FAITHFULNESS IN SERVICE
[INCLUDED AS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FOLLOWING WRITINGS]
In
the April/June, 2004 issue of the Slavic Gospel Association Newspaper,
the following writing by William Smylie can be
found:-
"Faithfulness, in its essence, must have something or someone
to whom one is faithful. In other words,
faithfulness must have an object. It has
often been said that the Christian is not called to be successful, but to be
faithful.
In missionary endeavour over the centuries, work has often been
assessed as successful or unsuccessful by the number of converts produced.
Take for example two pioneer missionary servants of a past era -
David Livingstone in Africa and Hudson Taylor in
Our faithfulness in service is
based first of all on our faithfulness to the God Whom
we serve. God, on the other hand,
does not need an object in order to show His faithfulness because He IS faithful
(1 Cor. 1: 9). It is one of His
attributes. God is reliable and faithful
IN ALL HIS WORDS AND WAYS.
God always does what He promises
to do and we can depend on Him never to be unfaithful.
Wayne Grudem says, "He can be relied upon and He will
never prove unfaithful to those who trust what
He has said. Indeed the essence of
true faith is taking God at His Word and
relying on Him to do as He has promised."
The front cover of this issue reminds us of the faithful sowing of
the seed in order to reap a harvest.
Coming from a farming background I
understand the importance of sowing
good seed if we want to reap a good harvest. "What we sow - we reap," is a clear
biblical principle, there the servant who wants to sow good seed needs
to be faithful to the principle of the inerrancy, sufficiency and sole
authority of Scripture for faith and practice.
Heart searching words from the "the General
Director’s Desk." I wonder does Mr. Smylie realise the full implications of what he has written?
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1.
THE OLIVE-TREE
By
G. H. LANG
"I say then. Did they
[
But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles,
I glorify my ministry: if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are
my flesh, and may save some of them. 15. For if the casting away
of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be,
but life from the dead? 16. And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is
holy, so are the branches. 17. But if some of the branches were broken
off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in
among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root and of the fatness
of the olive tree; glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest,
it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off,
that I might be grafted in. Well; by
their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest
by faith. Be not highminded,
but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee.
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. And they also, if they continue not in their
unbelief, shall be grafted in again. For if thou wast
cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and was grafted contrary
to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the
natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? " - (Romans
11: 11-24, R.V.)
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Romans 11: 16 is one of the many Scriptures which require a very exact following
out of the figures of speech employed if a consistent sense is to be gained
from it. No interpretation which deals
hardly, instead of naturally, with a figure can be correct.
In
this place there is one point which is clear, that Israelites are the "branches," for some of those in the tree were
broken off, and this is explained to be the failure of the more part of that
nation to maintain their place in the
favour of God.
It
follows that the "root" must be that
out of which Israel grew, and there appears no difficulty in the way of the
view of the great majority of scholars that Abraham was that root. Indeed, there seems no other person or thing
that can correspond to the figure.
Out
of Abraham, then, there grew up an "olive-tree,"
this picture of his descendants being chosen, we judge, for the reason that they were to be the witness on earth for
God and His truth. This is the
use of the olive-trees in Zechariah 4. and its parallel passage, Revelation
9., in which latter they are called God’s witnesses. The olive-trees poured oil out of themselves
into the lamp-stand, a composite figure which being applied to Romans 11. will mean that
the light of God for all men streamed
through
By
natural birth an Israelite was born into relationship with Abraham, but it can
be only in a small measure that this can be in view, because Gentiles are said
to be grafted into the tree, and these bear no natural relationship, but only a
spiritual, to Abraham.
When,
therefore, natural sons of Abraham did not walk by the faith of their father,
they were reckoned by God as un-circumcised; see Romans
2: 22-29. And if this persisted those, persons were presently cut off from their
standing as God’s Witnesses and experienced the "severity"
of God. After the rejection of the Son
of God this took place in the majority of the people, and as a people
they have ever since ceased to be God’s witnesses; rather His holy name is
dishonoured among the nations by them bearing it.
But
God will never leave Himself without some witness on earth, and so the remnant
of Israel, who had believed in Christ, heard Him say to them, "Ye shall be My witnesses" (Acts 1: 8), and the "oil,"
the grace and power of the Holy Spirit,
was granted to them in full measure, so that the light and the unction of the
Spirit passed through them to all men, and the promise began to have some real
fulfilment that through Abraham’s seed all the families of the earth were
blessed in Christ.
They
were all Jews, natural as well as spiritual sons of Abraham; but through their
witness it resulted, as God ever designed, that so many Gentiles were brought
into blessing and witness that soon these were a majority of the witnesses, and
spiritual sons of Abraham. But however
many they became, and however great their numerical preponderance ever since,
from the divine point of view they are simply brought into the place of sons of
Abraham; as the figure here is, they are grafted into the olive-tree, they do
not form a new tree. This
is a vital part of Paul’s argument to the Galatians: "that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham
in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith," the "we" meaning
Jews, as Paul, and Gentiles alike; out of which "new
man" (Eph. 2: 15) God is
building up the true Israel, the heavenly seed of Abraham, to inherit with him that heavenly portion
which was offered to him, in addition to the earthly, and which
he eagerly embraced (Heb. 11: 13-16). "So then they who are of faith are blessed with
the faithful Abraham. ... And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham's
seed, heirs according to promise" (Gal.
3: 9, 29).
At
this point it is vital to notice that Romans 11.
is not discussing
the matter of the final eternal destiny of any man, Jew or Gentile. The "olive-tree"
being a picture of witness in the power
of the Spirit, the meaning and scope are limited to that communion with God by
the Spirit which enables holy, powerful witness. It is to such witnesses, to the life of
discipleship to a rejected Saviour, to those who walk as strangers and pilgrims
as did Abraham, because of the heavenly things they have embraced by faith,
that God entrusts His testimony and gives the greatest of His precious
promises. Their witness now and here costs them somewhat,
sometimes life itself; but they shall be recompensed in the resurrection
of the just.*
[* Take heed Christian, this resurrection (Luke 14: 14), is not a general resurrection of all who are regenerate, but one of reward for works of righteousness
and faithful witness to all
truth. See also, Luke 20: 35; Phil. 3: 11; Heb. 11: 35; Rev. 20: 4-6.]
Now
these privileges were open to all Abraham’s natural sons, but were used only by
men of faith; others were from time to time cut out of this tree of privilege
and testimony under the judgment of God.
So still these privileges are open to all who become Abraham’s spiritual
sons, but they are attained only by men
of like faith to his. It is quite
plain in the figure employed that the ingrafted branches
are sufficiently of faith at the first
to draw into themselves the life of the root, "the root beareth thee," "thou
didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive-tree"
(18, 17).
They were not merely put into position as grafts, but never
vitalized from the root; the picture will not admit of this, and it is just
here that so much treatment of the passage, as of so many other passages, goes
astray, and turns the keen edge of truth and warning away from the child of
God to a mere professor. Let it
be asked, Who grafts-slips into this tree? It is God.
Well, does He graft false professors into the tree
in such wise that these partake of the fatness, of the inflowing life of His
Spirit? No answer is needed. It is not here a matter of certain men
joining themselves outwardly to a Christian community by public profession, but
of an act of God inserting men into
something that results in a vital union and participation. The olive-tree has life, and
these come to share that life. The
figure can mean nothing less.
There
is no ground for the notion that the Gentiles as a whole, or
characteristically, are in view: it is simply those individuals who have been actually and really ingrafted that are
in view, and to such only can the promises apply, or the warnings. So many speak much about "the professing church," and apply to it all
these warnings. I have never seen
that church mentioned in the Word. God
knows only one church, His church.
The vast organizations that have grown up in the centuries, and which
will prove ever more and more faithless and corrupt, are not known to God as a
church or as churches, though they so style themselves. I suppose that Jezebel (Rev. 2: 20) is a picture of this false thing as to
its nature and doom; but Jezebel from God’s point of view is not a church, but
is seen as in His church.
Historically she may be a vast majority as to numbers; but nevertheless
she is only viewed as in the
church. God does not see things as
man does.
Our
chapter contemplates that some who did walk by faith, and did so enjoy the
goodness of God, and did bear a blessed witness for the Lord and His truth, may
forget that they stand in that goodness only by faith, and may cast away their
boldness (Heb. 10: 35). That final
state is not in this picture is evident from the notice that branches
that have been cut out because of former unbelief, may possibly return to faith and be regrafted
into their place in the tree. I
need scarcely remind you of John 15., where the Lord teaches the same
lessons from the vine, contemplating vital union, but ceasing to abide
in the vine, becoming withered and
fruitless, and losing one’s place in the vine. But there, as here, [eternal] salvation
from perdition in the lake of fire for ever is no part of His subject. His warnings were addressed to His chosen
and faithful apostles, and had to do with fruit-bearing, witnessing, by the energy
of His inworking life by the [Holy] Spirit, in which conditions only regenerate
souls have any share. It is, then, to
such that the warnings must apply, can alone apply. And that such sorely need them let the sad
history of backsliding bear its solemn testimony, and "let
him who thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall." The
standing of every [regenerate] believer in Christ as justified [by
faith]
is irreversible, indefectible, but
all after privileges and progress are conditional on conduct through faith. And the ingrafted
[regenerate]
believer is warned that the severity of God as seen with
To recapitulate. The "soil," in
which the "tree" is planted and from
which, through the root, it draws its existence (compare the natural fact of
the origin of trees: "out of the ground made
the Lord God to grow every tree," (Gen.
2: 9) - the soil is the divine purpose and grace. The "root"
is Abraham, the one through whom God determined to cause His purposes of grace
to develop on earth, and through whom alone blessing ever since has reached
mankind, since Christ, the only meritorious cause of blessing to sinners, is a
descendant of Abraham. The "tree" is that abiding, expanding witness to the
true and living God which grew up on earth through Abraham and, at first, his
natural children, that is, such of them as shared his faith and so bore his
witness to God as the Rewarder of faith.
But the more part of these proving at last unfaithful were set aside as
witnesses, and other spiritual children of Abraham were raised up from the dead
"stones" of the Gentile world, as John
the Baptist figured it (Matt. 3: 9), or, as
Paul figures it, shoots from a wild, fruitless olive-tree were grafted in among
the faithful remnant of Abraham's seed to partake with them of the benefits of
the purpose of God through Abraham.
But no one retains these privileges, even as no one gains them at first,
save by that faith* working in them which maintained Abraham; and so
those still who fail in practical faith in God are cut out of the "tree," while those who were formerly cut out
through unbelief can be regrafted in upon a revival
of faith.
[* That is, a living
faith accompanied by ‘deeds’ and ‘action’ in obedience
to the precepts of Christ, (James 2: 17,
21, 24, 26).]
From
this last consideration it is clear that the
matter of eternal life or eternal death is not in question, is not the subject,
for it would not be eternal death if there were ultimate recovery, and it would
not be eternal life if it could be gained and lost. The life eternal, [eternal] salvation in its popular, limited
sense, is the "free gift
of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom.
6: 23). Justification [by faith alone] is granted "freely by God’s grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." "Freely"
means not only without purchase price, but without
conditions attached; what the law knows as an absolute gift, and which is
therefore irrevocable. This is granted solely
out of regard to the merit of Christ and His atoning death. But further privileges to which this free
gift, being accepted, opens the way are conditional, not absolute. It is here that the "ifs" of Holy Scripture, addressed to the godly,
come in; it is in this sphere that the rewards and penalties applied by the
Word to the people of God operate; and in this realm the law is absolute
and without exception that "whatsoever a man soweth, that (and nothing else) shall (there is no element of uncertainty
here) he (there is no provision of a substitute)
reap" (Gal. 6:
6-10). It is upon this fixed principle that the
exhortation is based to "work at that which is good," and any
attempt to make void this law as not applicable to [regenerate] believers can only operate against them being
"zealous to maintain good works" (Titus 2: 14; 3: 8). It is therefore for us [who have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal
Saviour]
to heed well the exhortation "be not high minded, but fear," which is the deduction
of the Word in the passage discussed; for this
holy fear is verily the beginning of wisdom, and begets that humility which
invariably must precede honour (Prov. 1: 7; 15: 33).
* * *
* * *
*
2.
The Millennium from the Old
Testament*
by
George Barnett
(* This is part
of a message given at an S.G.A.T meeting in January 1949)
If
there is to be no millennium on this earth, then to me at least the Bible
becomes a meaningless book. So much is written
of blessing to come to this earth as also to
Psalm 110: 1 says, "Jehovah said unto My Lord, sit
Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." In Isaiah 66: 1,
we hear God saying, "Heaven is My
throne, and earth is My footstool," therefore the gathering of the
enemies of
As
the coming again of Christ will be to save the spared remnant of Israel and to
destroy their enemies, so it will also
be to deliver creation from the bondage of corruption in which it now travails
(Romans 8:21), hence Isaiah 11: 9, "They shall not hurt
nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea"* - note the earth, not heaven; the
earth has never yet been full of the knowledge of the Lord, therefore it must
be future. Still speaking of the earth, Isaiah 35:1 says: "The
wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them (
[* Nor can it possibly refer to ‘a new earth,’ after
the Millennium, because we read: “There was no longer any sea,” (Rev. 21:1).]
Ezekiel 40
and 41 describe a
[* "And
he said unto me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne,
and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for
ever: - (i.e., for as long as this earth remains,) - "and" – (at that time,) - "the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name,
neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the carcases of their
kings in their high places, (verse 7),
R.V.]
Ezekiel 48
describes the future division of
Now
we know that none of this has been fulfilled, therefore, as "the Scripture cannot be broken," all must have a literal fulfilment,
and that in the millennium on this
earth. Finally, in Daniel's
interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel
2:36-45), we have a description of the four great world empires, and of
the fifth, which is Christ's, like to a stone "cut
out of the mountain without hands."
There are no stones or mountains in heaven, therefore it is an earthly
figure, and it is said of the stone (verse 35)
that it "became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth;" so when, as in Daniel
7:13, the Ancient of days shall sit, one like unto the Son of Man shall
be brought before Him, and to Him will be given dominion and glory and a
kingdom, that all people, nations and
languages shall serve Him.
Then,
as in Revelation 11: 15, great voices in
heaven will be heard saying, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever."
Zechariah 14:9: "And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that
day * there shall be one LORD,
and His Name one."
[* "But
forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,
(2 Pet. 3: 8, R.V.)]
* * *
* * *
*
3.
The Plan For
This Age*
by
DAVID BARON
[* This article is taken from 'Watching and
Waiting,' April, 1936, some 10 years after Mr Baron was called home.]
Unbelieving
men sometimes taunt us with the little that the gospel has accomplished, and
maintain that Christianity has proved a failure; and truly if, as is supposed
by some, the Scriptures held out the expectation that the gospel was to go on
gradually extending, until the world was converted, there were some appearance
of reason in the imputation. For when we
contemplate the condition of the world after eighteen centuries, how far are we
from seeing these expectations realised!
Consider how small a proportion of the human race are
even professedly believers in Jesus.*
[* If David Baron was alive today,
he would be shocked at how many of regenerate believers disbelieve millennial
truths and how seldom the prophetic scriptures are expounded. Anti-Millennialists are blinded by Satan to
the “gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4: 4), and the
majority of millennialists are unwilling to disclose responsibility truths and
God’s conditional promises: their preaching is designed to please the
majority and what they want listen to.
It is the fulfilment of Paul’s prophetic word to Timothy: “The time will come,” - (it
has now arrived) - “when
men will not put up with sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great
number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the
truth and turn aside to myths,”(2 Tim. 4: 3, 4).]
In
the wide wastes of heathen, Mohammedan, and Jewish
ignorance that present themselves, how insignificant
in point of extent and numbers is professing Christendom! And then contemplate this favoured field of
gospel culture itself, and what a spectacle does it present to the enlightened
mind! Alas! how
few, comparatively, profess the truth, which truth is ‘in
Jesus.’
Again,
consider the condition of professing Protestantism; look at our own
highly-favoured land, the most enlightened in the world, and ask, is this a
Christian nation? Does it even deserve
the name? Or does it show any signs of
approximation to such a happy state? My
brethren, it is sufficient merely to glance at the state of things around us to
feel persuaded that to whatever climax the world is progressing, it is not to one of righteousness
and obedience to the gospel.
But
if we look into the Scripture and around us, at the condition of the world, we
see that the gospel has and does accomplish just that which God said it would
accomplish in this present age. "A remnant according to the election of grace" was
to be saved out of
[* To group together, as the author
has done above, ‘His Church,’ ‘the Bride’
and the ‘Body of Christ’ is misleading. ‘The Bride’ consists
of those who are taken out of ‘the Body’
of Christ, as Eve was a part only of the body of the ‘First Adam’ (Gen. 2: 22):
the Bride is not all of Adam’s body. The
same principle is taught in Gen. ch. 24. Isaac’s wife was taken from amongst Abraham’s
‘relatives’ (4). She represents of a selection of regenerate
believers who will rule with Christ in His millennial kingdom; and they are
taken out from amongst those in His Church: a selection of regenerate believers
taken out of a previous selection from the world; and described in scripture as
those ‘arrayed in fine linen.’ "The righteous
acts of the saints" (Rev. 19:8),
not
the imputed righteousness of Christ, (which every regenerate believer
presently has) is what the ‘fine linen’
represents. Only those who are
regenerate and have made themselves ready are described as the ‘Bride’. Rev. 19:7.
Furthermore
the Holy Spirit does not continue dwell in any disobedient
regenerate believer: “We are witnesses of these
things,” said Peter, “and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to
those who obey him” (Acts 5: 32;
John 14: 23.). See also Rev. 3: 1 and compare with Psa. 51: 11;
Judges 16: 20.]
And
as the Scriptures have foretold so it is:
Nor
does this truth of the elective character of this dispensation tend to slacken
zeal or depreciate missionary labour as some suppose. Oh, no, "this
gospel of the kingdom must first be preached as a witness unto
all nations," the whole of God’s great harvest-field consisting of
all kindreds, peoples, and tongues, ‘must’ first
be traversed for the gathering in of ‘the first ripe
ears’ to constitute a glorious first-fruits, and then - "After this I will
return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and
I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of
men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My Name is called,
saith the Lord, Who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world," (Acts
15:16-18).
Then,
not only shall all in Israel know God, from the least unto the greatest of
them, but all the nations shall walk in the light of Jehovah.
* * *
* * *
*
4.
A VITAL PROMISE FOR DARK DAYS *
By
CHRISTOPHER BANKS
[* Sermon
preached at the 109th Annual meeting of the Bible Spreading Union. The Bible Spreading
I
count it a very great honour and privilege to be able, on this occasion, to
bring the Word of God before you. I have
known of the Bible Spreading Union for a number of years, and it is always an encouragement
to me to know that the Word of God is being spread abroad in these dark and
difficult days in which we live, and that God has for 109 years sustained and
maintained that work which He began.
I
would like, by the Lord's help, to draw your attention to the Word of God, and
in particular to Isaiah 55: 11, "So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it
shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and
it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it," I would
simply seek to encourage you to go on with this great work of spreading the
Word of God, and to remind ourselves of this great text. I am sure this verse has been of great help
to the Bible Spreading Union over the past 109 years, that
God's Word, as it goes forth, will not return unto Him void. May it be our encouragement in the days in
which we live.
The Setting
First
of all, and very briefly, I would like to look at the setting of this verse, to
look at the verse in its context. Isaiah
has been regarded by some as one of the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. Many of the passages that we find in this
Book are amongst the finest in literature, but much more is this a great Book
because it speaks to us so much of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of that great
salvation that He has accomplished for His people. Isaiah has been referred to as ‘the prophet of redemption,’ or ‘the evangelical prophet.’
We
can divide this prophecy into two parts.
In chapters 1-39 we have a record of
events that took place before the captivity; and then from chapters 40-66 we have predictions, warnings and
promises that reach down the centuries to the coming of the Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That part of Isaiah's
prophecy, as I am sure many of us will know, is so rich in Messianic promises
and prophecies. There is that glorious chapter 53 that speaks to us so graphically and so
plainly of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Servant of Jehovah, upon the
cross of
As
we come to this 55th chapter of the Book of Isaiah we have these amazing gospel invitations -
to those who are thirsty to come to the waters; to those who are poor and have
no money to come and buy and eat, to buy wine and milk without money and
without price. We have invitations to those who labour, to those who spend
money for that which is not bread and labour for that which satisfieth
not. We have gospel invitations to those who are dying, that they might incline
their ear and come, and hear and their soul shall live. We have that call to
repentance, "Let the wicked* forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and
let him return unto the LORD,
and He will have mercy upon him."
Why should the wicked turn
from their sin and unrighteousness? Because the Lord will abundantly pardon; because He will have mercy
upon them. Why will He pardon?
Because His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways and His thoughts are as high above
ours as the heavens are above the earth.
And then we have this wonderful promise concerning the Word of God, that
that Word which goes forth from the mouth of the Lord,
shall not return unto Him void, but it will accomplish that which He pleases,
and prosper in the thing whereto He sends it.
[* The word ‘wicked’ is used in Scripture to describe some regenerate
believers: "I wrote to you in my epistle
to have no company with fornicators; not altogether with fornicators of this
world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or with
idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world: but now I write unto you
not to keep company, if any man THAT IS NAMED A BROTHER be a fornicator,
or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard,
or an extortioner: with such a one do not eat. For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not
ye judge them that are within, whereas them that are
without God judgeth?
Put away the WICKED man from among yourselves," (1 Cor. 9-13). It is specifically to those of this category
the text applies. Who else can “return unto the Lord”
but those who previously had fellowship with Him by walking in obedience to His
commands? They formerly, at the time and
for some time after their conversion, “washed
themselves” (R.V. margin) “were sanctified”, “were justified (by
faith) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in
the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 5: 11).
The apostle is describing what position they once held sometime previous
to the warning against some of them in his epistle, and what inheritance they
can lose if repentance is not forthcoming, (verse
9). ]
You
will notice first of all in verse 11 that
there is a comparison. God says, "So shall My Word be." What does He mean by that? Well, He has said in verse
10 that "For as the rain cometh down, and
the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, and
giveth seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so
shall My Word be." The rain
and the snow come down from heaven as God commands and appoints. They come down that they might fulfil that purpose upon earth which
God intends, that there might be a harvest, that there might be fruit, that
there might be provision for all His creatures and that there might indeed be
plenty. They do not fall in vain. They come at the command and the appointment
of God, to fulfil His purposes. And God
says, "So shall My Word be." As the rain and the snow come down from
heaven, so My Word is from heaven, and it shall accomplish My sovereign
purposes in this world, so that there will indeed be a spiritual harvest. There will be fruit. We have seen, then, the setting of this great
text.
The Source
Secondly,
and in more detail, I would like us to see the source of the Word. God reminds us that this is His Word. He says, "So
shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth." When we take the Bible in our hands, we have
the very Word of God. We are not reading the words of men; we are not reading
the vain and empty philosophies of the people of this world, but we are reading
the Word of the only Living and True God.
He is God Who has spoken. He has revealed Himself in the sacred
Scriptures. As we take the Word of God,
then, in our hands we take that which He has spoken, that which goes forth out
of His mouth. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God. All of it has been
breathed out by the Lord and it comes to us from heaven.
Some
might say, 'Well, do we not read the words of
men? Are these not the words of Isaiah
in this Book? Do we not read those words
which Moses wrote? Do we not read the
words of Paul, or Peter or John?'
Yes, they were the men whom God used to pen His Word, but the Bible
tells us that holy men of God spake as they were moved, or, as they were borne
along by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1: 21). God the Holy Ghost so
superintended what they wrote that these words are the words of God. It
is quite true that they may have used their own style, their own vocabulary,
but they were so moved by the Holy Spirit that what they penned is the Word of
God.
Some
will tell us that the Bible merely contains the Word of God, but it is not the
Word of God in its entirety. In other
words, they tell us that some of it is the Word of God but some of it is just
the words of men. ‘They are only the thoughts of Paul’ they might
say. We believe that all Scripture is
given by inspiration of God. In its
entirety it is the Word of God. We
cannot pick and choose what we think God has breathed out or what has come
forth from His mouth. All of it is the
inspired Word of God, and because this book is divine and comes forth from His
mouth, then it stands supreme above every other book that we might find in this
world.
Now
I trust we are thankful for the wealth of sound Christian literature that is
available to us, particularly in the English language. There is much that can be very helpful to us
in our understanding of the Word of God.
But those books, however good they may be, can never be compared with
this Book which is divine in its origin.
They can only be helpful to us in so far as they are faithful to the
Word of God. They are only the words of
men and they may contain error, they may even unwittingly lead us astray on
some points, but when we come to the Bible we come to that which is divine,
that which God has spoken, that which stands
supreme. It comes to us as the manna
which was rained down from heaven of old for the children of
As
this is the Word of God that comes forth from His mouth, then there are certain
things that must be true about it. There
are a number of things that we could say, but I would just like to mention
three things that must be true about the Bible.
First
of all, this book must be inerrant. It
must be without error because God cannot lie.
The God that cannot lie has spoken. We are told that in Titus 1:2.
The New International Version
translates that verse by saying He is a "God who
does not lie," but there is a difference between a God who cannot
lie and a God who does not lie. I trust
it would be said of each one of us who are believers upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, that we do not lie. But we could do so. It is quite possible for us to lie if we were
in a corner and wanted to save face in some situation. We may even tell a lie unwittingly, without
knowing it, because we are not in possession of all the facts about a
particular situation. But our God is One
Who cannot lie. His Word that comes forth
out of His mouth is truth. It is not
just one of many truths but the truth.
His Word is right. His Word is
reliable in all things, whether it be in history, in
doctrine, or in that practice that it would exhort us to as the people of
God. In all things the Word of God is
without error because it has come forth out of the mouth of Him that cannot
lie. The Psalmist said in Psalm 119:128, “Therefore
I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every
false way." Because it is
the Word of God, it is inerrant in every respect.
Secondly,
the Word of God, because it is divine, is pure. Again, the Psalmist says in Psalm 119:140, "Thy
Word is very pure (or very refined): therefore Thy servant loveth it." In this world of sin and degradation where
there is so much filth around us, how favoured and privileged we are to have
the Word of God which is pure. We can so
often turn our minds, or have our attention drawn, to those things which are impure. When we pick up a newspaper, we can see
things that would generate sinful thoughts in our minds. We have to be so careful what we read. But we can turn to the Word of God and it is
pure, because the God Who gave it has the attribute of holiness. The holy God has spoken and His Word is pure,
and it leads us in ways of holiness.
Thirdly,
the Word of God is unchanging, because God Himself is unchanging. He
declares, "For I the LORD change not"
(Malachi 3:6); therefore His Word does not
change. We live in a world where so many
things change. We ourselves change; we
change physically as we grow older and the years begin to take their toll upon
us. We can change our views, our
thoughts, our opinions of things. Sometimes that can be a good thing if we come
to a better understanding. Sometimes it
can be a bad thing. We change, but the
Word of God remains unchanging. The laws
of our land that were once based at least loosely upon this Book are now being
changed. We see things being overturned,
but God’s Word, God’s moral law does not change for He is an unchanging
God. Standards in the church may change, but God’s Word does not change. The Word of an unchanging God stands for ever
settled in heaven, and that shall not pass away. We
cannot change the Word of God to accommodate the changing tastes and opinions
and thoughts of men. God says,
"So shall my
word be that goeth out of my mouth."
I
would like us to notice too that this is the Word of Christ. I believe Christ speaks here through the
prophet, ‘So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth.' In every town, village or hamlet in this
country there is a road that will lead to
[* Or ‘the Spirit of Christ’: the prophets who
spoke divine truth in Old Testament times, (see 1 Kings 13: 18) and His Apostles who were taught and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Evil spirits can speak through false prophets
and regenerate believers, as is evident today by what many of them are
teaching!]
The
apostle Paul wrote, "For this cause we also thank
we God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message,
ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God"
(1 Thessalonians 2:13). It is a most remarkable thing - God has given
to us His Word that goes forth out of His mouth, but He has ordained that that
Word should be spread abroad by weak, sinful, fallible instruments, men and
women such as ourselves.
Another
picture that we have in the Scriptures of the Word of God is of a seed - that
good seed, that precious seed, that incorruptible seed. The Word of God is to
be sown, to be spread abroad; that glorious gospel* is to be made known. I have often reminded our folk in the church
at Daws Heath, where I minister, that the gospel is
not like some embarrassing family secret.
Sometimes, in a family, we might have things happen that we do not like
to talk about except, perhaps, amongst our families, or a very close selection
of friends, but we do not like to talk about these things outside that circle
because they are somewhat of an embarrassment to us. The Word of God, the gospel, is not like
that. It is to be spread abroad. It is to be published. The seed is to be sown. The Bible is to be spread far and wide. We have a gospel that is to be preached to
every creature. So, the Bible Spreading
Union cannot send a Bible to the wrong place, the wrong country, or the wrong
person. The churches or other
organisations that receive Bibles from the Bible Spreading Union cannot pass
them on to the wrong place or person, because this glorious Word is to be
spread abroad. The gospel is to be
preached to every creature. "So shall my word be
that goeth forth out of My mouth."
[* The A.V. translation in 2 Cor. 4: 4 is
misleading here; the correct translation is: "The
gospel of the glory of Christ".]
The Success
I
would like us to see also from this text the success of the Word. God says, 'It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Negatively, it will not return to God void;
that is, it will not return to God empty, without fruit, without a harvest from
that seed that has been sown.
Positively, it will perform the good pleasure of God. It will accomplish those things which He has
pleased, and it will prosper in the thing whereto He sends it. I think this promise is so vital and so
valuable at this time, for we live in dark days and desperate days, in a day of
small things. We find apathy within the church.
There are professing believers today who have no interest whatsoever in
spreading the Word of God. We live in a world where so many people are
careless about their souls. A dear
soul in our own church fellowship came to me a few weeks ago on a Lord’s
Day. On the Saturday morning, she had
been seeking to distribute some Trinitarian Bible Society tracts in Southend High Street.
She had given one of these tracts to a gentleman and he had screwed it
up and thrown it to one side. She
brought this tract to me and said, ‘That is what
people think of the gospel of salvation.’ We live in days when so many are
careless about their souls.
We
can easily think, as it says in Haggai 1:6, that we
"have sown much, and bring in little." We can labour sowing the good seed of the
Word of God, and yet we seem to see so very little result for our labours,
certainly as we perceive the situation.
The Word ofttimes does not seem to us to be having any great
effect. Gospel work does not seem to be
prospering in our own land at this present time, as we see things, but we need
to remember that God has said that His Word will not return unto Him void, but
it shall accomplish that which He pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto He sent it. That is what God has
said and His word is absolutely sure. If
the seed is sown then there must be a harvest. Psalm
126:5, 6 tells us, "They that sow in tears
shall reap in joy. Though he goeth on
his way weeping, bearing forth the seed; he shall come again with joy, bringing
his sheaves with him." There
will be a harvest. God has declared that
it must be so, and He says, "In due season we
shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians
6:9). Sometimes we have to wait
patiently for that harvest to come. It
may be the case that one will sow and another may reap. A Bible that we give away today may perhaps
be put to one side by somebody, but it may be rediscovered and taken out in
many years to come and bring forth fruit
even unto the salvation of a soul.
Let
me read an extract which I came across, words that were spoken by Mr. James
Crook, who was the president of this
We
need to remember too that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and
thoughts, as the heaven is higher than the earth. We need to remember too that for some the
Word of God will be a savour of life unto life, but for others it will be a
savour of death unto death. There will
be those who reject the Word of God.
Matthew Henry said, and it is a solemn thought, 'If the Word of God do not ripen for heaven it
will ripen for hell.' It will
leave men without excuse. As we read in Isaiah 6, some will hear and not understand, some
will see and not perceive. In the
parable of the sower* there were of a number of
responses to the Word of God. Some of
the seed fell by the wayside, and it was devoured. Some fell upon the stony places where there
was no depth of earth. Some fell among
thorns, and some fell upon the good ground, but all in the purposes of God. In all these instances, the Word of God is
accomplishing that which is pleasing to God, and it is prospering in the thing
whereto He sends it. God decrees into
what ground the seed shall fall, and in the final analysis He accomplishes what
He pleases. He is the great sovereign
God. He says, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure"
(Isaiah 46:10) - not always what we would
desire, but what God is pleased to accomplish, and that great work of the Word
of God is that sinners might come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
[* The Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13.), has
to do with “the message about the kingdom”
(verse 19).
Only one out of four examples “produces a crop
yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (23). A
glance at the context should indicate that the gospel of the grace of God is not
the subject here: it is all about bringing forth fruit in one’s life after
one’s initial salvation.]
This
Book, the Bible, tells us of the Creator and
of the creation. This precious Book
tells us of the fall. It tells us exactly why the world is in the
condition that it is today. This
Book tells us the Law of God, and that Law reveals to us our sin. This Book
speaks to us of a day of judgment, when
every one of us shall give an account of our lives to God. This Book speaks of a place called hell [Hades], but also
speaks of a place called heaven and this Book alone tells us the one way to get
there. It is "the sacred writings which are able to make ... wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus"
(2 Timothy 3:15). The great purpose of this precious book is
that sinners might come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we seek to spread the Word of
God? That sinners
might be converted. John Wesley said on
one occasion, 'I want to know one thing: the way to
heaven. God Himself hath condescended to
teach the way. He hath written it down
in a book. Oh, give me that book at any
price. Give me the Book of God.' It is the Book of God that shows us the way
to heaven, the way to life eternal.
This
prophecy of Isaiah, in chapter 53, speaks to us of the great success of
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of
The
apostle Paul reminded the church at
It
will also be the means of the
sanctification of His saints, of His people in this world. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed concerning His
people, "Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is
truth" (John 17:17). He will have His people to be holy, even as He is holy.
How are we made holy? Surely as
we read the Word of God and it is
applied to our lives by the Holy Spirit of God. God’s Word will not return to Him void, it
will accomplish that which He pleases, and it will prosper in the thing whereto
He sends it. For some [of the
regenerate],
it will be for the hardening of their hearts, but for others, it will be for the salvation of their souls* and the
sanctification of their lives. That
Word which is "able to make ... wise unto salvation ... is also profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in
righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto
every good work" (2 Timothy 3:15-17). We have, then, a very sure promise of God, that His Word will not return unto Him void. He will accomplish all His purposes in this
world concerning the redemption of His people through the going forth of
His Word. He will build His Church and the gates of hell [Hades] shall not prevail
against it.**
[* ‘The salvation of your souls’ found in 1
Pet. ch. 1. It is a future salvation, which has nothing
whatsoever to do with the eternal salvation which every regenerate believer
receives by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
**
“The gates of hell”, A.V. [Gk. ‘Hades’ = Heb. ‘Sheol’] is a place “in
the heart of the earth” where the souls of the dead are held between the
time of their Death to the time of their Resurrection. The doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead
is one of the fundamental teachings of Christ and Scripture: and that there is
more than one general Resurrection of the dead (to immorality) is evident from
Paul’s earnest desire to attain the former, which will occur “a thousand years”
before the last, when Christ descends to establish His Millennial Kingdom.]
I
do not know exactly how many copies of the Word of God the Bible Spreading
Union has been able to spread abroad under the hand of God. I do know that up to 1994, which was the
centenary year, 66,210 Bibles had gone forth. Surely only eternity will reveal all that God
has been pleased to accomplish through the sending forth of those many
copies of the Word of God.
Application
As
we draw our thoughts to a conclusion, there are one or two things by way of
application. First of all, do we know
this great salvation of which the Scriptures speak? This is surely the most important, the first
and foremost thing, that we might know the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we know what it is to seek the Lord? Do we
know what it is to call upon Him to the salvation of our soul? Have we all turned from our sins to the Lord? We need first of all to challenge our hearts
with the great question, do we know this so great salvation?*
[* The question: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation,"
(Heb. 2: 3), is addressed to, "them that shall inherit salvation",
(1: 14). It is a future inherited
salvation, which the saints are warned not to neglect: and it has to do with
"the world [‘inhabited
earth’] to come" (2: 5; cf. 6: 5);
that is, it points forward to the time of the Millennial Kingdom of
Messiah/Christ.]
But
then, do we tremble at the Word of God? Do we seek to come under the authority of this
inerrant, inspired Word of God? Do we
seek to order our conduct according to the ways of God as He has revealed in
His Word? Do we seek to be doers of the
Word of God?
I
would seek to encourage you, as a
THE END