THE RECOVERY
OF THE
LORD’S NAME
BY T.
Transcribed
from messages given in August 1954.
[BOOK
COVER WRITING]
We
resume our occupation with this matter of the recovery of the honour and glory
of the Lord’s Name in His people. Just a few words to link up with what we are
saying earlier when we were pointing out a certain correspondence between the
time of Gideon and our own time. On the one hand a state of things among the
Lord’s people, which is altogether contrary to the glory
and honour of His Name, that state
being weakness before their enemies, so largely at the mercy of their foes;
defeat and helplessness. Then poverty,
no real enjoyment of the wealth of the land which still was the land of promise
and covenant, flowing with milk and
honey, but not from them in their
state - food very scarce and far to be sought. Confusion - a big question continually dominating their minds as to the
meaning of it all and as to the way out.
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CONTENTS
Page: 3 Chapter 1 -The
Honour and Glory of the Lords Name
Page: 15 Chapter 2 - Called
According to Purpose
Page: 25 Chapter 3 - The
Ground of His Presence and Power
Page: 37 Chapter 4
- A Peculiar Vessel for a Peculiar Purpose
Page: 50 Chapter 5 - The Cross and the Name of the Lord
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[Page 3]
CHAPTER 1
THE HONOUR AND GLORY
OF THE LORD’S NAME
We resume our occupation
with this matter of the recovery of the honour and glory of the Lord’s Name in
His people. Just a few words to link up with what we were saying earlier when
we were pointing out a certain correspondence between the time of Gideon and
our own time. On the one hand a state of things amongst the Lord’s people,
which is altogether contrary to the glory and honour of His Name, that state
being weakness before their enemies, so largely at the mercy of their foes;
defeat and helplessness. Then poverty, no real enjoyment of the wealth of the
land which still was the land of promise and covenant, flowing with milk and
honey, but not for them in their state - food very scarce and far to be sought.
Confusion - a big question continually dominating their minds as to the meaning
of it all and as to the way out.
Disintegration and confusion: no
cohesion, no oneness, no solidity and without leaders to speak with that
finality of authority in the Name of the Lord which would put new hope and new
confidence into them. These were the conditions of Gideon’s time. And, as we
have said, there is something like that
today. We will not traverse that ground again to emphasise or prove it is
true. But on the other hand, God moving
in a Sovereign way for His Name’s sake,
to recover its glory [Page 4] and its honour by changing those conditions; for the honour and glory of the Lord’s Name is in a people who are strong
against their enemies, strong in the
Lord and in the strength of His might.
His
glory and honour is to be found in a people who are enjoying their inheritance
in Christ of wealth and riches - where there is not spiritual poverty all the
time. The Lord’s people have not got the resources by which they flourish in
the land, His glory is found in people who are really, truly, enjoying the
depth of the riches in Christ and in people who have food, who are not starved
and miserable because there is no real provision for them to feed upon. A well-fed
people is what the Lord wants for His glory, a people who are sure and have
confidence and certainty, and not all the time dogged and dominated by
questions which disturb and unsettle and rob them of their sense of security.
They’ve got the great answer in their hearts; that is, they know where they stand
and why they stand there. Theirs is an assured life and further, the Lord’s Name
is certainly glorified in a united people. His honour has been sorely and grievously
destroyed by the break-up of the Lord’s people and all their scatteredness.
It seems that the great prayer of
our Lord recorded for us in John’s gospel at chapter 17 very largely
centred in that one thing, that there the unity of the Lord’s people should be
the great contributing factor to the glory of His name. The Lord Jesus in that
prayer repeatedly referred to the Name: “Keep
them in Thy Name.” It was for the Name’s sake. Now to have a people like that, it
is not just idealism, a vain hope, but something very near to the Lord’s heart,
for as we said, Gideon in the very first place sets forth the fact that the
Lord wants it otherwise and moves to have it otherwise and Gideon brings into
view the movement of the Lord to change that state of things for His Name’s
sake.
So we went on to see, to look at
Gideon, as the kind of instrument that the Lord will use for the recovery of
the honour of His Name by bringing about these name-honouring conditions amongst
His people. At that point we take things up to date. It is a matter then, of
the recovery and continuance of the testimony of the Name of the Lord.
While Gideon on one side does
set forth the absolute “sovereignty of God”, as we were saying, on
the other side he indicates [Page 5] the
ground on which that sovereignty works. It is not a contradiction to say that
while God acts in absolute sovereignty, He does look for certain things to
bring that sovereignty into action. Even the sovereignty of God where God’s
people are concerned, demands certain conditions. And those conditions are to be found indicated, at least,
in the case of Gideon, this representative instrument of God’s honour.
Now I am going to take some
space to say some things that I doubt if I have ever said here before, but
which comes out of a very real exercise of my own heart, and which I feel to be
of very great importance; and it centres in the first thing about Gideon.
Gideon
was a Young Man
Gideon was a young man - in
saying that and what it implies, we really do get to the point of God’s
reactions, God’s recovery and the continuance of His testimony - the honour and
glory of His Name. What is true in nature is true in the realm of things
spiritual: the great factor and principle of spiritual youth. The law of nature
is ever fresh reproduction; as soon as any organism in nature ceases to
reproduce, death has commenced and death is the law. The law of life is
reproduction, God having once created, does not create a second time. He
proceeds by reproduction, not by fresh creations. Every new generation is made
by God to be the past values brought into freshness. No new generation is a new
creation.
Creation and generation are two
different words belonging to entirely two different things. I think some young
people think that they’re a new beginning; they’re not. They are to be the
gathering up and carrying on of what has been, but to gather it up and to carry
it on in freshness. They are to be the sum of what has gone before, but brought
back again to its primal freshness. That which is past (if you like, “old”- I repudiate that word, but for the sake of
explanation I use it) is kept fresh by new generations.
Now, this has two sides: the
side of ourselves, we who are a passing generation. Some of us are a passing
generation, but if you are included in that, listen: our freshness and life
will be just in so far as we equip the next generation. If we hold things to
ourselves - and oh, what [Page 6] tragedies
are resultant from old Christians keeping everything to themselves, old
servants of God still hanging on, keeping it in their own hands - if we keep
everything to ourselves the thing will die, and die with us, and we are
bringing things to death.
This, of course, is the spiritual
law of the blessing of families. You see, everything has a spiritual law behind
it in God’s mind. The blessing of families is, on the one side, to keep the old
people young! Find the old people who have no young people around them and they
are old indeed, they are older than they ought to be. You might sometimes feel
that you must qualify that, they have a way of wearing you out! But nevertheless,
the principle holds good. It’s a Divine principle. The blessing of families, on
the one side, is to rob old people of their age, to stop them getting old; that’s
the principle, that’s the law, that’s the Divine thought. You see, a mark that
God has not come to an end, is not finishing up, but means to go on, is that He
brings young people in. My older friends, take note of that, don’t you be jealous
of the young people, don’t feel that they are getting in your place and you are
having to hand everything over to them and they are being too much made of. We will
talk to them in a minute, let me talk to you first.
No, you see, we are getting old
some of us, and we are seeing the day of our departure drawing near, and we can
become weak, we can lose our freshness. That thing can creep on us and over us
and begin to bring us into severe limitation. We need something to save us, we
need to be delivered, or as I have said, we may cling and cling and in so doing
bring in death. What is our salvation? What is the renewing of our youth? What
is the way out of that sense of an end, pending end, and growing limitation? What
is the way out? It is, it is to equip and provide for the generation that
follows, to do everything in our power to see that the thing is passed on to
them and that they are ready to take it up - not to suspect their youth, not to
criticise them because they are young, not to do what certain ones evidently
were inclined to do over Timothy; the apostle had to say “Let no man despise thy youth.”
When I first started ministry I
was quite a young man and I had to assume the responsibility for a church and there
were some old men who were saying, “But he is so young,”
but I had a champion among [Page 7] them who
said, “But he is getting over that every day!”
It’s a better attitude isn’t it? Yes, let me repeat, a mark that God is going
on and means to go on, is that He brings on young people, that He brings in
young people. Thank God, thank God! We are not going to die if this gathering
is true to that. But you see, it is not years after all, that govern, years are
not the criteria; spirituality is the criteria and that need not be a matter of
years at all. There are some people old in years who are babes spiritually.
There are babes spiritually who are far ahead of many of their time - elders.
It is not that, it isn’t. But let us turn over to the other side.
A new generation must succeed in
an inward way to that which is passing. I underline certain words: in an inward
way to that which is passing. The young people, the followers on, must succeed
those who have carried the testimony of the Lord before them; they must succeed,
not officially, they must succeed spiritually, inwardly. Here is the rigid law
of the Bible and its principle again. Oh, there is always something deeper than
what is on the surface of anything that’s in the Bible, that rigid law of the
Bible in the penalty of dishonouring and repudiating parents.
There were fewer, if any more
rigid laws and penalties in the old dispensation than those connected with
children dishonouring or disparaging or repudiating their parents. In those
days you had only to do that as a son to your father and stoning was the penalty,
your life is forfeited. I say behind that there’s a Divine principle. The
Divine principle is this: that a father, a mother, a parent from the Divine standpoint,
is supposed to have a knowledge of the Lord which is indispensable to their
children. And let the children despise or set aside the parent, and they
despise the very thing that they need for their own life, and their life is
forfeited if they despise it. That’s strong, but it’s true.
You see the Lord does not just
take account of any rebellion against parents or disobedience to parents as in
itself, He looks at the principle behind it. For when things are on the Divine
pattern and level, it is like this: that the children cannot live without the
parents, they die without the parents in this sense: that they are absolutely
dependent [Page 8] upon
what the Lord has already developed and stored up for them in a previous
generation. Yes, it’s a very, very strong law that, in the Bible.
You see, as I said before, young
people are not a new created humanity, but they are generated, a fresh
expression of humanity with the good that has been before. It’s significant,
isn’t it, in this connection that when Gideon became an old man and the men of
the country came to him and said, “Be our
king and rule over us” and Gideon would have nothing of it, but
his seven sons were to rule over them, “instead
of the father shall be the children.” it is the principle again, you
see. Age giving place to youth, but mark you, in terms of sonship that means
spirituality. Now, have you young people got that? if you’ve got that, and all
of us, we’re on the way to the recovery of something: the recovery of the Lord’s
Name.
You don’t need that I stay to
discuss with you how, on the one hand, that which is spiritually old and worn
out and finished with, takes from the glory and honour of the Lord. Let me put
that another way: the Lord’s glory and honour is expressed in perennial youth.
You do not need me, on the other hand, to argue that if young people just as
young people repudiate the older and take hold and put themselves in and begin
to govern and rule and arrange the things of God’s house as though everything
began with them and ended with them, how much dishonour has been brought to the
Lord by that. No, these are spiritual things to be taken note of, and perhaps they
will be helped out by what I have yet to say this evening.
Let us look at some of the
qualities in Gideon upon which the Divine sovereignty operated, some of the
qualities which marked Gideon, a young man. And here we find a tremendous
amount of spiritual maturity. And what were the marks of spirituality and
spiritual maturity in this young man? And the first, and it shouts at you
everywhere, was his humility.
His Humility
And humility is the primary
mark, the hallmark of spirituality and of spiritual maturity. Oh, what a lot of
history is so often required before the Lord gets that in His people and in His
servants! Humility. Look at [Page 9] him: no
pride of person, far from thinking anything of himself, he thought very little
of himself. Read the story again. No pride of family, “My family is the least in Manasseh and I
am least in my father’s house.” Now, he could take ten servants
all the same out of his father’s house. No, with all, with all, and it seems to
me that from the story about the men of the city and Joash, all that; Joash did
stand for something, he had a position, he had an entrance. It was Joash who
had that altar to Baal, it was Joash who had that Asherah, it was to Joash’s Asherah and altar that all the men of the city came
to worship in the early morning. And yet Gideon - no pride of family - whatever
there was there. The point, of course, is this: if you hadn’t ten servants, you
hadn’t one, if you hadn’t anything at all, a place of prestige, recognition,
influence, you might say, “Well, of course it’s only
becoming, under such circumstances, to be humble”. But no, it was there
that, “I am least, I am least”.
No pride of achievement. He
could point to no accomplishments, no degrees, no successes in the military,
the academic, scientific or any other realm. No pride of achievement. No pride
of ambitiousness, no trace of any of these things, and certainly no spiritual
superiority. He did not point the finger at the other people and say, “See, see, look at them! Look at the mess they’re in, look at
their condition, look! I am different.” He just put himself amongst them
all, he was one with them in their state, he was involved in their condition.
There was no spiritual superiority.
Young men, young women, not
because you are young are you going to succeed to the responsibility of the
Lord’s testimony, not because you’ve got life before you are you going by the
Lord to be pushed in and given recognition and place. No, it will be like this.
Of course we have often heard
people say, when perhaps we have expected something more of the young than we
should, “We mustn’t put old heads on young shoulders”,
but the Lord does, and requires it! You have got to take up that which has gone
before and what the Lord has been doing in a spiritual way has been to bring
about this state of things, this humility. And you have got to begin there and
go on there.
[Page 10]
If there
is any mark about any of us of pride of person, of achievement, of position -
any spiritual superiority in looking down at others and criticizing and judging
and condemning - the Lord will not do as He did with Gideon when it says, “The Lord looked on him”. No, the Lord will not
look on us if it’s like that. We will not come into His view. That can never
bring glory to His Name.
Oh, may I appeal to you to guard
against criticism, which comes from a spiritual superiority. Guard against it
as you would guard against a plague. It’s not our business to let it be known that we disapprove of people.
Our business is to find a basis on which
we can help them - help them.
We may in our own heart of hearts feel bad about certain things where they are
concerned, but that is to stay there and not to come out in our influence and
our attitudes and our looks and our words and our arguments and our attempts to
tell them where they’re wrong, and wrong, and wrong in their associations and
connections and all the other things. That’s not our business, humility is. Find a point of spiritual helpfulness and
work on that. If you will take that to heart you may be found within the
view of that Divine Sovereign action to bring glory to the Lord’s Name, to
recover His testimony. The next thing we find about Gideon was his industry or:
His Industriousness
Gideon was threshing out corn in
the wine-press to hide it from the Midianites. Very little seemed possible; most people had fled to caves and to holes;
very little seemed possible. Looking out on the situation the question might
have been asked, “Oh, what can be done? We can’t do
anything!” And because of the situation destroying them and saying, “Well, it’s no use trying to touch this. The enemy has got so
strongly entrenched, so widely spread over, there is so little for the Lord and
so little to be done”. Paralysed and impotent because of the apparent
impossibility of doing anything, but Gideon was not so.
Not much could be done, but
Gideon set himself to do even the least that could be done. He did not give up,
he did not abandon it all. He gave himself to doing what could be done. As he
looked out on the situation so difficult, so hard, he said, “Well, at least, at least I can beat out some corn here up in
this corner. At least I can do something, a [Page 11] little, over against this situation.” The
Lord took note of that. You see, it was right there over against the wine-press
where Gideon was doing that, that the Lord came and looked on. I wonder if it
was because of that that the Lord said, “The
Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”. I am certain the Lord is with no slothful
person. Diligence is a very great thing with the Lord. “Not slothful in business,” says
the apostle. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, though that may be in a very
limited and cramped capacity. It’s the spirit that the Lord looks upon and it
was the spirit of Gideon which was doing all that could be done, however little
that might be. The Lord takes note of that my dear friends.
See, a gesture is enough with
the Lord - whether you make for the armchair directly you enter the room, that’s
enough, the Lord does not look in that way. You see what I mean, I do not mean
that literally. It is a gesture. Whether you are inclined to be a shirker, to
evade, to get out of, to skirt round some responsibility, or whether you are
alive or alert for anything. The Lord takes note of gestures. “The Lord looked upon him.” The
margin says, “The Lord turned toward him.”
Further:
Gideon’s
Concern for Others
Of course it is a part of what
we have just said: concerned for others. He looked and he says, “My, these people are starving, the enemy is taking away
their bread, their food. The enemy is doing all he can to see that these people
are undernourished, underfed and so weakened that they will never be able to
lift a hand for their own salvation and deliverance.” And Gideon had a
real concern about the [spiritually] starved
state of other people, their needy condition: others, others.
You know how much Paul has to
say about that, “Look not every man on his own things,
but on the things of others.” The
outward look.
Gideon was not one of those
introverts, always occupied with himself and his poor, poor situation. A young
man, a young man ... think of a young man and his prospects in a situation like
this - what kind of a life lies before Gideon, a young man? Ah, but he doesn’t
sit down and nurse the adversities that have come into his life as a young man,
be [Page 12] sorry for himself, smothering
himself with self-pity, drawing attention to himself and his own unfortunate
loss. He was not that kind of man and the Lord does not look toward that kind
of person. You can go on like that and you’ll not find the Lord turning toward
you if you are like that. The Lord will turn toward those who - it is quite
true their lot is a difficult one, no doubt about that, and God knows that
better than anyone else - but nevertheless, who are turned out for the sake of
others, really concerned for others. See his secret activity and exercise to
defeat the enemy for the sake of the Name of the Lord; secret activity, secret
exercise, in his heart, Gideon seems to me to have been saying, “I’ll beat them if I can. I’ll outwit the enemy if I can, I’ll
spoil their plans if I can, I’ll see that they have as little success, as
indeed [I can].” That is the spirit, you see, of the heart.
Further, Gideon betrays a real
soul perplexity and suffering which, it seems to me, is the outcome of real
heart exercise. When the Lord comes and says, “The
Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour,”
he instantly answers, “If the Lord be with
us, why is all this come upon us? Why has all that which our fathers told us of, the former activities and wonders of God. Why? And now that today?” There
was a big “why” in his
heart about the situation, he was exercised about this, he was concerned about
this, he was trying to find some explanation, he was reaching out to get the key
to this thing and the situation was creating great pain; I was going to say
real bitterness. And you know, there is a kind of bitterness of spirit that is
permissible, that is not wrong. If we become bitter and sour against the Lord
in rebellion, that’s a wrong kind of bitterness. But there was a bitterness in
the heart of Hannah. Do you remember? When she prayed at the temple and Eli misunderstood
the moving of her lips in prayer and charged her with drunkenness and she said,
“No, no, my lord, thy handmaid is a
woman of a sorrowful spirit,” - a bitterness because of the situation in Israel.
Have you got anything that
corresponds to that? It’s so different from a theoretical position, isn’t it?
We have got all the doctrine and all the teaching and we know how and what
people ought to be like and what they ought to do and what they ought to know
and we’ve got the answer to it all like that. Oh, no, if it does not come out
of a wine-press, it is of no value. It has got to come out of the wine-press,
it has got to come out of soul travail where we have had deep exercise in this.
“To such [Page 13] the Lord will
look.” Do believe me. Whoever you may be, old or young, it has got to
be like that.
Don’t you go out and think that
you are going to save the Lord’s Name and honour and deliver His people by
doctrines, by theories, by wonderful interpretations of truth, wonderful vistas
of spiritual things, not at all, not at all. The Lord is
looking for hearts that are breaking over spiritual conditions.
Gideon was sore, distressed, and perplexed and was suffering inwardly. And his
cry was not the cry of a recalcitrant, it was the cry of a man in trouble. “Why? Oh, why are things like this?” And my last word
for this evening is here.
Gideon
Destroying the Enemy in His Father’s House
We’ll never destroy satan and his kingdom, we’ll never destroy the Midianites,
if privately, behind the scenes in the background there is some complicity with
satan’s kingdom. And sometimes, oh nay always, always
the father’s house is inside here, Adam has his residence here. And Adam
brought about complicity with satan and that’s inside
our own souls. You and I know it; how easy it is, how easy it is to listen to satan, to agree with satan, to be
carried away by his arguments. There’s something inside of us which seems to be
in alliance with the very devil himself. The Father’s house is here and until,
until that is dealt with and overthrown and in the place of Baal’s altar, the
Lord’s altar is erected. Ah, more than that: the very thing that belongs to
Baal is brought and made the thing for the glory of God. That is being more
than conquerors, not only conquering. It is taking the enemy’s strength and
bringing it to the Lord. Well, if you don’t understand that, don’t worry, but
here it is.
Before Gideon could go to save
We must see the Lord’s people
fed, we must see them enjoying the wealth of their inheritance. We must see
them on their feet, standing up strong. We must see them brought together. We
must see them in a state that glorifies His Name - not because we want to be in
Christian work, in a great enterprise and undertaking, not because we want to
see something flourishing in which we have a part, but for the sake of the
Name. Oh, the Lord give us a heart for His Name, looking on everything as
through His Name. Does this honour the Lord’s Name? Is this glorifying to the
Lord’s Name? Is this worthy of the Lord’s Name? My relationships with others -
everything, everything. Is this glorifying to the name of the Lord? If not then
- if we want the Lord to be with us and the Lord to make use of us individually
and together with others of His people as a vessel, we must be after this kind
- a vessel after the order of Gideon. Gideon! And looking at Gideon you might,
if you took his estimate of himself, feel that he is rather a poor thing. But
remember that there were those things which the Lord regarded as of tremendous
importance upon which His sovereignty could encamp, and these were the things.
* * *
[Page 15]
CHAPTER 2
CALLED ACCORDING TO PURPOSE
The emphasis and note in
my heart this morning, but I feel it to be a very important and vital one, has
to do with this matter of being called according to purpose.
We have seen just a little, I
think, in the earlier hours of this conference, that God was certainly moving
according to purpose when He came and sovereignly called Gideon. And God is
still moving according to purpose; no more in the days of Abraham, or Moses, or
Gideon, or David, or Elijah, or any other, no more than the now. Until the purpose is reached and fully realised, God will still be moving according to purpose and will still be choosing
according to purpose.
The purpose is comprehensive and
quite clearly defined. Through one brief letter, the apostle Paul has given us
comprehensively and definitely the purpose. We are not going to dwell upon the
purpose this morning, but rather upon the calling according thereto. The purpose
is the ultimate of all God’s activities, the ultimate of the initial
apprehending of lives and calling into fellowship with His Son in what we
variously call “conversion” or “being saved”, or “being born
again.” However we put it, it is the initial movement of God in bringing
us into relationship with Himself in Jesus Christ, but the purpose is more than
[Page 16] that. It is the ultimate of all
the progressive preparation, training, and discipline of those who have been brought
into that relationship with Himself. These are not things or ends in
themselves. All this beginning and continuation of the Lord in line, is moving
on according to purpose.
The great need, dear friends,
where you and I and all the Lord’s people are concerned, is to really become
gripped and mastered by that fact. It is as though the Lord would come to us
and say, “Now stand at My side and look on, look right
on to the end, to the ultimate. Look with Me right over all time and all
vicissitudes to the end and see with Me a universe, a people, with those who
are just showing forth, manifesting forth My glory, My eternal glory.” Called
unto His - [millennial and] - eternal glory - that runs
alongside “called according to purpose”
Called
unto His Eternal Glory
Now the Lord says, “Do you see that? That is the ultimate, that is the purpose -
the showing forth of My glory in a people.”
He would perhaps say that, of
course, there will be different degrees of glory: there will be one glory as of
the sun, another glory as of the moon, another glory as of the stars. There
will be differences in glory and of glory, those differences will depend
entirely upon the people concerned. How much glory there will be in, and
manifested through and by those people will depend entirely upon how much their
hearts are set upon “My Glory” - how
far their hearts are undivided hearts, pure hearts in this sense: that there is
no alloy, no mixture, no two things which cannot be reconciled, that is purity
of heart, and “Blessed are the pure in heart.” He
would say that. And then He would say to us, “You see,
that’s the end. You have got that vision? You see, the purpose? That you’re called
according to that purpose?”
Then He would say, “Now, for a moment look around, look around. Look upon the
many who have not yet been brought into that initial relationship with the
purpose and then look upon all those who are the Lord’s, and what do you see?
How much glory do you see? How much going on to glory?” Ah, how much
that is very, very contrary to the glory of God. You see? “Now then,” He would say, “although
I have called you according to the ultimate purpose, I now call you to some
[Page 17] situation
which exists which is not in line with that ultimate purpose, in order that you
may be used to bring it into line.” That is purpose within the purpose.
“The God
of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham, the
God of Glory” - the initial step was to get a people; that step was taken
with Abraham. But look at the seed of Abraham in Gideon’s day: not at all in
line with the great purpose revealed to and intended through Abraham. Look at
this sad state, He called Abraham with the whole purpose in view, now He must
call Gideon because of some “thing” that has
interrupted the realisation of the full purpose, some “thing”
that has arisen, some contingency, some digression, some declension on the part
of the called. And so the Bible is just full of these, shall we call them “intermediate” callings, these “occasional” callings, these specific callings within “The Calling,” this purpose which has become a
necessity in the light of the whole final purpose. Do you see the position? I
say the Bible is full of these particular callings. Moses is one, Joshua
another, and so you go on with all these callings within the calling.
I think that we see the
situation. Not one of you here this morning would say that the Lord’s people as
a whole are right in the main line and thoroughfare and direction and way of
the - [millennial [Isa. 11.;
Hos. 6: 1-3; cf. Lk. 1: 32, 33; Acts 7: 4b, 5; Rom. 8: 17b-22, R.V.) and] - eternal
calling, of the glory. You would rather say, “Oh no,
oh no, there is a very, very great deal that is not only short of the glory of God, but contrary to the glory of God.”
We were trying to stress that yesterday. When a people are, as the people were
in Gideon’s day, weak and defeated before their enemies, starved and poor, without
food and wealth ... when there is no cohesion and authority under which the
people of God are moving like an army with banners, that is something contrary
to and other than the purpose of God. And God’s movement in sovereignty is to
call, to deal with that. “Have not I sent thee? Thou shalt save
But I want to follow that with
this: that Divine presence and Divine support and Divine resources
are always bound up with Divine callings. If you
are not in the specific thing that God wants done at any given time, you cannot count upon God’s support. You cannot just
generalise about this thing, generalise about it and just heap it all [Page 18] together as “this work of God”, without discrimination. At
different times, in different realms, God has to act specifically and
distinctively so that within the all of the compass of His inclusive purpose,
there are essential purposes because of situations which have arisen. And He
calls in relation to those specific purposes, which are the present time
purposes of God. And God supports, sponsors, commits Himself to that.
Dear friends, let’s be very,
very honest about this thing. There is a great deal of activity which is
ostensibly for the Lord which does not have the Lord’s support. And the result
is that anything and everything has to be done to get support for that which is
called “the work of God,” and that compasses
the whole range of what is called “organised
Christianity.” It’s one great system of launching schemes and
enterprises and doing everything that art and wit and cunning can do to get
support for it. If God wants a thing done, and has sovereignly decided that thing,
that thing shall be done according to purpose, and He can get hold of a people
and bring that people right into line with that thing, then God will commit
Himself to it and support it, and lift the onus of resource from the people and
take it on His own shoulders. Yes, the presence of God, the support of God, the resources of God go with His calling.
He never - it is an old, old saying,
He never sends us a war-faring at our own charges. He never gives us a
commission and then leaves us to find what is required for its carrying out. He
stands in to all the liabilities. If
these resources are withheld,
something is wrong. The motive may
not be wrong, the intention may not
be wrong, the sincerity may be not
lacking, but let it be understood
that motive and idea and enthusiasm have never, never been substitutes for Divine purpose, specific purpose. David found that out, did he not, over the
bringing of the ark on the Philistine cart. He made a very, very serious
discovery by a very tragic happening. He found that the responsibility rested upon him, for what happened. No, the purpose of God must govern.
The
Whole Purpose
The ultimate must always be in
view and everything must be brought into line with that. It just must be
brought into line with that. Everything has got to be considered and
contemplated from the [Page 19] standpoint
of how is that going to reach God’s end in the manifestation of His glory?
And then, what would God do now, or what is God wanting to do now? What is God doing now in relation to that? What is the present movement or what are
the present movements of God to which God has committed Himself?
Don’t you agree with me, dear
friends, when I say that the deepest cry in our hearts is this: “Oh Lord, oh Lord, bring me into the thing that You are doing. Save me from the things that I am
doing for You and want to do for You and that I think You want done. Bring me
not into things that are kind of, a kind of abstract vision, but into what You
are doing, what You are doing. That with
which You are occupied now.” That’s the deepest cry of our heart and
that’s a cry which enters into His heart, that we should be found not doing a
lot of Christian work or hunting round for a job in the work of God, oh,
pathetic situation, and yet there are a lot doing that, a lot doing that:
trying to find a - [well paid] - job,
a place, in the work of God. Going around all the time, trying, trying to just,
to be taken on in the work of God. Isn’t that terrible? Dear friends, I cannot
tell you how badly I feel about that. My understanding with the Lord is this: “Lord, Lord, if You haven’t got a positive and definite place
for me in something that you are doing, I am going to give it all up, I am
going out.” It’s a very utter thing, this. No one ought to be looking
for a job in the realm of God’s purpose. No, not at all.
Well now, there is a tremendous
strength as well as a tremendous value in the consciousness of being bound up
with a specific calling of God in
relation to the full and ultimate calling. I say there’s a tremendous value
bound up with that. It’s a perfectly wonderful thing to know, to realise that
you are not just called to be a Christian in order to be saved from sin and its
consequences now and hereafter and to get to heaven and all that sort of thing,
but there is a great, definite, positive purpose in your being saved. And that purpose relates to now, in this life, that this
life - [and the foretold falling away of
so many Christians (2 Tim. 3: 1-5)] - is to be characterised by
something quite precise and quite definite in the
ultimate purpose of God. There’s a tremendous strength in - [the understanding of] - that
and a tremendous value in that.
But there’s this extra factor,
that while that is true, and must be, (perhaps I had better stop here for a moment
or put in a parenthesis: let [Page 20] no one think that this implies that they are individual Gideons or Elijahs or any other of
this company of the chosen. We are not going to label ourselves Gideons and this and that and something else. You
see, you must realise that God’s whole purpose embraces the Church. It is a
Church purpose, it is not just individuals.) and in line with that full thought
of God concerning the Church as the called, as the called, you and I are parts
of a whole, parts of a whole: parts of something comprehensive and inclusive.
We are not just individuals. And what I want to impress upon you and I want you
to see is this: that it may be that you are called to be a part of an
instrument which is collective and corporate which God is seeking to have for
Himself to meet a need and that your definiteness of calling is a related one.
It’s not just an individual and separate one.
I know how that appeals to our
romantic hearts. I know how, when a young man, I read about D. L. Moody and
read those so well-known words about D. L. Moody and he said that he’d heard
someone say that if God could get hold of a man, He would show what He would do
with and through a man whose heart was wholly toward Himself. And D. L. Moody
said, “I said, I’m going to be that man! I’m going to
be that man.” Well, that was all right for Moody and I suppose it’s all
true, but you know, there is an appeal of that to this man. “I’m, I’m going to be...” what? A D. L. Moody or something like that? “I’m
going to be...” rather, the emphasis is upon the first three words, isn’t
it? “I’m going
to be,” or the first four words: “I’m going to be.”
See? That’s the appeal.
No, no, the discipline of all
that may come along the line of our having to be a part of something that God
is doing, just a part! Just a part, but a part. And it is in that whole, in
that whole, in a related way, that I have to have just as great a sense,
listen: just as great a sense of being called as I would have if I were singled out as an individual. Have you
got that? It’s a tremendously important thought. You would have a tremendous
sense of vocation if the angel of the Lord came to you as he came to Gideon and
singled you out and mentioned you by name and said great things to you
personally. You would say, “That is a calling indeed!
I am called according to purpose.” But we have got to have that in a related and corporate way, dear friends,
just as strongly and really. God has made me a member of the Body which is the
vessel of His eternal purpose. And as a member, not as the whole body, and not
as [Page 21] separate from the rest, but as
a member, my eternal vocation is found. It has got to be very real, very real.
The ends of God may be reached through companies, through groups, just as much
as through individuals. Well, having got that, let us go on.
We must be very careful that we bring every thing, every part, every aspect of the Lord’s
movement toward His ultimate full purpose, into line with the great end. The point of that, the importance of
that, is this: that God has again and again raised up instruments, individual
and collective, in relation to His ultimate purpose and by them done something
in their day which was quite definite and distinctive and positive. But the
thing has become bound up with them and they have become the beginning and the
end of it. And when they have gone, well, there has been a carrying on of the
work that they started, but that distinctive and specific thing has not gone
on, it’s something now that’s being carried on; carried on. And the responsibility is lying upon men to
carry it on. And then there is a reverting again to this other way of
getting support to carry on this thing. Now my point is this: all succession, all continuation, has got to be as definitely by Divine call
as initiation. Therefore succession
is not official, it is by anointing,
it’s by - [the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and]* - anointing.
[* See Num. 16: 20, 26, 41-49ff.; Compare
Acts 5: 3,
9 with Acts 5:
32; and 1 Cor. 10: 1-12 with 1 John 3:
24, R.V.]
You see, the Church does not
belong to any one time, any one age; it is an eternal thing. It is the - [millennially
and] - eternally
elect vessel of the full purpose of God, but the Church is the anointed vessel. You cannot carry on
the Church with an organisation! You cannot carry on the Church by any human
means at all! The Church is instituted at the beginning by the - [Holy Spirit’s indwelling. See 1 Sam. 10: 1, 6-10; 13: 13; 16: 14; 18: 10; 28: 6, 17, 18ff., Sept. (LXX) and] - anointing
and it’s got to go on right to the end by the anointing,
so that this continuation of Divine purpose requires fresh, and ever fresh, anointings where specific vessels and instrumentalities are concerned. You
cannot get a conception of the Divine purpose and then say, now we’ll have a
committee and we’ll have a board, and we’ll have an organisation and we’ll have
this and that in order to do this thing that God wants done. You just can’t do
it. You can have them if you like, but you’ll find that you have got to take responsibility for them, for everything.
You see, every vessel has got to
be God-chosen and God-anointed in relation to something that is eternal and not
of time at all [Page 22] and not
of this earth. And in our place, in our relationship to what God
may be doing at any given time in our own time, we have got to come really under the anointing of the Holy Spirit for
that, just as much as those who went
before who were the chosen instruments of God to bring that instrumentality
into being, just as much as they
were anointed in their calling, we
have got to be [God’s] anointed,
if that thing is to go on. Heaven
has got to come in and carry it to the next stage. We cannot.
Nothing, dear friends, is an end
in itself. Everything is related to the so-much-more of God’s intention, God’s
purpose. Your salvation is no end in itself. Any dealings of God with you are
not just, just for the time, they are not an end. Anything that God has raised
up and brought into being must not become an end in itself, a crystallized,
rounded-off piece of work with a hedge round it, and that’s something inclusive
and exclusive. Oh, everything has got to be in line with and open to the
ultimate fullness of God’s purpose; therefore, therefore we must be open to the
Lord for something more and something fresh all the time. That went so far, but
God intended more.
Have you not seen how many a
thing started by God, definitely under His anointing, many an instrumentality
serving Him, just wonderful, has just gone so far and stopped, and stopped and
from that time it has gone no further, it’s come under arrest and it belongs,
really belongs, to the past although it’s being kept going; it is living on a
tradition, it is living on a past, it is living upon a name and a reputation of
the last generation or generations ago. There is nothing right up to date in
fullness. Why? Because it was not realised that that was only in line with
something more, it was never intended to be something by itself. The ultimate
full purpose encompassed that and swallowed it up. It was related. Now some of
you will perhaps see the point of this more than others, but it is tremendously
important that we recognise that any vision that we have must not
stop short with the thing that we are [now] in, it must not
stop short with the present aspect of things. Any God-given vision which is
for a specific time is only related to the ultimate and must give place to the
ultimate, and the fuller must come in and swallow it up.
[Page 23]
Oh, let us ask the Lord to save
us from settling down into something less than He intends. There must always be
with us this sense, this deep-down consciousness that we are called according
to purpose not yet fully realised. There’s a wonderful future with which we are
related and this is not the end of everything. We must have that sense. Have
you got it? Have you got what we have here before called this “sense of Divine destiny”, this something, calling you
on, pulling you on, not allowing you to accept anything less than all God
means? That is vision in reality. Or does your vision just reside within the
narrow limits of a piece of work that you are doing for God or trying to do for
God? Is that your vision? It’s not adequate, it’s not adequate. No, “called according to purpose.”
Now I must close, but I have
read in conjunction with these chapters about Gideon, the later chapters of the prophecies of Zechariah. Of
course you wonder how they can be brought together, but they are part and
counterpart. Those later chapters of the prophecies of Jeremiah still have in view God’s full purpose and its realisation
where
Now, all who will not come to
worship the Lord at
Oh, that there might fall upon
us, dear friends, this new sense of Divine calling and apprehending in relation
to His full purpose, though meantime it may be connected with something that is
out of line and out of accord with that purpose. And the purpose, where we are
concerned within the whole purpose is this, it may be evangelism, it may be to
bring in those who are called unto His - [millennial
and] - eternal glory, it may be any
aspect of ministry, but it must be in full view of the end, it must be a
related thing. It must be under the anointing and not just some piece of work
that we have taken up and are trying to do for God, but this sense of
tremendous calling, tremendous vocation, tremendous apprehending, “This is the thing to which God has called me. This, this!”
So many there are who are
wandering about and missing the way, and are in a state of ineffectiveness
because they are in the wrong position. They
are trying to do something that God never called them to do. They have seen
Christian work is such and such and so they have taken it up and they are
trying to do it, but no, there’s no sense of God laid hold of them for that -
just trying to do it. I wonder if you have grasped the emphasis this morning, “Called according to purpose,”
ultimately in its fullness, at present
in some way necessary unto the ultimate. Whether, whatever it is, it’s got
to be that you and I know that our lives are apprehended lives. Until we get
there and have that consciousness, there will be weakness, there will be loss,
there will be confusion; we have got out of the purpose. The Lord draw us
by a mighty new sense into the thing that He is Himself concerned with at this
present time.
* * *
[Page 25]
CHAPTER 3
THE GROUND OF HIS PRESENCE AND POWER
By way of linking up with
what has already been before us, may I just bring very hurriedly and briefly
into view what it is that we judge to be the Lord’s object for our
understanding and apprehension at this time, in these gatherings, it is that
the Lord is concerned above all things for the glory and honour of His Name.
And we have been seeing how God’s sovereignty and power are always brought into
operation in the interests of His Name; for no other reason. The honour of His
Name is in a people. He has bound up His Name and its glory with a people. And
that glory is found in a people in life, and strength, and wealth, and food,
and oneness.
These things, spiritually
interpreted, are the things which display His glory in His people. Then in the
third place, we went on to see that there are certain factors for which God
looks as a basis for His work in securing that state in His people. Last
evening, we gave our whole time to seeing the characteristics in Gideon - a
typical instrument sovereignly chosen of God for that very purpose of the glory
of His name in His people. And those of you who were here will remember the
things which came to light as characteristics of Gideon in relation to God’s
purpose.
[Page 26]
This morning we were occupied
with the fact that God calls instruments, specifically, according to His
purpose, that is, with His [manifested] glory
as the end in view. Now this afternoon we shall look at that matter again from a
different angle. And I just remind you of the words addressed to Gideon, as in
the sixth chapter of the Book of the Judges,
verses 12 and 14
(you know them so well by now you hardly need look them up): “The angel of the Lord appeared unto him, (that is, Gideon) and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” Verse
14, “And the Lord looked upon (or
turned towards) him and said, Go in
this thy might and save
Now I want to read some words
that are very familiar to you in the letter to the Philippians, chapter 2 at verse 5: “Have this mind in you which was
also in Christ Jesus, Who, existing in the form of God, counted
not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking
the form of a bond-slave, being made in the
likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a
man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto
death, yea,
the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly
exalted Him and gave unto Him the Name which is above every Name, that in the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
And our occupation this
afternoon will be with the ground of the
presence and power of God. If one thing is evident about Gideon, it is that
he does set forth, very strongly and forcefully, the power of weakness. The power of weakness.
I have on the fly leaf of my
Bible something that I wrote there many years ago, in a time of perplexity and
difficulty in the work of the Lord, and seeking very much to know the way of strength,
of power, of wisdom, I came upon this; it is in the life of Lillias
Trotter, whose work in North Africa will be known to many of you. And it just
met my need. I’ll read it to you. “So many questions
lie ahead concerning the work. A great comforting came to me this morning in
reading the twenty-eighth chapter of the book of Job about the way of wisdom and the
place thereof. It tells how God finds the way for the wind and the water and
the lightning, and it came with a blessed power what those ways are. [Page 27] The
way for the wind is the region of the greatest emptiness. The place for the
water is the place of the lowest depth, the way for the lightning, as science
proves, is along the line of the greatest weakness. If any man lack, there is God’s condition for the inflow of spiritual
understanding. Praise be to His Name.”
The ground of the presence and the power of God. Of course, inclusively and
pre-eminently the ground is His Name, and His jealousy for His Name in the
heart of any servant of His. But the way of the power is:
The Way
of the Cross
The words which we have read,
with which we are perhaps too familiar in that letter to the Philippians, analyse for us the meaning of the
Cross, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus.” In other words, let your mentality be the mentality of
Christ; your mindedness the mindedness of Christ.
Now, here we have a wonderful
thing. Paul, in these words, reads, reads the motive of the incarnation and the
Cross. He reads right back into the glory, into the presence of God where the
Son is and reads the mind of the Son as the decision is arrived at to leave
that estate and to come here and take the way of the Cross. He reads a motive
in the mind of Christ. The motive has evidently sprung from the fact that
another name had taken the place of the Lord’s Name, His Father’s Name; another
name had intruded, it fell into the place of the Name of the Lord. And, that
being the case (and we know quite well the whole of that story, that story of the one who said, “I will ... I will be equal
with the most High,” who sought to make for himself the name
above every name. We know about that) that being the situation, it was not
enough for the Son to sit in equality with God in heaven when His Father’s Name
was dishonoured on earth. He could not be at rest and be comfortable and be
satisfied. Indeed, He could not endure it, that He should be there in His glory
in possession of that position and that
estate while in the creation another
name was being honoured, another
name had usurped His Father’s Name.
And the motive was jealousy for the Name of God, jealousy for God’s honour.
That lay behind everything: “He emptied Himself...” and all
the other things mentioned here which we are going to look at one by one.
[Page 28]
But first of all notice the
incarnation, the Cross, and the ultimate exaltation above all names rested upon
one thing: jealousy for the Name of God. The great, “Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him” sums up all the steps of the
great cycle from the glory back to the glory, but relates pre-eminently to
this: Wherefore, why for? Because all that was in jealousy for His Father’s
Name. This mind, this mindedness, it’s a kind of mindedness, you see. Unless
you’ve got a mind and a motive then you could not do all these things. It’s of
little use to apply this scripture to Christians and say it now, “You ought to have the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ
works out like this, in this way, and this way; and you’ve got to be Christ-like,
you’ve got to be Christ-minded.” You see, that can bring a tremendous
amount of pressure and weight like a legal obligation to bear upon Christians, “I’m not a bit like that! That is not at all my mind, my way”.
You’ve got to have a motive, a motive that will make you, cause you, to take
this path of the Cross; a motive strong enough to make it something that you
must do, you can’t help doing it. That is Christ-mindedness,
He could not help it. The constraint of this jealousy for His Father’s Name was
so strongly upon Him that there was nothing else to do, He must, He must, take
this way.
Dear friends, I am beginning
upon this very strong note. There is a very great need in you and in me and in
the people of God and in the servants of God today for more of this, this
terribly fierce jealousy for the Name - the honour and glory of the Lord’s
Name. Well now, this whole thing commenced, we see, with a motive, but that
motive led to a reckoning, a
reckoning, in the motive was an accounting. It says, “He counted it not a thing to be grasped, to be held onto; to be equal
with God”. “He counted it not …” A
reckoning took place with Him - that’s the suggestion or implication. “On the one side, here am I in a place of equality with God;
I have the glory of which He spoke in His prayer, ‘The glory which I had with Thee before the world was’, I had that. Here I am up here in possession of all that.
Down there my Father’s Name is dishonoured, robbed of its glory and another
name is put in its place. Is this, My having this position, and all this
possession and all this glory, of greater importance than My Father’s Name
being glorified down [Page 29] there?” He weighed it up, the one thing against the other, put them
both into the balances, and the honour of the Father’s Name in the creation or
with Him, altogether outweighed His own glory and His own personal fullness. It
was a reckoning. He counted, He counted, He reckoned.
Now, dear friends, when the
Apostle says, “Let this mind be in you,” and he
sees the issue, the wonderful issue of this: God committing Himself. Committing
Himself, I think we may say rightly, in a way, in a way, fuller than ever
before to His Son and it says, “He gave Him the Name
which is above every name that now, now in the Name of Jesus, in the Name of
Jesus, the Incarnate Lord, every knee shall bow in the universe, and call Him the
Incarnate Lord. Lord of all.” With that in view, the apostle says, “Let this mind be in you.” In other words, he says, “if God is going to commit Himself to you, if God is going to
presence Himself with you, as with His Son, for it was written, ‘and God was with Him.’ And if
the power of God is going to rest upon and work through you, you have got to
have a fundamental reckoning.” This is something which every servant of
God has to face at the outset. For this, after all, is the thing which
constitutes a servant of God. This is the very essence of service.
What is Service?
What is the essence of service?
What is it that makes a servant of God? We talk so much about the Lord’s
service; sometimes we substitute the Lord’s “work”. We are
concerned and anxious to be “in the service of the
Lord” and then we think about missionary work, and ministry, and one
thing and another, and this, this really is what we mean by the service of the
Lord and by being the Lord’s servants. But what is the heart and essence of
service? What is a servant of the Lord? It is nothing more, because there can
be nothing more, and it is nothing less, in truth, than bringing glory and
honour to the Name of the Lord. That covers and compasses all service and that
makes a servant of the Lord.
We may do a thousand things, but
unless it results in the Lord’s Name being glorified, it’s not service to God.
Jesus is the great Servant of Jehovah. There never was such a Servant of the
Lord. He has served [Page 30] the
Father as none other has ever served or could ever serve the Father. But how
has He done it? He has brought back the Father’s Name to its place of honour
and glory. He has come down and entered into the dispute with the other name,
and now He is far above every name that is named. He has dealt with the
challenge to the Father’s place, and in that way, He is the greatest of all
servants: “Let this mind be in you.” We
have got to weigh all our Christian activities and efforts in this way: how
much real glory is coming to the Lord in this? How much is the Lord coming into
His own, His place in this? Not how much am I doing, but how much positive
glory to the Name of the Lord is bound up with what I am doing?
That is followed out in the
fuller analysis of this great statement in the letter to the Philippians. I was
saying this is something that every servant of God, every aspirant to service
for God, has got to settle at the outset.
A
Reckoning
A reckoning - comparative
values. Moses made that reckoning. It is said of Moses, he accounted, “accounted that the reproach of
Christ was greater riches than the treasures of Egypt”;
accounted, made a reckoning. It was a tremendous reckoning, wasn’t it? My word,
look what that involved: all the treasures of
And many others made that
reckoning, not least Paul. He weighed it all up: “The things which were gain to me” the things which were gain to
me... and he tabulates them and you know what they were: everything that the natural
heart would be set upon. “Things which were gain to me, these have I counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Here is a basic reckoning, but [Page 31] what the accounting led to, all the suffering, all the affliction, all the trials, oh, everything, and yet, and yet, Paul never
abandoned that position. To me, it’s one of the most wonderful
things, most wonderful things, that of all that he had to suffer, and all the
consequences of his great decision and reckoning, Paul to the end held on to
this, “it is better, it is better, far better, to be here - [in
the near future] - with Christ than... have all this, than to be
back there without Christ, having
all that.” He weighed it all up.
Now, that’s a very, very serious
challenge isn’t it, this reckoning. You won’t come to that conclusion, to that
mind, and take that step of letting everything else go, all other possibilities
and prospects, unless you have got a tremendously strong and high
estimate of the - [coming,
promised, and manifested (Psalm 2: 8; Habakkuk 2: 14 cf. Romans 8: 17b-23, R.V.)] - glory of God, of
the glory of God. But if you’ve got an adequate and right conception of
the ‘glory’
of God, and what that is going to mean in this universe, you see everything else, however great, as very small in comparison. “I reckon...” here we are, “I reckon that the sufferings*of this present hour are not worthy to be compared with
the glory that shall be.” “I reckon.” He weighed it up.
[* NOTE: “The One who permits
it - [i.e., suffering for Christ’s sake] - will provide the strength required in the time of testing (Heb. 4: 16). Moreover, in every hour of trial, there is the consciousness, not only
of His sufficiency and sympathy, but also of His companionship and sharing of the trouble. ‘In all their affliction he was
afflicted’ (Isa. 63: 9). Our Lord Himself is the great Example in this
matter. He was the “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53: 3).
Rich may be the result of suffering where its lesson has been
learned. ‘No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous,’ says the inspired
writer; ‘nevertheless afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby’ (Heb. 12: 11).” - See ‘Why Must
I Suffer?’ By Frederick A.
Tatford]
We are involved - [or should be, (now or later)] - in
a very great deal of suffering and affliction and trial and difficulty when we
take a stand for the - [Lord’s prophetic ‘truth’ in the] - Name
of the Lord, for the glory of that Name. It’s a very costly stand. We shall only be able to maintain that
stand if we have made the reckoning. The Lord Jesus always required such a basic reckoning, didn’t He? He never deceived anybody. When He called to discipleship
and fellowship with Himself, He made it perfectly clear: “You’re in for a bad time, I tell you frankly.
This way is going to be a very costly
way, don’t you have any mistake
about it. Be quite clear on this. If a man is going to war, he sits down and counts up his
resources, ‘Can I, can I, not only make a beginning, but go right through with
it? Can I? Have I got resources to carry me through?’ A man is going to build a
tower; he sits down, ‘Now, have I the means not to lay a foundation or to make
a beginning; but to complete this thing? Can I go through with it?... In those
ways, the Lord Jesus was only saying what we are saying here now, “Look here, you’ve got to have a fundamental reckoning over this.”
This mind that was in Christ Jesus
must be in you, and you’ve got to settle something. This is a thing that has
got to be settled. It’s a [Page 31] battle
that seems to spring up again and again, doesn’t it? And yet, and yet,
something has got to be done about this. I do want to urge upon you my younger
friends, that you’re going to have a very difficult time. All hell is going to
range itself against you if you take a stand for the honour of the Name of the
Lord. You’re going to have a bad time, but
you’ve got to reckon that. Is it worth it? Is that Name worth it? Is that glory worth it? You’ve got to put
the things in the balance, and get that settled. Well, after the reckoning
came:
The Emptying
“He
counted it not a prize to be grasped, to be on
equality with God, but emptied Himself.” And
although, of course, there is such a difference both in kind, and degree, and
measure, between Christ and His servants, that is, we can never empty ourselves
of that of which He emptied Himself. We never had it; we haven’t got it. That
is true. We have no glory that corresponds to His glory. Yet, although there is
so great a difference between Him and ourselves, yet the principle is the same.
The principle is the same, there is, even with us, with us, strange, strange
thing, there is with us, that which is our personal glory. Poor wretched things
as we are - and know ourselves to be - somehow or other it almost takes a
lifetime to get us emptied of things which are in the Lord’s way, to which we
cling, which we do count a prize, which we do grasp, and hold onto. He emptied
Himself. And if the principle were not the same with us as with Him, Paul would
never say it, “Let the same mind be in you.” The
kind may be different; ah, but the principle is the same, the emptying.
Gideon, the whole story of Gideon
is a declaration that the vessel must never have any glory of its own. The
vessel that God will mightily use, must have no personal glory. The glory has
got to be the Lord’s and the Lord’s alone. The whole story, I say, declares
that, doesn’t it? Take the man himself; take the means that the Lord used for
the work. It was a case, as we shall see later, of just reducing, reducing,
reducing, bringing down lower and lower and lower, and never allowing anything
whatever to come into this business which would contribute to the glory of the
instrument. When that thing was done, everybody had to say, “Well, that’s perfectly marvellous to think that could be [Page 33] done with such
instruments in such a way.” The Lord was taking precautions, wasn’t He? “Lest
Dear friends, what am I talking
about? I am talking about the ground of the
presence and the power of God. “The
Lord is with thee... Go in this thy might”: the
presence and the power. What is the ground? It’s this, it’s this: the utter
emptying of all personal glory and ground of glorying. Shall we put it the
other way: providing the Lord with an utter ground for His own glory. The Lord
takes infinite pains to secure that ground. Oh, what a story of weakness and
defeat and limitation, and all those things of which we’ve spoken, simply
because men will get their names in, their reputation in, draw some attention
to themselves, put their honours in view, call themselves by titles in the work
of the Lord, advertise themselves, or be advertised as the great instrument
that is going to do this; and the appalling state of things after 2,000 years.
So the thing is self-evident; it’s
self-evident. No, the ground of the presence and the power is this: if it was
true in the case of the Lord Jesus (and undoubtedly it was) it was because He,
in the other translation, “made Himself of no
reputation,” and men are always trying to make reputations for themselves
in the sphere of God’s interests, and God is not in it. He’ll have nothing to
do with it. Get on with it, and do what you can and what you like, but you
cannot count upon the presence and power of God.
It’s the form and the function
in man-likeness, in slave, bond-slave function. I’m not going to stop with the
technical points of the different words here in the original fashion and form;
that won’t be very edifying or helpful to you. it doesn’t matter just at the
moment. But what it amounts to is this: the form, in the form of a man, the
form in which Christ appeared here on this great mission: the form of a man.
The function, which He accepted, adopted and fulfilled, was the function of a
bond-slave. That’s what it says. As a man, in man-likeness. All I am going to
say about that here for, in keeping with this whole matter of the Presence and
Power of God, is this: that He did not appear here as some Superior being of
another order. No. So far as the world looking on could tell, there was no
difference between Him and other [Page 34] men.
Whatever difference there was, it was altogether hidden from the world’s eyes.
They could look at Him, judge Him, speak to Him and of Him, handle Him, deal
with Him, just as they would deal with any other man. No, not as some superior
being of another order.
You see, you see, there’s a
principle there, dear friends, of tremendous significance and importance where
the Lord is concerned. We have said the great tendency is to put men up and make
them of a superior kind. They’re great, they’re wonderful, they’re superior!
They’re above the ordinary kind of men in the work of God. And oh, oh, what is
said about them, the columns about the wonderful things that this man has done
and achieved, and is, and all the rest of it.
God looks on this poor thing
with pity: pity, if not with contempt. In man form, in man form, not angel
form, not some superior order of creation, just man form. We seek our
embellishments to make an impression; we add things to convey to people that we
are something different than others, to gain access and acceptance and so on.
There’s none of that in the mentality, the mindedness of the Lord Jesus. If we
have not got spiritual influence, God save us from artificially trying to make
it, to have it by artificial means. Oh no, none of that. It’s men that God
wants, not officials, not dignitaries, men, but men of His own making. That’s
enough for that. In slave function, the form of a bond-slave, a bond-slave, “I am among you,” said He, “as He that serveth;
as He that serveth. I came
not to be ministered unto...” What a challenge, what a
challenge to so much in you and in me. What a challenge to so much there is in
Christianity. “I came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister, but to
minister.” A bond-slave; not a dictator, not an autocrat, not a master. A
servant, so it says here, a servant; and surely He was that. But this is the ground of the Presence and the
Power, that’s the point. It’s always like that. And then:
The Obedience
“He
became obedient”; obedient. I suppose before the Incarnation He could command.
Angels would run swiftly at His behest. The slightest gesture or indication,
and they would move to serve Him. But here: obedient. The One who is having to
be told, ordered, coming under direction, “obedient
unto death”. That little word “unto” has a [Page 35] double meaning. It means “right up to death,” “right
away to death.” That is, right to the final, the final step, the final
phase, the final fragment of obedience, no more to be done, right unto death.
But oh, it implies the depth, the depths to which He went, “unto death, yea, the death of the Cross.” How utter was this Bond-slave
functioning. How utter was this self-emptying.
The Cross here is set as the
completeness of God’s will, the fullness and finality of the will of God, right
through to the last degree and down to the deepest depths. “Let this mind be in you.” Ah, it
is from that point that the turn is taken. “Wherefore
God hath highly exalted Him and given Him the Name which is above every name.” The “wherefore.” Oh, what a lot hangs upon that word.
Well, these things constitute,
as we set out to say, the ground of the presence and the power of God. “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man... go in this thy might.” The strength of
weakness. The strength of emptiness. What is the strength of this weakness, of
this emptiness? What is the strength of all this that is no honour to man at
all? The strength is “The Lord is with thee,” that’s
all! what more do you want? What more could we have? If the Lord is with us,
well, “if God be for us, who can be against us?” I mean that, that’s
strength isn’t it? That, that’s power, that’s assurance, that’s certainty. It’s
all right, it’s all right if the Lord is with us, no matter how weak and empty
we are, how little there is that we have to draw upon. It does not matter that
we have no name or reputation or title or merits or anything else to display
and proclaim, if the Lord is with us, that’s enough. Strangely enough, it is
not enough for many, many today; they must have the plus of publicity,
advertisement, and all that sort of thing. They don’t consider that it’s enough
to have the Lord with them. The Lord seems to them, in their mentality, to
depend upon their newspaper advertisements and proclamations about their own
wonderful persons and works. Not at all. It’s enough, it’s enough, if the Lord
is with us. That will be all the power that is necessary.
Do you want to know the Lord’s
presence? Do you want to know the power of God resting upon you? Well, it is the strength of weakness, the strength
of weakness. The wind, the water, and the lightning all finding their way where
there is weakness, where there is [Page 36] weakness.
The Lord give us this grace, this mind which was also in Christ Jesus, for we
need Him and we need His power.
* * *
[Page 37]
CHAPTER 4
A PECULIAR VESSEL FOR
A PECULIAR PURPOSE
In the seventh chapter of
the book of the Judges. The book of the Judges chapter 7: “Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and encamped
beside the spring of Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the
valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with
thee are too many for Me to give
the Midianites into their hand, lest
Turn to two other scriptures in
the first book of the Chronicles, first book of the Chronicles,
chapter 28 and verse 9: “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the
God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect
heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord
searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts”. The
other passage is in the prophecies of Jeremiah,
chapter 17, verses 9 and 10: “The
heart is deceitful above all things, and it is
exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, the mind,
I try the heart even to give every man according to his
ways, according to the fruit of his doings”.
There are some of you present
this evening who have not been with us before in this conference, and possibly
some of you who do not know the Lord Jesus in a personal way. Let me say here,
that we are met as a company of God’s people from many parts of the world, that
we might receive from Him some light and instruction concerning His will where
we are concerned at this present time. In saying that, you will all understand
and appreciate the nature of the ministry; that I believe that the word we
shall have this evening may reach even to those who are not the Lord’s, and we
certainly shall have such in mind as we go on. There are two main things being
brought before us just now. One is:
The
Desire of the Lord
Indeed, the purpose of the Lord
is to have His people in such a condition and state that His glory is expressed
and realised in them - His people really in the enjoyment of all that He has
provided for them. He has provided life, but He has provided Life more
abundantly. He has provided spiritual riches and wealth, treasures untold and
inexhaustible. He has provided spiritual food, a store which has no end and can
be drawn upon continually without failing. He has provided strength, His own
strength, that they should be a strong people indeed. The Lord has made a great
and many-sided provision for His people, but history shows that His people have
not always been in the enjoyment of His [Page 39] provision. And there are many today who bear His Name, who
carry His Name, who are called by His Name, “Christians”,
“Christ’s ones”, who are not in that enjoyment,
not in that blessed state. Some are, but not all. And in so far as that is not
the case, the Lord is not glorified in them. Well, that is what the Lord wants.
It is not an impossible thing,
not just a bit of fancy and idealism, a high standard, a lofty conception, but
beyond possibility of attainment. In this very place tonight, there are those
who will very readily say that they know something of that, that Christ is to
them a fountain of Life, not just a trickling stream, He is a fountain of Life;
who will say that they know something of the depth of the riches, that they
know something of how wealthy it is possible to be in Christ, and they know
something about the food matter, His wonderful provision of spiritual food;
inexhaustible. Yes, some of us know something about that. The wonder to us is
the inexhaustibility of what is provided for us in the Lord Jesus. That is the
one thing that is in view. I am quite sure that none of us are at the point
where we feel we can’t know any more, that would be a contradiction to what I
have said. If it is inexhaustible, then we can never come to a place where we
have got all that we can have.
Not any of us here would say
that we have really obtained unto all that the Lord wishes and desires in these
matters; not at all, but it may be that there are those here, perhaps many of this company, who are not in that enjoyment;
they’re just striving to eek out a spiritual existence - as we say, “to make ends meet,” to find something upon which to
subsist and keep going. They’re living on a very poor fare. They’re hungry,
longing for more, and it may be that you do not feel that it is altogether
helpful to be told about the things that there are for you. What you want to
know is how you can get them, and how you can come into that enjoyment. Well,
we are saying some things about that, but that is not our particular point
tonight. We may be moving more in that direction later, as you’ll see. But the
other thing that is before us, the other main thing, is that:
[Page 40]
The Lord
is Shown to Have Moved
From time to time during the
history of His people, when they have been in a state, a poor state,
spiritually of weakness, and starvation, and poverty and defeat, He has moved
to bring into relationship with Himself in a peculiar way, some instrument - sometimes
an individual, sometimes a company - who have come into such a knowledge of
Himself in this fuller way, in the greater fullness of Christ, that they could
be instrumental in bringing more of the Lord’s people into that good.
The Lord must have instruments
with which to do His work, and vessels through which to reveal Himself. And He
has moved like that and shall we not say that He is seeking to have such an
instrument in our time, seeing that the need is so great? And there is really
so little real knowledge and experience of those greater fellnesses that are in
Christ. Would He not bring a people near to Himself and work in them in a
peculiar way, that there they are; He might make people envious, envious,
looking on their food and coveting it, looking upon their wealth and longing
for it. Yes, by expression, by example, by manifestation, to bring His people
into a better position and a better condition. Well, those are the things that
are engaging us in these gatherings.
Now this evening in that
setting, I have a word which will be a very simple word indeed, but its
simplicity does not mean that it is not very important. It springs out of the
passages of Scripture which I read to you just now, particularly as illustrated
in that incident with Gideon who was such an instrument laid hold of by God for
the deliverance of God’s people from their poor condition: the incident of
securing a company, a band, by which the Lord could accomplish that deliverance
and secure unto His people their rights of inheritance in
Himself.
You remember Gideon blew the
trumpet, and there gathered unto him a great host, over thirty thousand men. Of
course, even at that it was a poor, poor thing compared with the Midianites,
and all the rest. Nevertheless, it was thirty thousand. The Lord said, “Gideon, the people that are
with thee are too many, too many for Me to
deliver the Midianites into their hand, lest
Well, the first test was: “Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him depart.” We, I think, have to admire
these people for one thing, if we cannot admire them for everything: they were
at least honest; ready to admit that they were afraid of this business. Well,
they had good reason to be afraid, you know. It says that these enemies, these
enemies were like locusts for numbers, spreading themselves right over the
whole land, filling it. They had good reason to be fearful and afraid. And they
honestly, in fact, said, “We are, and we are glad of
the opportunity of going home, thank you.” And away they went. Ten
thousand remained. Still the Lord had got His basic difficulty that He had to
say to Gideon “There’s still too many, still too many... Bring them
down to the water and I will try them for thee there.”
You know the rest of the story,
just what happened. The ten thousand were brought down to the water, to the
river, and then the Lord whispered in Gideon’s ear, “Don’t
let the people know...” that would’ve given the whole thing away and
undercut the whole thing. He just quietly aside said to Gideon, “Now then, tell them to have a drink and you watch them, how
they drink. Those that lap like a dog, you just set them on the side. And those
that get down to it on their hands and knees, and on their faces, and wallow in
it, you put them by themselves.” And so Gideon gave the order that the
whole army could have a drink, and they did. And their drinking, all unbeknown
to themselves, was a test. The Lord said that it was a trying of them.
“I Will Try them for thee There.”
The word “try” here is the word which means, “tested
under an ordeal.” The same word is used in another place: “Thou hast tried us as silver is tried in the fire”; an
ordeal to discover something, to bring something to light, to bring something
to the surface. “I will try them for thee there.”
This water scene is said to be a
“trying” and, of course, that gives some
support to the interpretation that has been placed upon this. It doesn’t say so
here, but the interpretation that has been given to this is that those who got down on their knees to drink
were those who were thinking more of their own gratification than of the Lord’s
interests in the battle. Those who just lapped it in their hands, took it [Page 42] and lapped standing, were those
who were not thinking so much of that as they
were of the real business on hand. I think that is a genuine
interpretation. It certainly did indicate a disposition and it is upon that that
everything hangs: a disposition. They were all thirsty and in need of
refreshment and renewal. There was nothing wrong at all in their drinking of
the water; nothing wrong with the water and nothing wrong with their taking a
drink of the water - nothing wrong with that.
The difference was just this:
that some regarded the water as a necessity, while the others, the
majority, made it an indulgence. Some took it because it was absolutely
necessary, but getting the necessity
attended to, they were already erect
and ready for the real business. The
others were having a good time and just giving themselves up to it, so to speak. They were more occupied with the thought of getting as much personal
gratification out of this as they could and not wholly and completely concerned
with the Lord’s interests, the great thing which was at stake at that
time: the honour and glory of the
Name of the Lord in His people. Now, that’s the simple message, you
see, but it’s a case of [God] sifting unto vital service;
trying with a special vocation in view.
Of course, of course, in the
matter of [initial] salvation, the matter of - [“our common” (Jude 3)] - salvation, the Lord does not always carry things so far, or
press issues so thoroughly. It seems that in the matter of [this] salvation,
all kinds of people get in, every type that you can think of comes into the realm
of being [eternally] saved,
although I think in many, many instances, they don’t get there without some
test. However, I am not talking about the whole mass of [regenerate] Christians and the matter of their being saved and the ground upon
which they are saved. That may simply be, “Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” But I
am speaking about something more than that: the great vocation
into which we are called as God’s saved ones and the specific work that God needs
to have done at a given time and a time such as this.
Dear friends, we shall never be
of any use to the Lord beyond the point where we ourselves know the Lord. Real
service, real service - listen - is limited to the point of the
experience of the - [activities of a ‘good and
faithful’] - servant. You cannot go beyond that, you
cannot lead anyone beyond the point where you have gone yourself. You cannot
give anybody anything beyond what you’ve got yourself; that is, of real truth,
of real value. You [Page
43] can give a lot of teaching, but it doesn’t get people
anywhere. And if you and I are going to serve the Lord in His very, very
serious and solemn need of bringing, leading people of His into the greater fullnesses of Christ, we
have got to be a special kind of people. The thirty-two thousand type won’t
do, and the ten thousand type won’t do. It is the three hundred type alone; the
three hundred type. The Lord said, “By the three hundred I will save
Well, what are they like, what
are they like? The Lord has very simple ways and means of trying and proving,
and they are often so simple that we don’t recognise them as tryings and
provings. This was a very simple thing, wasn’t it? For the whole ten thousand,
a very simple thing to bring them down to the water and let them drink of it.
And the last thing, it seems, that occurred to any of them was that as they
came down to the water and took their drink, they were under a supreme test.
The eye of God was upon them, and that eye was moving from them to Gideon, “You see? You see? You see? You note that.” And they didn’t realise what was happening. This great sifting and selectiveness for this purpose was going on in
some very ordinary and simple matter out of their consciousness. You
know, you and I would rise to the occasion if an angel of God came to us and
said, “Look here now, look here, you are called to a
great piece of work for God, and I want you to give some proof that you are
ready for it.” Why, we would rise to it, wouldn’t we? We would be very,
very careful watching everything to see that we didn’t default, that we didn’t
disappoint, that we weren’t set aside, ruled out, we’d be right on our toes, as
we say, about it. But the Lord doesn’t do it like that, friends.
He has never done it with any of you like that; He’s never done it with me. But He has applied just as serious a test
in very simple ways.
[Page 44]
I said, I think it was last
night, that a gesture is a very, very, indicative and significant thing; just a
gesture. Here’s the gesture: here’s one man, he flops down at the riverside and
has a good going of the water. The other man, he stands by the river and takes
some in hand and laps; all alert. Well, why not? Ah, yes, but you see, bound up
with that, that simple test, is
what? Oh, it is not just a sign, not just a sign, that is, the Lord hasn’t
ordained that some lap and some go down on their knees, and so you separate
them. It is a sign of the
heart! It’s a revelation of a
disposition. This larger crowd, they are the people who want a good time, even in the Lord's work, a good time. These others, they’re not thinking of the good time at all, they are putting first things first, the first thing is this battle, is this work of God. It comes first and everything else takes
the last place, or the second place.
This is the thing that is on hand:
The
Revelation of a Disposition
And do you know that we are
showing our dispositions in all sorts of simple ways, just as simple as that,
just as simple as that, as we go about our daily life, our daily work. Yes, the
Lord’s eye is upon us there in the office, in the workshop, in the shop, in the
study, wherever we are. The Lord’s eye is upon us, and our hearts are being
revealed in just the way in which we go to work; the ordinary things of life.
Oh, we separate these things, you see, the sacred and the secular: in the
church it’s one thing, of course, in business it’s another. But it isn’t, it
isn’t. Our qualification is in our disposition you see, not in our
consciousness of being under the eye of God, but when we are not conscious of that at all, and the disposition we are showing, that’s the test; that’s the test. And oh, how many and how simple are the ways in which
we show our disposition, just our inclination.
Now, of course that does apply,
it does apply, to every stage of the Christian life. I said that there are
saved people of all kinds, but if you are going to have a really thorough-going
salvation, and not one of those poor things, those inadequate things, those
experiences of Christ which are anything but what He would have you have; if
you’re to have that, you have got to show that you
mean business, that you really do mean business, that this thing is a very serious thing
with you. You will [Page 45] get
as much as your heart is set upon, - [which is why we need to take care
WHAT we pray for] - and no more, and no more; and the Lord
is looking at your heart. We read those passages, David to his son
Solomon, “and God searcheth all hearts,” “Serve the
Lord with all your heart.” “The Lord searcheth all
hearts.” Those words of Jeremiah: “The
Lord trieth the heart”; the
heart, the heart!
And what is true of your
salvation is true of your usefulness to the Lord. None of us will
ever be used of the Lord in any very vital way, unless, unless our hearts
are wholly set upon the Lord and His interests - not to have a good time, not
to have a good time, that is, as men speak, not to have every picnic that’s
going, not to have every diversion
from the strain that is available, not
to have every escape from responsibility and obligation that can be found; not a disposition like that at all.
But the disposition that recognises how great is the matter in which we are
involved and we are people wholly committed to that, and our own gratification
and satisfaction is not allowed to affect or influence us at all; it is a heart
wholly for the Lord.
Now, I said that the Lord has many
ways of finding that out. I couldn’t compass all the ways in which He does it,
but what I want to say is this: that the Lord will present a test, He will
present a test. It will not always be as to whether the thing is right and
wrong, but it may more often be as to whether it’s the good or the better. If
you are of the disposition of the great majority, you will be always asking
questions like this: “Well may I not? Is there any
harm in it? What’s wrong with that?” You see? And there was nothing
wrong with drinking the water; it isn’t a case of whether it’s wrong, or
whether you may, whether you are obliged to. See, that is a disposition. You will just only go as far as you must, if you are like that.
What the Lord is looking for
(and it’s always a minority)
are those people who never, never talk like that, or think like this: “May I? Must I? Is there any wrong in it?” They are
always saying, “Can I do more than I am doing? Can I
go further than I am going? Is there not some fuller thing that the Lord would
have than I know, than I am in, than I am doing?” A question like that,
always in the heart: “Has the Lord not got something
more than what I have known and what I am in and what I am doing? Has the Lord
not got something more? My heart is set upon all that the Lord wants and I will
never be satisfied with anything less, [Page 46] however good it is, however good it is - many,
many good things, but is there not something more than this?” Such
are the people for whom the Lord is looking. And He Who readeth all hearts
knows our disposition in this matter - whether we will accept something less,
or never accept anything less than all that the Lord would have, if He could
have it.
The Lord allows opportunities to
come for personal gratification, He presents something that demands hard work,
and then He watches the disposition. Ready to jump at that which offers some
personal gratification? To grasp at an opportunity to skirt the hard work? That’s
your disposition! It rules you out, it rules you out! He sometimes
presents something in His Word, He brings you up
against something in His Word. Now then, what’s your disposition? “Must I, really, must I? Is that a command? And I, if I don’t
do it, I shall just be breaking a command? Is that really necessary?”
And then we begin to go round to people who we think are authorities, or know
better than we do, who know the Lord better than we do, and say, “Do you think it’s necessary for me to do so and so? Do you
think that I must?” And how often, how often, even godly people have
said, “Oh, no, I don’t think it’s necessary for you to
do that!” Making men, so often, our authority in
the things of God, when God -
[with Whom “ALL things are possible”] - has
presented us with something; going round, going round.
I remember many years ago (to give
you an illustration of what I meant, or mean) I was visiting a certain home. I
felt constrained to go to that home, at that time, that particular evening. I
didn’t know why, but it just seemed that I had to go, and I was asking in my
heart, “Why is it that I feel so strongly urged to go
there tonight?” And I went with this question. And I got there and while
we were quietly talking together I couldn’t see anything special. Then there
was a knock at the door and a man was brought in, was brought in where I was, and
introduced to me, a man who’d had a very remarkable conversion. He was, in the
army in the old days it was the “barrack rooms”,
converted, soundly converted, and knelt down at his bedside with all the vile,
blaspheming, drunken soldiers around him and paid the price. He meant business
with God. And he came into this home on this particular occasion and I got into
conversation with him, it was the first time I had met him and I found him very
earnest. And as we talked I was all the time asking this [Page 47] question, “What, what’s it all about? What am I here for? Is there
something ... ?” We talked on and on and presently he said to me, “Mr.
Sparks, what do you think about so and so?” it was a water test! “What do you
think about so and so?” immediately he asked the question, I knew inside;
something touched me, “That’s the meaning of your being here and his being here
tonight. I said, “Why do you ask me? Does it matter
what I think about it? Has the Lord said that to you?” He said, “Yes I think He has, I think He has, I feel pretty sure He
has, but I wanted some confirmation and so I am asking you.” I said, “Brother, if the Lord has said that to you, you just go and
be obedient to the Lord. Everything hangs upon your answering the Lord.”
It’s a real test. And we talked, and he went away. I went home.
Some time later, I was at that
home and along came the same man, without any arrangement, and I noticed that
he was a little bit shy of me this time, a little bit awkward. And we got to
talking, and he said, “I remember, I remember our talk
here last time.” He said, “After I left, I went
to such and such a minister of such and such a denomination, who I know...”
who did not believe in this particular thing, you see. And he asked him what he
thought about it and he said, “Of course no, that is
not necessary at all, that is not necessary.” And I said, “Oh, Mr. So and So, or the Lord.” Well, we talked, and
although I was not trying to press for this thing, I was taking the line of
obedience to the Lord and when He speaks whatever it is; that line. And the man
came right back and he said, “Yes, I see! I see! I can’t
get away from it. The Lord, the Lord has brought me up against this.” “All right brother, you know your way.” He went away.
It was some time, some months,
before we met again, and we did meet again, and this time there was a real
arrest and death. We couldn’t get anywhere at all. He wasn’t coming on to that
again. You see, he’s afraid; afraid even to mention it, because, well, it
disturbed him, and we didn’t get any fellowship at all. But, before he went I
said, “Well, brother, are you, are you
going on with the Lord? Are you going to obey the Lord?” And he
said, “I don't know. When everybody I speak to says
that it’s not necessary.” “All right,” I
said, “The Lord has spoken; it’s a very serious thing
for you.” And he went.
[Page 48]
One year later, in another part
of London, right on the other side of London, I was going along, walking along
a road, and I saw a man coming toward me on a bicycle, and as he got near he
recognised me. He wheeled round and went for dear life in the opposite direction.
That was that man. What did I hear of him? He had gone right away from the
Lord, back into the world, right back into his old sin; a drunkard and a
blasphemer, right back where he was before he came to the Lord.
Now, that is a true story. The
Lord presented a simple test and he said, “Is it
necessary?” Rather than, “Anything, anything
that the Lord wants, I am for that.” He did what the apostle Paul said
he did not do: conferred with flesh and blood, instead of being obedient to the heavenly vision. And how
much hangs upon it; how much hangs upon it. The Lord may present something;
yes, it may not be this form or that form; it may be a water test. John the
Baptist applied the water test, didn't he? At the
And so it comes, I cannot tell
you all the ways. God has such a variety of ways, but the point, the point is
this, dear friends: God is always looking on the heart to see if we
really do mean business. He knows the disposition, and He is seeking for a company of - [fully dedicated and obedient] - people
who are not going to be influenced by anything,
anything at all: associations, connections or anything else, which would in any way stand between
them and all that the Lord wants. Oh, it is a test, that is a very thorough~-going one, and how
often people have come up face to face with an issue, an issue which the Lord
might not have pressed right through. You see? He doesn’t always do that, but
don’t you make that back door way out, will you! Sometimes He brings us face to
face with something. He’s not going to press that right through. He did it with
Abraham and Isaac: “Take thy son and offer him...” tested right up to the last minute, the last instant, the split
second of a raised knife and its failing, right up to then; and then
didn’t allow him to go through with
it. He found his disposition.
There was a young man who had great
riches who came to the Lord Jesus professing that he wanted to know about
eternal - [Gk. ‘aionios’; in this context it should be
interpreted ‘age-lasting’] - life. The Lord Jesus
said, “Well, go sell all that thou hast and give to the
poor; [Page 49] come, follow Me.” I am not sure that
the Lord would have required the carrying out of that utterly, but He was testing
disposition. We don’t know how much time or space there is
between the two things, the
actual demand and its fulfilment.
But it is just in that narrow space where we come to the point, that split second, so to speak, where if the Lord, if the
Lord doesn’t show otherwise, it’s going through; it’s - [a
personal decision] - going
through. The Lord wants to know - [sooner
rather than later] - whether we mean business with Him or not.
Now, you see, it’s one simple,
very direct thing, but look how much did
hang upon this. Oh, that three hundred, what a tremendous thing God did by
them, how He committed Himself to them!
What a wonderful thing, three hundred men against a multitude like locusts
spread all over the whole land, and the whole lot of them thrown into confusion
and defeated; and the people of God delivered. Three hundred men, but what a
three hundred! What kind of men they were! And it seems to me that the proof
that they were this kind was that they
were prepared as three hundred to go on with the business. I mean, just
think what it requires for three hundred men to look at a great multitude like
that and say, “We’re not going home, we’re going on with this business. We’ve started and we’re going
through with it.” That was the kind they were, you see, it proves
that they were of that disposition, didn’t it? That just being three hundred up
against tens of thousands, they did not shrink, but they said, “We’re going onwards.”
The Lord needs men and women
like that, and only people of that kind and that disposition and that heart can
serve Him in this great business of recovering His glory in the Church.
* * *
[Page 50]
CHAPTER 5
THE CROSS AND THE NAME OF THE LORD
We are now returning to the
point from which we began on Saturday afternoon when we said that all that we
were going to consider would be gathered into the Cross and the Name of the
Lord. We then did, very briefly and lightly, indicate that these two things are
found together right through the Word of God. We instanced several of the
occasions where they are found together. It only needs to be said again here
that that is so, and that that is open to proof if you will look at it. In the
Old Testament, of course, the Cross is represented by the altar, and there it
is a matter of the union of the altar and the Name of the Lord; the Name of the
Lord connected with the altar. In the New Testament, as we expect to find it,
the altar is changed for the cross, but the Name is still kept with it.
I just return your thoughts to a
couple of passages which indicate this very definitely and clearly. One we have
already considered fairly fully. We are going to greatly abbreviate or shorten
it for our purpose at this time. In the letter to the Philippians, chapter 2, at the
end of verse
8, we just have the words: “The Cross,” and
then verse 9 goes on, “Wherefore, the Name which is
above every name.” “The [Page 51] Cross... Wherefore...
the Name.” All the
rest that is there is gathered into that.
Turn back to the letter to the Ephesians and you have the same thing indicated. Chapter 1, verse 20: “He raised Him from the dead - [lit. Gk. “out of dead ones” (Acts 4:
2)] - and made Him to sit above every name that is named.” “He raised Him... above every
name that is named.” Of course, you will take account of the
context of both of those passages, and you will find that it is all about what
God has done through the Cross of the Lord Jesus as the basis for glorifying
His own Name, or - [in the near future when He till return] - bringing His own glory into full manifestation.*
[* See Jeremiah 12: 15, 16; cf.
Jer 7: 11; Isa. 56: 6, 7; Mark 11: 17, RV& ASV).]
With that then, as our basic
position, the union between the Cross and the Name - the Name of the Cross -
let us go on. The book of the Acts, which
is a very large and full book, as you know, stands entirely on the ground of
the Cross. That book is just the issue of the Cross, the spontaneous issue of
the Cross. It would never have been written, and all that was there would never
have happened, but for the Cross; it rests upon the Cross. And in that book of
the Acts, the term or phrase: “the Name,” is mentioned no fewer than 33
times - which carries its own significance. The Name which is pre-eminent and
predominant throughout that whole wonderful book, called the book of the Acts, rests upon the Cross. And in the New Testament, as a whole,
everything is “in the Name,” the Name of the Lord Jesus.
People are exhorted “to believe into the Name.”
in answer to their inquiry as to what they should do, they are bidden “to be baptized in the Name.”
Their gathering together as the
Lord’s people was “gathering in the Name.” All
their prayer was “in the Name.” They were
praying “in the Name.” They
were preaching and teaching “in the Name.” And
the work that they were doing, healing the sick and so on, was all “in the Name.” It was that that caused the trouble.
The rulers came upon them and forbid them to speak or teach any more “in this Name.” All that - and it is a most
inspiring and helpful and instructive study just to look at that in the New
Testament; all that rests upon the Cross, and is inseparably connected
therewith.
The Name of the Lord Jesus came
before Christianity. Christianity took its character, in the first place, from
the Name. It was the Name that gave to Christianity its nature. I fear that it
may have [Page 52] been
reversed since. It seems, although perhaps not deliberately and intentionally
or consciously, but it does seem that Christianity has come before the Name,
and gets in the way of the Name, and very largely is a contradiction of the
Name. So that what we have to understand, and what has to be recovered if there
is going to be anything like the power and effectiveness and fruitfulness that
there was at the beginning, is what the Name signified and implied because it
is not just a title, a designation, some phrase, some tag put on: “in the Name of Jesus”. It has become so commonplace to do that, so [much a] matter
of practice and course to use the phrase “in the Name of Jesus,” but
nothing seems to happen, with all that - so little results, so little is
present even when that kind of speaking and terminology is used as the commonplace
thing. No, it is not just a title, it is not just a designation, just not the
name of someone, although that Someone may be the Lord Jesus Himself. It is
something very much more than that.
It is impossible to consider
this matter of the Lord’s Name in the Old Testament without recognising that it
is not just the difference of title from other gods and other lords, it’s an
entirely different kind of being, and there is more in it than that. And what
is true in the Old Testament is true, yes, infinitely and transcendently more,
in the New Testament. May I repeat: what we have to understand and what has to
be recovered is the significance and implications of the Name as the apostles understood it, as the Holy
Spirit caused it to mean and therefore,
which resulted in such tremendous things. When they said, “in the Name of Jesus Christ” something
happened. When they prayed, “in the Name of
Jesus Christ,” something happened. When they preached in the Name, something
happened. It’s that “something” which is there that we have to know and to recover. The Name and its glory has got to come back into its right place.
Well, we have said, and we repeat that:
The Name
Rests Upon and issues from the Cross
Therefore, all the meaning of
the Cross is embodied in the Name. That’s simple enough, but it's very
important. All the meaning of the Cross is embodied in the Name; and to
separate these two is to put [Page 53] asunder
what God has put together, and when you do that you destroy the real value.
The Name can never be effective
without the meaning of the Cross behind it, or present with it. For the Name to
manifest all its Divine power and fullness, it must be kept vitally bound up
with the Cross. It must rest all the time upon that which has given it those
values, “unto death... wherefore the Name.” You cannot divide those
two; “Wherefore, the Name,” and they remain together so
that it becomes necessary for us, dear friends, to reconsider some of the great
meanings of the Cross which are gathered into the Name of the Lord Jesus and
give that Name its real meaning and value.
I am going to assume that we
here today, or this morning, are the Lord’s children, so that it becomes
unnecessary for me to spend time in speaking about those values of the Cross
which have made us the Lord’s people; to speak about the atonement and
justification by faith, and the initial union with Christ by new birth. These
are values of the Cross, meanings of the Cross, which are gathered into the
Name. Of course, nothing more can be, until that is true, but I am assuming
that you here do know and understand that the Name of the Lord Jesus means for
you your sins forgiven, your union with Christ, and your justification before
God, so that I can dismiss that in this company and proceed beyond that to
these further values and meanings of the Cross which are gathered into the Name.
Firstly then, the Cross was the place, the scene, and the occasion of the overthrow of a
kingdom and its prince. We’ve got to be very sure about that. Of
course, we all believe in the common phrase “The
Victory of Calvary,” and well, we know or we think we know a lot about
that, but we’ve got to be very sure about this because it doesn’t always seem
to be working out. It was definitely and positively (if the New Testament means
anything at all) the occasion of the overthrow of a kingdom and its
prince. That kingdom is a nature and a system in
this world - ruled by Satan - a nature, and because a nature, a
system. Every nature produces its own system; every system is the product of a particular
nature.
When I use the word “system” I am only using another word for kingdom. In
every different kingdom, a certain nature predominates. [Page 54] That need not be followed up,
it’s obvious. In the kingdom of this world, there is a nature and that kingdom
takes its strength and its form from that nature; and it is in that nature,
through that system, that satan rules. And the
principle of that rule of Satan is:
The Alienation of Man from God.
That sums up everything. All the
works and ways of Satan have one object, just one object. His ways and his
works are perhaps countless, so various that they are often difficult to track
down, but howsoever many they be, and however great their variety, they are all
gathered into one single object, and that is: to alienate men from God. That
may be done by making a great deal of man, making him his own god, his own
lord, the very deification of humanity, the enthronement of man upon the throne
of his own glory. Or it may be, on the other hand, to the other extreme, by
depression and misery and suffering and degradation. And everything between
those two extremes is just to make man, on the one hand, independent of God,
and on the other hand bitter against God. The object is one: alienation from
God, making man to part with God, to be independent of God, to take a course of
self-will, to blind man, to make him ignorant; everything to get in between man
and the Lord.
That is the nature that is in
the kingdom of this world, isn’t it? For the most part, you can divide the
whole world into those two sections. On the one hand: man made to feel that he
doesn’t need God, that he can get on quite well without God and be independent
of God and give God no thought. And that very largely is along the line of many
preoccupations and what he calls “pleasures”,
the filling of his life so full that there is no place for God, or on the other
hand, that more positive attitude toward God of bitterness and rebellion and
hatred. In greater or lesser degrees, the whole world is summed up of those two
things. And it is in every natural heart, every natural heart. That is the
The Cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ meant the destruction of that. It was the occasion when the prince of
this world was cast out, when [Page 55] that
kingdom received its fatal blow, when that work of Satan was met, mastered, and overcome. The Lord Jesus through His
Cross holds that victory in His hands. It has not yet become, of course, true
in the world actually, but we are coming to this in a moment. The fact is
there, that the Lord Jesus has done that. And believers into the Name of the
Lord Jesus, know it, and are in the good of that, so that the Name, the Name,
embodies this: that that kingdom and that ruler has been cast out. The Cross
meant its destruction and the Name is the Name of the One who specifically did
that! Did that!
How did He do it? Firstly, there
was none of that kingdom, that nature, in Him. Oh, how Satan worked along every
line, by every means, to get in between the Son and the Father, between Christ
and God. I say, by every means. We haven’t the record of all the secret
battles, but we have enough to know that there was a battle going on throughout
His life to, in some way, get in between Him and the Father. “If Thou be the Son, if Thou be
the Son, if Thou be the Son,” trying
to insinuate a question, a doubt - open the way for a breach. So I am not
staying - to take you through His life showing how here and there, in this way
and in that, the enemy was at work by pressure and oppression, by subtlety, by
foes, by friends, working all the time to find this gap where he could just
thrust in his wedge, and then he would drive it home and do with the Last Adam
what he did with the first. But, “the prince of this world cometh and hath
nothing in Me,” He said. “The prince of this world,” note
the phrase, not “the devil comes”, not “the great adversary” but “the prince of this world comes and hath nothing in Me.” He could not get in between Him
and the Father. He could not bring about this alienation, this division and
separation. He just could not do it. But, for our Lord, it was a matter of constant vigilance and constant conflict. It was
not automatic. The mystery, the mystery of His humanity, the humanity of God,
God Incarnate is just that, that He had
to fight our battles. It is a theological problem, I know, how a perfect
Being can be tempted. Leave it! The fact is writ large in the Word that it was
real. He was not just play-acting, it was real; it was a battle
unto blood to maintain this to the last.
You know, it is no small thing,
no small thing when risen, just immediately after He had been raised from the
dead, He said, “I ascend unto My God and your God,
My Father and your Father.” That’s
a [Page 56] tremendous victory over the
dividing work and power of the enemy. He is still in union and fellowship. Ah,
but what that meant, what that meant in the moment of His being forsaken by the
Father... yet, that’s not the last word. No, that cry of forsakenness was not the
last cry, the last cry was, “Father, into Thy hands...” Father - the relationship
through all is unbroken, He has triumphed in Himself. Yes, that’s how He did
it. All hell raged, raged on that ground alone. Everything, everything is
focused in this Man. Satan’s kingdom is at stake in this one
It cost Him everything, it cost
Him everything. Here in this world, it cost Him everything. Satan saw to it
that He didn’t have anything here in this world. “All
right, all right, if you’re not coming into my kingdom and yielding to my law
and failing down and worshipping me and putting me in the place of God your
Father, you shall have nothing, I’ll see to that,” and He had nothing,
not so much as a place to lay His head. He did much more than that, right
through to the end; and then from satan’s side and
the instruments of satan, He was murdered for it.
Thank God we know another side to that, but from that side He was literally
murdered by satan and satan’s
agents. He was killed for that reason only, because of the battle that He had
come to fight out to a victorious issue and conclusion, the battle of this
relationship with God. But He triumphed.
He
Triumphed Through Death
There’s God’s miracle. The thing
that was intended and calculated by that evil kingdom to be His destruction,
was its own destruction. The one who planned all that, thinking that it would
be his supreme triumph, found it to be his supreme triumph in a way that was
not meant: the undoing of that kingdom and its prince. That, dear friends, is
the Cross.
Now you see the book of the Acts which brings in the Church, the book of the Acts
and all that is there and the Church, stood on that ground, it stood on that
ground. It took up the values, that value of the [Page 57] Cross. By the Holy Spirit it was caused to stand upon
that tremendous victory which Christ had wrought. By the very - [anointing by Christ of the] - Holy Spirit, the Church at the beginning was brought into a marvellous union and
fellowship with God. Oh, how strong it was, now let hell rage against the
Church as it raged against Him and harry it to death, to martyrdom - he can’t
get in between them and their Lord. They have come into the good of His
tremendous victory over that kingdom and its prince. The Church stood on that
ground. And seeing that that was the content of the Name, we can understand now
the potency of the Name in and through the Church and on the Church in those days,
that standing on that ground when they employed the Name, they employed the
mighty victory that was gathered into that Name: what Christ had done in His
Cross, and things happened.
But Satan has not given up.
There is still the need for the Church to stand on its rightful ground of the
Cross and the Name - the Name and the Cross - and to be as vigilant as was its
Lord and to be all the time girded, because the world, the world as a spirit,
the world as a nature, the world as a spiritual system, is all the time seeking
some point at which it can insinuate itself to get between the Church and the
Lord, to make it necessary for the Lord to stand back, unable to go on with His people because, because that other thing has got some place in some way. This is the work that is going on.
Yes, how subtle it all is. You
go back with this thought over your Old Testament again, and you see that not
always was it by open assault that the enemy brought in the peoples of the
world against the people of God to overpower them and to subject them to their
deities. Not always along the line of open suffering and affliction. But oh,
how often in the Old Testament it was a very subtle, quiet insinuation of
something, just working like that, almost secretly. People were hardly alive to
what was happening, but then, they woke up one day to find
that the Lord was no longer with them, they woke up to find that they were in
defeat, they had lost their Lord and lost their
power and lost their position. And
when the prophets, who were the
seers, the men who saw, the men who knew the reason, seeing what the people did not see; the prophets came to interpret their
condition and their situation, they
put their finger always and ever upon some secret thing that was of that other
kingdom which had got in.
[Page 58]
This is a tremendous business,
dear friends, for the people of God. It is like that. Why the loss of power?
Why the loss of the Lord’s presence? Why the loss of the situation such as
obtained at the beginning in the days of the book of the Acts? Why
are things so different? Why all the weakness and the defeat and the poverty and
the hunger amongst the Lord’s people?
Why? Because there is that
with which the Lord will not, cannot ally Himself. It’s got in between Him and
His people. You may call it the “world”
if you like. We speak about the world in the church, and worldliness of
Christians. Well, well, what do you mean by that? What do you mean by that? It
is not always the grasping, sadly enough amongst many Christians, multitudes of
Christians, there are the blatant worldlinesses. And in Christian assemblies
and companies, what are called churches, it is vast worldliness, but that’s not
all. So many methods employed, and ways of going about things,
so much of the energy and heat brought in is just of that other kingdom. It is
not - [always “the love of money,” but a need of
the personal
indwelling of] - the Holy Ghost.* Where does it come from?
[*Disobedience and
deception:- see Acts 5: 4, 8, 32; cf. 1
Kings 13: 7, 14-18; Acts. 7: 39. R.V.)]
I Sometimes think (and I am
going to say a rather serious thing) I sometimes think that Satan can empower people to do what looks
like the work of God. Satan is always far-seeing, and if he can get a false
movement in the name of the Lord, a false movement which is ostensibly a
Christian movement, but which is false and is drawing upon other resources than the Holy Spirit of God, he sees
quite clearly that the time will come when it will be far more difficult to
touch things in that direction than it was before. The thing will have become
hardened, so hard as to be almost impregnable. You may speak about the Lord there, “Oh,
no we’ve had some, we’ve seen how that works out, that doesn’t last; we are not
going to have any more of that.” That’s a state at last worse than the
first.
Well, if you don’t understand me
and agree with that, leave it; but there it is. There’s a subtle working to get
his kingdom in the place of the
The
Cross
The Cross does represent the
undoing of that kingdom, and therefore, the - [individual
members of the] - Church
must be a
You may have all the doctrine,
it may be most accurate and sound, as to the atonement and as to the Cross, the
life, death, resurrection of the Lord Jesus, all that, and it may count for
nothing, spiritually, in effect. We can be outright fundamentalists and
spiritual, real spiritual life and power, may be utterly absent. It’s not that,
it’s not that. It is that the Cross is there as an actuality, a reality,
undercutting all the kingdom and nature of Satan’s kingdom; it must be there.
The Church will know nothing of that first power unless it is so, or shall I
say, will only know power, in so far as it is so. That’s the meaning of the
Name. When we use the Name we ought to be in our own hearts meaning the
bringing in of all the
potency of the Cross of the Lord Jesus over against the
You know quite well that without
understanding all this, without having had it explained and interpreted to you,
when you really have come, as we put it, “to the Cross,”
that is, when you have received by faith the values of Christ’s death and - [His, and
only His (John
3: 13) subsequent (Acts 1: 11)] - resurrection, you know that the very
first thing that springs up in your consciousness is: “Somehow,
I can’t explain it, but I feel nearer to God, and God feels nearer to me.”
That’s the most elementary way of putting it, isn’t it? Just the language of a
little child, “I feel that God is nearer to me and 1
am nearer to God than ever before. Somehow or other God and 1 have been brought
together”; there is fellowship with God, no longer enmity. There is a
consciousness of union, no longer separation. Ah, but more, there’s a
consciousness of love, and no longer bitterness or hatred or independence. But
it comes to this, “This is my life and if ever I lose
this, I lose everything. God has become
in Christ everything.” That’s the first consciousness, isn’t it?
Well, there you are, that’s the
work of the Cross, that’s the proof, the simple elementary proof that the Lord
Jesus in His Cross went right for the heart of this whole thing; this separation
between God and man, He went right there and fought that out. And so, in Him
risen, we are brought to and joined with God. If that sounds too simple, too
elementary for you wonderful advanced Christians, don’t brush it aside. It’s
the most beautiful thing, but the most costly thing. Oh, what a cost, what it
cost our Lord just to fight out that battle, to overthrow that tremendous force
and power to get in between God and man. He fought out our battle.
[Page 60]
Do you see? That's the meaning
of the Name; that’s the outworking of the Name. If that is true, if we are in
the value of that, oh, how wonderful the Name, how powerful the Name. It’s a
great victory, isn’t it? And do you not see that the object of the enemy, all
the way, still his object, still his object, is to recover that ground? And he
persists in trying, not now to keep us away from God, but to again get in
between us and the Lord by any, any, means whatsoever. It’s a terrible thing
for one who has really known that fellowship with God to lose the consciousness
of it. It’s the terror of the Cross again, isn’t it? The terror of that moment
of forsakenness, casting its shadow over. It is almost as though it were being
said “He did not, He did not win that victory.”
It’s as though all that Christ did is being nullified. Oh, what a thing it is,
this fellowship with God. And therefore, our whole New Testament is constructed
for believers upon this one thing: the way, the way of maintained and deepened
union with God. It is only another way of putting “the
way of Life in the Spirit.” it is a battle, it calls for vigilance.
Remember, dear friends, that
still the prince of this world in his own kingdom, to which, thank God we do
not belong, because we have been translated out of the authority of darkness
and into the kingdom of the Son of His Love; he still assails us. He still
assails us from - [within and] - without,
to try to get in between us and the Lord and if that happens, you know where it
comes from. You know where it comes from, that doesn’t come from the Lord. Beware
of what interpretation you put upon the shadows between you and the Lord. You
know where they come from, you know the remedy. You know the remedy: it’s
Christ and what He has done in His Cross. But do you see the issue of this? Ah,
the dishonour of His Name, we come back to that every time: the motive.
The
Motive
What is the motive for our
vigilance, for our warring? What is the motive for our watchfulness? What is
the motive, the only adequate motive for dealing with everything that comes
between us and the Lord? The motive must be the honour of His
Name. In the fighting out of that battle in life and
death, it was the Name of the Father, the Name of the Father.
[Page 61]
Oh, how much we have got to
realise of what we know, that marvellous prayer which is called His “High Priestly prayer” as He was just going, so to
speak, to the altar; as He was going to the Cross, it’s the Name, the Name, the
Name, and it’s the Name involved in these, this company. He is praying, pouring
Himself out in His concern for the Name which He has given them. “I have given them Thy Name; I have given them Thy Name. Oh,
keep them in Thy Name!” The honour of the Father’s Name is the passion
of His soul. He fought the battle of that honour right through in the Cross.
And you and I must be baptized into that same concern for the honour of His
Name in His people, not something objective and abstract, but true in His
people: the honour of His Name.
When we go on later, perhaps
this afternoon, we shall see that in some very practical way, but I feel that
that’s enough to challenge us and occupy us this morning. We don’t need more
than that. Oh, that we should see one thing: when we say “in the Name of the Lord Jesus,” we are not just repeating
some formal platitude, some habitual way of speaking as Christians. We really
ought to be meaning, “by the Cross of the Lord Jesus
and all it means.” You can put it that way if you like, this and that
and the other, “by the Cross of the Lord Jesus,”
the ground upon which God intends. But that Cross, in all its values, is embodied in the Name and the Name just means that, and it means nothing without
that.
May the Lord give us the ability
and power to see and understand the meaning of the Name, and to be set upon the recovery of its values among His people.
[*
-------
WHY MUST I SUFFER?
By FREDERICK
A. TATFORD
The flash of an
automobile, a piercing scream, the screech of brakes - and the light of a home
is extinguished.
Never again will that childish
prattle and joyous laughter echo through the home.
Again, we stand beside the
hospital bed of a young man whom God has used for His glory. A worth-while life
was before him, but a slippery road and a careless driver have put a temporary
end to activity. Why?
Surely it is not the divine will
that sorrow should shadow every path, yet the experience of suffering runs
right through nature. A beneficent Creator could disperse the clouds if He wished
and brighten His creatures’ path. Is He unmoved by their tears and woes? Or is
He perhaps restricted by the inexorable operation of laws He introduced and
cannot revoke? If not, why does He permit sorrow and suffering for His people?
First
Cause
The primary cause of human
suffering is, of course, to be found in Adam’s fall, for sin brought not only
physical death (Rom. 5: 12), but every ill to which the
flesh is heir. Had sin never entered the world, tribulation and trouble would
never have been the experience of humanity. But the sin of our ancestor opened
the floodgates of trial and sorrow for all his descendants.
Inherited sinfulness, however, is
not the sole explanation. Suffering may also be the direct result of personal
wrongdoing. Sin must be punished and, at times, God judicially inflicts
sickness, disease and even death upon individuals as penalties for their sin
(e.g., 1 Sam. 25: 39; 26: 10; 2 Kings 15: 5; 2 Chron. 13: 20; Acts 12: 23). Though
sin may be repented and God’s forgiveness given, punishment is not necessarily
cancelled. Despite David’s contrition, the child of his adulterous union was
taken from him (2 Sam. 12: 14-23).
There is a natural and
inexorable law that what a man sows he will reap (Gal. 6: 7). The sins of youth often bring forth their harvest in later
years, and many an individual suffers physically and mentally from the results
of early folly. Effects may sometimes be divinely counteracted, but early
excesses normally take their toll in later life.
For the child of God, the
subject is intensely personal. An earthly parent would be failing in his duty
if he did not chastise an erring child. If the divine Father did not similarly
punish His sinning children, He would be falling short in His parental
responsibility. Such punishment is sometimes inflicted by the removal of some
material benefit, but perhaps almost as frequently by physical trouble. “On this account,” wrote the Apostle Paul, “many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 11: 30).
But suffering and adversity are
not always the result of personal wrongdoing. “Who
did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was
born blind?” asked the disciples, but our Lord explained that sin was not
the cause of the blind man’s infirmity (John 9: 2, 3). In
the case of Lazarus, He specifically stated that His friend’s sickness was that
“the Son of God might be glorified” (John 11: 4). Sin is
by no means the only reason all suffer.
Trials
to Teach
Trials are sometimes inflicted
by God in order to teach His people their complete dependence upon Him. When
days of prosperity are enjoyed, the consciousness of need of Him diminishes;
but when adversity comes, the believer turns back to the Father for help.
Affliction is also employed by
God for the testing of faith (1 Pet. 1: 6, 7). In the hour of trial, the
Christian’s faith rises above circumstances to the throne above. Consider Job,
for example. When he had been stripped of everything, his faith in God remained
steadfast: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away” (Job 1: 21). Trust
in Him is deepened as His hand is seen.
Such testing impresses the
likeness of Christ more clearly upon the individual. God refines His people in
the furnace of affliction (Zech. 13: 9). In
the heated crucible, the impurities in the gold rise to the surface and are
carefully removed by the refiner until eventually he can see his face in the
molten metal.
From the spices in the high
priest’s golden censer, a sweet perfume used to arise to Jehovah; but crushing
and burning the spices was necessary to make that lovely incense. In order that
a fragrance may rise from our lives, the trials and the fires of affliction are
divinely allowed.
Sufferings are sometimes sent
for the benefit and inspiration of others, being imposed for the instruction of
those around us or for the demonstration of divine laws and principles. The
endurance of the great saints under the severest trials is itself an example to
all who observe them.
World’s
Opposition
Finally, the Christian should
never forget that he is opposed in this world. By reason of his very
association with Christ, he must anticipate trouble and trial. The world is
naturally at enmity with him: those who hated his Master will hate him (John 15: 8-20): and Paul declared that all who endeavour to “live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3: 12). Notwithstanding, the true
disciple regards it as his joy to suffer for Christ whether from persecution
from the world or from the devil and those
who are surrendered to him.
-------
THE WAY OF THE CROSS
By CARL E.
MOLLING
I was born in
One day, having been sent to
church to confess, I entered the church but I did not feel that I could go to
the confessional, so I left without confessing. The next morning I went to
church with an aunt and uncle to partake of Holy Communion. I did not have the
courage to tell them I had lied when I had told them on the previous day that I
had confessed my sins. So I went to the altar to receive Communion, and when
the host was laid upon my lips I felt that I was committing the greatest
possible sin. I felt so very miserable after this that I almost lost all hope
of heaven, and I began to live a very sinful life, going deeper and deeper into
sin.
At the age of twenty-one I left
Even though I was called the Honorable C. E. Molling, I was so
utterly corrupt that in order to forget some of the facts of my own life I
began to use dope. I carried my own needle with me and whenever the craving
became acute I would inject myself. I cannot tell the awful details of the
things I did during this time. Fortunately, I had a praying Christian wife, and
the day came when God answered her faithful prayers and I came under terrible
conviction. Oh, how I longed for peace of mind! Finally I threw myself upon the
mercy of God and, praise His name, He took away my old stony heart and gave me
a new one. From that very day when Jesus came into my heart I never smoked
another cigarette, never drank another drop of liquor, never went to another
dance or movie, never cursed again. By God’s grace and power I was also delivered
from the grip of narcotics. I often ask myself: where would I be now had not
Jesus delivered me from the desire and power of dope? There are times when I
can do nothing but fall on my face and weep and say, “Thank
You, Jesus, for saving my soul.”
After my conversion I began to
experience strong desire to serve the Lord and I began to witness of His saving
grace. In 1949 I entered into full-time Christian service, and God sent me back
to
Some time after my first mission
to
My first act was to make
personal confession to my wife. What a terrible blow this confession was to
her; she herself spent many days in agony and prayer. Never will I forget the
day when she came to me and, putting her arms around me and with tears
streaming down her cheeks, she told me she had forgiven. She, too, had found
grace to help in time of need.
Some time after this I withdrew
most of my savings out of the bank and leaving just enough for my wife to live
on I started on my mission of restitution. My journey was to cover more than
three thousand miles, and in sixteen cities, according to my records, I must
locate some two hundred persons whom I had defrauded to the extent of several
thousand dollars. Satan did everything in his power to stop me, but trusting in
God I was enabled by His grace to go through with it. I faced and made
restitution to more than one hundred and fifty people; some had moved away and
could not be located, sixteen had died, another with his family had been
converted. This was the greatest missionary journey I had ever undertaken. Some
of these persons wept as I confessed and witnessed to them. Most of them were
saloon keepers and gamblers. (For several years I had been employed as credit
manager for a beer and wine equipment concern and I had cheated these men by
giving them improper credits when collecting from them). Yes, God blessed in a
marvellous way, and how glad I am for having obeyed Him. I was forced to go to
the cross so that self could die and the new man could be raised up; I had to
die out to the world, the flesh, and the devil. I am especially grateful to the
few who knew of the suffering I was enduring for they stood with me and upheld
me in prayer during these trying days.
After this mission was completed
God once more began to pour out His blessings upon my ministry, even in a new
way. The blessings since then have been many and rich. I have seen many sinners
come to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and repentance. Peace and joy now flood
my heart, and I can say with all my heart that I would rather walk with my Lord
in trust and obedience and serve Him on the mission fields of
In all this, however, let us not
forget that the shadows of life have their purpose and the dark hours of sorrow
bear their own rich fruits. Especially is the one who has passed through
trouble equipped by his own experience to sympathize with others who pass that
way.
Let us take comfort in the fact
that no trial is ever too great to bear. The One who permits it will provide
the strength required in the time of testing (Heb. 4: 16).
Moreover, in every hour of trial, there is the consciousness, not only of His
sufficiency and sympathy, but also of His companionship and sharing of the
trouble. “In all their affliction he was afflicted”
(Isa. 63: 9).
Our Lord Himself is the great
Example in this matter. He was the “man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53: 3).
Rich may be the result of
suffering where its lesson has been learned. “No
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous,” says the inspired writer; “nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb. 12: 11). Trials will surely come to you,
but if you are a child of God, they will bring eternal blessings. - The Christian Digest.
* *
* * *
* *
AND MORE
1
BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH
By FRED H.
WIGHT
“And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great
millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty
fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be
found no more at all. And the voice of harpers
and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters shall
be heard no more at all in thee; and no
craftsman, of whatever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in
thee; and the light of a lamp shall shine no
more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard at all in thee:
for thy merchants were the princes of the earth;
for with thy sorcery were all thy nations deceived.
And in her was found the blood of the prophets and of
saints, and of all that have been slain upon the
earth.
After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in
heaven, saying, Hallelujah; Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God: and true
and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
And a second time they say, Hallelujah. And her smoke
goeth up forever and ever. And the four and
twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that
sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came from the throne, saying, Give praise to our
God, all ye his servants, ye that fear him, the small
and the great. And I heard as it were the voice
of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the
Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give glory unto him: for the MARRIAGE of
the Lamb has come, and his wife hath made
herself ready. And it was given to her that she should array
herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the RIGHTEOUS ACTS
OF THE SAINTS. And he said into
me, Write,
Blessed are they which are bidden to the MARRIAGE
SUPPER of the Lamb. And he
- [‘a strong angel’] -
saith unto me, These are true words of God. And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See
thou do it not: I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy:” (Rev. 18: 21-19: 10, R.V.).
IN the Bible, the marriage of Christ with His bride, and the events that precede it,
are not according to Occidental - [i.e., ‘noting the quarter where the sun goes down or sets.’] - but
rather according to Oriental wedding customs. An understanding of these customs
will throw much light on the approaching appearance of the heavenly Bridegroom to take unto Himself His bride.
[* Cf. Gen. 24: 4, 38, 58 and Ruth 3: 3, R.V.]
The
Oriental father believes that it is his perogative to choose a wife for his
son. With few
exceptions, this was the general rule in Bible times. Concerning those who will
help to make up the bride of Christ, the Apostle Paul said: “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God
chose
you from the beginning unto salvation” (2 Thess. 2: 13, R.V.). God has indeed chosen the bride for His
Son Jesus Christ.
In Eastern lands a dowry is paid
for the bride. Before a
young man can secure his bride, he must be financially able to pay the price
necessary to have her. In like manner the Lord Jesus had to be able to pay the
price necessary to redeem His bride. As Christ’s bride truly we are bought with
a price, even by the blood of Jesus!
In Bible lands,
often the bride does not see the groom until the wedding day. It was so with Rebekah and her bridegroom, Isaac. It is thus with the Lamb’s wife. Peter wrote of our absent
Lover: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” (1 Pet. 1: 8).
In the Orient, the
wedding supper is usually at the home of the groom’s father, and
the expense of it is always paid for by the groom’s father, and
not the bride’s father. In his description of the marriage supper of the Lamb (see Rev. 19: 4-9), the
Apostle John leaves no doubt that this great event will take place in heaven
which is the home of Christ’s Father, and that every detail of the arrangements
will therefore be cared for by Him.
In the East, the
wedding procession is outdoors and not indoors as is so often the case in our
part of the world. The procession is from the house of the
bride’s parents, all the way to the house of the groom’s parents, the latter
house customarily becoming the future dwelling place of the married couple. In John 14: 3, Jesus said: “I will
come again and receive you.” Thus the wedding procession
that will precede the marriage of
Christ and the church will be an outdoor procession!
Again, in
an Eastern wedding procession, the bride rides, she
rarely walks. The
Apostle Paul describes the coming wedding procession through the skies thus: “Then those of us who are still living will be caught up along
with them on clouds in the air
to meet the Lord” (1 Th. 4: 17)
(Williams’ trans.) So the bride
of Christ will ride from earth to heaven in a chariot of clouds!
Also, it
is the custom in the Orient for the groom to come out from his father’s
house to meet the bride, and conduct her in person to her new home
for the wedding supper. The
words, “to meet the Lord in the air,” tell
the thrilling story that Christ will do exactly that in relation to his bride,
and the coming wedding feast in heaven.
And in the East, the
most important moment of the wedding festivities is when the bride arrives at
her new home. How
significant then are the words of the Psalmist in relation to heaven’s wedding
festivities: “She shall be brought unto the king in
broidered work: the virgins her companions that
follow her shall be brought unto thee. With
gladness and rejoicing shall they be led: they
shall enter into the king’s palace” (Psa. 45: 14-15, R.V.)
Furthermore, according
to Oriental custom, invitations to a banquet are pressed upon
those to whom they are given, because it is expected that the first
invitations will be turned down. Orientals take time about most everything, even the accepting
of an invitation. When Paul and his company were invited to be
Finally, a
wedding supper in Bible lands is quite apt to take place late in the evening, even
at midnight, particularly if the groom’s
house is a distance from the bride’s house, and the procession is delayed. It was so with the wedding Jesus
described in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. “But at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him. Then
all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil; for our
lamps are going out. But the wise answered,
saying, Peradventure
there will not be enough for us and you: go ye
rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him
to the marriage feast: and the door was shut. Afterward come also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily
I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know
not the day nor the hour:” (Matt. 25: 6-13, R.V.).
The coming of Christ for His
bride will take place when the earth is in midnight darkness [and apostasy]. It would surely seem that we are in the
eleventh hour now, and that His coming draweth nigh. Let us watch and be ready, with our lamps
trimmed. “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh:” (Matt. 24: 42).
* * *
2
THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH
By WILLIAM de BURGH
This is the first in a series of
tracts on the Church written by Mr. de Burgh in the early part of the 19th
century.
“And if
children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ: if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together”
(Romans 8: 17).
What is the Christian’s hope?
This is a question which, in one acceptation, receives for the most part in the
present day a definite and scriptural answer: that is, understanding by hope the
ground of hope. Happily
Christ is now by many preached as the ground - the only ground of hope for man
as a lost sinner: the only “Name given under
heaven among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts
4: 12), and, as such, “to lay hold of the
hope set before us; which we have as an
anchor of the soul, a hope both sure
and steadfast…” (Hebrews 6: 19). “Wherefore
girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that
is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ; as children of obedience,
not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts
in the time of your ignorance…”
(1 Peter 1: 13, 14, R.V.).
But this is not the only meaning
of hope. There is also that which we hope for, and this is its prevailing acceptation
in Scripture; in which sense also it is a distinguishing characteristic of
salvation as at present enjoyed by the believer: for, as the apostle says, “For by hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hoped for that which he seeth? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience
wait for it:” (Romans 8: 24-25, R.V.)
What then, in this
[future] sense, is the Christian’s hope - for what does he / [she] thus
with patience wait? And this question the apostle answers in this same chapter,
in the passage taken as the ground of these remarks, and on the same principle
by which is brought out the calling of the ‘church’
- [with the ‘bride’
(John 3: 29; Rev. 22: 17)] -, and also its position in the world - namely, union and identification with Christ. It is thus, by God
sending the Spirit of His Son into our hearts - that we are
made ‘children:’ and here the apostle argues, “And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together” (verse 17,
A.V.), mark, “joint-heirs with
Christ,” and “glorified together.” The question, then, as to the
church’s hope is answered by another - when does Christ ‘inherit,’ when is He ‘glorified’ as here? For in like manner,
and at the same time, shall those who - [‘endure … with him’
(2 Tim. 2:
12a, R.V.)] - are Christ’s ‘inherit’ and be ‘glorified’.
1. The inheritance of Christ as ‘Son of God’ and
Saviour is defined. Psalm 2: 7-8, “I will tell the decree:
The LORD said
unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give thee THE NATIONS for Thine inheritance, and
THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH for
Thy possession.” And how He shall obtain
possession the Psalm goes on to state, verse 9, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of
iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a
potter’s vessel.” That is - it is by judgment, and
not grace, the Redeemer shall, in the first instance, proceed to recover
the [promised] inheritance; and establish His claim as king on the “holy hill of Zion” (verse
6). And who shall be the objects of the judgment? “The kings of the earth” at that time
confederated in opposition to His pretensions (verses 1-5). Turn to Revelation
19 and we find that the time is at the SECOND ADVENT of the Lord, when heaven is opened, and He comes
forth in righteousness judging and making war: His eyes as a flame of fire, and
on His head many crowns and clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood (verses 11-13); the
reference to the second Psalm being marked by the words, “And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall rule them with a rod of iron” (verse 15); and further by the description
of the opposing confederacy, verse 19 - “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army.” (Compare chapter 16: 13-14, as to the means whereby they have been so
‘gathered together’). And the portion of the
saints in this as ‘joint-heirs with Christ,’ is
stated chapter 2: 26-27, and still in reference to this same Psalm, - “And he that overcometh, and he keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority
over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter are broken to shivers: as I also have received of My Father,” or, as
in chapter 3: 21, “He that overcometh I will give to him to sit with Me in MY
THRONE; as I also overcame, and sat
down with My Father in HIS THRONE:” where it should be observed
there is mention of two thrones
- one, ‘the throne of my Father,’ in
which Christ is since His ascension set down, and which it is His only to
participate as ‘the only-begotten Son:’ the other, His own throne, namely, the throne of the kingdoms of this world, - [see Rev. 11: 15b] - which is that in which His redeemed - [who ‘overcome’ will reign and] - participate with Him, as
it is obtained by Him for them
- ‘the travail of His soul,’ the
fruit of His sufferings as their Saviour and Redeemer, ‘the purchased possession,’ for ‘the redemption’ of which - that is, its
recovery out of the hands of the usurper - they wait (Ephesians 1: 14).
The same definition of the [millennial] inheritance of Christ we have in Hebrews 2, where the apostle, (having first stated that God had
appointed His Son “HEIR of all things,”
(chapter 12), proceeds to define His
inheritance as follows, verses 5-9,
“For not unto angels did He not put in subjection the
inhabited earth to come, whereof we speak.
But one hath somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or
the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou
madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou
crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst
set him over the works of Thy hands: Thou didst put all things in subjection under
his feet,” quoting from Psalm 8. On which He thus reasons, “For
in that He subjected ALL things
under him, He left nothing that is not subject
to him. But
now we see not yet all things subjected
to Him. But we behold him who hath for a
little while lower than the angels, even
Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honour.” A reference to the 8th Psalm will shew that the dominion here given to the Son is, (as ‘the inhabited earth to come’ implies) the dominion which Adam was found
unequal to sustain, but which Christ as the last Adam has purchased, and will
in due time have ‘put in subjection to Him.’
Again,
the same is declared in the 110th Psalm verse 1,
“The LORD said
unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool,” not ‘in order that I may make Thine enemies Thy footstool,’ as though
this subjection of Christ’s enemies began from His ascension, as it is
generally explained: but ‘Until,’ till
the time comes for doing this; as the apostle explains it, Hebrews 10: 12-13, This Man, “when
He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down at the right hand of God” (rather, connecting ‘for ever’ with the sacrifice, as verses 1 and 14, “after
He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat
down at the right hand of God,” not for ever, but) “from henceforth expecting (waiting) till His enemies be made the
footstool of his feet.” Compare Acts 3: 21, “Whom the heaven must
receive UNTIL the times of
restoration of all things, whereof God spake by
the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”
And as this position of ‘waiting’ or ‘expectancy’ represents
the relation in which the Saviour at present stands in reference to His [coming earthly-restored (See Rom.
8: 19-21,
R.V.)] inheritance, so does it that of
His people; and as well after death, as while living in the world. They wait
for His appearing, that they may ‘appear
with Him in glory:’ the promise to them being, that, when the
earth shall be given to Christ for His inheritance, they shall be ‘joint-heirs with Him:’ when the converted
nations shall be His kingdom, they shall ‘reign with Him;’ when ‘the world shall be ruled by Him in judgment, and its people with equity,’ they
shall be His assessors, exercising judgment and rule under Him, administering
the ordinances, and dispensing the blessings of His government to the subject
nations of the world. Compare Matthew 19: 28; 1 Corinthians 6: 3; Revelation 20:
4-6; Daniel 7: 13-14, 17-18, 26-27. And, as to the position and expectation of
the departed saints, see Revelation 5: 9-10, and 6: 9-11, and 19: 14,
compared with Colossians 3: 4; 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, etc.
This is but an outline of the HOPE of the church, the kingdom and
inheritance for which the people of Christ, in common with Christ Himself,
still wait: but it is enough to show what is the time the apostle peculiarly intends in the passage before us,
when the children of God shall be ‘joint-heirs with
Christ,’ and ‘glorified together with Him.’ And
it is enough, also, to show that which makes it especially important to have
the Christian’s attention drawn to this subject at present - namely, 2. The character of the children of
God, which the apostle subjoins as the condition of the [promised] glory, in the words, ‘if so be
we suffer with Him, that we may be also
glorified together.’
The evils resulting from the
prevailing view of the kingdom of Christ, - which dates it from His ascension and
represents it as in being established in the earth to the present time, and so
to proceed till the world is completely evangelized, - are many: but the
greatest is, that it leads the church to mistake its position
in the world in this dispensation, as well as
the object of the dispensation itself. The
latter, so far from the evangelizing of the world and general conversion of the
nations, we are expressly told (Acts 15: 14) is, to take out of the Gentiles a
people for the Name of God: and such, we know, has been the only result hitherto, after a
period of eighteen hundred years and upwards. And the object for which this
people is so taken out, is declared with equal plainness in other Scriptures,
namely, to WITNESS for Christ in the
world while held by another power; and during the progress to consummation, not
of the kingdom of Christ, but of a ‘MYSTERY OF INIQUITY,’ which should only be matured and fully developed at the eve of the
Lord’s appearing, when it shall be judged and extirpated (2 Thessalonians 2). The position in the world of the elect church up to the
coming of Christ is consequently militancy and suffering, without any intermission - [with the exception of a pre-tribulation
rapture (Lk. 21: 34-36; cf. Rev. 3: 10) of those ‘accounted worthy to escape’ Antichrist’s persecutions.] - it being the time in which the disciples
of the Lord are to be conformed to Him in His humiliation, as they have the
prospect of being conformed to Him in His glory at His coming. But the effect
of the prevailing - [false hope and] - expectation is
completely to alter this position,
as it also plainly inverts this order: for, wherever Christianity is
established, there, it says, Christ reigns. And verily, the church has
concluded, that if He reigns in the world, she
should reign with Him in it; and accordingly she has sought to make it her
own, and enjoy herself in it, anticipating in practice her millennium, as many
of her expositors have done in theory, who have written to prove that we are now in the millennium - that it
commenced with the Christian era, since which time the world is in process of
alteration! Well may we take up the keen reproof of the apostle, and say to
such - “Already ye are filled, already ye are become rich, ye have reigned
without us: yea and I would that ye did reign,
that we also might reign with you;” while
he goes on to draw the contrast in his own and the other apostles’ case - “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye
are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye have
glory, but we have dishonour:” (1 Corinthians 4: 8, 10). And it is not
only the church, collectively speaking, which has fallen into the mistake, but
her members individually: who, we can everywhere see, are for the most part endeavouring to unite the profession of
Christianity with a creditable appearance in the world, and the enjoyment of
its good things. And this, we are to believe, is to ‘suffer with Christ’!!!
-------
Important argument this, not
only as proving this truth, but also as showing its practical influence. Would
that it came home to the heart of every professing Christian in this our day,
with all the force of a fact so undeniable, so plain and self-evident! “Heirs of God”
- through faith in Christ - “BUT co-heirs with Christ” - in His Millennial
Kingdom - “IF
INDEED WE SHARE IN HIS SUFFERINGS IN ORDER THAT WE MAY ALSO SHARE IN HIS GLORY:” (Rom.
8: 17).
What, then, is it to suffer with
Christ? First, it is to sympathize with Christ: so is the word in the original
- sumpascho.
To sympathize with Him in His present rejection by the world: to know no joy in
it so long as he is disowned in it: to make His cause ours: to be separate from
the world, as He is, in mind and feeling, living out of it with Him in Spirit.
And truly this will be a position of sorrow, knowing no comfort but the comfort
of the Spirit, Who in His absence testifies and reminds of Him - no joy but the
hope of His appearing, when, as He Himself says, ‘I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and
your joy no man taketh from you’ (John 16:
22); when the character of the world shall indeed be altered, because it will
then own Him as king; when ‘the meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace.’
But is this all? Will it be
confined to mere sympathy - to that which is in the mind and spirit only? No!
it will be an actual suffering with Christ, as it will be an actual separation
from the world - from ‘ALL that is in the world:’
for soon will the Christian find, that thus to track the path of Christ through
the world, thus to follow Him fully, will make us partakers of His cross, and
bearers of His reproach.
Finally - without this we are not [obedient]
Christians. ‘If we
suffer [‘endure’ R.V.], we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him,
He also will
deny us’ (2 Timothy 2: 12).
And it is to ‘deny Him,’ to go in any respect with ‘the course of
this world.’ It is apostasy from ‘the faith’ and hope of His appearing and kingdom - that hope which, in the scriptural
apprehension of it, will ever be found to be the regulator of the [faithful and obedient]
Christian’s position in the world.
* * *
3
OUR RESPONSE AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY
“WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN?” (Rom.
6: 1).
By PHILIP
MAURO
This
abrupt and pointed question marks another decided change in the Epistle, and
challenges our closest attention. Up to this time God has been speaking, and
has been making known, to those whose ears are opened to His voice, the
marvellous dealings of His Grace with believing children of Adam, who “were by nature the children of wrath” (Eph. 2: 3). Now, we are suddenly made aware that He
who has been speaking to us requires a response from us. “What shall we say then,” in response to all that God has declared
to us? When we were in our sins our mouth
was “stopped;” but now, being made free from
sin, our mouth is opened.
This
abrupt question is put to us as a test to prove whether or not we have received
all that God has been saying to us, and to prove also the sincerity of our
belief in His Word, as on one occasion the Lord, after imparting instruction to
His disciples, asked, “Have ye understood all these things?”
(Matt. 13:
51). What shall be our response?
God has been saying wonderful things to us. He has declared His “Good News,” the remission of sins to all who believe on the crucified and risen Son of
God, and also has made known “the gift of
righteousness,” a new and righteous nature derived from the Second Man, and
imparted to all who, through faith in Him, become the Sons of God. Now we learn
that God expects something from those to whom His grace has
abounded; and we do well to note carefully just what
He requires. It would not be possible, we think, to
exaggerate the importance of the Sixth Chapter
of Romans. It is intensely practical, and its entire application is to our present circumstances while yet in the
mortal body.
Failure or neglect on the part
of a child of God at this point means failure at the very first step of the
Christian life and walk. Let us then look closely at the contents of this
chapter, seeking intelligence wherewith to understand, and grace whereby to do,
the things here written for our guidance. It will be helpful, perhaps, before
taking up the details of the chapter, to survey the ground it covers, and to
take note of the prominent points therein. Looking thus over the field it is
easy to see that the most conspicuous fact declared in the chapter is the deliverance of the [regenerate] believer from the servitude sin. Sin
had reigned over all men.
The subjects of sin obeyed it
for the same reason that all slaves obey their own masters, namely, because
they must do so. They cannot do otherwise. However much the sinner may struggle
to escape from “the law of sin death,” and to live a
righteous and holy life, he cannot succeed. The Lord Himself declared this in
the strongest terms: “Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whosoever committeth sin is the servant [bond-slave] of sin” (John 8: 34). But at the same time He gave an
intimation of deliverance, saying: “And the
servant abideth not in the house for ever: but
the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall
make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (verses 35, 36). freedom
here spoken of by the Lord is the prominent subject of Rom. 6. The Son
of God had come “to proclaim liberty to the captives [of
sin], and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Is. 61: 1). And now we, who once were bound
by sin, have heard the proclamation that the bars are broken, the chains have
fallen from our limbs, and the ponderous doors of our prison-house are open. “What shall we say then” Shall we continue in the place where once
we were held? Shall we continue in sin? If so, it is now by our choice, for now
we “have been made free from sin”
(Rom. 6: 18). We are free to depart or to
remain. We are “free indeed.” Freedom
from the servitude of sin is mentioned in the following passages in
“That henceforth we should not serve sin” (ver. 6).
“He that died is freed from sin” (ver. 7).
“Reckon ye yourselves to be dead in sin” (ver. 11).
“Let not sin reign in your mortal body to obey it in the desires thereof” (ver. 12).
“For sin shall not have dominion over you” (ver. 14).
“Ye were the servants of sin, but
ye have obeyed from the heart” (ver. 17).
“Being then made free from sin” (ver. 18).
“For when ye were the servants of sin” (ver. 20).
“But now being made free from sin” (ver. 22).
Doubtless these many repetitions
of the same truth in slightly different words are needed to impress our minds,
in order that the truth may be driven home. Those who have long been habituated
to the same conditions, however onerous, are hard to convince of a change.
Scarcely had the Israelites escaped out of
Our chapter tells us also the
manner of our deliverance from the slavery of sin. It is by death. And here is
a strange thing. It is not the death of the master that puts an end to the
slavery, but the death of the slave. “For he
is dead [lit., that died] is free from sin” (v.
7). We have no difficulty in
understanding that the death of the captive brings his captivity to an end; but
we never should have thought of that way of deliverance for ourselves from
servitude of sin. Here, then, is a surprise for us - one of the many instances
that remind us that God’s ways are not our ways. Therefore, realizing our need
of enlightenment on this point, we should listen with close attention to what
our Divine Teacher has graciously imparted to us with reference thereto.
Inquiring
further into the manner of our deliverance from the bondage of sin, we learn
that the death which has set us free is not a death that each of us dies
individually, but a death into which we are brought in virtue of the death of
Christ, the Headman of our race. It is His death, and it becomes ours by reason
of our identification with Him. The actual dying - with all that it involves of
weakness, humiliation and horror was His. He “tasted
death for every man” (Heb. 2: 9). The results are ours. “So many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death” (
Manifestly, the teaching
contained in these passages is the carrying forward of the great lesson taught
in chapter 5. concerning the Lord Jesus the
last Adam, and concerning the consequences to all His family of His one act of
obedience unto death. God tells us that, when the Lord Jesus departed through
the gateway of death from the humanity of flesh and blood (whereof He became a
partaker because “the children” were partakers thereof- Heb. 2: 4, He took all the children with Him. In this manner He
delivered those who were “subject to bondage” (Heb. 2: 15). It is not to be expected that
we should understand this great transaction. What is needful for the moment is
that we believe it, because God has said it; and then that we should act upon
the basis of the truth revealed to us, namely, that we have been, by the death
of Christ for us, as by our own death with Him, set free from the slavery of
sin.
Thus
believing and acting we do reckon ourselves to be “dead indeed unto sin.” We realize in a very
special way that these truths are among the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2: 10), known only to the Spirit of
God, and hence to be learned only of Him (1 Cor. 2: 10, 11). But,
on the other hand, we find this plain command, “Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin;” and this we find to be
the very first practical exercise given to the justified man. Therefore, we
confidently count upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit to impart the [accountability] truth to those who are willing to [obey God and] walk
in it; and we are persuaded that,
until this command be carried out in the Spirit, there can be no real progress in Christian living, however much one may be able to accumulate
correct doctrine, prophetic and dispensational
truth, and the like. Let us then give diligent heed to this
commandment, and rest not until we
have “obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which we
have been delivered” (v. 17).*
* The reader should note the correct rendering of this verse.
The doctrine has not been delivered to us to be shaped and moulded according to
our ideas; but we have been delivered over to the doctrine that it may and
mould us. Our part is to obey it from the heart. Lastly, for the purpose of this
preliminary survey, we would refer again to the subject which the opening words
of the chapter bring so forcibly to our attention, namely, our response, and
our responsibility. This is indeed most solemn and important. We are deeply
impressed with the thought that, even in the very best and soundest teaching of
the day, far too little attention is paid to the grave responsibilities resting
upon those who have received the abundance of grace and of the of
righteousness.
It is quite possible so to teach
the grace of God as to make those who have received the benefits thereof lose
sight of their responsibilities. But Scriptures do not so teach the doctrine of
Divine Grace. Very clearly do they teach the blessed fact that all who believe
on the crucified and risen Son of God are “justified
freely by His grace” (Rom. 3: 24), “and by Him all believe are justified from all things”
(Acts 13: 39); and furthermore that
the [free] gift of
God’s free grace abounds unto eternal life (Rom. 5: 21; 6: 23). But
with equal clearness do the Scriptures teach that, after our sins have been
remitted by grace, and eternal life has been given by grace, we are required to
depart instantly from, our old ways. So complete a change of conduct is
required of us that it is described as walking “in
newness of life.” Not only are our ways of living to be changed, but the very
place of residence is to be changed also.
What shall we say then, after
having listened to God’s announcement of what infinite grace has made ours
through the Cross of Christ? Shall continue living in the old ways and in the
old place? Shall we continue in sin? After we have truly learned, by the Word
and Spirit of God, our association with Christ in His death, the only possible
reply to this question will be “may it not be.
How shall we, who died
to sin, live any longer therein?”
It is a very serious matter to
receive light and not to walk in it. There is a certain carnal satisfaction in
acquiring a stock of Scripture-knowledge, and its possession may foster carnal
pride, and produce a pleasing sense of superiority over those saints who have
less of that knowledge. It is dangerous in the extreme
to lose sight of the fact that our responsibility is in proportion to our [God-given understanding of ‘Scripture knowledge’ and]
light. The Lord did not say “if ye know these
things, happy are ye;” but “if ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13: 17). Again, He to those who boasted
they were the children of Abraham, “If ye
were Abraham’s children ye would do the
works of Abraham” (John 8: 39). If then we have the faith of
Abraham, it is incumbent upon us to walk in the steps of the faith which
Abraham had (Rom. 4:
12).
Indeed it is better not to have
the light wherein some are disposed to pride themselves if we do not walk in
that light. It is written of some who had a certain knowledge of Christ that “if after they have escaped the pollutions of world through the knowledge of
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they
are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way
righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them”
(2 Peter 2: 20,
21).
There is, of course, no question
of the believer’s losing the gift of Eternal Life; but the Scriptures contain
numerous and most solemn warnings of damage and loss which the saint may
sustain through disobedience, perversity, heedlessness, or neglect. There is a disposition on our part to pass lightly over such warnings. We do so at our peril; and the command is laid upon all of
us to exhort one another daily, so long as it is called “Today,” lest “any of you” [“holy brethren”] be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; and so much the
more should we do so as we “see the day
approaching” (Heb. 3: 13; 10: 25). Surely now - [during these last days of
spiritual slumber and apostasy (Matt. 24: 9-12; cf. Acts 20: 30,
31; Jude 4, 5.)] - is
the time for giving and receiving these exhortations. In “a little while”
it will be too late. Awake,
therefore, ye children of light and of the day. “Let
us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thess. 5: 6).
* * *
4
SICKNESS AMONG THE
CHILDREN OF GOD
By PHILIP
MAURO
It follows from the
teaching to which we, as children of God, have been delivered, that our mortal
bodies have been taken out of the old relations which existed while we were
serving sin (as the Israelites served in Egypt) and have been brought into new
relations with God, in Christ Jesus (as the Israelites were brought into new
relations with Him, and new dependence upon Him for the sustenance of life,
after they had crossed the Red Sea. Prominent among the incidents which are
effected by this change is that of sickness and the treatment thereof. The
Scriptures make it very clear that sickness among the children of God is a very
different matter from sickness among the people of the world, and arises from
different causes. It should, therefore, receive correspondingly different “treatment.” Any believer who has grasped, though it
be but very imperfectly, the doctrines of Rom. 6. and 8.,
must be conscious, to some extent at least, of the incongruity of resorting to
man’s medicinal remedies for the healing of that body whose members have been
yielded to God for His service, and which is indwelt by His [Holy] Spirit. To do this is to put the mortal body of the child of
God back where it was before he died with Christ and rose with Him.
Sickness is appropriate to
Here we see every provision for
health and sustenance and healing; but the provision is coupled with responsibility as to the believer’s “walk” while
journeying through the wilderness. Sickness may, of course, come
upon a child of God through other causes than his own disobedience or departure
from God’s ways. Instances of this will be given later on. Nevertheless.
Disobedience is doubtless the most fruitful cause of sickness among saints, and
consequently the path of obedience is that which is most favourable to physical
health and well-being. Even in the rare case of sickness occurring to a child
of God while abiding in His Will, it would be manifestly wrong to seek
deliverance from it through the use of human expedients.
Whether or not sickness ever comes
to children of God except as a means of chastening or discipline, or as a check
against a course of self-will not necessarily involving any moral evil, or as a
means of instruction in His ways, it is in any case clear that it is not of
faith for them to seek deliverance from sickness through the agency of those
expedients which unbelieving man has devised, and by means of which the latter
endeavours to maintain himself in a state of independence of God. The
efficiency of any particular medicinal remedy or “cure”
furnishes no argument for its use by a child of God, but rather the reverse. So
long as sickness is or may be a chastening of the Lord, the certainty of a
humanly-devised means of escape from it, would rather furnish a greater reason
why it should not be used. There could be no worse issue to the sickness of a
child of God than to lose the benefit of the purpose for which it was permitted
to overtake him. Whatever view, therefore, we may take of sickness, it is in
any case certain that, for a child of God to put himself in the hands of a
doctor, and to take into his body the drugs he may prescribe, is not walking by
faith. It is not necessary at this point to inquire whether “Divine Healing” is taught or implied in this or that passage
of Scripture, or whether the promises of the Word of God with respect to
healing are available to believers of this dispensation, or are the exclusive
property of the Israelite.
The believer of this
dispensation, who is a member of the Body of Christ and a sharer of His
resurrection life through the indwelling [Holy] Spirit, and whose special call is to walk
by faith, has no need to invade the covenant privileges of the Israelite in
order to obtain the promise of healing for the mortal body. The relation of the
believer to the Risen Christ brings the mortal body of the former into a
position of privilege and blessing to which the Israelite was a stranger. The
believer’s access to Divine life and health is direct and ample. To him healing
for the body comes - not through a miracle or outward sign, as in Old Testament
times, and as in the days of our Lord’s earthly ministry among His own earthly
people, nor yet by the exercise of the “gift of healing,”
(which was used so far as the record goes, only on those outside the Church),
but by means of his vital union with the glorified Man Whom God has raised from
among the dead, and through the presence of the Spirit of Life, indwelling and
quickening the mortal body.
There are two aspects of this
important subject. We have to consider first the resources which the members of
Christs Body have in Him; and secondly the matter of the believer’s separation
from the world and its resources. The first we have already discussed. As to
the second, it is clear that there can be no complete separation from the world
so long as the child of God places dependence for relief from sickness upon the
remedies of the world. The question of the use of such expedients is settled
for every believer who has gained a clear apprehension of the position into
which be has been brought by the crucifixion of Christ and His resurrection [out] from the
dead.
The doctrine of Galatians 6: 14 which
teaches that the believer has been crucified to the world, would have little
meaning if he is remanded to the remedies of the world-system for the cure of
his physical ailments. If it be a departure from the believer’s place of
separation unto his crucified Lord to participate in the world’s pleasures and
projects, or to compete for its honours, it must be equally (if not more so) a
departure for him to seek the aid of “medical
treatment” when chastened by sickness. The writer has not been able to
find in Scripture any shadow of a reason why believers should subject to
medical “treatment” the bodies which God has
demanded for His service, which He alone understands, and which the Holy Spirit
condescends to occupy as His temples. If it grieves the loving heart of our
Heavenly Father whenever a child of His looks to the things of the world for any
pleasure, gratification, or benefit, how very grievous to Him it must be when
they seek the world’s expedients for deliverance from evil!
In considering this subject it
must be remembered first that disease is a manifestation of the power of evil
(that is, of Satan’s power, who has the power of death), and second that man’s
“medical science” is largely the outcome of his
efforts to be independent of God. It is, therefore, a dishonour to God and a
triumph to His enemies whenever a child of God seeks the aid of human
expedients for deliverance from sickness. Occasion is thereby given to the
scoffer to say that God’s children can talk about trusting Him when all goes
well, but that when a real need arises, and a real trouble overtakes them, they
immediately fly for help to man’s remedies. On the other hand, by so doing the
child of God deprives those who are observing his conduct, of such a benefit of
a testimony to God’s faithfulness as can be given in no other way The writer
knows of a remarkable conversion wrought through the trust exhibited by a
little child, who had been taught to look to God and to Him alone, for
deliverance from sickness.
Furthermore, to choose God’s way
rather than man’s is to choose the better way. The inadequacy of medicinal
remedies is being specially manifested and recognized in these perilous times,
wherein the power of Satan is being increasingly displayed. God’s children,
therefore, have special need to be taught, at this time, the place which He has
given to their mortal bodies in His work of redemption, in order that they may
be protected, not only from the blunders and inefficiencies of the medical
practitioner, but also from the more serious dangers which have been lately
introduced into the sphere of professing Christianity by the “psychotherapist” and other religious charlatans.
I am the more urgent to press
this matter upon the people of God at this time, and to exhort them earnestly
to seek God’s mind about it, as He has revealed it in His Word, because I am
persuaded that the saints living in the CLOSING days
of this present evil age are specially called upon to walk in complete
separation from the world. I am persuaded that, to seek God’s way in sickness, and to
walk in it, will especially characterize those whose wonderful privilege
it shall be to be changed in a moment at the coming of the Lord. These are they
in whom the Apostle’s prayer shall be answered, for they shall be wholly
sanctified or set apart unto God from every thing that is of the world, and shall
be preserved blameless, spirit, soul, AND
BODY, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 5: 23).
For
these reasons I have been deeply impressed with the thought that God’s gracious
purpose is to give to His people at this time a fuller knowledge of His ways
with regard to the use and care of their physical bodies and members. I believe
that He is calling them to take, in this matter, a position in advance of that
to which the saints of former generations were called, whose bodies were not to
experience the marvellous change referred to above. And if this be indeed His
purpose, we can readily understand Satan’s activity in seeking to obscure God’s
path of simple faith by bringing forward and making prominent, just at this
time, the false healing cults and movements which constitute
such a remarkable feature of these strange and evil days. May the
Holy Spirit find every child of God who may read these lines ready to follow
where He may lead.
THE “CAUSE” OF SICKNESS AMONG SAINTS
The
Scriptures give us one, and only one, direct statement as to what may be the
cause of sickness in a believer of this dispensation, a member of the Body of
Christ. That solitary reference teaches in the clearest way that it is not so
much the natural cause of diseases, exposure to contagion, or to unsanitary
conditions, or to the elements, - that the child of God has to fear, as the [present-day manufactured]* supernatural or
spiritual causes. The passage is 1 Cor. 11: 27-32, where
instruction is given concerning the commemoration and the showing forth of the
Lord’s death, in the manner appointed by Him. We are commanded to do this in
remembrance of Him and thereby to show forth His death until He come. That can
be done “worthily” only by those members of His
Body whose manner of life is consistent with the fact that they have been
conjoined in the likeness of His death. It follows that “whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily
shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord”; that is (as I
understand it) shall be guilty in regard to the purpose for which the Body was
broken and that Blood poured out; for he who eats and drinks unworthily treats
them as a nullity. “But let a man examine (or
prove) himself, and so
let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not
discerning the Lord’s Body. FOR THIS
CAUSE many are weak and sickly among you, and
many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we
should not be judged. But when we are judged
(lit. being judged) of
the Lord we are CHASTENED, that we should not be condemned with the world.” Among
the truths that are to be learned from this important passage of Scripture the
following are prominent, and are unmistakably clear, namely;
[* NOTE: During the
2020 Covid-19 pandemic (so called), and the world-wide coercion to accept a
three-year experimental and untested mRNA vaccination of undisclosed content, Vera Sharav, a
Holocaust survivor and human rights activist in New York, during interview
said:-
“Governments
are trying to hide the evidence, but
really the hospitals are full of vaccinated people who are sick. If they had done
safety studies the way you’re supposed to it would be different. But this was
done under Trump’s ‘Warp Speed’. All they cared about was speed. Get it out fast, never mind that they’re not tested.”
The whole
obsession with the virus is delusional; it’s just a virus, we have viruses
every year all the time. It’s not the
virus that’s causing the habit, it’s
how they’re dealing with it, supposedly
to protect us; of course that’s not
the case at all! They’re destroying society, they’re destroying everything,
while telling us this is for our good! Look
what this has done, look at what they’ve done - poisoned the fabric of society, OK. They’ve generated hostility against unvaccinated neighbours,
friendships and even family relations have been severed by the divide. The state of fear has facilitated the erosion, and practically the
whole foundation of democracy, all the democratic checks and balances of the
rights, the civil rights; everything has
been brushed aside but the Virus, the
Virus! It’s insane. Having created a partite society, - we used to be very
critical of South Africa, right; only now you have it in Italy, you have it, [in
Australia] and now the United States, you’ll see. The thing is that the WORST is yet to come. That’s the part I know about.
The holocaust just
didn’t start with
Now each stage of
this horror in Nazi Germany was totally
supported and even planned by the medical establishment; both in government and in academia. They
all participated. It wasn’t just a few doctors. It was the entire medical
profession in public health: all
participated and gave their seal of approval. They used the bodies, the
tissues from the experiments at the universities; they wrote articles in the
medical journals about the experiments, and
no one said a word! In fact, what the medical establishment did then, as they do now, is to lend the veneer of legitimacy to murderous operations.” -
Vera Sharav.]
Firstly, that sickness is
sometimes permitted to overtake and lay hold of a child of God whose conduct is
unbecoming one who is in Christ, and has been allowed to pass without
self-judgment.
Secondly that this is permitted
as a chastening or discipline of the Lord.
Thirdly that God’s purpose in
thus chastening His children is to the end that the latter may be exercised to repentance, godly sorrow, and confession,
so that they may not be “condemned with the world.” It
thus most clearly appears that sickness in a child of God is a totally
different affair from the sickness of an unbeliever; and if we resort to the
same “treatment” in the former case that is
used in the latter, we thereby disregard the plain teaching of God’s Word. The
Lord does not discipline the children of wrath; He disciplines only His own
children (Amos 3: 2; Heb. 12: 6-13).
It is evident, therefore, that
if a child of God, when thus brought under His chastening hand for his own
profit, seeks to escape therefrom by resort to the medicinal remedies upon
which the unbelieving rely, he does but further affront and grieve his Heavenly
Father by despising the chastening of the Lord. Therefore God also says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of
the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of Him.” The
discipline is rather to be regarded as a mark of His love, “For whom the Lord LOVETH He
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth.” The passage in 1 Cor. 11.
further teaches that different degrees of misconduct among the children of God
receive corresponding degrees of chastening. Some of the offending ones at
“There is a sin
unto death” (1 John 5: 16). This
may be one thing or another. In the case of Ananias and Sapphira the “sin unto death” was lying to the Holy Spirit. In the case of the Corinthian
assembly it consisted in gross misconduct, utterly unbecoming those who are
called upon to show forth the Lord’s death during His absence and rejection, -
and in then making a mockery of the ordinance of commemoration of His death, by
participating therein without judging their own mis-doings. If we can conceive
that any, in such case, recovered health through the aid of medicinal remedies,
even supplemented by prayer, the last case of such would be far worse than the
first.
Nor should it be expected that
healing must always immediately follow penitence, confession, and believing
prayer for recovery. It may be needful in God’s wisdom that the sickness be
severe and prolonged. Or perhaps He might even grant the healing, if asked for,
before the end desired by Himself (which is that we might be “partakers of His holiness”) be fully accomplished. Better it is to
endure the chastening patiently, for if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with
you as with sons; and though “no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby.” It is better, therefore, to pray for the
peaceable fruit of righteousness than for the recovery; and we may be sure
that, by truly seeking the former, we shall the more speedily obtain the
latter.
We wish not to be understood as
saying that every sickness overtaking a saint of God is a chastening for some
fault. The Scriptures do not so state, but rather indicate that God may permit
sickness for other purposes. Thus Paul’s experience mentioned in 2 Cor. 1. was to
teach him not to trust in himself, but in God Who raises the dead. The
afflictions of Job, including physical illness, were to teach him that the Lord
does not afflict willingly, but is very pitiful and of tender mercy (Job 37: 23; James 5: 13).
Epaphroditus was “for the work of Christ nigh unto death,
not regarding his life.” “But God had mercy on him,” and
healed him (Phil. 2:
27-30).
David’s child was “very sick” because of the sin of his father (1 Kings 12: 15). The
man born blind was not thus afflicted for his own sin, nor for sins of his
parents, “but that the works of God should be
made manifest in him” (John 9: 3). All these illustrations point
to the conclusion that every case of
sickness occurring in a child of God is a case for God’s dealing alone. In every case the interference of man and
his remedies could only oppose the purpose of God.
The Scriptures bearing on the
subject of sickness, some of which we have briefly considered, show that, while
Satan is the agent by which the affliction is caused, yet in the case of
sickness in a child of God, it is God Himself Who permits the affliction,
giving Satan leave to put forth his power. The case of Job is a conspicuous
example of this (Job 2: 6, 7). It is in accordance with the clearly
revealed ways of God thus to use even
His enemies in the accomplishment of His gracious purposes. It is most
important that we should understand this.
The history of God’s earthly
people, as related in Judges, Kings and Chronicles,
abounds in instructive incidents in which God suffered His people to be
overpowered by their enemies, or to be humbled before them, either as a
punishment for their faithlessness, or in order to teach them that it was for
their own good to look solely to Him for defence against, and deliverance from,
their foes. The experience of King Asa is specially pertinent, and we would
therefore ask particular attention to 2 Chron.
chaps. 14.
and 16. When King Asa, of whom God has
testified that He did, “that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God,” was
assailed by the mighty Ethiopian host of a million men, he cried unto God,
saving: “There is none BESIDE THEE to help between the mighty and him that hath no
strength. Help us, O Jehovah our God, for WE RELY ON THEE, and in THY NAME
are we come upon this multitude” (14: 11. Am. R.V) When Asa and Judah thus relied
upon the LORD alone, seeking no aid
from man, the result was that “Jehovah smote the
Ethiopians before Asa and before
And yet, notwithstanding this
marvellous deliverance, when subsequently the King of Israel came up against
Asa, the latter followed the course dictated by prudence and human wisdom. He sent money to the King of
In the same manner in this
dispensation, God often uses the power of His enemies for the chastening and
instruction of His people. The lesson before us is so plain that we cannot miss
its meaning unless we wilfully close our eyes to it. In the present time, as of
old, God’s people often find themselves assailed by mighty foes, against whom
they have “no strength”; and often God permits them to
fall into the hands of these enemies. The attacks that are the most common are
those of physical diseases of various sorts. In every such case the believer
has precisely the same choice that King Asa had. He may either rely upon the LORD alone, which in the judgment of
the world and of many Christians is folly or fanaticism, or he may pursue the
course dictated by prudence and human wisdom, namely, that of buying with money
the aid of one of his natural enemies (the world and its “science”) against another.* For proof that the modern
sciences, which are the boast and confidence of the world, are the enemies of
God and His people, see ‘The Number of Man’
by same author, chapter on Latter-Day Idols; also his pamphlet the Foundations
of Faith.
Now let it be particularly noted
that these incidents in the life of Asa are recorded for the special purpose of
teaching the very lesson we are seeking to enforce, namely, that a child of
God, when attacked by an enemy, should look to God alone for help and
deliverance. For the messenger of the LORD
declared to Asa that “the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout THE WHOLE EARTH” - not through Israel only - “to show HIMSELF STRONG in the
behalf of them whose HEART IS PERFECT
toward Him” (ver.
9). A “perfect” heart is an undivided heart; and for the purpose of our
present study this means a heart that
seeks aid from God alone for deliverance from sickness and other enemies.
To do otherwise deprives us of the help of God, and, (which is far more
important) it deprives Him of the opportunity to “show HIMSELF strong.” A “perfect” heart certainly does not mean the heart of one who, in time
of danger, sends to the world for the aid of its “science,”
and asks God to “bless the means” which He has taught His people to shun.
In order to make it impossible
for us to miss the application of these incidents, the sequel of Asa’s case is
recorded for us; and we earnestly exhort our readers to weigh the whole record
carefully, bearing in mind that King Asa was a beloved child of God. The sacred record tells us that Asa was
highly incensed by the message of the prophet, and that he did what he could to stifle the voice of the messenger by, shutting him up in a prison-house. And
then another enemy assailed King Asa, even a grievous disease, and “his disease
was exceeding great, and yet” - that is, notwithstanding the experience he had
enjoyed, and the direct message from God explaining that experience - “in his disease he sought not to the LORD but to the physicians.” The
consequence is stated with impressive brevity, “And Asa slept
with his fathers.”
The writer of these lines has
been made of late to feel very keenly that a message, which calls upon the
people of God to seek God alone for deliverance from their enemies, is to some of them a most unacceptable message;
and that confinement in a prison-house is not the only means by which a true
believer may attempt to stifle the bearer of an unacceptable message. The
reader, however, is responsible to determine whether this message be from God
or not; and he must decide this by the test of God’s Word. And if, upon
receiving the message, there should arise in the reader’s heart a repugnance to
it, with perchance a feeling of hostility to the messenger and a desire to
stifle his message, we would most earnestly and affectionately press upon such
a reader the solemn warning which Asa’s experience teaches. God has not changed during the intervening
centuries. Still do His all-seeing eyes run to and fro throughout the whole
earth, searching for one to whom He can “show HIMSELF strong”; and still there
are agencies available for the chastening of those who having, like Asa,
experienced His faithfulness and His power to deliver, and having received
instruction in His Ways, “YET in their diseases” resort to the way of the world
and “seek not to the LORD but to the [world’s
unbelieving so-called] physicians.”
It may not be out of place at
this point to remark that the practice of the writer and his family which they
have followed for the past seven years has consisted in the very simple plan of
committing every case of sickness (some have been chronic, some acute, and some
very severe) into the Lord’s hands and
leaving it there. “Commit your way unto the Lord,
trust also in Him, and
He will bring it to pass.” He has done so in every case to
His own glory, and to our unspeakable profit. We have gained by the sickness,
and gained again by the restoration, and can praise Him for both. But, it is
said, people sometimes die who decline medical aid; and this argument against
trusting the Lord in sickness is actually advanced by those who also say that
for the believer to depart and to be with Christ is “far better.” It is, however, better to die trusting God than trusting
man. But with a child of God it should be not a matter of living or of dying,
but of walking in the ways of God; and it seems to me that He has made His way
in sickness plain enough for those who are willing to walk in it, and who can
trust Him in the face of human opposition.
The writer has further discussed
this important and practical subject in two pamphlets entitled, respectively,
Sickness Among Saints, and Trusting God in Sickness, which may be had of the
publisher of this volume. The latter discusses the principal objections that
have been raised to the doctrine that God’s children when sick should look to
Him alone, and use only the means prescribed by Him, - the Great Physician.
* *
*
5
COVETOUSNESS AND THE
LOVE OF MONEY*
By D. M. Panton. M.A.
Covetousness is laid down by the
Holy Spirit as one of the sins for which a regenerate believer is to be
excluded from the Church of God (1 Cor. 5: 11); covetousness caused the instant death of the first church
members ever dealt with by God judicially (Acts 5: 5); and covetousness
is a sin for which the
penalty at the Judgment Seat of Christ is THE LOSS OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM (1 Cor. 6: 10). But one unique incident uncovers covetousness like
lightning. The only one of Christ’s twelve Apostles to fall (without
restoration), fell through covetousness; for covetousness he committed the most
despicable sin in the history of the world; and his covetousness brought him to
suicide: yet what brings it home to
us all, and makes it appallingly real, is the amount which wrought all this
ruin was no colossal fortune. No fact could paint in such letters of fire the
power, the folly, and the ruin of sin.
Judas Iscariot misses a
foundation name in the
In Judas is summed up for all
time, and supremely for the last days, the heart of the apostate, who was once
high in the councils of the Church; for he is the studied type, presented once
for all, of a host of regenerate souls at the close of this evil and
apostate age. Judas reveals the fearful peril of an unbelief in God’s unfilled
prophecies. It is inconceivable that
our Lord would have made Judas an Apostle had there been in him no
possibilities of the highest. He had joined a rejected Christ, and incurred
all the peril that had fallen on the other Apostles. But, as Judas slowly
revealed his heart, the best that can be said for him is that, while glutting
his own greed, he also sought to force the hand of Christ, to compel Him - if
He were the Messiah - to grasp the Kingdom, which he and other Apostles would
then share. Any failure to do this on the part of Christ (so Judas must have
argued in his own mind) would prove that He was not the Messiah. Therefore the
Lord’s own prophecies -
Our Lord’s warning to Judas (and
every other disciple of Christ) is most wonderful. Jesus makes perfectly plain
the future which lies before any regenerate man who betrays Him. “Woe
to that man through whom the Son of Man
is betrayed! Good were it for that man had he
had not been born. And Judas, twhich betrayed him, answered and said, ‘Is ir
I, Rabbi?’” (Matt. 26: 24, R.V.). So
pure in heart were the Eleven, that when Jesus said, “One of you shall betray me,” the disciples “looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake” (John 13: 22, R.V.),
none concentrating his gaze or thinking specifically of Judas. The complete
unsuspiciousness of the other Apostles proves that Judas’s life seemed to
square with his profession. But he does a most dangerous thing. He says, “Is it I, Rabbi?” (Matt. 26: 25). If the Lord had not
miraculously revealed it, Judas would never have been unmasked at all. No sin is ever recorded of Judas except a hand put surreptitiously into
a money bag * (John 12: 6), an
act which none had seen but God: yet the
Lord knows all, and He makes all as
plain as day.** Justice might well have
been angry; prudence might well have been silent; wrath might have instantly
struck: love warns, so as to give a
last chance [for confession and genuine] repentance; and Jesus hands him the bread, so identifying
the traitor. “As soon as Judas took the bread,
Satan entered into him” (John 13: 27). No Christian knows when he quenches the Holy Spirit for the last
time. Judas left the room an Apostate. It is a fearful revelation of what every
regenerate believer can become. The
greatest demoniac of all ages, and
the worst demon possession ever recorded, occurred at the Lord’s Table, and was a prelude to the Last Supper.
[* NOTE: During the Covid-19 coercions which were implemented by the UK
Government, - the wearing of masks and social distancing, etc. - were quickly
demanded by various religious organizations; and access to their buildings was
denied to anyone not prepared to obey Government draconian rules! This
deliberate restriction, from gathering
together to remember the Lord’s death in His appointed way; and the substantial sums of public money were
offered, and accepted, from government officials, were deemed by some to be more important than obedience to two
of their Lord’s very important
commands: (1) “Do not forsake the gathering of yourselves
together” (Heb. 10: 25); and
(2) “This do this in remembrance of me:” (Luke 22: 19, R.V.)!
** “Why was there uniform acceptance of the measures? … However,
what has yet has not been discussed in detail is the true level of
collaboration that has taken place between the church and the state when it
comes to the COVID-19 agenda. Why is it that if an individual were to walk into
a church, a mosque, or a Hindu temple in
Now the awful character which we shall more and more live to see -
the apostate - rises on the horizon. The interview of Judas with the Chief Priests
had hardly taken place, before the Supper, and he may have had the money on him
at the table. He had said:- “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you”
(Matt 26: 15). In a
few hours the moment had arrived for him to pay the awful price for his thirty
silver shekels: he barters away his millennial inheritance in the
coming Messianic Kingdom for so little; he robs himself
of life in “the
Age to Come”: like Esau he
loses his birthright for so small a price. In
* Most significantly, Jesus addresses Judas (Matt. 26: 50) by the very word the Communist most affects -
‘Comrade,’ ‘mate’;
and, equally significantly, throughout Judas addresses Christ as ‘Rabbi’, never as ‘Lord’.
So the dread drama moves to its
inexorable close. Judas suddenly hurries back, with his conscience all on fire,
and casts the thirty pieces of silver past the outer
The final stage is sin’s
inevitable goal - black despair. “With the reward Judas
got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his
body burst open and all his intestines spilled out” (Acts 1: 18). It
would appear that Judas left the Temple, approached the valley of El Hinnom,
and roped himself to a tree jutting from an overhanging craig; and either the
rope snapped, or the branch split, and falling headlong, he burst asunder below
on the Field of Blood.* It is the principle on which the Devil acts that he tells souls before they sin, ‘Hope,’ but
after they sin, ‘Despair’: he
first blinds the eyes to sin’s guilt,
and then he opens them to its enormity.
Satan had entered into Judas, but when the end came he gave him not a word of
aid or counsel or comfort: his victim lies at the cliff’s foot without one word
of love or one tear of farewell. If Satan cannot succeed in preventing a saved
soul from finding eternal life through faith in Christ; he will seek to prevent him/her from inheriting the promised millennial
kingdom. (See Psa. 2: 8; Luke 22: 28-30. Cf.
* Dr. H. B. Hackett says:- “As I stood in the
[** God’s eternal kingdom is in “a new heaven and new earth: for the first heaven
and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more:” (Rev. 21: 1. cf. 2
Pet. 3: 8-10, R.V.).
Therefore, the only other divine kingdom, mentioned throughout both O.T. and
N.T. scriptures, which is promised to, and ruled over by our Lord Jesus Christ,
is His millennial kingdom: (See Psa. 72.
& 110. Cf. Rev. 2: 25-27; 3: 21; 11: 15; 20: 4-6, R.V.]
*** “Never in the history of the Church has it been more important than during
the present time for Christians to
understand the true nature and course of apostasy, along with the
Christian’s only recourse to avoid
being engulfed, to some degree, in this apostasy. We’re living very near the
close of this present age, during the time when the Laodicean period of Church
history is rapidly nearing completion. Throughout the remainder of this age,
according to Scripture, there can only be a further
deterioration of existing conditions. There will be no
great awakening, great revival in Christendom during days ahead. Rather, deteriorating conditions will only intensify,
producing instead, the great
apostasy to culminate the age in which we live.” - A. L. CHITWOOD.
-------
ADDITIONAL NOTES
“On the subject of riches and being ‘increased with goods’, as
previously mentioned, it is not long into the minutes of these meetings until
the subject of money comes
up. Government officials encourage the faith leaders in the meeting to ‘set out in writing what additional funding
‘is] required’ and that money can be accessed ‘under the COVID-19 Charities Fund administered by
the Department of Communities, (p. 39). Here we have it: church leaders disobey
the Lord and close their churches, forsaking the literal gathering of God’s
people (as well as disobediently halting singing, fellowship, the Lord’s table,
baptism, and evangelism) and then seek
money from the government for doing so. These church leaders not only [like
Judas] played the traitor but, like Israel of old when she fell into idolatry and
sin also played the whore, selling
themselves cheaply for doing the bidding of the state.
In
Not only did churches that closed
themselves down apply to the State for free money to bail them out for their
sin, but what comes as a further concern is that the Phase 1 funding scheme in
As we conclude, it is clear that
for the testimony of the cause of Christ, churches should have stayed out of meddling in state affairs, and should have,
at a minimum, taken a neutral stance with regard to these issues. All of the
information regarding the COVID-19 measures could easily have been obtained at
any time on the revelent UK government websites, and so there was no need, and there was no excuse, for church leaders in Northern Ireland to have attended
these ‘interfaith’ private propaganda meetings. Instead, however, they willingly became involved in state
business, lending the COVID-19 narrative their full support and compliance, and thus displayed all the qualities
that leaders should not have
(naivetly, gullibility, weakness, lack of conviction, and no backbone to take a
stand for God’s truth)! Jesus warned, “there is nothing
covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known” (Matthew 10: 26). Secrets cannot be kept forever, and truth by its nature has a habit of
coming to the surface eventually. That which has been kept in darkness, and has
been presumed by some to have been swept
under the carpet, has now cone into the
light. These revelations will cause no alarm for some (who simply do not
care [as long
as money keeps coming in]). But for others who
rightly hold to the view that the church should be separate from the state in
order to remain pure and faithful to the cause of Christ, these revelations
will be deeply disturbing.” - www.TheLordsWorkTrust.org
* * *
6
FINDING THE BRIDE OF CHRIST*
By D. M. Panton, M.A.
The Old Testament is
described by Paul as full of ‘types and shadows’
of New Testament realities; and it seems hardly probable that the Holy Spirit
would occupy a lengthy chapter of Genesis with
elaborate details of a family marriage, if it were not a lovely symbol - as it
most definitely is - of the great Marriage expressed in the words,- “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding
banquet for his son” (Matt. 22: 2, N.I.V. and throughout.). So we find it
set in the suited background. Genesis 22 is lsaac, the son of Abraham, offered up as a sacrifice on
Mount Moriah, and - the Holy Spirit says in Hebrews
(11: 19)
- received back in resurrection: so
now, after Calvary, the risen Son of God is to have a Bride; and Genesis 24 is not only a wonderful revelation of divine guidance, but an
extraordinarily exact photograph of that seeking from amongst family members, to
find those chosen to become Christ’s Bride.*
[* NOTE.
In Gen. 24, the bride for Isaac is selected
from
amongst family members. “You will not get a
wife for my son from the daughters of
the Canaanites ... but will go to my country and
MY OWN RELATIVES to get a wife for my son Isaac,” (verse 4): “the Lord has
led me on the journey to the house of my father’s relatives” (verse 27); “go to my
father’s family and to my own
clan, and get a wife for my son,” (verse 38):
“The Lord ... will send his angel with you ... so that you can get a
wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family” (verse 40). Therefore, the Bride, chosen to rule with Christ during the Kingdom Age, cannot
include all who are regenerate: only (says our Lord): “those who are considered worthy of taking part in that
age” (Luke 20: 35.) Cf. Rev. 19: 8, 9.).]
THE
BRIDE
Far away
from Abraham and Isaac - the Father and the Son - is the distant Bride. The
Mystical Christ is hidden among all nations, and veiled - like Eastern women -
amongst all classes and ages; and the servant who is sent out to seek her has
to have the assurance of supernatural guidance, as He travels out into unknown
lands. “Abraham said. The Lord, the God of heaven,
who brought me out of my father’s household and my
native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’ - he will send
his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there” (Gen. 24: 7). Long
before the discovery and call of Rebekah, Abraham administers an oath that a
bride shall be chosen and brought to his son: even so, God has chosen us “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1: 4); and John the Baptist,* seeing Christ, instantly identifies the One Isaac
typifies: “He that bath the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:
29).
[* A willingness on the part of the
regenerate to obey the Christian rite of baptism - commanded by John the
baptiser, the Lord Himself, and His apostles - now appears to be a
pre-requisite for those who will be “accounted
worthy” of “taking
part in the resurrection out from the
dead,” to reign as consort queen with Christ during the millennia “Age” (Luke 20: 35).
Cf.
Phil. 3: 11; Rev. 20: 4.)]
THE
SERVANT
Now we
get a typical photograph of the soul-winner. The entrusted embassy is given to
a nameless servant; throughout the whole chapter he is never once named: a nameless
servant because it can be any servant, and therefore it can be every
servant. “I have found,” says the
Bishop of Domokal, “that the
simple witness of an untrained and unpaid lay person carries far more conviction
to a heathen than the sermon of a Bishop.” Yet when we learn the name (Gen. 15: 2) it is equally suggestive:- Eliezer, ‘one whom God helps’. Throughout the whole winning of the
Bride, while he is never named, invariably throughout he is helped. Nevertheless,
the name Eliezer has blazed for three thousand years: so “they that turn many to righteousness”* shall shine “as the stars for ever and ever”. How blessed that every one of us can be Eliezer!
[*Note. The ‘righteousness’ in this context, is an undisclosed
standard of the disciple’s righteousness to be attained (Matt. 5: 20) for selection; because the ‘Bride’ is to be chosen out from the “Body” of the redeemed (Gen. 2: 21-23) to rule with Christ upon this
earth for ‘a thousand years’ in the antitype! (Rev. 3: 11, 12, 21; Rev. 20: 4; cf. Rev. 19: 7, 8.)]
“Everything
set forth in the foundational framework in Genesis,” says Dr. A. L. Chitwood, “must hold true in the
Spirit’s search for the bride in the
present dispensation. God is presently
calling out - [from amongst the ‘body’ of the redeemed] - a bride to reign as consort queen with His Son (in the antitype of Eve, who was to reign as consort queen with the first
Adam; or, viewing another facet of the matter, in the antitype of Isaac’s bride
being obtained in the far country in Gen.
24). And to fulfil His plans and purposes in
this respect, God has created one
new man ‘in Christ’ (Eph. 2: 13-15), who is neither Jew
nor Greek.
“And
this new creation, being ‘Abraham’s seed’ (through a positional standing ‘in Christ,’ Who is Abraham’s
Seed), can have a part in the [millennial] inheritance
promised to Abraham; for those comprising this new creation are reckoned to be
‘heirs according to the promise’ (Matt. 21: 43; Gal. 3: 16, 26-29; Heb. 3: 1; 1 Pet. 2: 9, 10).”
IDENTIFICATION
But Eliezer is now troubled by
the thought - as we all are - what if we fail to win the Bride, what if our wedding invitation meets with
no response? Very beautifully
Abraham replies: “If the woman is unwilling to come
back with you, then you will be released from
this oath of mine,” (verse 8). Do your part, and God will do His; you
cannot convert, - [and you cannot coerce those who are converted] - all you can do is to carry the message;
and if you have done all that is
possible to you, no blame attaches
for an undiscovered Bride. So
Eliezer asks for explicit guidance in the identification of the Bride. He says:
“O Lord ... give me
success today.” Then he suggests an identification proof. “May it be that when I say to a girl, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your
camels too’ - let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac.”
Let me know her by her instant response. “Before he had
finished praying, Rebekah came out.” Her delightful hospitality at once
makes Eliezer certain that he has found the Bride. “Then the man bowed down and worshipped the Lord, saying, ‘Praise be to the Lord,
the God of my master, Abraham,
who ... has led me on
the journey to the house of my master’s relatives:” (26, 27,
N.I.V.).
RESPONSE
So now we have the crucial test.
The Servant reveals the Father and the Son, in the first speech recorded in the
Bible; and lo, the soul that responds,
and is willing to forsake her own family
members, by following “the one in charge of all that he had” is
the Bride. She reveals herself. No conceivable test could be better.
“The chief servant does not ask for some magical sign, such as her stumbling as
she approaches him, or the alighting of a bird on the shoulder of the selected
maid: he asks, as a sign, a responding heart, that will thus reveal God as the Worker already there. And the immediate response proves him
correct. After he has explained the whole matter to Laban, Rebekah’s family,
having heard all, ask her: “Will you go with
this man? ‘I will go.’ she said.” The Bride consists of all who - [obey and] - respond to the call. The
testimony of the Servant has so sunk into her heart that she is
willing to leave all to be the ‘Bride’ for
Isaac. “Anyone who loves his
father or mother more than me,”
says our Lord, “is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me:” (Matt. 10: 37, 38).*
* “It is all the same message, whether from the lips of our Lord or from His
apostles. God forgive our clumsy reading of it, so much so that we
have lowered His required conditions for entrance upon His glorious
reign.” - W. F. Roadhouse.
ENDOWMENT
The servant now brings forth a
ring of gold, and bracelets of gold; and he clasps them on her hands as the
betrothed of Isaac: so immediately, in the Upper Room, the moment the Bride had
appeared, the apostles were enriched with jewels of miracle and inspiration
placed on the neck of the Bride. Jesus never sought his Bride for the portion
she could bring Him - so far as we know. Rebekah left her home penniless: nay,
Christ’s Bride owed ten thousand talents, and her Lord had first to pay her
debt: He sought her because He loved her; and He endows her.
TEN DAYS
All this time Rebekah has
accepted a Bridegroom whom she has never
seen; but she had believed the report - “the coming
of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in
the last time” (1 Pet. 1: 5) - and
what she heard of Him was enough for her heart: “though
you do not see him now, you believe in him,
and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy”
(verse 8); and ten days intervene before she starts to meet him. Ten is always the
number of responsibility: ten commandments
to be obeyed; ten talents to be used; ten virgins commanded to watch; ten
lepers responsible to confess. So now the whole epoch intervenes of Christian responsibility, during which, by a thousand methods,
that is being prepared which must come at long last - “a radiant church [i.e the ‘out-calling’ from amongst the redeemed], without stain or wrinkle or any
other blemish” (Eph. 5: 27). cf.
Heb. 11: 13, 39).*
*The Bride, in her Millennial aspect, provides her own
trousseau - “for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the
saints” (Rev.
19: 8). In the words of Mrs. Sarah F. Moore:- “John, the seer of
THE
MARRIAGE
So at last the wedding takes
place. As the evening shadows fall - as the sun of our dispensation is sinking
- Isaac comes forth into the field - “the
field is the world” [Matt. 13:
38, R.V.], and the pavilion of cloud where Christ and
the “Church of the firstborn” meet is part of this earth; and he takes her into his mother’s
tent - the world with all His goods - “the Holy City.” So we read:- “Let us be exceeding glad, for
the marriage of the
Lamb is come” - Isaac had been laid on the altar on Mount Moriah - “and his wife hath made
herself ready” (Rev.
19: 7). There,
in the field, we read of Isaac that “he
loved her”: “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:
19).
DECISION
How unutterably solemn this
makes our hearing of the Gospel! God's servant - it matters not who he is, he
is nameless - presses, as a God-entrusted suitor, for instant decision. He who
takes the Bridegroom’s name - and becomes a ‘Christian’ by that fact -
proclaims the wedlock: he disengages himself from all
rival suitors - the world, the flesh, the devil - and engages himself to Christ for
time and eternity. On the other hand, absence of response is fatal: a soul not the Bride could have the
greatest evangelist plead with him or her for a thousand years, with no result:
that soul is not the Bride.
-------
Tersteegen voices the heart of the Bride:-
“There made ready are the mansions
Glorious, bright, and fair;
But the Bride, the Father gave Him,
Still is wanting there.
Who is this that comes to meet me
On the desert way,
As the Morning Star foretelling
God’s unclouded day?
He it is who came to win me
On a cross of shame,
In His glory I shall know Him
Evermore the same.
He who in His hour of sorrow
Bore the cross alone;
I, who through the lonely desert
Trod where He had gone:-
He and I in that bright glory
One great joy shall share -
Mine, to be for ever with Him,
His, that I am there.”
* *
*
7
THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD
By D. M.
PANTON, M. A.
One utterance, based on
the character and power of God, runs through all the ages, and was never more
needed than to-day. It is, so far as earth goes, the summing up of all
prophetic words in one; and it is uttered in the one Book of the Bible that
paints international iniquity the blackest. “THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD ARE BECOME
THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD AND OF HIS CHRIST, AND HE SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER”
(Rev. 11: 15). No visionary kingdom, or remote
rule in far-off worlds: these very nations around us, aptly
described in prophecy as ‘wild beasts’, shall
be under the rule, and devoted to the person of Christ: universal, complete,
and final will be God’s transformation of this old earth. Men around us think
that we evangelicals care nothing for political, social, economic conditions,
since we abandon the world in despair: the truth is that evangelicals who
accept prophecy, while now concentrating solely on regenerating truth, have an
outlook for the world that makes them the most radiant optimists on earth. Ours
is the prayer of nineteen centuries fulfilled at last:- “Thy* kingdom come.”
*The
CRSIS
Now the
arrival of the Kingdom is set in the most extraordinary conditions. No sooner
have the corpses of the Two Witnesses been raised on the streets of Jerusalem,
and been rapt into Heaven, than there follows the blast of the Seventh Trumpet,
and the burst of Heaven’s triumphant song - at the very moment when earth is
abandoned by God’s mightiest workers. “And
there followed great voices in heaven, and they
said, The kingdoms of this world are
become” from
this moment onward: the crisis is over and passed - “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ” [Rev. 11:
15]. But
could any moment to declare it be more extraordinary? The Day of Terror is now
opening on earth; Satan has descended, with all his host; Antichrist is about to assume world dominion: nevertheless that
last trumpet blast, under which the final judgments occur, is, in the
deep-taught ears around the Throne, absolutely decisive. The Tribulation
judgments begin at once that culminate in the Stone, which, descending with
smashing force, pounds all preceding Empires to dust (Dan. 2: 35); and the blast, announcing Hell’s doom, equally announces earth’s Golden Age.
POWER
The wording of the triumphant
shout explains exactly how this is so. “We give
thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, BECAUSE THOU HAST TAKEN THY GREAT POWER, and didst reign.” Throughout
the four thousand years since the Flood, and supremely in the crucifixion of
Christ and the unresisting grace of a cross-bearing Church, the Most High has so restrained His power, in profound respect for the free will of man, and in love’s prolonged
appeal, that that power has seemed
utterly abrogated and non-existent. But the long patience of God at
last ceases. The Second Advent is the
moment when God resumes power over the world, and never lays it down again:
“He shall reign for ever and ever.”
Iniquity is so entrenched, and so impregnably wicked, that nothing but the
shattering power of God can reform a world which Christ’s blood has redeemed: the - [Millennial] -
Kingdom will be based on - [Christ’s] - power, and on that power alone which is safe to
be omnipotent - Divine power.
WRATH
Very
remarkable is the deciding factor. “And the
nations were wroth, and thy wrath came”: that
is, it is the wrath of man that kindles the wrath of God. It is exactly what is
foretold in the Second Psalm. “Why
do the nations rage?” why are the nations enraged? “the kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord,
and against his Anointed: then shall he speak to them IN HIS WRATH” (Ps. 2: 1). By the
time the Great Tribulation opens, the Anti-God crusade, now incipient in all
nations, matures; and the coming judgments only exasperate the nations: mere
indifference, scepticism, unbelief passes, and is replaced by a real belief in
God, coupled with open and passionate hate of Him. But the wrath thus hurled at
God kindles the Divine anger, and closes the Day of Grace. Simultaneously with
the anger of the nations, but far transcending it, is the wrath of God.
JUDGMENT
So the consequences at once
emerge; and the first is exactly what we should expect - judgment. “And the time of the dead TO BE JUDGED.”*
The Seventh Trumpet covers the whole of the remainder of earth’s history,
and therefore all judgment:- the judgment of the Church in the clouds, the
judgment of the living nations on Olivet, and the judgment of the dead at the
great white Throne. “The season of the dead to be judged”: the
time when it is the turn of the dead to have justice done to them; or else to
incur judgment which had not yet been inflicted: in other words, Grace is over,
and Righteousness assumes her reign. Do we realize what it would mean if
judgment never came? It would mean that God is careless of good and evil, or
else is evil Himself; that man is free to break God’s laws, and not only not
suffer, but actually profit, by sin; that therefore all righteous sufferers of
all ages have based their lives on an illusion: that the Bible, since it is
full of this illusion, is false; and that so far from God loving a holy world,
it is immaterial to Him whether the world, or the universe, is good or bad.
Solomon thunders the reverse:- “God shall bring
every work into judgment, with every hidden
thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil”
(Eccl. 12:
14).
[* That
is, before
their time of resurrection (Heb. 9: 27; cf. John 3: 13; 14: 3; 2 Tim. 2: 18; Rev. 6: 9-11; 20: 4-6, R.V.]
REWARD
So, inevitably, dawns the day of
recompense. “And the time to give their REWARD to thy servants.” And the
reward begins with our Lord. No sooner is it announced that the nations rage,
and that God responds in wrath, than He says to His Anointed:- “Ask of me, and I will give
thee the
nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Ps. 2: 8). Those
also rewarded are His Prophets - “ye
shall see all the Prophets in
the Kingdom of God” (Luke 13: 28); the Saints, the sanctified
from all dispensations, saints by practice (Rom. 16: 2) and not only saints by calling (Rom. 1: 7), and not only slain saints, martyrs, as many in the Early
Church supposed; and the Fearers of God - probably those saved in response to
the Angel’s gospel - “Fear God, for the hour of his judgment is come” (Rev. 14: 7). The most moving reward for all
God’s sufferers is the vindication of His honour, the approval of God, the
triumph of goodness and right. “The righteous shall
rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: so that men
shall say, Verily there is a reward for the
righteous,* verily
there is a God that judgeth the earth” (Ps. 58: 10). Where
the Lord was crucified is where He will reign.
[* Keep in mind: God will not give His ‘reward’ to any of His redeemed people who
do not deserve it. Matt. 5: 20; 6: 33; cf.
7: 21, 22, R.V.]
ROYALTY
So here we get remarkable
confirmation of the fact that Christ’s Reigning on earth not only is the season
of all reward, but itself is the reward:- “The
time to give the reward to thy
servants.” So our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount makes the ‘reward’ and the ‘kingdom’
synonymous. “Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven; blessed are ye when
men shall persecute you, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matt. 5: 10, 11): in other words, the persecuted both have reward and have the Kingdom - that
is, the reward is the Kingdom.* The Lord Jesus, addressing one Church, makes it
as explicit as words can make it that the Kingdom is a reward, not a gift of grace. “He that
overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end” - thus excluding
all backsliders [and apostates] - “to him will I give AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers” (Rev. 2: 26). Those who have mastered self-control by lifelong fidelity are entrusted
with a shattering power for the
government of entire peoples.
*To assert that two
specific classes are promised the Kingdom - [divine] - prophets (Luke 13: 28)
and - [Christian] - martyrs (Rev. 20: 4; [cf. Rev. 6: 9-11. For ALL who lose their life for Christ’s
sake shall find it.]) - if as a matter of fact all believers - [on the basis of regeneration alone] - will obtain it, would be as
meaningless as it would be misleading. “If we suffer with him, we shall also reign
with him” (2 Tim. 2: 12; Rom. 8: 17), and [God’s] prophets and martyrs have been the greatest
sufferers in history.
CORRUPTION
The third event of the ‘season’ which the Trumpet blast opens, follows. “And [the time] to DESTROY them that destroy the earth.” It is exact judgment,
retribution in kind, for nothing more closely characterizes the Man of Sin than
his destructiveness. “And he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do his pleasure; and he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy
people” (Dan.
8: 24). But, as the word
implies, it is more than destruction, it is corruption; “He shall corrupt the corrupters”: so the rottenness of the
grave is invoked on the rottenness of lawlessness and immorality - rottenness
for rottenness. So Isaiah (66: 24) closes his whole prophecy with these awful
words of Jehovah:- “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed
against me: for their worm shall not die,
neither shall their fire be quenched; they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”
HEAVEN
Very
beautifully the scene closes with an opened Heaven. “And there was opened the
*At present the awful fact
is that Satan largely controls the nations of the world (Matt. 4: 9), and the day hastens when the whole earth
worships the Dragon (Rev. 13: 4).
“For lo, the days are hastening on
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the Age of Gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendours fling,
And the whole earth send back the song
Which now the angels sing.”
THE
KINGDOM
If we distort the truth, or mix
with it what is false, the truth becomes - really and rightly - incredible: so
when the literal Second Advent, with all its attendant prophecies, is denied by
vast sections of the Christian Church, the consequent doctrine - a Gospel which
is to capture a whole world for God becomes, in face of the facts, as
incredible as it is false. It was
the challenge of Bradlaugh, the great infidel of the
nineteenth century:- “God, a God of truth? Why, He
promised to Abraham in the most solemn words, He repeated His promise, and He
has not kept His word. This Bible which reveals the attributes of Almighty God,
tells us that God condescended to swear to a puny man that He would establish
his kingdom forever, and that his seed should be as numerous as the sand upon
the seashore. That promise was reiterated and sworn to by God, and I ask, where
is that kingdom now? Here? Do not tell me that it is meant figuratively; do not
tell me that it is not literal. God swore it.” By mere increase of
population the world is growing more heathen by 6, 000, 000 a year; and in the
words of an Anglican Bishop:- “The earth in this
present era is seething with disorder. There are in
* * *
8
A COMMISSION ON
By D. M.
PANTON, M. A.
Four to five thousand
years ago a Commission - not a Royal Commission, but a Divine Commission - was
appointed to enquire into
ESCHOL
Now the first result is concrete
proof, already amongst us, of the wonder of the coming - [Messianic
and ‘the thousand years’ (see Rev. 20: 5 cf. verse
7, R.V.)] -
Kingdom. As land-birds of lovely plumage greeted Columbus before his eyes
caught any glimpse of the New World, so the Spies brought back pomegranates and
figs, and the huge Eschol grapes, saying, “Surely
the land floweth with milk and honey, and this
is the fruit of it” (Num. 13: 27). On this fundamental fact the entire Commission are as one. Already,
here in the Wilderness, rare and beautiful things, which will be a commonplace
in the coming Kingdom, redeem our earth from being a mere desert; and these samples
have all been brought, all down the Christian ages by ‘the messengers of Joshua.’* He that redeems one soul to Christ
(someone has said) relieves more misery and confers more blessedness than all
the reformers and philanthropists of the world; and this spiritual Kingdom
tells but faintly what earth will be in the literal Kingdom, when all mankind
is regenerate. Our Eschol clusters are here:- “The
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,
temperance” (Gal.
5: 22); and,
in addition, the Apostolic Church
showed another commonplace of the - [Lord’s coming] - Kingdom - golden miracles, “powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6: 5). When the Church disappears, - [i.e. only those who “watch at every season, making
supplication, that escape all these things that shall come to pass…” (Luke 21: 36,
R.V. cf.
Rev. 3: 10) - by means of a pre-tribulation rapture.] - this
world will be a - [spiritual and ungodly] - desert.
* A parallel but much later
Commission sent to the City of the Curse just before its destruction - a lovely
forecast of Gospel messengers of ‘Joshua’, and
Joshua, in type as well as in name, is Jesus.
THE
MAJORITY REPORT
But now the Commission submits a
‘majority report’. While all Twelve are agreed
on the excellence of the country, and its soil, and fruit, and that the future Kingdom is exactly as God said
it would be, nevertheless an
enormous cleavage now splits the Commission. The Majority Report runs thus:
“Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are
strong, and the cities are fenced, and very great; and moreover
we saw the children of Anak there - [i.e., the “Nephilim” (Gen. 6: 2-4, R.V.)] - and we were in our own
sight as grasshoppers.” And when Caleb “stilled the people”, and
implored them to advance, the Ten put their report beyond all doubt, making all
Jehovah’s promises to give them the Land worthless:- “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” Thus
the Majority Report amounted to this:- The Kingdom is what we believed it to
be, literal, golden, blessed; but not only is it no mere gift easily and at
once enjoyed, into which we merely walk with the passing years, but, in our
judgment, the standard for entrance is impossible, and the difficulties
insuperable. The Majority Report never
once names God.
THE
MINORITY REPORT
But two of the Commission, Caleb
and Joshua, now present a ‘minority report’; and
the narrative centers everything in Caleb - ‘one who
attacks’; that is, the
overcomer. Both these men were men of burning conviction: both were
certain that all
“If the
Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this
land: the Lord
is with us: fear them not.” So
Paul:- “The God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved without
blame at the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that is calling
you, WHO
WILL ALSO DO IT” (1 Thess. 5: 23) - on fulfilling conditions for entrance that He
states.
THE
REACTION
Abject defeatism now appears as
the reaction of the People of God. If we refuse to put the truth into action, there
is immediate danger of it slipping from our grasp; and much more truth with it:
and we may end up bitterly opposing it. Without actually becoming
apostates by going back into
* Nor can the Reformation be altogether freed
from a share in the Majority Report. In the terrible words of Luther:- “The
Book of the Revelation contains nothing but images and visions, such as are
found nowhere else in the Bible, and notwithstanding their obscurity, the author has the audacity to add to them
threats and promises.”
JUDGMENT
The
consequences are unutterably momentous. The master-crisis in our life comes but
once;
ANOTHER
SPIRIT
So now the Most High Himself
selects and describes the Overcomer. “But my
servant Caleb, because he had another spirit
with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I
bring into the land.” The essence of Caleb’s ‘other spirit’ was that God’s standard of achievement must be right, and
that the wise man simply concentrates on mastering the difficulties. Every
curse, rightly met, wins a beatitude: every renunciation swells the glory:
every victory won means a hardier veteran: every faithful day brings us
twenty-four hours nearer a glory no eye can measure and no heart conceive. So
also Caleb’s spirit was one of utter obedience. “He hath followed me fully”;
literally, “he hath fulfilled to walk behind me”: that
is, following with unswerving fidelity,
he, like Enoch, “walked with God.” *
* Enoch is the embodiment
of [selective]
rapture, as Caleb is the embodiment of entrance into the Kingdom; and both the
rapture of Enoch (Heb. 11: 5) and the
entrance of Caleb are based foursquare, not
on their regeneration, but on their [obedience and] walk with God after their
regeneration.
OVERCOMING
So we confront Caleb’s counsel
recorded for our learning and imitation three thousand years ago. “LET US GO UP AT
ONCE, AND POSSESS IT; FOR WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME IT.” Caleb and Joshua can be, ought to be, and (by God’s grace) shall
be “figures of us”. So the
Apostle, after an exhaustive parallel between
* Joshua, throughout, is
rather a type of our Lord Himself, who leads all other overcomers into the
Land: “as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne” (Rev. 3: 21).
THE
KINGDOM
The ‘first
resurrection’, the ‘crown’, the ‘Kingdom’ - what a stupendous ‘prize’!
It is admirably expressed by Bishop Handley Moule in his paraphrase of Phil. 3: 12, which is equally a paraphrase of the life and character of
Caleb:- “Not as though I had already received the
crown of accomplished glory, or had been already perfected with the perfection
which shall be. No, I am pressing on, as on the racer’s course: if indeed, if
as a fact, in blessed finality, I may seize that promised crown with a view to
which I was actually seized by Christ Jesus, when in His mercy He laid violent
hands upon me, to pluck me from ruin, and to constrain me into His salvation,
and His service. Yes, ‘I press on,’ to ‘seize’ that crown, with the animating thought that it was on
purpose that I might seize it that the Lord seized me; and that so every stage
in the upward and onward course of faith runs straight in the line of His will,
whose mighty, gracious grasp is on me as I go.”*
* Mr. C. H. Macintosh
rightly says (Numbers, p. 227):-
“We must continually recur, as we pass along through
these wilderness scenes, to those words which tell us that ‘all these things happened unto
-------
THE MINORITY REPORT OF
THE EARLY CHURCH
CLEMENT of
IGNATIUS of
POLYCARP of
JUSTIN MARTYR (A.D. 150):- “They are destitute of
just reason who do not understand that which is clear from all the Scriptures,
that two comings of Christ are announced.”
IRENAEUS (A.D. 180):- “The Lord shall come
from Heaven in the clouds, with the glory of His Father, casting antichrist and
them that obey him into the lake of
fire, but bringing to the just - [or the righteous (Matt.
5: 20; cf. 7: 21, 23, R.V.)] - the times of the Kingdom.”
G. H. LANG:- “When Israel is pictured as
renewed in heart, sin being no more found in them, God’s blessing being granted
for ever, the people to be no more rooted up from their land, the presence of
Jehovah in visible glory at Zion, Jerusalem, the city of the Great King and the
centre of rule and worship for all nations - then the era is Millennial.”
BAXTER:- “Christ will give the crown to none but the worthy. And are we fit for the
crown, before we have overcome? Or for the prize, before we have won the race? Or to be rulers of ten
cities, before we have achieved our ten talents? Or to enter into the joy of our Lord, before we have well done, as good and faithful servants? God will not alter the
course of justice to give you rest before you have laboured nor the crown of
glory till you have overcome.”
* * *
9
The Appearing in Glory
of our Lord
By H. G.
HARVEY
It is clear from scripture
that the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and great glory will be
the triumphant manifestation of all that He has accomplished in the plan and
purpose of God. It is also evident that this revelation of His glory is the
bright and “blessed hope” of His
redeemed people set forth in the scripture.
Since the time of His ascension (Acts 1: 9), when a
cloud received Him away from the disciples’ sight as He was taken up into
heaven, the Lord Jesus has been hidden from our physical sight and is now
seated at the right hand of God, “from
henceforth expecting until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet”
(Mark 16: 19; Heb. 1: 3; 10: 12, 13). Peter
also confirms this in Acts 3: 21, when
he states,- “whom the heaven must receive until
the times of restitution (or restoration)
of all things, which God
hath spoken”.
Nevertheless, for all who have
been brought into living relationship with Himself, He is the One unto whom we
should be looking with the eye of faith while He remains “at the right hand of
the Majesty on high”, even as the Hebrew believers were exhorted in chapter 12: 2, where
we have the words, “Looking off unto Jesus the author and
perfecter of the faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
set down at the right hand of the throne of God”. “Being confident ... that He
which hath begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1: 6).
Paul, the apostle, writing to
the Colossian believers in chapter 3, speaks
of their life as being “hid with Christ in God”, and for
this reason goes on to say that they should “seek
those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God”, but
also adds that a time is coming when “Christ
who is our life will be manifested”, and then those who are now hid
in Him shall also “be manifested with Him in glory”. He
emphasizes in Titus, chapter 2: 13, that “the appearing in glory of our great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ” is “the blessed hope”, for
which we are looking. In like manner, he also writes to the Corinthian
believers: “In everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all
knowledge”, as they wait for the revelation of their Lord, when they would be
pronounced “blameless” (or uncharged, because in
Him) “in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (see 1 Cor. 1:
5, 7, 9).
Furthermore, Peter writing in
his first epistle speaks of the believer’s “trial
of faith, being found unto praise and honour and
glory, at the revelation (or unveiling) of Jesus Christ”
(1 Peter 1: 7). He also
speaks of this as the time when more grace would be brought unto them (i.e.,
the redemption of their bodies) and says, in verse 13, “wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end
(margin, “perfectly”) for the grace which is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ”. He adds in chapter 4: 13, that believers should “rejoice inasmuch as they
are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that in the revelation
of His glory, they might be glad also with exceeding
joy”.
It is evident from the foregoing
scriptures that they do not support the view of a secret coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ for His people prior to His coming in glory. They certainly
indicate far otherwise, since it is gathered from these scriptures that this
revealing of the Lord Jesus from heaven is a definite unveiling of His Glory,
even as Rev. 1: 7, clearly shows, “Behold He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see Him”.
The “Hope” is
Manifestation, Publicity, [a
future] Glory
We find not a word in scripture
which indicates that our Lord may come “at any moment”
as is so widely taught, or that this will take place secretly some years before
He is revealed in glory. Contrariwise this appearing and revelation in glory of
our glorious Lord will not take place until that awful climax of evil and
unparalleled time of tribulation has terminated, even as Paul, writing to the
Thessalonian believers in the second chapter of his second epistle, makes
clear. There it is written that the day of the Lord cannot come, except there
come the falling away (or the apostasy)
first, and the man of sin be revealed: and in chapter one he encourages their
hearts, that although they were being tribulated there would be rest for them,
but not until their Lord is “revealed from
heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on those that know not God; and [them] that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ... when He shall come to be glorified in His
saints, and to be admired in all them that
believe ... in that day” (chapter 1: 7-10).
We gather from this scripture,
that the time when deliverance and rest for God’s troubled and persecuted
people takes place will also be the time when vengeance is meted out to their
enemies. This helpfully compares with the scripture, mentioned at the
beginning, having reference to our Lord remaining at His Father’s right hand, until His enemies are made His footstool.
These scriptures, too, are linked with further references in the epistle of Peter,
where he speaks of the believers’ inheritance
as being reserved in heaven, while believers themselves are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time” (chapter 1: 4, 5), and as we have already seen, when
grace is to be brought unto them, “at the
revelation of Jesus Christ” (verse 13).
In this connection, we call to
mind the words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 17, where
He refers to His coming again, and speaks of Noah and Lot, as typical of those
who had been brought to believe in God, and were thus delivered, “in the same day”, as God’s judgment and destruction was poured forth on the
unbelieving world (see verses 26 and 29). He then states in verse 30, “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is
revealed”. It is somewhat difficult to understand why so many of God’s
dear people should think it a strange
and terrible thing that they should be found on the earth during the reign of
the final antichrist. Indeed, have there not been many antichrists since
the commencement of the church’s history? and God allowed such to oppose and persecute His people in no small way.
We have the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, spoken to His disciples, telling
them that tribulation would ever be
their portion while in a hostile world, which is ever opposed to God and His
Truth.
“Fear none of these
things
which thou shalt suffer” (Rev. 2: 10)
It is likewise emphasized by the
Holy Spirit through Paul in his epistle to Timothy, “that all who will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”, and that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived”
(2 Tim. 3:
12, 13). This
state of affairs will indeed continue
until the climax in the man of sin
of whom we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:
10, that he will be characterized “with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness”. Therefore, if it is
understood that the scriptures speak of no deliverance - [bar a pre-tribulation rapture of those ‘accounted
worthy to escape all these things that
shall come to pass’ (Luke 21: 34-36; Rev. 3: 10)] - for God’s believing people, until the revelation of the Lord Jesus, which does not take place until the man of sin has first been revealed;
it necessarily follows that - [faithful and obedient
(Acts 5: 32;
cf.
1 John 3: 24] -
saints who will be living during his reign will suffer, because they will not submit to him who opposes and exalts himself
above all that is called God. We are reminded of the disciples of old in Acts 4: 15, when
they were opposed and were forbidden to
teach and to make known the things of the Lord by the ruling authority of their
day, but made it clear that they
could only obey God rather than men, and
were willing to, and did, suffer for His name.
Surely then, this will be the
position and portion of all true - [faithful and obedient] - believers living during the reign of the
man of sin, the final Antichrist, as we are instructed by the word of Philippians 1: 29: “for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but
also to suffer for His sake”. Paul, when writing to the
Roman believers, in chapter 8 states that believers, who are
children and heirs of God because in Christ, are also “joint
heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together”. He speaks of “the sufferings of this present time as not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”. He also
continues to show that the whole creation waiteth for this “manifestation of the children of God”. When
this manifestation, this “glorious liberty of the children of
God” takes place (the redemption of their bodies), the whole
creation is also delivered from the bondage of its corruption (5: 17,
18, 21-23). Truly this will be “the time of the restoration of all things” and as
we saw at the commencement, heaven retains our Lord until He comes to fulfil
the many prophecies of this time.
Scripture harmonizes
beautifully, but gives no indication of any [manifested] coming of our Lord before His revelation in
glory, but clearly shows that when this takes place it will be the time of His
Revelation, His Appearing, His Coming, or Presence in Glory. These are the
three terms used in scripture in connection with His second advent. Surely this
will be one glorious event, which will take place in one day, known to God
alone, and repeatedly spoken of in scripture as “That
Day” and “The Day of the Lord”. We
also have mentioned in John’s Gospel “the
last day”, when sleeping saints will be raised up (6: 39, 40, 44, 54; 11: 24; cp. 1 Cor. 15: 23) and when living saints will be
changed and caught up together with the resurrected ones to meet their
descending Lord, to be for ever with Him (1 Cor. 15: 51, 52; 1 Thess. 4: 15-18; c.p. Phil. 3: 20, 21).
Let us “exhort one another with these words” as we
wait for “that day” until
we meet our coming Lord revealed in all His glory.
* * *
10
THE MARK OF THE BEAST
By HERMAN
HOEKSEMA*
[* This tract was written some years ago and reprinted by the First Protestant Reformed Church
To say that we are living
in serious times would be to express a mere platitude. The present time is, of
course, always serious, for in it God is working out His counsel and realizing
His purpose with regard to the salvation of His Church and the coming of His [Messianic]
Kingdom. But there are periods in which the significance of the times is more
obvious than at other periods of history, because they are so crowded with
tremendous events that their importance is impressed upon the minds and hearts
of men, and because they remind the people of God more than at other times that
this is the last hour and that their redemption draweth nigh. It is in such
times that we are deemed worthy to live today. The red horse is running over
the earth in every direction, obviously beyond the control of any man or power
in the world, and the world is in the throes of
a war as has never been witnessed before. The economic problem cries for a
solution with ever greater emphasis, and its solution appears to be more remote
than ever. We are told even now that we may expect a new ‘world-order’, in which freedom of worship and of
speech [is being greatly restrained], freedom from fear and from want shall be
maintained, a world of peace and prosperity - [we are
being told] - for all. But in the meantime
the struggle between [nations and politics] -
capital and labour, between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ becomes more bitter and intense as the
days go by. And it becomes increasingly difficult for the
faithful believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to maintain himself in society and
to earn his daily bread, unless he will make common
cause with the world and put on an unequal yoke with the [deceived] unbeliever. In the religious sphere our times are
characterized by apostacy. Modernism is rampant. By far the majority of churches in our land have long abandoned the
truth [of unfulfilled prophecy] as it is in Christ.
They have become like the salt that has lost its savour, and which is good for nothing but to be
cast on the dunghill and to be trodden under feet by men. The
masses have become alienated from the Church, and those that still belong to
her and attend divine worship on the sabbath understand sound doctrine no
longer. There is a mad pursuit of the things of this present world, rather than
the things that are above, and a hankering after the treasures and pleasures of
this world that leaves room for little else in the hearts of men.
Everything reminds us of the Warning of Scripture in 2 Tim. 3: 1-5: “This know also that in the last days perilous times shall
come. For men shall be lovers of their own
selves, covetous,
boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that do good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof;
from such turn away.”
Always, but especially in times
such as the present, the Scriptures convey a twofold message to the believer
that turns to them for instruction and consolation. First of all, the Bible
comes with a message of comfort to all that love the appearance of our Lord
Jesus Christ. For all these things have been foretold, in order that we might
believe when they should come to pass, and believing might have peace. In the
light of the “more sure word of prophecy” we feel
assured that God holds the reins, that He is working out His good counsel and
realizing His purpose, and that this purpose is ‘the
salvation of - [souls’ (see 1
Pet. 1: 5, 9, R.V.) and] - His eternal, heavenly covenant. And we
are not amazed or perplexed, for we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose. Rom. 8: 28. And through all the turmoil and distress of the times we may
lift up our head, assured that the day of the Lord is near and that our
redemption draweth nigh. Without committing ourselves to a prediction of “the day and the hour,” we may safely say that
our times impress upon our minds and hearts the nearness and fast approach of
the clouds and [the time when] every
eye shall see Him. But, secondly, the Word of God also sounds a note of warning
that before the final coming of the Lord the Church*
must expect dark and difficult days, a period of great tribulation for the
people of God; and it exhorts us to be faithful even unto the end, that no one
take our ‘crown’ [Rev. 3:
11]. For the “man of sin”, must still be revealed, and
the anti-christian empire must be established for a time, and during that
period there will be no room in the world for those that love the appearance of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are, indeed, those who
teach that the [whole] Church will escape this great tribulation.** Just before the reign of Antichrist and the last
days of distress and persecution they shall be taken up in the [pre-tribulation] “rapture” to be with the Lord in the air. But this is quite contrary to Scripture, and it is a dangerous doctrine because
it fills the believers with a vain hope, which must needs
end in utter disappointed and leave them wholly unprepared in “evil day”. Everywhere the Word of God
warns the Church that the - [“left”
(see 1 Thess. 4:
17.)] - believers
must expect tribulation even until the
end. When nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers
places, we may see in them the “beginning of
sorrows”. But the time will come, too, that they shall deliver up the
true believers and kill them, and that the Church shall be hated of all
nations for Christ’s sake; the time when many shall
be offended, and shall betray one another, and hate one another, many false
prophets shall arise and shall deceive many, and the love of many shall wax
cold because iniquity abounds. And it is only they that shall “endure unto the end” that
shall be saved. And they shall be days of great tribulation, such as was not
since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be. And if it were not
that the days were shortened for the elect’s sake, no flesh should then be saved. Matt.
24: 7-13; 21, 22. Cf. Mark 13:
7ff.; Luke 21: 8ff. And not only does Scripture teach us
that the faithful in Christ must expect tribulation, and exhort us to be
faithful even unto death, but it would consider such persecution for Christ’s
sake an honour and a blessing. “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 that were before you.”
Mt. 5: 11, 12. The apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name
of Christ. Acts 5: 41, And “unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”
Phil. 1: 29. Not to secure Tribulation [only], but to
suffer it gladly, for Christ’s sake, to glorify God’s grace through it, and to
enter into the great REWARD of the
faithful - that is unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet. 1: 7.
The [remainder of the] Church,
therefore, must expect the “great tribulation” of the last days. And even now she must
watch and pray and put on the “whole armour of God”, and
prepare herself, lest she defile her garments and be swallowed up of the world.
For always the world hates the children of light, and always the latter must
suffer persecution. The “great tribulation” will not come upon the Church as a thing
all by itself, without any
connection with the preceding times. It will rather be the culmination of
all the suffering the faithful have endured through the ages, a period in which
the dragon will make a last and most furious attempt to destroy the seed of the
woman, and in which the hostile world will cast off the mask of outward
friendship and tolerance toward the people of God. It will then become fully
manifest that they still furiously hate the Christ and those that are His. It
will, of course, be a time in which the line of
distinction between the true Church and [the apostates throughout] the world will be clearly and distinctly
drawn. There will
be no room then for hypocrites and outward Christians. One
shall be able to “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that
serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Mal.
3: 18. And one of the chief means to bring that
distinction to open manifestation in those days will be “the Mark of the Beast.”
Every
Christian that is at all acquainted with [Prophetic] Scripture is able to find immediately the reference to
the mark of the Beast in the Bible. It is found in the thirteenth chapter of
the book of Revelation. In that chapter we
have a rather elaborate apocalyptic
description of the Antichrist and his reign and fury. It is not now our purpose
to enter into a detailed exposition of this description, but only to recall the
general features of it in as far as it is necessary for a correct understanding
of the mark of the beast. The chapter presents the vision of two monster
beasts, the one rising out of the sea,
the other out of the earth. The former represents the Antichrist and his final
empire from its political aspect. It is presented as a world-power that has
universal sway. It is a kingdom or empire that embraces all the nations of the
earth. This anti-christian beast, that blasphemes against God, His name and
tabernacle, and against them that dwell in heaven, is the embodiment of the
dragon, that old serpent, the devil, from whom it receives its power. And it is
admired and worshiped by all that dwell on the earth, except by those whose
names are written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. A universal, wicked, anti-christian State, therefore, is represented
by the beast out of the sea. In its service stands the second beast that is
interested in persuading all men [and women] to admire and to worship the
anti-christian political world-power. This second beast is the “false prophet”.
It is the spiritual power of false science and false philosophy and false
theology, using every means in its power, the spoken word, the press, the
printed page, the radio, and all the wonders of science and invention, to mold public opinion in favour of the first beast. It is
very persistent in its efforts. It cannot rest until the Antichrist is openly
and publicly worshipped and admired, and it cannot tolerate those that refuse
to bow their knees before this Baal of the latter days. And, therefore it
persuades men to make an image of the beast, some visible representation of the
anti-christian almighty state, that all may make their obeisance to it openly.
And for the same reason this false prophet takes care that no one’s attitude
over against the beast and its image can remain a matter of doubt. The distinction
between those that worship the beast and those that refuse to worship him must
become manifest to all. There must be no half-heartedness. Those that are
opposed to the anti-christian beast and insist on being faithful to Christ must
be exposed in order that they may be extinguished. For in the anti-christian
empire there will be room only for those that worship the beast!
To
accomplish this purpose the false prophet invents two means: the spirit of life
he gives to the image of the beast, causing it to speak; and the mark of the
beast. It is well that we distinguish these. We read in Rev. 13: 15: “And he had power to
give life unto the image of the beast (or, according to the RV, “And it was given unto him to give breath unto it, even unto the image of the beast”), that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the
beast should be killed!” The general idea of this is plain. Images,
representations of the antichristian state are installed all through the
empire. To these images is now given breath, a spirit. This does not mean, of
course, that the false prophet will have power to create living beings, but
rather that somehow these images will assume the character of and function as
living [trans-human]
persons, that have eyes and ears. It is especially in this particular respect
that the image of the beast will function as a being that has the breath of
life: it will [like ‘lexis’
to] both hear and speak.
Emphatically we are told that it is the purpose of the spirit of life given to
the image to enable it to speak. And again, the purpose of its speech is “that as many as would not worship the image of the beast
should be killed”. It is evident, then, that this speaking image serves the
purpose of a [constant trans-human] spy. The device is a
means to expose those that are opposed to the worship of the beast. The image
of the beast both hears and speaks. It records the speech and conversation of
those that refuse to worship the beast in order then to report to the false
prophet what it has thus recorded. Just how this is to be realized in the day
of Antichrist is a matter of minor importance. That we need not
spiritualize or allegorize the text, but adhere to a
literal interpretation and expect a literal realization of the speaking image, ought to be evident to anyone that
contemplates the wonders of modern invention and science. It is not
at all difficult to conceive of the installation of mechanical ears and mouths
that will record and make public even that which is spoken in secret. Such
devices will be installed everywhere in the antichristian empire and under the
supervision of the false prophet, in churches and lecture halls, in homes and
offices and public places in order that the faithful may be exposed and killed
by the power of the sword.
The second means whereby the
worshippers of the Lamb may be distinguished from the followers of the beast,
the godly from the ungodly, is the mark of the beast. It is quite distinct from
the first, not only in its character but also in its effect. The first means of
distinction is the speech of the image of the beast, the second is a mark which
everyone must receive and exhibit on his forehead or right hand; the former
leads to the exposure and death of those that refuse to worship the beast, the
latter to their expulsion from society: they cannot buy or sell. The latter,
the mark of the beast, is, evidently, designed to supplement the former. the speech
of the image. For the false prophet is, evidently, determined that absolutely
every one without exception shall worship the antichristian beast, and that in
all the dominion of Antichrist no follower of the Lamb shall be left. To
accomplish this purpose the speech of the image is not sufficient. It is
conceivable that some, that many may elude its detection. It will accomplish
chiefly that the leaders of the Church, those that are called to preach the “Gospel - [of the kingdom” (Matt. 24: 14, cf. Matt.
13: 19,
R.V.)] - to teach and to admonish the
people of God, those who by virtue of their very position as leaders are called
to confess the name of Christ and to denounce the name of Antichrist, are
exposed and persecuted to the death. But this does not satisfy the false
prophet. All must be exposed. And so he devises the mark of the beast, and “causeth all, both small and
great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a
mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads”. From
this cunning device no man can escape. For the false prophet so arranges
matters “that no man might buy or sell,
save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or
the number of his name.” The mark of the beast is very effective. It
will, indeed, divide men into two
clearly distinct groups - [just like the governments’ coercion today, for taking or
rejecting the mRNA shots] - and opposing camps: the followers of the
Lamb and the worshippers of the beast. In those - [soon coming, and increasing apostate] -
days one will be able to discern clearly between him that serveth the Lord and him that
serveth him not.
Let us notice, first of all,
that this mark of the beast, although instituted by the State, must,
nevertheless, be adopted voluntarily by every citizen, rich or poor, great or
small. It is, indeed, an invention of the false prophet. In this cunning and
wicked mind it had its origin. But let us not forget, that the false prophet
functions in the name of and in behalf of the first beast, the political power
of the Antichrist. By his influence, therefore it becomes a [world-wide] state-law, that all shall receive
and openly exhibit (this is the
meaning of “in their right hand, or in their foreheads”) the mark of the beast.
On the other hand, the state-law is of such a nature, that each man must make
his own choice with regard to that mark of the beast. He must adopt it
voluntarily. He must go after it. It is not even improbable that he will have
to apply for it and pay for it. Just as it is a state-law that your car must exhibit
a license when you drive it, and just as you have to apply and purchase that
license; so in the days of the antichristian empire it will be by decree of the
almighty [world-wide] state that you must receive and exhibit the mark of the beast,
but you will have to make your
application in order to receive it. Only, the matter that will then be
presented to the choice of your will is extremely serious, much more so than
your application for an automobile license. For if you fail to make your
application for the mark of the beast, you will not be able to buy or sell;
while, if you do apply for this ensign you will have to swear that you call
Christ accursed and that you are and always intend to be a faithful worshipper
of the beast. By the cunning device of the false prophet, and the sword-power
of the anti-christian State you will be placed before the alternative: deny
Christ and worship the beast or die! But however great the strain of trial and
temptation upon your will may be, it will be you that chooses for or against
the mark of the beast! The thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed. And only
the gold of God’s own grace - [and the Holy Spirit’s
strength (see Acts 5: 32. cf. 1 John 3: 24, R.V.)] - will come through the trial “unto praise and honour and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ”.
It is always thus.
Persecution
for Christ’s sake always involves the choice between the things that are seen
and the things that are not seen, between the present world and the “age to come,” - [see Heb. 6: 4-6, R.V.)] - between keeping or losing
your life. And it is always grace only that it
is able to choose for Christ and suffering rather than for Antichrist and the
world and its treasures. In the days of the early Church it was the law of the
empire that worship was to be rendered to Caesar. And Christians would
sometimes be placed before the choice of making obeisance to Caesar’s image or
of being thrown into a caldron of boiling oil: it was grace that invariably
chose the latter. At the time of the Reformation and the Spanish Inquisition
men were stretched upon the rack, slowly torn apart, and caused the most
excruciating pain and anguish. And on that rack they confronted the choice of
Christ and continued agony to the end, or denial of Christ and immediate
deliverance. It was grace alone that enabled the faithful - [and obedient servants of Christ Jesus] - to endure unto the end. Today the situation is not
different, even though the lines are not [at
present] so severely drawn as in some
past periods and as they will be drawn once more in the latter days. Many a
time we are placed before the alternative of assuming an unequal yoke with the
unbeliever, of subscribing to anti-christian principles and denying the truth,
or remaining faithful and losing a job or a dollar. And again, even now, it is
only the marvellous power of the grace of God that will choose the latter. It
is given us of grace to believe in Christ and to suffer with Him. And in such times of stress and
tribulation “the love of many will wax cold”. It may be that they
- [i.e., regenerate believers] - will attempt to cover up their
apostasy by many excuses, but the fact is that whenever and wherever
we choose the world rather than Christ,
it is the sinful flesh that determines the choice, never the grace of God! That
is the seriousness of the matter. In
our choice we reveal the thoughts of the heart!
Let us consider, too, the mark
of the beast as such and its meaning. From verse 17 it is evident that the mark is the same as
the name of the beast, and that the name is also the number of the name. This
is especially clear if we adopt the rendering of the Revised Version: “save he that had the mark, even
the name of the beast or the number of his name.” It is
clear, then, that the mark men are required to exhibit in their right hand or
in their forehead consists of the name of the first beast, before whom and in
whose name the second beast functions and exercises his authority; and it is
equally evident that this name is represented by the number of the beast. An
important question in determining the significance of this mark of the beast
is: how are we to understand the term “name” in
this connection? A very common group of interpretations explains the term as
referring to the proper name of the Antichrist. They interpret this chapter and
a large part of the book of Revelation as
having had its historical fulfilment in the Roman Empire of John’s day. It is
the beast that rises up out of the sea in the vision. The name of the beast,
according to this interpretation, is some proper noun, either of one of the
emperors, such as Nero or Domitian, or of the empire itself. And
the number of the name, according to this view, is the sum of the numerical
value of the several letters of that name. A very commonly adopted
interpretation belonging to this class is that which considers the “name of the beast” to refer to the name of the
Against this interpretation we
have various objections, First of all, even though “the beast” as it historically appeared at
the time of John might be the Roman world-power, this empire certainly cannot
have been the
On the
very face of it the number 666 with its emphatic repetition of the number six
suggests that it is a schematic number, and that its meaning must be found in
its symbolism. And this is quite in accord with the use of numbers in other
parts of the book of Revelation. The numbers three, four, six,
seven, ten in their various combinations and relations abound in this book, and
constantly they have symbolic significance. They are symbols of some spiritual
meaning. It would be very strange, indeed, if a number like 666 would be an
exception to this general rule. And it is also evident that the symbolic
meaning of this number expresses the name or character of the anti-christian
world-power. Now, the number six is the number of creation: in six days God
created the heavens and the earth. It is the number of man’s week of labour,
for even as God created all things in six days, so man must labour six days and
do all his work. Six days, once on each day, the children of
Consider,
now, the horrible meaning of the mark of the beast. For the mark is the name of
the beast, and the symbolism of the number 666. The false prophet of the
antichristian empire will, therefore, so exert his power, that by decree of the
State all within the dominion of the Antichrist, that is, in the whole world,
must adopt and publicly exhibit the name of the beast! In this he reveals
himself as anti-Christ, as the one that is opposed to the Christ of God and
that intends to usurp the place of the latter. For Christ, too, gives a name to
them that are His, the name of his God, and the name of the city of
But although in those days each
one will be called upon to make a choice, and although whatever choice he makes
is certainly voluntary and for that reason the expression of what lives in his
inmost heart, refusal to receive and to display the mark of the beast can be
made only at the price of suffering for Christ’s sake. For it is the purpose of
the mark of the beast to determine who shall have the privilege of buying and
selling in the dominion of Antichrist. For so we read in verse 17 of Revelation 13: “And
that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, even the name of the
beast, or the number of his name”. Consider what this means. You
are conducting a certain business, and some day a State official steps into
your store, takes one look at your forehead and at your right hand, and orders
your store closed immediately until such a time as you shall have secured for
yourself the mark of the beast. You try to make the purchase of your daily necessities,
your food and clothing, and the man behind the counter looks at you, asks you
to show your right hand and coolly informs you: “I
cannot sell you anything!” You are employed in a certain factory, and
are making a fair wage to provide for yourself and yours, and unexpectedly you
are called to the office and are told that, unless you secure the mark of the
beast, you need not return for work tomorrow. You are renting a home, and as
you pay your monthly rent, the proprietor orders you to evacuate the house
unless you immediately apply for the mark of the beast. If you refuse to deny
Christ and to confess Antichrist,
you will be a social outcast, worse than a pariah: there will be no place left
for you in the world! Voluntarily,
indeed, you make your choice, but your choice for Christ and against Antichrist
will be put to a severe test, more sever, in fact, than if the choice were
between Antichrist and immediate death!
Already we may read the approach
of those awful days in the signs of the [present] times. The place of the
faithful Christian in the world becomes narrower fast. Labour and industry and
business and even agriculture are becoming more and more organized and even
today one cannot always secure a job or conduct a certain business
unless he subscribes to principles and condones practices which are contrary to
the Word of God and to his Christian conscience. Yet, today the matter is not
compelling. It may sometimes be a question of a better position, of a higher
wage, of a little more profit, but the faithful Christian may still have a
place in the world. But in the days of Antichrist there will be no room left
for him that refuses to receive the mark of the beast. And it is not difficult
to conceive how in those days many will fall away that now
appear to be of Christ. And it will not be difficult for
them to find excuses that will apparently justify their unfaithfulness, and even cause the stand of the faithful to appear foolish.
Must they not live? And how shall they live, if they can neither buy or sell?
Besides, it is not a State law that no one must receive the mark of the beast,
and must we not be in submission to authorities? Such arguments will, no doubt,
appear very plausible in the days of Antichrist. In the meantime, let us remember that they are quite contrary to the Word, which plainly teaches us that “whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Matt. 16: 25. And “he that loveth his life shall lose it;
and he that
hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” John 12: 25.
And let us not forget that only they “whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the beginning of the world” shall worship the beast, and
receive the mark of the beast.
Dreadful
days they will be, indeed, but only according to the flesh. But also glorious days they must be, days
of much grace. For to His own, - [“good and faithful” servants] - God
will surely give grace according to the way, in order that they may be faithful even to the end. Significant
is the picture that is held before us in the beginning of chapter fourteen of the book of Revelation. No
matter how Antichrist may rage, the Lamb is still standing on Mount Sion, and
the one hundred and forty and four thousand, all his elect, are still with Him,
and no one shall be able to pluck them
out of his hand! Be patient, therefore even unto the coming of the day of the Lord! He that endureth unto the end shall be saved! The victory is ours!
*
* *
11
THE EMPTY SEAT
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
Our Lord
had promised the Apostles that “where two or three
are gathered together in my name” - unto my name: that is, a
specific assembly to meet the Lord in worship - “there
am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18: 20); and
behind locked doors on the first day of the week, in the first
post-resurrection gathering of millions extending down nineteen centuries, our
Lord appeared, exactly according to His promise; and He has never
failed since. Nor must we. In the words of Jeremy Taylor:- “Fail not to be present at the public hours and place of
prayer, entering early and cheerfully, attending reverently and devoutly,
abiding patiently during the whole office, piously assisting at prayers, and
gladly also hearing the sermon.”
Two facts show the startling
decay in Christian assemblies to-day, one fact dealing with lapsed membership
and the other with the non-attendance of outsiders. (1) A Commission appointed
by the Congregational Churches of America, after six years’ labour over a range
of 1,000 churches, reports that only 30 per cent. of the seats are being used,
and only 25 per cent. of the members are in attendance at all. (2) In one
district in
JUDAS
Now the Holy Spirit has
photographed for all time, behind the closed doors of the Upper Room, two empty
seats. The occupant of one, after taking the sop, had gone out into the night,
an outstanding sorrow of every preacher’s heart:- missing faces, that come for
a moment into the light, glide away into the darkness, and will never be seen
again until the Great White Throne. But an apostle’s empty seat is far more
tragic; for it had been filled for three years: now, as the seat of the first
great apostate of all time, it is empty for ever. Such are the antichrists who withdraw
from the Church. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for
if they had been of us, they would have
continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest how that they all are not of
us” (1 John 2: 19).
THOMAS
But the other chair, also empty,
embodies for nineteen centuries the absent church member; for “Thomas, one of the twelve,
was not with them” (John 20: 24). No
remotest reason is given for his absence, thus covering, doubtless designedly,
all possible causes which ought never to have been.*
* Love
imperatively demands, however, that we very carefully bear in mind the reasons
for absence that are perfectly legitimate. It may be removal to another church,
under what is believed (rightly or wrongly) to be Divine leading; or it may be
illness, or the illness of others at home, or unavoidable home duties; or it
may be professional duties falling sometimes on part or the whole of the Lord’s
Day; or it may be an exhaustion after the week’s work which makes attendance
possible, but not wise; or it may be Christian work elsewhere for the day, or
for a part of it.
The Saviour Himself draws
attention to its gravity: for He says to Thomas:- “Become not faithless”: the
first step on the road to apostasy.
FELLOWSHIP
Now the first consequence of the
empty seat is that, trampling on a divine ordinance, and ignoring inspired
precedent, it loses all that for which the church was created. The first
post-Pentecostal gathering is designed as our model. “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching” - that is, for us, the
Scriptures - “and fellowship, in the breaking of
bread, and the prayers” (Acts 2: 42). Even of a Quaker assembly when
not a word is being uttered, Robert Barclay says:- “When
I came into the silent assemblies of God’s people, I felt a sweet power among
them which touched my heart, and as I gave way unto it, I found the evil
weakening in me and the good raised up.” The abiding glow of worship;
the inspiration of Christian friendship and example; the building upon our Most
Holy Faith by ever deepening knowledge; the unconscious growth in character by
habitual godliness:- all these are lost as we leave the church’s tropic
atmosphere to wander amid the icebergs of the world.
CHRIST
But an empty seat’s still graver
loss is obvious. “Thomas,” we read, “was not with them when Jesus came.” Of all the Apostles he needed most
what the Lord brought - proofs of the [Lord’s] resurrection; yet he was
the one apostle absent when the Lord brought the proofs; and he was not present
when our Lord “breathed on them, and saith unto them,
‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost’.” Those who can
least afford the loss are absent when Jesus comes to bless His own. And what is
most striking is that it is Jesus - and, so far as we know, Jesus alone - who
recalls the absence; for on the next Sunday, without a word from the apostle,
He “saith to Thomas, Reach hither thy hand”; and the blessing which
He gave him on that second Sunday, He had never given him throughout the week. CHURCH BLESSINGS ARE NEVER PROCURABLE AT
HOME. “The very sermon that we needlessly miss may
contain a precious word in season for our souls. The very assembly for prayer
and praise from which we stay away may be the very gathering that would have
cheered, and stablished, and quickened our hearts. We little know how dependant
our spiritual health is on little, regular, habitual helps and how much we
suffer if we miss our medicine.” - Bishop J. C. Ryle.
SERVICE
Again, so far as the battle goes
in which we are all involved, the absent member is a deserter: he may say:- “I hinder no one from coming; my absence is a matter for
myself alone” : nevertheless he shirks his duty. “One day,” says Dr. Wilbur Chapman, “there came to the city
of
* It is,
however, only fair to church workers to note that neither the absence of
conversion, as in these cases, nor the dying down of the flame after
conversion, as in countless backsliders, can be effectually, countered by
personal attentions, however kindly and however right. It is deep, personal sin before
God.
REPUTATION
There is another very sad
consequence of the empty seat. Is it not a tragedy that a disciple of the high
character of Thomas should, through a single absence, have contracted the
unenviable repute down all the ages of being ‘doubting’
Thomas? Had he met the Lord the Sunday before, he could have examined the
scars. Modernism was born in the
APOSTASY
Another danger of the empty seat
is especially modern. “Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, but exhorting one another,
and so much the more as ye see the day drawing nigh” (Heb. 10: 25): that is, the nearer the
Advent, the more dangerous becomes the empty seat, and our Lord’s words the
more intensely arresting:- “Because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of
the many” - the ‘many’ as distinct from the ‘few’; that is, the love of the majority of believers -
“shall wax cold” (Matt.
24: 12). No one
can see the end of the path which begins with leaving the church, and every
moment now brings us nearer gigantic falls and open apostasies. But lovely is
the counterpart truth. In harvest-time farmers never set a single sheaf
standing by itself; after the grain is ripe, and cut, it is reaped together: so
when God empties the seats of the watchful, He reaps them, as He finds them, together.
BEYOND
THE GRAVE
But the supreme danger of the
empty seat is on the other side of the grave; and the Holy Spirit expresses it
in words more awful than any of us would ever have dared to use. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together; for if we sin
wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth” - the
inspired Apostle includes himself: it is true even of the chief of apostles - “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment”
(Heb. 10:
26).
THE
ASSEMBLY
Judas’s seat is empty for ever:
Thomas’s is empty only until the next Lord’s Day; and then follows golden service in a ripened life, and
at last a name emblazoned for ever on the foundations of the Holy City. Our
assembly here is only a prelude to our
assembly for ever above.* Dr. Talmage never erased the name of a dead member from his church register, as he said he hoped to call his roll on the streets of glory; and so, after
his church had been burned down, 500 living members were found, and 2,500 who,
as the register expressed it, had “changed their residence”.
* It is
beautiful to note that [the Greek word …] is used
only twice: in Heb. 10:
25 of our earthly assembling, and in 2 Thess. 2: 1 of our heavenly.
* * *
12
THE REMOVAL OF THE CHURCH FROM EARTH
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
It is a
most happy fact, solving a complex and warmly debated problem with ease and
finish, that, if a single phrase in the Apocalypse - wheat - is a symbol of the
church, a graded removal of the Church from earth, a removal in sections,
passes out of the realm of discussion into that of certainty. This symbol is
the
FIRSTFRUITS
Now the first key-fact of the
drama is that the scene opens in heaven, and that all the actors in it - the
Lamb, the First-fruits, the Angels - move in and from the heavenlies. The
proofs of this are unmistakable. (1) Christ is in the heavenlies. “I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing” (Rev.
14: 1): the
Lord does not descend to earth until the nineteenth chapter: and
even later in this very chapter, when, as Reaper, He casts His sickle to the
earth (v. 14), He is
still seated on the Parousia-cloud in the heavenlies. The Lord’s title
throughout His sojourn in the heavenlies is ‘The Lamb’: ‘the Son of Man’ is His title on descending to the
earth. (2) ‘Jerusalem’ throughout the Apocalypse
never means the earthly Jerusalem and Mount Zion below, so far from being
occupied by Christ - who does not descend upon
it until after the Vintage pictured at the close of this chapter - is, at this moment, in the grip
of the murderous Antichrist (Rev. 11: 8): the Mount Zion here
named is, therefore, the “mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb.
12: 22) to
which we have already in spirit come. (I) The Firstfruit company sing “before the throne, and before
the four living creatures and the elders” (14:
3); and the Throne of God is
indisputably in heaven.* “‘Heaven,’ from which the sound comes (v. 2), includes the ‘
*“
THE
HARVEST
Now the
other key-fact in the drama is the inescapable identity of firstfruits with
harvest. “If the firstfruit is holy,” [the Holy Spirit inspired Apostle] Paul says, “so is the lump”
(Rom. 11: 16) - the crop from which it is
cut: that is, if the Firstfruits are a heavenly body, so also is the Harvest a
heavenly body, although still on the surface of the earth. For it is impossible
to deny that the Firstfruits and Harvest in this chapter each relate to the
other, as the first-cut and the later-cut of one body of wheat: beyond the
sharply numbered firstfruits stretches the un-numbered and innumerable harvest.
Thus all is exactly square with all other Scriptures. For as the fig stands for
*“The Harvest is
the ingathering of the Good, the ingathering of the wheat into the heavenly
barn: the Vintage is the crushing of the wicked” (Bishop Chr. Wordsworth). So Bengel:- “By
means of the Harvest a great multitude of the righteous, and by means of the
Vintage a great multitude of the
ungodly, is removed from the world: the Vintage is expressive only of wrath,
the Harvest is entirely of a gracious character.”
WHEAT
So then the sole obstacle to a divided reaping
- namely, theory that the Firstfruits are ‘Jewish’
- collapses. For no Jewish body is ever removed from the earth at all. Wheat is
so characteristic of the Christian that it could not be a
symbol of an earthly people: its fragile stalk, dying to earth as it ripens
heavenward, so unlike the rooted, luscious grasp on earth of fig or vine; its
annual relays moving off the field in successive pilgrim generations; its value
as the supreme food for man, even as the Church is the supreme satisfaction of
God; its lack of what, to the world, would be pleasant fruit - fig or grape:
wheat is manifestly created to be God’s kindergarten of the Church; and the
theory that this body of redeemed on high is ‘Jewish’,
under investigation, melts as a mist in the sun, or a fog swept by a sea-wind.*
* How clear minds could
ever have confounded the earthly First-fruits (Rev. 7: 4) with the heavenly First-fruits is one of the mysteries of
Apocalyptic interpretation. For it would be difficult to find two groups of the
saved more radically distinguished by explicit statements of Scripture. The one
group is on the earth, the other [after the time of their Resurrection] is in
heaven: the one is named as Jews, the
other is named as catholic: the one is drawn from the Twelve Tribes of Israel
the other “from among men” - mankind in
general: the one escapes into the wilderness (Rev. 12: 14) the
other into the heavenlies: the one is stationary in the desert, with Christ as
the Jehovah Angel, the other moves freely everywhere, with the Lamb: the one is
sealed
in the forehead as a miraculous
safeguard against assassination (Rev. 9: 4), the
other is named in the forehead in a realm where assassination is
impossible. The virginity of the Lamb’s body-escort is also profoundly
un-Jewish; and redemption from the earth, as
DIVIDED
REAPING
Therefore
the stupendous fact now confronts us - not an inference, nor a doctrine, but a
photograph - that not all the Church is rapt into
the heavenlies at one swing of the scythe. Between the Firstfruits and Harvest yawns an ominous drama.
Between the Firstfruits reaped on high, and the Harvest still uncut on earth,
successive judgment Angels proclaim wrath on the threshold, the accomplished
overthrow of Babylon, and the Mark of the Beast at the doors, followed by a
dirge (or elegy) of the spirit over a sudden burst of martyrdom - all events
that are close to the opening hours of the Great Tribulation; and the
Harvest is still uncut. The Firstfruits, garnered we
are not told when, but earlier, are, as Dean Alford says, “choice ones among
God’s people, and not the totality of those who shall form the great multitude
that no man can number”. It is a significant fact that there has never yet been
a rapture except of conspicuous saints. “Without
question, there is pre-eminence in being the firstfruits of the heavenly
harvest. They are not all the saved.
The very word indicates that there is
much more to follow. Nor are they
the mass of the saved. Theirs is the ‘first
resurrection’, of which we read in chapter 20. - that
resurrection of the dead which St. Paul calls ‘the resurrection’, and the ‘mark’ toward which he
pressed, if by any means he might attain unto it (Phil. 3.). Infinite mischief is
done by the belief that all will be
equally blessed, equally honoured.”
(Pulpit Commentary.*)
* Our Lord is in their
midst, and is also first-fruits (1 Cor. 15: 20)- thus proving that first-fruits are composed
of dead, and not only of living, saints and, as reaped two thousand years
earlier, the Ascension divides the cutting even of first-cut: for the 144,000
are not ‘the first-fruits’,
but ‘first-fruits’ (no article) a section of a
far vaster throng: “but each in his own order” - group, company, flight; “Christ the first-fruits, then
they that are Christ’s in His Presence” (1 Cor. 15: 23) - in successive
reapings during the Parousia. Resurrection accompanies each rapture, both
being, embodied (Rev. 11: 11, 12) in a single graphic example. The peculiar
nature, history, and functions of this particular group of first-cut saints lie
outside the scope of our present article.
MATURITY
The moral lesson now stands
forth (as designed) in all its penetrating power. For the grain is reaped
solely according to its ripeness. Earth-removal depends, for the servant of
God, on spiritual maturity [and obedience], as exactly and as inevitably
as harvesting is dated, not by the farmer, but by - [the fruitfulness of] - the
grain. The Lord had already warned us of this momentous principle, in His
description of the ripening Church. “First
the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear: but when the fruit is RIPE,
immediately he putteth forth the
sickle, because the harvest is come” (Mark 4:
29). So
the identical phrasing is used here. “Send
forth thy sickle” - the sickle is ‘sent’, for
it is an intelligent scythe of falling angels - “and
reap: for the hour to reap” - an hour
which depends solely on the maturity of the grain - “is come; for harvest of the
earth is OVER-RIPE” (Rev. 14: 15); rather, perfectly ripe, so
that the stalk is dry (Alford). Wheat which never ripens would be a blasted field:
but the
* A broad
hint that the corners of the field, which according to the type (Lev. 23: 22) must be reaped later than harvest, are uncut
until the neighbourhood of Armageddon is contained in the characteristic Church warning:- “Blessed
is he that watcheth, and keepeth his
garments [works: of Rev. 3: 4, 18], lest he walk naked,
and they see his shame” (Rev. 16: 15).
HEAVENLIES
So now we reach the momentous
fact carefully designed to revolutionize our whole Christian life. Maturitv in the spiritual realm is grace perfected in the
character; and the critical alternative unfolds before us either of maturity
gained now by grace, or a forced growth under judgment. For ‘firstfruits’ is not only a time-word, so that if reaped simultaneously
with harvest, it is not firstfruits; but it is
also a quality-word, for firstfruits (in Scripture) are invariably the pick of
the crop (Num. 18: 12), peculiarly holy to God, and
to be carried bodily into the House of God (Neh. 10: 37). So of the Christian Firstfruits moral
excellence of the highest order is stated; “they are without blemish” (Rev. 14: 5): whereas the
Harvest, although ripe at last, has no special excellence, as wheat, stated;
and its maturity,
unlike that of the Firstfruits, is a maturity not due to rapidity in reaching
perfection, but is produced by the slow and painful process
of burning heat - “the harvest of the
earth is dried up.” As the first-fruits are two
baked loaves (Lev. 23: 17), burnt edible - so ceasing to
be raw grain - through an earlier suffering with Christ, so the Day of the Lord burneth as an oven (Mal. 4: 1), thus
baking its Loaves: the fierce sun of the Day of Wrath, penetrating grain which
avoided the earlier fires, destroys earthliness in the wheat at last. The root
cause of maturity is fundamentally the same in both - made perfect through suffering.
THE
CRISIS
So the urgency of the issue, its
summons to sanctity, our practical peril - all lodge in selective rapture alone
the rousing truth without which the warnings of God on unwatchfulness fall flat
and unheeded. We are exotics ripening for another soil; and sunripe wheat,
rather than forced hot-house growth, is God’s ideal: for it is not the pressure
of coming judgments, nor any inherent necessity that we should escape the
coming perils - martyrs have had as bad - which is the determining factor compelling
removal, but a principle quite other - our fitness for the heavenly garner.*
And how solemn are the facts! In spite of the huge cataclysm of the War with
which God shook the world, it is a fact past all denial that the great majority
of the Christian groups treat the Saviour’s return with derision. Is this
ripeness for the sickle? Nothing short of Tribulation horrors will
shock the main mass of the converted into maturity at last.
* The blade is the green
sprout of a living profession of Christ, a proof past all doubt of vital
standing in Him; but it is not the fruitful ear, much less the full corn in the
ear; and men do not reap blades. It is a decisive confirmation of the
interpretation here given that, in the Feasts of the Law which are a complete history
in type of the redeemed under grace, wheat (as ever) is the symbol selected for
the Church, and the Feast of Harvest (Lev. 23: 9-22) reveals a carefully graded reaping.
* * *
13
RAPTURE
By D.M.
PANTON, B.A.
1. All
Rapture is one in principle, and must ultimately embrace all believers (2 Cor. 5: 10), and so Scripture does not
speak of raptures, in the plural: nevertheless plurality of
rapture is a provable fact; for isolated acts of rapture have already occurred (as our Lord’s, and presumably the saints of Matt. 27: 52), and will occur again, as
distinct from the Church, (e.g., martyrs under Antichrist, who - [after resurrection (Heb. 9: 27; cf.
Psalm 16: 10;
Acts 2: 27, 34; 2 Tim. 2: 15-19; 1 Pet. 1: 9 ff, R.V.)] - are on high with Christ, Rev. 15: 2); for rapture, though one in principle and comprehension, is
effected in separate and graded instalments.
2. The phrase ‘rapture of the Church’
(whether before the Great Tribulation or after) occurs nowhere in the
Scripture, and deviation from Scripture phraseology always betrays a deviation
from Scripture truth.
3. The Epistles which most exhaustively state Church privileges
(Ephesians and Colossians)
are silent on rapture, from which it is a legitimate inference that rapture is
not a privilege attached to simple faith: nor can Rapture occur in the dispensation of
Grace at all, since it is the recall of God’s ambassadors for war. -
the Judgment Throne is set before the cry goes forth, “Come up
hither!” (Rev. 4: 1), - and it is the extinction of Church standing on the earth.
4. The only passage that appears to state a solitary rapture
embracing all believers is addressed to disciples described as abounding in
goodness and love (1 Thess. 1: 3), and, as
Scriptural sufferers, ready to be accounted worthy of the Kingdom (2 Thess. 1: 5) - that is, to believers already qualified for
instant rapture; and it expressly iniplies
that it is only the premature dread of being overtaken by the Day of the Lord
which is forbidden. *
* “That
ye be not QUICKLY shaken from your
mind” - prematurely terrified - “as that the day
of the Lord is now present” (2 Thess. 2: 2):
believers actually caught by that Day may well be panic stricken; for the
judgments throughout the Tribulation are punitive (Rom. 11: 5),
though, for the child of God, also remedial. Paul, like his Lord, warns in this
very passage against spiritual slumber (1 Thess. 5: 6) “Each in his own company” implies distinction in
rapture “in His Presence,” i.e., during the Parousia (1 Cor. 15: 23): so 1 Cor. 15: 52 speaks of universal change, not simultaneous rapture.
5. For all the passages dealing, technically and expressly,
with requisites for rapture,* - and which therefore must be decisive of the
question, - assert personal watchfulness and worthiness as essential; the ready virgin alone enters (Matt. 25: 10), the ready householder alone is un-robbed (Matt. 25: 44), the ready disciple alone is rapt (Luke 17: 34) -
“therefore be ye also READY.”
* Luke
21: 36;
Matt. 24: 42; Heb. 11: 5; Rev. 3: 3; Rev. 3: 10.
6. Thus the two current views, basing themselves on two
apparently antagonistic sets of Scripture - narnely
(1) that all believers will escape the Tribulation,
and (2) that all will pass
through it - both avoid personal responsibility by casting upon God the
deliverance, or the non-deliverance, as (in either case) part of the economy of
Grace ; whereas God places the responsibility of escape upon His people: the
whole Word of God taken together, here as ever, is a just balance between two
sharp extremes, and so to a watchful church (Rev. 3: 10) a conditional
promise is given, and so to an unwatchful (Rev. 3: 3) a conditional threat.
7. Former precedent also rules in
favour of exclusiveness in priority of rapture: for not all the redeemed
accompanied Enoch, or Elijah, or Christ: even among prophets, Enoch is taken,
Elisha is left: (though for Elisha and the Apostles no dishonour was involved,
since God was not then about to flood the earth with His judgments).
8. The type revealed expressly
for this point is wholly decisive: for the Wheat is the Seed the Son of Man has
sown, and is sowing (Matt. 13: 38); and the garnering (according
to the Type) is accomplished in a first sheaf (Christ), then in firstfruits,
then in harvest, and finally in “corners
of the field” thus reaped according to ripeness (Lev. 23: 10, 17, 22); for all immature grain
ripens, sooner or later, in the violent heats (Rev. 15: 15, margin
R.V.) of the Tribulation.
9. Our Lord Himself asserts (Matt. 5: 13) that while His disciples, as the salt of
the earth, cannot change their nature, they
can lose their savour, and that all such salt will be cast out and trodden under foot of men; and
He therefore commands (Luke 21: 36) a
perpetual prayer for escape.
10. The Judgment Seat will redress
the balance between all saints, both dead and living, so that the unwatchful
dead will gain no advantage by death over the unwatchful living, nor the
watchful living gain at the expense of the watchful dead: for our deserts are
not all reaped at the same moment;- “some
men’s sins are evident, going before unto
judgment; and some men also they follow after” (1 Tim. 5: 24).
11. Our Lord, from the
view-point of the Revelation and of His
Advent, divides the Church throughout this dispensation (“the things which are,” (Rev.
1: 19) into
seven divisions: so the Apocalypse reveals seven raptures* extending over the period of the Parousia; or at least refers
seven times to raptures, the majority of which (e.g., Rev. 11: 12; 12: 5; 15: 2) are provably distinct resurrections and
ascensions.
* Rev. 4: 1; 7: 9; 11: 12; 12: 5; 14: 1; 14: 16; 15: 2.
12. Thus there are two
essentials for rapture - failh and works; or, as
our Lord implies (Luke 21: 36),
discipleship reinforced by unceasing vigilance and prayer: (1) “BY FAITH
Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and he was not found, because
God translated him: for (2) before his translation
he hath had witness borne to him THAT HE
HAD BEEN WELL-PLEASING UNTO GOD” (Heb.
11: 5).
* * *
14
The Coming Gnosticism*
By D. M. Panton, M.A.
[* This
tract is number 102 in “The Vanguard” Reprints.]
Apostasy
“The Spirit saith expressly that in later times” - as
the - [present, evil] - Age
closes - “some shall fall away from the faith” -
apostatize - “giving heed to seducing spirits” - an
apostasy therefore that will be frankly Spiritualistic - “and doctrines of demons” - who will mould its
dogma - “FORBIDDING TO MARRY AND COMMANDING TO ABSTAIN FROM MEATS”
(1 Tim. 4: 1, 3) - ‘articles of diet,’ either food or drink. Already the
footfalls of this fearful Gnosticism can be heard on the threshold of the
modern world.
Marriage
The assault on marriage began
early in the Nineteenth Century, and has grown steadily in volume since. “A system could not well have been devised more studiously
hostile to human happiness than Marriage” (Shelley, Notes to his Poems). “Marriage is the chief
cause of all the vice and misery that exists in the world” (Robert Dale
Owen, the Spiritualist). “Reasonable consciousness, when awakened in man,
demands complete abstinence, complete chastity” (Tolstoy, Christian
Teaching, p. 75: Tolstoy also forbad flesh and wine). The
earlier editions of Mrs. Eddy’s “Science and Health” contain prohibitions of
marriage which have since been withdrawn. “Those who have read the proceedings of the
Divorce Court Commission know how startling, how revolutionary, how abominable,
were some of the proposals laid before that body. It is an ominous and fearful
fact that the very worst of these proposals were made by organised bodies of
women. Those who keep up with current literature are aware that in the most
popular and widely read of the new novels there is an undercurrent - and not
always an undercurrent - of fierce revolt against the teaching of the Christian
Church on marriage. Proposals of the seven years’ lease and the ten years’
lease are quite common and seem to excite no surprise. In any gathering of the
‘intellectuals’ of both sexes, it is, to say the least, very common to deride
Christian marriage” (Sir Robertson Nicoll, British Weekly, Jan. 19, 1911). “We - and with us, in this, at all events, most
Socialists - contend that chastity is unhealthy and unholy. If the coming
society regards it as right for man to have mistresses as well as wife, we may
be certain that the like freedom will be extended to women” (Edward Aveling, The Woman Question, p. 15).
Diet
All
Gnostic (and, earlier, heathen) dietetic probibition has invariably centred in
flesh and wine, and now lifts its head afresh.
All disease and crime, says Shelley, and all fierce passions, spring solely
from the consumption of flesh and wine: “Omnipotence
itself could not save men from the consequences of this original universal sin.”
“Abstinence from intoxicating liquors and from flesh
food has an unmistakably uplifting effect upon tile intellectual and spiritual
potentialities of the personality” (Witley’s Ministry of the Unseen, P. 104, a Spiritualist). “Let the
Archbishop not take any animal food or alcohol for at least three days before
the Coronation” (a Theosophic message from spirits, Review
of Reviews, June,
1911). The second most widely circulated Anglican weekly journal is now devoted to
Vegetarianism. “It used to be
thought that alcoholic drinks were necessary to health. This is no longer
tenable; and the time is rapidly approaching when the same truth will be
universally recognised with regard to flesh foods: their impure stimulating
elements will be classed with the once glorified, but now discredited, alcohol”
(Church Family Newspaper April 3, 1912). “Part of the discipline
of life for the practical study of Yoga [Indian mediumship] is the entire putting aside of every spirituous liquor: another
demand is the dropping of all forms of flesh food” (Mrs. Besant, Christian
Commonwealth, Mar. 13,
1912). Drunkenness, a frequent sin in the Church age (1 Cor. 5: 11), disappears from the catalogue
of Apocalyptic sins (Rev. 9:
21). Over wide areas of the world
wine is being prohibited by law: in
Immense
issues are at stake: as the Fall sprang from a food-question, so will the
Apostasy. For if flesh-eating be evil, the Jehovah who said - “EVERY MOVING THING
THAT LIVETH SHALL BE FOOD FOR YOU” (Gen.
9: 3) - is an
evil Being, as the Gnostics said: and if animal slaughter is evil, the whole sacrificial system of
the Law was immoral, and Calvary is overthrown from its foundations; and His
character who created flesh and wine for food (Matt. 14: 19; John 2: 9),
consumed flesh and wine (Luke 24: 42;
Matt. 11: 19), and gave flesh and wine to
others to consume (John 21: 6,
12; Luke 22:
17), is hopelessly overthrown.
Gnosticism will be once again what it was of old, the grave of the Christian
faith. “WHICH [both marriage and meats] GOD CREATED TO BE RECEIVED WITH THANKSGIVING” (1 Tim. 4: 3).
* * *
15
The Last Watch*
By D. M.
PANTON, M. A.
[* This tract - 98 in
“The Vanguard” Reprints - was, “obtainable (free) from A. J. Tilney.”]
Secret
Rapture
Again and
again our Lord asserts His coming as a
Thief, with the consequent need of our unceasing alertness. “Behold, I come as a
thief. Blessed is he that watcheth” (Rev. 16: 15). Now a thief-like approach, -
for which, in our Lord's case, there is no reproach, since He takes only that
which is His own - is pregnant with meaning. It implies a hidden Saviour,
ambushed in a secret Parousia, from which He accomplishes His thefts: it
implies that the stolen goods disappear invisibly, and are discovered as stolen
only by having vanished: it implies that, thief-like, only the costliest goods
are removed: and it implies that constant watchfulness, an unbroken vigil
throughout the night, is the sole preventive of the burglary, since no thief
gives warning of his coming. “But know this,
that if the master of the house had known in what watch
the thief was coming, he would have watched,
and would not have suffered his house to be broken
through. Therefore be ye also ready” (Matt. 24: 43).
Looking
for Rapture
So, in all ages, the Church is
to be watchful; for even our Lord, though fully conscious of coming death, had,
His mind set, not on death, but on rapture. “When
the days were well nigh come that He should be received up” - rapt - “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9: 51). Death
for all the watchful is only an incident on the way to raptureas
Dean Alford selected as the epitaph for his own tombstone, - “The inn of a traveller on his way to Jerusalem”: and
for rapture itself, even the Son of God had to summon all His energies, and to
concentrate all His faculties: “He steadfastly
set His face to go.” A thousand solicitations and subtle dangers
lie, for us all, on every hand: as his soldiers used to say of Cromwell, before
a fight, - “See he has his battle-face,” so our
Lord’s tense, set, white face was fixed for rapture. For Rapture finds us
exactly what we are. Throughout his last day on earth, Elijah was full of the occupations of a holy life:
there was no shrinking, but a joyful, heart-whole concentration; no clinging to
earth, or to earthly things; no fear of the unseen world; no reluctance to drop
the now finished task: in the evening, when the chariot came, he was ready.
A Lost
Rapture
For unwatchfulness is most perilous.
Christ applies the fearful catastrophe of
After Rapture
For the
world will be no place for the saint at the End. Hooligans (not little
children: it is the word used of young men in Gen. 37: 2, 1 Kings 3: 7, and
Jer. 1: 6, 7) are
accustomed to mock at rapture, of which they will then be perfectly aware. “Go up, thou bald head;
go up, thou bald head”
(2 Kings 2: 23);
ascend, where your Master has gone; why are you left?
begone! This occurs at
Selective
Rapture
So we
seek to watch and pray. “There are some Bible
scholars, and among them names that are held in universal esteem, who say it is
only the Virgins whose lamps are burning that are qualified to go in; that
there is a just suspicion in Luke 21: 36 that those Christians who do not watch will not escape all these things. In
view of this bare but awful possibility,
there is but one position - habitual expectation” (J. MacNeil). “Those who are translated will have to be accounted worthy of it: it is not a gift, but a prize to be won, in the strength of the Lord, by the fruits of
faith, conduct and works after
conversion” (G. H. Pember). “In the FOURTH WATCH of the night” - “Jesus came unto them” (Matt.
14: 25).
* * *
16
THE SIFTING OF THE CHURCH*
By D. M.
PANYON, M.A.
[* This tract was made “obtainable from A. J. Tilney - 6d.per 100, post free.”]
The Church is engaged (like
Gideon) in a midnight battle: that battle is the struggle, by lip and life, to
keep the Faith, pure, whole, and undefiled, so as to be able to say at the end
with Paul, - “I have fought a good fight,
I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:
7); and the great fact which now
emerges with ever-increasing emphasis from the modern crisis is that the battle
will be won, but only by the few. Many
of us are deeply dismayed by the extraordinary falling of Christians around us;
not falling into apostasy, but into such error, or such worldliness, as to make
them quite useless as combatants. Now the startling revelation of Gideon’s
experience is that it is God who is doing the sifting:
that the process of the selection of the real fighters - the souls that are
actually going to win God’s battle - always going on, is only supremely so in
days such as these; that God is actually superintending the process; that it is
the combatants themselves who decide whether they shall be in Gideon’s Three
Hundred; and far above all, that the battle is going to be won, but by the few.
The
process of sifting begins by the Spirit of the Lord falling upon Gideon, who blew a war blast up and down the tribes,
proclaiming a Holy War and summoning soldiers to Jehovah’s banner (Judges 6: 34). It is
the work of an Evangelist: it is the summons of Paul - “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. 7: 12), and no less than thirty two
thousand men rallied to Jehovah. Look at that mass of men. Every man of them
could fight; every man was actually enrolled as a soldier; all started out with
the full intention to fight; all could have had the whole power of God to
battle.* Young believer, - and by that I mean new recruits to
Christ’s army of any age - often seem to imagine that they are now to be cralled and coddled, and wheeled in a perambulator to
Heaven, under the caressing smiles of their mother-church: whereas, as a matter
of fact, God no sooner saves a soul than His trumpet-blast calls him to suffer
hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. A Salvationist once asked the
founder of the Cowley Fathers, “Have you found peace?” “No,”
he said, “I have found war.” Here are 32,000 converts separated for the Holy War front
the whole of
[* See Acts 5: 32; cf.
1 John 3: 24,
R.V.]
We reach
the next stage in the process of selection. This army of Gideon stood
thirty-two thousand strong, when the surprising word comes from God, - “The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into
their hand.” Thirty-two thousand Israelites, massed against 135,000
Midianites, did not seem too many: all our church members, massed, are but few
against a whole city: yet God says they are too many - “lest
He wants picked workers: men to
whom, for their fidelity and devotion, He can give the honour and reward of
winning His battles; men who can stand the spiritual strain. Some years ago, a
half-completed bridge jutting out over a river in Canada, collapsed, killing
many of the workmen, because the designer had not put in girders strong enough
to bear the down thrust of the weight:
so there are believers of real grace and faith who are unfit for spiritual
strain, and whom the Lord, therefore, has to withdraw from the firing line.
So God brings before all this
host the vision of the far greater host against them, only an hour’s march off
- the peril of their unprotected homes - the fierceness and barbarity of their
Eastern enemies - the overwhelming numbers coming: and 22,000, without a word,
silently slip off home, leaving, as some one says, fewer persons, but not fewer
men. They had blown their trumpets with the loudest, and Gideon’s heart must
have swelled with pride as he beheld those massed recruits, so spontaneously
and joyously mustered, converts of God’s trumpet-blast. But they melt like snow. After an Evangelistic Mission how the
ranks thin out! how many are the wounded and the deserters and the prisoners of
war!
It is
always when the peril becomes near and acute that God’s forces begin to melt:
workers grow fearful, and self-indulgent, and indifferent. These men began to
think the whole expedition, as conducted by Gideon, was madness. Their action
silently said to Gideon, - “You are standing alone.
Every one thinks different from you. You are the victim of a foolish illusion.
We will go with the many, not with the few.” “And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand.” The martyrs found it lonely work
- so shall we; the martyrs found it hard to pray, hard to suffer, hard to
renounce - so shall we; and it remains forever true that a small
fraction of the Church of God must do all the hard fighting.
Now we
reach the third and last test, and far the most remarkable, in God’s sifting
process of selection. “The Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring
them down unto the water, and I will try them
for thee there.” The courage of the ten thousand was good: but courage alone
is not enough: for the custody of His revelations, for the charge of His plans,
God requires men and women of a peculiar spirit. As Napoleon said, - In war, men are nothing, the man is
everything. So God brings a still closer test. Little things test and reveal
character: and what a man really is can be ascertained only by observing him
when he is unconscious of it, and, therefore, under no restraint. In a northern
legend a queen exchanged places with her maid; but the maid was discovered by
the way in which she drank from her glass at the table. The ten thousand came
down to the water, little dreaming what tremendous issues are turning on that
trifling act: 9,700 throw themselves casually down on the turf, and drink
leisurely; 300, too eager for delay, self-disciplined, their whole mind set on
the battle, catch up the water in the hollows of their hands, without breaking
rank, alert, ready: and lo, Gidion has his
army! The 9,700 are dismissed home, without having struck a blow.
Five generals were dismissed in the French manoeuvres of 1913 - men who had
once fought gallantly, but had grown incompetent: it cost General Joffre severe pain to dismiss them; yet how much may have
turned in the Great War upon that dismissal! By this wise process of selection
God had got the right men - men who, when others had refused, had rallied to
God; men who, when the dangers were presented to them, had stood firm, while
others went back; men who, when further unconsciously tested revealed that set
keenness and utter devotion without which victory is impossible. They had
passed all tests: they had counted all costs; they had revealed all iron nerve:
deserted by their comrades, exposed to overwhelming odds, they entered the
battle alone, and won it.
Now here is our supreme lesson.
This is the exact process of God to day. God shuts no servant of His out of His
chosen army of victory; we shut ourselves out: Gideon was not once told to
classify them: all he had to do was to stand by and watch; and, all
unconsciously, but quite infallibly, the servants of God classified themselves,
catalogued themselves. Our Gideon is Christ. He walks up and down among the Churches,
watching us classify ourselves; and He appoints our places accordingly. What is
God saving to us all in this? He is saying this:- Make up your mind that there
will be few; make up your mind that God’s battle is dead sure to be won: make
up your mind that it will be won by the few, and the few alone; make up your
mind that you can be among those few; and make up your mind that, by God’s
grace, and at all costs, you will. AND YOU WILL!
An evangelist once opened his
heart to me, and gave me the secret of his life. When he was about twenty-one,
a converted lad, he heard an aged minister relate this legend. An angel was
talking with an old Christian worker, and the angel went into an inner vault,
and came back with a crown of incomparable beauty in his hand, blazing with
diamonds. “This,” the Angel said, “was the crown I designed for you when you were a youth:
but you refused, as a young man, to surrender your
person and life completely to God; and it is gone.” The Angel went back
into the vault, and came out with another crown, still beautiful, but plainer,
and with far fewer jewels. “And this,” the
Angel said. “was the crown I designed for your middle
age: but you gave that middle age to a luxurious and indolent discipleship; and
it is gone.” A last time he went into the vault, and returned with a
simple, plain gold circlet. “Here,” said the
Angel, “is the crown for your old age, this is your
all for Eternity.” The young man was deeply impressed. He went home; and
in his bedroom, placing his finger on a chance verse, besought God to speak to
him through it. It was a verse he had never consciously seen before:- “Behold, I come quickly; hold fast that thou hast,
that no man take thy crown.” He saw the Angel; and he
made a total surrender of his life. Years passed, and a business income worth
thousands of dollars opened before him: at the same time came God’s silent
heart-tug to a scanty and precarious ministry. Again he saw
the Angel, and yielded to the call. After a pastorate of ten or twelve
years, came the silent call to world evangelism; “and
for three Sundays,” he said, - “I could only stand before my people, and
sob”; but again he saw the Angel. One of
the Three Hundred! “Blessed
is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you,
that he will set him OVER ALL THAT HE
HATH” (Luke 12: 43).
* * *
17
ACELDMA
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
One prophecy - surely unique in
its minute and intricate details amazingly fulfilled - shines out like a star.
It is a money transaction, in which a small and exact sum is named; it is the
actual price paid for the sale of God, it is paid down by the
hands of the Israelitish nation, through its recognized leaders, and paid
officially in the Temple courts; the money strangely finds its way into the
hands of a potter, in exchange for his field; while the whole transaction is so
critical, so charged with spiritual significance, that it involves, and
actually produces, the ruin of the Jewish nation. For smallness and commonness
of detail, combined with all the crisis and tragedy of a universe, both being
fulfilled to the letter though five centuries intervened, it is unsurpassed;
and the very insignificance of the sum makes the evidence the more conclusive,
because it reveals a foreknowledge so minute that it betrays the mind of the
Creator.*
* Various
explanations are given why Matthew (26: 15) attributes the prophecy in Zechariah (11: 12) to
Jeremiah. It occurred in a work of Jeremiah which has been lost (Origen); it
was an oral statement of that prophet (Calovius); the
Jews have expunged the passage from the Book of Jeremiah (Eusebius). It may be
that Jeremiah (as Matthew says) ‘spoke’ the
words, and Zechariah either recorded or repeated them.
THE
SHEPHERD
On the Mount of Olives, after
the Supper, the Lord Jesus vividly saw Himself as the Shepherd, and as the
Shepherd already betrayed, and about to be smitten: “for it is written,” He said, “I will smite the shepherd, and
the sheep shall be scattered abroad” (Mark
14: 27). So in
Zechariah the Great Shepherd is photographed as He stands on the threshold of
the supreme crisis. He stands before Israel, after He has “fed the flock” for years, and demands a
Shepherd’s recompense, even as Jesus stood before the Figtree, seeking fruit:- “And I said unto them, If ye
think good, give me my hire” (Zech. 11: 14): weigh up the years of my
seeking lost sheep on the mountains of Israel; my miracles, My compassions, My
teachings: judge the price a Good
Shepherd asks, the confidence and love of his sheep;- repentance, and faith,
and a response to the marvellous Love. “GIVE ME MY HIRE.”
A WAGE
Now the drama begins. The Lord
was already standing on the outer reaches of
A PRICE
But more subtle correspondences
follow, utterly impossible except to foreknowledge. The transaction of Judas
was an actual sale of Christ: it was not only a ‘wage’
- “they weighed for MY HIRE thirty pieces of silver” - but a
‘price’ - “the goodly PRICE that I
was priced at of them.” So Judas said:- “What are ye willing to give me, and I will deliver him unto you?” - that
is, it was the bodily delivery of the Lord for which he received the actual
paid-down cash. And it is remarkable that thirty shekels was the price paid for
a slave (Exod. 21: 32) and as
this estimate of the Lord’s value was the estimate made by the Priests, not by
Judas, it is possible that they had in mind what thirty shekels thus purchased
under the Law. For “he emptied himself, taking the form of A
SLAVE” (Phil. 2: 7).
Consciously or unconsciously
THE
The actual spot of the bargain
is indicated in the Divine forecast with a concentrated accuracy beyond all
coincidence. “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter. And I
took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them unto the potter, in the house of the Lord.” The
A
But just here an enormous
revelation is embedded in a single word. “Jehovah said unto me, The goodly price
that I was priced at of them.” The Great Shepherd throughout
Zechariah is Jehovah; and therefore the Good Shepherd sold on the slopes of
Olivet - for He is the same Person - is no less than Jehovah Himself. “The good shepherd,” our Lord Himself said, “layeth down his life for the sheep” (John 10: 11); and
the sheep are “the flock of God, which he
purchased WITH HIS OWN BLOOD”
(Acts 20: 28). But
there is a careful distinction of personalities. “The
transition from the first person to the third (Zech.12: 10) points to the fact that the
person slain, though essentially one with Jehovah, is personally distinct from
the Supreme God” (Keil and Delitzsch). So later
THE
POTTER
Now the silver, through the
joint act of Judas and the Priests, arrives at its destination. It was ‘cast down’ by Judas, violently, as it had been cast
down centuries before by the Prophet; it had, in both cases, been thrown down inside the Temple; and now, through the
refusal of the Priests to use the money in the Treasury, it reaches the Potter.
Their opportunity of revoking the transaction and cancelling the purchase by
keeping the restored money, they reject with scorn. “And the chief priests took counsel, and bought with them the Potter’s field, to bury
strangers in” (Matt. 27: 7). The
apparently trivial and meaningless command - “cast
it to the potter” - becomes, after centuries, a lightning flash of Divine
omniscience.
So then the final seal is now
set on the exactly detailed and perfectly adjusted prophecy and its fulfilment.
“Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood unto this day.” The
expression which Judas used after our Lord had been condemned - “I have betrayed innocent blood” - reveals that he saw that his act
would be the Lord’s death, and that a violent death: he already sees the blood
flowing from his slaughtered Master, and so that his betrayal is murder: he
realizes that what he has been paid is the price of blood; and popular judgment
endorsed it with the name it gave - ‘The Field of Blood,’
that is, the field bought with Blood.
So the Chief Priests
deliberately say:- “It is the price of blood”
(Matt. 27:
6): the price given for shedding
blood, the wage of a murderer (Alford).* In the fuller truth of the Gospel, “the field is the world” (Matt.
13: 38); and
Jesus selleth all that he hath” - the
man who gives his blood, his life, gives his all - “and buyeth that field” (Matt. 13: 44).
Judas’s sale of Christ was Christ’s purchase of the world, and the Gospel is
extraordinarily disclosed in the entire tragedy.
* Not only were the thirty
silver shekels the purchase price of a slave (Hos. 3: 2), but, still more remarkably, it was the sum
fixed as compensation for a slave gored by a beast (Exod. 21:
32): that is, it was the price of a slave’s
blood. It is reported (we do not know with what truth) that the price of a
murder by a
OMNIPOTENCE
Finally, throughout is revealed
the overmastering power of God. The whole drama is not only a crowning proof of
prophecy, intricately exact and accurately accomplished beyond all challenge,
but it is a sheer triumph of God. The Priests themselves accomplish the fact of
the sale of God, and end by certifying the fact in exquisitely detailed
imagery. So Judas, betraying Christ, only lays our Sacrifice upon the Altar;
and simultaneously - while every instinct of a desperate man would be to
exonerate himself by inculpating his Victim - he gives as valuable a tribute to
the Lamb as ever fell from human lips:- “I have
betrayed innocent blood.” Of all that
the Jews have charged Him with for two thousand years, Judas says He is innocent. We are
absolutely impotent to thwart God: our worst crimes are so adjusted into the
machinery of God that, instead of thwarting Him, they themselves accomplish
Divine aims hundreds and thousands of years old. “We
can do NOTHING against the truth,
but for the truth” (2
Cor. 13: 8). Peter sums it all up after the
suicide of Judas thus:- “Jesus, being delivered UP BY THE
DETERMINATE COUNSEL AND FOREKNOWLEDGE OF
GOD, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay”(Acts 2: 23). Man
does what must be, but not because he must: whether by good or evil, whether in
heaven or hell, we fulfil to the letter every word of the Most High: our very
effort to thwart the truth is part of the truth - the part embodied in prophecy, our opposition
only verifying and establishing the prediction.*
* Human foolishness in
handling the Word of God is aptly seen in the Jews’ explanation of the thirty
shekels:- the thirty precepts given to the sons of Noah; or thirty dignities of
royalty; or the thirty righteous in each generation, etc. But Christian
expositors can be even less believing. A really great Commentary (we refrain
from hurting it by naming it) has these astounding words:- “Why these words should have been referred to by the
Evangelist Matthew, and applied to Christ and Judas, I cannot explain, nor can
anyone else.” But, with the amazing penetration of all Divine utterance,
the prophecy itself says that “THE POOR of the flock that
gave heed unto me knew that it was the
word of the Lord” (Zech. 11: 11).
Fishermen believed it, and turned the world upside down.
* * *
18
MODERNISM*
By D. M.
PANTON
[* This tract is No. 5 of “PERILS OF THE AGE”.
Seven thousand copies were printed in 1914 by ALFRED HOLNESS, 13 & 14, PATERNOSTER ROW,
Modernism*
* “I greatly regret that readers should be inconvenienced by an
alteration of the original title of this tract - ‘The Progressive League’; but
the Progressive League is dissolved, being replaced by the Liberal Christian
League; and probably the term ‘modernism’ now more adequately covers the loose
group of spiritual phenomena with which the tract deals.” - D. M. Panton.
We are
reaching days in which it is of growing and vital importance to demonstrate
that faith is no more meritorious than the hand of a pauper held out to receive
an alms. It is never faith that saves: it is Christ that
saves. Here - to illustrate it - is a giant locomotive, moving royally to the
head of a heavily laden train, with steam up, and a pregnant power equal to
drawing twice as many trucks; yet the whole train is motionless. Why? Because
the couplings are not attached. As soon as those giant hands are clasped, and
the iron bar slewed round, making the trucks and engine one, the train moves.
Those couplings are faith: the moment appropriating hands are laid on Christ, [eternal]
salvation is achieved. But look again. Here is another colossal engine, empty
of steam and fire: the couplings are now clasped - yet the train is motionless.
Why? Because it is not the couplings, but the engine, which draws; nor is it any engine, but that engine only
which holds the power: so I may have faith, and yet be lost, because
the faith is attached to the wrong engine. Faith,
in itself, is totally without saving power: it draws all its merit from the
Christ on Whom it is fastened.
Now it is a startling revelation
of the prophetic Scriptures that not unbelief, but faith, is to be the dread reality of the last
days: not a negation of good, but an affirmation of evil; not a gross
materialism but a subtle and deadly spiritualism; not merely a refusal of Christ,
but an actual embrace of Antichrist. Paul states it with great boldness. “God sendeth them a working of error [an energy of delusion], that they should believe a lie” (2 Thess. 2: 11): not an
hypocrisy, nor a creed accepted under compulsion [or ‘coercion’]; but an
ecstasy of enthusiasm - like the infatuation of the Mohaminedan
- producing a genuine faith - a faith, but in a lie. The religious instinct,
like nature, abhors a vacuum: the Faith the returning
Christ will not find (Luke 18: 8); but a new faith, in judicial retribution,
will have mounted the throne of the old.
Now we are not without grave
symptoms, though on a scale incomparably less than the Apocalyptic, of the
presence of this dread reality. In such organisations as the Progressive and
Liberal Christian Leagues, organised as their president, Mr. R. J. Campbell
tells us, “not to antagonise the Churches, but to
permeate them,” there is gathered under one roof a strange amalgam of
modern faiths, curiously combining in an enthusiasm of belief. The basis is
essentially infidel. “Not one feature,” says
the leading weekly exponent of Modernism in England, “of
the story of Jesus in the New Testament is original - the angelic annunciation
to Mary, the Virgin birth, the wondrous Child, the Magi coming from afar, the
star that guided thein, the shepherds to whom the
news first came, the song of angels, the meeting of the evil power in the
wilderness, His being put to death as a sacrifice to the principle of evil, the
miraculous resurrection escaping the bonds of death, the ascent to heaven, to
be speedily followed by His advent to earth to reign over a renovated world:
all this is hundreds, it may be thousands, of years older than the Christian
era. This
should teach us surely that here we are not in the presence of historical fact,
but of one of those wonder-stories that the world has repealed over and over
again - a world-wide myth which has been the common property of all peoples
from the very childhood of the race.”* No degree of
Infidelity is excluded from fellowship, or even from the supreme executive of
the Leagues. Mr. Bernard Shaw is a leading figure-head in the official Handbook
of the Progressive League; and it is Mr. Shaw who says, “Popular Christianity has for its emblem a gibbet, for its
chief sensation a sanguinary execution after torture, for its central mystery
an insane vengeance bought off by a trumpery expiation.” ** That the
teaching, consists of the commonplaces of the infidel platforms is frankly admitted. “It is supposed
that it is the New Theology which first stated the obnoxious facts. The truth
is that they are the commonplaces of those who argue against the Christian
verities;”*** and with what bitterness of antagonism these infidelities
are served afresh let this sentence bear witness. “Not
one of these phrases - the ‘wrath of God,’ the ‘terrors of Hell,’ and the
‘atoning blood which cleanses from sin’ - evokes anything but a feeling of
repulsion. To hand such Gospel
literature to wayfarers is equivalent to the exposure and sale of indecent
prints. There is an obscenity of the spirit which is quite as vile as anything
which the police have orders to suppress.” ****
**
***
But the crucial significance of
this mass of loosely connected spiritual phenomena does not lie in its negative
creed: the portent is its intense and passionate conviction. We are handling a
new faith. “Old Romanism and old Protestantism,”
it says, “are dying. What is now taking place is a
silent reformation on an incalculably vaster scale than the Lutheran movement
of four centuries ago. The cry is reproduced and echoed from country to country
and from shore to shore. Like every true and sincere call, it is a call to
sacrifice, to wafare, to consecration.” Modernism gathers within itself many contributory
streams of antichristian faith. “Everywhere the leaven
of Liberalism is active, in Judaism, in Islam, in Buddhism. Its sympathies
quiver all round the globe. It is we of the Progressive camaraderie who have
the best right to say, Securus judicat
orbis terrarum.* Thus these Leagues shelter Christian
Science and Sweden borganism; they are incorporated with Socialism and the
Woman Movement; they expound Buddhism with warm appreciation; they are wholly
sympathetic with Spiritualistic investigation and doctrine; frankly and
profoundly, Gnostic, they gravitate towards Theosophy, perhaps the most deadly
and powerful of modern Occultisms: and through all the new propaganda rings the
note of an assured and jubilant faith. All the world’s false Messiahs are
welcomed into the new Pantheon. “I do not know,”
says Canon Cheyne, “whether the composers of the Manifesto
of the Liberal Christian League were wise in applying to Jesus the sublime
statement of Col. 2: 9, that in Him dwelleth all the Pleroma
of the Godhead bodily. There are, I think, some Liberals who would hesitate to
follow them. If the goal of the Liberal Christian League is not merely the
world-wide extension of the Christian Church but a united humanity, must we not
do justice to the other great central personages beside him ‘whom our soul loveth,’ and
admit that, if not the Pleroma, yet at least a
wondrous flood of Divine life manifested itself in these great and almost
adorable personages?”** So an Anglican Canon and Oxford Professor of
Divinity approximates, in the new enthusiasm, to the worship of Buddha,
Confucius, and Mohammed.
*
Nor are such organisations as
the Progressive League without an incipient Messianic aspect. “No man could kill Alahdism,”
says the official Handbook, “as no one could kill the
Messianic hope of the expectation of the second coming of Christ. The great
movement into which we are now entering is another phase of the Messianic hope;
it presages the arrival of a new era, and announces a re-birth. That is what I
take to be the deepest meaning of your League.”* The outlook, says Sir
Oliver Lodge, “was never brighter than it is to-day;
many workers and thinkers are making ready the way for the second Advent - a
reincarnation of the Logos in the hearts of all men; the heralds are already,
attuning their songs for a reign of brotherly love; already there are ‘signs of
his coming and sounds of his feet’; and upon our terrestrial activity the date
of this Advent depends.” Moreover, an early issue of the organ of Modernism,
in its supplement on Theosophy, endorses the prediction of Mrs. Besant that the great Messiah of all religions will arrive
in the middle of this century; and behind this coming World Teacher, for whose
Advent, as “Supreme Teacher of Gods and men,” the
Order of the Star in the East is netting the world, theosophy perceives one of
whom it says, “There is no name, attribute or title of
Godhead, Power, or Majesty, ascribed to God either in the Old or New Testament,
but that same is the name, title, and attribute of Satan.”** Such an
attitude could not be riper for a Superman with superhuman powers, “whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders,” offering himself as the Messiah of all religions, and
summing up in his own person the very Religion of Man which is incipiently
embodied in Modernism.
* The New Theology (12th
thousand), p. 253. ** Lucifer, Sep.
1888.
Now how is this portent -
strange and new in
For we are here confronted with
the dreadful fact of judicial retribution. “God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Love of
error is an automatic recoil of indifference to the truth. Man’s soul is so
made that every rejection of the truth weakens it against the assaults of
temptation; the heart that refuses to melt, automatically hardens; and the
faculty of discernment between good and evil becomes blunted and atrophied with
disuse. A final chastisement of sin is deeper sin. For this is the goal of
righteous retribution. “God sendeth”: when
man shuts the door in the face of God, God locks it; and the diseased eye, blinded by the
light it has refused, sees an illusory glare on a curtain of pitch darkness. On
such falls the predicted woe:- “Woe unto them that
call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and
light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet,
and sweet for bitter” (Isa. 5: 20). It is an irreclaimable
ignorance and an impenetrable gloom. “If the
light that is in thee” - the ideal, the ruling principles, the
faith - “be darkness, how great is the darkness” (Matt. 6: 23).
Two counsels of the Holy Ghost
are especially requisite for the present situation. We, must; first, maintain
at all costs a clean conscience. “The end
of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned: from which things some
having swerved have turned aside;” “holding faith and a good conscience;
which some
having thrust from them made shipwreck” (1
Tim. 1: 5, 19). Faith is a
heart-whole acceptance of the truth: a good
conscience is a life squared to that truth. It is an absurd
sentiment, too prevalent even among the people of God, that we may believe what
we choose. Faith in God is not optional, it is obligatory: I must believe what God says, and all that God
says, or I sin: and the
decisive proof of faith is obedience. “My beloved brother,” Mr.
Muller once said to Dr. Pierson, “the Lord has given
you much light, and will hold you correspondingly
responsible for its use. If you obey Him and walk in the
light, you will have more: if not, the light will be withdrawn.” To see the truth and
not to embrace it is to foul the conscience; to have the truth search our life, and refuse to let it be searched, is to foul the conscience;
to decline to pay the price of truth is to foul the conscience: and apostasy is fearfully near to a
wilfully defiled conscience. But a conscience kept pure is
like the needle of a compass kept free - it swings true. All things are
possible to him who follows God from light to light. “Many shall purify themselves, and
make themselves white, and be refined;
but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked
shall understand: but they that be wise
shall understand” (Dan. 12: 10).
The
second counsel of the Holy Ghost is that we cultivate a passionate love of, and
faith in, the truth. God has called us to salvation in (1) sanctification of
the Spirit - which is His work, and (2) belief of the truth - which is mine;
and if I refuse to do my work, it is impossible for God to do His. No cost can be too great for truth: “her price is
above rubies.” In the ancient world it was said that the Sibyls, or
prophetesses, used to write their prophecies on leaves, and lay them at the
mouth of the cave in which they dwelt; and that these leaves must be read as
quickly as they could be gathered, for once fluttered by the wind they became
indecipherable. The legend said that one of these Sibyls came to King Tarquin of
“Take
heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and
whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away
even that which he thinketh he hath” (Luke 8:
18).
* * *
19
CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY
By D. M.
PANTON.
Our Lord devotes His fullest
parable (Luke 19: 11-27) to cover the entire field of Christian
responsibility for two thousand years. For between the going away of the
Nobleman to obtain a Kingdom (the Ascension) and His return (the Second Advent)
stretches the exact period of the history of Christendom, during which beside
Christian believers there are no “servants” of God
- a title by which the Apostles loved to describe themselves (Rom.1: 1; 2 Pet. 1: 1; James 1: 1; Jude 1). As “child” or “son” is the
title of privilege, so “servant” is the title of responsibility, in one and the
same man, who is both a member of
the Family of God and a servant in the Household of Faith.
Now our Lord casts the main
emphasis on the third servant - seven verses are devoted to the servant who was
a failure, and only three each to the successful servants: therefore, on this
servant’s identity depends Christ’s main teaching in the parable; and unless we
understand that he may be ourselves, ours
will be a concealed peril, like a man-trap hidden under forest-leaves. For every
truth, appropriated, falls on the soul like an electric shock; whereas it is
obvious that the [regenerate]
believer who denies the application of the passage to himself, while he may be
committing every offence of which the third servant can be guilty, so encases
himself in a coat of steel that God’s sword falls on him blunted and harmless. It is of vital import to know the spiritual standing of the third
servant.
Now this servant is proved a [regenerate] child
of God by the following facts. (1)
Equally with the other servants he is entrusted with our Lord’s goods on His
ascension; but Christ has never entrusted, or never does entrust, His work on
earth to the unsaved: therefore this is a saved soul equally with the rest. Jesus calls them all “His own servants;”
literally, “slaves,” bought
with their Master’s money, and owned by Him. The servants differ greatly in
capacity - in the extremes, as five to one; but they differ not at all in the
possession of a common trust. (2)
The three servants are judged together, at one spot and at one time; - [i.e., before their resurrection (Heb. 9: 27; cf. 2
Tim. 2: 18ff.
with Lk. 20: 35; Phil. 3: 11, 12ff.)] - but the wicked dead are not judged until
the Great White Throne (Rev. 20: 5, 12): a
thousand years after the judgment of the redeemed. So also the wicked servant
is judged last of the three, as last risen - [i.e., last resurrected] - and last rapt; for he
is the “servant who knows his Masters
will and does not get ready or does not do what his Master wants,”
(Luke 12: 47).
Moreover as this judgment is at the time of rapture, - [and
therefore before ‘the first resurrection’ (Rev. 3: 10; Heb. 9: 27; Rev. 20: 4-6; cf.
Luke 20:35;
Phil. 3: 11)] - all the unsaved are of necessity
physically excluded. (3) All three
are judged, like the Seven Churches, solely on the ground of their works: their faith in, and love for,
the absent King are implied and assumed: their standing is never challenged. If the third servant were an unsaved
soul, his works could in no way, and on no ground, be accepted: between the two Advents, it is the
redeemed alone who are judged according to their works; for only those who have received from
Christ can work for Him. (4)
Overwhelming is the final proof. In the twin parable of the Pounds, the unsaved
are placed in careful contrast with the saved, as Citizens and Servants, the
only two classes in the world, sharply dividing mankind: the Servants our Lord
entrusts with His all on earth, the Citizens send the message after the
ascended Christ: “We will not have this Man to reign over us.” “Whilst the one Servant represents an inactive member of the
body of Christ, the Church, who failed to perform his duty, these Citizens are
open rebels, and hence their Lord orders them to be killed: it is evident that
this penal proceeding is essentially distinguished from the reproof
administered to the one Servant” (Olshausen).
So we arrive at the
investigation itself Christ gives to each servant what He sees he can wisely
use; as much as he can handle and profit by; no servant can say, ‘Lord, You gave me nothing’; no servant is expected by
Christ to produce results greater than his abilities or his opportunities; the
poorest, the most unlettered, the most obscure have the “very small” which yet can coin enormous future wealth. But the third
servant so undervalues his opportunity as to bury his talent in the earth -
earthliness; his carnality is his shame because he is a child of God, and as
such betrays his trust: “the circumstance rendering him
guilty is, that he to whom the money belonged was no stranger to him, but his
Master, to Whom he was bound as a servant” (Goebel). For it is not the possession of the
talents that determines our reward, but solely our use of them. So Jesus describes the third servant
as the exact opposite of the first two: instead of “good” and “faithful,” He says he is “wicked” and “lazy”: not “good” in the
general sense, but a good servant: and not “wicked” in a
general sense, but a wicked, bad servant: the goodness of the one consists in
his faithfulness, the badness in the other in his sloth. “This distinctive name comprehends
all his guilt, ‘Thou slothful servant’” (Stier); he did not misemploy, or
embezzle, nor squander, but simply hid his money. So what exactly does our Lord
charge him with? Unbelief, un-regeneration, rebellion, apostasy, adultery,
theft, murder? Certainly Not: it is simply a servant of God
who has made nothing of his life; all he has done
wrong is merely to withhold his powers from serving God; he hoarded, when he ought to have expended; he had no sacred sense of responsibility. “The parable is not for gross
sinners: the warning is for those who, being equipped of God for a sphere of
activity in His kingdom, hide their talent” (Trench). He says, As I cannot be so
holy as God requires, I give up the attempt to satisfy such strictness: I object profoundly to the doctrine of reward according to works, and deny all responsibility in a servant of Christ beyond his
responsibility to maintain the gift of grace with which he was entrusted at his
conversion. But his answer (as his Lord says) implies that he knew the truth. The Judge
answers - Your very consciousness of the severity of the principle ought to
have made you more careful, not less so, to meet its requirements. “Thereby must the evil servant bear testimony with his own
mouth to the innermost truth, and the most perfect right, according to which
the Lord requires fruit from what He sows or gives - that God demands fruits
and works” (Stier). For the [regenerate]
believer to have at his judgment only what he had at his conversion (the one
talent) will be his condemnation. As his
life had been negative, so is his punishment: he is cast into the darkness
outside the brilliantly lit festal hall: “nothing is said here of any further punishment
of the servant; enough that he has no part in the kingdom of the Lord” (Goebel). Over lost opportunities,
wasted graces, slighted privileges, a solid birth-right, there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” “If the servant is not a [regenerate] believer, but a mere
professor, - [i.e., a nominal Christian] - then we have in the parable nothing to represent the
Christian who fails in faithfulness”, (C. G. Trumbull). We have waited forty years for the answer to the
question - ‘If the third servant is an unregenerate man, how
comes he to be judged with the true servants of Christ when the wicked are not
judged till a thousand years later, and how is he rapt into the Parousia?’
Both the faithful servants come
joyfully forward, for they have facts in their hands - the talents doubled; and
both are invited at once into the joy of their Lord - our Lord’s joy in His [Millennial] Kingdom, for which He endured the cross, despising the shame, “the authority God
will confer on him in His second coming from heaven in kingly power and glory
to establish the Messianic Kingdom” (Goebel).*
* It must be the Millennial Kingdom, for our Lord’s everlasting
Kingdom as the Son of God - as distinct from the kingdom the Nobleman goes away
to obtain - (Luke 19: 12) - is inherently His, without beginning or end, never
conferred.
“Of the
Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,”
(Hebrews 1: 8). So
also would the third servant had he been found faithful. “He has no share in the kingdom of his lord, and therefore he
who is like him will have no shave in the
Thus we confront our crisis.
Officers are required for the administration of a kingdom: so God has
deliberately interposed a prolonged period between the two advents, that our
Lord might be enabled so to test His servants, in His absence, and trust at His
return. The Nobleman, before He
departed, laid plans for the selection
of officers to aid Him in the administration of the Kingdom; He devised a plan for bringing to light who
those officers are on His return; this
plan is in operation at the present moment, purposely so contrived as to reveal individual capacity for office, and personal fitness for trust; and - most impressive of all - the Long
Journey is now nearly over, and soon
the investigation will begin. “Make haste about cultivating a Christ-like character. The harvest is
great; the toil is heavy; the sun is drawing to the west; the reckoning is at hand. There is no time to lose; set about it as you have never done before, and say, ‘This one thing I do’” (A. Maclaren).
-------
TO REIGN WITH CHRIST
Many
Christians think that because they have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as
Saviour, they will naturally reign with Christ
when He returns. This is not true. To be in the Church does not imply that one
will be in His Kingdom. The Church is not taking the place of our Lord’s
Kingdom! The promises of God still hold true in so far as the promise to
Abraham is concerned. To reign with Christ will be part of the ‘reward’ that Christians may receive or
lose. It will be a blessing given to those who have proven faithful. The Book
of Hebrews seems to make this clear for
those who desire to see it. The general theme of the book deals with the
promises God made to Abraham. The author shows by contrast that, as the
children in the wilderness were denied the joy of going into
* * *
20
SECRET RAPTURE
From
writings by Dr. J. E. SHELLEY.
“Watch ye at every season, making
supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to
pass, and to stand before the Son of man:”
(Luke 21: 36,
R.V.)
“Because thou didst keep the word of my
patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of
trial, that hour which is to come upon the
whole world, to try them that dwell upon
the earth:” (Revelation 3: 10, R.V.)
In a letter lately
received from a dear brother in Christ there appeared the following sentence. “The belief that the Lord’s coming for His people will be a
‘secret coming’ passes understanding. It is not reasonable to believe that an
event ushered in by the voice of an archangel and the trump of God can be
‘secret’.”
This led the writer to enquire
whether a “secret” catching up or rapture
is impossible, unreasonable, or without precedent and analogy in the
Scriptures. That such an event is impossible no true believer in God will
allow, for “with God all
things are possible”.
The resurrection of those who
have died in the Lord, the change in the bodies of living believers, and the
catching up of these classes of saints, is utterly outside human experience and
above human reason. It is a matter of revelation. That this translation will
not be perceived by the senses of worldlings, cannot, does not, make it more unreasonable. Indeed,
considering that it is an event connected with the Holy Spirit, and that the
bodies translated are not earthly bodies but [immortal and] spiritual, it seems more probable that it will not
be perceived by the earthly senses of the unredeemed, who, having no faith,
have no spiritual vision.
There remains the question: Is a
“secret”
rapture without precedent or analogy in the Scriptures? The translation of
Enoch first merits consideration in connection with this subject. We all admit
that it occurred, and many students of the Word see in the pre-judgment rapture
of this man a wonderful type of the catching up of the - [faithful and obedient members of the] -
Church, which is the body of the Man Christ Jesus. But was it secret?
Heb. 11: 5 shows that it was certainly by faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is a thing not seen. That this rapture, which was the substance of
Enoch’s hope and the evidence of his faith, and thus partook
of the nature of hope and faith, was not seen in the writer’s firm
conviction.
This is borne out by the words, “He was not found.” It is impossible to believe
that these words only mean that “he was
translated.” That meaning is forbidden by the structure of the sentence.
It can only mean that search was made for his body, which search would not have
been made had his body been seen going up to God through the clouds.
No Scripture is of ‘private interpretation’, but it is submitted that Heb. 11 shows (1) that rapture is the work of the Holy Spirit,
through faith acting on a believer’s body, and therefore can only be perceived
by a like faith., (2) that in
Enoch’s case there is good, if not conclusive evidence that it was “secret” or hidden from the men of his
day.
In 2 Kings 2, we get the taking up into Heaven of Elijah. Again this was in
answer to faith on the part of Elijah. He knew he was going to be taken up. He
asks Elisha, - “What shall I do for thee before I be taken away from thee?” Elisha
asked for a double portion of his spirit to be upon him. Note the word “before.” Elijah appears to
realise that his rapture, being a
work of God’s Spirit, will only be visible to his successor if
Elisha has through faith already received that Spirit. “If thou see me when I am taken
from thee it shall be unto thee,
but if not it
shall not be so.” This teaches that this anticipated (though real) event would only be seen by a like Spirit-given faith and vision.
In connection with this incident
it is worthy of note that Elijah, as a rule only girt about the loins with a
girdle of leather, was clad with a mantle on this occasion. He left this mantle
behind when caught up. In comparing this history with our Lord’s resurrection
we note that His precious body rose in a form which did not disturb the
grave-clothes, and which left the tomb without moving a stone or being seen by
the soldiers.
To the sons of the prophets the
evidence of Elijah’s translation lay in what he had left behind, his spirit and
his mantle. Elisha knew where the prophet had gone. He opposed any search for
his body, but though the sons of the prophets had the revelation that Elijah
was to be taken away that day, they do not appear to have had faith to
believe it. Elisha did. The apostles, in the case of our Lord Jesus, also knew
that He was to rise the third day, but they were “foolish men, and slow of heart
to believe - [“in all that the prophets have spoken:”(Luke 24: 25,
R.V.] - and were told not to be faithless but believing. Mary Magdalene (like the sons of the
prophets for Elijah’s body) instituted a search for the Lord’s body. They seem
only to have believed because they saw, and were rebuked for their lack of faith.
Thus the rapture of Elijah and the resurrection of our Lord were both hidden
from unbelievers, and secret in that
sense.
There are two remarkable
incidents in the Acts of the Apostles
which do not appear to have had the consideration they merit in connection
with the so-called “secret” rapture. The first
is recorded in Acts 5: 17-24. In verse 18 we read that the Apostles were placed in the common prison
by the chief priests, “but the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors
and brought them out”. In the morning, when the high priest sent to the prison, it
was “found to be shut with all safety and the keepers
standing before the doors”. But it was empty of
the Apostles nevertheless.
Now in this release carried out
by the angel, the prison doors were opened, but the keepers standing before the
doors heard it not, saw it not. They saw not the angel nor the men being taken
away by him. Nor were any of the other prisoners aware of what was taking
place. This was indeed a “secret” rapture.
Again in Acts 12 we have a similar incident. The whole chapter demands the
closest attention, for it is prophetic as well as historic. Herod having killed James with
the sword, proceeds to take Peter also. He evidently anticipates no,
interruption of his plans, for he postpones the Apostle’s execution till after
Easter “the same night Peter was to be
brought forth” he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains,
and the keepers before the door kept in prison. And behold the angel of the
Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the
side and raised him up and said “Arise up quickly,”
and his chains fell from off his hands. And the angel said unto him, “Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals,” and he did so. And he said, “Cast thy garment about thee and follow me,” and he went out and
followed him: and whist not that it was true which was done by the angel, but
thought he saw a vision.
In this account of the happenings in the inner prison, it
is first stated that a light shined in the prison. Nothing is more calculated
to awake a sleeper than a light suddenly shined upon him in the darkness. But
the light, although a real light to Peter, and not a
vision, was unseen by the two soldiers. The angel also smote Peter on the side
and raised him up, and further addressed him in audible words, but these actions were unheeded, and these words
unheard by the soldiers.
The chains, too, fell from
Peter’s hands. No doubt the clang of their
fall sounded through the silent cell, but again the noise was unheard by the
keepers. The angel speaks twice more to Peter commanding him to bind on his
sandals, dress himself, and follow him. But again neither these operations nor the
voice of the angel were
heard by the soldiers. They slept on. Truly a real, but “secret” rapture.
It will be thus with all of the saints [“accounted worthy to escape”]! Only those who are alive from the dead*, whose eyes and ears
are already open to heavenly things, hear
the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. The others to whom they have only been united by the limitations of the
flesh, the chains, will continue to sleep the sleep of death.
[* See also the Holy
Spirit’s fearful rebuke to those in “the CHURCH in
Nor is this all. There were two
more wards of guards to be passed, and passed they were. No one saw the angel
or Peter. That their exit was a mystery to the guards we learn from verse 18, “Now as soon as it was day there was
no small stir among the soldiers what was become of Peter:” R.V. It
will be so when the night is over for us who escape, and the great day of wrath
dawn on the world.
But even now the story of
Peter’s catching away is not completed. They came to the
Rev. 4: 1 says, “After this I saw a door opened in Heaven, and the first voice which I heard as a trumpet talking with
me which said come up hither.” The door which
leadeth to the city opened
to them of its own accord. No one
on earth saw Peter go out. No one saw him enter in. No one will see us! The
disciples praying in the house of John Mark found it difficult
to believe that this escape was real. They said, “Thou art mad” … “It is his
angel” (verse 15, R.V.), which knocks at the gate. But it
was a real deliverance, and they all got a joyful surprise.
What God has done in the past, He
can do in the future. In view of this incident it cannot be said that those that
hold the “secret” rapture, hold an unreasonable
and unscriptural hope. This chapter provides a reason for the ‘hope’ that is in us.
It gives in addition, good
reason to hope that we, the Body of Christ, will not see the revelation of the
power of that one who will seat himself in the
For after the rapture of the Apostle, Herod the king went down to Caesarea,
and on a set day, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his
throne, and made an oration unto them of Tyre and Sidon (Tyre is always a type
of this wicked mercenary world). And the people gave a shout, “The voice of a god and not a man.” “Immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave
not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms and
gave up the spirit.”*
[* That is, his animating (life-giving) ‘spirit’
returned
to God. See Luke 23: 46; cf. Luke
8: 52-54;
James 2: 26a,
R.V.).]
This history reminds us
irresistibly of 2 Thess. 2: 6-8, “Now ye know what withholdeth that he (Antichrist) might be revealed in his time; for the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he that hindereth will hinder until he be taken out of the way.” “Then
shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” We know
what is said in Ezekiel 28 concerning the fate of the king
of
-------
SELECTIVE RAPTURE
When our friends quote to us, “There shall not a hoof be left behind”, they mean us to understand
that not a single believer will be left on earth after the Rapture of Luke 21: 36 has taken
place. So ignorant are they of the teaching of the New Testament on this subject that they do
not know that all referred to in 1 Thess. 4: 15-17 had
already been left behind after the Firstfruits were raptured before the Great Tribulation commenced, Rev. 12: 5, 14: 1-5. Furthermore if they would only look at Ex. 10: 26 and its context (verses 24-27) they
would quickly discover that Ex. 10: 26 can at best only be made to apply to the New Birth of a
believer, when he departs from the World (
* * *
21
ENOCH
By D. M.
PANTON
Enoch,
the morning star of the world, is a model for us to-day of extraordinary value
as the great prototype of all rapture. For Enoch was, like ourselves, a
Gentile; his was the age which saw the birth of scientific invention in the
world;* he lived in an age of rapidly deepening wickedness when the earth was filled with violence;
his feet stood on the brink of a judgment that was to sweep
the whole earth: he was, as the Holy Ghost emphasises, “the seventh from Adam” (Jude 14) -
that is, a type of all who, after six thousand years of sin, shall share the
Sabbatic Rest; his deliverance - the first of its kind in the history of the
world, as ours will be the last was by a sudden and supernatural removal,
through a gateway into heaven that has only twice been opened since, and then
only to distinguished saints; and his is the only rapture, in the Bible
enforced upon us by the Holy Spirit as a model for us. So also the very setting
of his record is luminous with spiritual light. For we know absolutely nothing
of the physical facts of his life: not a single outstanding event in it is
recorded: out of profound obscurity he leapt into heaven. How profoundly suggestive! “Hearken, my beloved brethren,
hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith.” - His hidden diamonds - “to be heirs of the
kingdom which He promised to them that love Him?” (James 2: 5). The
Church knows nothing of her brightest stars, for she moves beneath the range of
their heavenly orbits.
* Jabal as founder of
commerce. Tubal-Cain of manufacture, and Jubal of art (Gen.
4: 20-22), were the dawn of to-day’s mighty meridian:
the early world held in it, even to the rapt saint, a mirror of our own far
vaster age. Enoch’s removal many decades before the Flood makes sure (by type),
the escape of all latter-day Enochs from approaching
judgments, by secret [and selective] rapture
like his.
Most significantly, it is the
Apostle who writes the preface to the Apocalyptic judgments - Jude - that most stresses Enoch’s
testimony, and reveals it as exclusively a Second Advent testimony. “Enoch prophesied, saying,
‘Behold, the Lord came
with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all’”
(Jude 14)
- upon Jew and Gentile, Church and world. Here a new truth swims into our
ken like a fresh star. Rapture is peculiarly linked with testimony
to the Lord’s return: this was Enoch’s
express and exclusive witness. So our Lord’s word to the Philadelphian Angel
runs thus: “Because thou didst keep
the word of my paitience, I also will keep thee from that hour which is to come upon
the whole world” (Rev. 3: 10). Of all
the saints of Hebrews Eleven, Enoch alone
was translated: and of Enoch, alone of them all, is Second Advent testimony
recorded; so much so that the Holy Spirit says that it was to men of our
dispensation, four thousand years before it opened, that Enoch spoke: “to these Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied,” (Jude 14); and so
riveted together is a Second Advent mouth and life with rapture, that lo, Enoch
himself became the bodily proof of his own testimony. “He was not, for God TOOK him” (Gen. 5: 24). “One is taken, and one is left. Watch therefore”
(Matt. 24:
41).
The Spirit reveals a second
ground of Enoch’s translation. “BY FAITH Enoch was
translated that he should not see death” (Heb. 11: 5). The
faith which is so enormously emphasised throughout Hebrews
Eleven, while it necessarily assumes saving faith, is never only saving faith, but a faith far
vaster and more potent. Abraham and Sarah begetting Isaac in extreme old age;
Moses renouncing the Egyptian palace; Jericho levelled by marching priests;
actual resurrections from the dead; kingdoms subdued, promises obtained, the
mouths of lions stopped, the power of fire quenched: all these were the
operations of something far beyond saving faith. Therefore see the tremendous
truth. The faith for - [a selective] - translation, so far from being merely the faith for - [one’s initial and eternal] - salvation, is ranked by the Holy Spirit
among the great achievements of the world. And so, alone among all these patriarchs, it is Enoch’s
experience of rapture that is siezed upon by the Holy
Spirit to emphasise reward:
for “BEFORE his translation he
hath had witness borne to him that he had been well pleasing unto God, for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is a
rewarder.”* For Enoch was rapt when all the patriarchs except two - Adam
was dead, and Noah not yet born - were still on earth, and remained so. It was
not faith that he would be translated, for it is nowhere said that God revealed
to him that he would be removed without death, nor, since the event had never
before occurred, could he have imagined it; but faith which made him
well-pleasing to God whereby he was translated: the faith which pleased God lay not so much
in the creed, as nestled in the heart of a sanctified life, a root of the full
bloom which God plucked. Enoch held nine hundred or a thousand years of life on
earth, with corruption at the end of it, as nothing compared to a sudden
heaven. He ceased upon the noontide of his life: to the youngest of all the
patriarchs, for abandoning this life, God has given five thousand
years in a better world.*
* “It was God’s purpose to deliver him from the power of death
as a reward of his faith in the living God: his deliverance was a manifold
reward of the faith” (Delitzsch).
[* “Verily I say unto thee, ‘To-day shalt thou be with me in
So the
Holy Ghost now draws a general lesson of the utmost practical and prophetic
importance to us:- that the pleasure given to God by the rapt is not the mere
act of conversion, but a whole life of devotion: so that the Old Testament
phrase is - “Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5: 24), in continuous well-pleasing;
it was his walk which
produced his removal. He
changed his place but not his company. For “without
faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto Him:” that
is, whichever phrase we choose - he “pleased” God, or
he “walked” with God - both imply faith, and continuous faith: “for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder - [a
render of reward; Alford] - of them that seek after Him.” God removed him in so unusual a
manner from the earth “that all might know
how dear he was to the heart of God” (Calvin). To a life of
extraordinary merit God granted an extraordinary reward; he became Enoch the
immortalised because he had been Enoch the sanctified; the very name “Enoch,” with the extraordinary significance of Bible names, means dedicated,
consecrated, separated. So our Lord says - “Watch ye and pray always, that
ye may be ACCOUNTED WORTHY to escape”
(Luke 21: 31);
“Behold, I come quickly,
and my reward is
with me, to render to each according as his work is” (Rev. 22: 12). Had not God designed to do
Enoch special honour, it had been easy to deliver him from the coming
tribulation by ordinary death, as He did Methuselah. It has been said that the
utmost reach some Christians attain is that they are pardoned criminals: Enoch is
one of the few men in the Bible against whom no sin is recorded. “In all ages it has been universally
acknowledged that no higher honour was ever publicly bestowed on any man on
earth than that bestowed on Enoch and Elijah, an exalted honour evidently given
to illustrate the unalterable principle that God remarkably honours those who are specially honouring to God” (Cornwall).*
* “Not without Enoch’s faith,
let us rest assured, shall we be deemed worthy of an Enoch-like
translation. Not without Enoch’s walk shall
we be found among the wise and ready virgins. Not without Enoch’s testimony concerning the coming of the
King and Judge shall the precious promise to the
So now all concentrates on the
walk with God:- “Enoch WALKED with
God” (Gen. 5:
24). This expression occurs only
twice in the Bible:- of Enoch, type of the heavenly deliverance; and of Noah,
type of the Jewish escape: and it is recorded once of Noah (Gen. 6: 9), but of Enoch twice (Gen. 22: 24); for
the heavenly calling involves a double intimacy with God. None
will escape from the coming judgments save those who walk with God. There is an exquisite beauty
about the phrase discernible only to a sensitive spiritual vision: it implies
close intimacy and unbroken communion: an agreement of mind and purpose, a
union of heart and soul, a sympathy of sentiment and affection. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:
3). It means a lonely life: Enoch
walked with God when
all men were walking contrary to God: nothing in the world is more
valuable than the ability to walk alone, for it is the supreme prerequisite for
walking with God. The man who walks with God becomes exceedingly
sensitive to criticisms of Christ, and exceedingly sensitive, to the
inevitableness of judgment (Jude 15). The universal ungodliness obsessed Enoch
like a nightmare (Jude 15), exactly as it did Elijah (Rom. 11: 3): it is most remarkable that the only two
men ever rapt before Christ were each distinguished for
extreme loneliness,
and for fearless testimony in an age of
dominant wickedness; that is the man
who stands alone for right is the man whom God delights to honour.
It is an extraordinary comfort that Enoch’s sole recorded distinction is his goodness: no administrator like Moses, or warrior
like David, or statesman like Daniel; no hero of splendid exploit, or
world-shaking achievement; the great prototype of all rapture was
simply an ordinary man filled with extraordinary goodness; a morning star flooded with the light of
the still unrisen Sun. The law in the natural realm - that like attracts like -
rules also in the spiritual: heaven attracts the most heavenly; until, in the set design of God, acting upon
ever-deepening heavenliness of character the mighty magnet suddenly works (Mark 4: 20), and
the Enochs are gone.
* * *
22
THE MARTYRS UNDER
THE ALTAR
By D. M.
PANTON
A
thoughtful writer said some years ago:- “Religious
toleration is thought of as a thing too certainly fixed and long-rooted in the
institutions of this country ever to be challenged. On the contrary, it is a
doctrine very modern, very vunerable, and
preserved in certain circumstances with very great difficulty. The man who will
rule
An extraordinary honour is put
by God upon the martyr band. Alone among the dead (with the shadowy exception
of Isa. 14: 9-11) the veil is drawn, and we behold the solitary
class of departed souls ever revealed to living eyes. Alone among the dead,
these souls are disclosed as removed to heaven, where we find them, not indeed
on thrones, or rejoicing before God as later on are the risen and rapt (Rev. 7: 9), but beneath the Central Altar of the
universe.* Alone among the dead, they are given public recognition in heaven,
even before Apostles or Patriarchs, and before the Bema has judged, or they
themselves have been brought before it for judgment; even as they are the only
class, as a class, named in the Apocalyptic catalogue of Millennial thrones (Rev. 20: 4). It is a most extraordinary fact that the
very worst that the world can do to us, its acme of cruelty and power, is to
put us bodily into the most unique and radiant class of the saints of God.
* “Disembodied
spirits still; and as such, beneath the
We see first exactly when and
where they appear. Seals involving continuous and deepening judgments our Lord
is breaking; and in the midst of them is heard the hoarse cry of blood: for
murder is the supreme crime, making judgment inevitable and the killing of
God’s saints is the supreme murder. “And when he opened
the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar” - the place of most absolute security in the universe - “the souls” - which, ordinarily unseen, can be as
visible, as the soul of Samuel seen by Saul (1 Sam. 28: 14) - “of them that had been slain” - the word
is ‘sacrificed’ and is
the same as the word applied to the Lamb ‘slain’
(Rev. 5: 6). That
these had been ‘sacrificed’ fixes
this Altar as the Altar of Burnt Offering, made hollow beneath, for the
reception of the poured-out blood (Lev. 4: 7) of the
sacrifices. “The soul is in the blood”
(Lev. 17:
11): so, as on earth the blood was
emptied into the hollow beneath the altar, here, in heaven, the souls
themselves are there. “I have myself stood,”
says Dr. Seiss, “in the opening, under the rock, on which the altar had its
place, and stamped my foot upon the marble slab which closes the mouth of the
vast receptacle, and satisfied myself, from detonations, that the excavated
space is very large and deep. The Mohammedans, to this day, as I was told on
the spot, regard it as the place where spirits are detained until the day of
judgment, and call it ‘The Well of Spirits.’”
So here is the unveiling of the
vast martyr-host, the hecatomb of six thousand years of bitter hate. For the
phrasing appears purposely indefinite, so as to cover all martyrs of all
dispensations; - “slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held”; such
sections of God’s utterances as each martyr-band possessed. It was not only
their possession of the
Word of God, but their steadfast adherence to it at all costs, that made them martyrs: “the testimony which they used lo
hold”;- the testimony
which they constantly maintained; which was the habit of their life. “Slain for” - because of, on account of - “THE WORD OF GOD”: for a
martyr is not merely an innocent man murdered; nor even a man murdered for his
convictions; but a man murdered for the Word of God: if he has been slain for anything else,
he is not a martyr. But he is much more: he has offered to God ‘the supreme sacrifice’; “them that had been sacrificed.” So
Paul, on the brink of his own martyrdom, says:- “I
am already being poured out as a
drink offering” (2 Tim. 4: 6): that is, a sacrifice, not of atonement,
but of devotion; not a sin offering, but a burnt offering. So, remarkably
enough, Ignatius, who has been
called the Prince of Martyrs, compared the martyr to the Meal Offering:- “God’s wheat, ground fine by the teeth of wild beasts, that
he may be found pure bread, a sacrifice to God.” A ‘sacrifice’ is a description used of no
other class of the saints of God.
Now hear their cry. As judgment
dawns, these forgotten souls voice the inarticulate Abel-blood that has never
been silent. “And they cried with a great voice” - for [disembodied] souls can be audible, as well as visible - [in ‘Sheol’ / ‘Hades’ - the
underworld of the dead. (See 1 Sam. 28:
16-19; cf.
Luke 16: 24-31, R.V.)]: the
psychical life, though not the continues after death conscious and reminiscent
- “saying, How long” - for, being still disembodied,
they are perfectly aware that Judgment has not yet burst the tombs - “O Master” - Despot: the cry is to Christ,
for it is He who is opening the Seal; Autocrat, not of all the Russias, but of all the Worlds: it is the appeal of the
murdered to Sovereign Power - “the holy and true” - for
what Christ is is the
ground of their appeal; absolute power must avenge
injustice, if it is really guided by holiness and truth - “dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on
the earth?” How long dost Thou forbear to judge? how long dost Thou refrain
from bringing to trial earth’s monster criminals? As they had
proved faithful, so must He. It is a parallel cry, among the dead, to a simultaneous cry
among the living:- “Avenge me of mine adversary.
And shall not God avenge His elect,
which cry to Him day and night?” (Luke 18: 3). “Be assured,” said Cyprian to the African proconsul, “that
whatever we suffer will not remain unavenged; and the greater the injury the
heavier the vengeance.” “Mark well our faces,” said Saturus to a crowd who visited the prison overnight, and broke in
on the Lord’s Supper; “that you may recognize us again
on the day of judgment.” As
“Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scatter’d on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept Thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipp’d stocks and stones,
Forget not: in Thy book record their groans
Who were Thy sheep, and in Thine ancient fold.”
If vengeance is absent for ever,
God cannot be God: the moment approaches when grace becomes impossible and
vengeance inevitable; and when intercessions for mercy change to imprecations
of doom.* “The martyr-hope,” as Dr. H. Bonar says, “is the hope of the
first resurrection; of reigning with
Christ; of entry into the celestial
city; of the crown of life; of the inheritance of all things.”
* That the Martyrs’ cry is
a cry of righteousness, not of grace, is a proof of the profound revolution
wrought in God’s saints under Grace by the arrival of judgment; for even
Stephen, whose dying cry was an intercession for his murderers, will, shortly
after this judgment seal, be breaking mutinous nations as a potter smashes clay
(Rev. 2: 27).
The
first response to the cry is an act. “And there was given them to each one a WHITE ROBE” ; like
the blue sash of the Order of the
Garter; in sharp and glorious contrast to vestures torn by lions’ teeth, or
rags foul with dungeon mire. “The white robe, in this
book,” says Dean Alford, “is the vestment of acknowledged and glorified righteousness
in which the saints walk and reign with Christ.” Our Lord had said to
Finally,
a remarkable reason is given for the delay in the judgment for which they ask. “And it was said unto them that they should rest” - for though there is no sleep of the soul in death, it is in profound
repose (1 Sam. 28:
15) “neither
awake nor asleep” (Cardinal Newman)
- even as the body is recumbent as if in slumber; a passive rest, where the
Kingdom will be an active rest (Heb. 4: 9) - “yet” - not simply to wait, but to enjoy repose (Swete) - “for a little time” - what
would three and a half years be to Abel’s six thousand years? - “until” - that is, the prayer is granted, but deferred - “their fellow-servants also” -
Jewish and post-Church Gentile converts - “and
their brethren” - unripe Christians: the Christian title of endearment (Moses Stuart)* - “which should be killed even as they were” -
hecatombs and holocausts yet to be - “should
be fulfilled.” That is, the martyr -roll, completed, perfects human sin, and
automatically erupts judgment. But though the martyr-roll must be accomplished,
human malignity will exceed by not a solitary martyr: Christ holds that key, as
all keys, in His own hands. How many are in the roll we have no conception: “there is no day in the whole year,” wrote Jerome of his own age, “to which the number of five thousand martyrs cannot be
described;” “a vast multitude in Rome alone,” says Tacitus; “inexhaustible wells of martyrs,”
says another Roman author, “burnt, impaled, beheaded”: many myriads must be put
to the credit of the Inquisition - 32,000 were burnt alive in Spain alone; and
myriads more be added in our own day of Russian, Armenian, Assyrian and Chinese
Christians.
* Or else (with Swete) fellow-servants
of all dispensations, and brother-martyrs.
One word of Christ explains the
martyr-heart:- “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee THE
CROWN or LIFE” (Rev. 2: 10).* “Do
you suppose,” asked the prefect Junius Rusticus of a little band of martyrs, “that you will ascend up to heaven to receive some recompense
there?” “I do not suppose it,” replied Justin, “I know
it.” “The tortured,” said Cyprian, himself afterward; a martyr, “stand more firm than the torturers; the torn limbs overcome
the hooks that tear them.” “As a rule,”
said the Emperor Diocletian - and
none knew better, for he martyred freely - “the
Christians are only too happy to die.” “Why are
you so bent upon death?” an official said to Pionlus of Smyrna; “you are so bent upon death that you make nothing of it.”
We are bent, “the martyr replied,” “not upon death, but upon life.”
* “‘He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it’(Matt. 10: 39): i,e,,
he that preserves his natural life by apostatizing from Me, shall loose his
life in another sense, i.e., his future happiness: but he that loseth his
natural life on My account, shall find another life, shall attain to the
blessedness of the world to come” (Professor
Moses Stuart). The martyr is assured of the
First Resurrection.*
-------
THE
FIRST RESURRECTION
“Those who lived next to the Apostles, and the whole Church
for 300 years, understood these words in the plain literal sense; and it is a
strange sight in these days to see expositors who are among the first in
reverence of antiquity, complacently casting aside the most cogent instance of
consensus which primative antiquity presents. If the first resurrection is
spiritual, then so is the second, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to
maintain: but if the second is literal, then so is the first, which in common
with the whole primitive Church and many of the best modern expositors, I do
maintain, and receive as an article of hope:” - DEAN ALFORD.
* * *
23
THE REWARDS FOR OVERCOMERS
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
That by ‘overcomers’ our Lord does not mean believers in general, the mixed mass
of the saved, but- as the word implies - a
faithful and conquering section only, is put beyond all doubt by one
crucial and decisive case. “Thou hast a few names,” He says
to the Sardian Angel (Rev. 3: 4) - ‘names’; as though looking over the Angel’s
shoulder at the church roll lying open before Him - who, because clean-robed,
should one day walk with Him in white. These ‘few,’ walking in sanctity, cannot be the only
regenerate souls in Sardis; for the Lord accepts the whole church as an ‘ecclesia,’ that is, a body of the vitally ‘out-called’;
and the ‘dead’ Angel himself, who is not among the ‘few names,’ is reminded of his conversion - “Remember how thou hast received, and didst hear.” Throughout the Letters it is “he that overcometh” - not an overcoming church, nor
even an overcoming group, but the
solitary saint shining like a star above a corrupt church and a midnight world.*
Every one of the Churches our Lord thus separates into two sections: only a
perfect church could consist of one division alone, and He names no such
church: seven times He holds out peculiar glories matching exceptional
nobility, and seven times the gravest warnings (by implication) ever given to
the servants of God. In the words of Bengel:-
“There is a remarkable difference between each address
and each promise. The address has immediate respect to the seven Churches in
Asia, and consequently also to all churches and pastors, in all times and
places: the promise, on the other hand, is given forth to all spiritual
conquerors, not excluding those in
* A
proof of his conversion past all doubt is his ‘star’ shining in the upper
sanctuary (Rev.
1: 6), locked in the grasp out of
which none can pluck.
THE TREE
OF LIFE
The first promise takes us back
into the dawn of the world. It is
* “These promises all refer to the blessings of the future state of glory” (Alford).
** “There can be no reference here admitted to the lower
THE
CROWN OF LIFE
The only two churches which are
blameless are the only two which are warned of persecution; and the promise to
* “Before
the end no man is crowned; though from the beginning, and throughout all the
conflict, the crown is held out and exhibited as a reserved treasure” (Stier). When one of Napoleon’s generals
asked him for a marshal’s baton, “It is not I,”
said Napoleon, “that make marshals; it is victory.”
THE WHITE STONE
To the overcoming Pergamite is
promised a reward second to none in its exquisite wonder. It is the loftiest
peak of intimacy with God ever revealed in the Bible, and ever experienced in
eternity. “To him that overcometh, to him will I give the hidden manna” - hidden because, as
angels’ food (Psa. 78: 25) and
bread of heaven (Psa.105: 40), it
is at present invisible*- “and I will give him
a white stone” - both white and lustrous, probably a diamond - “and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it” (Rev. 2: 17). This
marvellous gift is probably a duplicate of the Urim and Thummim; on which
appears, in divine crystal vision (of old seen by the High Priest alone) a new
name; a new name expressive of a new blessedness, and a consequence of the new
life kept new. The
conferring of a new name by our Lord always signified, final approval as
Kingdom saints: so, in human honours, Scipio
Africanus, or
* “The hidden manna represents a benefit pertaining to the future Kingdom of
glory” (Lange).
NATIONAL
AUTHORITY
The promise to Thyatira reveals,
among other things, the critically important truth that these promises and
warnings are purely and solely
Millennial. “He that overcometh, and he that keepeth” - watchfully performs,
obeys (M. Stuart) - “my works” - both the example and the
precepts of Christ* - unto the end “therefore these promises are never
fulfilled in this life; the end of trial or probation, or of life, is here
meant (Moses Stuart) - “to him will I give authority over the
nations” - I will make him king (Moses Stuart)* - “and he shall rule them with a rod of iron” (Rev. 2: 26). “He who conquers,”
as Dr. Swete
says, “is he who keeps: works are in these addresses
to the Churches constantly used as the test of character. The Only Begotten Son
of God imparts to His brethren, in so far as their sonship has been confirmed
by victory. His own power over the nations.” That this royal rule is
confined to the Millennium is certain from nations shattered as pottery: “crushed or shivered; as multitudinous fragments collapsing
into an heap” (Alford):
because rebellious nations, foretold as in the Kingdom (Zech. 14: 18), are unknown in the
* “So
long as man still lives on the earth, however far he may have attained, he
cannot say, I have overcome” (Hengstenberg).
The highest that is now possible is a strongly assured hope: “We desire that each one of you show the same diligence unto
the full assurance of HOPE even to
the end” (Heb. 6: 11).
** Here is
a grave proof that believers who, on principle, dissociate themselves from the
body of our Lord’s teaching on the ground that it is ‘Jewish’
will, in that day, experience the saddest disillusionment.
WHITE
ROBES
The Sardian promise gives, more
than any other, the direct relationship between sanctity and glory. “He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father and before His
angels” (Rev.
3: 5). The little band of the
undefiled bursts into glory in the dawn. “They who
have kept their garments here, as a few
in Sardis had done, shall have brighter garments given them” (Trench), glittering robes : “the bright garments,” as Dr. Stier says, “are something other and
greater than the clean, of which they
are the reward.” As Dean Alford
says :-“They have kept their garments undefiled , they
of all others then are the persons who should walk in the glorious white robes
of heavenly triumph.”*
* “He
that overcometh shall be present at the first entrance and dawn of my true Kingdom over the nations, and share it with me”
(Stier). The comment of Victorinus is:- “I will give him the first resurrection.”
THE
IMMOVABLE PILLAR
The Philadelphian reward reveals
peculiarly the stability of coming glory. “He that
overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go
out thence no more” ; expelled no more for ever, for any cause,
either of external foe or internal sin: “and I
will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, and
mine own new name” (Rev. 3: 12). The
victor’s probation is finally over: stability in grace culminates in stability
in glory: more than a ‘living stone’
quarried by grace for the heavenly
THE
THRONE
The rewards (as Dr. Stier says) close on their highest
peak the severest rebuke of all is counterpoised by the most lustrous promise
of all. “It gathers all the promises into one”
(Alford). To the Laodicean the Lord
says:- “He that overcometh,
I will give to him to sit down with Me in my throne”; (the
Eastern throne is much ampler and broader than ours: Trench):* “as I also overcame, and sat down with
my Father in His throne” (Rev. 3: 21). Our
Lord’s throne, as separate from the Father’s, is purely and solely the
Messianic, the Millennial; for it never appears before or after the Kingdom:
and therefore the proof here is beyond challenge or doubt that, whoever the
overcomer is, to him, and to him alone, belongs a share in Millennial Royalty.
None can ever share the eternal Throne of God and the Lamb. It is obvious that
though the lukewarm Laodicean is converted - “as
many as I love I rebuke and chasten” (Rev.
3: 19) **- co-session
on the Lord’s Throne is impossible to him as a lukewarm Laodicean, in momentary peril of being
spewed out of the mouth of Christ. “This
enthronization.” as Prof. Moses
Stuart says, “will be granted to all who prove to
be final victors in the contest with the world, the flesh, and the devil.”
The overcomer (the Lord says) conquers in the sense that He conquered; “even as I also overcame”: which,
obviously, is not conversion, but life-long sanctity. Thus to a believer’s
grossest carnality is presented, so long
as the day of grace has not yet merged into the day of wrath, the most
golden reward; and “these promises,” as Dr. Seiss has said, “are to brace up the courage of the Church, to carry her to
the pitch of bearing the cross and crucifying herself with Christ, and
actualizing her professed expatriation from this world.”
* “It
is not asserted in this
passage that the names of any who shall finally perish were ever entered in the
Book of Life, nor is it necessarily implied” (E. C. Craven, D.D.).
** “ ‘In my throne’
(not …, but … [see Greek]), which
occurs nowhere else A. Plummer, D.D.).
-------
EUMENIA
An extraordinary proof that a
Laodicean believer can nevertheless (through grace appropriated) achieve the
summit of devotion before he dies is found in the neighbourhood of
* * *
24
THE BODY OF THE FIRST RAPT
By D. M.
PANTON. B.A.
One sentence photographs
for ever the body of the first rapt at the moment of their arrival in the
heavenlies. Their miraculous ascent, as destined supplanters of the fallen
angels, at once draws on them, in mid-air, the full fury of Hell: their
guardian and transporting Angels closing
round the ascending human hosts, for one critical moment the hostile
angel-squadrons are locked in the Armageddon of heaven: then, overborne by
sheer force as well as outmatched in subtilty, the Dragon and his hosts are
cast headlong to earth. Exactly as Satan disputed (Jude 9) over the corpse of Moses, to prevent his arrival at the
Mount of Transfiguration, So Michael again forces deliverance for a myriad
corpses, as also living myriads, to reach the Kingdom. This delivered body of
the first rapt, thus isolated and radiant in Heaven, are the birth out of
earth, the begotten from the tomb (cp. Acts. 13: 33, 34) - the Manchild - who are “to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Rev. 12: 5) - a sceptre, that is, which can neither be
broken nor resisted, governing, disciplining and controlling all the peoples of
the Millennial earth.*
* That the Woman is the
Holy Jerusalem, the centre of all dispensations, see Govett’s Apocalypse. (Thynne
& Jarvis, cloth, 7/6 net). “In the Apocalypse
Christ Himself applies to believers the words here used (12: 5), which are literally true of Himself alone - ‘He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him
will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron’ (Rev. 2: 26). “Thus Christ Himself alone interprets the vision before us”
(Bishop Wordsworth).
THE
ACCUSER
The translated host are
introduced in a triumph-song. “And I heard a great voice in heaven” -
apparently from the victor angels - “saying,
Now is come the
salvation” - a miraculous deliverance shot upward - “and the power” - proved in the massed overthrow of Hell - “and the kingdom of our God” - not ‘the Kingdom of the world’ (as in 11: 15) for
only now is the Kingdom arrived in heaven - “and the authority of His Christ” - the
spear-head of the Kingdom: “for the accuser of
our brethren” - for we
are brothers of the Angels - “is cast down,
which ACCUSED them
before our God” - impleading in the law courts of Heaven - “day and night” - in a ceaseless prosecution and appeal in the
council-chambers of God. Satan fastens supremely on the one vulnerable spot in
the Church - her sins: he seduces the believer on earth, and then accuses him in heaven. It is a
masterpiece of wisdom; because, while he knows that he is powerless to shake
the Christian’s foundation, he can, by seducing him into sin, embroil him with
God: for none knows better than Satan two things - (1) that God compounds sin
in no one; and (2) the tragic frailty of the child of God. Therefore final
salvation is impossible for us until we are above and beyond the considered
charges - true or false - of the Accuser; and until he is cast out of it,
Heaven itself is not Heaven.*
* How secret the pavilion
created by the darkness of the skies - “He made darkness
His hiding place, His pavilion round about Him; darkness
of waters, thick clouds of the skies” (Ps. 18: 11); an airman, entering a cloud, reveals:- “It
was like a huge black wall into which we dived headlong; and I had to switch on
the lights to see the instrument board a foot in front of m.” So it was “thick darkness where God was” (Ex. 20: 21) in the Parousia of the clouds on Sinai. Recent
discovery modifies the physiological changes we imagined essential for life
above the highest
THE
BLOOD
Now therefore there follows, in
a photograph taken in a heavenly exposure and of extraordinary value, an exact
moral delineation of the souls miraculously removed, and of exactly how they successfully rebutted the
Satanic prosecution. It is a disclosure of the innermost secrets of rapture. “And THEY” -
the ‘they’ is
emphatic: they alone; they, the Man-child just named as caught up to the Throne
of God; they, in contrast to all the undelivered down below - “OVERCAME him” - that is, they are overcomers: angels
wrestled and threw Satan above, physically; these wrestled and threw Satan
below, spiritually (Eph. 6: 12): and their ground of victory,
the inspired reason for their miraculous removal beyond Satan’s reach into the
heavenlies, is a threefold maturity before God. The first ground is the Blood.
“They overcame him by” - because of, in virtue of, on
the ground of - “THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB.” It is not the blood of Christ,
but the blood of the Lamb; not the blood of a martyr
Messiah, but the blood of the slaughtered Sacrifice: for
THE
TESTIMONY
But a second weapon is revealed
as vital to the victory. Passive acceptance of the Blood
of Calvary, though enough for eternal life, is not, alone, sufficient for translation: the
worthiness for which our Lord commands us to pray (Luke 21: 36) is
obviously not His worthiness, which
all disciples already possess, but
(as is transparent in the context) a
worthiness, by - [holy living,] - vigilance and prayer, of the saint himself.* “And” - as a second weapon of overthrow - “[they overcame him] by” -
because of, in virtue of, on the ground of - “THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY;” not “the testimony of Jesus” only, for these
are overcomers risen - and rapt - out of all
dispensations.* “The
strict sense of - [… see Greek] - with the accusative must again be kept: it is because they have given a faithful testimony, even unto
death, that they are victorious” (Alford).
The block to Satan, the exposure of his craft, the dissolution of his plans,
his spiritual paralysis - all lie in Scripture loved, lived, preached: as with
our Lord in the Wilderness, “it is written”
unmasks and paralyzes every Satanic imposture and wile. John states the same
truth elsewhere:- “I have written unto you, young men, because the word of God abideth in you, and ye have OVERCOME the evil one” (1 John 2: 14). So the
second ground for rapture is lip and life squared to the Word of God, “The Sacrifice of the Death of Christ,” as Dr. Swete
expresses it, “does not spell victory except for those
who suffer with Him (Rom. 8: 17, 2 Tim. 2: 11): thus a secondary cause of the martyrs’ victory
is found in their personal labour and
self-sacrifice”
* “Prevail to escape” - Revised
Version.
* NOTE: There is also a rapture after
the pre-tribulation rapture, at the end of the Great Tribulation.
THE
RENUNCIATION
But a third and final weapon,
the subtilest and most difficult of all to achieve, is also indispensable for
removal in the dawn. It is not necessarily martyrdom, but the martyr-spirit; at
heart, a complete abnegation of the world:- “they LOVED NOT their life even
unto death”: did not hold their life too dear to be given up to death (Seiss); their non-attachment to life
was carried to the extent of being ready to die for their faith (Swete); so
little did they value their present life, that they preferred death to apostasy
(Moses Stuart). These had mastered
the things that usually master men. Pope Pius IV., on hearing of Calvin’s
death, exclaimed:- “All the strength of that proud
heretic lay in this - that riches and honour were nothing to him. With a few
such men our Church would soon be mistress of both shores of the ocean.”
Such build on the other side of the grave: they invest their whole wealth for
God: they risk life itself in the cause of Christ. Paul has expressed it once
for all:- “I hold not my life of any account, as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I
received from the Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:
24).
THE
UNREMOVED
Suddenly the camera tilts, and,
in a moment’s earthly exposure, it picks up a scene far down below. The Devil,
now finding all heaven impenetrable to him, and maddened by the brevity of his
chance, “went away to make war WITH THE REST of her seed” - plural: two separate
remainders; a double remnant: namely - they (1) “which keep the commandments of
God” - regenerate Jews and Gentiles - and they which (2) “hold the testimony of
Jesus” - unrapt Christians: not in bodies, or in church states, regularly formed,
as heretofore. but in private families, and some here, and some there (Dr. Gill). As the Pulpil
Commentary says:- “The members of the Jewish Theocracy were they to whom the ‘commandments of God’ were specially revealed: and Christians are they
who specially ‘hold the testimony of Jesus.’”* In the words of Dr. E. C.
Craven, editor of Lange’s Apocalypse:- “These are left on the earth after
the removal of the Firstfruits. There is a growing conviction in my mind that
the Firstfruits do not include all true
Christians, but consists of a select
portion of these - the specially
faithful. These ‘remnants’ are strongly confirmative of this view.” For it is impossible to say that all
the saved - a gross backslider, for example - reach the triple standard here
revealed, or fulfil the three conditions named as the grounds of the removal:
it is impossible to deny that such believers as combine all three are, on the
whole, exceptional: moreover we are actually shown the
undelivered below: “so,” as Dr. Seiss says, “we are taught, as Ambrose,
and Luther, and Kromayer admit, that other particular resurrections and translations of
certain eminent saints occur at intervals preceding the full completion of the
glorified company.”
* Prophetic
students who believe in a universal and simultaneous harvest, with no first-fruits
but Christ, confess the difficulty of this phrase. “It
might be a difficulty to some,” says Mr. William Kelly, “that a Jewish remnant
should have ‘the testimony of Jesus’”; but the difficulty, he says, is “not insuperable.” But so far from being ‘Jewish’ - an exposition manifestly invented to grind
an axe, for it is the reverse of the meaning of the words - the phrase is never
so used; nor could it be, for the testimony of Jesus has been entrusted
peculiarly to the Church; and John elsewhere gives it as a definition of
himself as a Christian apostle, - “who bare witness of
the word of God, and the testimony of
Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1: 2). It would
take very powerful reasons indeed to dispossess it of its obviously Christian
meaning. “The verse includes all the people of God who
will at that time be exposed to Satan’s malice, whether they be pious Jews, or
Christians who were not found worthy to escape the
impending woes” (G. H. Pember,
M.A.). Rev. 14: 12 - a tribulation verse - lends remarkable
confirmation.
THE
SERPENT
So we see the exact point which
at this moment we have apparently reached. With the subtilty of a python, the
venom of a rattlesnake, the crushing power of a boa-constrictor, the
invisibility of a fer-de-lance, “the dragon stood” - all
eyes - “before the woman which was about to be delivered,
that when she was delivered he might devour her child.” For
Satan is ignorant of the moment of the First Resurrection; and, as his empire
trembles to its fall, his anxiety grows to white heat; and he plants himself at
the spot of supreme peril. As the moment of the birth out of the tomb
approaches, the Dragon, dyed all over with the hue of murder, watches, with
intensity of alertness, for the first quiver in the sleeping sod, the first
flash upward of an ascending saint: and seeks to block supremely the ripening
of the firstfruits (Mark 4: 29) on which depends the exact moment of the
bursting of the tombs.*
* I have
called the Manchild (apparently identical with the Palm-bearers of Rev. 7: 9) the body of the first rapt; but it is
possible (as Govett thinks) that a
prior rapture - indicated by John’s summons heavenward (Rev. 4: 1) - occurs at
the moment when the throne of judgment replaces the throne of grace. The
Manchild ascends somewhere between the Sixth Seal and the Fourth Trumpet.
-------
SAINTS
IN THE HIGH PLACES
In Dan. 7: 18, 22, 25, and 27, the Authorised Version translates, “Saints of the Most High,” whereas
it should read, “Saints of the High Places.” Daniel
could not of course understand who these would be, for the mystery of the
Church was not then revealed; but we can easily recognise those who will live
and reign with the Lord in the heavenly regions, taking the place of “the host of the High Ones that are on high.”
In verse
25, the reference is specially to that portion of them which will be
upon earth during the great tribulation, but will suffer martyrdom rather than
worship the Beast or his image.
In verse
27, there is also mention of another class, “the people of the Saints of the High Places;” that
is, the people which stand in close relation to these saints, namely, the
Israelites. To the latter “the kingdom and the
dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given.” That
is, they shall become “the Kings of the Earth upon the Earth,” in
the stead of the destroyed Gentile powers (Isa. 24: 21).
In verse
21, the simple expression, the saints, seems to embrace all the people
of God who are upon Earth at the time, the believers who pass through the
tribulation and the pious Jews. In ver. 22 it
includes still more, nothing less indeed than the completed Millennial Kings
and the whole Israelitish people; for the reference is to the Millennial age,
and “the Kingdom”
comprehends both the heavenly and the earthly portions of Christ’s government.
- G. H. PEMBER.
* * *
25
FAITH AND REASON
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
Faith is a far-sighted calculation based on a
Divine utterance. Faith is opposed to sight, faith is not opposed to reason:
faith is reason based on the invisible as vouched for by God. Faith sacrifices
visible evil, to win invisible good: it acts on concrete realities in the
unseen - just as actual, though not always so gross, as the things around us -
which, if really there, change the whole world-outlook, and revolutionize life.
“Faith is the ASSURANCE [R.V.] of things hoped for, the CONVICTION [Govett]
of things not seen” (Heb.
11: 1). Full
faith (the faith of Hebrews Eleven) loads all its goods on one raft ; it lodges
its entire fortune in a single bank ; it stakes its all on one throw‑because,
in the mirror of what God has said, it sees an empty Tomb backward, and the
lightnings of a descending Christ forward, and it shapes all life on these
invisible, concrete, overmastering realities. Faith barters the infinitely
little for the infinitely great. Faith is the highest reason functioning on
actual realities which it has never seen.*
* It is
obvious that if there be no actual, tangible, reliable information from God on
the unseen, no specific break in the eternal silence, faith (as the infidel has
always said) is a “self-created illusion which builds
on a void, and ends in an abyss. “Faith cometh
by hearing,” not seeing, “and hearing by the word of God” (Rom.
10: 17).
REFUSING
Now in all the marvellous galaxy
of Hebrews Eleven none more sharply defines
and enforces this reasoning element in faith - this wise, deliberate,
far-sighted decision - than Moses; and it opens with probably the greatest
renunciation recorded in the history of the world. For renunciation is measured
by the value of what a man renounces;
and “by faith” - a whole-hearted decision
reposing on invisible facts - “Moses refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (Heb. 11: 24). Moses, if not heir to the Egyptian throne - as Jewish tradition,
embodied in Josephus, says that he was - stood upon its steps, the throne of
the wealthiest and most powerful monarchy on the globe. He had to renounce for
his children also, who lost a palace, and perhaps a throne. Why then a
renunciation so vast? Because evil is transitory, and righteousness is
permanent. To Pharaoh, dying, the pomp of the world was a dream: to Moses, it
was a dream all his
life. For God is good, and goodness is the foundation of the universe, the
imperishable substance of immortality: therefore the renunciation of evil is
the highest reason; and therefore Moses deliberately, and as a mature
calculation - his full age is therefore noted - abandons the
prosperous and the wicked, and casts in his lot with the
suffering and the holy. He lived for
the future, for the future is sure,
while the present is a vapour, a vanity, and can be a most dangerous deception.
CHOOSING
The choice over against the
refusal is also without precedent, the scales on the other side being loaded
with all from which the heart most
shrinks. “Choosing” - deliberately selecting with
wide-eyed choice - “rather to be afflicted with the people of God” - that
is, he cast in his lot with Israel, not because they were blood-relations, but
because they were God’s people - “than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season.”
ACCOUNTING
A volume of instruction is
packed away into the next logic of Moses’ balanced judgment. “Accounting” - judging, as the word is
elsewhere translated: coming to a conclusion on mature consideration - “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
LOOKING
So now we reach the intensity of
Moses’ forward gaze. “He looked” -
gazing off into the God-revealed future - “unto
the recompense” - the exactly adjusted compensation for all righteous
suffering, which God has made a law of the universe - “of reward.” Moses gave up a crown for a
crown; but the throne of an
ENDURING
Finally, the Spirit is careful
to record that Moses’ choice by faith proved the backbone, the skeleton of
steel, of his life. “For he endured” - the
word means strength, power, courage; he remained resolute, immovable,
undaunted, “as seeing him who is invisible.” All
life thus becomes a steady waiting for a certain glory. For it is not
stupidity, or obstinacy, or pigheadedness, or illusion: it is a vision of God
based on the. Scriptures of God. It is the philosophy of all martyrdom: as, in
the hand of the statue to Gaspard de Coligny, in Paris, lies an open Bible, and on the page
exposed are the words - “He endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” An
identical principle ruled our Lord. “I have set the Lord always before me:
because he is at my right hand” - God holding me, God teaching me, God loving
me, God bracing me - “I shall not be moved” (Ps. 16: 8). It is a constant Godward gaze which
creates immobility of character. Moses looked through Egypt, and he saw Hell: he
looked through the
palace, and he saw the “crown of righteousness which the Lord,
the righteous judge, will
give in that day”: he looked through the
Wilderness, and he saw the Mount of Transfiguration: he looked through life
and death, and he saw a Great White Throne, from which the earth and the
heavens flee away. So faith can be infinite in its reach and power, for its
eyes can be full of God; and thus refusing, choosing, accounting, looking,
enduring, seeing, Moses alights, fifteen centuries later, on the Transfigured
Mount.
* * *
26
THE KING’S HONOUR
The
Kingdom and the Coming Revival
By PHILIP
MAURO
“In the Multitude of People
is the King’s Honour” (Prov. 14: 28).
THERE exists at the present time a very
general expectation among the people of God that the last days of this
gospel-dispensation (which are now upon its) will be marked by a Revival of world-wide scope. This
expectation is “in the air.” One meets with
evidences of it on every side. Men of proved conservatism and sobriety declare
openly their confidence that an unprecedented outpouring of the Holy Spirit is
close at hand. The Great Commission Prayer League of Chicago is distributing in
all parts of the world circular letters urging the Lord’s people to join in
prayer for a great revival, and publishes a list of prominent teachers and
preachers who are looking for it. As I write these lines there lies before me a
leaflet written by one of the most spiritual and enlightened of the servants of
Christ I have been privileged to know. It is
entitled Worldwide Revival; and the writer thereof reasons out
of the Scriptures, and without any strained or fanciful interpretations, that
there is to come, “in the last days, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come,” a
God-sent, world-embracing Revival, a season of unprecedented blessing, in which
God will, according to His promise, pour out His Spirit upon all flesh; and that the result will
be the ingathering of “the fulness of the Gentiles.” Our
brother points out that it was in the darkest hour of Jewish apostasy, and just
before the overwhelming judgments of God swept the land with the besom of
destruction, that the great ingathering of the Jews, beginning with the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, took place. Therefore we may expect
that the final outpouring of the Spirit, which is to embrace “all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues,” will
occur in this dark hour of Gentile [church]
apostasy, on the eve of the day of world-wide judgments.
I fully
share the expectation referred to; but my belief is that, as in revivals of the
past, there will be not only a special manifestation of the Spirit of God, but
also the proclamation of some special and definite message, whereby the people will be
pricked in their heart, and constrained to ask, “What
shall we do?” And what will that message be?
THE WORD
OF THE KINGDOM
About
twenty years ago a book was published by one who had tens of thousands of
readers on the western side of the
These are weighty
considerations. But there are others which appeal to the present writer with
even greater force. Thus, it is the opinion of many of our teachers (as the one
already quoted) that a firm foundation for expecting a great revival, and at
just such a time as this, is laid in Joel 2: 28-32, where
we find the promise of God that He will pour out His Spirit on ALL flesh. This promise justifies
the expectation of a repetition of the events of Pentecostal times in
This is “as it was in the beginning”; and
hence we feel confident that so it will be also in the end of our era. For we
believe there is a special significance in our Lord’s reply to His disciples’
question concerning “the end of the age.” That
reply is of far greater moment to us, who are on earth in the time of the end, than it was to them. He said:- “And this GOSPEL - [i.e., the good news] - OF THE KINGDOM shall be preached in ALL THE WORLD,* for a witness to ALL NATIONS, and THEN shall the
end come” (Matt. 24: 14). The
words “all the world,” “all nations,” are commensurate in scope with the “all flesh” of Joel’s prophecy concerning the outpouring of the [Holy] Spirit. Thus the preaching of the ‘Word
- [or ‘message’ (see Matt. 13: 19,
N.I.V.)] - of the Kingdom’ and the outpouring of the [Holy] Spirit were to be co-extensive, and embrace all creation. And
the reply of Christ is the more important because it is the only thing in the
way of an indication or sign of the end. All the
signs given in our Lord’s discourse on Mount Olivet (though this is not always
perceived by those who expound it) relate, not to the far-off event of His
second advent, but to the nearby event of the invasion of Judea and the
destruction of the city and sanctuary by the armies of Rome.*
[* Note how easily our Lord’s words this can be achieved today by
the Internet - also known as ‘the world-wide web’.]
* * See the
writer’s recently published volume, The Seventy Weeks and the Great Tribulation,
And further we should not fail
to note that the parallel passage in Mark’s Gospel reads thus: “And THE GOSPEL
must first be published among all nations,” which
shows that “the gospel of the kingdom” is a
specific name for “the gospel,” and not “another gospel,” as some teach.
THE WORD
- [or ‘MESSAGE’] - OF A KING
Having
in mind such passages as “Where the word of a King is there is power” (Eccl. 8: 4), and “The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power” (1. Cor.
4: 20), and “The Kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14: 17), we are deeply concerned that
the lack of POWER in the preaching
of the gospel in our day, and the paucity of the results attending it, are
primarily to misplaced emphasis. The apostles in their preaching gave
prominence to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and to His exaltation as the
Anointed of God, the promised Heir of David’s throne, to the position of
Supreme Ruler. But the emphasis in the gospel-preaching of our day is upon the
benefits to be obtained through believing in Jesus Christ. It is forgotten
that the King’s honour is of far greater importance than the welfare of His
people. “Only believe” is the burden
of the preaching to-day, the royal authority of Jesus
Christ being generally ignored. It is because of this that we do
earnestly plead for a return to the manner of preaching that gave Christianity
its existence among the nations, and its power, at the first. The
Holy Spirit is just as ready now as then to bear a mighty testimony to the
preaching of Jesus Christ exalted, glorified and enthroned - [upon and
over this restored earth; and in Jerusalem (see Ezek. 43: 4-7; Zech. 6: 12, 13; cf.
Rom. 8: 19-22, R.V.)
as well as] - in
heaven, “angels and authorities and powers
being made subject unto Him.”
Furthermore, we urge
consideration of the important fact that God’s salvation is not primarily for
the benefit of sinners, but for His own glory and the honour
of His beloved Son.
The Shepherd seeks the lost sheep for
His own sake, rather than theirs;
and their recovery is His joy and wealth. The Scripture at the head of this
paper declares a great truth: “In the multitude of
people - [i.e., both the
‘Jews’ and ‘Gentiles’
alike] - is the King’s honour.” The saved are to be a “multitude of people” - yea, “a great multitude, which no
man can number,” and they are to be gathered out of every nation under heaven
- not so much that the sum total of the blessedness of God’s creatures may be
increased, as that the - [coming
Divine] - King may have the greater
honour.
The usual appeal for sending the
gospel into the unevangelised parts of the earth is based upon the sorrowful
fate of those who die without Christ. But the true appeal should be that the
eternal purpose of God and the honour of His Anointed demand the salvation of a
vast multitude of people. This appeal is rarely heard.
Now it is chiefly because the
salvation of a great “multitude of people” is
for the King’s honour “that we confidently look to Him, for Whom are all
things, and by Whom are all things,” to augment greatly the Kingdom of His dear
Son through the mighty working of the Spirit of God, and the preaching of the
Word - [or ‘message’] - of
the Kingdom. For that great multitude, out of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues, was seen by John “before
the throne of God, and before the Lamb” (Rev. 7: 9, 10). Many
of these have yet to be gathered, for these are peoples and tongues not yet
reached by the gospel. But they will
be reached, for the King’s honour demands it.
Salvation - [and “the powers of the age to
come” (Heb. 6: 5, cf.
Acts 1: 8)] - is
the special responsibility of THE KING.
For God’s promise was, “I will be thy KING; where is any other that may SAVE thee?” (Hos. 13:
10). Moreover, He plainly foretold
just what this promised salvation was to be, saying, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death” (v. 14).
Accordingly, when the fulness of the time (as predicted in Daniel 9: 25) was
come, their King appeared. Moreover, He came to them precisely as foretold, “just, and having salvation” (Zech.
9: 9). But
they “received Him not,” because
they had been misled by their [deceived] teachers, those blind leaders of the
blind, into the vain expectation of a kingdom and a salvation of earthly
character. For they “knew Him not, neither the voices of the prophets” (Acts 13: 27). But God exalted Him with His
right hand to be “a Prince and a Saviour”; and
let it be noted that it is as a PRINCE
that He gives to Israel (Acts 5: 31) and
to the Gentiles also (id. 11: 18) repentance unto life, and the forgiveness of sins.
More to the same effect might be
added; but we must close, and in doing so will but briefly call attention to a
few additional points in connection with the preaching of the
[* See also the Revised
Version translation: “the gospel of the
glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.” Again in 2 Cor. 4: 4, R.V: “…in whom the god of this age hath blinded the minds of the
unbelieving, that the light of THE GOSPEL OF THE GLORY of Christ,
who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.”]
[“It is
remarkably confirmatory of Mr. Mauro’s contention that the
-------
World-Revival
It is my belief, says Mr. D. E. Hoste,
the Director of the China Inland Mission abroad, that just as when Judah was on
the downgrade towards deepening apostacy, and final judgment, the Lord from
time to time raised up a king who restored the law of the Lord, so now, if only
His children stir themselves up to intercede in persevering faith and condition
of heart, He is prepared to raise up men and women to do a great and deep work
of cleansing and uplifting the church. Then, through a cleansed and uplifted
church, to work salvation among the nations of the earth, in gathering out from
them great multitudes.
Let us pray continually for a
revival of sound doctrine, a revival of the authority of the Holy Scriptures,
based not on an inherited orthodoxy, but on an experimental knowledge of their
power and truth in the lives of believers; and then for a revival of the
conviction of sin and of coming Divine wrath and eternal judgment against
impenitent men, who refuse to submit themselves to obey the light presented to
them, whether in nature, conscience or Scripture.
The Lord looks for intercessors;
He is easy to be entreated. Again and again we find in Scripture that when
about to smite in judgment He stayed His hand - for a time at any rate - in
response to the intercession of godly man or remnant.
May we
be kept from despondency or apathy that virtually says, There is no hope! A
solemn responsibility rests, upon God’s believing children at the present time,
to take hold of Him in interceding “prayers and
supplications.”
* * *
27
THE RESURRECTION FROM
AMONG THE DEAD
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
We are now 1930 years
nearer than the Church has ever been to the breaking of tombs,* and the emergence of saints; and if the problems that
cluster round that enormous event were always acute and urgent, ten times more
acute and urgent are they now. Since the Wilderness is symbolic of our
pilgrimage, and Canaan of the Holy Land, the passage of Jordan is a
kindergarten of resurrection and rapture; and “after
three days” - the
Lord rose, after three days - the Ark (always a symbol of the Incarnate Christ)
crossed Jordan; such of Israel as did enter the Land were to follow at a
commanded distance of “about two thousand cubits” - the dispensation’s two
thousand years are fast slipping out; and the urgent direction of Joshua
[Jesus], is “SANCTIFY yourselves,
for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you”
(Joshua 3: 5) - the
era of miracle returns. Martin Anstey’s computation,
the best yet made, closes the 2,000 Christian years in 1058; * and when the
unknown length of the intervening Parousia is allowed for - probably not less
than seven years, and possibly many more - the command comes home with
tremendous force, SANCTIFY
YOURSELVES.
[* NOTE: When a decomposed body, which God created from ‘the dust of the ground” (Gen.
2: 7) -
is reunited
with the “soul in Hades” (Acts. 2: 27; cf. Luke
16: 23) - we will then
be “equal unto angels” (Luke
20: 36):- able to appear and
disappear through obstacles at will! (see John 20:
19, cf. Heb.
13: 2,
R.V.)]! Therefore, expression ‘the breaking of tombs,’
does not
suggest that at the time of resurrection, tombs and graves will be
broken to allow the resurrected body and soul to ascend into heaven.]
* Publishing in 1913 he
concludes thus:- “Yet 45 years, and the sixth
millennium of the world’s history will be fulfilled, and the seventh millennium
ushered in” the Sabbatic Millennium of Heb. 4: 9. into
which (says the inspired writer) we must labour to enter.
UNCERTAINTY
For the
first certainty on which we plant our feet as on rock is that Paul, when he
speaks of the - [… see Greek - (the out-resurrection)] - is not sure of sharing the resurrection of which
he speaks, whatever that resurrection may be. The phrase he selects puts it beyond all dispute or doubt. “If BY ANY MEANS” if
possibly (H. A. W. Meyer) - if
somehow (Moule); if anyhow (Eadie); si
forte (Lange); if in any way (Bengel)
- “I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3: 11): [the
words … see Greek] “…is is used when an end
is proposed, but failure is presumed to be possible” (Alford).* So Bishop Ellicott comments:- “The idea of an attempt is conveyed, which
may or may not he successful.” And Bishop
Lightfoot:- “The Apostle states not a positive
assurance, but a modest hope.” For Paul crams the words with studied
difficulty: ‘if’ - it is
hypothetical; ‘by any means’ - it is
precarious, ‘may attain’ - it is
a golden possibility.
* An
instructive parallel occurs in Acts 27: 12:- “if by any means they
might attain to Phenice”; which, in the sequel, they did not
reach.
SPIRITUAL
RESURRECTION
The next certainty on which we
can rest negatively excludes a mistaken interpretation. ‘Resurrection’ is sometimes used spiritually, to picture a rising out of
the death of sin, and from a world of the dead: but this cannot be the meaning
of Paul here; for spiritual resurrection, symbolized by baptism, which therefore
occurs after the spiritual rising has occurred, Paul, and those to whom he
wrote, had already experienced. “Having
been buried with Christ in baptism, wherein ye were also
RAISED with Him” (Col. 2: 12). He who is unrisen out of the
grave of sin is no child of God at all. For Paul, now on his last lap, to hope
that some day he might succeed in escaping from among the spiritually dead, or
from the deathly sleep of backsliding [or
apostasy], were absurd. “Any reference here to a merely ethical resurrection,”
as Bishop Ellicott says, “is wholly out of the question.”
GENERAL
RESURRECTION
The next certainty on which we
plant our feet as on rock is a negative no less important and obvious. Paul’s
uncertainty of sharing in this resurrection necessarily excludes resurrection
in general; since the most wicked man, without his choice, and against his
will, must rise from the dead. “All that are in the
tombs,” says our Lord, “shall come
forth (John 5: 28): they “that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12: 2). “As
in Adam, all die, so also in Christ shall ALL be made
alive” (1 Cor.
15: 22). Much
more is it inevitable that every believer must leave his tomb. “This is the will of him that sent me, that of ALL that which he hath given me, I should raise it up at the last day,” (John 6: 39). For
Paul, the past-master of resurrection truth, and the chief protagonist
of resurrection’s universality,*
to doubt his rising from the grave, or to leave it open to question, would be
an overthrow of the Faith, and a denial of his Lord.
[* That is, the resurrection of “all”
who have lived since the creation of Adam, upon this earth,- (with the
exception of those “in the first resurrection,” verse 5) - which will include both saved and
unsaved alike; and at the time when “the sea gave up
the dead which were in it; and death
and Hades gave up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged
every man according to his works:” (Rev. 20: 13, R.V.).
Note the context: this event occurs “when the thousand
years are finished” (verse 7).]
SELECT
RESURRECTION
But Paul defines so exactly what
he means as to place the truth, finally, beyond all doubt. “If by any means,” he says, “I may attain unto the out-resurrection, that which is from among the dead”: an
out-resurrection, not out of the earth (Large), but “out
from among dead ones”: “that is, as the context
suggests, the first resurrection” (Ellicott). It was exactly this which puzzled the first disciples
when Christ foretold His rising out of (ek) the dead, for - like Martha (John 11: 24) - they
had never conceived of any emergence from the grave except the general rising
of the mass of mankind:- “questioning among themselves what the
rising again from the dead should
mean” (Mark 9: 10). “The
first resurrection is of necessity a resurrection from among the dead” (Govett):
it is a prior emergence from the tombs: it necessitates a later resurrection of those left; “and the rest of the dead LIVED
NOT until the thousand years should be finished” (Rev. 20: 5). Thus all difficulty attending Paul’s
uncertainty vanishes the moment we realize that the [see Greek …] is one of the
golden prizes for which God summons us to compete. As Dr. J. Hutchison says:- “The allusion is
undoubtedly not to the general resurrection of the dead. All must attain unto
that. No striving is needed thereto. It stands fast in the decrees of heaven,
and none can fall short of it or frustrate it. What is referred to here is that
which is attained after danger and toil, and attained as a blissful reward. It
is what is elsewhere called a better resurrection (Heb. 11: 35); the resurrection of
the just (Luke 14: 14; Acts 7: 2); the first resurrection (Rev. 20: 5). It is the resurrection par eminence.”
A PRIZE
So we reach a revelation of
extraordinary importance for every one of us, strangely
overlooked, or even denied, in our evangelical and prophetical theology.
. “The doctrine here taught is that the blessedness of
the saints at the resurrection is so great that we should be content to use any
means and run any hazards to attain it” (T. Manton, D.D.). Paul’s eagerness to emphasize his own uncertainty
is almost passionate. “Not that I
have already attained” - attained, that is, the title to the first resurrection*; for
no one would imagine that he had attained it in the Roman prison - “or am
already made perfect: brethren, I count not myself” - whatever others may think of
me, or of themselves - “to have apprehended.”** If by these words Paul means
that he, and with him all believers, are sure of the resurrection of which he
speaks, then words are chosen to conceal their meaning, and to express the
opposite of what they say: on the contrary, Paul, guided by the [Holy] Spirit,
solves the problem for us all by lodging it exclusively in himself; for it
needs no arguing that if not Paul, then none of us. Paul the aged, Paul the
Apostle, Paul (we had almost said) the matchless not only thought he had not attained, but says by
inspiration that he had not - “I AM NOT already made perfect”: not until the
executioner’s block was actually in sight, on which he was to be “poured out as a drink offering” (2 Tim. 4: 6), did he know, as a martyr, his crown
secure. Therefore, until then, all converges on a resolve of passionate
intensity, in which, for all saints, and for all time, the Apostle blazes the
trail. “ONE THING I DO, FORGETTING THE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND,
AND STRETCHING
FORWARD TO THE THINGS WHICH ARE BEFORE, I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL UNTO THE PRIZE OF
T11E HIGH CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.”***
* Jus ad resurrectionern beatarn (Grotius).
** “I, emphatic: he evidently
alludes to some whom he wishes to warn by his example” (Alford). So Bishop Wordsworth:- “The divine Apostle
himself, even at this late period of his Apostolic career, does not feel
absolutely confident that he himself will attain to the glory of the
Resurrection of the just, and he disavows the notion of being supposed to ‘have already apprehended,’
Cf. 1 Cor. 9: 27. It was not until on the eve of his martyrdom for Christ
that he could exclaim, as he then did, ‘Henceforth
there is laid up for me the Crown.’” For homiletical purposes Dr. J. Lyth
puts it thus:- “The - [See Greek …] - is distinguished
from the resurrection of the wicked (1) by its glory (Dan. 12: 2); (2) its precedence (1 Cor. 15: 23); (3) its results (John
5: 29). It is an object of Christian ambition - requiring (1)
faith, (2) consecration, (3) effort. It will amply repay every sacrifice of
self-gratification, (2) earthly advantage, (3) life.”
*** The call
heavenward
(Lightfoot): the up-call; “come up hither!” (Rev.
4: 1) out
of an empty tomb. John when thus called, had fallen ‘as
one dead,’ and had been set back upon his feet by voice of the Son of
God. Believers who deny that there is any such conditional
sanctity have a startling disillusionment ahead; nor is it harsh to
believe that many prophetical teachers have a grave report to give to their
Lord for a denial so dogmatic in its certitude as to mislead
countless saints. False confidence is a sweet-smelling flower which
holds the worm of an unguarded walk.
THE
FIRST RESURRECTION
But the truth is not made to
rest on this single Scripture. By two or three witnesses, the Most High has
said, shall every word be established; and our Lord and John are joined with
Paul in a consentient testimony that for the first resurrection, which is a
state, rather than an act, personal sanctity is our bridge also across
A
POSTSCRIPT
The Spirit, foreseeing a general
lapse from the Church’s creed of this unpalatable but sharply tonic truth,
closes with a gentle remonstrance and counsel. “Let
us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded; and if in anything ye are otherwise minded” -
believing that there is no such prize in the Gospel, or that any particular
believer has already won it, or that it has been received in the gift of Eternal
Life, or that it is won with case and without undying effort, or that, by
becoming sinless, we can be assured of it, or that our session with Christ in
the heavenlies involves priority of rising* - “even this shall God reveal unto you: ONLY” - as a vital condition
of a fuller revelation - “whereunto we have already attained,
by that same rule let us walk.” Never
falter front following the highest light that you have.
* The First
Resurrection is a reward for obedience rendered after the acceptance of salvation,
and Paul knew not the standard which God had fixed in his own purpose” (G. H. Pember). Tertullian tells us that the Church of his age prayed for a share in the First Resurrection. “Many even of the ancients, have admitted this first
resurrection.’ ‘Within an age of a thousand years,’ says Tertullian,
‘is concluded the resurrection of the saints. Who rise again at an earlier or a
later period, according to heir merits.’” (Bengel).
SUMMARY
Bishop Lightfoot, that master of paraphrase, thus summarizes the passage:- “Do not mistake me, I hold the language of hope, not of
assurance. I have not yet reached the goal: I am not yet made perfect. But I
press forward in the race, eager to grasp the prize, forasmuch as Christ also
has grasped me. My brothers, let other men vaunt their security. Such . S not
my language. I do not consider that I have the prize already in my grasp. This,
and this only, is my rule. Forgetting the land-marks already passed, and
straining every nerve and muscle in the onward race, I press forward ever
towards the goal that I may win the prize.” Paul could say, “There is laid up for me the crown” only when he
could say:- “I have finished the
[race] course.” So Dr. A. B. Simpson’s word becomes very suggestive. - “In the public arena where men contended in the race it was
at the home stretch, when the goal was in full view, that the greatest efforts
were made both by the competitors, and those that encouraged them from the
galleries, and there was a special signal set up at the point where the races
turned into the home stretch, on which the letters were emblazoned, ‘Make Speed.’”
* * *
28
THE GIFT AND THE PRIZE*
[* NOTE: This tract
could be purchased many years ago from Mr.
A. J. Tinley. Price 1d.]
The New Testament speaks both of
a GIFT and of a PRIZE.
What is a gift? - It is ‘something bestowed without price.’ What is God’s gift?
“The wages of sin is death; but
the
GIFT of God is ETERNAL
LIFE in Jesus Christ our Lord:” Rom.
6: 23; Eph. 2: 8; John 3: 15, 16; 17: 2; 1 John 5: 11. It is also called “Salvation.”
What is
a PRIZE? - It is ‘a reward gained by some performance.’
New
Testament Scripture speaks of a prize as set `before us.
“That I
may know Him [Christ] and the powe of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means I might attain to the select
resurrection from among the dead.* Not as though I had attained, either were already perfected; but, I follow after, if I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on
by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have laid hold on it, but this one thing I do, forgetting
the things behind, and reaching forward unto the
things before, I press toward the mark for the PRIZE of the high calling* of God in Christ Jesus:” Phil.
3: 10-14.
* See Greek …
** Or
rather ‘the calling above.’ See Greek …
Again:-
“Know ye not, that they who run
in the course of the foot-race run all, but one
(only) receiveth the prize! So
run that ye may
obtain. Now every one that entereth the
lists is temperate in all things. Now they do it
in order to obtain a corruptible crown, but we
(do it to obtain) an
incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so box I,
not as one that scourgeth the air; but I keep under my body, and
lead it about as a slave, lest after having
acted the herald to others, I myself should
become disapproved:” 1 Cor.
9: 24-27.
Here then the Christian prize is
stated to be a partaking in the first and blest resurrection of the thousand
years, or the millennium: Rev. 20: 4-6. It is also called ‘the
reward,’ or ‘the kingdom.’
The gift of God then which is eternal
life, and the prize, which
is the millennial kingdom, are two
different things. They differ on almost every point.
1. Eternal life is, as its name imports, something which has no
end. But the
kingdom of the Christ ends after a thousand years, and is given up by the Son to the
Father, that God may be all in all; Rev. 20: 4-6; 1 Cor. 15: 23-28.
2. Eternal life is something which is begun to be enjoyed
already: John 3: 36; 5: 24; 6: 47; 1 John 5: 13. The
believer is already “saved,” and ought to rejoice on this account: 1 Cor. 1: 18; Rom. 8: 24; Eph. 2: 5, 8; 2 Tim. 1: 9; Tit. 3: 5; Phil. 3: 1; 4: 4; 1 Thess. 5: 16. But
the prize or the kingdom is something which even Paul was seeking for and had
not then attained: Phil. 3.;
1 Cor. 9. It is a reward for service to Christ. and suffering for His sake. “Well done, good and faithful
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord:”
Matt. 25:
21-23. “Come, ye blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom … for I was
hungry and ye gave Me food;” and 25: 34-36. “Not every one that saith to Me Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
Father who is in heaven:” Matt. 7: 21; Luke 6: 35; 1 Cor. 3: 8-17; Matt. 5: 11, 12. “We must through many troubles enter into the
3. Eternal life is bestowed on God’s elect at once upon their
faith; and cannot be lost: Eph. 2: 8; John 3: 15, 16; 5: 24, 6: 40, 47; 10: 28; 1 Tim. 1: 16; Acts 13: 46; Rom. 8: 29-39. It is given to sinners against
their deserts. “Not by works in righteousness which we did, did He
save us, but according to His mercy:” Tit.
3: 5.” “To him that worketh not, but
believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
reckoned unto righteousness:” Rom. 4: 6. Eternal
life is the present possession of our calling. The millennial kingdom is
the hope of our calling: Eph. 1: 18.
The prize of our calling is to
be sought for with effort. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His
righteousness:” Matt. 6: 33. “But rather seek ye the
4. For the believer to be seeking after eternal life would be
unbelief. For the believer not to be seeking after the prize of the Kingdom, is unbelief. God becomes the rewarder of
the diligent seeker: Heb. 11:
6; Matt. 5: 46; 6: 1-16; 10: 41, 42. To
whom is the prize to be, given? To those “accounted
worthy:” Luke 20: 35, 36. “They
which shall be accounted worthy to
attain that age, and the resurrection from among
the dead (the first resurrection) neither marry nor are
given in marriage, for neither can they die any more,
for they are equal to the angels:” Heb. 3.; 4.; 6: 11.
Hence exhortation comes in to
stir us up to desire and to seek this glory: Heb. 3: 13; 4: 11. “Exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
For we are made associates of the Christ [‘Thy fellows:’ Psa. 45:
7, when He comes to take the
kingdom,] if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast
unto the end.” “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any fall after the same example of disobedience”
(Margin.). For as human prizes
require certain excellencies, and may be lost by the contrary offences, go with
the prize of God. Some of the offences that will cause offenders to lose this
glory are stated in 1 Cor. 6: 1-11; Gal. 5: 19-21; 6: 7-10; Luke 18: 17; Eph. 5: 5; Rev. 2: 26, 27.
And the danger of loss is not
distant and slight. Hence the apostle bids us seek, as if we were the only one
that could win the prize. He exhibits to us twice the provocation of God’s
people
He has distinctly said, that He
will confirm the just judgments of His churches on this point, when He comes: Matt. 18: 18.
On this subject Abraham, the
father of the faithful, is set forth to us as an example. He is first justified
by faith: Gen. 15. But
after that, he is found obedient to God’s commands of circumcision and the
offering of his son. On that latter occasion God by oath binds Himself to
fulfil to Abraham all His promises, which look onward to the millennium. “By
myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing,
and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless
thee ... And in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed; because thou host obeyed My voice:” Gen. 22: 16-18.
With
-------
PREPARATION
FOR RESURRECTION
The Holy Spirit prepares us for
the coming of the Lord, and to be among “the first
fruits” at His appearing. There is a remarkable expression in Romans 8: 23, which
has a deeper meaning than appears on the surface - “Ourselves, which have the
first fruits of the Spirit.” It means that the Holy Spirit
is preparing a first company of holy and consecrated hearts for the coming of
the Lord and the gathering of His saints, and that these will be followed later
by the larger company of all the saved. There is a first resurrection, in which
the blessed and holy shall have part, and for this He is preparing all who are
willing to receive Him in His fulness. Transcendent honour! Unspeakable
privilege! May God enable us to have a part in this blessed hope!
- A. B. SIMPSON, D.D.
* * *
29
SALVATION IN THE
BY JOSEPH
SLADEN
The word Salvation is used
in different senses in Holy Scripture: it is well to note some of the
distinctions. (1) It refers to the past time: “God who saved us, and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and
grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus” (2
Tim. 1: 9). (2)
It refers to the present time: “The Lord is able to save to the
uttermost them that draw near to God through him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7: 25). (3) It refers to the future time: “Christ shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that
wait for Him, unto salvation” (Heb. 9: 28).
Salvation then refers to the
gift of Eternal Life, and also to the coming
[* NOTE: It is not a kingdom in
heaven, but one upon and throughout this restored earth for “a thousand years” (Rev. 20: 2, 3, 4, 6, 7,);
and described in Scripture as a “heavenly kingdom.” Compare Isa. 6: 3; 11: 1-12; Ezek. 34: 24-31 with Rom. 8: 19-21; 2 Pet. 3: 8, R.V.]
* The Revised Version is used
in all the quotations.
The Lord’s teaching about the
entrance into the
At this time Jesus was going up
to
It was about a month before this
incident that the question was asked - Are the saved few? Must not we at least
enter into the
How will this affect the
regenerate of this dispensation? Those who are ‘seeking to
enter the Kingdom’ according to the Lord’s command (Matt. 6: 33), are striving to enter in by the narrow
door (Luke 13: 24);
for since John the Baptist’s day “the
gospel of the
The Apostle Paul writing to the
Church at
What vexation and sorrow will be
theirs who refuse the Lord’s command to strive to enter into the Kingdom of the
Christ and God by the narrow door, when they realize that they are debarred
from entrance into that Kingdom of glory through their unbelief in the
necessity of striving with all their heart to do so!
It may arise from a conviction
that all who have eternal life as a free gift of grace will certainly be
counted worthy of entrance into the Kingdom of God, i.e., into the temporary
Kingdom of a thousand years as joint-heirs
with Christ.
It should be noticed that a
wrong punctuation in Romans 8: 17 seems to lead to this mistake.
It should be rendered - ‘And if children, then heirs; heirs of God,
but joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him.’ It is
clear from this Scripture that the heirs of God have an unconditional promise of eternal life, and an
heritage in the [eternal] City of God; but the joint heirs with Christ have a conditional promise of glory in the
coming - [Messianic and Millennial] - Kingdom, if
the [divine]
conditions are ful30filled.
* * *
30
CAST OUTSIDE
‘INTO THE DARKNESS THE OUTER’
By ARLEN L
CHITWOOD
-------
“And cast ye the
unprofitable servant into outer darkness:
and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt.
25: 30).
The nature of the
treatment awaiting the unfaithful servant at the hands of his Lord in the
parable of the talents has been completely misunderstood by numerous
Christians, leading them to conclude that the Lord was dealing with an unsaved
person at this point in the parable. The Lord sharply rebuked the unfaithful
servant, commanded that the talent be removed from his possession, and then
commanded that he be cast into outer
darkness.
The main problem which most
Christians have with this part of the parable is the ultimate outcome of the
Lord’s dealings with His unfaithful servant - the fact that he was cast into outer
darkness. “Outer darkness,” within their way of thinking,
is to be equated with Hell (the final abode of the unsaved in ‘the lake
of fire’); and knowing
that a Christian can never be cast into Hell - for “no condemnation [‘a rendering of judgment against’]”
can await the ones who are “in Christ Jesus”
(Rom. 8: 1) - those equating “outer darkness” with Hell are left with no recourse other than to look upon the Lord’s
dealings with the unfaithful servant and the Lord’s dealings with the unsaved
as synonymous.
It probably goes without saying
that had the Lord treated the unfaithful servant in a somewhat different
fashion, very few Christians reading this passage would even think about
questioning his salvation, for the response of the unfaithful servant would be
perfectly in line with such verses as 1 Cor. 3: 13, 15 and present
no indication of an unsaved condition. But the Lord’s sharp rebuke, the removal
of the talent from his possession, and his being cast into outer darkness
constitute what many view as a sequence of events which could not possibly
befall a Christian.
Such an outlook on this passage
though completely ignores the context, resulting in an interpretation which is not taught in the text at all.
And by forcing a noncontextual interpretation of this nature, one is left, after some fashion, with (1) an erroneous view of salvation by
grace through faith, (2) an
erroneous view of the purpose for the present dispensation, (3) an erroneous view of the coming
judgment of Christians, and (4) an
erroneous view (if the perfect justice and righteousness of God (ref. Chapters
17, 19, 20 where thoughts along these lines are discussed at length).
Then, if introducing the
preceding erroneous views in areas (of Biblical doctrine through a forced,
noncontextual interpretation is not enough in and of itself, it should also be
noted that such an outlook on this passage also closes the door to
the correct interpretation, the one which the Lord had in mind when He related
this parable in the presence of His disciples. Error will have
fostered error and closed a door, leaving the student of Scripture, adhering to
this, erroneous system of thought, in a position where he cannot possibly
understand aright the Lord’s present and future dealings with His household
servants.
A
DARKNESS ON THE OUTSIDE
The expression “outer darkness” only appears three times in
Scripture, and all three are found in Matthew’s gospel (8: 12; 22: 13; 25: 30). Luke
in his gospel alludes to outer darkness in a parallel reference to Matt. 8: 11, 12 (Luke 13: 28, 29) but does not use the words. He simply reduces
the expression to “without” (ASV [also RV]).
Both Matthew and Luke use the
word ekballo, which means to “cast out.” Following the use of this word, the place into which
individuals in these passages are cast is given in both gospels. In Matthew’s
gospel the place is “into outer darkness [lit.,
from the Greek text, ‘into the darkness, the outer,’ or as we would normally say in an English
translation, ‘into the outer darkness’ (in the
Greek text there are definite articles before both the noun and adjective,
pointing to a particular place of darkness outside a particular place of
light)].” In Luke’s gospel the place is described as “without,”
or “on the outside.” The expressed thoughts by
both Matthew and Luke locate this place immediately outside and contiguous to
the region from which those in view are cast out. Both passages refer to the
same place - a place
of darkness on the outside.
The place from which individuals
are cast out is one of light. This can possibly be illustrated best in Matthew, chapter twenty-two. In
this chapter, “outer darkness” is used
to describe conditions in an area immediately outside the festivities attendant
a royal wedding. Such festivities in the East would normally be held at night
inside a lighted banqueting hall. On the outside there would be a darkened
courtyard; and the proximity of this darkened courtyard to the lighted
banqueting hall would correspond perfectly to the expression, “the outer
darkness,” or “the darkness on the outside.” A person cast therein would be
cast out of the light into the darkness. And it is the same in relation to the
kingdom itself and positions of rulership therein as set forth in Matt. 8: 11, 12; 25:14-30.
“Outer
darkness” is simply one realm immediately outside of another realm,
called “outer darkness” by way of contrast to the “inner light.” Those cast out are removed from a
sphere associated with light and placed outside in a sphere associated with darkness.
Following events of the judgment
seat of Christ, [regenerate]
servants having been shown faithful and [regenerate] servants having been show unfaithful will find themselves in two entirely different realms. Servants
having been shown faithful will find themselves being
privileged to participate in activities surrounding the marriage supper of the
Lamb and will subsequently be positioned on the throne as co-heirs with Christ.
Servants having been shown unfaithful though will not only be denied the privilege of attending the
marriage festivities and participating in the subsequent [millennial] reign
of Christ but they will be consigned to a place outside the realm where these
activities occur. They will be “cast” on the outside, from the
inner light (a place associated with events
surrounding the marriage supper of the Lamb and the reign of
Christ) into the outer darkness (a place separated from events
surrounding the marriage supper of the Lamb and the reign of Christ).
This is the way “outer
darkness” is used in Scripture; and this is the only way the expression is used. Any
teaching concerning “outer darkness,” remaining true to the text,
must approach the subject only from a contextual fashion of this
nature, recognizing
the subject matter at hand.
CONTEXTUAL
CONSIDERATIONS
The Gospel of Matthew outlines a
sequence of events pertaining to
Matthew presents God’s dealings
with the house of Israel in relation to the kingdom of the heavens, with the
house ultimately being left “desolate” because of the nation’s rejection (Matt. 23: 2, 13, 38); and
Matthew also anticipates God’s dealings with a house separate and distinct from
Israel in relation to the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 16: 18, 19; 24: 40-25: 30). It is
within this framework, along with individual contextual settings, that Christ’s
three references to “outer darkness” are to he understood in Matthew’s gospel.
1. Matthew 8: 11, 12
The
first appearance of “outer darkness” in
Matthew’s gospel is in Matt. 8: 11, 12, and
the text and context both have to do with the message of the kingdom. Jesus had
just finished a lengthy discourse to His disciples, commonly called the “Sermon on the Mount” (chs. 5-7), which is a connected discourse dealing with entrance into or exclusion from the kingdom
of the heavens. Then in chapter eight
the subject matter continues with the message concerning the kingdom, as the
subject matter immediately prior to the Sermon on the Mount. The message at
this point actually picks up where chapter four
left off - with physical healings. These physical healings appear in
conjunction with, and after the text concerning th
kingdom of the heavens and outer darkness in chapter
eight. These miraculous works of Christ among the Jewish people were, signs having to do with the kingdom
(e.g. Isa. 35:
1ff; Matt.
4: 23-25; 10: 5-8; 11: 2-5). They constituted the credentials of the
messengers of the gospel of the kingdom.
It is within a contextual
setting such as this that “outer darkness” first,
appears in Matthew’s gospel. Actually, the subject arose after a Roman
centurion expressed faith that Christ could heal his servant (who was sick at
home) by just speaking the word. Christ used the faith exhibited by this
Gentile to illustrate a contrasting lack of faith exhibited by those in
The entire scene anticipated [in] Matt. 21: 43 where the heavenly portion of the kingdom
was taken from
2. MATTHEW 22: 1-14
The
second appearance of “outer darkness” in
Matthew’s gospel is in the parable of the marriage festival in chapter
twenty-two. The contextual usage in this passage is in association with the
kingdom of the heavens and the activities attendant a royal wedding. Contextually, the “King” and His “Son” (verse 2) can only be
identified as God the Father and God the Son. The “servants” and “other servants” (vv,
3, 4) sent “to call them that were bidden [
The
rejection of God’s Son was the final blow. This signalled the conclusion of
God’s dealings with [the nation of]
At this point through there is a
difference in the two passages. Outer darkness in Matt. 8: 12 is reserved for “the sons of the kingdom [a reference to
To
reconcile what is taught in these two passages, bear in mind that at the time
of Matt. 8:
11, 12 the
kingdom of the heavens had not yet been taken from [the nation of] Israel;
but Matt. 22: 1-14 was given at a time following the
removal of the heavenly portion of the kingdom from Israel, with the
anticipated extension of this offer to another group - [i.e., those
who will
be resurrected when Jesus returns]. In both
passages it is the recipients of the offer of the kingdom of the heavens who
find themselves associated with the place called “outer
darkness.” In Matthew, chapter eight the offer of the kingdom
of the heavens was open to Israel alone, even though the allusion was made to
others being brought into this kingdom; and in Matthew,
chapter twenty-two.
The offer of this portion of the kingdom had been removed from
3. MATTHEW 25: 14-30
The
third appearance of “outer darkness” in
Matthew’s gospel is in a tripartite, connected discourse which deals with the Jews, the Christians, and
the Gentiles -the Olivet Discourse. The inception of Christianity, awaited a future
date at this time; but the discourse, given following
Christ’s statement that He would build His Church and following the
removal of the kingdom of the heavens from Israel, anticipated the one new man
“in Christ” being brought into existence (Matt. 16: 18, 19; 21: 33-43; cf.
Eph. 2: 12-15).
The first
part (24: 4-31) of the discourse deals exclusively with
events pertaining to
In the Jewish
section of this discourse, God’s dealings with
In the Christian
section of this
discourse, unlike the Jewish section, God does deal
with a people during the present time - a time preceding the [Great] Tribulation. And those with whom God is presently dealing are
the recipients of the offer of the kingdom of the heavens following
(There is a widespread
interpretation which associates Matt. 24: 32 - 25: 30 with
In the Gentile
section of this
discourse, only the Gentiles are in view. God, at that time in the future when
these events occur, will have completed His dealings with
The preceding groundwork has
been laid in order to place the third mention of “outer darkness” in Matthew’s gospel in its
proper perspective. The third and last mention lies at the end of the parable
of the talents, which concludes the Christian section of the Olivet Discourse.
However, “outer darkness” is not
restricted to the parable of the talents in this section. The parable of the
Householder and His servant (24: 45-51), the parable of the ten virgins (25: 1-13), and the parable of the talents (25: 14-30) are interrelated after such a fashion that
the expression “outer darkness” must be
looked upon as applicable in parallel passages in all three.
The parable of the Householder
and His servant follows the parable of the fig tree and comments concerning the
“days of Noah” and a house being “broken up.” The main thoughts throughout
this section (vv. 32-44) centre around the due season, watchfulness, and readiness for the Lord’s return. Then in
the parable of the Householder and His servant, the thought drawn from what has preceded centers around faithfulness
in dispensing “meat in due season.” If the
servant remains faithful, he
will be made ruler over all the Lord’s goods; but if the servant becomes
unfaithful, he will be “cut asunder” and
appointed “his portion with the hypocrites.” (Note
that by comparing Matt. 24: 45-51 with the parallel
section in Luke 12: 42-46 it is clear that only one
servant is in
view throughout. The servant either remains faithful or becomes unfaithful.)
The parable of the ten virgins
immediately following begins with the word “Then,”
pointing back to the parable of the Householder and His servant. The parable of
the ten virgins covers the same subject matter, providing additional
information from a different perspective; and the parable concludes in a
similar fashion by showing what awaits both those who are ready and those who are
not ready at the time of the Lord’s return.
The parable of the talents
immediately following the parable of tile ten virgins is introduced by the
Greek words Hosper gar, which tell the
reader that what is about to follow is like what has preceded. Verse fourteen, introducing this parable, should literally read, “For it [the parable of the ten virgins, and consequently the parable
of the Householder and His servant as well] is just as a man
travelling into a far country, who called his own
servants, and delivered unto them his goods.” The
parable of the Householder and His servant, the parable of the ten virgins, and
the parable of the talents ALL concern
the same basic issues.
In the parable of the
Householder and His servant, unfaithfulness resulted in an apportion with the
hypocrites; in the parable of the ten virgins,
the unfaithful servants (foolish virgins) were
excluded from the marriage festivities; and in the parable of the talents,
the unfaithful servant was cast into outer
darkness. Understanding the interrelationship between these parables and
comparing them with the parable of the marriage festival in chapter twenty-two, it
becomes clear that “outer darkness” is
associated with all three. This is
the place where the unfaithful servants found themselves in all of the
parables, even though the expression is used only in the parable of the
talents. One parable describes the place, and all three describe conditions in this place.
Comparing the parable of the
Householder and His servant with the parable of the talents, note that
positions of rulership are in view in both parables. Only the faithful will be
apportioned these positions. The unfaithful will not only he denied positions
in the
- [Messiah’s coming millennial] - kingdom but they will
be apportioned their place “with the hypocrites” where
there will be “the weeping and the gnashing of teeth [an
Oriental expression of deep grief]” (Matt. 24: 51; 25: 30, ASV),
called “outer darkness” in the
latter parable. Note the same expression in Matt. 22: 13 in
connection with “outer darkness” (cf.
also Matt. 8: 12). Also
note that the unfaithful among the ten virgins were excluded from the marriage
festivities (25: 10-12), as the man without a wedding garment (who
was bound and cast into “outer darkness”) in Matt. 22: 11-13.
HE WENT OUT …
“But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest’s palace
… Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him,
saying, ‘Thou also wast
with Jesus of Gililee.’ But he denied before them all, saying, ‘I know not what thou sayest’
… And again he denied with in oath, ‘I do not know the man’ … Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, ‘I know not the man.’ And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus,
which said unto him, ‘Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.’
And he went out and wept bitterly” (Matt.
26: 58, 69-75).
“And if a man
also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully ...
If we suffer [‘patiently endure’], we shall also reign with him:
if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Tim. 2: 5, 12).
Possibly
the best illustration given in Scripture showing the downward path which it is possible for a Christian
to take, ultimately leading into the place of darkness outside the light, is
the recorded actions of the Apostle Peter immediately preceding Christ’s
crucifixion. Christ had informed His disciples that they would all “be
offended” during the next few hours, because
of Him; and from that time until the time Peter is seen weeping bitterly
because of his offence, there are seven steps
recorded in Scripture showing how he was brought into this condition (Matt. 26: 31-75).
(The word “offended” has to do with something
causing opposition which can result in a fall. This
is the same word used in Matt. 13:
21, which, according to Luke 8: 13, can
result in a falling away, apostasy. The words “fall away” in Luke 8: 13 are the
translation of aphistemi in the Greek text. This is the verb form
of the noun apostasia, from which we derive our English word “apostasy.”)
Step One: Peter
would not accept Christ’s statement concerning what the disciples were about to
do, as he had not previously accepted Christ’s statement on another occasion and
had to be rebuked by the Lord (Matt. 16: 21-23). Peter then made his boast that he would
never allow opposition to bring about a failing away (cf. James 4: 13-15); and
in response to Christ’s subsequent
statement that he would deny Him three times that very night, Peter responded, “Though I should die
with thee, yet will I not deny thee”; and
the other disciples responded likewise. But during the next few hours, “all the
disciples” would forsake him and flee, (Matt. 26: 33-35, 56).
Step Two:
Following the disciples’ boast that they would never allow opposition to bring
about a falling away or never deny Him, Christ took Peter, James, and John into
the
Step Three: Judas
had betrayed Christ to the religious leaders of
Step Four: The
previous actions of Peter and the other disciples - boasting of that which they
would do (though the Lord had told them otherwise), sleeping when they should
have been watching and praying, and Peter resorting to the arm of flesh as he
sought to carry out his previous boast - led the disciples into doing exactly
what they had previously stated would not occur. When Jesus was taken by the
multitude, “Then all the disciples forsook him
and fled” (Matt. 26: 56).
Step Five: Peter
then began to follow Christ “afar off” (Matt. 26: 58). He had taken the sword; and it
was about to result in his ruin. He had resorted to the man of flesh and was in
the process of reaping what he had
sown (cf. Matt. 26: 52; Gal. 6: 7, 8).
Because of his previous actions, the
closeness which hid been his in the inner circle with James and John was now
gone (cf. Matt. 17: 1; 26: 37).
Step Six: When
Jesus was taken into the high priest’s palace for questioning by the religious
leaders, Peter, following Him “afar off,”
remained outside in the courtyard. Rather than identifying himself with Christ
on the inside, he sat down with the enemy on the outside (Matt. 26: 69; Luke 22: 54).
Step Seven:
Peter’s past actions had now led him to tile final point in his fall. When accused of being one of Christ’s
disciples, Peter denied his Lord on three separate occasions, followed by the
cock crowing a second time just as Christ had foretold. And the Lord, being led
at that moment past Peter unto “the hall of judgment” (John
18: 29), turned and looked upon Peter, awakening him to the stark reality of what he had done (Matt. 26: 34, 69-74; Mark 14: 72; Luke 22: 61).
The
Lord’s look in this passage was far more than a brief glance. The word
used in Greek text (emblepo) points to Christ
fixing His eyes upon Peter in an intently searching sense. Peter came under scrutiny for his
actions, causing him to remember that which had previously occurred. Peter then
“went out, and wept
bitterly” (Luke 22: 62).
Peter, because of his past
actions, found himself outside in the place where there is “weeping and
gnashing of teeth.” He was in “outer darkness”
(cf.
Matt. 8: 12; 22: 13; 24: 51; 25: 30).
* * *
31
The Thousand Years
In Both Testaments*
[* Selected from the book By NATHANIEL
WEST]
It is a very common
opinion, widely spread throughout Christendom, and in most cases believed to be
true, that “the thousand years” of which John speaks in the Apocalypse, Rev. 20: 1-7, are
mentioned nowhere else in the sacred Scriptures. The doctrine of a millennial
kingdom on [this] earth, introduced by the advent of Christ in His glory, is a
Jewish fable without support from the word of God. A deeper study of the sacred
volume dissipates this false prejudice and reveals the fact that not only are “the thousand years” of which John speaks found
everywhere in both Testaments, but that next to the eternal state, the
millennial blessedness of God’s people on earth, and of the nations, is the one
high point in all prophecy, from Moses to John, the bright, broad tableland of
all eschatology. The prejudice against the study of a theme so sublime and
far-reaching, and occupying so much space in the revelation of God has been
pleased to give us, is as remarkable in our age, as it is inexcusable, although
by no means surprising. To use the words of Prof. Van Oosterzee, “We cannot be
surprised that the inner discrepancy between the modern theological philosophy
and the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures should perhaps, on no point come
forth so clearly, and apparently so irreconcilably, as precisely in reference
to the doctrine of the ‘Last Things’ - Eschatology. Here, especially are
the terms, ‘Jewish conception,’ ‘oriental garb,’ ‘poetic imagery,’
‘accommodation to the narrow ideas of the age,’ etc.. etc., the order of the
day, and the doctrine of the consummation of the ages is ordinarily regarded as
a moderately insignificant appendix to some philosophic-dogmatic system. In
Scripture, on the contrary, it is distinctly presented in the foreground, and
for the believer it attains, with every year and every century, increased
significance, so that what for a time seems to be an appendix, becomes
eventually the main question!”
* Person and work of the Redeemer, 450.
Every faithful student of the
Scriptures, unbiased by false theories of interpretation, will attest these
words as true. What we find in the New Testament as its outcome in respect to
the ages and the kingdom, has already lain in the bosom of the Old Testament
from the beginning. The closing part of the New Testament is but the full
flower of which the opening part of the Old Testament was the precious seed,
the kingdom one and the same, in essence, all the way. Nothing appears in the
latter revelation that was not hid in the earlier, nothing in John that was not
in Moses. This is what Augustine meant
by his golden maxim, “Novum Testamentum in Vetrere latet, Vetus in Novo
patet.” - “In the Old
Testament the New is concealed; in the New the Old is revealed.” We
shall find “the thousand years” in many
places of God’s word, long before the Rabbis ever had a being or a name.
We shall be obliged in this
investigation to make use of what men call “technical”
terms, in order to save circumlocution. We speak of the “Last Things.” The Greek term for this is “Eschata,”
and by these are meant what should “come to pass,” not in the “latter,” as oftentimes King James’
version has it, but in the “last” days, as Moses, Joel,
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, Paul and John, preferred to have it. If we
study the eschatology of the Old Testament, we will find the Eschata there identical with the Eschata of the New Testament, and the
Eschatology of both Testaments the same, only the New is more developed than
the Old. Such is the organic and genetic character of revelation and of
prophecy that if “the thousand years” are not
in Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, they have no right to be in John. To
understand the prophets it is necessary, however, to understand the Apocalypse,
and to understand the Apocalypse it is necessary to understand the prophets.
The one is light to the other, and reciprocally. In order to attain a clear
conception of Old testament prophecy and its fulfilment, we must combine both
Advents of Messiah, remembering that the first only brought the partial fulfilment of the prophetic word
which yet awaits the second in order to secure its plenary accomplishment.
Joel’s prophecy as to the
outpouring of the Spirit in the last days, and of the great and notable day of
the Lord, with all its terrestrial and celestial phenomena, the final
redemption of Israel, and the transfiguration of the Holy Land, was only
incipiently and partly fulfilled to a few, an election out of Israel, at the
first coming of Christ, and awaits a far larger fulfilment at His second
appearing. So the prediction of Amos, in reference to the dispersion and sifting
of Israel the “Sinful Kingdom,” and God’s visitation of the
Gentiles, “after this,” to take out of them a people
for His name, met a partial and precursive fulfilment in the first calling of
the Gentiles to the knowledge of Christ, in the days of the apostles, as James
in the first council at Jerusalem assures us. We see that by comparing Acts 15: 13-18 with Amos 9: 8-12. But
there is to be a grander fulfilment still in coming days, when, now that a
Second Dispersion and Sifting of Israel has occurred, since James spoke, there
shall he a fullness of the Gentiles “after this,” also,
and finally the fallen Booth of David, or Israel’s proper Kingdom, as the
prophets picture it, will be re-erected with the fullness of Israel converted
to God, and the glorious millennial age heave into view. So it is with
reference to Isaiah’s Redeemer coming to
The
Kingdom And Prophecy
From first to last, the kingdom
of God on earth, its inception, progress, conduct, and consummation in glory,
is the one theme of Old Testament prophecy. To this end were the converts with
Christ, Adam, Noah,
The division of the Davidic
kingdom into two, laid the ground for all the prophecies concerning the “Kingdom of Israel” and the “Kingdom
of Judah,” i.e., the ten-tribed Israel, called “Ephraim,” and the two-tribed Israel, called “Judah,” as distinguished from “all Israel,” or
the twelve-tribed Israel, an election from those children shall one day form
the national nucleus of the millennial kingdom.
The catastrophe that brought
destruction to
As a further help to our
investigation, it is necessary we should know that the
The six pre-exile prophets form
a connected chain ending with Nahum. Of these, Isaiah is the chief, his radius
of vision spanning all horizons, near, remote, and between and losing itself in
the breast of eternal glory. He sees all things, however, in one divine
perspective, one divine light, one divine picture, Messiah the centre of all,
Israel around Him, the Nations around both. The ends and ages are all
confounded in the first end, and the age following. All is a composite
photography, the events standing cheek to cheek, which only later prophecy can
separate. On the earlier prophets, the exile and post-exile prophets rest as on
sure ground, the spirit of prophecy being one. Their office is not to
transcend, but develop, the earlier. What Isaiah was to the earlier, Daniel was
to the later. He bequeaths to them, and to us, the great problem of the
Millennial Age, whose epoch Isaiah, Micah, and Ezekiel, have fixed, the problem
of Israel’s final future and relation to the nations, with Israel’s history
between the return from exile, and Israel’s final redemption in the glory of
the Kingdom at Messiah’s second coming. Its solution is given, also, in the
various visions of the four empires, four beasts, and seventy weeks, whose last
week is rent off from the rest in fulfilment, the Roman times of the Gentiles
lying between - a seventieth week wholly eschatological, the basis of the
seals, trumpets and vials in John’s Apocalypse. The same problem appears in
another form to the night visions of Zechariah. Haggai’s shaking of the
nations, and Malachi’s burning day, whose close is crowned with healing from
the sun of righteousness. The solution of the great problem of Israel’s future,
spring from the breach in David’s Kingdom, is the solution of the problem of
the Millennial Kingdom, and comes with Israel’s future acceptance of David’s
Son as their Lord, the closing up of the ancient breach in David’s Kingdom, the
union of Israel and Judah in one nation, on the mountains of the fatherland
forever: - in short, Israel a converted people and nation, acknowledged by
Christ in person, the nations applauding. With that consummation, after
judgments and mercies unknown before, and the revelation of Christ Himself in
His glory, dawns the Millennial Age. Search where we may, through all the
prophets, this is the one theme, the redemption of Israel, after judgment has
fallen on both, Christ the glory of all. It is the time of the “Kingdom restored to Israel.” Search where we may, we shall nowhere
find unveiled the mystery of the New Testament “Church.” See Rom. 16: 25. 1 Cor.
2: 7, 8. Eph. 3: 8. 9. Col. 1: 24, 27. Nor does the disclosure of
this, in the New Testament, avail to destroy the prophetic word of the Old in
reference to Israel, or abolish the standing contrast in the Old between Israel and
the Nations, or in the New between Israel, the Nations, and the Church.
It is among the “Eschata,” or “Last Things,” the things to “come to pass in the
last days,” or “End Time.” that we
find the Millennial Age. It lies, as we shall see, between the “Yom Yehovah,” or “Day of the Lord,” which, in the New Testament, is
called “The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ,” and the
endless age of the “New Jerusalem” in the
final “New heaven and earth.” It is bounded
by two distinct judgments, one at the opening, one at the close of the
Millennial Age, the opening judgment being that of the Nations, and of all
powers. terrestrial and super-terrestrial, opposed to Christ and His reign, as
only by a judgment upon Israel and Jerusalem, ending in the redemption of both.
The “Yom Yehovah” everywhere precedes the Millennial Age, which is the
age of Israel’s glory in the Kingdom, and comprehends in itself most of the Eschata of the Old Testament. The
judgment that closes the Millennial Age is represented as a judgment on Gog and
Magog, which extends itself to a “visitation” of
final doom upon all the wicked, after which Israel rests eternally secure in
their glorified land, the nations of the saved walking in the light of the Holy
City, the Lord Himself dwelling forever among His people. Such, in general, is
the Old Testament representation.
To understand this, however, it
is necessary to know first, the manner in which the prophets divided the whole
course of time, and the way in which the ages and ends are represented in
prophecy, as also the relation in which the Eschata stand to these ends and ages,
first in pre-exile prophecy, and next in exile prophecy.
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF TIME. PRE- EXILE
PROPHECY.
And first, as to
the division of time, in pre-exile prophecy. The
whole course of time, from the creation of the heaven and earth to the
re-creation of the same, is divided into two great ages, the bisecting
epoch between which is called the “End.” In this End is placed the “Yom Yehovah,” during
which the personal self-revelation of Jehovah in glory, for the deliverance of
Israel, and the destruction of His and their enemies, is also placed, and for
the establishment of His kingdom in glory on earth. To this “Day of the Lord” belong all the Eschata, or
Last Things, that precede the age of glory on earth, and are connected with the
Advent of Messiah. To this one End all prophecy constantly looks, in every
picture of the future, from Joel to Malachi. The first of these two ages is the
pre-Messianic age, or Jewish age, with all the time preceding, and is called
the Hebrew theology. “Olam Hazzeh,”
“this present world.” The
second of these ages is the Messianic age, and is called “Olam Habba,” or
“the world to come.” The New
Testament employs these divisions of time, and they are ever in the mouth of
our Lord and His Apostles, as “Aion ho houtos,” “this
present world,” and “Aion ho mellon,”
“the world to come,” i.e., “this age,” and the “coming age.” These terms have no reference
to individual life here, or the life of the disembodied spirit, after death.
The bisecting point between them is not death, but the End of this first age.
They relate wholly to the course of earthly history, and the development of the
kingdom of God on earth. In pre-exile prophecy in general, there is but one
End, One Day of the Lord, One Judgment, One Advent of Messiah in glory; an
all-comprehensive and undeveloped with but One age succeeding, the Messianic
Age, the age of Israel in the kingdom and the glory, an End that “does not discriminate between the Parousia in humility and
the Parousia in glory, but beholds the whole work of Messiah as complete,”
(Delitzsch.) Therefore does Isaiah’s page shine the more intensely, for into
that one age the whole grace and glory of Messiah’s work is concentrated. All
the sufferings of the “servant of Jehovah,” all the
splendour of His reward, all there
is for Jew, and all for gentile, focalize themselves in that one End and
radiate out of that one succeeding age. It is the uniform view of all pre-exile
prophecy. In the “Yom Yehovah,” - day of judgment, day of wonders, - day of wrath and day of
mercy, - day of reeling for earth and shaking for heaven, - of tumult, storm,
and fire, - of dissolution and reconstruction, - the nations are judged, the
Gentile powers are smitten, Antichrist is destroyed, the wicked are swept away,
Satan and his hosts are imprisoned in the pit, and Israel’s faithful dead are raised. We see it all in the “Little Apocalypse of Isaiah,” - Chapters 24-27.
Israel’s time begin. In the proverb of the Rabbis, “Esau
is the end of Olam Hazzeh, Jacob is the beginning of Olam Habba.” It is the view of the prophetic
portions of the Pentateuch, the Historical books, the Messianic Psalms, and of
all the prophets prior to the exile.
The
character of this Messianic age is painted in colours the most gorgeous and
brilliant in the prophets, even as it is sung in strains the most inspiring, in
the Psalms. When the Lord has come and brought salvation with His own right
arm, and Jacob’s tribulation is past, everything puts on a new appearance.
Under the New Covenant, sin is pardoned through Messiah’s death, the gospel is
preached, the Gentiles are gathered, the Spirit is poured from on high, and
streams of knowledge, holiness and life, perpetually overflow. Showers of
blessing continually fall. The people are all righteous, and the righteous
shine. The City of Jerusalem is transformed, made glorious not alone by the
boundless wealth of the nations then tributary to it, but by the new-creating
presence of the Lord Himself. The Temple is rebuilt in glory unsurpassed. The
Land itself is transfigured as an Eden. Jerusalem is Jehovah’s throne. Zion is
His dwelling place. The very desert blooms like Sharon. Unwonted fruitfulness
appears. All nature is at peace, and man in harmony therewith. Idolatry and War
and Crime, exist no more. Sin is restrained and death is checked, because Satan
is bound. The curse is gone, longevity returns, and Israel’s risen saints enjoy
a deathless life, fresh and beauteous, as the flower on which the morning dew rests,
and the morning light still shines. In a new heaven and earth, the Holy City is
crowned with light, and the nations walk in that light, a painless, tearless, sorrowless state, the reproach taken from the Jew, the veil
taken from the nations, and death swallowed up in victory, the Bridegroom
rejoicing over His Bride, Messiah reigning on David’s throne, a festive
jubilee, Jehovah dwelling with His people, both in perfect fellowship and
blessedness, is what we see, Eternal splendours streaming everywhere. And just
because all future ages are here inclosed in this one
age, therefore, is it, for Isaiah, the “everlasting”
age, and all things are everlasting that belongs to it. Not indeed that it has
but one form, and this one form eternal, but that its facts are so, be they of
grace which is glory begun, or of glory which is grace made perfect. All is
everlasting, with Isaiah; an everlasting Kingdom, an everlasting Throne, an
everlasting Covenant, an everlasting Nation, an everlasting Name, an
everlasting Righteousness, an everlasting Joy, an everlasting Song, an
everlasting Peace, an everlasting Holiness, an everlasting Life, an everlasting
Dwelling, an everlasting Rock, an everlasting Redeemer, an everlasting
Salvation, an everlasting God. All, is olamic, aconian, eternal, forever! All eschatologies are mingled
here in one, all ends in one End in which Messiah comes, all ages in the one
Age which follows that one appearing. The Rabbis call it the “Immortal Age,” and say of the righteous raised from
their graves, that they “sit with crowns on their head
and behold the splendour of God:” and that “All
the good the prophets have spoken concerning Israel belongs to “Olam Habba,” “the world to come.”
If we represent, in schematic
form, the manner and ends as seen, in general. in pre-exile prophecy, the
diagram will stand thus:
[Pre-Messianic Age.]
<<<>>> [Advent. / End.] <<<>>> [Messianic
Age.]
That is, two ages and one end
between, the last age the everlasting one, or age that has no end.
* * *
32
THE LAST DAYS
By L. W.
KEMMIS
The phrase “the last days” is found both in the Old and in
the New Testaments. The Word of God leads us to calculate the coming and indeed
the presence of the last days on two scales. One scale is as in the sight of God:
the other as in the sight of man.
The former is counted on a scale of a thousand years to one day: the latter on
a scale of one day to one year.
I. THE
SCALE AS IN THE SIGHT OF GOD.
In Heb. 1: 1 we read God “hath
in these last days spoken unto us by His Son”.
Clearly the last days had already commenced when the Son of God, made flesh - Jesus
Christ - went about preaching the Gospel nearly two thousand years ago. But the
last days of what?
The number seven signifies completion,
e.g., the seven days of the week, the seven seals, the seven trumpets or the
seven vials. The last days of the week therefore incorporate the fifth, sixth
and seventh days of the week.
In Ps. 90 we are
told that “a thousand years in thy
(God’s) sight are but as yesterday”, and in
2 Pet. 3 this is
confirmed to us, “one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years and a thousand years as one day”.
If seven is the complete number,
should we not expect seven thousand years from the completion of creation (in
seven days) and the entering of sin into the world till the consummation. Does
not Holy Scripture indicate such to be the case ?
Rev. 20 speaks three times of the
thousand years’ reign of Christ in righteousness while Satan is bound. It is
the last day of a thousand years as in God’s sight. Therefore the day of rest -
rest from wars and strifes. Christ’s [millennial] reign of peace on earth as He rules the
nations with a rod of iron. This leaves six days as in God’s sight to be
accounted for.
Genesis gives the ages of the
patriarchs at the birth of their heirs. Thus we have the means of reckoning
there were four thousand years or four days with Providence from Adam to
Christ. We know some nineteen hundred and fifty years - [now 2,022 years according to our calendar are believed to] - have passed since His first coming. We
therefore now stand at the end of the sixth day - the fifth and sixth days,
spoken of in the Bible as “the last days”.
Are there then but some fifty years
- [and some more years “after two days”] - to run before the Prince of Peace takes
His power and reigns? Jesus Christ, as Man, spoke to men as on the scale in man’s
sight. That is a day to a year. He said with reference to the last days that “except those days be shortened, no flesh should be saved”. In the light
of modem warfare how true! Jesus continued: “But for
the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened”.
If there are but fifty [and some] more
years and they have to be shortened according to the Scripture which “cannot be broken”, how near are we to the Lord’s
second Coming in the clouds? Not only are we in the last days, but in the last
one-twentieth of the last day before the millennium is established. The
eleventh hour indeed.
II. THE
SCALE AS IN THE SIGHT OF MAN.
Have we any Scriptural authority
for supposing that God has based prophetical times on the scale of a year to a
day? The answer is Yes, abundantly so. Did not Israel have to wander in the
wilderness for forty years because of the unbelieving report of ten of their
spies? Why forty years? Because they had searched forty days. “Each day for a year” (Num.
14: 34).
Likewise Ezekiel was told to lie
on his side three hundred and ninety days for the sins of Israel, and forty for
those of Judah. “I have appointed thee each day for a
year” (Ez. 4: 5). Thus
God gives us a basis for reckoning times as in the sight of man.
Again, in Dan. 9 we read of the time from the going forth of
the commandment “to restore and rebuild Jerusalem” is to
be “seven weeks and threescore and two weeks”. That
is sixty-nine weeks or four hundred and eighty-three days to the Messiah.
Cyrus was the first to issue a
decree for the rebuilding, but it was hindered by enemy action and Hebrew
despondency, so that further decrees were needed. Artaxerxes issued the last in
457 B.C. Add 483 to this date and allowing one in the cross over from B.C. and
A.D. arrive at the baptism of Jesus in Jordan, and His saying “the time is fulfilled” (Mark
1: 15).
If such an important prophecy as
this was fulfilled to time, why should not others on the same scale be likewise
calculated with every expectation of fulfilment? But there is an important
point to remember. Time may be measured on the lunar scale of 360 days to a
year or on the solar scale of 365 days to a year, or on both. The Word of God
is for all nations. Times are therefore given on the lunar scale that Eastern nations
who reckon on it may understand as well as Western nations counting on the
solar scale. Be it noted that Turkey switched from lunar to solar dating in
1917 A.D.
Now recall that in Lev. 26: 18, 21, 24, and 28, Israel, if they kept not the commandments of God should be
driven out among the nations for seven times. What is a time? Nebuchadnezzar
was driven out to dwell among the beasts till seven times should pass over him
(Dan. 4: 25). That king was a type of the Jews to be driven out from Jerusalem
and scattered among the nations of the earth for seven times. The Gentile
kingdoms are therefore symbolised as beasts. The king was compelled to live
with the beasts seven years. Eastern nations in applying the principle to
prophecy would multiply 360 by 7 and take each day for a year. The Hebrew
punishment for their sins was to be for 2,520 years.
Jerusalem Released
Does history tally with this?
Nebuchadnezzar’s first attack on Jerusalem as king in his own right was in 604
B.C. Add 2,520 on the same principle as above indicated and arrive at 1917 A.D.
- the year in which Jerusalem was released from Gentile oppression. The heavy
burden of Turkish taxes was taken away.
Is not this verified in the last
chapter of Daniel for it also points us to 1917
both on the lunar and on the solar count?
Prophecy usually has more than
one application. In Dan. 12:
11, “there shall be one thousand
two hundred and ninety days” from the time that “the abomination
that maketh desolate be set up”. The third such abomination was (and is)
the mosque of Omar on the Temple site. Add 1290 to 627 A.D. and again obtain
1917 A.D.
But the date of the Hegira is
622 A.D. - the date from which the Moslems reckon their time. Use the second
figure given in the same verse - 1335 - on the lunar scale, and once again 1917
A.D. is indicated.
“Blessed
is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty
days”. How very much so to the understanding Jew.
It is interesting to understand
that Turkey who switched from the lunar to the solar reckoning in 1917 A.D.
minted their coins for that year with the Eastern and the Western dating on
them - 1917 and 1335. Thus 1335 lunar cheeks 1290 solar and both check the
seven times of Leviticus.
The number forty seems to be
remarkably interrelated to the seven times. In Genesis 7, we
read “the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty
nights”. It was a period of steadily increasing disaster, of evident
oncoming destruction of the wicked, but of the salvation of Noah, a believer of
God, “a preacher of righteousness”, and obedient to the Word.
Remembering that Jesus Christ in
His Gospel likened the days of Noah to those at the Coming of the Son of Man
should we not expect on the scale of a year for a day a like period immediately
preceding His second Coming!
Lunar and Solar
It is striking that the seven
times calculated on the lunar system and on the solar system leaves a
difference of forty years at the end of the time. The lunar count ended in
1917; the solar should end in 1957. Is it not therefore unreasonable to suppose
that as the world was inundated - even “all the high hills under the whole
heaven”, so will the judgment by fire at this end after forty years of
increasing iniquity. The daily newspapers bear witness to this increase.
2 Pet. 3: 5-8 tells us plainly of the fiery judgment, and
reminds us of the sin of being “willingly ignorant”. Many
are willingly ignorant to-day because they will not read the Word - the “sure word of prophecy”, many because they will
not really believe it - some because they do not seek to understand it by
prayer. See Dan. 1: 3.
There is an even greater
corroboration of this view - the words of Jesus Christ speaking of the end-time
signs. “This generation shall not pass till
all these things be fulfilled”. Israel wandered forty years in
the wilderness till the generation that had come out of Egypt perished. In
these last forty years the world has been straying more and more from the
commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. If the generation is counted
from 1917 - the marked date - how close are we to the day of judgment of the
quick and the dead - those alive in Christ and those dead in trespasses and
sins.
We Do Not Know When
It is
written, “Ye know neither the day nor the hour” when
Christ shall appear. It is also written, “Be ye
circumspect and so much the more as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10: 25). We must not fix dates for what
even the Son of Man knew not, nor the angels which are in heaven, but the
fulfilment of many prophecies concerning the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of
God indicate “the day that shall burn as an oven” is at hand - the day of “the glorious appearing of the great God our Saviour”. - The Advent Witness.
-------
THE SECOND COMING
By D. R.
DAVIES
BERTRAND RUSSELL was reported a
short while ago to have said that unless the problem of peace is solved very
soon, the human race will be destroyed this year!
This situation presents to the
Church a double challenge - first of all to those in the Church who are already
convinced of the utter and absolute truth of our Lord’s return, to those who
have not waited on events to convince them; and, secondly, to all those in the
Church whom events have forced to a new attitude towards the Second Advent of
our Lord. Let me deal briefly with each.
On the “believers”
(if I may so describe those in the first category) there falls a special
obligation of witness. In the propagation of Christian truth, there are two
clearly marked phases, which may be defined as those of preparation and proclamation.
In the stage of preparation, the believer is seeking to deepen, to intensify,
his own conviction, and to illumine his own understanding of the truth he will
proceed to proclaim. This phase involves the believer in personal prayer,
meditation, and study, particularly and supremely of the Scriptures. Personal
prayer and study do not mean only isolated, individual activity. They imply also a fellowship with other
like-minded believers. We have an example of this phase of preparation in
the life of St. Paul, who, after his conversion, spent three years in
preparation for his public task.
The preparation, both individual
and social, then enters upon the public proclamation. And this is the phase on
which convinced believers in the Second Coming are now called upon to embark.
In every church throughout the land, there are at least two or three convinced
believers in our Lord’s return; at least two or three who, like Simeon of old,
look with eager longing for the fulfilment of the Hope of His Coming. And wherever two or three are met together in
prayer and anticipation, there too will Christ Himself be. Let those who truly
believe in our Lord’s return form themselves into an active fellowship in every
church and meet regularly, say once a month at least, for prayer and [prophetic]
study and for talks and lectures to members of the church not already members
of the inner group.
The challenge to the second
class - those who hitherto have disregarded the Second Advent, but are now
awakening to it - is for a new seriousness, which will help them to realise
that belief in the Second Coming is not just another belief, but a fundamental belief, without which the Church cannot
adequately preach her Gospel to this day and generation.
In this great matter, a special
duty falls upon the clergy, to whom I make an earnest appeal that they should
give prominence to the Hope of Christ’s return in their preaching. It is no
longer enough to make this belief a merely seasonal theme, just during Advent.
The Second Coming in all its aspects - scriptural, personal, historical, social
- must be made a staple part of our preaching. In this way, the Church will be
led to a genuine and deep-going revival of religion, and to the fortifying of the hopes of the Church
in God’s providence in an age of trial and despair. - The Morning Star.
-------
THE ADVENT
A PASSIONATE concentration
on the Advent closes the Book of the Revelation.
“He which testifieth these things” - the last
revelation we have from God - “saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.” This ‘quickly’
is a word for the mouth of God alone, with whom a thousand years are as one
day: nevertheless we know that no dispensation has exceeded two thousand years,
and that - [“after two
days” of Hosea 6: 2; cf. John
11: 6ff)] - our two thousand years are rapidly dying. The Lord’s ‘I come’ is the sum of the whole book, and that you and
I should respond is the book’s whole design. That in this short passage - our
Lord’s last words to earth for twenty centuries - he three times repeats, “Behold, I am coming,”
reveals that it can be, and ought to be, the throbbing heart of all our
service. Dr. F. B. Meyer once asked Mr. Moody for the secret of his success.
Mr. Moody replied:-“For many years I have never given
an address without the consciousness that the Lord may come before I have
finished.”
Words
A famous publisher declares, “If you are an articulate person, you utter some thirty
thousand words each day.” If these words were put in print, they would
amount to a fair sized book a day. These books would, in a life time, fill a
good sized college library. All these books are from the same author. All
reflect the life and thoughts of the author, in his own words. And not a book
can be taken down from the shelves or withdrawn from circulation. The thought
is a bit frightening. It emphasizes the fearful responsibility that goes with
the gift of speech, and also the glorious privilege that is inherent in “speech seasoned with grace” (Col.
4: 6).
Man probably has no greater power for good or for evil than the power of
speech. “Every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12: 36). And into the record, went every whispered
conspiracy, every word of slander, every falsehood, every cutting remark, every
obscene utterance, every foul blasphemy. What a noble attribute is the gift of
speech! And what finer tribute to the Giver, than to present to the library of
heaven, each day, one clean volume - thirty thousand words - dedicated to His
honour. - CHARLES W. KOLLE.
The Advent
Knox of Scotland, the mighty
Reformer, said, “Has not our Lord Jesus Christ carried
up our flesh and blood to heaven, and shall He not return? We know that He shall return.”
Luther, during the Reformation,
said, “I ardently hope that amidst all these internal dissensions on earth Jesus
Christ will hasten the day of his coming.”
John Wesley, Founder of the
Methodist Church, uttered immortal words, “The spirit
in the heart of the true believer says with earnest desire, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’.”
D. L. Moody, world-famed
evangelist, said, “I never preach a sermon without
thinking that possibly the Lord might use that sermon to call out the last of
the saints who should go to make up the full number of God’s elect and to bring
about the Lord’s coming.”
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, the
world-famous British Bible scholar and author of a great many expositional
works on the sacred Scriptures, said, “I never begin
my work in the morning without thinking that perhaps He may interrupt my work
and begin His own. I am not looking for death. I am looking for Him.” - E.
E. WORDSWORTH.
THE END