods people? Is it loving to limit and
hinder preaching, denying lost sinners the opportunity of hearing the soul
saving message of the [Page 26] gospel? Is it loving that we put the physical safety
of our hearers before their spiritual wellbeing? But I will forewarn you whom
ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell [Gk. Gehenna]; yea, I say unto
you, Fear
him (Luke 12: 5). This new form of love is not love at all,
but rather a warped form of love taught to us by the world, and a weak excuse for compliance with tyrants.
One of the main arguments we hear is that Christians should
comply with any law if it is to help others and is perceived as a good thing to do. Wear a mask to protect those around you is the
mantra we are told. Professing Christians who hold to this then reinforce this
view by citing the 6th Commandment, Thou shalt not kill (Exodus 20: 13). Wouldnt
want to pass the virus on and kill someone mistakenly! is the guilt
trip riddled argument. However, this line of reasoning is dangerously flawed because it
lets the world define to us what is good.
What is right, what is proper, and what is good does NOT come to us from the world, but it
should rather only ever be
defined by the Word of God. The 6th
Commandment, Thou
shalt not kill, does not
stand alone in Scripture. Gods Word guides the believer on how to
rightly keep that commandment. For example, there are times when it is right to
kill someone else according to Scripture (such as capital punishment,
self-defence, and righteous wars). In the same way, as demonstrated in Part 1
of this series, the Bible gives the believer guidance concerning what measures
to take during a pandemic. Therefore, when the world, or even a fellow
professing Christian, tells the believer, Do the
right thing, and wear a mask, the Christian can respond, No, face masks according to Scripture are for those who are
sick, (Leviticus 13). The [Page
27] Christian can
further point out, I am not sick (I have no
symptoms), I do not need to wear a mask. I will not behave like a leper.
The response may be, But you should do it out of love for your neighbour, but
again, the Christian can respond with, I love my
neighbour in times of plague by frequent washing and isolation if sick (Leviticus 11 and 13). That is how I protect my neighbour and stay within what is required of me by
the 6th Commandment.
Without a biblical foundation for discerning
what truly is good, the Christian leaves themselves open to what the
world defines as good. The world tells the
Christian, You should do the right thing and not
eat meat ... surely as a Christian you dont support the suffering of animals?.
The Christian may feel guilty and perhaps start to wonder if they should
abstain from meats, but if they know the Scriptures they will
understand that eating meat is permitted (Acts 10). And thus with the Bible to guide them, the Christians mind is protected from being warped by the worlds often corrupted definition of what is right and wrong.
Sadly though what has been demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic of recent times is a mass surrender of discernment by believers when it comes to doing
that which truly is good. Many believers have embraced what the world has told them is good,
and so have conformed to the worlds own moral response to the pandemic. Therefore many churches have done the right thing and closed their doors. Many
have loved their neighbour and stopped singing praises to the Lord, and in
seeking to do the right thing have neglected
the ordinances of the Lords Table and Baptism. It also appears the pandemic
has caused the almost entire shutdown of biblical evangelism, [Page 28] all done because
of a deep love and concern for our fellow
man. This is the utter madness this warped line of thinking
generates.
Be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect, will of God (Romans 12: 2).
D. The
Strange Doctrine Concerning Touching the Dead
As mentioned at the beginning of this publication, as
Christians we must avoid failing into the trap of taking an ungodly world view
and forcing it into the Bible. One
example of how this guidance has been ignored is found in the desperate logic and flawed argument known as the touching
the dead doctrine. It is worth considering here, because it forms
another part of COVID doctrine used to justify the shutdown of church and the
forsaking of the assembling together of believers.
The logic revolves around a strange interpretation of the Old Testament passages
concerning Precautionary Quarantine (as detailed in Part 1 of this series)
found in Numbers
5: 1-3, and 9: 1-14. If we
read these passages in a literal sense we are to understand that
certain individuals were not permitted to meet to worship at the tabernacle
because they were either a leper, had an issue of
blood, or had been in contact with dead bodies. From a disease
prevention point of view, God gave these rules to help protect gatherings of healthy people at the tabernacle from infectious
disease. These three groups had to isolate to protect others. Those who had
been in contact with dead bodies were to self isolate for seven days as a [Page 29] precautionary measure, under observation by the
Priests to determine if disease was present in the individual.
The issue raised by some of the Israelites that we read about
in Numbers Chapter Nine was concerning those who
were under the seven day quarantine for being in contact with dead bodies.
Passover was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month (Numbers 9: 5). The question was then raised by those in the middle of a
seven day quarantine, what were they to do if their isolation period meant they
would miss the Passover? (Numbers 9: 7). Moses then asks God what should be done, and if there is
any way around this restriction? The answer comes in verse 11, The
fourteenth day of the second month at
even they shall keep it. The solution was simple, those who couldnt attend Passover
on the fourteenth day of the first month because of being isolated for seven
days were permitted to keep the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second
month instead.
However, we find there are those that have taken these very straightforward passages
of Scripture and have taught their own warped interpretation of what the Bible is teaching. They
compare the person under seven day quarantine for touching the dead to the
current COVID-19 situation today. Those who had touched the dead they say, may,
or may not have been infectious and had the potential to spread disease. They
then conclude therefore, that in todays situation where it is not known
(according to the world) who does and does not have COVID-19, all should isolate as a temporary precaution. This doctrine therefore
seeks to justify the national lockdowns of healthy populations.
This logic ignores the fact that the person in contact
with the dead was just that - a specific individual who had been [Page
30] in contact with
the dead! It was a very specific reason for the seven
day quarantine period - it was not a blanket measure for everyone!
Biblical guidelines for disease control always targeted those who were actually
sick or who had been in direct contact with those who were. Before measures
were taken, it was always established first if this was the case. Never did the Israelites lockdown
their healthy populations because anyone could have the
disease, as this doctrine attempts to justify. Secondly, worship at the
tabernacle was never postponed - it still
continued for healthy people. It was only those who were unclean that had to
stay away.
Taking the time to examine this flawed doctrine helps to
illustrate the extremes that COVID
doctrine adherents will go to in order to stretch the Bible to fit with
their unscriptural thinking.
E. The
Unholy
One of the most disturbing elements of COVID doctrine has been
the increasing cooperation between the
Church and the State. With the powers that be portraying themselves as the
saviours, coming to deliver their populations from the deadly virus, many
churches and entire denominations have increasingly moved in a direction of
working together with the state in common cause.
Instead of government regulations and restrictions on the
functioning of the church being opposed and resisted, most churches and
denominations have instead openly embraced the measures,
even at times going above and beyond what has been
required of them. Churches now rely upon guidance for what to do in regards to
COVID-19 [Page 31] from the state, taking advice from government ministers and health
officials concerning church closures and how best to implement COVID-19
regulations in the church setting. Pulpits are now used to announce government edicts (such as track and trace, social distancing, and mask
compliance), and inside and outside church, walls, doors, and windows are
plastered with government COVID-19 posters and stickers. The church for the
most part has now become another arm in the
governments single narrative driven COVID-19 agenda. Yes, as Christians we are
to pray for those in authority, but are we wise to work together with them in
common cause? The Bible warns us of spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6: 12), and Be ye not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers:
for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light
with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6: 14).
The truth is that for the most part, those who rule over us
are a people in spiritual darkness, and as stated earlier, Scripture
warns that, The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed (Psalm 2: 2).
The danger then becomes that if the church and the state begin
to intertwine, believers can end up being
caught in the direction of flow the state takes them. This is exactly what has
happened in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the
Face masks have been decreed as mandatory by the state, and in
turn most state siding churches and denominations have done the same, with some assemblies even denying entry without a mask. Likewise, the state demands mass testing of its healthy
population via the unreliable PCR Testing method, backed up by an ineffective
and extremely wasteful track and trace
system. In turn, churches and denominations that have sided with the state
agenda open and close their churches based on PCR Testing results and outbreaks, as well as implementing the government track and trace system in the church, passing on the personal information of all attendees at meetings to the
civil authority when required to do so. Such close collaboration between church
and state bears a disturbing resemblance to that of government controlled
churches in countries like Communist China.
Furthermore, state siding churches and denominations have for
the most part endorsed the experimental COVID-19 vaccination
programme, with many ministers openly praying for its arrival
and publicly endorsing it as a mere medicine
to be taken out of Christian duty and love
for our neighbour.
With regard to vaccines, despite the health hazards they pose,
professing Christians may feel they are free to take such health care if they
so wish. But there is one issue which makes some, if not most vaccines unviable for
Christians.
Pictured above is the insert contained within the packaging
for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Notice the ingredient used in production, HEK
(Human Embryonic Kidney). ALL of the current COVID-19
vaccines available in the
[Page 34]
But if the watchman see the sword
come, and blow
not the trumpet, and the people be not
warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his
iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchmans hand (Ezekiel 33: 6).
With the health crisis as
the excuse, it appears the church and state have become one in purpose in regards to
fighting COVID-19. With the state now embracing a truly unbiblical and tyrannical approach to disease control, those Christians, churches
and denominations that have sided with the government have now bought into the
narrative and become partakers in this sin.
Naturally then, from this unholy alliance, the disinformation we hear from
government and media is then regurgitated from these
church pulpits, further lending credence to the COVID-19
narrative.
Instead of stepping back,
and urging their people to be cautious of all that they
hear from the world, the majority of churches now add weight to the growing slide away from the Bible, and towards the
nightmarish vision of the future some of those in authority have for the days
ahead. Christians now unsuspectingly find themselves stuck between two unreliable witnesses. The world pushes
the COVID-19 agenda on them from one direction, and then those churches and
denominations that have sided with the narrative from the state push at them
from the other direction. The truth washing
into their minds from the television, then confirmed by the truth they hear from the pulpits. The scale of the
deception truly is staggering, and admittedly is most impressive, as now we
witness for the most part the world and the church walking hand in hand. Jesus
warned about following the wrong crowd, when He said: [Page] They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch (Matthew
15: 14).
He that walketh with wise men shall
be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed (Proverbs 13: 20).
Dr. Charles Woodbridge, an American Presbyterian, who stood
strongly against the downward spiral evident in many evangelical circles, gave
the following sober warning concerning New
Evangelicalism (a softer version of true Bible fundamentalism), where
he identified five steps down into apostasy: New
Evangelicalism is a theological and moral compromise of the deadliest sort. It
is an insidious attack on the Word of God. The New Evangelicalism advocates (1)
Toleration of Error. It [then follows] the downward path of (2) Accommodation
to error,
(3) Cooperation with error, (4) Contamination by error, and [then] (5) ultimate Capitulation to error.
Thinking specifically on the issue of COVID-19 false doctrine,
it seems the majority of Christians, churches and denominations have succumbed to all five of these downward steps concerning the gross error that is the five points of COVID doctrine.
* * *
[Page
36]
Chapter 2
Spiritual Warfare and the
Satanic Nature of COVID Doctrine
The
Bible encourages Christians to, Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they
are of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world (1 John 4: 1). Sadly, in many of our churches today, warnings about the spiritual nature
of our battle in this world are often neglected. The Devil in all his subtlety,
and the dark, wicked forces that operate in this world are hardly ever
mentioned. The fruit of this spiritual malnutrition amongst
believers is a generation of professing Christians that have become numbed to the demonic operations that go on unseen in this world. Government therefore is viewed with little suspicion,
and seen as a mere benevolent entity rather than
something to be at a minimum very wary of. Our nanny
state is presumed to have only our best interests at heart, despite all
the promotion of evil, and unrighteous dictates that flow like a sewer from our
nations corridors of power. If Christians really had a grasp of the spiritual
wickedness that dwells in high places, they would not be so quick to trust the
world and the powers that be.
Even from within the church, the Bible repeatedly warns us
about false doctrines, false teachers, and false brethren,
often creeping in unawares (Jude 4). The Bible speaks of, Seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils (1 Timothy
4: 1), and, The spirit of truth, and the spirit of
error (1 John 4: 6). Another spirit the Bible speaks of
that has gripped, and indeed mastered, the majority of professing Christians in
recent times, is The spirit of fear (2 Timothy
1: 7), [Page 37] an emotion that has been heavily relied upon by the
powers that be as a manipulating force to help gain the
compliance of the general population. Speaking of the Devil, Jesus said that
Satan, Cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:
10). These three hallmarks of his handiwork have been
clearly seen in this COVID-19 pandemic.
Unnecessary killing of thousands at the hand of the state
through the lockdown policy and the dangerous experimental vaccines, stolen God given liberties, rights, and freedoms in virtually
every area of life, and destroyed lives, businesses, and education.
The false teaching that makes up COVID doctrine is no mere side issue that we can all have our own opinion about. Its impact
upon the professing church and society in general has been cataclysmic,
therefore making it of the utmost importance that believers discern whether
COVID doctrine is truth or error. Such is the insidious nature of COVID
doctrine and its corrosive effect upon the
function and testimony of the New Testament Church, it can be concluded that it
is of satanic origin for the following reasons:
1.
It trusts and relies upon truth from the ungodly. Church leaders ignore the scriptural
command to not forsake the assembling together (Hebrews 10: 25), and instead open and close their
buildings based on what government tells them, or what the latest scientific
advice and opinion would have them believe. This has resulted in churches
opening and closing at the whim of man, instead of sticking to the principle
of the literal and perpetual gathering of Gods people to worship the Lord no
matter what the circumstances. Allowing the world to control the assembly of Gods people is satanic.
[Page 38]
2.
It destroys the structure of church and worship. God is not
the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:
33). Confusion reigns in
churches today. Church is open one minute, closed the next. Congregations can
sing, then cant sing, can baptise, cant baptise, the Lords table allowed,
then not allowed. Services online, then in the car park, then in church, then
back out of church. Is God the author of this? Then who?
3.
It endorses the demonic sin of abortion via support for the COVID-19
experimental vaccine programme. All of the current COVID-19 vaccines available in the
4. It creates
backsliders. The natural
result of the disruption and shut down of public church worship has been the
undeniable backsliding evident amongst many professing Christians. Months of no
church attendance has created bad habits amongst many
believers, with many not bothering to keep the structure of the Lords Day, tune in to online services, or attend church meetings held in
car parks. This spiritual downgrade observed amongst
so many is surely satanic - Satan wants Christians in a state of apathy and laziness - that way they are no threat to him and his
devilish plans.
5. It
interlocks the church and the state. With churches and denominations working together and following a common COVID-19 agenda, an insidious link has now been
formed between many churches /denominations and the state. Any COVID relief
programmes from the state to the church also help to strengthen this bond, [Page
39] The borrower
is servant to the lender (Proverbs 22: 7). The state demands compliance from
the church in regard to COVID regulations, and these churches can now only
operate if allowed to by their new masters.
6.
It obliterates the Great Commission. With churches shut for months on end,
evangelistic activity has virtually been wiped out.
Christ commanded His followers, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16: 15). To many church leaders today, the
COVID-19 pandemic has been an exception to this
command. Street outreach and door to door ministry has almost disappeared, and
seeking souls now struggle to find anywhere to
travel to hear the gospel preached. The almost total cessation of evangelism in
the
7.
It aids the breakdown of the Lords Day. With the structure of church in
tatters, and the miserable failure of online
live broadcasts, or inferior semi church services held in car parks, the Lords
Day has now become a void filled with other worldly
pursuits. Christians who once found themselves
sitting in a church pew on a Sunday morning, are now found instead sitting
bored at home, or away on day trips to the park or beach. Whilst there are
those that have done their utmost to stick to some kind of routine, many have
not. The sheep have been scattered.
Surely, an enemy hath done this (Matthew
13: 28).
8.
It inhibits the public voice of the church. The go-to place for truth in this world -
the
9. It
departs from biblical guidelines for disease control, thus ignoring the Bible. As soon as the COVID-19 situation began to emerge,
Christians and ministers of the gospel should have gone
straight to the Scriptures for guidance in what to do in times of plague (Leviticus 13 & 14). Instead, the vast majority of church ministers adopted an
unscriptural approach to disease control learned from the world primarily
through television, and then disseminated this false teaching to their
congregations. Ignoring the Word of God,
and following the council of the ungodly,
with all of its unscriptural nonsense and damaging applications is to heed,
seducing
spirits, and doctrines of devils (1 Timothy 4: 1).
10. It
testifies to the unsaved world that the church complies with, follows, and aids the ungodly and their unbiblical COVID-19 agenda. By following,
sometimes above and beyond, the unscriptural COVID-19 guidelines from the
powers that be, the majority of professing Christians, churches, and
denominations have sided with he world and have become an aid to this great departure away from the Bible, instead of
exposing it as error. Putting their weight behind this
unscriptural agenda, churches and ministers have literally done the Devils
work for him.
11. It
lets the Devil work unhindered. Whilst many churches and denominations simply wait for
things to get back to normal, Satan has never
had so much freedom to [Page 41] work the works of darkness. Streets and homes unevangelised, no
churches for the unsaved to visit;
the Devil and his demons have been left virtually unhindered to lead lost
souls to damnation. Your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1
Peter 5: 8). You wont find Satan wearing a mask,
social distancing, or self-isolating for 14
days. This roaring lion never slumbers - he works relentlessly for he knows his
time is short.
* *
*
Appendix 1:
Who is to Blame?
From a Christian point of view, perhaps the most alarming
aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the
response to the crisis by the majority of the Christian Church. On an
individual level many Christians have gone along with the lying
medias narrative of the outbreak, and have fallen into line with whatever
unbiblical and often nonsensical draconian measures that have been foisted upon
the people of our once free society. Sadly, much of the blame for such
behaviour from professing Christians has to be directed to the pulpits of our
land. The COVID-19 pandemic has merely exposed a problem that was already there. Preachers
who once, a generation ago, warned about the dangers of television, have
now succumbed to its mesmerizing propaganda. Unable to think outside
of the box and only too eager to accept the steady flow of official statements spouted by a single narrative driven media that will not tolerate
any opposing view, and a national government set on a course of action that
oversteps the guidelines given in Scripture.
[Page 42]
In a few short months we have witnessed the people of the
United Kingdom stripped of many of their blood bought freedoms, a younger
generation robbed of an uninterrupted and full education, lockdown and poverty
driven suicides, avoidable deaths caused by undiagnosed and untreated deadly
diseases, severe and lasting damage done to the work of the Church of Christ,
and the wicked destruction of the livelihoods of so many who sought only to
work in order to provide for their own. Surely the cure has done more harm than
the disease! This is what happens when the powers that be depart from the
finely balanced guidelines of the Bible.
It has been wisely said, Bad doctrine
kills people. Unbiblical lockdowns have proved this
in a very literal way. The godless government overreaction to the COVID-19 health emergency has borne fruit and will
continue to do so in the days, months, and years ahead. Fruit such as the worst
financial crisis in the
Tragedy, not because of the loss of money or wealth, but
because of the DIRECT LINK between financial hardship
and mortality. Poorer people die sooner - FACT.
We can again be
tempted to direct all of our frustration and blame over the misery caused by
the lockdowns in recent months to our godless government, but would we be wise
to blame a blind man for stumbling to
the ground? It is not in his ability to see. However, once again, perhaps more
blame should be directed yet again towards the men [Page 43] who occupy the pulpits of our land.
Instead of stepping out of the flow of
disinformation, and taking a brief respite from the collective hype and panic
to study the Scriptures and preach what the Bible would have to say regarding
the correct course of action in times of plague, we have been met with a wall
of silence. The
Trying to find any sermons on the subject of what the Bible
has to say about COVID-19 and the issues surrounding it proves to be nigh on
impossible, despite it being THE ONE subject Christians have been desperate for
guidance on. Instead of dying at their posts
during this crisis, those who have been put in charge of our spiritual
well-being have retreated from their pulpits,
offering whimpering wee words of encouragement
from behind their computer screens. This feeble form of leadership coming from
men who have consistently failed to stand out and
speak out on any of the important issues of our age.
When we complain about the political correctness that permeates our culture
today, we must understand it has crept into the church!
This dire situation can be compared to a lighthouse switching off its light
in the midst of a ferocious storm - what a betrayal!
There is also something else quite ironic to consider, as nothing ever happens by coincidence. The church has for the most part opted to comply with mask
wearing, acting according to the Old Testament like a colony of lepers. What
does the mask cover? The mouth.
A mouth that will [Page 44] not speak the truth, a mouth that will not spread the
gospel, and a mouth that will not rail on the evils of our day.
So in response, in a highly symbolic way, God has muzzled His people. Gods people will not speak
out, nor will their ministers, and so in about the most visual way one could
imagine, God has covered their mouths and shut their churches down.
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it
is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast
out, and to be trodden under foot of men (Matthew 5: 13).
His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down,
loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs
which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter (Isaiah 56: 10-11).
As sad, and as discouraging the situation may be, there is still a remnant that has not bowed the knee to Baal. Amidst the majority
of compromise, God has, as in every generation, maintained a remnant. A remnant
of people who go against the flow,
who push upstream against the crowd, and a remnant that
seek to serve God in defiance of every adversary. To those brave few Christians,
ministers, and churches, we salute you, and urge you to continue your stand, Having your
loins girt about with truth (Ephesians 6:
14). May your cause be vindicated, honoured,
and blessed abundantly in
the days ahead.
Them that honour me I will honour,
and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed (1 Samuel
2: 30).
* *
*
[Page 45]
Appendix 2: Making a Stand
and the Way Forward
When the nation of
The Devil, that arch enemy of the bride of Christ, in all his subtlety has attacked the professing church in a direction virtually none of us were expecting.
The COVID-19 pandemic came at the church
like a bolt from the blue, and sadly we were caught off guard. Expecting a frontal attack from age
old enemies like the church of Rome, or Islam, or the Sodomite agenda, a most
devastating assault instead came from, Oppositions of science falsely so called (1 Timothy
6: 20). Satan may have attacked from a new direction, but if
he ends up achieving the same goal (the disruption
and/or shut down of the
The Bible gives us as Christians
instructions on what to do in times of plague, but for the most part this
guidance was ignored. and rather advice was taken from the world, and the COVID-19 single narrative was
accepted along with all [Page 46] of the baggage that followed. Having bought into the
COVID-19 agenda, COVID doctrines were formed and the Bibles teachings stretched to fit as required.
Many now hope this situation will all go away given enough
time. It is sincerely hoped that this will be the case. Alternatively, we may
find, that because of our sin and compromise, this new
normal may be here to stay for good.* In fact, the situation may become even
worse than this in the days ahead with more pandemics
forecast in the future. We may rather only be seeing the beginning of a change which will transform the free world we once
knew and took so much for granted.
[* That
is, until the end of this evil and apostate AGE when out Lord Jesus will
return.]
Given the current environment we now find ourselves in, surely
if we really care for our families, faith, and nation we ought to fight? But how do we do this? The same way
faithful Christians have battled down through the centuries by preaching the truth (a responsibility that we all have, not just
ministers). This is the motivation behind this booklet, and our prayer is that
this publication will be used in some way by the Lord in the cause of truth and
the glorifying of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ - the Captain of our
Salvation.
Are you sick and tired of the professing Christian Church in
the West giving ground to the enemy? Have you had enough of
this loser form of Christianity that knows only defeat and compromise?
Do you want to fight, and win? And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church; and the gates
of hell [Gk.
Hades] shall not prevail against it (Matthew
16: 18). With the battle for truth raging all
around us, each of us has a choice to make. Either we be part of the solution, or we be part of the problem.
By remaining silent and going along with the flow of the [Page
47] COVID-19 agenda
seen in the world and in the Church, we become part of the problem. The Bible
warns that, The man that wandereth out of
the way of understanding shall remain in
the congregation of the dead (Proverbs
21: 16).
And as a final note for those true believers who still desire
to lend their support to any churches and denominations that cling to these
COVID false doctrines, the Bible warns, Confidence in an unfaithful man in
time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of
joint (Proverbs 25: 19). These churches that have closed their
doors on their people: what is there to stop them from
closing again ... and again
and again? Just like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint, they
will collapse each time the pressure is applied.
If however we come to an understanding of the severity of the betrayal and the sell-out of the mainline
denominations then we ought to speak out, get out, and stay out. Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing (2 Corinthians 6: 17). Only when we take our
stand can we partake in Gods blessing, meet likeminded believers,
and become part of a God honouring alternative.
No man putteth new
wine into old bottles [wine-skins]; else the new wine doth burst the bottles [skins], and the
wine is spilled, and the bottles [wine skins] will be marred: but new wine must be
put into new bottles [wine skins] (Mark 2: 22). May this cause grow,
and its increasing prevalence be witnessed in our society and in true
religion as a whole - our children will thank us for it! Truly, the way
forwards for the Church in the
Repentance, Reformation, Revival.
* *
*
[Page
48]
A word from the Author
I hope you have found this booklet useful. The intention of
this series is to help you as a believer during these very
strange and confusing times. It is my sincere hope that what you have read in
this booklet has helped you to make sense of what is going
on in the world, and provided you with Bible based answers regarding
COVID-19. Please help spread the truth by forwarding
this booklet, either in printed form, or the digital version to as many people
as you can. Consider forwarding the digital version (Parts 1 and 2, available for
FREE via thelordsworktrust.org website) to your personal contacts.
The printed versions are also a great way to pass information on (contact me
for FREE copies), perhaps in your local community, or via the post to local
politicians and the media. A reformation of thinking is desperately
needed regarding this subject - be part of this movement!
For all comments and queries feel free to email me at: ukebarker@btinternet.com
* *
*
Useful Links and Resources
For your own further research here are some helpful links: (If
the link does not work, try instead searching for the title, or searching for
it on another website. Please be aware that because of the intolerance of any
view that does not support the current narrative concerning COVID-19 some of
these links may no longer work due to being blocked/taken down by the relevant
social media platform).
Vaccination information:
VACCINE SERMON! (When the priest shall look upon the plague) by Pastor Bruce Mejia of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIbLkWdY4w
Dr Simone Gold The truth about the CV 19 vaccine
https://www.bitchute.com/video/onWqOMszB3Pc/
Health advice regarding
COVID Vaccines and Nutritional approach for Coronavirus
https://dkdox.tv/videos/DK21020
Documentaries (* some of these documentaries contain
occasional bad language, viewer discretion advised):
Vaxnation Christian Documentary about Vaccines
https://www.bitchute.com/video/vr4Cqyn4LJI5/
The New
https://www.bitchute.com/video/4YCGXHWNsfks/
The Mirror Project -
Vaccine Trials Documentary
https://www.bitchute.com/video/f
m55k5t2j RzO/ or,
https://www.mp-22.com/watch-series
The Trial of Truth Documentary
[Page 50]
Powerful,
Equipping, and Encouraging Sermons:
The Fool in COVIT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1jGZCsX8o4
Foolish COVID Ministers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sphl5eHQOPc
The
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOP0ewFc1cw
https://www.youtube.com/user/ukcolumn
https://www.ukcolumn.org/
Information on the imprisonment of James Coates (Canadian Pastor who defied the
lockdown):
https://www.bitchute.com/video/sA1n-qr9EtY/
Confirmation of AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine ingredients:
https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/vaccine-ingredients
Book:
Coronavirus
and the leadership of the Christian Church: A Sacred Trust Broken (by Ernest Springer, Joel Yeager,
Daniel ORoark)