SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES
FALSE TEACHERS
THEIR IDENTITY AND MESSAGE
By ARLEN L CHITWOOD
[Book Cover writing]
This
booklet by Arlen Chitwood, discusses and explains from a Biblical perspective
the teaching of Signs, Wonders and Miracles and also carefully considers and
identifies who are the False Prophets along with what they are like and what
they teach. There are four sections in
this booklet which are entitled:
1.
History of Signs, Wonders and Miracles
2.
Purpose of Signs, Wonders and Miracles
3.
Cessation of Signs, Wonders and Miracles
4. False
prophets: Their Identity and Message
-------
[Page 4]
CONTENTS
1. History of Signs, Wonders and Miracles [Page 5]
2. Purpose of Signs, Wonders and Miracles [Page 14]
3. Cessation of Signs, Wonders and Miracles [Page 23]
4. False prophets: Their Identity and Message [Page 30]
* * *
[Page 5]
1
HISTORY OF SIGNS,
WONDERS AND MIRACLES
The manifestation of signs,
wonders, and miracles in Scripture is inseparably connected with two things:
1) The Nation of
2) The Kingdom
Both
[Page 6]
And, in order to properly
understand the manifestation of signs, wonders, and miracles during time
covered by the gospel accounts and the Book of Acts,
a person must have a correct foundation upon which to build. A person must
begin in the Old Testament and trace the history of this supernatural work into
the New Testament. Only then will he be in a position to understand various,
necessary things about this supernatural phenomenon.
Signs,
Wonders, and Miracles in the Old Testament
Signs, wonders, and miracles,
performed through individuals, were manifested only on two occasions in all of
the Old Testament.
They were manifested by Moses
and Aaron pertaining to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, with a view to the
nation’s entrance into the land of Canaan; and they were manifested by Moses’
successor, Joshua, pertaining to Israel’s subsequent entrance into the land of
Canaan (Ex. 4:
29-31; 7: 10ff; Deut. 6: 22, 23; Joshua 3: 7ff; 10: 12-14). That was the first occasion. The second
was a manifestation by Elijah and his successor Elisha, some five hundred years
later (1 Kings 17: lff; 2 Kings 2:
13ff).
Outside of these two occasions
there is not a single reference to an individual being empowered to perform
signs, wonders, and miracles throughout all of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Numerous miracles are recorded in these Scriptures (e.g., the [Page 7] burning bush which was not
consumed [Ex. 3:
2], the sun being moved back ten
degrees on the dial [Isa. 38: 7, 8], the three Israelites being protected in
the fiery furnace [Dan. 3:
19-25], or
Jonah being raised from the place of death in the sea [Jonah 1: 17 - 2: 10]). But
these were miraculous works performed directly by God, not by individuals whom
God had empowered to perform them. Note that the manifestation of signs,
wonders, and miracles during the days of Moses, Aaron, and Joshua was in
relation to
Supernatural manifestations of
power occurred relative to
During the days of Elijah and
Elisha the people of
[Page 8]
And it was during these days
that Elijah was called forth (with Elisha finishing his ministry) to call the
nation to repentance. The manifestation of signs, wonders, and miracles
accompanying their ministry pertained to
These signs, wonders, and
miracles were simply the credentials of those manifesting them in Israel’s
presence, with the signs themselves, by their very nature, setting forth a
message (like Christ using Jonah as a sign, which foreshadowed a miraculous
deliverance of God’s two firstborn Sons - Christ and Israel - from the place of
death [cf. Matt. 12:
38-40]).
Through a manifestation of
supernatural powers accompanying the message, Israel was to recognize that the
Messenger had been sent from God; and, accordingly, the people were to heed the
combined message set forth by the manifested signs and that proclaimed by the
messenger (Ex. 4:
1-9, 29-31). The
people of
This is simply a prolonged,
uninterrupted period of time - lasting about 2,600 years - during which
Signs,
Wonders, and Miracles in the New Testament
After moving through almost
1,500 years of Jewish history and seeing signs, wonders, and miracles
manifested during only two different periods by only five different men within
these periods (by Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha), things suddenly
changed. Israel’s Messiah (following the ministry of His forerunner, John the
Baptist) appeared to Israel with a message pertaining to the kingdom of the
heavens; and this message was accompanied by numerous signs, wonders, and
miracles (Matt. 4:
17-25; 8: lff).Then, in
conjunction with and very early in His ministry, Christ called twelve disciples
to help carry this message; and they were empowered to perform signs, wonders,
and miracles in connection with their ministry as well (Matt. 10: 5-8).
(Also, Christ later “appointed” seventy others to go “before his face into
every city and place, whither he himself
would come” - though very little is said about them in the gospel accounts - and He empowered them to perform signs, wonders, and
miracles as well [Luke 10: l-19]. Thus,
at this time, there
was a manifestation of supernatural signs in the camp of
[Page 10]
Christ had been sent only to “the lost sheep of the house of
Whether it was Jesus or His
disciples proclaiming the proffered kingdom, signs, wonders, and miracles
accompanied their ministry and formed the credentials of those carrying the
message. These manifestations of power were supernatural events which, by their
very nature, set forth a message themselves; and these signs, as well,
authenticated the message being proclaimed by the Messenger as being true and
from God (John 3: 1,
2; Acts 2:
22; cf. Ex.
4: 1-9). The religious leaders in Israel were to
see these signs, wonders, and miracles and understand not only the message set forth
by the signs but that the Messengers were God-sent, carrying God’s message for
His people. Then, believing and understanding the message which they had both
seen (through the signs) and heard (from the Messengers), they were responsible
for carrying this message to the people of
However, exactly the opposite
occurred. The religious leaders refused to believe the message, rejecting both
the signs and the Messengers; and they, in
their unbelief, then sought to subvert the [Page 11] message and discredit the signs and the Messengers in the
presence of the Jewish people (Matt. 12: 14-32).
(This is why Christ, near
the end of His earthly ministry, in no uncertain terms, condemned
the actions of the Scribes and Pharisees - the fundamental religious leaders of
that day [Matt. 23: 1ff]. They
had seen the signs and heard the Messengers; but they had rejected the
message and had sought to do away with the accompanying supernatural powers, mainly
through attacking the central Messenger, through attacking Christ.
The Scribes and Pharisees had
rejected the signs and had sought to discredit Christ in the eyes of the people, bringing
about reproach on the Messenger and casting doubt on His message [e.g.,
Matt. 9: 27-34; 12: 22-24; cf. John 12:
10, 11]. And,
whether
by word or deed, this resulted in their bearing a false
witness to the people of
The Scribes and Pharisees, the
main body of religious leaders in
[Page 12]
And all of this had its end
result in Israel’s rejection of both the message and the Messenger, the removal
of the kingdom of the heavens from Israel, the crucifixion of Israel’s Messiah,
and God bringing into existence a separate and distinct entity to be the
recipient of that which had been offered to and rejected by Israel. Israel had
failed to bring forth fruit in relation to the kingdom of the heavens, and the
one new man “in Christ” was called into existence to
be accorded the opportunity to bring forth fruit in this realm (Matt. 21: 18, 19, 33-43; cf. 1 Peter 2: 9-11).
But, though the kingdom was
taken from Israel and the Church was called into existence to be the recipient
of this offer, there was a re-offer of the kingdom to Israel, beginning at the
time of the inception of the Church (Acts 2: 1ff). And, if for no other reason, this is
evident because of the continuance of signs, wonders, and miracles. That would
be to say, if God had terminated His dealings with
These supernatural
manifestations of power had nothing to do with the one new man “in Christ” (who is “neither Jew nor Creek” [Gal. 3: 28]). They had to do with
[Page 13]
Then, when Gentiles began to be added
to the body of Christ, they were manifested within Churches comprised mainly of
saved Gentiles, such as the Church in
And, between a segment of the
one new man “in Christ” carrying the message to Israel
and another segment seeking to provoke the nation to jealousy - all being done
through a manifestation of signs, wonders, and miracles - the Jewish people were
dealt with in what might be considered a maximum manner. In one respect, God
pulled out all stops (cf. Luke 10: 13-24; 11: 29-32); but the religious leaders in
* * *
[Page 14]
2
PURPOSE FOR SIGNS,
WONDERS AND MIRACLES
Most of the manifestations
of supernatural power during the ministry of Christ and the apostles (during
the periods covered by both the gospel accounts and by the Book of Acts) centered around bodily healings. This was the manner in
which they were introduced during Christ’s ministry (Matt. 4: 23-25), and
this was the manner in which they were brought to a close about three decades
later during Paul’s ministry (Acts 28: 7-9).
(And along with bodily healings, death
was no longer irreversible [Mark 5: 35-43; John 11: 1-47; Acts 9: 36-42; 20: 7: 12], material needs were miraculously supplied
[food, drink, etc. (John 2: 1-11; 6: 1-14; Acts 5: 19-23; 16: 26)], there
was deliverance from demonic spirits [Matt. 12: 22; Acts 5: 16], and
angelic ministry was abundantly available [Matt. 4: 11; Acts 12: 7, 8, 23].)
The signs, centring around
bodily healings (though including other related things), reflected on and had
to do with a dual aspect of one thing: the spiritual condition of the nation of
[Page
15]
1) The signs showed an existing
condition (sickness, seen prior to
the healings).
2) The signs also showed another
condition which could exist
(restoration
of the nation, in a restored kingdom, seen following the healings).
And deliverance for the nation
after the fashion set forth by the signs was contingent on national repentance, followed by baptism (cf. Matt. 3: 1-11; 4: 17, 23-25; 10: 5-8; Acts 2: 37, 38; 3: 19-21).
These signs, wonders, and
miracles, along with being the credentials of the
Messengers of the gospel of the kingdom, were manifestations of supernatural powers (powers necessary
to bring the signs to pass) depicting Israel’s present spiritual condition and
showing how this condition could change, if ... These same manifestations of
supernatural powers could and would - contingent on Israel’s repentance - bring
to pass that of which the signs spoke, i.e., Israel’s supernatural healing, accompanied
by God’s supernatural provision for the nation in all areas of life, dealt with
in all the other various signs. And this deliverance, as previously seen, would
occur in a restored kingdom.
“ [4] Ah sinful nation, a people laden with
iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of
This was the way Isaiah
introduced
[Page 17]
But when will
In Hosea 5: 13 - 6: 2,
Once the Israelites had been
delivered from
“Now
therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth
is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.
These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the
children of
(Note that obedience to the Lord’s
commandments follows repentance [a
change of mind] in both the type and the antitype. In the type, the Israelites changed their minds and
received the one whom they had previously rejected [Moses]. In the antitype, the
Israelites will change their minds and receive the One Whom they previously
rejected [the one greater than Moses, the nation’s Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ (Zech. 12: 10-14; 13: 6)]. It
is only after this, in the type or
the antitype, that subsequent events leading up to the
reception of the Lord’s commandments governing the Jewish people in the kingdom
occur [in the type, following the Passover, the Exodus from
And it was later clearly
revealed exactly what would occur if
They would find themselves at
the tail of the nations rather than at the head, and their lot in this position
would be that of curses rather than blessings. And, though remnants of those
scattered would, at times, leave the Gentile nations and return to their own
land (a remnant was present 2,000 years ago, and another is present today), the
nation - the whole nation, including any remnant in the land (Isa. 1:
5-7) -
would remain in the same spiritually sick condition, with its land desolate. Only the Lord could bring about healing, but in His time.
And that’s what Hosea 5: 13 - 6: 2 is
about -
Then, note the two things
revealed immediately before this, in Hosea 5: 15, which introduce
1) The two days (the 2,000 years,
covering the Jewish dispensation) begin with
2) The two days (the 2,000 years)
come to a close with the Jewish people seeking the Lord’s face during a time of
“affliction” (during the coming [Great] Tribulation), receiving the Lord when He returns.
“The Tribulation” will be
the last seven years of the Jewish dispensation, a fulfilment of Daniel’s
Seventy-Week prophecy. And when time resumes in Daniel’s prophecy, the Jewish
people, time-wise, will be placed in the position of having just crucified
their Messiah.
Then, exactly as stated in
Hosea’s prophecy, healing for the nation will occur immediately following the
Tribulation - after two days (after 2,000 years), in the third day (in the
third 1,000-year period). As God worked six days to restore
- [not create, as those who believe this earth is not
at present 6, 000 years old! (See Job 38: 4-7, R.V. and Gen.
1: 2, NIV: “Now the
earth was (or possibly ‘became’)
formless and empty, darkness
was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit
of God was hovering over the waters.” NIV verse 2)] - a ruined creation in the
beginning and then rested the seventh day (Gen. 1: 1 - 2: 3), so is He presently
working six more days (6,000 years)
to restore a subsequent ruined
creation, with a view to resting the
seventh day (the seventh 1,000-year period). And all
subsequent sections of [Page 21]
Scripture, such as Hosea 6: 1,
2, merely rest upon and provide
additional light for the foundational framework - showing the septenary
structure of Scripture - set forth at the very beginning.
Then, with all of the preceding
in mind, note Isaiah chapter fifty-three. This
chapter outlines
It was this future condition of
The central thought when the
Spirit of God closed the Old Testament Canon pertained to Israel being healed [Mal. 4: 2, 3], and
this was likewise the central thought when the heavens were once again opened
over four centuries later in the New Testament [Matt. 3: 1, 2; 4: 17, 23-25]. The
New is simply a continuation and unveiling of that which has lain in the Old
from the beginning. Do you want to understand the New? Then study the Old. Do you want to see
* *
*
3
CESSATION OF SIGNS,
WONDERS AND MIRACLES
Signs, wonders, and miracles,
manifested during time covered by the gospel accounts and the Book of Acts, were inseparably connected with the offer of the kingdom of
the heavens to
And in Acts
(in the subsequent re-offer), these manifestations of supernatural power were
more evident prior to
In this respect, before
Then, once the offer had been withdrawn
(about 62 A.D.), it was not only natural but absolutely necessary that the
signs, wonders, and miracles cease altogether. They had to cease at this time.
They would have been completely out of place beyond this point. And this can be
seen from a Scriptural standpoint entirely apart from referencing 1 Corinthians chapter thirteen - a
section of Scripture in which Paul stated that they would cease, giving both
the time and the reason.
[Page 25]
First Corinthians 13: 8-10
Paul’s reference to this matter
in his first letter to those in Corinth was made necessary because the Church
in Corinth was a Gentile Church in which signs, wonders, and miracles were
being manifested, which could only have been with a view to provoking Israel to
jealousy (Rom. 10:
19; 11: 11-14; cf. Acts 13: 44, 45). And Paul, viewing that which was
occurring in the light of the Old Testament Scriptures, called their attention
to the time and the reason when these manifestations of supernatural power would
cease.
In 1 Cor. 13: 8-10, Paul called attention to the
fact that the spiritual sign-gifts being manifested in the Church in
All of the spiritual sign-gifts
would have to be looked upon together - as a unit, comprised of different parts
- simply because of their interrelated purpose. They all existed for exactly
the same purpose. And when the Lord saw fit to bring His purpose surrounding
these gifts to a close, they (all of them together, delineated by the three in 1 Cor. 13: 8) would no longer exist.
Actually, from a Scriptural standpoint,
they couldn’t exist beyond this time. Any existence of these gifts beyond this
time would be contrary to the revealed Word of God and, thus, impossible.
[Page 26]
Prior to this time, Paul had the
power to effect bodily healings (portending
After
this time, Paul instructed Timothy, “…use a
little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities” (1 Tim. 5: 23); and he later left Trophimus “at Miletum sick” (2 Tim.
4: 20). In 1 Cor. 13: 8-10, two
expressions relative to these sign-gifts are used in opposite senses - “in part,” and “perfect”: “Charity
[‘Love’] never faileth:
but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there
be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But
when that which is perfect is come, then that
which is in part shall be done away.”
In these verses, “in part” has to do with incompleteness (from ek meros), meaning “out of a part
[plural in the Greek text of vv. 9, 10, ‘out of parts’],” and “perfect” has to do with completeness (from teleios, meaning “complete,” “bringing to an end”) Thus, ek meros and teleios are
used in antithetical senses.
And both expressions, since they
have to do with either the continuance or the end of the manifestation of
supernatural signs, are inseparably connected with either the continuance or
the end of the offer of the kingdom to
In this respect, incompleteness
(shown by ek meros) CAN ONLY have to do with that
time prior to God finishing His work pertaining to the offer of the kingdom to
Israel (with signs, wonders, and miracles still in evidence); and
completeness(shown by meros) CAN ONLY have to do with that
time following God finishing His work pertaining to the offer of the kingdom to
Israel (with signs, wonders, and miracles no longer in evidence). Thus, the
thought set forth by Paul in 1 Cor. 13: 9, 10, contextually, is something
quite easy to see and understand as long as the proper connection with the
manifestation of signs, wonders, and miracles is made. But remove this key, and
the whole matter becomes impossible to properly see and understand.
Verse nine teaches
that Paul and others were exercising supernatural spiritual gifts. And they
were exercising these gifts during a time of “incompleteness,” i.e.,
they were exercising these gifts during the period prior to the time God would
“complete” His work with
[Page 28]
Then, the things being done
during the time of “incompleteness” (during the time when the
offer of the kingdom had previously remained open to
(Note that to associate teleios in 1 Cor. 13: 8-10 with
the completion of the canon of Scripture and a corresponding cessation of
sign-gifts, as many do, has nothing to do with Israel and the
kingdom. Accordingly, the completion of the Canon of Scripture, can
have nothing to do with the matter.)
Acts 28: 28
Thus, the manifestation of
signs, wonders, and miracles ceased when the offer of the kingdom was withdrawn
from
In Acts 28: 28, Paul
told the Jews for the third and last time that
he was going to the Gentiles with the message which they had rejected. “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is [Page 29] sent unto the
Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he had said these words, the Jews departed...” (Acts
28, 29a; cf. Acts
13: 46; 18:
6).At this time, God set
For sign-gifts to continue
beyond this point would have been COMPLETELY out of
line with Scripture. And, remaining in line with Scripture, these sign-gifts CANNOT again be in evidence until that future time when God resumes His
national dealings with
And that’s where we are today -
living during a time in which
[* NOTE: “the
fulness of the Gentiles,” are words depicting the speed in which “the times of the Gentiles” are speedily coming to a close.
Today’s Church has now forgotten its responsibility and obedience
to God’s commands! Anti-Millennialism, with false and apostate teachers
- have replaced Scriptural truths: and “an evil spirit from
the Lord” (1 Sam. 16: 14, R.V.); and “…the god of
this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, that they should not see the light of the Gospel of THE GLORY of Christ who is the
image of God, should not dawn upon them”! (2 Cor. 4: 4, R.V.
margin). See also (Matt: 4: 23; 9: 35; Mark. 1: 14. Cf. “… if
there be any other thing contrary to the sound teaching of the gospel of the GLORY of the blessed God” (1 Tim. 1: 11, R.V.).]
* * *
4
FALSE TEACHERS:
THEIR IDENTITY AND MESSAGE
It was after six
days that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up into a “high mountain” and was “transfigured before them.” They,
at this time, “saw his glory” (Matt. 17: 1-5; Luke 9: 32). And this event made such an impact on Peter
that over thirty years later, when seeking to emphasise the importance of
Christian preparedness in view of the Lord’s return and the establishment of
His kingdom (2 Peter 1: 1-15).
Peter called attention to that
which he, James, and John had seen years before while on the Mount with Christ:
“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables,
when we made known unto you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of
his majesty [a superlative in the Creek text, ‘...eyewitnesses of His greatest regal magnificence’]. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the [Page 31] excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased. And this voice which
came from heaven we heard, when we were with him
in the holy mount” (2 Peter 1: 16-18).
Then Peter in his epistle, after
commenting on the prophetic word (1: 19-21), turns
to a discussion about and warning against false teachers (2: 1ff). The
subject under discussion preceding the mention of false teachers bringing in “damnable heresies” (2:
1) has to do with the Word of the Kingdom (1: 1-21), which is also the subject under discussion at the
conclusion of the mention of false teachers (3: 1, 2; Cf. 1: 12-15).
False
Teachers - Past
To remain within context, it
must be recognized that the false teachers to whom Peter referred were teachers
proclaiming false doctrine relative to the Word of the Kingdom, the subject
under discussion. They were proclaiming false doctrine relative to the [future] saving of the soul,* not false doctrine relative to the salvation presently possessed by
these Christians. And these false teachers were not unsaved individuals; nor
were they ignorantly proclaiming this false doctrine. Rather, these were
teachers who had, at a previous time, “escaped the pollutions
of the world through the knowledge [Gk., epignosis, ‘mature knowledge’] of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” but had become “again entangled therein,” and had been “overcome [rather than having overcome (Rev. 2. & 3.]” (2: 20; cf. 1: 4).
[* See 1 Pet. 1: 5, 9, R.V.)]
[Page 32]
According to 1 Cor. 2:
14, an unsaved person cannot even
come into a rudimentary knowledge (Gk. gnosis) of “the things of the Spirit of God,” for these things “are spiritually discerned” (cf. 1 Cor. 2: 9-13). in 2 Peter 2: 20 though the
false teachers are said to have gone beyond this simple rudimentary knowledge,
coming into a mature understanding of the Word. Thus, from a Scriptural
standpoint, it is not possible to view these false teachers as other than [eternally] saved
individuals.
And the word epignosis
(“mature knowledge”) used in 2 Peter 2: 20 is used
in contexts in the New Testament having to do with Biblical doctrine pertaining
to the saving of the soul, the Word of the Kingdom (cf. Eph. 1: 17; 4: 13; Phil. 1: 9; Col. 1: 9, 10; 2: 2; 3: 10; 1 Tim. 2: 4; 2 Tim. 2: 25; 3: 7; Titus 1: 1; Heb. 10: 26; 2 Peter 1: 2, 3, 8). Thus, it is evident from both the context
of 2 Peter 2: 20 and the
way epignosis
is used various places in the Creek New Testament that these false
teachers had come into a knowledge of the Word of
the Kingdom, had turned from it, and were teaching false doctrine
concerning the message they had at one time received and understood.
It is teachers of this nature that Peter warns against - teachers proclaiming a
similar message to the “evil report” proclaimed by ten of the
twelve spies during Moses’ day (spies who had seen and understood the things
pertaining to the land set before them [Num. 13: 26-33]).
And Peter concludes his warning
in the same manner that he had used to emphasize the importance of Christian
preparedness in view of the Lord’s return and the establishment of His kingdom
prior [Page 33] to his
warning against false teachers. Though not mentioning the event directly, as he
had previously done, Peter alludes to what he, James, and John had seen while
on the Mount with Christ. Through a
reference to past and present worlds - “the world that then was” (3: 6) and “the heavens and the
earth, which are now” (3:
7) - Peter puts to silence the claim by the false teachers that “all things continue as they were from the beginning of
the creation” (3: 4). The “world that then was [which included the heavens also, for the sun was darkened]”
was destroyed (3: 6; cf. Gen. 1: 2a), and “the heavens and the earth, which are now” will be
destroyed (3: 7,
10-12).
Then Peter draws the whole
matter to a climax by alluding to that which he had previously said about being
on the Mount with Christ (1: 16-18): “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing [lit.,
‘...stop allowing this one thing to escape your
attention’], that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3: 8). There
is a septenary structure to
Peter’s second epistle. The event on the Mount occurred “after six days,” which
would be - [after
The six and seven days in Genesis portend six and seven thousand years, and so do the days in Matt. 17: 1. And this is exactly [Page 34] what Peter had in mind when he stated, “But, beloved, stop allowing this one thing to escape your attention...”
(Note that the destruction of “the world that then was” in 2 Peter 3: 6 can have no reference to the destruction of
the earth by water during Noah’s day. This would not be in line with either
the evident parallel between post and future destructions of the earth [3: 6, 7] or the septenary structure of the epistle
[1: 16-18; 3: 5-8].
The future destruction will
include the heavens as well, and, within the parallel, so must the past destruction.
The only past destruction which included the heavens was the pre-Adamic
destruction in Gen. 1: 2a. The Noachian Flood in Gen. 6-8 had nothing to do with the heavens [apart from the canopy of
water immediately above the earth coming down, providing part of the water
which flooded the earth]. Also, the main emphasis in the destruction wrought by
the Noachian Flood was a destruction of the people on the earth, not the earth
itself. No restoration of the earth occurred afterwards, as in Gen. 1: 2b-25, for
such was unnecessary.
Though a destruction of the
earth occurred during Noah’s day [Gen. 6: 13], this
was not the same type destruction which occurred in Gen. 1: 2a; nor was it the same type destruction
referred to in 2 Peter 3: 6 [necessitated
by both the septenary structure of the epistle and a parallel between past and
future destructions in this section of Scripture]. The two destructions in 2 Peter 3: 6, 7 are separated by a 7,000-year period. One
occurred at a time prior to the 7,000 years, [Page 35] necessitating a restoration
of both the heavens and the earth at the
beginning of the 7,000 years;
and the other will occur at the end of
the 7,000 years - [the millennial reign of our Lord Jesus], necessitating the creation of a “new heavens and a new earth” [cf. Gen. 1: 2b-25; 2 Peter 3: 10-13])
False
Teachers - Present
During the first century “the gospel of the glory of Christ,” “the word of the kingdom,” “the
hope of the gospel,” Paul’s “gospel,”
“the saving of the soul” (cf. Matt. 13: 19; Rom. 16: 25; 2 Cor. 4: 3, 4; Col. 1: 23; 1 Tim. 1: 11; Heb. 10: 35-39) - all referring to the same central
teaching - was universally proclaimed within Christendom. Paul states in Col. 1: 23 (cf. Rom. 10: 18; Col. 1: 5, 6) that
this message “was preached to every creature which
is under heaven,” which would be to say that the message was proclaimed
throughout all Christendom (for this message is to be proclaimed to the [eternally]
saved, not the unsaved).
Today though the situation has
almost completely reversed itself. This is a message seldom heard in
Christendom. The leaven which the woman hid in the three measures of meal very
early in the dispensation in Matt. 13: 33 has
done its damaging work, and it will continue working until the whole of
Christendom has been leavened. Both the destructive work depicted by the leaven
in Matthew chapter thirteen and the
deterioration depicted in Revelation chapters two and three centre around the Word of the Kingdom, not Biblical doctrine
in general.
[Page 36]
Such is evident from both
sections of Scripture, understood within
their contextual settings. In Matt. 13: 33 the
matter relates to the kingdom of the
heavens and the Word of the Kingdom (cf. vv. 11, 19); and
in Revelation chapters two and three the matter relates to
works and overcoming, with the judgment seat of Christ and the coming kingdom
in view (cf. Rev. 1: 10-20; 2: 2, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17, 19, 26; 3: 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, 21). Thus,
because of the working of the leaven, the Church, relative to the proclamation
of the Word of the Kingdom, will exist at the end of the dispensation in the
state depicted by the Church in Laodicea - “wretched,
and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked”
(Rev. 3: 10f).
The Message
- Past, Present
In the preceding respect, a
false message concerning the Word of the Kingdom today would come more from
ignorance than it would from knowledge. Christians in general have little to no
understanding of the message pertaining to the Word of the Kingdom. And not
understanding this message, they end up with all types of perversions of
Scripture when dealing with the numerous passages having to do with this
subject.
(A good example is the so-called
Lordship Salvation teaching, which takes passages having to do with the Word of the Kingdom and attempts to apply these passages to the
message of salvation by grace
through faith. Such not only
destroys one [Page 37] gospel [the
gospel of the glory of Christ] but it corrupts the other gospel [the gospel of the grace of God]. And
this type message is presently being widely proclaimed and received throughout
Christendom, in both liberal and so-called fundamental circles alike.)
That’s where Christendom finds
itself today. And things are not going to improve. In fact, according to
Scripture, the opposite will result. Things will instead deteriorate even
further. The leaven is going to continue doing its damaging work until the
whole has been leavened (ref. Matt. 13: 33), and
conditions when Christ returns will be exactly as He said they would be.
When Christ was on earth the
first time He asked His disciples, “Nevertheless when the
Son of man [a Messianic title] cometh, shall he find faith [‘the
faith’] on the earth?” (Luke 18: 8). The
answer to the question, according to the way in which the question is worded in
the Greek text, is “No.” The Son of Man is not
going to find “the faith” on the earth at the time of
His return.
The expression, “the faith,” has a peculiar reference to teachings pertaining to the
Word of the Kingdom (cf. 1 Tim. 6: 11-15, 19; 2 Tim. 4: 7, 8; Jude 3; see
also the contextual setting of Luke 18: 8). And this is the message Christ will not
find being proclaimed in the Churches at the time of His return - the central
message universally proclaimed to Christians during the first century and the
central message which should have been proclaimed throughout Christendom during
the whole of the dispensation. Matters though have become so [Page 38] far removed from reality in
Christendom today that Christianity, from a Biblical perspective, is hardly
recognizable. The Word of the Kingdom is ignored, despised, rejected, etc..
Christians have done everything with the message but receive, understand, and proclaim
it.
Thus, false teaching pertaining
to the Word of the Kingdom is being accomplished at the end of the leavening
process after an entirely different fashion than it was at the beginning of
this process. At the beginning there were numerous Christians who understood
this message. Thus, a false message was necessary. Today though very few
Christians have any comprehension of the message at all. Consequently, the
present silence on the subject renders a false message unnecessary. And both
antagonism toward the message at the beginning of the dispensation and silence
concerning the message at the end of the dispensation will serve together to
bring about the same end. The Son of Man will not find “the faith” on the earth at the time of His return.
* *
* * *
*
AND MORE
1
THE ELEVENTH HOUR
By D. M.
PANTON
GOD the Holy Ghost has
gone forth down all the ages of history, again and again summoning labourers
into the vast vineyard of God. In the dawn of the world “He went out early in the morning” (Matt. 20: 1), and brought in the pre-Flood
hosts of saints, of whom - except a thin line of Patriarchs - we know nothing
and have no revelation. He went forth again to Jacob’s children in
Work
Thus work waits, and waits for
all. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a
man that is a householder that went out to hire labourers” (Matt. 20: 1). Dredging, ditching, building,
staking; planting, watering, weeding, pruning: a vineyard on the mountainside
is an apt parable of strenuous work. Savages far off in inaccessible forests,
who are yet to be stars in the Redeemer’s crown; little children in hundreds of
thousands, at present totally unconscious of Christ, who are to be
standard-bearers of the Cross in coming years; monstrous errors to be fought
with the naked sword of the Word of God; Scripture to be unfolded to the gaze
of an astonished Church; characters to be built up before the sight of all men
out of the elements of Christ: vast, exhaustless, accomplishable, divine, the
work waits. Therefore the [Holy] Spirit moves amongst all ranks and classes,
seeking labourers; not one willing worker is refused: the call goes out into
all lands, all races, all ages, all souls.
The
Eleventh Hour
So naturally our thoughts turn
to the eleventh hour,
which manifestly is our hour today - only sixty minutes before the midnight cry
- “Behold, the bridegroom cometh”. Even Scientists believe the
race is reaching its last hour. On the covers of three successive issues of The
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
appeared the outline of a portion of a clock. In June 1947 the hands of
their clock were set at eight minutes to twelve. Twenty-nine months later they
set the hands at four minutes to twelve. From October 1949 to March 1950 the
hands of the clock moved one minute and they now stand at three minutes to
twelve. “About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing:
and he saith unto them, Why stand ye here all
the day idle?” That man has missed the whole purpose of life who is not at
work for God. He may be the busiest man on earth; but all life is idleness if
it has no conscious labour for the life beyond: all labour that has no Christ
in it is one immense miscarriage. “Alas” - as
one man said on his death-bed - “how laboriously I
have spent all life in doing nothing.” So the Holy Spirit argues with
the soul. “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” Your
whole life is only one day, one little day: why idle away even your last hour?
Every man has, in his own wonderful composition, every tool for doing the work
of God; and the call carries with it all the power needed to obey: why then
stand idle?
A Missed
Call
It is a very pathetic response
which is made in the marketplace. “They
say unto him, Because no man has hired us.”
They were unemployed, not unemployables; they were not habitual loiterers,
or chronic wasters: they are waiting in the marketplace for hire that never comes. Somehow the call
has missed them all these years. Some men are called in the morning of their
life, like Timothy: some in its meridian, like Paul: some in their sunset, like
Nicodemus - “Can a man be born again,” he
cries, “when he is old?” The call
has never reached their ears. A godless home and a churchless youth; no shock
of grace to awaken or arouse; religious teachers that never told them the
truth, for these teachers never know the - [Divine accountability and conditional] - truth: somehow they had never come face to face with the
Lord of the Vineyard.
The Last
Hour
Now what a joy it is to tell
such souls that it is just for
them - the
loving, tender, gracious command of
our Lord. “GO YE ALSO into the
vineyard.” It is a marvel of grace, but just like our Lord Jesus that He
is willing to accept the last hour in His gracious and golden service. Abounding goodness
calls at the eleventh hour; and momentous work can be done in the last minutes
before the sunset of a wasted life. God is calling us at all times and in all
places; by day and by night; by accidents, by Scriptures, by hopes, by fears:
most of all - we hear the call in the fellowship of God’s own people, where He
finds far the most of His labourers: until the most wonderful call - the call -
[of those
“Good and Faithful” servants, in a Pre-Tribulation
rapture (Lk. 21: 34-36; Rev. 3: 10, R.V.)] - up to
the Throne of God.
Work Now
Now we close with that sunset scene.
It is five o’clock, the hour before sunset; and as all labourers had, by the
Law of Moses, to be paid before sunset (Deut. 24: 15), less than
one hour remains. The Eleventh Hour, named only here in the whole Bible, is an
uncertain hour; a slippery hour, a difficult hour, a blessed hour. It is
naturally a rare hour for living; it is grace to an unusual degree - the call
reaching the ears before the ears are dead; and it is, necessarily, the last invitation of grace. At the
twelfth hour there is no call, for all the work is finished. “The night cometh, when no man can work.” “Because
I have called, and ye refused, I will laugh in the day of your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh” (Proverbs 1: 24).
Facing
the Hour
So we do well to face our
eleventh hour. When Sir Robert Matheson, Registrar General for
* * *
2
CLEAVAGE BETWEEN BELIEVERS
By W. F.
ROADHOUSE
-------
“Faithful” Service and Rewards
Delinquent
Lives and Losses
1. Multiplied “Pounds” -
further entrustment. Luke 19: 17-19.
Un-used “Pound” shirker - loses out. Luke 19: 24.
2. Multiplied “Talents” -
further ministries. Matt. 25:
21-23.
Un-used (and stripped) “Talent” Servant. Matt. 25: 24.
3. Faithful, wise Servant. Matt. 24: 44-47.
Evil, persecuting Servant. Matt. 24: 48-51.
4. “One shall be taken”
joyfully. Matt. 24:
40, 41.
“The
other (disciple) left” and
bereft. Matt. 24: 40, 41.
5. Possessing
“the wedding garment.” Matt. 22: 10. Note Rev. 19: 8 R.V.
Minus this essential robe. Matt. 22: 11-14.
6. The “five wise virgins” with “oil”. Matt. 25: 1-13.
The lost-testimony “foolish virgins”. Matt.
25: 8, 13; 2 Tim. 4: 1-5.
7. Prevailing,
victorious intercession: Luke 21: 36;
Jas. 5: 13-18.
A near-bankrupt, defeated prayer
life. Matt. 6: 30; 8: 26; 14: 31; Luke 12: 28.
8. “Gold,
silver, precious stones.” Context
is “teaching.” 1 Cor. 3: 11-14.
Ashes of “wood, hay, stubble”. 1 Cor. 3: 15; 2 Tim. 2: 15.
9. Dedicated, surrendered wealth now given. Luke 1: 18-30; Matt. 19: 27-29.
Withheld, retained, yet lost “riches”. Matt. 19: 20-23; 1 Tim. 6: 17-19.
10. “Fruit of the Spirit.” Gal. 5: 22-24.
Non-inheriting “works of the flesh”. Gal. 5: 16-21.
11. Jacob becomes “prince with God” and
inheritor. Gen. 32:
28.
Esau, remaining a son, forfeits
his “firstborn rights”. Heb. 12: 16, 17 Gr.
12. Disciplined - thus “approved”.
2 Tim. 2:
15; 1 Cor. 9: 27.
Under-disciplined- thus “disapproved.” 1 Cor. 9: 27 Gr.; examples, 10: 1-12 R.V.
13. Non-conformity to the “age
spirit”. Rom.
12: 2 (aion).
“Loved
this age- spirit” (aion). 2 Tim. 4: 10.
14. Unfaltering suffering for Jesus’ sake. 1 Peter 4: 1-12.
Worldly-minded escapes from suffering. Jas. 1: 12. Gr. - not “approved!”
15. The
crowned soul-winner. 1 Thes. 2: 19; cf. 1 Pet. 5: 1-4.
Crownless, unrewarded, would-be
regent. “That no man take thy crown.” Rev. 3: 11.
16. “Wait for,” love His
appearing. Heb. 9: 28; 2 Tim. 4: 7, 8.
Unwatching, untoiling,
unready. “Slumbered, slept.” Matt. 25: 5, 13.
17. “Anointed ... sealed ... earnest of the
Spirit.” 2 Cor. 1: 21, 22, R.V.
Un-anointed, controlled by “the flesh”. 1 Cor. 5: 9, 10; Eph. 5: 3-5.
18. “If by any means ... out-resurrection from the dead.” Phil. 3: 10-14.
Alternative - “missing the prize.” Phil.
3: 14, 15; cf. Heb. 12: 1.
19. “The firstfruits unto God” (the
sealed 144,000). Rev. 14: 1, 4.
“The
harvest of the earth” later on. Rev. 14: 1, 4, 15 (three
instalments).
20. “The church of the firstborn one’s” -
Christ’s “Body”. Heb. 12: 23.
Compare “the firstfruits of the Spirit” and the
Firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8: 23, 28, 37 (super-overcomers).
“Come out
of the great Tribulation.” Rev.7: 14 (cf. Lev. 23: 39, 40) also a
harvest group. See their former sufferings, 7: 16, 17 - now “before the throne of God.”
“Look to
Yourselves, that ye lose not the things which ye
have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward”
(2 John 8 R.V. (mgn.)).
- The Fellowship Evangelist.
* * *
3
THE MIDNIGHT CRY
By D. M.
PANTON
OUR Lord’s parable of the
midnight prayer aptly presents what we can, and cannot, do for the whole world.
It is a midnight appeal: “which of you shall go at
midnight?” (Luke 11: 5) - a cry, under our very windows, of a world
plunged in midnight darkness; ‘a friend’ comes
and cries, who has lost his way, a spiritual wanderer among the precipices of
the dark mountains of the wide world over. He is a lost sheep; and lo, above
us, in the darkness is another and an almighty Friend, to whom we rouse
ourselves for appeal. The midnight wanderer, knocking at my door, a human
friend: the other, a Divine Friend, possessing all that we both need: and I,
the one between, through whom the Loaves must come.
The
Midnight Cry
Now first we hear the midnight
cry. Jesus said:- “The bread of God is that which cometh
down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the
world. And they said, Lord, evermore GIVE US THIS BREAD” (John 6: 33). So we
hear the cry. “How long is it,” said an old
Mohammedan woman in
The
Bread
Notice it is a cry for Bread. “The bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven.” A
missionary tells how he was addressed by an inquirer in
Another midnight cry comes from
a Japanese village. “I have worshipped all kinds of gods
without avail. Give us liberation! You say your Christ can heal the
broken-hearted, lift up the lonely, set at liberty the captive, bring light in
darkness. Where is He? He was made for us. Bring Him to us, or take us to
Him. Do you know where He is, that we may find Him?” In the words of Mr.
Inwood:- “I can hear the
sobbing of a thousand millions: I want to measure something of their despair until
you cannot sleep.”
Three
Loaves
Now our dilemma is exactly the
dilemma in the parable:- “I have nothing to set before
him”; and the Lord answers in the parable,- True, but you can get all you
need from the Almighty Friend, the boundless source of all supply. Our Lord at
once adds a comment which is perhaps the most wonderful word on prayer in the
whole Bible. “I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For
every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth;
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Says
Dr. A. T. Pierson:- “A certain Mr. H., to whom Finney
believed he owed his power, used to pray with a map of the world before him,
his prayers travelling from station to station, and, like Krapf
and Livingstone, he died on his knees. In his journal were found such entries
as these:- ‘I think I have had this day a spirit of prayer for -,’ the name of
the station and the date being added. Careful comparison with current events
proved that in all these stations, and at the same time and in the same order, revivals had taken place.”
The tremendous truth is that our
responsibility does not rest on what we have, but what we can get: “I have nothing to
set before him”; but we can get “as many as he
needeth’ from God. A young school teacher named Martha Campbell had her
heart fired by a lost world and our Lord’s last command, - “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.” But she was not permitted to go into the foreign field; so,
instead, she consecrated every one of her children to the Lord. That humble
woman is the mother of Wilbert W. White, who founded the Bible Teachers’
Training School in New York and Editor of the Bible Magazine; of J. Campbell
White, who largely organized the Laymen’s Missionary Movement and was its first
General Secretary; of Mrs. John R. Mott, whose husband is perhaps the best
known figure in the missionary world, the President of the World’s Missionary
Conference at Edinburgh; of Mrs. W. R. Stewart, whose husband is a missionary
in China; while the eldest daughter is married to a minister who was for many
years a missionary in frontier service in the Great North West.
Why a
Missionary?
A Christian worker in Africa
gives his reasons for being a missionary in the
1. I want to preach the Gospel where it is most needed. A man starting business goes
where the commodity in which he deals is most required. Knowing that I must
soon be commencing my life work, it did not take me long to decide; for,
speaking generally, every man, woman, and child in our homeland receives,
through multiplied agencies, the offer of Christ; but innumerable millions of
my fellow-beings in foreign lands have hardly heard of Him.
2. I chose the
3. A third reason for my coming to the
The Cry
We are probably now in the Cry.
So our Lord says:- “Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet him”*: that is, He has not yet arrived, but is on the verge of
coming; prepare your whole life for the encounter. “Ten virgins went forth to meet the bridegroom”; but
five lacked in their preparation, and so never formed part of the Bride.
* “Behold
the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him”
- Revised Version- in an actual personal return.
The
Foolish Virgins
The Midnight Cry puts it well thus:- “When the cry went out, ‘Behold
the bridegroom cometh,’ they awakened to the
fact that they were not ready. Eagerly following the instructions given them by
the wise virgins, they went to obtain the necessary oil, but were too late to
go in to the marriage. Knocking for entrance they received the reply ‘I know you not’. The rapture of the Bride had taken place
and they were not ready, so the
Master is just saying, ‘I know you not (as my Bride)’. To the wicked
He will say, ‘I never knew you’, ‘depart from me, ye cursed’. This is entirely different
language from the Lord’s reply to the foolish virgins. He did not know them as His Bride. The foolish virgins were
like the wise ones in every respect but one, and that was they did not have a vessel of replenishing oil. The sinner and the
nominal believer are entirely unlike the true Christian. Spiritually they live
in separate worlds, they have nothing in common, but true believers, members of
the body of Christ, have everything in common spiritually with the sanctified
believer except in one thing, they do
not have the fullness of the Spirit. They have a lamp that is burning, but going out, and they do not have ‘a vessel with their lamps’ full of oil. When the Holy Spirit comes into a
heart in His fullness He is the inexhaustible supply. It is very easy to
realize that it is one of the most important truths connected with the second
coming of Jesus. The midnight cry awakens all believers, but only a part of them go in the rapture of the Bride.”
* * *
4
THE POSSIBILITY OF THE HIGHEST
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
Two of the Apostles asked of
Christ the highest gift in the whole universe that any human could ask - two
thrones on either side of His. Can you, He replied, “drink of the cup that I drink of?” (Mark 10: 38). We can,
they said. You will, He replied; but the particular thrones you ask are not
Mine to grant. Here is the immense question for us all: - Can you? In this moment’s violent world-storms,
and with a strain upon us all threatening to tempt us to disheartenment if not
despair, and with identical thrones before us, one golden utterance of our Lord summons us to the highest:- “ALL THINGS ARE
POSSIBLE TO HIM THAT BELIEVETH” (Mark 9:
23).*
* The difficult is that which can be done immediately; the impossible,
that which takes a little longer. - SANTAYANA.
Faith
OUR first essential is to
master the nature of the faith by which we ‘can.’ Faith is not believing that
God will give us what we want, but that He will give us what He has said. Faith
is simply taking God at His word, and therefore acting on every word of God:
the Lord’s promise is not merely to saving faith, but assumes a trust that
responds to every utterance of the Most High. So the Apostles said to Christ:- “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:
5); and the moment the man, to
whom our Lord spoke, heard the astounding words, “he
cried out and said, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9: 24). So
Paul says to the Thessalonian Christians:- “Your
faith groweth exceedingly” (2
Thess. 1: 3). Faith
is the live wire along which travels the shock of life; and the golden
achievements of Hebrews 11, the mightiest miracles of the
world, all were wrought, not by merely saving faith, but by the power that
grasped and lived the Word of God, all down their years. Faith is belief in
action; and the action can grow until it covers all that God has said.
God
THE next
essential is to remind ourselves of the trustworthiness of God. God’s character
is in His word; and exactly what He is, every utterance of His is also. So
on four mighty pillars every promise of God is based. The first is God’s
holiness: God’s holiness makes it impossible for Him to deceive a soul:
therefore the promise is meant. The second pillar is God’s kindness: God's kindness makes it
impossible for Him to forget the promise that He has made: therefore the
promise is never forgotten. The
third pillar is God’s unchangeableness: God’s unchangeableness makes it
impossible for Him to alter: therefore the promise holds good. The fourth pillar is God’s
power: God’s power makes it impossible for God to fail: therefore the promise
is effectual. Faith is
not blind: faith is the highest kind of intelligence in the world: it assumes,
and acts upon, what are already the foundations of the universe - God, and God
expressed in His words.
Perfection
Now we
see the boundless horizon that opens before us. Paul states it:- “All scripture is inspired of God and is profit able for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness”: and is
given with what object? “that the man of God” - every
child of God can become a man of God - “may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work” (2 Tim. 3: 17). The whole
Bible is given to create the whole man. The Apostle James expresses it thus: - “That ye may be perfect and entire” - a
perfectly rounded character, accomplishing a fully orbed achievement - “lacking in nothing” (Jas. 1:
4). This was the golden aim of the
Apostles - “Admonishing every man and teaching
every man that we may present every man” - God’s
design makes no exceptions - “PERFECT IN CHRIST” (Col.
1: 28). There
is a peak of one Alp so lofty and difficult that it is said never to have been
trodden by human foot: there is no peak in God’s
Dynamic
NEXT,
Paul reveals the secret of the power. “In
everything and in all things have I learned the secret: I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST which strengtheneth ME” (Phil.
4: 12). Our
Lord had already stated it negatively:- “Apart
from me ye can do nothing” (John 15: 5); but to the father, in close contact with
Himself, He says, - “Nothing shall be, impossible to you”
(Matt. 17:
20). The Saviour so knows His own
reservoirs of power, He so realizes the limitless possibilities of the God -
indwelt soul, that He says that the ‘all things’
found within the covers of the Book are constantly and forever possible to
every born-again soul, through contact with Himself. When one of the martyrs
under Queen Mary came in sight of the stake he cried, - “Oh, I cannot! I cannot!” Those who heard him supposed
he was about to recant; but, falling on his knees, he engaged in an agony of
prayer, and then, rising, cried triumphantly, - “I
can! I can!” and he did. “I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.” Ignatius,
with one arm actually in the lion’s mouth, exclaimed:- “Now I begin to be a Christian!”
Unbelief
IT is well that we should realize
sharply the negative of this truth. The faith in each Scripture is the wire
charged with the omnipotence of God to fulfil that particular Scripture in my
life: if I refuse that Scripture - whatever it be, on whatever subject - the
wire falls dead; and the power to live it which that truth contained falls dead
also. Our Lord was so painfully conscious how little His disciples, and much
less mankind as a whole, would tap these infinite resources, that He utters a
word of tragic pathos. To His disciples He says, - “O ye of little faith!” and to the world at
large, - “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how
long shall I bear with you?” It is the solitary cry of the
unaccepted and uncomprehended Christ. It is as if He said: - “Take me home: I want to get back to where my Father, who is
love, is never doubted; where blessing is never blocked; where love meets the
response of a perfect trust.” Our doubt today must drive the same pain
through the tender heart of Christ. “Whatever
is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14: 23).
Infinitude
So then we remind
ourselves of the promises of God. Here are some of these amazing utterances. “All things, whatsoever ye
shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive”
(Matt. 21: 22). With the solitary limit of the
revealed mind of God in His Word, infinity of blessing and achievement opens
before us. “All things whatsoever ye pray and ask
for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them” (Mark
11: 24). We stand
aghast at the tremendous sweep of these assertions of Christ; and there is no
profounder exposure of our faithlessness than to lay side by side these words
of infinite promise with what we actually get from the God who cannot lie.
Speaking of the multitude “astonished with a
great astonishment” (Mark 5: 42) at a miracle of Christ, George
Muller, that modern master of faith, says:- “Faith
knows nothing, nothing, nothing of astonishment. Take it from an old disciple,
that if, when the next answer to prayer comes, you are astonished, it is a
proof that either you had no faith, or that it had failed in the end. I say it
again, faith knows nothing of astonishment. Faith is like a good coin - sure to
be honoured. Whatever comes, we take it humbly and gratefully from God, and
with no astonishment.” A woman noted for her faith was asked by one who
had come from far to learn the secret of her life, - “Are
you the woman with the great faith?” “No,”
she said; “I am not the woman with the great faith; I
am the woman with a little faith in a great God.” None of us can say
more than that.
Our Cry
SO we share the father’s
cry. “Lord” - for he sees the whole Godhead in the face that has come down
from the mountain- “I believe” - though my boy at this moment is utterly
unhealed - “help thou” - the cry that never fails to move
the heart of Jesus - “mine unbelief” - for faith can grow; and I want
mine to grow exceedingly. A friend once complained to Gotthold, the German, of
his weak faith, and the distress this gave him. Gotthold, in answer, pointed to
a vine, twined around a pole, and loaded with heavy clusters of grapes. “Take,” he said, “for pole
and prop, the cross of the Saviour, and the Word of God: lean on
these with all the power God shall give. Weakness
continually prostrating itself at the feet of God is more acceptable to Him
than an assumption of faith which falls into false security and pride.”
-------
“If
money is come down to you, and is funded, I think you may use the interest;
though of course the more that is given up to and for Christ, the better He is
pleased.” - GOVETT.
* *
*
5
DIVINE AIRCRAFT
By
THE skeleton of a bird has
been described as a treasure-house of mechanical adaptations. It is lightly
built, but gives a relatively large surface for the attachment of the muscles
operating the wings. As lightness must not be sacrificed for strength, the
bones are hard but have hollow shafts; the bones of a bird, instead of being
filled with marrow, appear cellular in section. Some bones are fused together
in order to give additional strength to the bird’s frame. But in the region of
the neck the joints have greater freedom than those of mammals. A bird, in
fact, can rotate its head and neck through 180 degrees on each side. The area
of vision possible to a flying bird must be the envy of all pilots!
To increase the buoyancy of a
bird in the air, the sacs are distributed throughout its body and are found
even between the muscles and skin. The air-sacs are connected to the lungs, so
that, while a bird is flying, hot air is being pumped throughout its body.
A bird’s body has been likened
to a high-geared engine, running at a temperature which in mammals would be
fever-heat. The temperature of a swift’s body, for example, is 111O F. Most
birds have hearts which are nearly twice as large as those of mammals of the
same size. A bird’s pulse rate is ultra-rapid when compared with man’s. As
against the human’s rate of some 72 beats to the minute, the average rate for
small birds like tits and finches is about 800, for the canary 1,000, and for
those tiny atoms of intense activity - the humming-birds - 1,400 beats to the
minute.
MUCH of the great energy
indicated by these facts is expended in the act of flying. Every time a bird
raises its wings it uses a complete block-and-tackle gear, composed of tendon
and bones. The main driving force of the whole flying equipment is the great
pectoral muscles. These muscles weigh in the case of the snipe and pigeon about
a quarter of the weight of the whole body. The muscles which govern the
down-stroke of the wing are, in the case of the pigeon and some other birds,
six times more powerful than the muscles which raise the wing. The reason is to
be found in the lessened resistance which is offered by the air to a wing in
the upstroke position, due to the structure and composition of the wing.
In Bird
Flight, Gordon Aymar has admirably summarized the aero-dynamical qualities
of a feather. He writes:- “The perfect adaptation of a
feather to its function is easy to demonstrate. Examine one of the primaries of
a pigeon, for example. It can be bent double on its shaft - elasticity
sufficient to withstand the average blows to which it may be subjected and to
flex with air pressure to avoid creating unfavourable eddies. Its lightness is
proverbial. Its shaft is curved to fit into the pattern of the whole wing with
a subtlety only possible in something which Nature has grown. If it is held
between the fingers and swung through the air edgewise its resistance is
inconsiderable; if it is rotated so that its flat vane faces the direction of
motion its parachute-like character seems out of all proportion to its size.
The forward or cutting side of its web is narrow like a well-trimmed jib, the
side aft of the shaft is broad and might well serve as a pattern for a Marconi
mainsail. Its barbs are the ideal battens to keep the sail at perfect fit.
Separate the barbs on any part of the web except at the base, where they become
downy, and they part reluctantly; smooth them together with a single stroke and
they adhere again as though they had never been parted. They are the perfect
instruments to extract the maximum resistance from a medium as thin as air.”
Add that a bird’s feather has
also to perform the very important function of conserving the great body heat
and, in the case of some birds (e.g. owls), has also to play a considerable
part in the “silencer apparatus,” and it will
be appreciated that a feather is little less than a miracle.
THE
swiftest flying birds have wings which are beautifully adapted for mastery of
the air. They have a high “aspect ratio,” or
relation of length to breadth, are sharply pointed and have little camber. The
strong bony keel near the front margin of the wing causes it, during the
downward stroke, to “feather” itself and cut
the air edge-on. The air is thus glanced in the required direction. The area of
a bird’ wings is such as to give it a very low wing loading. By experiment it
has been found that a sparrow can still fly when over one-hird
of its wing feathers have been clipped off.
One very interesting feature
about the wing of a bird is the safety devices. If a bird’ wing is examined
closely, it will be seen that there is a little group of feathers, called the “alula” or “bastard wing,”
which is distinct from the main portion of the wing. Dissection shows that the
alula is supplied with muscles which can cause it to spread when the wing is
extended. It was not until Mr. Flandley Page invented
the famous “slotted-wing” anti-stalling device,
which has done so much to make aeroplanes safer, that it was realized that
birds have had, in the alula, the same safety gear from time immemorial. When a
fledgling first leaves the nest, the alula is the only part of its flying
equipment that is fully developed.
TO mitigate the
inefficiency of their wing-shapes certain birds have “thrust
slots.” These “slots” are formed by the
wingtip feathers, which are reduced in width for a certain distance inwards
from their tips. During the down stroke of the wing the slots separate, but the
friction surface on the web of the feathers prevents the slots from opening
beyond a certain point. The main function of the thrust slots is to convert the
power of a down-stroke into the forward thrust, which gives the bird its speed
through the air. This object is achieved through the slotted wing-tips
deflecting backwards the streams of air that flow through them.
THE control of a bird in
the air is at once the wonder and envy of
I THINK at least two birds
must be credited with maximum air-speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour. The
American cloud swift has been known to circle an aeroplane flying at 85 miles
an hour, and there is the well-known observation of Mr. E. C. Stuart-Baker in
Perhaps the greatest of all
flyers is this peregrine falcon. Of it Joseph A. Hagar, the
-------
A devoted Christian business man
told me that his total fortune of about three million dollars had been wiped
out in the depression when so many banks in
* * *
6
(Continued
from p. 142)
BUT we may also observe
that it is not said - “Enter the Kingdom prepared for me and
my angels,” as it is
said, that the fire is for Satan and his angels. For it is declared concerning
the habitable earth in its future
state, that it is to be ruled, not by angels, but by men (Heb. 2).
The curse comes upon them
because they have shown no mercy, and done no kindness to the Jew. But we know
from several places of the prophets, that they will exercise cruelty towards
them. Thus, Psalm 44: 10-15:- “They which hate us spoil for themselves. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen. Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by our price. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the peoples. My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me.”
They are thus led away to
punishment, and that punishment eternal. For the infliction of the thousand
years is no sooner over, than that of eternity begins. And the life of the
justified is eternal; for the only persons that are expressly described as
dying during the millennium (so far as my memory serves me, Isa. 65:
20; Jer. 31:
29-33), are
those who sin. But these are the elect and especially blessed of God, and their
life will be eternal.
The present parable answers
questions that are likely often to occur to a student of prophecy - Who, beside
the Jews, are to people the renewed earth? And how are they to be judged who
never heard of the law, or of Jesus? We have, on both questions, replies
calculated to satisfy us. These are the Gentiles that are called on to rejoice
with God’s people. They are the Gentiles that glorify God for His mercy (Rom. 15). For
while they are tried by a test that is suited to those who never heard the
revealed will of God, they are dealt with in mercy for the sake of the promise
to Abraham; and to Abraham’s seed, Christ Jesus. They enter the [Lord’s] kingdom
on the ground of mercy alone. For to
feed the hungry and clothe the naked, is but a part of the duties that might
justly be required, even of those who never knew of the revealed law of God.
And even had they been greatly
benevolent, on this they could have founded no claim, for it could not put away
one of their sins. But at this point grace steps in, and Jesus, in
consideration of His Father’s election, and their kindness imputed to Himself,
grants them a recompense infinitely beyond their desert. The decision
nevertheless is not arbitrary (as men
speak), that is, without any declared ground for the good pleasure of God; but
it has a foundation in reason and justice, so that those rejected and finally
lost could not complain; while the saved must confess that infinite mercy and
the election of God have prevailed to snatch them from a like portion.
Each of the three parties that
has come in review takes a different place in the promised kingdom. These are
the elect of the Father, not given to Jesus that they may be one with
Him, as we
are (John 17), but they are predestined to
be subjects of His holy and happy kingdom over renewed creation. For that is
the time for which the creation is groaning and looking forward (Rom. 8). But
further, we see a distinction in the parable itself, between the brethren of the king, and these his subjects. This gives us the place of the
Jew in that day, as compared with the Gentile. Those of the church who are ‘counted worthy’ will be in heavenly glory in
the New Jerusalem, ruling, jointly with Christ, the earth and all things. The Jew will find his centre of glory in
the earthly
This distinction of position is
typified, as I believe, in the opening scene in Genesis, where
we have the place of Adam and his sons, as related to the living creatures of
earth; and beside this, his peculiar and special relation to Eve his bride.
Of the judgment presented in the
text we have, I judge, a type in David’s dealings with
Let us next notice the
connection of the present parable, with the Drag-net. I now believe them to refer to one and
the same judgment, and not to the nominally Christian nations. And, the evidence, of this will, I think, be
clear, if we consider the points of resemblance.
1. Fish roaming untamed, and without even a nominal master,
answer well to the nations of the heathen who are left to themselves; but not
well to nations professedly Christian.
2. The assembling of the parties from places distant from each other, and bringing them together to
another spot for judgment, is, however (to my mind), the decisive point of
resemblance between the Drag-net, and the Sheep and Goats. This distinguishes
both parables from the judgment of the wheat-field. In the two former, a work
is going on at the same time, on both good and bad. In the wheat-field there is
a succession of actions, affecting first the evil, and then the good. In these, the
angels gather both good and evil confusedly from out of their native countries, into
the
3. Again, the mixture and confusion at first of the good and
evil fish, and of the sheep and the goats, is a strong feature of resemblance;
while the angels appear as agents of the Son of man in both.
4. The place of separation is the same - the
5. The place of punishment is the
same, and its instrument eternal fire.
* * *
7
THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE*
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
[* This
tract was first published in December
1944. How long will it be before similar conditions bring upon us similar
restrictions? The recent ‘Covid-19’ policy, introduced by Governments’
throughout the world, brought about the closure of Church buildings for worship
in the
IN
[* Which begs the question: “Why is this
practise not taking place - in some isolated localities - after the Government’s
restrictions on the peoples’ personal freedom are now relaxed? The ‘fear of man’ most certainly does bring
‘a snare’!]
The Home
It is lovely to remember that
the Christian home is truly an assembly of God. When the demoniac of
The
Church in the House
But the Church in the House
obviously means more than a Christian home, and the revelation is
deeply significant for the days at hand. Such a church was in the
home of Priscilla and Aquila in
* The moral lawlessness
abroad may yet make the church in the house a necessity for women; if having to
walk at night alone.
A Vital Church
The very destruction - [or our
Government’s closure] - of church buildings can restore apostolic days. In the admirable words of an
evangelist:- “It is worth remembering that in its
earliest days all the Gospel had to commend it, all it had to give it dynamic
and prestige in a hostile world was
its own power in the personal lives of men and women. The early Church had
nothing but a message, it had no buildings, no money, no ‘big pots’, to help it
on. Every man’s ‘Gospel’ was living, dynamic experiences
of Christ. Now in imagination, strip the Church of its buildings,
its wealth, its organisation, its high-sounding names, its theologians, and all
the other things it has acquired. Ask what impact Christianity would make on
the world if the Church were stripped of
everything save its message and the people who have been, or are being, vitally changed by that message.”
The
Church
So therefore we study afresh
that gathering of believers which we call ‘the Church’.
It has been well said:- “No bee can gather honey on
the wing: no more can Christ’s disciples gain refreshment and sustenance in the
midst of the world’s hustle, save by habitually alighting and drawing on the
resources of Christ’s presence and grace afforded in the assemblies of the
saints” (A. H. Drysdale). When it was decided to close a prayer
meeting in a certain village, a good woman declared she would attend if no one
else did. The morning after someone said to her, - “Did
you have a prayer meeting last night?” “Ah,
that we did,” she replied. “How many were
present?” “Four,” she said. “Why, I heard you were there alone.” “No,” she said, “I was the
only one visible; but the Father was there, and the Son was there, and the Holy
Spirit was there; and we were all agreed in prayer.” Before long there
was a revival prayer meeting, and a prosperous church.
A
Warning
The Holy Spirit warns of our
grave danger. We, in the last days, may be tempted to say:- This vast
destruction of churches, under the direct providence of God; the financial
impossibility of rebuilding them; persecution
in many countries prohibiting public worship; the grave departure from
faith among believers themselves:- all this indicates that we can now do
without the public assembly. Exactly opposite is the truth. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, but
exhorting one another; AND SO MUCH THE MORE, AS YE SEE THE DAY DRAWING NIGH”
(Heb. 10:
25). The closer the battle, the
more we need our armour. And so vital is church fellowship that the Apostle
immediately adds one of the gravest warnings in Scripture. “For” - since spiritual collapse at once
threatens the absent church member - “if we
sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins.” A lonely tree is blasted
by the hurricane, and lies prone on the earth: in the forest, where the trees
support one another massed together, it survives for life and fruit.
Christ
Our Lord Himself reveals the
crowning wonder of the Church. “Where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them” (Matt. 18: 20). He demands no special number -
merely more than one, since it is a fellowship - no special building, no
special locality, no special class, no special collection: the astounding fact
is that, whoever is absent, the Son of God is always there. The
Church is as vitally the
Love
Our Lord reveals the heart-throb
of the Church in one of His immense utterances. “This
is my commandment, that ye love one another,
even as I have loved you” (John 15: 12). How can
we love those whom we never meet, nor ever have met? nor let us ever forget
that one great prophecy of the end - possibly in part produced by this decline
of assemblies in our closing age - is that the love of the many shall wax
cold. The Lord’s emphasis is extraordinary: rarely using the word ‘command’, He uses it again and again enforcing love;
it is His last command within twenty-four hours of
Christ’s
Love
Finally, Christ immediately adds
what may be the demand on our love for one another. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay
down his life for his friends.”
Even nature reveals such love. In a heath fire in Hampshire the fire
brigade noticed a cock linnet chirping excitedly near a charred bush with a
burnt nest; and still sitting on the nest was the mother-bird, which had been
burnt to death rather than desert her brood (Daily
Chronicle, May 21, 1927). But our Lord’s own love was greater.
As an old writer puts it:- “He had never loved His
friends, if He had not first loved them as His enemies.” “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON” (Rom. 5: 10).
* * *
8
AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE
TO THE HEBREWS
By ROBERT
GOVETT, M.A.
(Continued
from Heb.10: 29).
THE punishment of the
presumptuous offender under Law was death, as soon as his crime was proved by “two or three witnesses.” Pity was forbid. These marks, then, tell us to
what examples the Holy Ghost would point us, as in some sort parallels with
what is due to the offender here described. They relate to:- (1) The wilful murderer. Even though he had escaped to a
refuge city, he was to be put to death (Deut. 19: 11-13). Now,
the apostate is, in spirit, the
worst of murderers. He would crucify over again the holy Son of God. (2) The idolater who should turn aside after
other gods, abandoning Jehovah, is another of these cases of capital crime
without pity (Deut. 13: 6-11). Now, to abandon the Son of God is to turn after some other god. (3)
The false witness was to suffer death without pity, if he testified untruly to
his brother’s being guilty of capital crime (Deut. 19: 16-21). As, then, the apostate here bears false witness
against both the Perfect Son and the Spirit of truth, he shall perish
deservedly. (4) The presumptuous
resister of the
sentence of the priests and judges of the Lord’s temple and city should be put
to death without pity (Deut. 17: 8-13). The
apostate resists, defies, and insults the Son and the Spirit of God. Then, if
the offender against Law deserves death, how much more the offender against the
Son of God, the Saviour, and the Spirit of grace? A single offence was enough.
For one offence perished the blasphemer and the Sabbath-breaker. For one
offence Achan was stoned. God is not “love” only.
He is also “a consuming fire.” He is the [righteous] Judge Who shall render to each
according to his works.
The agents in the New Testament
are as loftily above Moses as the Creator is above the creature. And the
offence becomes more heinous, according to the greatness of the person
outraged. The apostate, then, treats the Saviour as Jehu treated, in God’s
righteous vengeance, Jezebel, - the destroyer of His saints, the idolater and the witch, the “cursed woman,” - who was exposed to public
shame, and eaten by the dogs outside the wall of Jezreel. The Son of God is,
then, one of the “two or three witnesses” against this sinner. That His
Beloved and Perfect Son should be so
treated, awakes justly the Father’s awful indignation.
This sinner treats the sacred
blood of our redemption, so precious before God, as an unclean thing. It was
upon him once, to sanctify him. Then he is no mere ‘Professor.’
It is his own - [regenerate] - people at whom this warning is levelled. And so
in the types. The blasphemer and the Sabbath-breaker, Dathan and his party,
Korah and his princes, were all of
Lastly, the Spirit of truth is a
witness against him, that he has, after being adorned with His gifts, insulted
His Divine Majesty, Who came down in grace to save. The Holy Ghost, then, is a person Who can
be insulted.
The following narrative throws
so strong a light upon this passage, that it is here inserted. We have in it a
spontaneous, deliberate choice of sin, and the fearful expectation of judgment.
“Francis Spira,
to whom we now refer, lived about the middle of the
sixteenth century (1548). He was a doctor of law, and an advocate of high rank
in the town of
“About,
his forty-fourth year, Spira’s attention began to be
turned to the works of Luther and other Reformers. Eager in the pursuit of
knowledge, he forthwith began to inquire. The Scriptures were searched, books
of controversy studied, and the result was, a conviction that Lutheranism was
true, and Popery false. Spira embraced the
resuscitated doctrines with so much zeal, that he even became in his turn a
preacher of them; at least among his family (which was numerous) and his
friends he sought to disseminate what he had himself embraced. To some extent
he abandoned other pursuits, and urged his friends to depend solely on the
grace of God in Christ for salvation. He was well versed in the Scriptures,
took a firm hold of their doctrines, and did all that he could to spread the light
at once by his life and his lessons.
“For
about six years Spira continued thus to befriend the
Reformed cause. He exerted his influence privately at first, but eventually
waxed more decided and bold, and the country around
“The
Pope’s legate at
“The
enmity against Spira was increased, when it was
ascertained that the people on the frontier of
“Amid
his trepidation at the gathering storm, Spira was
admonished to take the shield of faith; and those who have written the story of
his life, tell us of the struggles and temptations of his mind, at this, the
crisis of his religious state. The apostles and martyrs were set before him as
models. Death with the truth, or life without it, were the topics of his
frequent thoughts; and it was strongly impressed upon his mind that, at the
very least, he ought rather to abandon his country than the truth.
“Hitherto, then, we have seen little in Spira
to reprehend. With characteristic zeal and openness he had been telling the
truth, as far as he knew it. Having embraced Christ’s doctrine, he sought to
guide others to do likewise; and had his history closed here, it would have
been as the history of a true convert, not of Francis Spira the apostate. But he was not yet a Christian, though he was a
Lutheran, and must either become a Christian, or be unmasked, as deceiving and
deceived.
“Amid his forebodings, Spira soon
became restless and troubled. Now one purpose, and anon another, swayed him.
To-day he was resolved to suffer the loss of all things rather than deny the
truth; to-morrow he would listen to the seductive and too successful sophism,
which has kept its tens of thousands in spiritual bondage for ever: ‘How can
you so far presume on your own sufficiency, as to disregard the examples of
your ancestors, and the judgment of the whole Church?’ Under the influence of
that, or rather, in the state of mind that would listen to that, Spira became more and more irresolute. He could not calmly
contemplate ‘the offensive dungeon, the bloody axe, and burning faggot.’ The
thought of country and of friends, of wife and children (of whom he had
eleven), rendered his agitation deeper and deeper. Like Eve, when she consented
to listen to the tempter at all, Spira, when he
consulted with flesh and blood was tottering to his fall; and he at last
hastened to the legate at
* * *
9
OPPOSITION
By W. C.
MOORE
E. E. SHELHAMER says:-
“Hard as it is on human nature, yet I thank God for
all the criticism and ostracism which has come my way. Many times I have been
so crushed that for the time being hallelujahs were rather faint, but through
grace I was enabled to keep smiling. Though they came from high and low, I did
not receive one blow too many. True, some of them were uncalled for, some were
unkind, but God graciously turned them
to my account and they have broadened and enriched my soul.
“When I
was penniless and friendless, I had to take everything. Later, when God smiled
upon and gave me more or less recognition - then came the subtle temptation
that has ruined more than one man: ‘You have suffered enough; you have some
rights and it is beneath your dignity to silently bear these unjust
misrepresentations.’ Thank God I did not yield! Many a man has gone down, after
years of climbing to a place of influence and power, simply because he could not take in a magnanimous and Christ-like
manner everything that came against him. Then he began to pull off in
spirit from his brethren, especially those who had the courage to tell him his
faults or inconsistencies. Next he was like a ship on the high seas without
compass or rudder. And lastly, he was either a shipwreck, or worse, a floating
derelict. God help us!
“When
we get to the judgment we may find that misunderstandings and ill-usages have
played a greater part in keeping us humble and getting us safely through to the
skies, than anything else except the Blood of Christ.”
Instead of getting upset or
riled by opposition and criticism, we should thank God for it. “In everything give thanks” (1
Thess. 5:
18). Jesus says, “Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness’ sake: for their’s
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
My sake. Rejoice, and be
exceeding glad; for great is your reward in
heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you” (Matt. 5: 10-12).
“Love
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you,
and persecute you” (Matt. 5: 44). Pray for
them - not against them. On the cross Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
We often lose our testimony by
defending ourselves. When we “fight back” - our
actions speak so loud that people cannot hear what we say. Love seeketh not her
own - not her own reputation, not her own way (1 Cor. 13: 5.) “Bless
them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Recompense to
no man evil for evil. Avenge not yourselves ...
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12: 14, 17, 19, 21). Take every affront, every
insult, every injustice done to you - as a God-given opportunity for
manifesting the love of Christ - thus following Jesus, thus representing Him, “Who, when He was reviled,
reviled not again; when
he suffered, He threatened not” (1 Pet. 2: 23).
God blessed the evangelistic
ministry of Chas. G. Finney in a very remarkable way for many years, - and, of
course, he met opposition. In the midst of it God helped him, and he says:- “I said nothing publicly, or as I recollect privately, to
anybody on the subject (of the opposition); but gave myself to prayer. I looked
to God with great earnestness day after day, to be directed; asking Him to show
me the path of duty, and give me grace to ride out the storm.
“After
a season of great humiliation before Him, there came a great lifting up. God assured
me that He would be with me and uphold me; that no opposition should prevail
against me; that I had nothing to do, in regard to all this matter, but to keep about my work, and wait for the
salvation of God.
“The
sense of God’s presence, and all that passed between God and my soul at that
time, I can never describe. It led me to be perfectly trustful, perfectly calm,
and to have nothing but the most perfectly kind feeling toward all the brethren
that were misled, and were arraying themselves against me. I felt assured that
all would come out right; that my true course was to leave everything to God,
and to keep about my work; and as the storm gathered and the opposition
increased, I never for one moment doubted how it would result.
“The Lord
did not allow me to lay the opposition to heart; and I can truly say, so far as
I can recollect, I never had an unkind feeling toward Mr. - or Dr. - , or any
leading opposer of the work, during the whole of their opposition. The Lord
soon revived His work. The revival soon took effect among the people, and
became powerful.”
“For
this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience
toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it, if,
when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but
if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it
patiently, this is acceptable with God” (1 Peter 2: 19-20). “God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the
humble” (Jas. 4: 6). May the
Lord help me, and each hungry child of God, in these closing, testing days - to
humble ourselves as never before under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt us in due time (1 Peter 5: 6)
for His glory! - Herald of His Coming.
* * *
10
THE OLIVE TREE
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
THE hatred of the Jew,
resulting in the bloodiest persecution of a race ever known in the history of
the world, is countered by a momentous utterance of our Lord:- “Salvation is from the Jews” (John
4: 22). For two thousand years
all salvation centred in
The
Olive
The Most High has pictured all
salvation down the ages since Abraham, the ‘father’ of all
the faithful, as an Olive Tree. Oil is ever the symbol of the Holy Ghost, and the
saved of all generations are the embodiment of the Holy Spirit; and so the
olive tree stands for a man of God, - “I am
like a green olive tree in the house of God” (Ps.
52: 8). No tree is more closely connected with the
history of mankind than the olive. The first foliage named in the Bible is the
olive-leaf taken by a dove into the Ark out of the whole world; it is an
ever-green, for God’s life-stock never dies;* and it is from the Mount of
Olives, at our Lord’s return, that salvation - God’s olive-oil - covers the
whole earth. The Olive is God’s life-stock into which, for four thousand years,
every soul must be engrafted that is to be saved.
* The longevity of the
olive singularly illustrates the truth for which Jehovah selects it. There are
olive trees now in the
Now we see the extraordinary
function of the Jew. All salvation from Abraham to the return of Christ God has
concentrated into one life-stock - the House of Israel. To us saved Gentiles He
says:- “Thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild
olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature
into a good olive tree” (Rom. 11: 24). The
whole of the authors of the Bible were Jews; the sole Root of salvation
Himself, when He came, was a Jew; the Oil of the Olive flowed out into all
lands from an upper room in
Broken Branches
Now we see the terrible crisis
of
* Some years ago it was
estimated that over three thousand Hebrew Christians were actively engaged in
preaching Christ, and some 375 Anglo-American pulpits were occupied by Jews.
Jew-Hate
So now the profound cure, of
Jew-hate emerges. “If thou, being a wild-olive, didst become partaker with them
of the root of the fatness of the olive tree, glory not over the branches.” Mr. Claude Montefiore, an outstanding
Jew, has said:- “If Christendom abandons the folly and
the wickedness of anti-Semitism, Jewry will be willing to think more accurately
and more wisely about the founders and sacred books of Christianity.”
The marvel of the ages is not the salvation of the Jew, but the salvation of
the Gentile: a ‘wild olive’ - a tree outside the
Faith
Next is revealed the crux in the
destiny of all nations. Faith alone is the miracle which brings us into the
life-stock of God. “By their unbelief they were broken
off, and thou standest by thy faith.” The Jew is our greatest
object-lesson in the world. Whenever we see a Jew, we see a dead branch from
the oldest stock of salvation in the world, a life-stock that once throbbed
close to the heart of God. That a Jew, saturated with one half of the Bible,
and with a knowledge of Jehovah for thousands of years, should be saved is a
far less wonderful thing than that I should be saved - a Godless,
hopeless alien of the Gentiles. “As
touching the gospel, they were enemies for your
sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sake.” Israel Zangwill uttered these inexpressibly solemn words:- “Had Christians handled us with Christliness, there would not
be a single Jew in
A
Warning
So the situation carries one of
the most solemn warnings in the Bible. “Behold
then the goodness and severity of God: toward
them that fell severity; but toward thee,
God’s goodness, if thou
continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” What
the ‘cutting off’ is at
this moment the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Hertz, reveals: 75 per cent. of the Jews of
Europe have been annihilated in “the ineffable horror
of an appalling martyrdom.” Whenever we see a Jew, we see a warning to
the Church of two thousand years: as Bishop Moule says, - “Let us put no pillow of theory between the sharpness of that
warning and our souls.” The bankruptcy of faith will bring to the Church
the doom it brought to
Restoration
So we see the final crisis of
the Olive Tree. The world is yet to see the grafting in again of the whole of
the severed branches. “They also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in; for God
is able to graft them in again: how much more
shall these, which are the natural branches,
be grafted into their own olive tree? And so all
Crisis
The final crisis will reveal its
Messiah to
[* The ‘Rapture’ mentioned here,
is without doubt in my mind, a reference to the coming Pre-tribulation rapture,
of some
members of “the Church,” who “keep the word of my patience…”
Rev. 3: 7, 10,ff; cf. Luke 21:
34-36,
R.V. See note on reward.]
Then the river of life will
reverse in a sharp bend, leaving the Gentile nations lifeless, and starting to
fulfil Jehovah’s word for Israel, “I will
be as the dew unto Israel: his branches shall
spread, and his beauty shall be as the Olive tree, and his smell
as Lebanon” (Hos.
14: 6).
-------
REWARD No one stresses reward more that
the Lord Jesus. “Take heed … else ye have NO REWAED
with your Father in heaven” (Matt. 6: 1). If ‘rewards’ are not purely the result of work
accomplished, but are given simply in ‘grace,’
we reach a reduction ad absurdum, and words have ceased to have any
meaning: whereas the point of vital interest is simply what are
the rewards for which the wise believer longs and strives. It is too often
assumed, without inquiry, that rapture
before the Tribulation (Luke 21: 36, a share in the First Resurrection (Phil. 3: 11), and reigning with Christ in the Millennium (Rev. 3: 21) are all gifts of grace included in - [one’s initial and eternal] - salvation; but the single Scriptures we
have quoted are sufficient to prove that they are rewards dependent in service. Far too often evangelical believers
force grace into the sphere of works as
* *
11
THE
By Bishop
J. C. RYLE, D.D.
I WANT you to belong to
the one true Church: to the Church outside of which there is no salvation. I do
not ask where you go on a Sunday; I only ask, “Do you
belong to the one true Church?” But where is this one true Church? What
is this one true Church like? What are the marks by which this one true Church
may be known?
The one true Church is composed
of all believers in the Lord Jesus. It is made up of all God’s elect
- of all converted men and women - of all true Christians. In whomsoever we can
discern the election of God the Father, the sprinkling of the blood of God the
Son, the sanctifying work of God the [Holy] Spirit, in that person we see a member of
Christ’s true Church.
It is a Church of which
all the members have the same marks. They are all born again of the Spirit: they all possess “repentance towards God, faith
towards our Lord Jesus Christ,” and holiness of life and
conversation. They all hate sin, and they all love Christ. They worship
differently, and after various fashions; some worship with a form of prayer,
and some with none; some worship kneeling, and some standing; but they all
worship with one heart. They are all led by one [Holy] Spirit; they all build upon one foundation;
they all draw their religion from one single book - that is the Bible. They are
all joined to one great centre - that is Jesus Christ. They al1 even now, can
say with one heart, “Hallelujah”; and they can
all respond with one heart and voice, Amen and Amen.
It is a Church which is
dependent upon no ministers upon earth, however much it values
those who preach the Gospel to its members. The life of its members does not
hang upon Church membership, and baptism, and the Lord’s Supper - although they
highly value these things when they can be had. But it has only one Great Head
- one Shepherd, one chief Bishop - and that is Jesus Christ. He alone, by His
Spirit, admits the members of this
Church, though ministers may show the door. Till He opens the door no man on
earth can open it - neither bishops, nor presbyters, nor convocations, nor synods. Once let a
man repent and believe the Gospel, and that moment he becomes a member of this
Church. Like the penitent thief, he may have no opportunity of being baptized;
but he has that which is far better than any water-baptism - the baptism of the
[Holy] Spirit.
He may not be able to receive the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper; but he
eats Christ’s body and drinks Christ’s blood by faith, every day he lives, and
no minister on earth can prevent him. He may be excommunicated by ordained men,
and cut off from the outward ordinances of the professing Church; but all the
ordained men in the world cannot shut him out of the true Church.
It is a Church whose existence does
not depend on forms, ceremonies, cathedrals, churches, chapels, pulpits, fonts,
vestments, organs, endowments, money, kings, governments, magistrates, or any
act of favour whatsoever from the
hand of man. It has often lived on and continued when all these things have
been taken from it; it has often been driven into the wilderness, or into dens
and caves of the earth, by those who ought to have been its friends. Its
existence depends on nothing but the presence of Christ and His Spirit; and
they being ever with it, the Church
cannot die.
This is the Church to which the
Scriptural titles of
present honour and privilege, and the promises of
future - [millennial (Rev. 2: 25-27; cf. 3: 21, R.V.)] - glory
especially belong; this is the body of Christ; this is the Bride; this is the Lamb’s
Wife; this is the flock of Christ; this is the household of faith and the
family of God; this God’s building, God’s foundation, and the temple of the
Holy Ghost. This is the Church of the
first-born, whose names are written in heaven; this is the royal
priesthood, the chosen generation, the peculiar people, the purchased
possession, the habitation of God, the light of the world, the salt, and the
wheat of the earth; this is the “Holy Catholic Church”
of the Apostle’s Creed; this is the “One Catholic and
Apostolic Church” of the Nicene Creed; this is that Church to which the
Lord Jesus promises “the gates of hell - [i.e., ‘Sheol’ / ‘Hades’, (Matt. 16: 18; cf.
Lk. 16: 22. 23, R.V.)] - shall not prevail against it,” and to which He says, “I am with you always, eyen unto the end of the world.”
(Matt. 16:
18; 28: 20).
This is the only Church which
possesses true unity. Its members are entirely agreed on all the weightier matters
of religion, for they are all taught by one spirit. About God, and Christ, and
the Spirit, and sin, and their own hearts, and faith, and repentance, and
necessity of holiness, and the value of the Bible, and the importance of prayer,
and the resurrection, and judgment to come - about all these points they are of
one mind. Take three or four of them, strangers to one another, from the
remotest corners of the earth; examine them separately on these points; you
will find them all of one judgment.
This is the only Church which is
truly catholic. It is
not the Church of any one nation or people: its members are to be found in
every part of the world where the Gospel is received and believed. It is not
confined within the limits of any one country, or pent up within the pale of
any particular forms or outward government. In it there is no difference
between Jew and Greek, black man and white, Episcopalian and Presbyterian - but
faith in Christ is all. Its members will be gathered from north, and south, and
east, and west, in the last day, and will be of every name and tongue - but all
one in Jesus Christ.
This is the only Church which is
truly apostolic. It is
built on the foundation laid by the Apostles, and holds the doctrines which
they preached. The two grand objects at which its members aim, are apostolic
faith and apostolic practice; and they consider the man who talks of following
the Apostles without possessing these two things to be no better than sounding
brass and a tinkling cymbal.
This is the only Church which is
certain to endure unto the end. Nothing can altogether overthrow and destroy it. Its members
may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, beaten, beheaded, burned; but the
true Church is never altogether extinguished; it rises again from its
afflictions; it lives on through fire and water. When crushed in one land, it
springs up in another. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neros, the Bloody Marys, have
laboured in vain to put down this Church; they slay their thousands, and then
pass away and go to their own place. The true Church outlives them all, and
sees them buried each in his turn. It is an anvil that has broken many a hammer
in this world, and will break many a hammer still; it is a bush which is often
burning, and yet is not consumed.
This is the only Church of which
no one member can perish. Once
enrolled in the lists of this Church, sinners are safe for eternity; they are
never cast away. The election of God the Father, the continual intercession of
God the Son, the daily renewing and sanctifying power of God the Holy Ghost,
surround and fence them in like a garden enclosed. Not one bone of Christ’s
mystical body shall ever be broken; not one lamb of Christ’s flock shall ever
be plucked out of His hand.
This is the Church which
does the work of Christ upon earth. Its members are a little
flock, and few in number,
compared with the children of the world, one or two here, and two or three
there - a few in this parish, and a few in that. But these are they who shake
the universe; these are they who change the fortunes of kingdoms by their
prayers; these are they who are the active workers for spreading the knowledge
of pure religion and undefiled: these are the life-blood of a country, the
shield, the defence, the stay, and the support of any nation to which they
belong.
This is the Church which
shall be truly glorious at the end. When all earthly glory is passed away then shall this Church
be presented without spot before God the Father’s throne. Thrones,
principalities, and powers upon earth shall come to nothing; dignities and
offices, and endowments shall all pass away; but the Church of the ‘first-born’ shall shine as the stars at the last, and
be presented with joy before the Father’s throne. When the Lord’s jewels are
made up, and the manifestation of the sons of God takes place, episcopacy, and
presbyterianism, and congregationalism will not be mentioned; one Church only
will be named, and that is the Church of the elect.
Reader, this is
the true Church to which a man must belong, if
he would be saved - [i.e., in the near future (see 1 Pet. 1: 5, 9; cf.
Rev. 1: 18; Acts 2: 27; James 2: 14, 17, 26; Jude 5,
etc. R.V.)]. Till you belong to this, you are nothing better than a lost soul.
You may have the form, the skin, and the shell of religion, but you have not
got the substance and the life. Yes: you may have countless outward privileges;
you may enjoy great light, and knowledge - but if you do not belong to the body
of Christ, your light, and knowledge, and privileges will not save your
soul. Alas, for the ignorance that prevails on this point! Men fancy if
they join this Church or that Church and become communicants, and go through
certain forms, that all must be right with their souls. It is an utter
delusion; it is a gross mistake. All were not
* * *
12
REWARD
“IF any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a
reward. If any man’s work shall be burned,
he shall
suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved.”
You see there is a saved soul - [NOW
given by God’s ‘grace’ alone (Eph. 2: 8. 9, R.V.)] - with
a lost life. That is a possibility -
a saved soul, because he came to the judgment-seat to find pardon through the death of Christ; and a lost life, - [during “the
thousand years” (Rev. 20: 5); cf. Rev. 3: 21; 6: 9, 11, R.V.)] - because he came to the umpire seat of
Christ, and had not used for Him
the life that He saved. That is a solemn possibility; and when the
Lord comes to award to His servants the praise or the blame, they will meet Him
with joy or shame. That will be marked out by the life they have lived, and the
service they have rendered for Him. You find then, that He is going to give
rewards for service. Look at 1 Cor. 15: 58. What does
that mean? That every, may we say, pennyworth of labour spent on the Lord is
going to have a pound for its reward. That is the way He does. He is going to
reward the service of His children, and at the umpire seat He will decide
whether you ran straight or not at all, whether you shirked the ‘race’ or ran
it, whether you ran fairly or foully; whether you came in so as to earn the ‘prize’ or lose the ‘prize’. The Lord is going to decide that, and give
to every one according as he has
deserved.- HUBERT BROOKE.
* - * - * - * - * - * - *
What child of God would
not desire to win a crown? But crowns are not for mere show but for merit, as
the King has been pleased to promise to those who are faithful in service.
Eternal life comes through faith in Christ, but rewards are for faithfulness.
The man in the parable who faithfully used his ten talents was rewarded with
rule over ten cities. Yet the talents were given him and the opportunity was a
gift from God. All rewards will be by grace in the end, yet the measure of each
reward, the glory conferred on each of His redeemed, will be according to
diligence and faithfulness in the use of the talents bestowed.
One there was who said, “The Son of man hath not where to lay
his head.” He went about doing good and gave his life for the lost, and
later it was written of him, “having on his head
a golden crown” (Rev. 14: 14), and
later still, “on his head were many crowns” (Rev. 19: 12). He won his Kingdom and his crowns by supreme
merit, by obedience even unto death. He was born a king, yet had to win His
Kingdom by toil and sacrifice. Are we better than he?
What a call Christ gives to men
to be diligent and faithful in such days as these! The world is unspeakably
needy. Hearts are weary and worn and full of unutterable longing. Darkness
deepens over the face of the nations and men grow hopeless in their
helplessness. Philosophers and statesmen know not how to relieve the gathering
gloom. One conference of the nations after another only stresses more grimly
the vanity of human counsel. Through the darkness and across the ages comes a
voice, “Occupy till I come.” He who was diligent unto
the end and faithful in the very hour of death speaks in thunder tones to his
chosen, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life”
(Rev. 2: 10). - Anonymous.
* - * - * - * - * - * - *
Is there just a possibility
that for some who are Christ’s the assurance that their sins are under the
blood, blotted out forever, has made the subject of the judgment seat of Christ
seem a matter remote, a subject which has no personal application for them? If
so, the truth is calculated to remind us all that Jeremiah’s God is now, as
always, “the Lord God of recompenses.” who
shall “surely requite” that
the priceless assurance that there is now no condemnation does not
obviate the fact that we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of
Christ to receive, every one, those things done in the flesh, be they good or
evil. This truth will make many an experienced Christian, think soberly of the
urgent need for buying up those precious opportunities that still remain. And
that feeling which we may have regarded as worthy humility, which has made us
loath to dwell upon the thought of reward, may have been a mistaken impulse.
Moses had respect unto the recompense of the reward; the joy that was set
before enabled our Lord to despise the shame of the cross. - The Sunday School Times.
* - * - * - * - * - * - *
Note particularly: The
promise to overcomers is a promise to saved people, to the churches. This is
not a promise that God will give eternal life to those in the churches who
finally “overcome.” That
conception does violence to Scripture. We receive eternal life as a ‘gift’, Romans 6: 23, and have eternal life as a present
possession, John 5: 24, and
can never lose it, John 10: 28,
29. The promise to overcomers,
here, is a promise of special privilege to the overcomers; among Christian
people. Those who attain and maintain a certain spiritual victory in Christ
will be privileged to eat of the tree of life. This tree is not eternal life,
but a real tree in the kingdom, bearing real fruit. See
Rev. 22: 3. In the interest of sound
Biblical interpretation we repeat: this tree is not eternal life, for God gives
eternal life as a gift to those who accept His Son, John 1: 12, and is
not a reward for overcoming; this tree is a special reward in the Kingdom to
those who overcome in Christian experience. - Christian
Victory.
* - * - * - * - * - * - *
“If we deny Him, He also will deny us” (2 Tim. 2: 12b). This passage is comprehensive
in its teaching. The context clearly indicates that it has to do with studying
the Word of Truth and imparting it to others. It also carries us forward to the
Bema - the Judgment Seat of Christ where every believer shall be rewarded
according to his deeds (
* - * - * - * - * - * - *
“This spring of action,” says Dr. Maclaren,
(the desire to obtain an incorruptible crown) “is not as
strong in the Christians of this day as it used to be, and as it should be. I
believe for my part that we suffer terribly by the comparative neglect into
which this side of Christian truth has fallen. Do you not think that it would
make a difference to you if you really believed, and carried away with you in
your thoughts the thrilling consciousness that every act of the present was
registered, and would tell on the far side beyond?” “If I can be thus crowned,” says Prebendary Webb-Peploe, “can
I be otherwise than a fool if I am not prepared to sacrifice all to win it?”
The running may shorten life, but it will sweeten eternity: happy the scarred
soul which grows not altogether unlike the Lamb as it had been slain. The work
is earnest - therefore don’t trifle; the opportunity is short - therefore don’t
delay; the path is narrow - therefore don’t wander; the task is difficult -
therefore don’t relax; the ‘prize’ is
glorious - therefore don’t faint. “I come
quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one lake thy crown.”
* - * - * - * - * - * - *
Two young preachers were
sent to shepherd flocks in a western city. For a time all went beautifully,
their Churches were crowded and souls were saved. But grievous wolves entered,
and trouble began, so they both decided to resign - such an easy thing to do!
One sent his letter of resignation, and soon the sheep and young lambs
scattered, the church doors closed, the souls who were coming into the Light
turned back into darkness without a leader. The other went to his study, and
wrote out his resignation to present to the Official Board. It was winter, and
an oak log burned on the earth. Being wearied, he sank into a large easy chair
by the fire and fell asleep; but something out of the ordinary happened. As he
dozed, he dreamed that an angel entered his study, carrying a heavy cross and a
crown set with priceless gems. He said to the young preacher, “To whom shall I give your cross and your crown?” He
reached out to take the crown from the angel’s hand, but the angel drew it
back, saying, “No crown without a cross.”
Awakening from his sleep, he
cried out, “Give me back my cross, and no man shall
have my crown!” The letter of resignation was thrown into the fire, and
the old oak log seemed to sing a song of praise as the letter went up in
flames. That night the Official Board met, and the pastor said to them, “Let us ask God to send a revival.” And God did send a
revival that shook the country. Later on, the young minister was sent by his
Conference to a city charge, and one night during a great revival in his
Church, a man wearing a tattered suit came weeping to the altar, and this is
what he said to the worker: “O, if I had only known
how to ‘sit still’ in my tunnel!”
Wasted years! Blasted hopes! No crown! It was the young minister who had
forsaken his flock.
All around us the things which
can be shaken are tottering: even concerning the physical world a seismographer
announcing a recent earthquake told us that “the quivering,
which was felt probably over the whole earth, after the actual quake, resembled
the movements of a jelly after it had been violently placed down upon a table.”
We rejoice in having received “a kingdom which
cannot be moved” and in the knowledge that “those
things which cannot be shaken” remain. Clearly, living on the
eve of our Lord’s Return, we are being tested to see if we will be steadfast
unto the end and rank among the overcomers who will receive the crown. - C. E.
COWMAN.
* * *
13
CHRIST AND THE INFIDELS
THE excellences of Jesus
Christ are extraordinarily witnessed to by His rejecters and His enemies. (1) Renan,
one of the cleverest of sceptics, brought up a Roman Catholic monk, but
becoming an apostate from the
Christian Faith, says:- “Jesus is unique in everything, and nothing can compare
with Him. In Him is condensed all that is good and lofty in our nature.” (2) John
Stuart Mill, perhaps the mightiest force for unbelief in his generation,
says:- “Christ’s prominent genius was combined with
the qualities of probably the greatest moral reformer and martyr who ever
existed on earth; nor even now would it be easy for an unbeliever to find a
better translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract into the concrete
than to endeavour so to live that Christ would approve our life.”
(3) “It was reserved for Chrisianity,” says Lecky, a foremost infidel historian of all the centuries, “to present to the world an ideal character, which, through
all the changes of eighteen centuries, has inspired the hearts of men with an
impassioned love.” (4) “Higher human thought has not reached,” says Carlyle, one of the ablest unbelievers
of the nineteenth century, “than Jesus of Nazareth,
our Divinest symbol.” (5) “His beneficent commands and teachings,” says Huxley, perhaps the greatest Victorian
infidel, who invented the word ‘agnostic,’ “were of
incalculable value.” (6) “Let
me say, once .for all,” says
But how do these infidels
reconcile these statements of theirs with our Lord’s utterances concerning
Himself? Only gross falsehood or else pure lunacy can reconcile His claims to
Godhead with His incomparable moral teaching if those claims were false. Each infidel’s appreciation of Christ’s teaching,
while scoffing at the Son of God, is his own death-sentence. A lady who had a
great admiration for “the beautiful sayings of Christ”
said that Christ was only a good man. She was asked to go home and read through
John’s Gospel, and cross out every word that intimated He was divine. She came
back at the end of a week to the servant of Christ, who asked how she had got
on. “I did not get on at all. The truth is, I found I had to cross out the
whole of the first chapter, and I began to think, If it is like this, what will
become of the beautiful promises and sayings? So I stopped, and cried, ‘Lord, I see it is so! I accept thee as the Son of God, my Lord and my God’.”
-------
CHALENGE Just before Belgium was invaded
by the Germans in 1940, an infidel in the city of Charleroi was discussing with
friends the possibility of an invasion, and in the course of the conversation
made this daring statement: That if God really existed He would kill him with
the first bomb to fall on Charleroi, and that he would be buried like a dog.
The first bomb to fall on
THE END