INDEX
451
A TOTALITARIAN WORLD
452 THE MAN CHILD
By G. H. Lang.
453 THE GIFT AND THE PRIZE By C. S. Utting.
+ A WORLD SHOCK By Tom M. Olson.
454 CONDITIONAL
OR UNCONDITIONAL By Percy W. Heward.
455 CHRISTADELPHIANISM
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
456 ESCHATOLOGY
+
MILLENNIAL HYMNS By George Sleath,
(Coleraine.)
457 THE SINLESS CHRIST
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
458 EXCLUSION FROM THE KINGDOM By D. M. Panton, B.A.
459 THE REBUILDING OF
460 THE
461 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH
462 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE
TO THE HEBREWS (Heb. 12: 14) By Robert Govett.
463 THE OVERCOMER AND THE THRONE By D. M. Panton, B.A.
464 TO REIGN WITH CHRIST
465 THE CONFESSION OF A JEW
466 THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST By D. M. Panton, B.A.
467 THE CHURCHES AND THE TRIBULATION By Samuel F. Hurnard.
468 A WORD OF COUNSEL TO ALL BY BRETHREN By P. C. Nelson.
469 THE CHURCH AND MIRACLE By D. M. Panton, B.A.
470 THE SEED, THE OX, AND THE GARMENT By D. M. Panton.
471 TWELVE POINTS TO PONDER
472 THE GENERATION OF ANTICHRIST By Peter Cross.
473 THE PREPARATION FOR THE THRONE
474 THE BEATITUDES
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
475 TO EACH HIS WORK (Mark 13: 34) By Dr. J. W. Rankin.
+
PART II By Paul Myers.
476 THE PAROUSIA
By D. M. Panton, M.A.
477 EARTHQUAKES
478 THE
479 REWARD THROUGH SUFFERING By D. M. Panton, M.A.
480 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (Matthew
5: 13) By Robert Govett, M.A.
481 THE SCIENCE OF JOB
By A Reilly Copeland.
482 APOSTASY IN THE CHURCH By V. Topps.
483 AN OPEN DOOR
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
484 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (Matt.
5: 20) By Robert Govett, M. A.
485 ALL THINGS WORKING FOR GOOD By D. M. Panton, M.A.
486 LITTLE CHILDREN
By Paul W. Rood, D.D.
487 THE SUPREME AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES By D. M. Panton, B.A.
488 REWARD FOR OVERCOMERS
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
489 OUR LOVE FOR GOD
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
490 ATHANASIUS By
C. Sydney Carter, D.D.
491 EZEKIEL 38 AND ARMAGEDDON By Dr. Arthur I. Brown.
492 FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
493 SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM
By E. B. Jones.
494 CHRISTS COMING AGAIN: BOTH SECRET AND OPEN By A. G. Tilney.
495 I KNOW YOU NOT By Samuel F. Hurnard.
496 THE KINGDOM A REWARD
497 THE PRIZE By
Miss E. M. Leathes.
498 REGATHERING
499 THE SEED AND THE SOIL
By Gordon Chilvers.
500 HADES By
Herbert Beiber, D.D.
*
* *
451
A TOTALITARIAN
WORLD
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
It
is extraordinary how exactly the roots of evil in the primal world - man
without God in the first drama of history - are now flowering in their final
fruit. Cain, the first murderer, built the first city that was ever erected (Gen. 4: 17); and the first group of mankind after the
Flood, a judgment which had wiped out practically the whole human race, plans
the first mass-union of mankind. Exactly so the San Francisco Conference, with
more than 800 delegates from 50 nations of the world, has elaborated a charter
- in the words of President Truman - to promote
world-wide progress, and to remove the causes of international conflict and
unrest.
Earth at last a warless world, a single
race, a single tongue
I have seen her far away, for is not earth
as yet so young?
Godless
One
blank is stamped upon the whole scheme, a negative fraught with untold volumes
of disaster. God is never even named. It is exactly reproduced to-day. Not a single official utterance from the conferences
of Dumbarton Oaks,
Totalitarian
So
we have a wonderful forecast in the totalitarian State which has appeared in
this century, and which we should carefully understand lest we ignorantly
co-operate with it. Sir Ernest Barker,
in his Reflections on Government, shows how humanity can make itself its
own idol, then find a person who becomes its incarnation, and so its god. First the class, the race, the national organism; then the
person of the leader; then the party; then the absolute party-State, dominated
by the person - this is the logic of the development. The Guardian (May 18, 1945) makes a suitable comment. And
in the party-State the aims of the party dominate the individual from infancy
to the grave - his family life, work, leisure, all. Any form of group, or association
for any purpose within the State, is a potential rival and as such is
proscribed by the all-controlling party. The interest of a section, or group,
is made the criterion of good in every sphere. That which is subsidiary, or
relative, is made final and absolute. This is nothing less than idolatry.
And this totalitarianism is invading every State. The Archbishop of York sums it up thus:- To-day
the State is all-pervasive. It touches the individual from his birth to his
death. The State in modern days is largely totalitarian, for it is ever
controlling, regulating, and interfering with the life of its citizens, and
there is no doubt that this tendency will increase.
Advent
Now
occurs for the first time that which is to occur three times, and three times
only, in the history of the world - the descent of God on to the earth for
investigation and judgment:- at Babel, at Sodom, and at the Second Advent. And the Lord came down to see
the city and the tower; and the Lord said,
Behold they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do - it is a
germ, a root of Antichrist and Armageddon; and now
nothing will be withholden from them which they purpose to do - nothing
will prove too daring or too godless. Go to, LET US GO DOWN. It results in the advent of God.
Confusion
So
now a judgment falls that no human mind could have conceived, an unimaginable
something which has defeated world-union for six thousand years. Therefore was the name of it
called
*An Assyrian tablet (marked K. 3657 in the
Dictators
All
such amalgamation, subordinating the individual in ever-deepening helplessness,
culminates in dictatorship. Julius
Caesar had the picture of himself stamped upon the globe of the world, with
a sword in his right hand, a book in his left, and with this motto - En utroque Caesar - Lo, on both sides of the world Caesar! It meant a massacred Church. World-power, whenever centralized and concentrated into sinful hands,
means tyranny, slavery, corruption, murder, conscience stamped out, and at last
State-deification. It was in this very Plain of Shinar that
Peace
The
description of the situation given by prophecy is exact, and is being witnessed
by our own eyes. When they are saying PEACE and SAFETY, then
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child; and they shall in
nowise escape (1 Thess. 5: 3). In response
to an appeal by the Worlds Evangelical Alliance to the San Francisco
Conference that religious freedom should be safeguarded Mr. Eden replied:- The object of the
Conference is to draft the Charter of an international organization for the
maintenance of international PEACE
and SECURITY. The Foreign
Secretary significantly added:- It is not expected
that the Conference will concern itself with declarations on the subject of
particular human rights such as religious freedom.
The Golden
Age
It
is most wonderful how God is about to bring to pass this passion of mankind for
a union which He Himself confounded, but a unity which will be born, once and
for ever, out of one word alone. In the REGENERATION
the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory (Matt. 19: 28). Only a
re-born humanity can produce a re-born world. The coming Age opens with the
conversion of the whole of humanity that survives the judgments; and all
government will be in the hands of perfect knowledge and perfect righteousness.
A great British statesman of the nineteenth century, John Bright, expressed it thus:- It may
be but a vision, but I shall cherish it. I see one vast federation stretching
from the frozen north in unbroken line to the glowing south. I see one people and
one language, and one law and one faith, and over all that white continent the
house of freedom and a refuge for the oppressed of every race and every clime.
For lo, the time is 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
Her ancient splendours fling,
And the whole earth send back the song
Which now the angels sing.
*
* * *
* * *
452
THE MAN
CHILD
By G. H. LANG
World-events are laying an even more
burning emphasis on one outstanding beatitude:- Blessed is he that readeth,
and they that hear the words of this prophecy (Rev. 1: 3). Mr. Langs book on the Apocalypse, which has just
appeared,* and from which these extracts are taken, is an able and scholarly
study of the Book so obviously vital for our End of the Age. Even the most
devoted students of the Revelation, who are fully aware that it is largely
literal, will yet differ on important details; but it is the happy privilege of
us all to differ in love - keeping an open mind for all the truth we can learn
from every possible source. We are thankful that Mr. Lang does not flinch from
standing up to the unpopularity of accepting the warnings given to all non-overcoming
believers - warnings that will soon take on their sharpest edge.
- [D. M. Panton, M.A.]
-------
AS the End-time
approaches, the
The
identity of this child is settled by the law of former reference. He is to
rule all the nations with a rod of iron ([Rev. 12:] 5 [see also Ps. 2: 9, R.V.]). This is
repeated from the promise to the overcomers in the letter to Thyatira ([Rev.] 2: 26) : The one overcoming [and who may die in the battle] and the one keeping my works until [living as far as unto] the end
([
See Greek word]),* I will give to him authority over the nations: and he
shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the
vessels of the potter are broken to shivers: as
I also received of my Father (see Ps.
2: 9). This promise is given only to the Son of God and to the overcomer. As it cannot in Rev. 12 apply to Christ, it can only apply to the
overcomers of His church. Conquering demands conflict; birth is
through travail; the general pangs of the church as the end of her period on
earth nears will bring to birth the Man-child, the conquerors in the battles of
that crisis epoch.
* The repetition
of the article ([
.See the Greek text]) shows that two classes are in view.
They climbed the steep
ascent of heaven
Through peril, toil, and pain:
O God, to us may grace be given
To follow in their train.
What
constitutes victory or defeat is shown in the seven Letters. Saints in
The
serious student of the will of Christ can here test his own state of heart can
see the danger-points in the battle, and against what wiles of the devil he
must contend resolutely, if he means to be a conqueror. Personal attachment to
Christ is the secret of all attainment and victory (1
Cor. 13).
Compromise with the worlds religion is defeat (1 Cor. 8-11). Low moral conduct forfeits the
birthright (1 Cor.
6: 1-11; Heb. 12: 14). The lukewarm are nauseous to Him who was eaten up by zeal for Gods
house, and He rejects such from His presence. Self-sufficiency
assures poverty of soul, together with nakedness of character, with its
reproach and blindness.
How
shall a starved, naked, and blind disciple defeat Satan, the strong one fully
armed? It is impossible. His very condition shows that he has been already
robbed, stripped, and blinded, overwhelmed in the battle. Yet as Samson, long defeated, triumphed in his death, so may the
defeated Laodicean, by great grace, snatch victory at last, if he will give
again full heed to his Lord.
Human
opinion as to what constitutes overcoming must be disregarded; for one may
flatter and deceive himself that he is victor (thou
sayest, I am rich,3: 17), while
another, who feels hopeless
as to the battle, may be doggedly facing the foe. What heaven regards as
overcoming, this twelfth chapter states plainly (vs.
10, 11).
When Satan has been driven from heaven a great voice exclaims exultingly: the accuser of our brethren
is cast down, who accuseth them before our Lord
day and night. And they overcome him because of
the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word
of their testimony; and they loved not their
life even unto death.
*
* * *
* * *
453
THE GIFT AND THE PRIZE
By C. S.
UTTING.
THE FREE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN
CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, Rom.
6: 23. At his conversion a man becomes possessor at once of
this free gift, through his faith in the work, atonement ransom-paying in blood,
and resurrection of our Lord, Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all
iniquity, Titus 2: 14. The
acceptance of this free gift of
eternal life is the birth-point of
the Christian. It should be also at once the starting-point of the race for the Prize, a lifelong contest which is won by few
and by supreme effort alone. It is described in Phil.
3: 11-14. If by any means I may attain the (select
or out) resurrection
from (among) the dead. Not that I have already attained, or have been already perfected, but I am pressing
onward, if so be that I may
lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have laid hold of; but one thing I do: ... I
am pressing on toward the mark, UNTO
THE PRIZE of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. (See
Wordsworth).
Paul, when writing these words, was probably a prisoner on
the Palatine Hill at
The Apostle has a spiritual Circus of his own. He too is a
charioteer. He presses eagerly onward to the mark. He also has a prize to gain
- the palm-branch of Victory from the hand of Christ.
But,
before his conversion, When he was furiously racing
onward in his mad career of persecution, he was suddenly arrested by Christ;
his ear was upset; he was flung prostrate on the ground ... He was apprehended
and laid hold on by Christ, in order that he himself might apprehend and lay hold on the prize which Christ gives. Thenceforth he is a pursuer in the Christian Circus; he forgets what he
has left behind, and he is continually stretching himself forward to what is before. The Apostle compares
himself to an eager charioteer hanging over his horses, and urging them on to
the goal; and he pursues onward after the mark in order to win the prize of his
heavenly calling in Christ.
The Victory in the Circus was determined by the place gained
by the charioteer after going a certain number of heats round the ends and
along the side of the Spina (or low wall which was the back-bone of the course). In the Roman
Circus the Victor descended from his car at the end of the race, and mounted
the Spina, and
there received his prize. (See Wordsworth).
Now, Phil. 3: 11, and 14, shew that our PRIZE is the First Resurrection, described
in Rev. 20:
4-6; and
all the glories contingent thereon. In 1 Cor. 15: 50, again, the Apostle clearly is speaking of the inheritors of the Kingdom of God and the glories attending their resurrection, or
rapture; not by any means of every and any [regenerate] believer: many
alas! are wicked, slothful, and worldly Christians who will be dismissed with
shame from the Judgment-seat of Christ, and some be cast into the outer
darkness for the time appointed, where will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, Matt. 24: 48-51, 25: 30; 1 Jno. 2: 28; Luke 6: 46-49.
But
those who reign with Christ in His Millennial glory will be the blessed and holy that participate in this first and special
resurrection. Other glories, rewards,
and honours are mentioned in the promises to the Overcomer recorded in the
letters to the seven Churches in Rev. 2 and 3, also
in Matt. 25:
21, 23,
etc., etc. No less than five different
crowns are offered to
faithful servants of the Lord Jesus at His return.
*
* *
A WORLD
SHOCK
An event is yet to occur which will give to the world
its greatest shock. The shock will consist, in the sudden and complete
disappearance of millions of its choicest inhabitants. The disappearance will be
of such a mysterious nature that it will seem as though the earth has opened
its mouth and swallowed them. However, the very reverse will be the case;
heaven will have opened its door to receive them!
The
unparalleled mystery will be deepened by the discovery that myriads of bodies
which were at rest in mother earth will be missing at that same moment.
Doubtless
all manner of explanations of this mystery will be offered by the great ones of
earth. To be sure, it will be regarded as natural
phenomena, for the worlds experts will not tolerate any thought or
expression of a supernatural event.
Shortly
after this exciting incident, a most powerful dictator will dictate peace to
the nations then at war, and being a genius, he will also cause business to prosper.
The world will again not only forget God and its soul, but also its troubles.
It will become inebriated with the fulness of its prosperity and will cry: Peace and safety. Then shall sudden destruction come
upon it.
The
Lord Himself said: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since
the beginning of the world to this time (Matthew
24: 21). Wars, famines, pestilence,
earthquakes, signs in the heavens, on earth and in the seas shall characterize
that period.
Do
you wish to participate in the [pre-tribulation] Rapture already mentioned? Do you wish to be among
those [accounted worthy to escape
(Luke 21: 36, A.V.), Cf. Rev. 3: 10, A.V.] who
shall be taken bodily from this scene by the Lord Jesus before the Great
Tribulation is ushered in? If so, there must be an acceptance on your part of
the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour
- Tom M. Olson in The
Challenger.
*
* * *
* * *
454
CONDITIONAL
OR UNCONDITIONAL?
By PERCY W.
HEWARD
HOW shall we translate Rom.
8: 17? But if children, also heirs,
heirs on the one hand, of
God: but joint-heirs of Christ, if really we are
suffering together that we also may be glorified together. There is no doubt that all children of God are heirs
(Gal. 4: 7), all shall reign in
life by One, Jesus Christ. But the Holy
Spirit Himself puts a but in
connection with a further heirship. Here it is not the joining word and, and a pause would well be a pause of heart too.
Let us search our ways - our selves. Are we living as Gods children should
live? Will all have the same position in the [Lords coming messianic] Kingdom? No. Luke 19: 17-19 is clear. And what about the seven unmentioned
servants? If we died together, we shall also live together: if
we remain under, we shall also reign together
(2 Tim. 2:
11, 12).
Died is a past tense, remain under a present.
Are
we remaining under? Here is a promise with an if.
Shall we blot out the if from our
heartfelt meditation on our Lords will for us to-day? The meek shall inherit the
earth (Matt.
5: 5).
What if I am not meek? Abraham had the promise of the land, and will possess it in resurrection. Will Lot? He chose the plain of Sodom. He was just
Let
us look at Isaiah 53: 12:- Therefore will I
(God the Father) divide for Him
among the many (same word in verse 11). All the many are included as heirs of God: there
is no mention here of the spoil. And with strong ones (not the many) He
(the Lord Jesus) shall divide
spoil. Is not this a joint-heirship
with Him, linked with His Well done? Some thirty fold,
some sixty, some one
hundred. To which am I like? And
you? Are we concerned - for this joy? Or are we willing to suffer loss now? We
may not as Esau for one morsel sell our birthright, but if earthly
things hinder though we do not draw back to perdition (Heb.
10: 39),
it is possible for a righteous one to draw back in measure, and lose giving the
pleasure which God seeks from us (verse 38).
O that it may not be so! The Holy Spirit indwells, and faithfulness [and
obedience (Acts 5: 32)] is possible -
from this day
and upward (Hag. 2: 18).
*
* *
DEVOTION
A young man in my church in
[* And hope to have - when Christ will
return to resurrect the blessed and holy dead,
(Rev. 20:
6, R.V.).]
- Christian Life.
ADVENT
The only real optimists are the watchers who see the
dawn before the midnight. Men see not the bright light
which is in the clouds (Job 37: 21), but the watchful Christian does.
Was there a time in the
history of the civilised world when a pledge meant less? So we read:- In the last days - that is, the final
era before the Advent - [of our Lord] - bursts upon the world - men
will be TRUCE-BREAKERS
(2 Tim. 3:
1).
*
* * *
* * *
455
CHRISTADELPHIANISM
Information
reaches us that the Christadelphians are issuing a magazine under the title of
The Dawn. We hope that they are doing so
because they are unaware of the existence of our magazine; but in any case it
is well to put perfectly clear our attitude to their creed. We are grateful to The Life Of Faith (Nov. 14, 1945) for also making the distinction between the two
magazines perfectly clear. - ED., DAWN.
IT is exceedingly striking that an elaborate system has
arisen around us camouflaging the Second Advent in all its main details, each Satanic
sect presenting a counterfeit feature of the Advent, while all, combined,
present a complete camouflage. Thus Christadelphianism pushes into the
foreground watchfulness for the Coming of our Lord. It says:- Jesus Christ, Who is the glorified manifestation of God, the
fulness of the Godhead bodily incorporated, and Who came bodily forth alive
from the grave (Bible Finger Posts, pp. 7, 105), a
glorious bodily Person of Spirit, flesh and bones (Is it
Blasphemy? p. 17) will return from Heaven, and visibly appear and take up His
residence on earth a second time, for the purpose of bringing about the
accomplishment of all these things. The second coming of Christ is therefore
the true hope of the believer (Declaration of the
Truth, p. 15).* We believe that at the
return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, to establish His Kingdom on earth, He will,
first of all, summon before Him for judgment the whole of those who are
responsible to His judgment. Those that are dead He will cause to come forth
from the dust, and assemble them with the living to His presence (Ibid, p.
49). Those
who are to be honoured with this unspeakable honour of reigning with Christ are
first to be qualified for it by the transformation of their bodies into the
likeness of the Lords own glorious body (R. Roberts Sect Everywhere Spoken Against, p. 11). So here we have a
perfectly orthodox statement exactly calculated to captivate a young mind
steeped in Second Advent truth, and unversed in Satans wiles.
* These references are taken throughout from
publications officially issued at Christadelphian Headquarters.
Now
let us pierce past this fair husk and discover the kernel; remembering that
superb structure is not only vain, but of all structures the most dangerous
because of its beauty, if it rests on a
rotten foundation. We are now startled to learn that the Gospel to which we
are accustomed is an entire delusion. The idea that Christ has borne our
punishment and paid our debts, and that His righteousness is placed to our
credit, and that all we have to do is to believe it, is demoralising. Blighting
results are to be witnessed in all communities where the doctrine of a
substitutionary sacrifice and an imputed righteousness holds sway (R. Roberts
Blood
of Christ, p. 29). Christ
has given no satisfaction, paid no debt (R. Roberts Slain
Lamb, p. 21) : If the blood of Christ
could be found, it would not be of any spiritual value (Blood of Christ, p. 7). In what, then, does salvation consist? Solely in belief in the
coming
But
the supreme test, critically and for ever decisive, turns upon the nature and
person of the Son of God. Jesus, we are told,
had no existence prior to his birth by Mary:
Jesus is the name of the virgins Son, and not that
of an externally pre-existent God Who came down from Heaven, and in some
mysterious way became incarnate in the flesh (Is it
Blasphemy ? p. 19). The Father
was manifested in the flesh, not a pre-existent, co-eternal Son, which is
impossible (C. C. Walkers Truth about the
Trinity, p. 13). But
it is worse than that: Jesus was a sinful Christ. Among the doctrines
to be rejected is this: That Christs nature
was immaculate (Constitution of the
Christadelphian Ecclesia, p. 13). What the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the flesh, God (has done) sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. It was the same flesh,
full of the same propensities, and the same desires, in Christ as in us
(R. Roberts Slain Lamb, p. 21); for sinful flesh
and the likeness of sinful flesh mean the same thing (R. Roberts Blood of Christ, p. 26). Deriving from his mother both the propensities
that lead to sin and the sentence of death that was passed because of sin, He
was absolutely sinless as to disobedience, whilst subject to the impulses and
the consequences of sin. For it was necessary that He should appear in the
nature of Abraham and David, which was sinful nature. So it is baldy
stated that our Lord had to die for His own sins as well as ours. Christ Himself is exhibited to us as coming under the
beneficial operation of His own death (R. Roberts Blood of
Christ, pp. 10, 25). Therefore,
inevitably, Christadelphians do not worship the Lord
Jesus Christ in the same way that they worship the Father (Is it Blasphemy? p. 19).
Now
it all sharpens down into a point that pierces us all. Even apart from the
bankruptcy of a sinful Christ, John the Baptist bore the clearest possible
testimony to our Lords pre-existence. Of Jesus he says:- He that cometh from above is
above all: he that is of the earth is of the
earth, and of the earth he speaketh: He that cometh from heaven is
above all (John 3: 31). Our Lord Himself bore the same explicit
testimony. He says:- No man hath ascended up into
heaven, but He that descended out of heaven, even the Son of
Man, which is in heaven (John 3: 13). The Jews stumbled nineteen hundred years
ago exactly where the Christadelphians stumble to-day. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How doth he now say, I am come
down out of Heaven? (John 6: 42).
Awful and eternal is the answer of the Lord. And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from
above ye are of this world: I am not of this
world. I said therefore unto you - in consequence of this denial of His pre-existence
- that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am He, YE SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS (John 8: 24). The pre-existence of the Eternal Son of God is a matter of life and
death: no one who denies our Lords Deity can be forgiven; for it is the
Fathers decree that all
should honour the Son EVEN AS THEY HONOUR THE FATHER (John 5: 23).
*
* *
SALVATION BY
SONG
By F. P.
TYRRELL
Lord, I hear of showers of blessing
Thou art scattering full and free,
Showers the thirsty land refreshing,
Let some droppings fall on me, Even me.
This
Hymn was written in the summer of 1860 by Elizabeth
Codner and was sent to D. Sedgwick from
Mrs.
Codner was greatly interested in a party of children
who were very much impressed by an account of revival work in
The
Rev. E. P. Hammond received a letter
from a woman who had attended one of his meetings in a Presbyterian Church in
Canon Hay Aitken tells the story of a young lady, fashionable and
worldly, who was persuaded to attend one of the services he was conducting in
the West End of London. Apparently the preachers earnest pleading did not move
her in the least, and as soon as the sermon was ended she rose to leave the
church before the after-meeting. But the church was crowded with people, so
that her progress towards the door was very slow, and as she moved along she
became very interested in the appealing hymn with its constant refrain, Even me, ever me.
The hymn was new to her and just as she reached the
door the choir were singing the last verse:-
Pass me not! Thy lost one
bringing,
Bind my heart, O Lord to Thee!
While the streams of life are springing,
Blessing others, O bless me, even me.
Suddenly her lost condition was born in upon her, All
along her homeward road the words rang in her heart - Pass
me not! Thy lost one bringing.
Presently she was alone in her bedroom, lying on her bed sobbing from the
depths of her soul the pleading prayer, Pass me not, Thy lost one bringing!
and the Holy Spirit brought to her mind the saviours words, The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost
and ere she slept that night her soul had found rest in the Saviours love and
her new life in Christ had begun.
*
* * *
* * *
456
ESCHATOLOGY
CURRENT technical developments in armaments ought to
dispose the modern mind to a more sober reconsideration of the New Testament picture
of the end of the world [or age] and of Final
Judgment. This picture has always been somewhat unflattering to the modern
mans estimate of human nature, which, of course, is part of the offence
(offensiveness) of Christianity to our era. New Testament Christianity has
never lent any encouragement to the gilded hopes of an earthly paradise
achieved by creating human power. This is partly why Christian Liberalism tried
to rationalize the New Testament doctrine of the
This
version of New Testament eschatology was given a semblance of plausibility by
the course of modern history and the triumph of science. Orthodox theology had
a difficult time in defending the truth of the New Testament vision of The End
in face of the accumulating triumph of man over nature and apparently over
human nature as well. The gigantic expansion in wealth-production and the
consequent increase in material consumption made the New Testament appear
faintly ridiculous. But that is all finished. It is beginning to dawn upon our generation that control over nature
does not necessarily carry with it control over human nature. It is the
confusion of these two that has intensified the terrible social contradiction
of our age. The atomic bomb is the sinister shadow cast over contemporary
hopes.
Barely
a month has elapsed since the first use of the atomic bomb. Hardly a month, and
it is beginning to become obsolete! Experiments with new element, plutonium,
are leading to a bomb one hundred
times more devastating. Let me
quote. The prospect of an atomic bomb nearly 100
times more powerful than those dropped on
Time
is contracting. This, perhaps, is the most profound and sinister fact of our
era. Our Lord definitely discouraged attempts to discover the date of His
second advent. We, therefore, would be ill-advised to speculate whether or not
we have entered on the last lap of times race; whether or not the penultimate
phase of history is upon us. But one thing, at least, admits of little doubt. The world [today] is certainly
facing a time of trouble, of uncertainty and insecurity. Thats the
significance of the atomic bomb and its breathless development via plutonium.
More than ever is it the duty of the Church to watch and pray, and to think eschatologically.
This is no time for the Church to indulge in the secular dream of Utopia. And that, knowing
the time - let the reader
pause on this great Pauline phrase - and that, knowing the time, that now it is
high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed. The night is far spent. ... Mans great historic experiment of trying to be his
own god is petering out. The contradictions inevitably involved in that
experiment are mounting and multiplying. Hence, theology must turn with a new
consciousness towards eschatology. History is formulating the fatal issues. The
atomic bomb, intensified a hundred times by current research, has placed the
possibility of the physical destruction of mankind on the agenda of history.
Gods judgment is materializing into visible shape.
- The
Record.
*
* *
A HYMN FOR
THE NEW MILLENNIUM
AND
A PRAYER FOR
THE NEW MILLENNIUM
By Rev. George Sleath.
George Sleath was
ordained in the
A Hymn For The New
Millennium and A Prayer For The
New Millennium, are two of the ten hymns which George gave me
to publish shortly before hid death. They truly, - reflect
something of his own religious experience, coloured (no doubt) by the Trials
and Triumphs of a life dedicated to Christ.
It is my hope and prayer that the Holy Spirit, will
give us eyes to see, and minds to fully understand the many prophetic
truths awaiting a literal fulfilment in the age to
come: (Heb. 6: 5, R.V.).
That He will speak to us through his words, and encourage us to run the Race
to win the Crown (1
Cor. 9: 27. cf. Rev.
3: 11,
R.V.): to persevere, to be approved, and receive the crown of life, which
the Lord promised to them that love
him, (Jas. 1:
12, R.V.). May the Lord grant us grace and
strength and to so run according to the rules,
and not lose His offered Prize! See also 2 Tim.
2: 5; cf.
1 Cor. 9: 25, R.V.
-------
1
A HYMN FOR
THE NEW MILLENNIUM
We are standing on the threshold of the new Millennium,
We are looking with expectancy for great
things to be done.
We
are praying that the Spirit will renew
us one by one,
For
Christ our Lord must reign.
There are burdens to be lifted, there are fears to put
aside,
There are sins to be forgiven and all
people reconciled.
There is Love and Peace and Blessing; there is hope for all mankind,
For
Christ our Lord must reign.
Nows the time to be committed; nows the time to watch and
pray,
Nows the time to be consistent in our
deeds and what we say.
Nows the time to be like Jesus that
His love may show the way,
For
Christ our Lord must reign.
When the trumpet call has sounded and the dead in Christ shall rise,
Then we all* shall come together when we meet Him in
the skies.
Let us now unite to serve Him; let His triumph be our prize,
For
Christ our Lord must reign.
[* That is, all whom He will judge as accounted worthy to
attain to that age, and the resurrection
from the dead: (Luke 20: 35. cf. Phil.
3: 11,
ff.)].
Originally written to be sung to the tune Battle Hymn
with
the following chorus:-
Glory, glory Hallelujah
Glory, glory Hallelujah
Glory, glory Hallelujah
For Christ our Lord must reign.
2
A PRAYER FOR
THE NEW MILLENNIUM
(Can be sung to The Londonderry Air)
O Blessed Lord, we praise you for the years
gone by,
We praise you too for coming down to save.
But most of all we praise you for your
presence still
Despite our sin and failure, doubts and
fears.
So come again and fill our hearts with
caring love.
Come Holy Spirit to revive and bless.
And with the New Millennium pour out your
grace,
That we may be a people Lord, that you can
use.
O use us Lord, to bring the wayward back to
you.
O use us, Lord, to share anothers load
O use us, Lord, that all may see Christ
lives today;
His love and power the same as long ago.
So come dear Lord and bless us all in every place,
Make
strife to cease and conflicts pass away,
And help us build a future worthy of the
One
Who came from Heavn to earth, two thousand
years ago.
O Saviour Christ we know not when youll
come again,
We only know your promise cannot fail -
Lord
make us ready for the hour you will appear;
This
time in glorious majesty and power.
So come once more and bless us all whateer our need
Make
peace to triumph, wars to cease world-wide
And help us all to know that life you died to give,
O Saviour Christ, O Saviour Christ, come bless us now.*
[* Lord
Jesus, please use these hymns to give your redeemed people a desire to know,
and to fully understand more of Your coming glory
and THE SALVATION OF THIS SIN-CURSED WORLD: (Gen. 3: 17-18; Isa. 35: 1, 2. cf. Rom.
8: 18-22, R.V.).]
*
* *
* * *
*
457
THE SINLESS
CHRIST
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
READER,
think much of Sin. The sound is brief. But it presents a dark abyss of thought.
No mind can trace its birth. No sage can see its death. Before worlds were, it
scaled the heavens, and dragged angels down. It ends not with the end of time.
It ever rolls an ever-deepening course. Reader, think much of sin. It is the
malady - the misery - the shame - of our whole race. It turned a loving child
into a hardened rebel. It is the spring of every tear. It is the mother of that
mighty monster - death. It digs each, grave in every churchyard. It fills every
hospital with sick. It is the core in every grief. It is the worm which gnaws
the root of peace. Reader, think much of sin. It raised a rebel-hand against
God. It strove to lay His honour in the dust. It trampled on the statute-book
of Heaven. Its terrible destructions die not in the grave. It builds the
prison-house of Hell. It forges the chains which bind lost sinners to their
burning beds. It sharpens the undying sting of an upbraiding conscience. No
power can paint its dread reality. The lost writhe out eternity in fully
learning the deserts of sin. Reader, think much of sin. Now we look into the face of the Son of God. He
stands among His critics and says, - Which of you
convicteth me of sin? (John 8: 46). All human emotions rolled over the bosom of
Christ - except one: all human sensations and sensibilities were His - except
one: Which of
you, He asks, convicteth me of sin? What makes this challenge the more startling is the
experience of all generations: namely, that a man grows more sensitive
to sin, not less, as he grows more saintly; and the whiter his life becomes in the
eyes of others, the blacker his heart grows in his own eyes: it is not that he
really gets blacker, but his eyes, growing holier, grow more penetrating. And
the contrary is equally true. The more wicked the human heart grows, the less sensitive
it becomes to sin: as evil increases, it becomes at last past feeling: it is
the guiltiest who do not feel guilt. What then is the explanation of our Lords
words? He who, above all who have ever lived, could pierce past a mans acts
into his motives, who read at a glance the Pharisees hypocrisy, the young
rulers covetousness, the treachery of Judas - this probing power never pierced
like a dagger* into his own soul. Why? Still more wonderful - When he, the Holy Spirit, is come,
he will convict the world of sin (John 16: 8): yet when He fell without limit on Christ, He
produced no such conviction. Why?
Contrast with the holiest only deepens the revelation.
All the prophets were keenly conscious of sin, and confessed it; Moses - I am of uncircumcized
lips (Ex.
6: 30); Isaiah - I am a man of unclean lips (Is. 6: 5); Peter - I am a sinful man, O Lord (Luke 5: 8); Paul - sinners, of whom I am chief (1 Tim. 1: 15). Yet He
who commanded all men to repent - or ye shall all likewise perish (Luke 13: 3) - never repented: He who was baptized with
thousands in
*
Even such a man as Napoleon could see the
incomparable Christ. He said at
Our
Lords question has never been answered. Not, which of you thinks, or charges, or
imagines sin in Me; but which of you convicteth me of sin? The Jews
accused Him of blasphemy, because He asserted His equality with God; the
Gentiles charged Him with treason, because He asserted His kingship of Israel:
but, if He was the Son of God, and the Heir of David, as He was, both those assertions were stainless
truths: and apart from these charges, those who daily watched Him, to catch
Him, could convict Him of not one solitary sin. Even Judas, who knew Him as
only the Twelve knew Him, in the agony of his need to find a justification for
his betrayal, could only cry, - I betrayed innocent blood (Matt. 27: 4). Even the keenest detective of the universe,
who had had four thousand years experience in detecting sin in the human face
and life - The
prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me (John 14: 30).
Few
great men survive their biographies; the written life, the letters, the records
- sin mars every picture, in spite of idolizing biographers: in the Gospels our
Lords life shines with unsullied radiance, and for nearly twenty centuries no
critic has convicted Christ of a solitary sin. The Talmud refers to Him with
intense anger, yet charges Him with not a single specific sin. But the evidence
is not only negative, but positive. All the holiest and most inspired souls,
who knew the Lord Jesus intimately, assert His sinlessness. Peter - a lamb without blemish and
without spot (1 Pet. 1: 19), who did no sin, neither was
guile found in his mouth (2: 22); Paul, -
Him who knew no sin [God]
made to be sin (2 Cor. 5: 21) holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners (Heb. 7: 26), tempted in all points,
yet without sin (Heb. 4: 15); John, - Ye know that He was manifested to take away
sins; and in Him is no sin (1 John 3: 5). Rack your brain for all eternity, ransack all
libraries, plunder the wisdom of all ages, and the problem has but one solution
- a sinless Christ.
For
the solution of the problem is the marvel of the Gospel. If the wages of sin is
death, why did the Sinless One die? He was led as a lamb to the slaughter (Is. 53: 7), the divine Sin Offering for the sins of the
whole world, a sacrificial slaughter covering all sin, and extending in its
efficacy throughout eternity. Christ suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God
(1 Pet. 3:
18):- the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world (1 John 2: 2). The efficacy of the sacrifice turned
absolutely on the sinlessness of the offering: had one evil thought, one wicked
action, one fall into temptation soiled the soul of Christ, He would have had
Himself to be atoned for and been powerless to atone. Who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself WITHOUT SPOT
unto God (Heb. 9: 14).
The
Sin Offering under the Law was the divine picture many centuries before the
fact. The whole bullock was burnt outside the camp: all its flesh - for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit; its legs - the walk in sin; its head - the mind full of the plague of unbelief; its inwards - the secret thoughts and imaginations of the heart. But it was no sin of the bullock, for it was
chosen as an animal WITHOUT BLEMISH (Lev. 4: 3), offered for
the sin of others. The whole bullock was taken out into the accursed place, and
burnt to ashes. My sinfulness - consumed; His sinlessness - accepted: Christ
dying - through imputed guilt; Christ rising - through actual holiness: and I?
- clothed for ever in the righteousness of God. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest
as an offering for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people
through his own blood - sinless
blood alone can sanctify - suffered without the gate - being made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God IN HIM (Heb. 13: 12).
*
* * *
* * *
458
EXCLUSION
FROM THE KINGDOM
GODLY servants
of Christ have understood the Scriptures
to teach the possibility of a [regenerate] believers exclusion. So Mr. Robert
Chapman: Has any
child of God any warrant of Scripture to expect that he will reign with the
Lord during the period of Rev. 20? But, on the
contrary, has not every child
of God a promise of reigning with Christ in the perfect and final state?* So Mr. G. H.
Pember: To those who believe on Him, but go no further, the Lord does,
indeed, give eternal life; but the fruition of it will not begin until
the Last Day, until the thousand years of the Millennial, reign are ended.
Such persons will not, therefore, be
permitted to enter the Kingdom of the Heavens.* So Dr. A. T.
Pierson: The greatest of all the revelations
about the future condition of the saints is, that they are to be identified
with Jesus Christ in His [millennial] reign, - that is, those who overcome.
Not all saints are to be elevated to this position; this is for victorious saints.*** So Mr. Robert Govett: The native magnitude of this truth must speedily redeem it
from all obscurity. Those who have the single eye will perceive its amplitude
of evidence, and embrace it, in spite of the solemn awe of God which it
produces, and the depth of our own
responsibility which it discloses.****
* Morning Star, Oct., 1902. ** The Church, the Churches, and the Mysteries, p. 46.
*** Life of Faith, Sept. 14, 1904. **** Preface to Entrance Into the
Kingdom.
2. - It is certain
that all crowns are conditional on works done
after faith. 2 Tim. 2: 5. (1) The crown of incorruption. In a race all run, but one receiveth the prize.
Even so run, that ye may attain. And every man that striveth in the games is temperate in all
things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown;
but we an incorruptible (1 Cor.
9: 24, 25). Can that racer be crowned who failed in the running? Paul
dreaded the loss of the crown for himself: lest by any means, after that
I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected. (2) The crown of rejoicing.
What is our hope,
or joy, or crown of
rejoicing? Are not even ye, before our Lord
Jesus at His coming (1 Thess. 2: 19). Dan. 12: 3. Can he be crowned for turning many to
righteousness who never
turned one? (3) The crown of glory.
The elders therefore among you I exhort, Tend
the flock of God. ... and
when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of
glory (1 Pet. 5: 1-4). Can a disciple be rewarded for shepherding the flock of
God who never did it? (4) The crown of righteousness. I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me
the crown of righteousness, ... and not only to
me, but also to all them that have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4: 7, 8). Can the crown for watchfulness be given to one
who
never [believed
prophetic truths or]
watched? (5) The crown of life. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he hath been approved, he shall
receive the crown of life (Jas. 1: 12). Rev. 2: 10. Can he
be crowned for resisting temptation who succumbed
to it? That a
crown may be lost to a believer - [who
is unrepentant, and persists in disobedience and wilful sin (Heb. 10: 26- 36, R.V.)] - is as certain as any truth in Holy Scripture. Hold fast that which thou
hast, that no one take thy crown (Rev. 3: 11). Matt. 7: 21.
3. - Scripture states that the [Lords millennial and messianic] Kingdom is
offered to all believers as the
master-prize for service and suffering.
He that overcometh, and
he that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority
over the nations (Rev. 2: 26). 2 Tim. 2: 12. It was a supreme desire of Paul. He abandoned
all, he says, and suffered all, if by any means I may attain unto the [select] resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained, but 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 the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Let us therefore, as Many as be perfect [Gk. then mature], be thus Minded (Phil. 3: 11-15). For the fall of
4. - Scripture also explicitly
asserts the exclusion of certain [regenerate] believers. Proud (Matt. 18: 3); unfaithful
(Matt. 24:
48-51) ; disobedient (Luke
12: 47, 48);
covetous (Eph.
5: 5); effeminate (1
Cor. 6: 9); slothful
(Matt. 11:
12); strife-loving
(Gal. 5: 20) unbaptized
(John 3: 5);
erroneous (1
Cor. 3: 15); or luxurious
(Luke 6: 24)
disciples are unripe for the duties and harmony of Messiahs Reign. Most rigorously also will all unclean
disciples be excluded. Eph. 5: 3-8; 1 Thess. 4: 3-7. The Holy
Ghost has given a summary of exclusion. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of
the which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn
you, that they which practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God. (Gal. 5: 19-21). 1 Cor. 6: 9, 10. For it is the Kingdom of the holy, who are holy, not by imputation only, but also by active righteousness. Heb. 12: 14. 2 Thess. 1: 5. BLESSED AND HOLY IS
HE THAT HATH PART IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION: THEY SHALL BE PRIESTS OF GOD AND OF CHRIST,
AND SHALL REIGN
WITH HIM A THOUSAND YEARS (Rev. 20: 6). O God, I have lost
this world grant that I lose not that which is to come (
*
* *
GOSPEL
INCIDENTS FOR CHRISTIAN WORKERS
Sin
Conviction of sin is the first work of the Spirit in
salvation. One of the saintliest Bishops of the Victorian age, Dr. Handley Moule, found Heaven in the
conviction of sin. It was when my University course
was over, and at a time when much outward success attended my path, that a
profound conviction of the fatal guilt of sin found its way to my deepest
heart. I cannot recall word or incident as the exciting cause, but it was there
in deep and dread reality. That dark time ended in a full and conscious acceptance
of our crucified Redeemer. I was permitted to realize the presence, pardon and
personal love of the Lord, not reasoned, just received.
Anti-God
A missionary writes of Russian youth:- The godlessness with which they have been indoctrinated is a
totally new view in the world and on life of a materialistic nature, a kind of
spiritual force which tries to destroy Christianity and any other religion with
sword and fire and Satanic propaganda. Christianity, I learned, was regarded as
its arch-enemy, therefore the Victory of Christ over such souls is a miracle in
every case. The struggle is deep and intense in every case when the soul is
coming not merely out of darkness, but out of the power of darkness, hence
Christ is Victor is not a mere slogan in this ministry.
Courage
I would rather be charged
with almost sin than be guilty of a wicked silence concerning Christ [and
His teachings]. - Luther.
A Martyrs
Death
When
John Huss,
the Bohemian martyr, was brought out to be burnt, they put on his head a triple
crown of paper, with painted devils on it. On seeing it, he said, My Lord, Jesus Christ, for my sake, wore a crown of thorns;
why should not I then, for His sake, wear this light crown, be it ever so
ignominious? Truly I will do it, and that willingly. When it was set
upon his head, the bishops said, Now, we commend thy
soul to the Devil. But I, said Huss, lifting his eyes to heaven, I
do commit my spirit into Thy hands, O Lord Jesus Christ; to Thee I commend my
spirit, which Thou hast redeemed. When the faggots were piled to Husss neck, the Duke
of Bavaria was officious enough to desire him to adjure. No, said Huss, I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what
I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.
Last That
Shall Be First
I think that the folk who are faithful in that which
is least wear very radiant crowns. They are the people who are great in little
tasks. They are scrupulous in the rutty roads of drudgery. They are the folk
who, when they are trudging through the
Our
Lord Jesus lived for thirty years amid the happenings of the little town of
*
* * *
* * *
459
THE
REBUILDING OF
By G. H. PEMBER
THE resuscitation of
And
for this change the course of events seems to be even now preparing the minds
of men. For the importance conferred by the rule of England upon the vast
dependency of Hindustan, the fast-rising colonies of Australia and New Zealand,
and the reviving civilization, and consequent intercourse with the West, of the
great countries of China and Japan, are causing the site of Babylon to become
more and more a centre of the world - an advantage which statesmen have already
anticipated, and which did not escape the eagle eye of the first Napoleon, nor
that of the almost equally far-seeing English minister Lord Palmerston.
It
seems, therefore, on every account likely that we may presently hear of
projects to restore
When
we add this potential fertility to the political importance of the site, and
the fact that a noble and navigable river flows through the district to the
Persian Gulf, we feel no surprise at Colonel Chesneys
opinion, that the time may not be distant when the
date-groves of the Euphrates may be interspersed with flourishing towns,
surrounded with fields of the finest wheat, and the most productive plantations
of indigo, cotton, and sugar-cane.
Indeed,
considering the advantages to be gained, and the fact that they were fully
comprehended even by the first Napoleon, the wonder is that the restoration of
Probably
the vision of the Ephah, in the fifth chapter of Zechariah, refers to this
event, and hints at its connection with the destruction of the
Again
he lifts his eyes, and beholds an Ephah, the symbol of commerce, going forth.
In answer to his request for an explanation the angel replies, This is their appearance
in all the earth (Zech. 5: 6); evidently meaning that the thieves and false swearers of the preceding vision are those who are
dishonest and perjured in commerce, and that, at the time of the end, the world
will be full of such men.
Just
as
As
he looked on, its leaden cover was removed, and lo! a Woman was sitting in it,
who seems to have immediately raised herself. This,
said the angel, is Wickedness; and, as he spoke,
he thrust her back into the Ephah, and cast the leaden cover upon her. She was
to be conveyed in secrecy to
Again
the prophet lifted up his eyes, and behold there came
out two women, and the wind - or the spirit - was in their
wings; for they had wings like the wings of a
stork and they lifted up the Ephah between the earth and the heaven. He
inquired its destination, and was told that it was being borne to the
Here,
then, the conveyance of the Harlot from Rome to her earliest habitation at
Babylon seems to be plainly indicated; while the restoration of the latter city
may be recognized in the house that is to be built for the Woman in the
We
may, then, conceive with what unexampled rapidity, and in what mighty
proportions, that city will rise upon which the united energy, skill, and
resources, of the whole world will be expended; which will be built to represent
the wealth and pride of nations, to be the emporium of the broad earth, the
home of merchant princes, the resort of all lovers of luxury and pleasure, and,
probably, the residence of the greatest monarch who has ever ruled over men.
For
such will Babylon be when restored, a centre of commerce, and a centre of
wickedness, for all mankind; having a wondrously mingled population of every
race, as she had in ancient times, and, from her site, must have again (Jer. 50: 16, 37); and combining the luxuries and vices of East
and West. In regard to her prominent sins and modes of life we may gather much
from the description in the eighteenth chapter,
which teaches us that she will revel in every lust of the flesh, and lust of
the eyes, and pride of life.
Some
idea of the extravagance of expenditure, and the gaieties of the short time
allotted, may be gathered from the description of the merchandise which will be
brought to
*
From Mystery
*
* *
THE WAY
This poem, written by a lad
of fifteen
may well be an encouragement to
all working among the young,
who are liable to find rich fruitage at any
moment. [D. M. Panton]
In the past, in Earths dim childhood,
Was our damning fall of Man,
From that second, ever onward,
Mans damnation forward ran.
But our God of love and mercy
Sent to earth His only Son,
Here to bear the whole worlds judgment,
The example race to run.
On the cross of pain and travail,
There He took our punishment,
There He offers us redemption
When the temple veil was rent.
All we have to do is take it,
Just confess our Christ the Lord
Everlasting joys inherit,
We are saved then from the sword.
In the future shall the end come,
Then, O Christian, life begins,
But, he then who hath not ownd
Him,
Reaps the punishment of sins.
- D. W. MIDDLETON.
*
* * *
* * *
460
THE
By Dr. HENRY J.
HEIDT
I - THE
MILLENNIUM AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
1 - The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill
the earth. Hab.
2: 14.
2
- He shall be king over all the earth. Zech. 14: 9.
3
- He shall be exalted and glorified. Isa. 2: 2;
2 Thess. 1: 10.
4
- There will be yearly pilgrimages to worship the king.
Zech. 14: 16.
5
- He shall rule over His enemies. Psa. 18: 44; 72: 9; 110: 2; 149: 7-9; Micah 5: 8-10.
II - THE
MILLENNIUM AND THE JEW
1
- Gods promises will be literally fulfilled. Matt. 5:
18.
2
- Spiritual blindness will be removed. Rom. 11: 25, 26.
3
- They will possess the land. Gen. 12: 1-3; 13: 14-17; Jer. 23: 8.
4
- They will rule over former oppressors. Isa. 14: 2.
5
-
6
-
7 - An order of judges after the ancient Theocratic form of government
will be established. Isa.
1: 26.
8
- The Apostles will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes. Matt. 19: 28.
9
- Ungodliness shall be turned away and all
10 -
11 - One third of
12 -
III - THE
MILLENNIUM AND THE GENTILE
1
- All the nations will be judged. Joel 3: 1, 2, 12; Zeph. 3: 8; Matt. 25: 31-46.
2
- They shall learn war no more. Isa. 2: 4.
3
- World government will be theocratic. Zech. 14: 9.
4 - They will be free from Satanic deceit. Rev. 18: 22-23; 20: 8:
5 - They will be under forced restraint. Rev. 2: 27; 12: 5; 19: 15 (See
also verse 5).
IV - THE
MILLENNIUM AND THE CHURCH
1 - The saints shall hold judicial position. 1 Cor. 6: 2; 4: 15; Matt. 7: 1; Rev. 20: 4.
2
- They shall judge the nations. 1 Cor. 6: 2.
3
- They shall judge angels. 1 Cor. 6: 3.
4
- They shall reign with Christ. Rev. 20: 4, 5; 5: 10.
V - THE
MILLENNIUM AND CREATION
1
- The
2 - All nature will be restored. Psa. 96: 11-13; Isa. 35; 41: 17-20; Rom. 8: 19-21.
3
- Perpetual water shall flow from
4
- Animal creation will be peaceful. Isa. 11: 6-8; 65: 25; Ez.
34: 25.
5
- Rainfall will be withheld for punishment. Zech. 14:
17.
6
- There will be great rapidity of growth. Amos 9: 13.
7 - All will be bright, moonlight will be equal to
sunlight, sunlight will be sevenfold. Isa. 30: 26.
VI - THE
MILLENNIUM AND SATAN
1 - Satan will be bound. Rev. 20:
1-3.
2 - He will be loosed at the close and instigate an
international revolt which will be followed by swift judgment. Rev. 20: 7-9.
VII -
MISCELLANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS
1
- The age of child life shall be extended to one hundred years. Isa. 65: 20. (It is generally thought that the godly shall
attain antediluvian age which will average over nine hundred years. Gen. 5).
2
- Injustice shall be overcome. Isa. 65: 21-23.
3
- Petitions will be answered immediately. Isa. 65: 24.
4 - Individual sin will be possible but will be dealt with
by death within a century. Isa. 65: 20.
5 - Physical ailments will cease. Isa. 35: 5, 10.
6
- It will be a time of joyful thanksgiving. Isa. 12: 1-6; 35: 9; 52: 9.
*
* *
POWER TO CHANGE*
[*A word of advice
and encouragement to the Lords redeemed people,
who have allowed themselves to be
deceived with Replacement Theology.]
Weve
a Lord who is waiting to bless us,
And
a power we all need more and more.
But
we must be prepared to get our feet wet,
Or
well sit all day long on the shore.
Theres
a hand that is ready to hold us,
Theres
a grip that will never let go.
Theres
a Power that can change our whole way of life,
Though,
of only were willing to know.
So
Why not find life now in Jesus?
He
is able to meet every need.
Hell
guide you safe home, and make you His own,
And
Hell fill you with great joy indeed.
Let
us live every day with high purpose,
For
with Christ by oue side we cant fail.
Hell
be with us each day, and show us the way,
And
His love and His power mist prevail.
- Rev.
George Sleath (Coleraine.)
*
* * *
* * *
461
THE UNITY OF
THE CHURCH
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
THERE is no more dynamic movement in the Churches of the
world to-day than a passion to achieve the unity of the Church; and there is no
movement within the Churches fraught with more danger. It can have only one
goal - reunion with the Church of Rome. Roman Catholics exceed Protestants by
146,000,000; and the present Pope has said that a
single flock under a single shepherd may be reached in the near future.
Moreover powerful movements both in the Church of England and in the Free
Churches are openly doing all in their power to produce such a reunion. Any scheme for intercommunion, said a late Bishop of Gibraltar, which does not embrace the Roman Church, would be like the
play of Hamlet without Hamlet. Therefore it becomes of vital
importance that every one of us should know exactly what church unity,
according to divine revelation is; and once to know this truth is to make
reunion with
Vital Unity
The
Church is to-day by far the most extraordinary work of God in the world; and
Pauls definition of the Church is a vital revelation. Ye are the body of Christ,
and severally - individually - members thereof
(1 Cor. 12: 27). All
depends on my being a branch in the True Vine, possessing, and possessed by, Christ: he only is a member of the Church,
who accepts the truth acceptance of which creates the Church.* Membership in the Body is decided by one thing alone
- vital union with the Head: we may have a hand amputated, or an eye blinded,
or a leg crippled, without the 1oss of life; but separation from the head is
death. All perish Who are not vitally one with Christ. He that hath the Son hath the
life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not
the life (1 John 9: 12). As the body is one,
and hath many members, and
all the members of the body, being many, are one body: so also is the
Christ - the Mystical Christ, the
Church. **
*
If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord - incarnate Godhead - and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead
- a literal rising of the body from
the tomb - THOU
SHALT BE SAVED (Rom. 10: 9).
**Therefore the church that welcomes into fellowship the
unsaved - whether baptized infants or non-born-again adults - is not a church
at all, but an amalgam of the Church and the world that is neither one or the
other.
Organic
Unity
The
Church therefore is, secondly, a most wonderful organic unity. It is no
machine, acting mechanically; it is no collection of isolated Christians; it is
no mere union of Christian friends, or a religious club: the Church is a
God-selected band, planned for one another, possessed of one Spirit, and
growing together in one body. Christ is head over all things to his church, which is his body (Eph. 1: 22); and God hath set the members each
of them in the body, even as it pleased
him (1 Cor. 12: 18) - that
is, not arbitrarily, but studiedly, as each member needs each other. No child
of God is unessential to the prosperous working of the Church. The eye can not say - not, may not say, but cannot, for it
would not be the truth - to the hand, I have no need of
thee: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. It is God who tempered the body together: it is God who set each of us
in his place, exactly positioned to be of the best use to all: it is God who
can so counter-balance weakness with grace as to give more abundant honour to that part which
lacked (ver. 24).
Functional Unity
So,
the ideal church, as God planned it, has a marvellous functional unity. The
less gifted member can fulfil his function better than one most highly gifted:
by contentment with his place and office and gift, and with concentrated
devotion, he fulfils the exquisite symmetry and health of the Body of Christ,
and so does a vital work. The good class leader, the skilful soul-winner, the
born teacher, the fruitful evangelist, the wise organizer, the loving visitor
of the sick, the succourer of the poor- we are to rejoice in each others
gifts, and glory in the excellencies of our brothers and sisters. And so if a
brother falls- if an eye goes blind, or a hand is paralysed, or a foot grows
septic - we are all to feel the hurt: as Paul himself says, - Is any weak, and I am not weak? is any made
to stumble, and I burn not? (2 Cor.
11: 29).
The riper each saint grows, the riper the whole church grows and every member
whose growth is retarded tends to cripple the whole Body: every member has an
effect on the whole
Fellowship
The
Church being thus a vital, unity in Christ, membership rests solely on the fact
of a regenerate life: if the Church is the assembly of all vitally united with
Christ, then all vitally united with Christ must be accepted as the Church -
that is, accepted into fellowship. Forbearing one another in love; giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4: 3): we do
not make the unity of the Spirit, we can only keep it, exactly
as we do not make a Christian, but can only receive him when made. Wherefore receive ye one
another, even as Christ also received you, to the
glory of God (Rom. 15: 7).* Dr. Thomas Cochrane admirably
illustrates it thus: - One evening an Irish servant
girl went in to speak to a minister, and he had in front of him all his
Catechisms, etc. They were very strict in those days. The minister began to ask
this servant girl some questions, which she could not answer. At last he shut
his books; and looking at her, he said:- Mary, do you love Jesus? And the
tears started in her eyes, and she said:- Sir, I could die for Him! Oh,
friends, surely we should all be able to say that to-day. The one essential for
Christian unity is that we should recognise all who accept Jesus Christ as
Saviour and Lord. We may use different phraseology; but that is the one
absolute essential. And any man and woman who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as
Saviour and Lord is my brother and sister.
*
Our own rejection by our brethren does
not affect our acceptance of them. Most remarkably, the Apostle John, though
excommunicated by Diotrophes (3 John 10), counters with no excommunication of him.
Schism
Now
looms up the tragic disunity of the
Heresy
But
there is a graver sin than schism. Separation in the Body can become separation
from the
Body: the one is schism, the other is heresy. Heresy ([
see Greek])
is a sect, that is, an organized faction, on principle separating
from the other members of the Body; a
section organized to enforce either a truth or an error.* The command concerning such is very remarkable:- A man that is factious
(R.V. margin) after a first and second admonition
refuse, avoid (Titus 3: 10) -
beg thyself off from (Govett). And
grave is the punishment to be inflicted on the sin of organized faction:- The works of the flesh are
manifest - factions, divisions, parties (R.V. margin) [heresies]: of the which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you,
that they which practise such things shall
not inherit the
*
The retention of the Greek word in the
English translation is gravely misleading, for our word heresy has come to have but one meaning - error in
doctrine. Any group of Christians who enforce a non-fundamental doctrine, or a
rite, or membership in a particular group as a condition of fellowship create a
heresy, that is, an organized division which
Scripture forbids. Supremely is this true of the Church of Rome.
** There are also damnable heresies (2 Pet.
2: 1),
sects of perdition (R.V. margin); nominally Christian, but fundamentally
non-Christian: such are Christian Science, Christadelphianism. Mormonism, etc.
Excommunication
Nevertheless
there is an exceedingly grave separation which is not only allowed but
commanded. I
write unto you not to keep company, if any man
that is named a brother -
that is, a Christian by profession,
whether regenerate or not - be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a reviler, or a drunkard,
or an extortioner; with
such a one NO, NOT TO EAT
(1 Cor. 5: 11).
Catholicity
So
we arrive at the final and golden truth - that the individual believer can, by studied
care, maintain the Churchs true catholicity: he can achieve an almost
impossible ideal - the reconciling of love of the brethren with loyalty to the
truth. The basis of countless sects assumes that we must enforce the
truth, because it is the truth; and this enforcing of a doctrine or ritual or
practise - whether true or false - as a term of communion compels division, an
organized separation. What is forgotten is that the
truth will be vindicated completely without our enforcing it on others: there
is but one Judge, and every item of our creed will be analysed to its root at
the Judgment Seat of Christ, where all
truth will be vindicated for ever. But love, now, is to rule. The
local assembly which receives all believers - that is, all who give credible
evidence of saving faith - into full fellowship, and the individual
believer who does the same whether any local assembly receives him or not, is
helping the Divine fulfilment of our Lords wonderful prayer when He foresaw
the Churchs rent and bleeding divisions:- Holy Father,
keep them in thy name which thou has given me, that they may be one, EVEN AS WE ARE (John 17: 11). Augustine has given us the lovely
summary of Scriptural catholicity:- I take the whole Christ
(human and divine) for my Saviour; I take the whole Bible for my guide; I take
the whole Church for my fellowship; and I take the whole world for my parish.
*
* * *
* * *
462
AN
EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE TO
THE HEBREWS'
By ROBERT
GOVETT, M.A.
Follow after peace with all men, and the
sanctification
[or holiness, A.V.] without
which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12: 14, R.V.)
Here comes the difference, amounting to contrast, between
the righteous men of the old covenant, and the men of grace under the new.
Under the Law, Jehovah was the God of righteousness, rendering to each according to his desert. He was
the Lord of armies; and His chosen people were a nation of warriors, sent
to exterminate nations, whose iniquities had placed them beyond pardon. But now the Lord is dealing in mercy, and His title is: The God of peace. He is not cutting off His foes, as
they deserve; but wooing them to become friends and sons. His children are in this way to resemble their Father (Matt. 5: 43-48).
To be a soldier now is therefore unlawful, as contrary to our Lords teaching. The servant of the Lord must not fight ([
see the Greek]) (2 Tim. 24; 2 Cor. 10: 4). If blessed are the peace-makers be true (Matt. 5: 9; then woe to the war-makers!
Under
Law, one of the blessings promised was, victory in war, and consequent pursuit and
slaughter of foes. Ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight (Lev. 26: 7, 8; Deut. 32: 30). Our
foes now, as we are Christians, are evil spirits, for whom God has no
pardon or peace (Eph. 6). Our pursuit is not to be after flying foes,
but after retreating peace; which, in a world of sin, oft flies before us.
--------
The next object of pursuit is- the holiness without
which none shall see the Lord.
The
article, I believe, is to be retained in the rendering (there is none before peace), as pointing out, that there are two different
kinds of holiness - that of the Old Covenant, and that of the New.
1.
The holiness of the Law was external sanctification, the cleansing and keeping
clean of the flesh. It consisted in frequent immersions, and in care
concerning meats and drinks. There were also different degrees of it: one style
of it belonged to the people;
another to the priests (Lev. 11; 20: 7; 21: 6-8). It was
the holiness of the slave under Law. It is abolished now.
There
are two forms of true holiness: first, that of passively suffering the
will of God in afflictions; secondly, active, holiness, consisting in putting off the evil, and
putting on the good.
2. The second kind of holiness is that of the New Testament, a
sanctification of the inward man by the Word of God, and the indwelling [Holy] Spirit. It is the holiness God asks from sons; of
which the Saviour has given us the example, and of which the Holy Ghost is the
power against the flesh. Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall
see
God. It is the
true [millennial] and
eternal holiness, suited to those who are to dwell in Gods presence for ever.
This
and the following context derive much light from observing that the Apostle is
touching on the history of
These
words, then, apply spiritually to us also. For Christ is coming to us, and we
are to be perfecting
holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor.
7: 1) during
the three days of His absence. For while we know not when the Saviour shall
return, yet, if we reckon a thousand years as a day (2
Pet. 3: 8),
Jesus will have been soon absent two days from His people. We are also to be
ready for the Saviours advent. Be ye also ready. They that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut (Matt. 24: 44; 25: 10).
Everyman that hath
this hope in him purifieth himself, even as
He is pure (1 John 3: 1-3).
After
the present standing given us on high by grace, the Holy Spirit gives
directions concerning our activities below, pointing out both the things to be
pursued, and those to be avoided. We have been already sanctified by Christs
one sacrifice for us (10: 10). On that is founded our activity in [our progressive] sanctification- the putting off of the old, and the
putting on of the new.
Without which none
shall see the Lord.
There
were two visions of Jehovah at Sinai. (1)
The distant one of the people; when Jehovah
descended on the peak of Sinai, some three miles away from the plain below. He
descended in thick cloud and fire, amidst awful sights and sounds of dread. (2) There was another vision of God, on
the
Answerably
hereto, there are two calls to sanctification addressed to two different
standings of Israelites. Go down, charge the people, lest they break
through unto the Lord to gaze. And let the priests, also, which come near unto the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.
Let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord (Ex. 19: 21, 22, 24). We [regenerate
believers] occupy the place of the priests, being called to draw near, and eating
and drinking before the Lord in the supper of His appointment (10: 22).
The
seeing the Lord, to which we are called, is that of reward in the glory of the [millennial] kingdom.
And God will be sanctified in even priests who draw nigh Him; as the cutting
off of Nadab and Abihu shows (Lev. 10: 3). Jesus
is coming for salvation to those looking for Him. (Heb.
9: 28; 10: 37).
By
the Lord, here, I think that Christ is meant. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord. Then
were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord (John 20: 18, 20, 25). And in this Epistle Jesus is several times
spoken of as the Lord (1: 10; 2: 3). Compare 1 Thess. 4. In the
other drawing. near, we are not said to see the Lord : it is a drawing near in
spirit (10: 19,
20).
It
seems that, on Horeb (the lower bluff of Sinai), Jehovah appeared as the Judge
and King of
15. Overseeing [each other] lest any one falling from the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and by it many be defiled.
Here
we are warned against conduct and sentiments contrary to the sanctification
called for. The first case is that of entire desertion of the true principle of
sanctification. Holiness at Sinai was to be holiness of (1) the flesh, (2) under Law. (1) Now the flesh is in its
root enmity
against God, unsubject to His
commands; and those in the flesh cannot please Him (Rom.
8: 7. 8). (2)
Holiness under Law is hopeless. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but
under grace, (Rom. 6: 14).
The
Christian has first to attend to holiness in himself. But it is not to end
there. He is to look to the welfare of others. The first danger, which has all
along been in the eye of the Apostle, is the peril of falling from the grace of God in
Christ, to the justice of God under
Moses. This was no vain fear. It is remarkably illustrated
for us by the exodus of
Moreover,
in the Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle
has to combat, with solemn words, the same tendency. If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are being justified by the Law; ye are fallen from grace (Gal. 5: 2, 4).
The
Holy Spirit uses the present participle here: Lest any one falling. If once he should have fallen, he would
take the place of the lost blasphemer of chapters 6
and 10. He who falls back from grace to
justice, must dwell in tempest, darkness, wrath, and fire.
The
figure employed derives its illustration from the march of
The
second trouble is a wide-spread and infectious disease: A root of bitterness
springing up. It supposes some
evil temper smouldering in many minds in secret, which, unless care be
exercised, springs to the surface in open sin. (1) Such was the sin of idolatry, which was called forth by
increasing unbelief concerning the return of Moses. As day passed after day,
and no Moses appeared, unbelief spread and deepened. They must have some
visible leader; and that, although
the Mount of God was still occupied by the presence of Jehovah. One speaks out
his thoughts, and finds that others fully sympathize with him; till speedily
the whole people are set on mischief,
and nothing will suit them but an idol. (2)
So with the spies. Unbelief in their Gods power to bring them into the land,
in the face of difficulties so great, made its way, specially through the fears
and the faithfulness of the spies; till at length the whole camp had departed
in heart from their Leader, the Living God.
And
have we not infectious disorders of this very character now? Unbelief in Christs personal return and personal reign is growing, and
the tendencies to worldliness and to idolatry are consequently on the increase.
How quickly did Arianism spread in the early ages of
Christianity!
*
* *
A WORD BY
PAUL
From
the glory and the gladness,
From His secret place;
From
the rapture of His Presence
From the
radiance of His Face-
Christ,
the Son of God, hath sent me
Through the midnight lands;
Mine
the mighty ordination
Of the pierced Hands.
Mine
the message grand and glorious,
Strange
unsealed surprise -
That
the goal is Gods Beloved,
Christ in
Hear
me, weary men and women,
Sinners dead in sin;
I
am come from Heaven to tell you
Of the love within;
Not
alone of Gods great pathway
Leading up to heaven;
Not
alone how you may enter
Stainless and
forgiven
Not
alone of rest and gladness
Tears and
sighing fled -
Not
alone of life eternal
Breathed into the dead -
But I tell you I have seen Him,
Gods beloved Son,
From
His lips have learnt the mystery
He and His are one.
There, as knit into the body
Every joint and limb,
We,
His ransomed, His beloved
We are one with Him.
All in marvellous completeness
Added to the Lord.
There
to be His crown of glory,
His supreme reward.
Wondrous prize of our high calling!
Speed we on to this,
Past
the cities of the angels
Farther
into bliss;
On
into the depths eternal
Of the love and song,
Where
in God the Fathers glory
Christ
has waited long;
There
to find that none beside Him
Gods delight can be -
Not
beside Him, nay, but in Him,
O beloved are we
-
TER STREGEN
*
* * *
* * *
463
THE
OVERCOMER AND THE THRONE
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
OUR Lords letter
to the Laodicean Angel is the most wonderful letter to a backslider ever
written. As
truthfulness, His tenderness, His patience; and how He
opens to their worst backslider the most golden reward He names to all the
Seven Churches.
Modernism
Our
Lord sums up the situation in words of terrible gravity. This Christians
character - Thou
art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked: this Christians peril - I will spew thee out of my
mouth: our Lords motive - As many as I love,* I reprove and
chasten: the condition of victory
- Be zealous
therefore, and repent. Put in modern terms, the
*
I Love
is [
see Greek], I love dearly; not merely [
Greek.]
Diagnosis
But
now observe - our Lords sharp and piercing words are not the discoveries of a
detective, but the diagnosis of a physician; though, if unheeded, they would
prove to be the cross-examination of a judge. Even to the Laodicean, far gone
in corruption, and filled with the cold, hard atmosphere of the world, Christ
offers stupendous spiritual gifts. First, gold - not saving faith, for that the
Angel had, for the Lord maintains the Angels ministry - but gold refined by fire - the faith which risks all for God;
then, white garments - holy activities; lastly, eyesalve - a vision of the
highest, and a heart that follows the vision. And our Lord makes all this
possible for any [regenerate] believer. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in. In the corruptest church, in the coldest atmosphere,
in the darkest declension, it is possible for anyone to obtain the highest faith, the whitest life, the
most godlike vision.
The
Overcomer
Now
we arrive at the prize which awaits every
believer who heeds his Lords instructions, and lives them. He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne. As all depends on the meaning of the words - He that overcometh, it may help those who are unaware of this truth, or
have hitherto doubted it, to hear some competent scholars on overcoming.* Lange: The
exhortation at the close of all the seven epistles to overcome denotes the
victory of a steadfast life of faith over temptations and trials, and over all
adverse things in general. Professor
H. B. Swete: The Only
Begotten Son imparts to His brethren, in so far as their sonship has been
confirmed by victory, His own power over the nations. Dr. Horatius Bonar:- He speaks to the overcomers. Though the gifts are not wages,
yet they depend on our winning a battle. They are something beyond mere
salvation. Professor Moses
Stuart:- This enthronement will be granted to all
who prove to be victors in the contest with the world, the flesh and the devil.
Steir:- Assuredly it is the
*
We do well to remember that the
consciousness of what is at stake - conditional enthronement - provides an
incentive of extraordinary power, while the ordinary teaching - that the worst
backslider will share the Throne of Christ - robs every [regenerate] believer
of this tremendous urge.
Our Peril
So
then we see the peril. To the Church of Thyatira the Lord Jesus utters the same
conditional promise:- He that overcometh, and he that 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 the potter are
broken to shivers (Rev. 2: 26). Again scholars have seen the truth with
perfect clearness. The iron sceptre, says Dr. E. C. Craven, is not promised to the Church Militant, as an organization,
but to individuals; and not to individuals in the present state of conflict,
but to those who, at the end, should appear as conquerors. In the words of Hengstenberg:- So long as a man still lives on the earth, however far he may have
attained, he cannot say, - I have overcome. For the overcomer is the disciple who keeps my works UNTO THE END. Even Paul could know it only in his sunset:- I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me THE CROWN (2 Tim. 4: 7). 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. Five crowns - the indispensable signal of a
kingdom - are named in the New Testament, and every one of these
is conditional on service rendered. What did
Paul run for? Salvation? Ten thousand times, No! He got that at the Cross. Paul
ran for a crown. There will be a great many Christians who
will get into heaven crownless (D. L. Moody).
The Appeal
So
we see the wonder of the appeal. The rewards offered to all the Churches close
in
The Throne
Our
Lord confirms the Kingdom as a reward by an argument irrefutable. I will give to him to sit
down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down
with my Father in his throne. Our
Lord won the
*
As the Eternal Glory of Christ, the glory
He had with the Father before the world was, He inherits as the Son of God,
while His Millennial Glory rests on His perfect obedience as man, so our
eternal glory rests solely on our being sons of God, while our Millennial glory
can be achieved only by our obedience as servants.
[* Note: The
Capitals Ts shown in Thee,
Thine and Thy
which I have changed from that shown in the translation.]
** Our Lords overcoming, being
perfect, achieves a reward that is unique; no one, man or angel, shares with
Him the Throne of God. [That is, the throne of His Father - the First Person of the triune Godhead.]
The Knocking
Christ
So
at this moment the words are true:- I stand at the door, and knock. He stands at our door knocking, in deep
concern, in unbroken love, in wonderful patience. Who knocks? The Son of God,
the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Glory, the Almighty to save, the All-sufficient
to satisfy: on every backsliders threshold there stands One who can turn him
into a magnificent Christian; and, more wonderful still, on the door of the
worst unregenerate criminal. In the bitter persecution of the Christians during
the reign of Marcus Aurelius the
Emperor himself decreed the punishment of forty of the men who had refused to
bow down to his image. Strip to the skin! he
commanded. They did so. Now, go and stand on that
frozen lake, he commanded, until you are
prepared to abandon your Nazarene-God! And forty naked men marched out
into that howling storm on a winter night. As they took their places on the ice
they lifted up their voices and sang:- Christ, forty
wrestlers have come out to wrestle for Thee, to win for Thee the victory; to
win from Thee the crown.
After
a while those standing by and watching noticed a disturbance among the men. One
man had edged away, broken into a run, entered the temple and prostrated
himself before the image of the Emperor. The Captain of the Guard, who had
witnessed the bravery of the men and whose heart had been touched by their
teaching, tore off his helmet, threw down his spear, and disrobing himself,
took up the cry as he took the place of the man who had weakened. As the dawn
broke there were forty corpses on the ice.
*
* *
A PRAYER
Be with me, Lord, throughout this day,
Be ever by my side, I pray;
At work, at play, with friend or foe,
Be with me Lord, whereer I
go.
Be with me when the path is light,
And all lifes way seems fair and bright;
Be with me in temptations hour,
And guide me, Lord, with Thy great power.
Be with me, Lord, when troubles arise,
And black clouds darken oer the skies,
And when the angry waves shall beat,
Be Thou, O Lord, my safe retreat.
Be with me, Lord, in Deaths dark vale,
And when my gasping breath shall fail,
Oh, take me Lord, within Thine arms,
Away from this worlds cares and harms.
-
PATRICIA CARTER
-------
PRAYER
Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at
the root of all personal godliness - WILLIAM CAREY
Prayer takes the very highest energy of which the
human is capable - JOHN COLERIDGE.
Prayer is the creator as well as the channel of
devotion - E. M. BOUNDS.
Prayer is the most important thing in my life. If I should
neglect prayer for a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of
faith - MARTIN LUTHER.
Prayer which is effective is that prayer which attains
the blessing that is seeks. It is that prayer which effectually moves God -
CHARLES G. FINNEY.
Prayer must carry all our works as well as our
preaching. Paul gives us frequently his example of praying night and day for
his hearers - RICHARD BAXTER.
Prayer is releasing the energies of God. For prayer is
asking God to do what we cannot do - CHARLES TRUMBULL.
Prayer is a rising up, and a drawing near of God in
mind, and in heart, and in spirit - ALEXANDER WHYTE.
Prayer is a serious thing. We may be taken at our
words - D. L. MOODY.
*
* * *
* * *
464
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 is in the
Kingdom. The Church is not taking the place of the Kingdom. The promises of God
still hold true in so far as the promise to Abraham is concerned. The
born-again believer, who has by faith accepted Christ, will naturally [expect
to] be
with the Lord when He reigns, but to reign with Christ is quite another thing.
To reign with Christ will be part of the reward that a Christian may receive.
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 shews by contrast that, as the children in the
wilderness were denied the joy of going into Canaan, just so will Christians be
denied the blessing of the Kingdom, if they prove unfaithful and disobey God.
The warnings of dont
drift, dont depart, dont disbelieve
found all the way through the epistle are warnings directed to Christian
people. The question of [eternal] salvation
is not in view. The Christian is in no danger of being lost - but he is in
danger of losing a reward. We often sing about the Christian not being under law, but a careful reading of Hebrews
will convince any Christian that he is very much under law. True, the believer
is not under the old Jewish rituals, and he is not obligated to the law in so
far as its religious worship is concerned, but there are certain commandments,
and certain laws, that God has laid down for Christians to follow. We are
repeatedly told to
abstain from the appearance of evil ... to preach
the Word ... flee fornication... honour thy father and mother ... steal no more, etc.,
etc. The moral law is just as binding to the Christian to-day as it ever was to
the Jew. The penalty of not obeying the commandments as set forth in the Church
epistles will mean the loss of reward to every Christian. Hence the warnings and exhortations all through the writings of Paul.
The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus will be set up. God will undertake that, and He
Himself will remove all other kings and in their stead place His Son as King of
kings and Lord of lords. Then those who
have been faithful and obedient will hear Him say: Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. - Voice.
*
* * *
* * *
465
THE
CONFESSION OF A JEW*
*This
confession of an unnamed Jew is a most wonderful forecast of the revelation
which will break at last, like lightning, upon hunted
WE
are not in Goluth because we have been such good and willing missionaries to the
Gentiles. This farce has been spread
among us Jews that we are missionaries of the faith of the one God among
idolatrous Goyim. Gentiles do not set a foot in our synagogues, except in rare
cases, and that for curiosity sake, to see how we perform our religious
rituals; and when they come there, we do not often offer them a seat or
welcome. Yea, whenever one does venture within the holy precincts of our
prayer-houses, we look at him as if he were a bit of poison who would make us Posul.
It
must be some gross sin that drove us out of Erets
Now,
comes the great question: Why are we then in exile? If we ask the average of our people, the answer is : We do not know. And truly, our trouble is of such long standing, and
we have become so accustomed to our Exile, that very few, if any of us, have
given any thought to the matter; and because we scarcely think about it any
more, we have not searched out the cause of our estate of 2,000 years of misery. The Rabbis, our leaders,
generalize away the causes, by stating that our sins must be the reason, but
they leave it there. They do not search for these causes and look for any
specific sin which might have aroused the ire of the Almighty. And yet it must
be, it cannot be otherwise, that there is something outstanding in our national
history that has caused the wrath of the Almighty to be provoked, and that with
such terrible results.
Again,
what did we do to our brother Joseph? The finest boy of our father Jacobs family!
Because he was a dreamer, we hated him, we intended to kill him, we threw him
into a pit, and then sold him to Ishmaelites who in turn sold him to the
Egyptians. From this treatment of our brother Joseph comes the bitter cause and
the weight of all our sorrows. For all our captivities are but punishment for
the treatment given to our own flesh and blood, our noblest blood. Our tribal
fathers charged each other:- We are guilty concerning our brother; therefore
is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the
child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also, his blood is
required. (Gen. 42: 21, 22).
What
about this present captivity of nearly two
millenniums? What brother did we betray to reap this long exile? Whom did we
see nearly two thousand years ago in the anguish of his soul? And we would not
hear! Whose blood was required then? In all our history since the return from
Our
fathers who perpetrated that crime against their own flesh and blood, called
upon themselves and us the curse that Reuben
said that our earlier fathers reaped when they had sold little Joseph: His blood be upon us and upon
our children. It has indeed been
so, the blood of Jesus has been required of us now for nearly two, thousand
years. We have bled for His blood in rivers.
We
Jews must let our eyes be opened, that we may see the truth of these matters: We
surrendered Jesus to be crucified, we stood at that ignoble tree and watched him in His
pain, and our hearts remained stones, and have been stones ever
since, so far as Jesus is, concerned. We
slandered our own mothers son, we cursed him,
spit on him, we called out, when His name was mentioned: Yemach, Shemou. And in the meantime we suffered, and suffered, and
suffered, and we said to ourselves that we did not know why we suffered. We
blamed it to the intolerance, the stupidity, the blood-thirstiness, the
Jew-hatred of the nations. Indeed these are the second causes, but they are
mere co-incidents.
Yet there is something miraculous in all
this. For it is a miracle mercy that we are still in existence. We, had we
received our due reward, would have perished from the earth long before this.
If God had fully followed up His indignation for those wrongs, we would have
sunk into the sea of oblivion. Yet we are
still here and still have precious promises of a
great future. What is the
secret of this strange phenomenon: punished, but not perished? For the
continuation of existence we have to thank these very maltreated brethren!
It
was Joseph who kept us alive when we
almost starved in Canaan and furnished us a place of refuge in
And
there came a day in Josephs life that he made himself known to our fathers,
clothed with kingly robes and acting with the authority of a king. And there
will yet come a time when our people will see Messiah‑King, Jesus, who
was cut off. For as our
prophet Zacharia said:- They will see Me Whom they have pierced, not on a cross, but as a King with
authority and honour. He will reveal
Himself unto us and unto our children in his own appointed time. He may even
quote the words of Joseph:- I am Jesus, your brother,
whom you surrendered to the Romans. Now therefore be not grieved, nor
angry with yourselves, that you surrendered me
to them: FOR GOD DID SEND ME BEFORE YOU TO
PRESERVE YOUR LIFE.
However,
before this moment of revelation takes place in the future, we as individuals
must acknowledge our grossest of all sins, and if we do, God will for Jesus
sake pardon us, even now!
*
* *
Miss Hurnard strikes the right note on the return of
*
* * *
* * *
466
THE JUDGMENT
SEAT OF CHRIST
By D.M. Panton,
B.A.
THE Will of God.
The ideal manhood - A man after My heart, who shall do all My will (Acts 13: 22):
its aim - I am
come to
do Thy will, O God (Heb. 10: 7): its business - My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me
(John 4: 34):
its fellowship - whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, he
is My brother (Matt. 12: 50): its
education - Teach me to do
Thy will; for Thou art my God (Ps. 143: 10): its pleasure - I delight to do Thy will, O My God (Ps. 40: 8). So Gods ideal for a [regenerate] disciple is obedience to His will; and Gods
ideals are not optional, but obligatory.
We labour (A.V.) - we strive (Alford)
- we are eager
(
[*
That is, at the end of our ministry, or after the time of our Death, for it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh
judgment (Heb. 9: 27, R.V.):
and the judgment at that time, will decide those, from amongst His disciples, will
partake in the First Resurrection
2. - The Tribunal. (1) The tribunal is a Bema, not a Thronos; a Judgment Seat for the investigation of disciples,
not a Throne for the arraignment of rebels: for the Judge (2 Tim. 4: 8) is a certain king, which would make a reckoning with his servants (Matt. 18: 23). It is
the first of
our Lords three judgments (Rom. 14: 12; Matt. 25: 31; Rev. 20: 12) on His
return; and judgment begins at the house of God (1 Pet. 4: 17). (2)
Thus those examined are [real and genuine] Christians
only. We all - i.e., them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord in
every place (1 Cor. 1: 2): it is a final investigation of the whole Church of God.* No
Book of Life is produced, for it is no judgment of the lost: the wicked shall
not stand [or rise] in the judgment ... of the righteous (Ps. 1: 5). (3) The process is individual: so then each one of us shall give account of himself to God (Rom. 14: 12). Must - it is inevitable; all
- it is universal; made manifest -
it is public; Judgment-seat - it is
judicial; stand - it is in [hope of partaking in
the first]
resurrection**;
each - it is individual; give account - it is responsibility; to God - it is Divine.
[* Hyper
dispensationalists take note! Old Testament saints, together with New Testament
saints, will stand in this future judgment! To suggest that Old Testament saints will have fewer
privileges than New Testament saints, after the
first resurrection (Rev. 20: 6, R.V.),
is in my opinion an assumption made by multitudes of regenerate Christians,
without any Scriptural proof: and the gospel
(good news) of Gods grace
(Eph. 2: 8), is assumed to be synonymous with His coming Kingdom (Matt.
6: 10, 33, R.V.), and manifested Glory
(Isa. 11: 9. cf.
Hab. 2: 14, R.V.)!]
** With those accounted worthy to rise out
of dead ones (Lk.
20: 35,
Greek). Cf. Phil. 3: 11).After the first resurrection, shall
reign with him (Rev. 20: 6), and
will be rewarded with a share of HIS
coming inheritance: (Ps. 2: 8, R.V.). cf.
Ps. 110: 1-3; Ps. 138: 1-5 and Lk. 24: 25-27, R.V.]
3. - A judicial Procedure: that each one may receive the
things done. Not, that each may
receive something from God,
but that each
may receive the things he himself has done: it is not a general granting of glory,
irrespective of service; but an exercise of the Divine Law, - as he hath done, so shall it be done
to him (Lev. 24: 19). Be not deceived - is a word to disciples - God is not mocked for whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap
(Gal. 6: 7). Paul puts it with exquisite clearness, and
two-fold emphasis. Whatsoever good thing - for a judge approves - each one doeth, the same shall
he receive again from the Lord, whether he be
bond or free (Eph. 6: 8): on the other hand - Ye serve the Lord Christ.
For he that doeth wrong - for a judge censures - shall receive again for the
wrong that he hath done: and there is no respect
of persons (Col. 3: 25).
4. - The Evidence: things done by means of the body. We must all appear in our true light (Alford): as the fossil imprint of a birds claw, made ages earlier
by a momentary alighting when the stone was soft, now records that act in solid
rock, so our actions are the unerring imprint of our characters; the things
done reveal what the body was. Like a palimpsest, when the heat of fire (1 Cor. 3: 13) passes
over it, so our life silently steals forth in lines every one of which we ourselves wrote: so that what
our eyes looked on, what our ears listened to, what our hearts loved, what our
minds believed, what our lips said, what our hands wrought, where our feet
walked: - these are the unimpeachable evidences of the Judgment Seat. Rev. 22: 12. Secrets (1 Cor. 4: 5), motives (Matt.
6: 1),
soul-attitudes (Luke 6: 36-38), and just
church decisions (Matt. 18: 18), also
sway the adjudication.
5.- The Awards: whether it [the award] be good or bad. The Greek points to the award: that each may receive
according to the things done, whether it - i.e., what he receives - be good or bad. Reward (as distinct from [eternal] salvation,
which is through faith, against deserts) is strictly defined by works. So
minutely do [our] actions tell, that whosoever shall give to drink unto one of
these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the
name of a disciple [it is true
only of Christians], shall in
no wise lose his reward (Matt. 10: 42); how
much more greater benefactions! Matt. 19: 29.
Conversely, as judicial, the Bema, inevitably taking cognizance of a disciples
unrepented offences, may inflict loss, or even penal (but temporary: Matt. 5: 26) consequences. 1 Cor. 3: 15. That servant, which knew his
lords will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he
that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes (Luke 12: 47). Matt. 19: 35.
(Nevertheless, eternal life cannot be forfeited by a disciple: John 3: 16; 10: 27, 28). So somewhere
there exists a draft by the hand of God of what our life might have been, and still can be: some
have lived wonderfully near Gods thought for them: let us find and follow that
Divine original. Eph. 2: 10.
*
* *
BORED WITH
HIM
It is now common practice in most evangelical churches
to offer the people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment
and a minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible in most cases to
get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only
conclude that Gods professed children are bored with Him, for they must be
wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies,
games and refreshments. This has influenced the whole pattern of church life,
and even brought into being a new type of church life, and architecture,
designed to house the golden calf
Any objections to carryings on of triumphant
golden-calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, But we are winning
disciples. And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To self-denial? To crucififion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of
character? To a despising of the worlds treasures? To hard self-discipline? To
love of God? To total committal to Christ? Of course the answer to all these
questions is no.
We are paying a frightful price for our religious
boredom.
- A. W. TOZER
*
* * *
* * *
467
CHURCHES AND
THE TRIBULATION
By SAMUEL F.
HURNARD
WHAT
of Christian believers as this age of grace hurries to its close? The book of Revelation is addressed to us of the churches, and
through us to the world and to the Jew. Consequently the church messages in chapter 3 are vitally important. The last four
churches exist concurrently almost to the end of the [present
and evil] age. It would appear that
three of them have to pass into the fiery purifying furnace of the great
tribulation period. From chapter 17 we learn
that Thyatira is to enjoy a brief
ascendancy in league with the beast, when
her old persecuting spirit comes again into action. Then she in turn is
persecuted and in great tribulation.
In
Philadelphia the saints, including
faithful ministers of the Gospel, missionaries and intercessors, are the Lords
ambassadors, strangers and pilgrims on the earth, who will be recalled to His
immediate presence before His judgments are outpoured upon His immediate
presence before His judgments are outpoured upon His enemies. In fact, the
impression deepens that the first sign that this age of grace has closed and
the Lord is about to manifest His power in a public and unmistakable way, will
be the escape - the translation of the Philadelphian Church. How
wonderful, should this prove to be the case! While it is just as clear that
If
these things be so, and we are living on the threshold of them, what a call
they make to watch, to pray, to be sober and diligent that ye (we) may be
found of Him in peace, without spot and
blameless.
In
this country a strangle hold is being forged over enterprise and liberty
through the policy of nationalising trade and industry. Both personal
initiative and responsibility are thus being seriously threatened. While not
wishing to judge the motives or the wisdom of increasing government control in
our national life, it is easy to realise that this is preparing for and playing
into the hands of the coming world ruler. He will seek to coerce men and
nations, partly by fear and display of power, and partly by the machinery of
registration and centralisation, so that no man might buy or sell, save
he that hath the mark, or the number of the
beast, or the number of his name. There is grave development of this feature.
Are
we fearful, or anxious, with danger near? Are we perplexed over the strangeness
of the way? The Lords word for each one of us, his own blood-bought children, both
writer and readers, is TRUST ME. It is not honouring to our Lord to be
despondent or pessimistic, even over material losses, and if the old order of
our national life be overturned and evil seem to triumph. Such an attitude is
to give place to the devil, one of whose most effective weapons is to depress
and to terrify. Does not the Lord say, In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. He tells us
also, When these
things begin to come to pass (as at this present time), then look up, and lift up your
heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. So for the Christian who is walking with his Lord and
watching unto prayer, there should arise a great hope and a comforting
assurance that all is well. The night is far spent, the
day is at hand. Our citizenship is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that we may rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. What a prospect! For the darker the night, the nearer
we are to the dawning of heavens perfect day.
*
* *
REMOVAL
The
believers only real safety is removal from the earth. Dr. Ira E. David expresses
it thus (Alliance Weekly, Nov. 2, 1946):- How shall we escape all these things that are coming upon
the earth? Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape
all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Believers have frequent discussions about those whom the Lord will translate
when He comes. Here Christ tells us that if we would be in that company, we
should watch and pray always. The company will be made up of watchers and pray-ers.
In the Old Testament we have two samples of translated
saints. Enoch walked with God: and before his translation he had this
testimony, that he pleased God. Elijah walked in such fellowship with God that
the Lord revealed to him in advance the time, place, and circumstance of his
translation. These are samples of those whom the Lord desires to take home
without death and without a funeral.
In Revelation
3: 10, the Lord is talking of the end of the age. He says: Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of tribulation, which shall come upon all the world, to try
them that dwell upon the earth. How can the Lord keep His watchers and
intercessors? The simple way is to lift them above the judgments that are
coming upon the earth at the crisis of the ages.
Paul declared that there is a crown of righteousness laid up
for all who love Christs appearing. We may stop and ask ourselves the
questions: Am I looking for Him? and Do I love His appearing?
*
* * *
* * *
468
A WORD OF
COUNSEL
TO ALL MY
BRETHREN
By P. C. NELSON
If I had only an
hour to live I would give exactly the same counsel that I would if I knew I
should live another seventy-five years.
In looking back through forty-two years of service in
the active ministry, I am sure that the only thing really worth while is to know the Lord,*
to have daily and hourly fellowship with Him, and to seek to please Him in
every word and deed of our lives, even down to such ordinary things as eating
and drinking, writing letters, articles, or books, reading, talking, visiting,
walking, riding, resting, or sleeping (1 Cor. 10: 31). We may be assured that the Father will be
with us, as He was with [our Lord] Jesus,
if like Him we can truly say, I do always the things that please Him (John 8: 29). Absolute obedience is the price of constant,
abiding presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (John
14: 23).
[* That is, to know Him
in the much deeper sense (as Saviour through faith in Him), but in the sense which
the Apostle Paul meant when writing to the Philippians, (3: 10, R.V.).]
If I could begin my ministry again, with the
experience the Lord has graciously vouchsafed to me, I would be more careful to
practise what I would counsel by younger brethren to do.
1. Seek the honour of Christ and the advancement of His
cause in the [future] salvation of souls* and the edification of saints. Do this in utter forgetfulness of self, of personal
interests, honour, place, comfort or gain.
[* Study this
subject in 1 Pet. 1:
5-11; Jas. 1: 21, 22ff; Heb. 10: 39ff.; and compare with Acts
2: 27, 34,
R.V. and Rev. 6:
9-11,
R.V.]
2.
Be entirely immune to flattery and praise, remembering that any good service you can render, or any good thing in yourself, is all from Him, and by His grace alone (1 Cor. 4: 7). Remember how utterly helpless the most
talented, learned and experienced among us is without Him. Without Me ye can do nothing (John 15: 5). I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me
(Phil. 4:
13). My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12: 9).
3.
Manifest a brotherly spirit. Learn to appreciate your fellow labourers, both those in the ministry, and those in
the rank and file of the assemblies. Some
have one special gift, and some another; but all are useful in the service of
the King. The hands on your watch are very conspicuous and useful, but they
would be of no use at all if a tiny pivot, behind the face, hidden in the
works, were missing. Learn to love and
to esteem, not only the outstanding leaders, but also the obscure, unknown
brothers and sisters who are toiling, unnoticed, in small out-of-the-way
places. Some receive less compensation in a year than some favoured
ministers among us receive in a month, and yet they may be as faithful in their
trust as those in shining places are in theirs. Be quick to help the brother who is in need or in trouble. Your turn may come next.
4.
Be slow to judge, and still slower to condemn a brother. There may be some mistake in the report about him.
You know that false reports have been circulated about you. If the report is
true, there may be some explanation which does not occur to you. If you had
been in the brothers shoes you might have done worse. If he has fallen, be ready
to seek to restore him. Do this in the spirit of
meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (Gal. 6: 1).
5. - Practise
the presence of the Lord. We
are apt to forget the presence of our Lord, and talk and walk as if He were far
away, while He is right with us. If a Catholic monk like Brother Lawrence in
the dark middle ages could say that the greatest torture he ever endured was
separation from the conscious presence of Christ, surely we who have been filled with the [Holy] Spirit* should not ignore our Lord. This means constant meditation
in the Word of the Lord, unbroken communion with Him, and incessant labour for
the furtherance of His cause. This secures a special blessing, and gives
efficacy to prayer- IF ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done
unto you (John 15: 7).
[*
Remember, this is not an automatic
procedure - it is conditional upon our obedience! (Acts
5: 32, R.V.). See also the same
teaching in 1 John 3: 22-24, R.V. and
note the unchanging evidence of past incidents: (Jud. 16: 20ff.; 1 Sam. 16: 14, LXX.
(where spirit in the R.V. is rendered Spirit in the Septuagint translation). Cf.
Psa. 51: 11, R.V.
with Gods unchangeable character, when dealing with His redeemed people,
(Mal. 3: 6, 7ff. cf. Ezek. ch.
33, R.V.). ]
6.
- Save others but not yourselves. The
Jewish rulers, beholding Jesus on the Cross, in derision said, He saved others; let Him save Himself; the Roman soldiers in mockery took up the same reproach; and so did
the impenitent malefactor - Save Thyself and us (Luke 23: 35, 37, 39). Save Thyself and us - impossible. He could have
saved Himself or us. If you are always
trying to save your own strength, and minister to your own comforts and
pampering self, you will not be able to save others. Paul did not counsel
Timothy to be careful not to wear himself out, as the Apostle himself had done,
but rather, to give himself unreservedly to the ministry - I charge thee therefore
before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
... Preach the Word; be
instant in season, out of season. Do the work
of an evangelist, make full proof of thy
ministry (2 Tim. 4: 1, 2, 5). Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; whosoever shall
lose his life for My sake and the Gospels, the
same shall save it (Mark 8: 35).
7. - Do not worry. Do your level best, and leave the results
with God. If all goes well, praise
God for it. If all goes ill with you praise the Lord for the success other
labourers are having. If the load gets
too heavy, do not ask to have it lightened, but pray that your shoulders may be
strengthened till the load will seem light. No one ever bore a burden the
thousandth part of the one laid on Jesus, and He said: For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matt. 11:
30). The
Apostle Paul received so much grace that he could even glory in things more
awful than any of us have ever had to bear (2 Cor. 12: 9, 10). Casting
all your care upon Him, for He careth for you (1
Peter 5: 7). Live in Psalms 91 and 37.
- The Gospel Herald.
*
* *
LAST LINES
The
following touching lines were found among the papers of Dr. Horatius Bonar, after his death. It is believed they were the
last he ever wrote. They have comforted and will comfort thousands, with the
comfort wherewith God comforted him.
Long days and nights upon this restless bed,
Of daily, nightly weariness and pain! -
Yet Thou art here, my ever-gracious Lord,
Thy well-known voice speaks not to me in vain:
In Me ye shall have Peace!
The darkness seemeth long, and even the light
No respite brings with it; no soothing rest
For this worn frame; yet in the midst of all
Thy love revives. Father, Thy will is best.
In Me ye shall have Peace!
Sleep cometh
not, when most I seem to need
Its kindly balm. O Father, be to me
Better than sleep; and let these sleepless hours
Be hours of
blessed fellowship with Thee.
In Me ye shall have Peace!
Not always seen the wisdom and the love;
And sometimes hard to be believed, when pain
Wrestles with faith, and almost overcomes.
Yet even in conflict Thy sure words sustain -
In Me ye shall have Peace!
Father, the flesh is weak; fain would I rise
Above its weakness into things unseen.
Lift Thou me up; give me the open ear,
To hear the voice that speaketh from within -
In Me ye shall have Peace!
Father, the hour is come; the hour when I
Shall with these fading eyes behold Thy face
And drink in all the fulness of Thy love -
Till then, oh, speak to me Thy words of grace
In Me ye shall have Peace!
-
HORATIUS
BONAR
-------
SCARS
In the Bible left by J. F. Willfinger of the Christian and
Missionary Alliance martyred in Tarakan, he had
written these (among other) sentences:- It is only
through labour and prayerful effort, grim energy and resolute courage, that we
move on to better things. God will not look
you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars in the battle of life.
It is even so. A Christ-likeness can come through pain and sorrow that would
never have come through joy; and Christlikeness in character and experience
creates Christlikeness in reward. Joint-heirs with Christ, if so be
that we suffer with Him, that we may be also GLORIFIED WITH HIM (Rom. 8: 17).
*
* * *
* * *
469
THECHURCH
AND MIRACLE
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
THE needs met by miraculous gifts, embedded in the
nature of church work and worship, and inadequately served by purely natural gifts,
survive unshorn of their original urgency. Whether by discernment of spirits
and powers to heal; knowledge of all truth, or revelation of things to come (John 16: 13);
edification of the disciple by tongues, or the church by prophecy:- momentous
purposes, unimaginable in their issues, would be served by a restoration of
miracle to the Church. Apostles, founding churches (1
Cor. 9: 1, 2),
administering the baptism of the Spirit (Acts 8:
14-18),
revealing Gods mind by word and letter, ruling individual churches (2 Cor. 8: 23, see
Greek), guarding Christian assemblies from false apostles (Rev. 2: 2), and bearing personal witness to a risen Christ
(1 Cor. 9: 1), would
once again bear up the pillars of Christs Church. Powers of word and cure
would, if restored, confirm Gods message through His pastors, arrest Satans
hand on the sick and the demoniac, and convict, with tenfold persuasiveness, a
heathen darkness that grows by leaps and bounds with mere growth of population.
Order and unity in discipline, worship, and doctrine accompany the tremendous
preface to apostolic injunction - Thus saith
the Holy Ghost.*
*
Here is the kernel of unity and
infallibility. What is infallibility, asks Cardinal Manning, but the revelation perpetuated,
and inspiration produced by illumination - the extraordinary by the ordinary -
the immediate by the mediate action of the Holy Spirit? Purcells Life, vol.
I, p. 602. This is Roman
infallibility - an enormous claim confessedly shorn of evidence, a shadow, an
imposture. Infallibility in apostles was proved by accompanying miracle; it was
the immediate, not the mediate,
action of the Spirit; it was extraordinary gift, imperatively calling for
extraordinary proof.
Nor is such a restoration an impossible dream. For (1) inspired orders, together with
orders not necessarily inspired,* were to
work together, in Gods design, until the Church had reached its perfect
growth. And He
gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; [why,
and for how long ?] for the
perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto
the building up of the Body of Christ: TILL we all
attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ (Eph. 4: 11-13). The
promise of supernatural illapse was unlimited by local or temporal
restrictions, and unhampered by condition except of faith. And these signs shall follow THEM THAT BELIEVE: in My Name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues;** they shall
take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay
hands on the sick, and they shall
recover (Mark 16: 17, 18). Nor was the promise of miraculous enduement
in any shape or form confined: no hypothetical dispensation
of the Acts, no temporary outburst of miracle, no alleged substitution
of grace for gift can be made to square with a catholicity of promise vast as
all the churches, and prolonged as all election! - for to you is the promise,
and to your children, and to AS MANY AS THE LORD OUR GOD SHALL CALL UNTO HIM (Acts 2: 39).
*
But all disciples, irrespective of
office, might be gifted. Philip the evangelist did great miracles (Acts 8: 6, 13); so did
the deacon Stephen. Acts
6: 8.
**A language, sometimes, not of any earthly race. 1 Cor. 13:
1.
A Commanded
Prayer
(2) Moreover, the prayer for gifts of
inspiration and miracle is not only legitimate, but commanded. Paul addresses all disciples (1
Cor. 1: 2) in these words: And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues. Are all
apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all
workers of miracles? have all gifts of healings?
do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But DESIRE EARNESTLY THE GREATER GIFTS (1 Cor.
12: 28-31). It will hardly be contended that here the greater gifts
are the unmiraculous. I would have you all, says the Apostle, speak with tongues (1 Cor. 14:
5). Before and after mention of gifts of
tongues, prophecies, powers of cure and miracle, Paul says: DESIRE EARNESTLY
SPIRITUAL GIFTS ([
see Greek]), but rather that ye may prophesy (1 Cor. 14: 1). Shall we withstand God, and pronounce such
gifts undesirable? Wherefore, my brethren, sums up the Apostle, DESIRE
EARNESTLY TO PROPHECY, and forbid not to
speak with tongues (1 Cor. 14: 39*).
* The gifts of God are without repentance (Rom. 11: 29): they
can lapse, but they are never revoked.
Coming Crisis
So
also (3) our Lords promises
attached to faithful prayer, so unconditional, so unlimited, so exhaustive,
verbally embrace the gift of the Spirit. If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit TO
THEM THAT ASK HIM? - (Luke 11: 13). Ye have not, says the Scripture. (James 4: 2), because ye ask not. Finally (4),
even those who hold most strongly that miracles ceased by Gods design are free
to acknowledge - some insistently urge - that a returned junction of
dispensations, bringing back the old needs, will restore the
old powers; that this is predicted; and that, standing on the
threshold of that era, it is for us to be alertly ready, in mind and spirit,
for such a crisis.
The Right
Attitude of the Church
Thus
certain truths emerge: - that the last days will be perplexed with powers,
signs and wonders; that miracles, as known to the apostles, have long ceased in
the Church; that Irvingism, and Pentecostalism, instructive counterfeits, are
not manifestations of the Holy Spirit; and yet that promises, purposes, and apparent
design entitle us to miraculous gifts, which
have never been revoked. Several thoughtful disciples have been
impressed with this stupendous and pregnant inference. They will be revived without
fail, said Dr. Horace
Bushnell, whenever
the ancient reason may return, or any new contingency may occur demanding their
instrumentality.* Two forces, says Mr. Govett, one from within and one from
without, must sooner or later compel the saints to come to settled conclusions
on the question. (1) The development of Christian truth,
which under the [Holy] Spirits gracious enlightening is now fast
taking place, must draw on the question - In what relation do believers in our
times stand to the gifts of old? And (2)
force from without, either the infidel,
or the exhibition of seeming or real miracle and inspiration on behalf of false doctrine, must
enforce the discussion, at latest, on the attention of the most unwilling.** Were these, says Dr. Elder Cumming, and other miraculous
gifts - such as healing diseases and casting out devils - intended to disappear
from the Church, or were they meant to become her perpetual possession? There
is not a little to encourage the thought that God was willing to continue them,*** that their use was dependent
on the spiritual preparation of believers to receive them, and that they
have been lost owing to a great decay in the spiritual life and power of the
Church of Christ. There are, however, indications in the Book of Revelation, and perhaps
in other portions of the Word, that miraculous gifts may again appear in the
Church before the end.****
* Nature
and the Supernatural, p. 252
** But it must also be noted that
Govett once told the writer that both he and George Muller had (separately) prayed for miraculous gifts for
twenty years, without result.
*** The unbeliever is quick to
detect this joint in our harness. The Bible,
says Mr. Lecky,
neither asserts nor implies the revocation of
supernatural gifts; and if the general promise that these gifts should be
conferred may have been intended to apply only to the apostles, it is at least
as susceptible of a different interpretation. If these miracles were actually
continued, it is surely not difficult to discover the beneficial purpose that
they would fulfil. Rationalism in
**** Through the Eternal Spirit, p. 170.
Possible Restoration
The
restoration of miracle to the elect remnant of Israel is a certainty of
prophetic revelation.* On the
threshold of national and religious upheavals, and a momentous spiritual
crisis, shall not the Church of God lift up hands of humble supplication for
such swift and decisive power as shall wring from the lips of the modern
sorcerer the cry of Egypts magicians - This is the finger of God? The disciples confidence rests on the unrecalled
nature of Gods gifts (Rom. 11: 29); on the
unaltered necessities of His Church; on the vital union of miracle with
justification by faith; on the promise of miraculous gifts to all [repentant
and obedient] believers, until all reach the fulness of the stature of the
Christ. Verily,
verily I say unto you, He
that believeth on Me, the works that I do
shall he do also; AND GREATER WORKS THAN THESE SHALL HE DO; because I go unto the Father. And
whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that
will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son (John 14: 12, 13).**
*
See Joel 2: 28-32, Mal. 4: 5, Matt. 23: 34, 35, Mark 13: 11, Rev. 11: 5, 6, Rev. 18: 24. Are
not prophetic hints of a restoration to the Church involved in two or three of
these passages? If
** It is certain that there will be
an outpour of the Holy Ghost before the Great Tribulation - before the great and
terrible day of the Lord come (Joel 2:
31). But since the Holy Spirit will then be
sent forth into all the earth
(Rev. 5: 6), whereas He now is in all the earth, this
outpour may be after He - the Hinderer - has been removed with the watchful (2 Thess. 2: 7), when
Church standing will have ceased, and therefore when Church miracles will not be restored. It may
be noted that prophets are named (Joel 2: 28),
but not apostles.
*
* *
SHOCK
The shock of the facts, both in unbelievers and in
worldly believers, is painfully transient. Even the coming enormous miraculous
judgments will find a world in a coma that is unbreakable. And the rest of mankind, which were not killed by these
plagues, repented not of their murders,
nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (Rev.
9: 20). A
preacher of the seventeenth century described the terrors of the Last Judgment
with such awful realism that some of his hearers not only wept, but burst into
piercing cries, as if the Judge had already descended upon the clouds. In the
height of the agitation the preacher hushed the cries, by saying that something
more awful yet remained; and then, in the sudden silence, he said, - It is this: in a quarter of an hour your tears will be
dried, your terrors will have gone, and you will be back in your sin.
-------
DECLENSION
The Church, as a whole, little realizes what is
happening. Mr. Pitt Bonarejee
sums it up:- A nations fiction is a good thermometer
of its moral health. Of the very many thousands of novels which like a deluge
are poured out from our press, and which are so eagerly read, of how many can it
be said, Here is something essentially noble, and beautiful, and good? The
Bible, which is the very foundation and at the very core of the nations
greatness, is largely a closed book, and not a few of our preachers proclaim
its fallibility and their own infallibility. Not a few of our Churches are mere
shrines of idolatry and superstition. Flaming moral passion for righteousness,
justice and truth has almost flickered out even from the hearts of professing
Christians. What has become of our Nonconformist Conscience? The satire of
Juvenal, panem et circenses,
which heralded the downfall of
*
* * *
* * *
470
THE SEED, THE OX, AND THE GARMENT
By D. M. Panton,
B.A
([This
tract was] Reprinted, by Request)
JEHOVAHS
abhorrence of mixed principles was pictured a thousand years before the time of
Christ. Thou shalt
not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed (Deut. 22: 9) - mixed
teaching: Thou
shalt not plow [or plough] with an ox and an ass together - mixed
service: Thou
shalt not wear mingled stuff, wool and linen
together - mixed conduct. God abhors
mixed principles.
MIXED
TEACHING
The
prohibition of mixed teaching is extremely clear. Thou shalt not sow thy
vineyard with two kinds of seed. Distinction
of species, producing sterility of hybrids, is a glory of creation: The earth brought forth grass,
herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit after its kind: and God saw that it - creation so ordered - was good (Gen. 1: 12). Now Christ reveals what God spiritually means
by seed and sowing. The seed He says, is the Word; the soil is the heart - an
honest and good heart, sometimes; a sower is a teacher; and the vineyard is
the group of hearts - in the family, or the class, or the church, or the open air
- over which God has set us to sow - our orchards of souls.
Our
Lords example reveals exactly what God means:- He sowed one kind of seed only,
and that pure wheat. The words which Thou gavest Me - for the Father is the Husbandman, the Lord of the granaries
- I have given
unto them (John 17: 8): My doctrine is not Mine,
but His that sent Me (John 7: 16). Our Lord never sowed mixed seed, and the Holy
Ghost rings the changes, for us, on the command - Preach the Word. The attempt to mix Scripture and
science, Scripture and art, Scripture and sociology, Scripture and politics,
has been the ruin of the modern pulpit. Lest the whole fruit be
forfeited: for the soil of our
fallen hearts, predisposed to evil, will grow the weeds more rankly than the wheat,
if both be sown together. Ruskin, a
prince of art critics, who, sitting for two years under the voice of Spurgeon, was an acute judge of both
kinds of seed, makes this startling statement:- One
great fact meets me. I cannot answer for the experience of others, but I have never yet met a Christian whose
heart was thoroughly set on the world to come, and (so far as human
judgment could pronounce) perfect and right before God, who cared about Art at
all (Stones of Venice, Vol. II). We
do not despise learning, but we distrust it: the Most High insists on the
lonely enthronement of the Word of God; and it is a mystery how the Man of God,
clothed with the sacred dignity of holding in His hand the actual utterances of
Jehovah, can ever step down from the
sublime plateau of Divine Revelation. Thus the Christian teacher is to be a man
of one idea - and that idea, Christ; he must belong to the oldest fashion in
the Church - the fashion of the Apostles; he must have but one sword - the
sword of the Spirit; he must be rigid as adamant on one point - he must sow
nothing but the Word of God. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed.
MIXED
SERVICE
Gods
second prohibition is mixed service:- Thou shalt not plow with an ox [a clean animal] and an
ass [an unclean] together. The ox is the ox of service. Paul has put the meaning
of the type beyond all doubt, when he says- Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn (1 Cor.
9: 9),
and applies it to ministerial service; adding significantly - Is it for the oxen that God
careth? - is it oxen that He has
in mind in recording the type? - or saith He it altogether for our sakes - lightning
flash on the types. Now observe: the field is the world; the ox is not forbidden to be in the same field, but in the same
yoke; else must
ye needs go out of the world (1 Cor. 5: 10). Gods
furrow is not only to be sown solely with Gods seed, but His plow also must be driven only by His oxen. The deliberate
choice of a partner or colleague - in marriage, for domestic ends; in business,
for commercial ends; in friendship for social ends; in religion, for
philanthropic ends:- God forbids an unbeliever to be in the team. Be not UNEQUALLY YOKED with unbelievers: for
what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? (2 Cor.
6: 14).
Here is a letter a Christian wrote to Herbert
Spencer, the infidel philosopher, breaking off their friendship:- The subjects we discussed last Saturday involve everything in
our existence of more than momentary interest; our principles and practices,
hopes and fears, our happiness and
misery here and hereafter. Such matters are of no light moment, and it
seems to me that no two persons holding so different views can remain friends
to each other. Feeling as I do, so very painfully, that my faith is so little
that heartfelt faith which should actuate the true Christian, the danger which
might accrue from my association with one so talented as yourself, and so well
able to make the worse appear the better reason, I must therefore, at however
great a sacrifice (and believe me, I feel it to be a great one) renounce the
pleasure I have received from your acquaintance, and request that henceforth we
meet no more or meet as strangers. I shall ever remember the past with
pleasure, and think of you with kindness, and I trust that nothing will prevent
your feeling similarly towards myself. Herbert Spencer replied that, if
he had felt any such danger, he too would have renounced the friendship. Countless discipleships are being ruined by worldly
friendships. Mr. Moody
says that of hundreds of mixed marriages, deliberately made, he never knew one
that did not meet with spiritual disaster, and Dr. Doddridge says he never once, in such
cases, knew the unbelieving partner converted. I have known two or three cases,
but it is a most dangerous experiment, and
in any case it is disobedience. A policemans dying wife said to a friend of mine:- I have not had one moments happiness since I married him; I
have never had a desire for prayer since; and I have never, in my married life,
crossed the threshold of a place of worship. A girl who had broken off
her engagement, even though her fiancι was a believer, because of doctrinal differences, once
wrote me:- I could never have had happiness purchased at the cost of silencing
the Voice of God. As I look back I wouldnt have missed out this year for
anything; it has been utterly, utterly worth every bit of pain, even though the
ache goes on right down the years. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and
an ass together.
MIXED
CONDUCT
Gods
final prohibition is mixed conduct:- Thou shalt not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together. Conduct expresses a man precisely as his clothes limn
out his contour; so Scripture constantly uses clothing as figurative of
conduct. Now linen is always in Scripture the holy fabric; the white linen is
stated in the Apocalypse to be the righteous acts of
the saints (Rev. 19: 8, R.V.);
it is the only textile fabric the priests - we [regenerate believers] are priests - were allowed to wear (Ezek. 44: 17); and a linen garment, shot through with
woollen threads, is forbidden. My life is
not to consist of holy principles adroitly mingled with worldly maxims and compromising
conduct: it is to be a holy fabric throughout. A young sister once wrote me: -
Little did I think that He would put His finger on my
jewels, but He did; and it was a terribly hard struggle. I just, as it were,
stuck the knife into myself, and they are gone. O for the holy fabric
of the consecrated life, the pure, white linen, shot through and through with
the threads of God [and
of faithfulness to all His revealed truths]! The
peril of compromise has been vividly revealed in an incident which occurred in
a meeting conducted by Major J. H. Cole.
A tramp once entered an evangelistic meeting. At the
close it was thrown open for anyone to speak; he arose and said:- This is the
chapel I used to attend when I was a little boy. My father was an officer in
this church. He used to sit in that pew. There were seven of us boys in our
Sunday School teachers class, and we very much loved and respected her. She
used to take us home on Saturday afternoons, and we used to have music and
refreshments, and then we had a look over the lesson for the following day.
After a bit, in order to keep hold of us, she introduced us to cards. She
showed us a number of tricks, and so on. We soon began to ask her to have a
little less of the lessons and a little more of the cards, and to show us a few
new tricks. Shortly after that we began ceasing to go to the house at all, and
we took to cards and cigarettes at other places. Then we took to gambling, and
as a matter of course we left the Sunday school and her evening class
altogether. I want to tell you what has become of those boys. Two of those
seven boys have been hanged, three others are in State prisons for life, the
sixth one, if the police knew where he is, would be there, too, and if they
knew that I was here, I should be behind bars in double quick time. All I have
to say is, that I do wish my Sunday school teacher had never taught us boys how
to play cards! He had no sooner finished than a woman, dressed in black,
staggered forward and fell at his feet, exclaiming, My God, my God, I am that
Sunday school teacher! She left the meeting, never to return. Thou shalt not wear
a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.
*
* *
CHARACTER OF
THE BAD THINGS
Wrongs
that have never been straightened out, done to another, will pass on to the Judgment Seat. Does God wink at
sin? Will there not be a place, a time, when, things will catch up with us?
Righteousness will be exacted from those, surely from those, who had more light
than the unsaved! If we have un-rectified things, why do we scorn Gods
provision? What? This - If we keep on walking in the light as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, AND ...
Why do we put up the gracious promise on wall texts and cherish it in our hearts,
and ever and again fail to meet the condition laid down for that blessed
promise? IF we ... AND the blood of Jesus
Christ keeps on cleansing us from
all sin. IF we CONFESS our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1: 7, 9). Too often we think, and sometimes say, O the blood covers all that! It does - along the
line we have just quoted to the reader. This is absolutely the only way.
Comparing
the killing of another with its consequent judgment, Jesus says, But I say to you, that every
one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the
judgment (Matt. 5: 21ff). If therefore, thou art
offering thy gift at the altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath
aught against thee ... first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift
(vs. 23, 24). How hard and callous brethren can be - a
thousand miles from the tender conscience revealed here by our Lord. Father, forgive them,
He could say on dark, dark
*
* * *
* * *
471
TWELVE
POINTS TO PONDER
1
PRAYING
ALWAYS
In
his journal Sir Thomas Browne, a
beloved physician, who lived in
2
MILLENNIUM
General
Smuts expresses the uneasiness felt
by the statesmen of the world at the
fruitless effort to create a human millennium. The
greatest drama of history unfolding before our eyes is still little understood.
After the great war, people generally expected the dawn of a new world. After
the armistice President Wilson was expected to inaugurate a new era. That it
was to come suddenly, like the coming of the Kingdom in which the early
Christians implicitly believed. I do not see the new spirit or temper in the
world on which we can safely build any assurance of world peace in a more
distant future. The new kingdom has not yet come. A peaceful world order could
only be safely based on a new spirit and outlook widely spread and actively
practised among the nations. Of such an enduring temper for peace there is no
real evidence today.
3
JUDGMENT
The trial also proves the utter inadequacy of human
judgment. Long lists were prepared by the governments of the various nations
containing the names of those who had committed crimes against humanity. The
numbers ran into the hundreds of thousands. Last month at Honolulu Lord Wright,
chairman of the United Nations War Crimes Commission, stated that fewer than
ten per cent. of these criminals would ever face trial.
4
REWARD
So also no price is too great to pray for the coming glory. [See Hab.
2: 14; cf.
Isa. 41: 16b, 18-20, R.V.] When Savonarola
was asked to compromise his message and the Pope offered him the scarlet hat of
a Cardinal, he replied: - I want no red hat but that
of martyrdom, coloured with my own blood. The Reformation that followed
under Luther had its very roots in the blood of Savonarolas martyrdom. But
more than that. I
saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus,
and they
lived, AND
REIGNED WITH CHRIST A THOUSAND YEARS (Rev. 20:
4).
5
Miss Hurnard strikes the right note on the return of
6
WATCH
It must be as a first principle, that, ever since the
ascension of Christ there is nothing left to the faithful but that they be
wakeful and watchful; to be always ready for His second advent - Calvin.
Mr. Lioyd
George said: If Christ came back now after nearly 2,000 years, what would He see? He
would see a world still bleeding from the wounds of the most terrible war ever
waged in the history of mankind, and almost on the point of starvation as a
result of the devastation. He would see them - what? Shaking hands in penetance? Living along the lines of fraternity? Not at
all. Engaged with all their might in perfecting weapons more destructive, mor terrible, more shattering, than any invented or
utilised in the Great War. If Jesus Christ came here to-day, so far from
brotherhood, He would find the nations more imbued with a suspicion of each
other - distrust, enmity, fear, revenge, hatred - than almost at any time in
the history of the world. You can see it in great things and in small. If
Jesus parents had to fly with Him to-day to
7
HOPE FOR THE
FUTURE
But, according to the Gods unfulfilled prophecies,* all is not lost in spite of what
is called the current world situation.
* See for example The Promises To
Abraham Never Yet Fulfilled, Stephens
Accusation, Defence, And Martyrdom and The
Groaning Creation Delivered by Robert Govett, M.A.; and many
more Divine statements throughout Old and New Testament scriptures, which are
awaiting a literal fulfilment in Gods appointed time, and after
our Lords Second Advent.
1. GLOBAL INSTABILITY - A heightening of tensions today in the Middle
East and the testing of nuclear missiles of mass destruction, from superpowers
having the capacity to annihilate much of our planet.
2. WAR - The exodus of multitudes of people fleeing
from war-torn countries and the destruction
of their homes and families. Bombing, shootings, rape and torture have forced
the survivors to flee for their lives to seek safety in other countries as
refugees.
3. FEAR - Strict security measures are now in place
at airports, public transport and major routes to and from various locations;
and the increase of violence on our streets, has led to deep concern of further
more terrorist attacks.
4. FAMINE Famine in
Africa and the
5. LOCAL CONCERNS Multitudes of people are now
seeking to cope with what may be called the storms of
life:- Our present-day failure to respect and treat the aged, and
punish criminals for serious crime - (for our prisons are filled to capacity)
is a great concern! Drug-abuse, chronic depression, long-term physical illness,
loss of employment, increasing poverty, personal debt, loneliness, disability,
homelessness, addiction; bullying, thoughts of self-harm, and suicide by the
young, are also on the increase!
These are the everyday
experiences of many who feel their lives have been shattered by the storms of
life. However, there is HOPE! For
our Lord Jesus, when preaching in the synagogues of
Galilee said, I must preach the good news of the KINGDOM of God to the other
cities also; for therefore I was sent (Luke 4: 43,
R.V.): and He has promised to return and establish that Kingdom of Peace and
Righteousness in the age to come (Heb. 6: 5, R.V.).
Christ Himself has prepared us for terrible times like
these today before His return (Matt. 24: 4-14, R.V.): and He once promised foolish men, and slow of heart to believe, ALL things must needs
be fulfilled, which are written in the law of
Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me
(Luke 24: 25,
44b, R.V.)!
8
SILENCE
Dr. Wilbur
Smith stresses the iniquitous silence
(with which we are all too familiar) on the dark side of Truth:- I think in orthodox circles today there are some great
subjects in the Word of God that are almost never talked about. Twenty-seven
times the Apostle Paul, e.g., mentions good works as something to be practised,
but you and I can live in institutions of the reformed faith for forty years
and never hear good works mentioned. That is not rightly dividing the word of
truth. I remember a few years ago looking carefully into the Greek text of 2 Timothy 3 (Pauls
terrible delineation of the character of men at the end of the [present evil]
age), and I was astonished to find that not in any single book, in our language
at least, on the eschatologu of Paul, was there a
single page of treatment of this great chapter. I fear in many [Christian] circles
today the New Testament teaching on sin is almost wholly ignored, and
a vital conviction concerning the wrath of God and a judgment to come is
tragically omitted. If we are to teach the Word of God, we should teach it
in its entirety. The Righteous Judge must deal with sin in believers equally with sin in
unbelievers.
9
PROPHECY OUR
HEADLAMP
From prophecy we may ascertain
the features and characteristics of the last great empire upon earth, and may
perchance be enabled to recognise and avoid those tendencies of our modern
civilisation which are leading mankind towards the establishment of that
empire. More than that, we may learn that, though the kingdoms of the world
will become the Kingdom of our Lord, it
is not by our efforts that this will be accomplished.
Let us imaging (it is easy to do so) a
small estate, internally weakened by intrigue, externally hard pressed by the
enemy, fighting bravely for its freedom and existence against a strong and
unscrupulous foe. Let us further imagine that the government of that state is
possessed of information of a most particular character from a source which in
the past has always proved absolutely reliable, and that this information
supplies all necessary particulars as to the enemys line of advance and plan
of campaign, and specifies the quarter
from which alone relief will arrive. Let us suppose, moreover, that if this
information is correct ultimate victory is assured. Can we believe that the
citizens of that state will be so
foolish as to ignore the information?
We are told in 2 Thess. 2: 3 that the apostasy must come [first,
(and if you are a regenerate
believer, see that you do not become part of it)!] - and the son of perdition appear before the Rapture
begins. I use the word begins because it may be, for all that we are
told to the contrary, that the Rapture will not be one single isolated event
during the whole period of
Antichrists reign.
- The Worlds Destiny.
10
IT IS WRITTEN
These words are faithful and true.
And behold, I come quickly.
Behold,
I come quickly; and my REWARD is with me, to render to each man according as his work is. I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed
are they that wash their robes, that they may
have the right to come to the tree of
life, and may enter in by the gates of the city.
Without are the dogs, and
the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the
idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh
a lie.
I Jesus have set mine angel to testify unto
you these things for the churches. I am the root and the
offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let
him come. And he that will, let him take the water
of life freely.
I testify unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues that are WRITTEN in this book: and if any man shall take
away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his
part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are WRITTEN
in this book.
He which testifieth these things saith, Yea; I come quickly, Amen: come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the
saints: (Rev.
22: 6, 7, 12-21, R.V.).
11
A BURNING
APPEAL
NOT called! did you say?
Not heard the call. I think you should say. He has been calling loudly ever since
He spoke your sins forgiven - if you are forgiven at all - entreating and beseeching you to be His ambassador. Put your ear
down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you
go and pull poor sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the
burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen
to the pitiful wail of help. Go and stand by the gates of hell [i.e., Hades (Matt. 16: 18, R.V.)],
and hear the damned entreat you to go to their fathers house and bid their
brothers [five brethren( Luke 16: 28, R.V.)] and sisters and servants and masters not to come there [(vv. 26, 27, R.V.)].
And then look the Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed and have
received, and whose words you have promised to obey, and tell Him whether you
will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in this march to publish His mercy to the world. - WILLIAM
BOOTH.
12
HIS PLAN
When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ,
And He shows me His plan for me,
The plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way, and I see
How I blocked Him there, and I checked Him there,
And I would not yield my will -
Will there be grief in my Saviours eyes,
Grief, though He loves me still?
He would have me rich, and I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While memory runs like a haunted thing
Down the paths I cannot retrace.
Then my desolate heart well-nigh break
With tears that I cannot shed;
I shall cover my face with my empty hands
I shall bow my uncrowned head.
Lord of the years
that are left to me,
I give them
to Thy hand;
Take me and
break me, mould me now
To the
pattern Thou hast planned!
- MARTHA SNELL NICHOLSON
[GODS
COMMAND]
As many as I love, I reprove and chasten:
be
zealous therefore, and repent.
Behold,
I stand at the door and knock:
If any man hear my voice and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
And he with me.
He that overcometh, I will give to him
to sit down with me in my throne,
As I also overcame, and sat down with my Father
in his throne.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith
to the churches: (Rev. 3: 19-21, R.V.)
*
* * *
* * *
472
I
THE
GENERATION OF ANTICHRIST
By PETER CROSS
The generation of Antichrist is being steadily
prepared by
It
is doubtful how many people in
The
training begins when the children are still babies of three or four. Large
houses are taken from the bourgeoisie by
decree, and without compensation are turned into crθches. Every State institution is supposed to
run such a nursery. The children of the workers of that institution, beginning
with tots of two and three, are taken care of and trained there. Some of the
factory nurseries are day nurseries, but those of the big institutions are what
might be called boarding nurseries. I saw one of these boarding nurseries. The
children stayed there from Monday morning until Saturday midday, when they were
taken in cars to their parents for the weekend. When they were brought back on
Monday morning they were bathed and dressed in spotlessly clean clothes
provided for them and kept at the crθche. They got excellent meals, a
three-course dinner with meat or fowl every day (meat was unobtainable in the
market for months on end, even though the workers had meat ration-cards, and
the price of fowls was prohibitive). They lived and slept in separate cots in
beautiful, large, well-heated rooms, with carpets on the polished parquet
flooring. The permanent staff of that crθche
consisted of a cook, a housemaid, a laundry woman (who washed and ironed
the childrens clothes every day) and two educators,
for twenty to twenty-five children from three to seven years old. Huge
portraits of Stalin, Lenin, Marx, and Engels hung on
the walls of the big living room. Instead of prayers and hymns they were taught
poems and songs which glorified Stalin. They were told that Stalin loves little
children, and that it was thanks to his generosity and kindness that they had
such nice dinners, such comfortable beds and such a nice house to live in.
When, on the first of each month, the Orthodox priest, accompanied by an
incense-bearer, went from house to house to bless the inmates and their homes,
he was not allowed to set foot in that crθche. Even if the parents of these children are revolted by this
godless Stalin worship and long to counteract it, they do not dare to say or do
anything about it, for the children might unwittingly repeat something, and
that would not only mean the loss of their jobs, of the ration-cards and of
their room, but as likely as not imprisonment - for sabotage
or for some other trumped-up charge.*
[* A similar
scheme is in operation with young children in
-------
II
CHRIST AS JUDGE
By HAROLD BICKLEY, B.D.
There are words of comfort and hope in the New
Testament for all who seek relief. No one is too morally injured, no one is too
hopeless, no one has finally sounded his own doom against himself. Christ
stands at the gates of a new life and opens to everyone that knocks. Whosoever
will, let him return unto the Eternal Father of Love and take life freely. God
welcomes, God forgives, God restores, God puts His power and the disposal of
all who surrender to His giving. This is Jesus gospel of the Blessed God. We
must unceasingly proclaim this gospel to all poor
devils in a world that desperately needs it. This is the first word, as
it is the final word, which proceeds out of the mouth of Christ.
But
there is another note in the New Testament, stern, arresting, full of warning,
which sounds like a trumpet. The New Testament is a much sterner book than some
of us think. No one in all the ages ever blew so
clear a blast of warning as our Lord. He warned men
against taking the tender comfort of the gospel and neglecting its sterner note
of judgment. The writer of the Apocalypse saw the triumphant Christ,
and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword of love and judgment. The
words of Jesus not only bless, comfort and heal; they burn, they scorch the soul,
they pierce through our easy-going minds to the conscience and make us afraid,
until we cry as Goethe did, God, what a discovery! Salvation has an under-side
of judgment. Whatever Jesus changed, He did not change the fundamental law of
justice, the moral law, upon which God has built this world and safeguarded the
life of man. There is One that judgeth, because there is One that saves. We must not make a selection of the words of Jesus and dope our minds
and consciences with half-truths.
We
have no more right to pass over the words of judgment than we have to neglect
the words of the gospel, we make God not loving but good-natured, that is,
good-natured about moral issues. Gods love is not a domestic experience, not a
romance; it is a creative passion, a moral power which seeks to create men anew
in values of goodness and truth, in all the moral values we see in Christ, in
the moral values by which the world exists. How could we trust a God who took
little notice of evil which destroys the children He loves? How could we
confide in a God who was careless of moral issues and glossed over the evil
which ruins the individual and wrecks the world? Jesus warned men
against making light assumptions about His gospel, about God, life, and the
souls future, or even the worlds future.
*
* * *
* * *
473
THE
PREPARATION FOR THE THRONE
FOR thrones over the twelve tribes of Israel God has
found the men and has appointed them:- Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all,
and followed thee; what
shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto
them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
In
this age likewise the Lord combines the temporal with the eternal when He
redeems a man or woman through the blood of Jesus. One of the most amazing
manifestations of His grace in our salvation is the opportunity given every
believer to gain a place of eternal [millennial]
rulership. Scripture does not say that every Christian will attain to such a
place, but it does promise that honour to all who endure for Christs sake and
suffer for His sake:- If we endure, we shall also
reign with him: if we shall deny him, he also will deny us (2 Tim. 2:
12, R.V.) 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 (Rom. 8: 17).
The
work and experiences which occupy us now are to train us for eternal [millennial]
responsibilities. So far as we are faithful to what He gives us now we are
allowing Him to fit us for our positions later. Many a child of God, sad to
say, does not realize that the Lord has any work for him to do in this life,
not to speak of reigning in the life [and age] to come. Yet God has set the members every one of them in the body,
as it hath pleased him (1 Cor.
12: 18), in
order that every member of Christ, that is, every Christian, may function
properly in His strength. What an amount of admonition, prayer, and patience a
believer often requires to find his God-appointed place and work. And what
extraordinary singleness of heart he must needs have to stay in that place and
work. What a lifetime of never-flagging struggle is demanded of him if he is to
fulfil his ministry. But provided he does accomplish the work God gave him to
do in this life, what reward and eternal glory he will receive from His hands
at the judgment seat of Christ.
May
God open our eyes also, as we endeavour to lead others to Christ, to see in
each one a potential ruler in His everlasting [messianic] kingdom. When we look upon a new convert may He grant
us grace to keep ever in mind that He desires that convert so to live and obey
Him as to become a ruler in His kingdom [of reward]. For with
Him is patience and tender skill to develop the babe in Christ for the high
honour of reigning with Him for ever. - The Prophetic Word.
[*Note:
The words bracketed in blue is what the I prefer to use instead of eternal
and everlasting. Is there any scriptural evidence for what the author
believes, after this earth and Messiahs millennial kingdom is replaced by His
new creation?]
*
* *
SEVENTY
TIMES SEVEN
When on the fragrant sandal
tree
The woodmans axe descends,
And she who bloomed so
beauteously
Beneath the keen stroke
bends,
Een on the edge that wrought her death,
Dying, she breathes her
sweetest breath,
As if to token, in her fall,
Peace to her foes, and love
to all.
How hardly man this lesson learns,
To smile and bless the hand that spurns,
To see the blow, to feel the pain,
And render only love again.
WORLDLINESS
The
Apocalypse tells us that in the last days men will be, above all things,
world-lovers and God-haters. A famous editor of The New
York Herald, Mr. J. G. Bennett, was once seated in a
railway carriage with judge Black. It is the business
of a journalist, said the editor, to find out what the public thinks, feels,
and wants, and to give it to them. Then, Sir,
thundered back the judge, if you had lived in the
days of our Saviour, like Pontius Pilate you would have delivered him over to
be crucified. To please God is to offend the world: to please the world
is to offend God. The friendship of the world is
enmity with God.
THRONES
So also is
it concerning the
[* NOTE: Only
those who will be changed by rapture (both pre
and post
Great Tribulation raptures (Rev. 3: 10; Luke 21: 34-36. cf. 1 Thess.
4: 17, R.V.): or those who will be partakers of the
first resurrection, out of dead ones
(Rev. 20:
6ff. cf. Luke
20: 35; Phil.
3: 11
(Greek) R.V.), will be able to access both heavenly and earthly spheres
during the time of Messiahs millennial kingdom.]
*
* * *
* * *
474
THE
BEATITUDES
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
And seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain:
and when He had sat down,
His disciples
came unto Him: and He opened His mouth, and taught them: (Matt. 5: 1).
IT is disciples, though
within earshot of the multitude, that our Lord, in solemn session, sets Himself
to teach. Luke is equally explicit: He lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said (Luke 6: 20). The Sermon on the Mount, as Bishop Gore succinctly puts it, was
spoken into the ear of the Church and overheard by the world.
3.
Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It
is spiritual character upon which our Lord strikes the first deep, strong
note. Blessed is the man who is before he does. The new creation of the indwelling [Holy] Spirit enfolds
within itself all potentialities of blessed action. But consequent acts of love
and mercy are the indispensable proofs that travel down into lifes little
things - the robbed cloak and the assaulted cheek. I
am trying to build up new countries, Cecil Rhodes said to General
Booth; you and your father are trying to build up
new men; and
you have chosen the better part.
In a ripe maturity of political experience second to none, Mr. Gladstone said: The welfare of
mankind does not now depend on the State, or on the world of politics: the real
battle is being fought out in the world of thought; and we politicians are children playing with
toys in comparison to that great work of restoring belief.
On
the threshold of the Sermon Christ erects the gate of humility. And He called to Him a little
child, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto
you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall, in no wise enter
into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18: 3). Without
a changed nature the malignant evils of the social order, deeply seated in a
diseased heart, would reproduce themselves for ever, and reduce even Gods
Kingdom to chaos. The Celestial Hills can be reached only through the Vale of
the lowly heart.
4.
Blessed are they that mourn:
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed, says the Socialist, is a general diffusion of
comfort: Blessed, says the politician, is the greatest happiness of the
greatest number: Blessed, says Christ, are they that mourn. This
radical divergence springs from antagonistic views of the world. The
philosopher is content to reform without regenerating; sin, to him, is d
distemper of the skin; the world is disordered, but not condemned. Christ
reveals that the world, jarred out of all harmony with God, is deeply cankered
with sin. Wickedness predominates, therefore
mourning is blest. The
disciple is bowed by the cross he has lifted. But of righteous sorrow Christ
approves; the mourners shall he comforted when
earth is [restored (Gen. 3: 17. cf.
Isa. 19: 24-25 with Jer. 7: 25, 26 and Rom. 8: 19-21, R.V.)
and] regenerate, and the Curse departs from every island and continent like a lifted shadow.
Sorrow, in a sinless world, would be sinful.
5.
Blessed are the meek: for
they shall inherit the earth.
An
exquisite proof of the truth of Christs words is their amazing unworldliness.
It is precisely the meek who are uniformly excluded from earthly inheritance;
high places yield to the assault of wealth, ambition, and organized power. The meek waive, rather than prosecute,
their claims; sufferers, doing right, with patience; much forgiven, they
are much forgiving. For such the earth, when become Messiahs in its uttermost
parts, is reserved, as the hundredfold
compensation for suffered wrong. The earth is yet to be
governed by its aristocracy of grace. But the
possession [and Gods promised inheritance (Eph. 5: 5, R.V. cf. Ps.
2: 8,
R.V.)] is reached by the path of renunciation. Dost thou wish,
says Augustine, to possess the earth? Beware then lest thou be possessed by
it.
6.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be
filled.
Not,
Blessed are the righteous; but blessed are disciples consciously imperfect and
sinful, eager to crown imputed righteousness
[of Christ] with active
goodness. The daily recurring
appetite is set on weaving the pure, bright linen - the [
see the Greek]* of the
Bride. The love of righteousness, a thirst planted in the soul by God, is for
ever baffled in the spheres of labour, politics, religion: Wealth triumphs in
monopoly; Cabinets shape the course of kingdoms by expediency; the great State
Churches dare not uproot powerful corruptions; the individual writhes under the
tyranny of habitual sin. Nevertheless the hunger shall be satisfied. For the
righteousness of Christ, falling on the
shoulders of faith [and
its consequent obedience (See Matt. 5: 20; Acts 5: 32;1 John 3: 22, 24, cf. 1 Sam. 13: 13, 14; 15: 23, R.V.)], is a
pledge of ultimate sanctification.
The body of resurrection will harbour no traitor within. Divine might shall establish upon earth a Kingdom of right. But
here and now, blessed is the disciple whose passion is to translate all divine
truth into the living facts of his own life.
* Rev. 19: 8; cf. 2 Cor. 5: 3.
7.
Blessed are the merciful:
for they shall obtain mercy.
JUSTICE was the foundation principle of the Law (Dent. 16: 20); MERCY is the
soul of the Gospel.
* Even believers, says Dr. Tholuck, may inherit a partial unblessedness. This is a point, he significantly
adds, on which our doctrine requires further
elaboration. - Sermon on the Mount, p. 39. Before the Bema disciples are to be arraigned (Rom. 14: 10; 2 Cor. 5: 10), with possible loss
of all but eternal life (1 Cor.
3: 15; 9: 27), and a possible infliction of active but
temporary punishment (Luke 12: 46-48; Matt. 25: 14, 30). Gift (Rom.
6: 23) is
retained after prizes (Rev. 3: 11) are
lost.
8.
Blessed are the
pure in heart: for they shall see God.
This
is explicit. The beatific vision is for the pure alone; and for the pure, not
in act only, but in heart. Purity of heart is far rarer than purity of life. But the
entry into the sacred presence is, even among disciples, conditional: God dwells in a privacy of holy light
inaccessible to all but the heart-pure. Without sanctification none shall see the Lord (Heb. 12: 14). The Resurrection of Life, in which the Father
reveals Himself, belongs to disciples whose righteousness exceeds the Levitical
purity of the flesh, In the words of Spurgeon:
Make a full surrender of every motion of thy heart:
labour to have but one object, and one aim. And for this purpose give God the
keeping of thine heart, that thy soul, being preserved and protected by Him may
be directed into one channel, and one only, that thy life may run deep and pure, its only banks being Gods will,
its only channel the love of Christ and a desire to please Him.
9.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be
called sons of God.
It
is characteristic that obedience to these commands falls within the compass of
the lowliest and the humblest. As quarrels are universal, so are the
opportunities of the peacemaker. Christs disciples are not only to be
peaceful, but makers of
peace, as oil upon the worlds waters: sons of God in character, as also, in
the Regeneration, in title.*
*
Pity, purity,
peace, comments Dr. Tholuck,
not accidental ethical virtues, but characteristic
Christian graces, the possession of which presupposes the possession of
salvation. - Sermon on the Mount, p. 88.
10.
Blessed are they
that have been persecuted for righteousness sake: for
theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. 11. Blessed are ye when
men shall reproach you,
and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely,
for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for
great is
your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you.
Antagonism
to the world is an
essential of discipleship. The world in modern literature has lost the shadowed, fallen,
terrifying sense with which it was burdened on the lips of Christ. But so
fundamental is the antagonism that He lays it down as a perpetual basis of action. Reproaches, damaged reputation,
and the cruelty of false reports pursue even the holder of every beatitude, and
constitute an ineradicable note of discipleship. (All that would
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 2 Tim.
3: 12).
But it is for His sake whom we love: that is enough. There are times when
merely to suffer is the truest service that can be rendered to Christ.
Have been persecuted. Here our Lord strikes a note of profound discord with
all Utopian ideals. No slow process of evolution,
reaching after centuries the full flower of social perfectness, can justify a
God of goodness and love. For what of the
trampled myriads of bygone agonies?
What of the servants of God slain?
Without a resurrection, a tender reunion upon an earth regenerated and crowned
with an opened heaven, who could justify the ways of God to men? But these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise: God having provided
some better thing concerning us, that apart from us
they should not be made perfect (Heb. 11: 39, 40); nor
we, apart from them. Half-lights of dawn break through the midnight of
suffering. For painful service God is pledged to recompense: by it the disciple
is proved in the blessed succession of the righteous.
Royal
rank awaits the sufferer. Throughout the Beatitudes the Kingdom, with its
riches - many names, as Augustine says, but one reward - is the prize held
forth: a Kingdom of the heavens, for its metropolis is the heaven-born.
Jerusalem (Rev. 19:
7; 21: 10); an inheritance
upon earth, for to the fallen soil
Christ returns (Zech. 14: 4); a
vision of the Father, for it is also His Kingdom (Rev. 11: 15); a treasured reward in heaven, for it is no worldly State reformed to
perfect conditions, or rebuilt on the ideals of Socialism.* Christ is yet to triumph in the arena of the nations.
On earth Gods
will is yet to be done.
*
The Kingdom, as Dr. Tholuck observes, was no new idea. To Christs hearers it was
the Messianic Kingdom, the lodestar of Israel; and the millennial Kingdom, four
times associated with the Christ, is the
Messianic (Rev. 11:
15; 12: 10; 20: 1-6). But its heavenly compartment, for the risen saints, was
not understood (Rev. 19: 6-9). Afterwards, it is the eternal Kingdom, on new heavens and new earth (1 Cor. 15: 24; Rev. 21 and 22). This view of the
Kingdom and its coming, says Dr.
H. A. W. Meyer, as the winding up of the worlds history,
a view which was also shared by the principal Fathers (Tertullian, Chrysostum,
Augustine, Euth, Zigabenus), is the only one
which corresponds with the historical conception of the [
see
Greek] throughout the whole of the New Testament. On
Matthew, trans.
* * *
* * *
*
475
TO EACH HIS
WORK
(Mark 13: 34)
By Dr. J. W.
RANKIN
EACH of us was
brought into this world to be and to do a definite thing. Does that not make life
solemn and wonderful? Each of us is the expression of a definite thought and
purpose in the mind of God. Each of us represents a combination of qualities
unlike that of any other being in the world.
Nature abhors uniformity as it does a vacuum. There is
no reduplication anywhere in nature. God places the stamp of individuality in
all He does. No two leaves or spears of grass are alike. No person has an exact
double. No thumbprint ever repeats itself.
Therein lies the value of that device in the detection of criminals. If your
thumbprint were put on wax it would be unlike any other that ever was, is now
or ever will be. That which is true of our thumbprint is true of us. We are
unique. We have no doubles. This difference constitutes personality. It is not
an accident. Chance has no place in a world created and ruled by an infinite
God. His purpose is to built in this
earth a perfect condition. Perfection requires variety. Each person has been
assigned a definite place and task. Each can say as Jesus said, To this end was I born and
for this cause came I into the world.
As a result of this variety each one can do something
that no other person can do. If we do not enter Gods plan for our lives there
will be something missing that otherwise would have been in the world which we
are building.
Most great leaders of men realize this truth of
themselves, and we believe it of them. Paul frequently spoke of himself as the
embodiment of a divine idea, the deliberately planned instrument of God for the
accomplishment of this definite task.
We believe this of earths great people but do not
apply it to the commonplace multitude of whom we form a part.
Paul illustrated this by saying that in a house many vessels
were required, vessels of gold, silver, brass and common crockery; they are all
needed. God requires an almost infinite number of people to carry on His
purposes and He has created such for this definite task. What authority for a
person to cherish! Is there anything to which a noble soul will respond more
joyfully than that he or she was created
for and destined to a definite part of Gods eternal plan for the upbuilding of
His Kingdom on earth? What dignity it gives to life to know that we have been
an assigned place in the everlasting plan of God! We belong to the commonplace
multitude. It comes with a distinct
shock and a glad surprise to know that we were created to fill an extra place
in Gods universe. There is a little segment in the age-long, world-wide plan
of God for each of us. This gives life a new meaning and changes it from a
grind to a [coming] glory.*
[* 1 Pet.
1: 11b; Hab. 2: 14. cf.
1 Cor. 15: 58, R.V.]
- The
Religious Digest.
-------
II
By PAUL MYERS
One evening in
the city of
He tucked the violin beneath his chin, drawing the bow
across the strings, and from that common fiddle there poured forth melody which
held the vast assembly enthralled and enraptured.
As the last faint notes floated into silence, there
was a momentary hush. Then the walls rembled as the
audience uproariously voiced their approval. Truly, the words of Paganini were prophetic; the music had not been in the
instrument, but in the soul of the great artiste.
You and I may not hold in our hands some masterpiece of
workmanship, some marvellous talent or oratory or ability to express ourselves
in a masterful way, but as we stand upon the stage of life and bear witness to
those with whom we come in contact, somehow they will know that even though we
may be inferior instruments, still, Heavens symphony has its origin in a soul
deep set on God.
- The Christian Digest.
*
* * *
* * *
476
THE PAROUSIA
By D. M.
PANTON, B.A.
We reprint this article under the deep conviction that
the truth of our Lords presence in the
heavenlies,
as the junction of the dispensations of grace and
judgment, is the keystone in the arch of prophecy
which alone adjusts, into an intelligible whole, the
events of the coming crisis. - ED.
PAROUSIA
- a word which is the cardinal pivot of all Second Advent truth, and the
keystone in the arch of unfulfilled prophecy
- in itself states merely a stationary presence, and is a coming only when linked with words implying motion.
The Parousia of Christ, used by the Holy
Spirit as a technical expression, the Psalmist exquisitely unfolds. He bowed the heavens also,
and came down; and thick
darkness was under His feet
... He made darkness His hiding place, His pavilion round about Him; darkness of waters, thick
clouds of the skies (Ps. 18: 11). Christs downward motion stops: His peoples
upward motion stops: the Lord silently forms His Royal Court in a pavilion of
cloud. The Parousia is thus secret - a hiding place; it is stationary - a
pavilion; it is invisible - in thick darkness; and it is the centre of rapture
- He sent from
on
high, He took me. For thus our Lord is to return. He ascended visibly,
and was wrapt from sight in cloud: but He is to so come in like manner (Acts 1: 11) - that is, the process is to be reversed: He
descends invisibly, concealed by clouds, and then bursts forth, visibly and
bodily, as the Sun of righteousness. The
interlude is the Parousia.
The
Parousia serves purposes of vital import to the Church. It is thither saints
are to be rapt, encompassed, as our Lord was, with clouds: we that are alive, that are
left, shall together with them be caught up
[a sudden and irrestible seizure by a power beyond us:
Dr. Eadie] in the clouds to meet the Lord; a reunion, not on earth, nor in the heaven of
heavens, but in the
air (1 Thess. 4: 17)*; as
homing doves flock to their airy dovecotes (Is.
60: 8).
The Parousia is our ark of refuge. In the covert of Thy presence Thou shalt hide them from the plottings of man: Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues (Ps. 31: 20). It is the
heavenly Tabernacle against which Antichrist, enraged by the loss of his prey,
hurls impotent blasphemies [at
those who are left]. And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name, and His
tabernacle, even them that tabernacle in the heaven (Rev.
13: 6).
Thus the epiphany or manifestation to the
Church (1 John 3: 2;
2 Tim. 4:
8) occurs in the parousia:
the epiphany to the world (2 Thess.
2: 8) is
delayed until the apocalypse (2 Thess. 1: 7).
[*
See also Luke
21: 34-36
and Rev. 3:
10, R.V.]
The
Parousia is also the judgment court of the Church. judgment begins at
the House of God (1 Pet. 4 : 17): for after a long time the lord of
those servants cometh and maketh a reckoning with them (Matt. 25: 19). Within
the Parousia are enacted the Virgins, the Talents, the Pounds: here converts
are presented by the evangelist (1 Thess. 2: 19): here the disciples heart and life are
examined (1 Thess.
3: 13),
and blamelessness (1 Thess.
5: 23) or
shame (1 John 2: 28)
revealed. For the Household is examined in camera: the Bema is set up in the
Throne-room: and the approval of the Judgment Seat is the supreme reward of the
disciple, and an incorruptible motive of holiness. We
make it our aim to be well-pleasing unto Him. For we [disciples] must all be
made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may
receive the things done in the body, according
to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad
(2 Cor. 5: 10).
The
Parousia of Christ runs simultaneously with the Parousia (2 Thess 2; 9) of Antichrist: the heavenly Parousia is the
advanced outpost whither God recalls His ambassadors, on the outbreak of war
against the world and the last judgments of God. The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered His voice; hailstones and coals of fire. And He sent
out His arrows and scattered them; yea, lightnings manifold, and discomfited them (Ps. 28: 13; Rev. 8: 5; 10: 3; 11: 19; 16: 10). But Antediluvian
and Sodomic wickedness recur, and remain obdurate, during the Parousia. Matt. 24: 37. At length ripeness of iniquity below, and the
close of the judgment scene above, together produce the break-up of the
Parousia; scattering clouds on a sudden reveal to every eye the triple glory (Luke 9: 26)
burning in the heart of the Pavilion. For as the lightning cometh
forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the
presence [see Revised Margin
throughout] of the Son of Man (Matt. 24: 27); who shall paralyse Antichrist by the manifestation, or outburst, of His
Parousia (2 Thess.
2: 8);
and then shall the
righteous shine forth as the
sun in the kingdom of their Father
(Matt. 13:
43). Our Lords feet alight upon Olivet. Zech. 14: 4.
So
the Presence is to be the lode-star of the Church; for its Bema is the
criterion for all regenerate life and conduct. Unfulfilled prophecy all lies after the
Rapture: nothing
stands between us and the summons of God. No premonitions, no warnings, no signals, no prophecies: know this, that if the
master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming - silently, secretly, suddenly, as a thief comes - he would have watched,
and would not have suffered his house to be broken
through. Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of Man cometh
(Matt. 24:
43). Holiness is the supreme passport
into the Presence. Luke 21: 36; 1 John 3: 3. The millers apron,
the bakers cap, the labourers coat, the housewifes gown, are all suitable
material for ascension robes: every day, every hour, puts in a stitch,
or drops one, in the garment of our coming glory. Rev.
19: 8. What I say unto you I say
unto all, WATCH. (Mark 13: 37).
* * *
A PRAYER
Touch me with Thy healing hand, Lord,
Take the life I fully yield,
Teach Thy word and tell Thy will, Lord,
Test the heart that Thou hast sealed.
Melt the hardness and the coldness,
Mould the life I yield to Thee,
Mark the pureness and the boldness,
Make Thy presence felt in Thee.
Show me how to win the lost ones,
Send me where I ought to go,
Satisfy my deepest longings,
Sanctifying power bestow.
Feed me with the bread of Heaven,
Fill me with Thy love Divine,
Fit me for yet wider service,
Finish, Lord, this work of Thine.
- HUGH SLADEN
*
* * *
* * *
477
EARTHQUAKES
WHEN Satan-directed despisers of God descended to the
depths where they vented their spleen by spitting upon the Lord of glory,
scourging him, and nailing him to a tree, nature expressed her protest. The earth did quake, and the rocks rent.* The very sun hid its face from the awfulness of mans iniquity, and there was darkness over all
the earth. The apparent relation
between the iniquities of men and the mighty convulsions of nature caused even Gibbon, the infidel deist, to confess,
The natural order of events will sometimes afford
strong appearance of moral retribution. To understand what Gibbon
meant, it is only necessary to recall that when in 1902, old Mont Pell buried its 40,000 inhabitants
under a mass of burning lava, that city was acknowledged to be the wickedest spot in the West Indies. The quake and
the eruption were preceded by appalling degradation and unspeakable wickedness.
Blasphemous rites, mockeries upon all things holy, were in progress. On Good
Friday a pig was masqueraded through the city, and then crucified! Thereupon,
it seems, nature arose in extreme wrath. One man alone, and he confined in a
dungeon, lived to tell the tale.
[* NOTE: It is common
knowledge (today in 2019), to know that the frequency of earthquakes in recent
years has greatly increased! This is just another end-time sign of Gods
displeasure with humanity; and of the soon return of His rightful King, who
will rectify a situation, that no other man can do, in a world which is fast
approaching His righteous judgment under the prophesied Antichrist.]
Mont Pelee was but a modem replica of old
Let
Blackwoods Magazine (June 1906) tell the story of the
And when on the morning of April 18th, 1906, earthquake and
fire suddenly wiped out San Francisco, we are told by those well acquainted
with the facts that in that gorgeous city of the west ... that California Sodom ... that
refined sink of most positive iniquity ... not
only had fair, dignified, and educated women acquired the opium habit, but
the aristocracy in general were given over to lust and vice. And thus having
flaunted its unparalleled iniquities for nearly sixty years,
Let
The
Evangelical Christian record
the story of the quake that totally destroyed the flourishing and extraordinarily
beautiful city of
Our
most recent earthquakes would also lead to the belief that there exists an intimate
relation between the moral and physical worlds - that when one suffers, the
other suffers. Consider the catastrophe that struck
There
are great earthquakes still to come.
John beheld, and when the angel of the seventh and last bowl of the wrath of
God poured out his bowl into the air:- There came forth a great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, It is done: and there were
lightenings, and voices, and thunders: and there was a great earthquake, such as was not
since there were men upon the earth, so great an
earthquake, so mighty. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell.
What
are we to understand as to the significance of all these earthquake phenomena?
The word of God alone can give answer. It was first given by the prophet Haggai, over five hundred years before
Christ; and reaffirmed by the writer of Hebrews,
nearly seventy years after the birth of Christ:-
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Yet once, it is a little
while, and I will shake the heavens, and
the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations; and the precious things of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of
hosts (Hag. 2: 6, 7).
Therefore
we conclude that great convulsions of the earths surface will
immediately precede the return of the Lord from the heavens. The
writer of Hebrews gives further light. We
read:-
Now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more, will I make to
tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven.
And this word, Yet once
more, signifieth the removing of those things
that are shaken, as of things that have been
made, that
those things which are not shaken may remain. Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let
us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12: 26-29).
An
earth shaking as it never has shaken in any period of time before will be the
God-given sign that the kingdoms of this world, which can be shaken, must give
place to the kingdom of God which cannot be moved - which shall stand forever.
In view of these many Scriptures, and since within the space of forty years we
have witnessed now seven of the greatest earthquakes of all time - Mount Pelee, San Francisco, Messina, Tokyo, two in China, and
Turkey, is it idle fancy, born of desire, that causes us to believe that the
nations of earth now shaking must soon give way to the [Messiah
promised (Ps. 2:
8) coming world] kingdom* that
cannot be shaken? So likewise ye, when ye see
these things come to pass, know ye that the
[* See Psalms 46: 9; 72. & 110. cf.
Jer. 30: 7-11, 17-22; Ezek. 34: 23-31; Rom. 8: 18-22, R.V.]
*
* *
WITNESSES TO
PROPHECY IN
Scattered over
the hills and valleys of Palestine live humble but telling witnesses of the Lords
displeasure which, invoked upon the land many centuries ago by Israels sin,
has ever since rendered it barren. These are the thistles and thorns which
thrive everywhere with amazing vitality. Dr.
James G. Heller, prominent American Jew and Zionist, in visiting
As the outcome of
What a long until
this [Divine] prophecy
gives us! God does not, and will not, make
His chosen land to blossom as a rose so long as Israel rejects its Messiah,
for the impartation of His blessing to a Christ-rejecting
nation is unthinkable. Repentance
and restoration, faith and [Divine] blessing are wedded in the prophecies of
*
* * *
* * *
478
THE
By GORDON
CHILVERS
ONE of the last
recorded utterances of the Holy Spirit gives us a description of the home of
the saved of all dispensations. We are
left in no doubt as to where we shall spend eternity, for we are given a description
of a most wonderful and exquisitely beautiful city. Though now it is to us only
a promise, yet one day it will be a reality situate on the earth and we shall
be among its inhabitants; a place where all our trials and difficulties will be
forgotten for ever. God says (Is. 65: 17):- For behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. It will be a scene where, as John
says in Rev. 21:
4:- And God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
In Heb. 11: 10 we read:- For he (Abraham)
looked for a city (a real literal city, no figment of the imagination) which hath the foundations (and what marvellous foundations, twelve kinds of
precious stones) whose builder
and maker (or architect) is God.
For the city comes down from God out of heaven, and we are identified with
Abraham in his faith and Abraham is the father of us all. We are identified
with Abraham in our wilderness journey. For we are strangers and pilgrims on
the earth, and have here no continuing city; and we are identified with Abraham
in looking for that city and in our dwelling there.
Now
our first point for consideration of this city, is its literality. John says:-
And I John - to make it emphatic that it was he and not another
- saw - not imagined, but saw; not thought or believed,
but actually beheld. It was something that could be seen, something real, not
an abstract thing as righteousness or grace. It was something to behold and
gaze upon. Bliss says:- That a real city as well as a perfected moral system is here
to be understood. I see not how we could otherwise conclude. All the elements
of a city are indicated. It has specified dimensions, it has foundations,
gates, walls and streets. It has guards outside and inhabitants within, both
distinct from what characterises it as a city. It is called a holy city, it is
named a city, the Holy Jerusalem. It is called the New Jerusalem as over
against an old
The
second point of consideration is the situation of this city. The new Jerusalem
like the old is a mountain city,
The
next point for consideration is its immense size (v.
16), And the city lieth four-square, and the length is as
large as the breadth, and He measured the city
with the reed, 12,000 furlongs, the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. That is to say, it is a perfect cube 1,500 miles
long, by 1,500 miles broad, and 1,500 miles high; a cube in size though
probably not in shape. This cubic city is enormous in its size and vaster than
anything ever known before. It is probably the enormous size of the new earth
which reduces to its true relative proportions the immensity of its metropolis
- this new Jerusalem. We are told that This one city
would cover all the land from
The
fourth point of consideration is the beauty of the materials used in the making
of this city (v. 18).
And the building
of the wall of it was of jasper.
Actual substance of the wall is a precious stone. Bricks are of a dull
substance and would not reflect the light as jasper, but as this city is to be
one of absolute brilliance, the wall is of jasper. V.
18: - And the city was pure gold, like
unto clear glass. The city and
its streets are of pure gold. We to-day do not use pure gold because it would
be too soft for practical purposes. The purest gold we use is 11/12ths fine, or
22 carat gold - which is the degree of purity of a sovereign or the best
jewellery. Then this gold is to be as transparent glass, so that all the
buildings within this city are of absolute transparency. There is nothing to
hide, for there is no sin. To Israel God said - (Is.
54: 11 and
12):- I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of
carbuncles and all thy borders of precious stones; but even this cannot rival with the beauty of this
city. V. 19
and 20:- The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third
a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth
a sardis, the seventh chrysolyte, the eighth beryl, the ninth a
topaz, the tenth a chrysoprasus, the eleventh jacinth, the
twelfth an amethyst. These
foundations cannot be shaken by any earthquake. Jasper is an opaque stone of a
greenish colour, clouded with yellow, blue, brown or white. Sapphire - a stone
of deep colour with veins of white or spots of gold. Chalcedony - a light brown
or nearly white stone. Emerald - a deep green coloured stone. Sardonyx - a
precious stone, exhibiting a milky white colour.
The fifth point of consideration is the light of the
city. V. 11
says:- And her
light was like unto a stone most precious. It is as brilliant as a jasper stone with crystal
purity. The light is the glory of God, the glory which once filled the temple.
When Moses saw the glory of God, his face so shone that when he spoke to the
children of
The
sixth point of consideration is the citizens of the city. Who are the people
who will be privileged to dwell there? V. 27 says:- They which are written in the Lambs
Book of Life; every one who is saved from the time of Adam to the last one
whose name is entered in the Lambs Book of Life before the setting up of the
Great White Throne. In ch.
22, v. 3 we read:- And His servants shall serve Him.
Such servants as dwell in that city are people of all classes, of all kindreds,
of all tongues and all dispensations, and all types of intellect and all
degrees of knowledge, and all depths of spiritual experience. Our sole ground
for entrance into this city is Christ. Who (Christ) hath made us (it is entirely
the work of Christ) meet (complete readiness) to be partakers (to
share jointly) of the
inheritance (the holy city) of the saints in light (the glory of God and of the Lamb) (Col. 1: 12).
Seventh
point of consideration is its worship. A look around this city reveals one
thing absent- there is no building called a temple. The temple of a god is the
residence of that god, and God
Himself is the temple. We shall
undoubtedly worship our Creator, but no temple - no building is there, for God
Himself is the temple. He will dwell with men in an intimacy unknown before -
not even in the garden of Eden when man lived in innocence. Now our sole method
of approach is via the mercy seat, but mercy is only required from an offended
God; there, we shall be perfect. The temple of old was a proof of sin, for
before sin entered there was no temple. Man in the garden of Eden could walk
and talk with God in the cool of the evening - but when sin entered, mans communion
with his Creator was broken. But in this city all will be well, all will be
pure, even sinful man - and God will not need to fence Himself off, but gives
the occupants of that city direct access to Himself. In that day we shall
worship God as we ought, with a pure heart fervently. Not even Satan himself
can touch our inheritance which is pure and undefiled. No one can take
away our entrance into that beautiful city. We may lose our crown, we may
forfeit the [Millennial] Kingdom and
everything else of reward, but one thing is certain, we shall dwell for ever in
that beautiful city of
*
* * *
* * *
479
REWARD
THROUGH SUFFERING
By D. M. PANTON
IT is vital to
the Gospel that reward and salvation are totally sundered. Reward is a
recompense for service rendered; a prize gained by conduct; a wage paid for
labour accomplished. Do good, our
Lord says, and
your reward shall be great (Luke 6: 35). To him that worketh, says the Apostle, the reward is not reckoned as of
grace, but as of debt (
Reward as
Motive
But,
after [initial] salvation, reward becomes of immense importance, and
an urge to the highest. The assertion not seldom made
that it is wrong for a believer to seek reward is a blank contradiction of our
Lord and the Holy Scriptures. Take heed, the Lord Jesus says to His disciples, that ye do not your
righteousness before men, to be seen of them:
else ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven (Matt. 6: 1). He invokes reward as a perfectly legitimate motive. Love your enemies, and do them good, and your reward shall be great (Luke 6: 35). Our Lord could not have put it more
decisively:- Whosoever
shall give to drink a cup of cold water only - a glass of water - verily
I say unto you, he shall in no wise
lose his reward (Matt. 10: 42). Even to unbelievers - He says:- How can ye believe, which receive glory one
of another, and the glory that cometh from the
only God ye seek not? (John 5: 44). There is no crown without a cross.
Righteous
Recompense
The
design underneath reward is deep and wonderful. God grooves the running-tracks
to reward deep down beneath the production of a perfected character: Gods
rewards are deliberately set to produce Christ-like lowliness, a body of
unblemished purity, and hands of strenuous, unremitting labour. Every one that hath left
houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children,
or lands for my names sake, SHALL RECEIVE A
HUNDREDFOLD (Matt. 19: 29). Our eye is on the prize: Gods eye is on the spiritual
athlete which running for the prize creates. So also reward indicates the
justice of God. The servant who has become like his Lord, and done
well like his
Lord, shall enter into the [millennial] joy of his Lord: Whatsoever good thing each one doeth, the same shall he receive again from the Lord (Eph. 6: 8). Gods
rewards are a recompense for fidelity that are absolutely essential to prove
His justice. Suffering, in the light of
Suffering
Now
we reach one of the most exquisite expressions of this truth. Our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh
for us more and more exceedingly*
an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor.
4: 17,
R.V.). It is expressed elsewhere:- I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not to be
compared - the two are incomparable - with the glory that shall be revealed to
us-ward (Rom.
8: 18).
The affliction - weariness, sorrow, sickness, bereavement, death
the
glory - the Throne surrounded with myriads of angels; innumerable witnesses
watching the winning of the race; a body perfect, a crown, a throne awaiting
the old physical wreck.
* Literally, in excess unto excess (the Pulpit Commentary).
Transient
Suffering
So
our present situation is first summed up. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment. Paul records the unique record of his own suffering,
which serves as an admirable test of the truth of the statement. Of the Jews five times
received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I
beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a
night and a day have I been in the deep; in
journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in
perils from my countrymen, in perils from the
Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in
perils in the sea, in perils among false
brethren; in labour and travail, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness (2 Cor. 11: 24).* Is that light affliction? One opposite verse reduces
us to utter silence:- Their part shall be in the lake
that burneth with fire and brimstone (Rev.
21: 8).
Is it but for a moment? Put against it - suffering for a few decades - the smoke of their torment
goeth up for ever and ever (Rev. 14: 11). As we look back from the unending ages of
eternity, our few decades here will be no more than a moment.
* Obviously the
chief affliction rewarded is suffering for Christ, but naturally our affliction
covers all the believers suffering. He scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth (Heb.
12: 6).
Effective
Suffering
But
we now face one of the most amazing revelations ever made. Our affliction WORKETH FOR US
- is actually creating - MORE AND MORE
EXCEEDINGLY - in ever growing
expansion - AN ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY - our glory is created, ever increasingly, by our
suffering. Thus far more is stated than the mere fact that glory will follow
suffering: it is the suffering [for
Christs sake]
which creates a loftier throne, a richer crown, a nobler heritage. In a complex machine we see a wheel revolving in an
opposite direction to the working of the machine; but it is revolving other
wheels which are driving the whole work forward. Could comfort go
further? The fingers of sorrow are actually weaving the tapestry of glory: the
deeper the sorrow, the heavier the glory. If ye are reproached for the
name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth
upon you (1 Pet. 4: 14).
Our Gaze
But
a vital condition closes the revelation. Suffering creates reward while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are
not seen. In the prayer of a
Saint of the middle ages, - O God, fix my eyeballs on
eternity! Centuries ago ships were afraid to go out of sight of the
land, for they were guided by the hills and the mountains; but when the compass
was discovered, they could go over the whole world and through the densest
darkness. The
things which are not seen - are
the compass of our redeemed lives. The word here
translated look at, is in other places rendered, take heed, consider, mark,
observe attentively, and signifies serious fixed, repeated consideration: it
signifies also to aim at, or pursue (J. Orton).
Of all the persons in the Old Testament our Lord tells us to remember only
one:- Remember
The
It
is beautiful to remember how a pearl is made. Dr. A. B. Simpson puts it thus:- The
pearl is made in the bosom of the oyster down in the
Salvation
An
American worker, a Mrs. Barney,
tells how sorrow and affliction brought a soul to Christ. A man in
They
brought her in, and for a moment a great pallor fell upon his face; then he
broke out into violent sobbing. The little girl, touched with compassion came
to him, and laying her hand on his, she said, O poor
man, Im so sorry for you, and Jesus is so sorry for you, too. He took
the little hand and asked, Is her name Mamie?
Yes, was the reply, Oh,
he said, I had a little girl like her, and she died fifteen
years ago. Her name was Mamie, too. Since she died, I have cursed the world,
and God, and life, and everything. But when I saw your little girl, I thought
of my little Mamie. Then Mrs.
Barney turned to him and said, Would you not like
to see your little Mamie again? I would give
a thousand lives and a thousand fortunes to see her for one moment.
Then
she told of the love of Jesus, of the home above, and of the mercy that was so
full and free. The great tears came, and the fountains of the deep were broken
up. They knelt to pray, and little Mamie prayed a prayer that brought him
through, A day or two later he went to a meeting. He stood on his trembling
limbs and said, Boys, you know how they turn the
water in the sluices in the gold mines; and as it runs down the sluices, the
water washes the dirt away and leaves the gold? That is what the blood of Jesus
did for me. It washed almost everything away, but it left enough to see my
Mamie and the Man that died for me; and now I am going to her and to Him
because His precious blood washed me from all my sin.
*
* *
REIGNING
WITH CHRIST
As a king calls to his
cabined his trusted and valued friends, and appoints to the most responsible
posts those of the most approved fidelity, both for their reward, and for the
benefit of the kingdom, so does Christ with His saints.
This future rulership is really the secret of our
present discipline. We are being trained in service with a view to the coming [messianic and millennial] kingdom. What an outlook! Through faith in Christ we
shall experience the fullness of an eternal life in a new and better world.* And
if we are faithful to Him here, we shall reign with Him there.
[* See
The thousand years for Christs reign on earth with its
judgments and justice make the great high peak presented in the Scriptures. It
is the subject of the greater part of prophecy. Since it is a time of justice and judgment, and since it is
presided over by One who has been thoroughly tempted and tried; One who has
suffered and died to prove His merit - therefore all who take part on this thousand years must also be of proven merit,
many of them even proven by martyrdom alone. No position in this kingdom is
held because of grace alone. Everyone in this [prophesied]
reign with Christ, of course, is born-again, saved, [and a]
resurrected Christian; but, more than that, everyone, besides being a saved
individual, is an overcomer, a
Christian, Spirit-filled, and one who has walked in spiritual victory, a worthy.
Everything that has to do
with this thousand years must meet the most terrific fires of testing. Only that which can pass through the fire
test at the judgment seat of Christ* can be admitted
into this thousand years of millennial splendour,
[* See Heb. 9: 27, R.V. and NOTE:
the judgment seat of Christ must therefore
take place in Hades
(Luke 16: 23.
cf.
Acts 2: 27,
34, R.V.), and before the first resurrection (Rev.
20: 5,
R.V. cf. Luke 20: 35; Phil. 3: 11; Heb. 11: 35b, R.V.).]
- Dr. PAUL RADER
Edward Greswell, B.D., in
an article entitled The Millennium and
Eternal Life, says:- The
interposition of the millenary scheme, with its particular economy of
retribution, is necessary to reconcile the doctrine of Scripture, that we are
justified and saved by faith, and by faith alone, with the promise of
Scripture, nevertheless, of a reward
proportioned to works.
It is a necessary consequence of the
doctrine of [eternal] salvation by faith, that all who are justified, and [eternally] saved, on that account, are justified freely, and without any
regard to their personal works, and consequently to their personal deserts. A promise of rewards, on the other hand, in
proportion to works, must be strictly in proportion to deserts; and
therefore, it seems to be implied by the fact that such a promise that in
apportioning the future reward of those who are [eternally]
saved their personal deserts will be
strictly taken into account.
Now these two things, as thus stated, are
evidently at variance. Salvation by faith excludes all regard to works, and
therefore all difference of personal deserts; a reward of the good and righteous, in proportion to their works, must
be in proportion to their deserts. Nor can I imagine any mode of
reconciling them together, but this - that the doctrine of Scripture, which
relates to final acceptance irrespectively of the difference of personal
desert, is in reference to one state of
things; and the doctrine of
Scripture, which holds out the expectation of a reward in proportion of works,
and therefore has respect to the differences of personal desert, is in
reference to another.
The former I consider to be the state of
things, which is known by the name of eternal life, or is the condition of
being, through all eternity, in the kingdom of heaven; the latter to the state of things under the millennium, and during the
temporal reign of Christ on earth.
The matter of fact involved
in each of these statements is in either case equally indisputable. It is
equally certain that all who are saved, as such, are saved by faith in Jesus
Christ; and by faith without respect of works - and consequently, of
differences of desert; and it is also
certain that if any are to be rewarded in another life, for their conduct in
the present life, that is for their works, they must be rewarded in proportion
to those works, and therefore in proportion to their deserts. *
- Christian
Life.
[* Bold type is mine.]
*
* * *
* * *
480
THE SERMON
ON THE MOUNT
(Matt. 5: 13)
By ROBERT
GOVETT, M.A.
13.
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt shall have become foolish,*
wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for
nothing,
but to be cast out, and to be trodden underfoot
by men.
[* See the Greek. - R. Govett.]
The preceding paragraph showed to us Christians as
related to the Kingdon of Christ in the future day. This teaches us their position, as regards the world now. It gives a view of the body in
general, with its purpose as designed of God.
When
a new substance is discovered, we wish to know what are its uses? Gutta percha is found in one of
the isles of the east. Of what use is it? is
the natural inquiry. If we could only tell for what purposes God designed it,
we should be glad to employ it in those. Our Lord, then, in the paragraph
before us, unfolds to us Gods design in raising up the new body of Jesus
disciples.
He
would hereby encourage His people under trial. In the last verse, Jesus
described His followers as reviled, rejected, persecuted. Of what use could
such a body be? Of very great service.
They
are compared to that useful, necessary article, - salt. That substance is in
its nature incorruptible: the opposite to leaven, which easily corrupts, and
excites fermentation and corruption in other bodies.
Its
taste is peculiar, its texture transparent, its colour white, its uses
manifold.
(1)
The taste of salt is pleasant to men. Our meals would be insipid indeed without it. (2) It was also a
sacred thing, pleasant to God. Every oblation of thy meat-offering shalt thou
season with salt: neither shalt thou suffer the
salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat-offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt:
Lev. 2: 13. And
this too, when of leaven it is said, Ye shall burn no leaven nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire: ver.
11.
(3)
It is a great anti-corruptionist. Applied
to meat, it corrects its native tendency to putridity; and preserves it sweet,
as an article of human food, for a considerable time. We find salt used, on one
occasion, by Elijah, in order to heal bitter and corroding waters. And the men of the city said
unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of
this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and
the ground barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put
salt
therein. And they brought it to
him. And he went forth unto the spring of the
water, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord,
I have healed these waters: there shall not be from
thence any more death or barren land. So the waters
were healed unto this day, according to the
saying of Elisha, which he spake: 2 Kings 2: 19-22.
Here is a greater than Elisha, throwing into
the worlds bitter waters a nobler salt. Does He anticipate then the healing of
the waters? Nay, but rather the corruption of the salt!
Jesus,
however, is speaking of real converts, true disciples. Mere professors but
little check the evil of the world. But one born again of God, and acting out
the life of God, cannot but affect the world by his (1) prayers, his (2) words,
his (3) life. He is unlike the evil world of a spirit loftily above it. He is
not of earth, but a citizen of heaven a son of God.
The
earth is corrupt. The tendency is to grow worse and worse.
Each evil man encourages his neighbour in evil. The tendency of selfishness and
of irreligion is to grow bolder in word and deed, as each one sees himself
upheld by the countenance of others.
This
tendency is resisted by the disciples of Jesus. While they are genuine, they
display to the world not only justice and truth, in opposition to injustice and
falsehood; but mercy, love, heavenly-mindedness, forgiveness of evil. Much as
the world may hate the light thus cast on its evil, it is checked by it.
Historically, this has been the fact, wherever true Christianity has
penetrated. It stayed the awful corruption of manners that threatened, in the
days of the Roman emperors, to dissolve the state. Introduced amid the savage
Fijians in our day, it has removed the horrors of cannibalism, and the revolting
abominations of heathenism.
The
Ye is emphatic. Jesus is raising up a new
agent. He is not restoring
the old: not re-seasoning the laws disciples. He is creating a new body, which
while it is to be in contact with the world, is not to be of it, but above it:
heavenly in its birth, its aims, its doctrines.
Mark
then the result! This throws
How
large are the views of our Lord! His disciples are not to be the salt of the
Jewish nation only, but of the earth at large. He foresaw that His truth would
make its way through every nation, and affect each in turn.
But
what was to be the issue of this new exhibition of Gods goodness? What the
ultimate effect on the earth? In general, the reformer is loud in praises of
his movement. The discoverer of any principle or substance exalts the virtues
of the body he brings, before us, of the benefits of the principle he offers.
Tis
not thus with Jesus; as neither was it with Moses. Moses, while leading
Does
salt ever lose its taste? It has been questioned. MAUNDRELL believed that he had found an instance of it in his
journey to
But
whether the thing be true physically or not, tis most evidently possible
morally. May Christians lose their distinctive principles, and desert the line
of conduct which they are taught to pursue? Can they become cold toward God and
Christ, and ardent for the worlds prizes? Tis most sadly evident that the
thing is not possible only, but actually fulfilled in past days. and exhibited
in our own. Where are the churches of
Tis
in its peculiarity that the
usefulness of salt consists. Add meat to meat, and the progress of corruption
will not be checked. Mix together the worldly of one nation with the worldly of
another, and evil only is likely to be increased. Lying, theft, cheating,
bribery, slander, drunkenness, fornication, quarrels, pride, malice, would be
fostered. Tis the union, love, truthfulness, purity, zeal for good words and
works wrought in Christians by the Holy Spirit, which counteract these evils.
If then the world cries out of Christians, - They are
such a strange, peculiar set! - it is a
good sign. The salt has some taste still.
Jesus
then, lest we should be proud, depicts to us the effects of the world, the
flesh, and the devil, in corrupting the disciples. They would fall from the
high station in which they were set, and sink to the level of the flesh and the
world. The salt would become foolish. Its
strangeness, its peculiarity, its unlikeness to the world, is its wisdom. These
are its witness that it has not degenerated. They are its pledge, that it shall
not be useless in its effects on the world. But its becoming like to the world
is its folly. Each step in that direction is destroying its strength, is
displeasing to God, and impairing its testimony to the world.
As
the Christian body sinks to the worlds level, it is of course unable to raise
the world toward heaven and toward God. As it loses the power of godliness, so
is its effect on the worldly lost. At length the critic world cries out, - What is the good of your much boasted system? What the use
of your cumbrous apparatus of organization, and doctrines? We do not see that
there is much difference between us and you. You are pursuing the world and its
prizes, as heartily as ourselves!
Thus
these words of our Lord run parallel with the parable of the leaven. In that, the Saviour foretold the corruption of
the true doctrine and practice, by the old principles of the flesh and the
world. He does the same here.
But
if this internal decline and decay take place, how shall the evil be remedied? Wherewith shall it be salted? Salt stays the corruption of other substances. But if
it lose its virtue, how is it to be restored? Salt is used to give taste to
things insipid. But if its own taste be gone, how shall it be brought back?
The
question implies its hopelessness. There is no remedy. The fallen Christian
dispensation will not be restored. The lapsed general body will be removed from
its place of testimony.
How
far is this from the triumphant attitude which uninstructed men would ascribe
to it! Its end will be, not glory, but disgrace! Far from recovering a fallen
world to God, itself will meet the contempt of the world, as useless, and
incapable of fulfilling the original design of the Most High.
Substances
of many kinds, if they fail in being serviceable to man in their higher uses,
are yet adapted for lower purposes. Here are some baskets of grapes. They are
too unripe to eat, or to dry as raisins. But they will make wine. Or are they
unfit for that purpose? Will they no longer make wine? They will furnish a fine
vinegar. Or are they too corrupted to be employed even for that use? They will
make the best manure for the vines.
But
tis not thus with salt. If it lose its highest uses it has no inferior ones to
which it may be applied. It is fit neither for the land, nor yet for the dunghill.
What
then is its destiny?
1.
To be cast out. While it keeps its taste, its place is within
the house. But, as
soon as its savour toward God is gone, he will reject it from its place of
testimony. Thus Jesus threatens the last of the seven churches. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spue thee out of my mouth: (Greek) Rev. 3: 16.
It
will also, be
trodden underfoot of men. Men here (and generally in the Sermon on the Mount) stand
opposed to disciples. They answer to the world of
Johns gospel and epistles. As Jesus followers would be spread throughout the
world, so will the world at last be cognizant of their loss of the original
Christian spirit. The watchful disciples will be
stolen away from earth by Christ; the tasteless residue will be exposed to the
worlds just contempt.
There
are two perfections of salt, when good. There are two rejections of
it, when worthless. Both God and men will refuse it. It will be deposed
from its eminent place of testimony and usefulness, with scorn of its failure.
Of
this result,
* *
*
Thankfulness
Would
you know who is the greatest saint in the world? Well, it is not he who prays
most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance,
chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills
everything that God wills, and who receives everything as an instance of Gods
goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for His goodness. -
WILLIAM LAW.
Kept
Fances Havergal lived and moved in the Word of God. His Word was
her constant companion. On the last day of her life, she asked a friend to read
to her the 42nd chapter of Isaiah. When the friend read the 6th verse, I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness,
and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, Miss Havergal
stopped her. She whispered, Called - held - kept. I
can go home on that! And she did go home on that. She found His
promises unfailing.
*
* * *
* * *
481
THE SCIENCE
OF JOB
By A. REILLY
COPELAND
IT
has been said that the book of Job contains more science than all literature in
the world up until comparatively modern times. Personally, I believe that this
is true.
Job
taught that the earth hung out in space. He stretcheth out the north
over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon
nothing (Job
26: 7). We only found this out a few
hundred years ago. Who told Job three thousand five hundred years ago? Notice
what he says about the empty place in
the North. Some clear night look at the stars and you will see that there are
but few in the North. This doubly remarkable scientific statement shows the
absolute veracity of the Scriptures. Job
also says: The
pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof (verse 11). Again
he says: Which shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof
tremble (Job
9: 6).
Vibrations
per second run from sixteen and one-half to four hundred and eighty billion,
which is the violet ray of light. Beginning at the lowest audible note, the
limits of sound are reached at thirty-eight hundred vibrations per second.
Passing an unknown region, electricity is reached at about one hundred million
vibrations. Dark heat has about one hundred and thirty thousand million
vibrations. Then comes the octave of colour, corresponding to the octave of
sound, the red rays, with about four hundred thousand millions, and so on up
the spectrum to violet, with four hundred eighty thousand millions. Sound,
electricity, heat, colour and light are the results of vibration. The ear does
not detect colour as it does sound because the auditory nerve is less
sensitive. The optical nerve, or eye, takes it up. Light sings; our ears are
not able to hear its harmonies, but we see them. Light and sound are produced
by the same vibrations, like the cords of a musical instrument. Bible language
anticipates this remarkable discovery. Job
says:- When the
morning stars sang (gave forth vibrations, like a musical instrument) together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy (38: 7). The book of Revelation
speaks much of music. Gods great orchestra of nature can be heard by the
angelic host as it sends forth its wonderful peals of musical anthems. We could
hear it, too, if our ears were tuned high enough. In our glorified body we will
(1 Corinthians 15 : 41).
The
refraction of light is a comparatively modern discovery. Ptolemy, the astronomer, hinted at it, but who told Job? He says: Hast thou commended the morning since thy
days; and caused the day spring to know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth ... It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment (Job 38: 12, 14).
Refraction
is the bending of the ray out of its direct course as it meets the media of
transmission. If the suns rays were not thus refracted, only the direct rays
would reach the earth, the others glancing off and reflecting into space so
that Man would not get the benefit. The atmosphere surrounds the earth in
strata or layers, and when the indirect rays encounter these at an angle they
are caught and bent round like the fingers of the hand for us. This is foretold
by Job. The original language
suggests the diurnal rotation of the earth on its axis. Verse 14, turned as clay to a seal; verse 13, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth. This statement contains all the suggestion of the truth of scientific
refraction of light.
The
discovery of the law of gravitation is comparatively recent. After the
discovery no one suspected that ethereal and volatile substances, were affected
by it.
It
is marvellous when we think how bubbles of cool air gather round them mists of
moisture and that billions of these gather together in the form of a cloud
which holds billions of tons of water in reserve, to be showered upon the earth
and bless mankind. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them (26: 8). Lord
Kelvin said that there never was rain without lightning. Job said, - When he made a decree for the
rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder (28: 26). A flash from the positive and negative poles
bursts the air bubbles of moisture and separates the compactness of the clouds
and causes the heavy air to rush together, which causes copious showers of
rain.
The
sea covers three-fourths of the earth, while the land covers only one-fourth of
the surface. Why does not the sea overwhelm the earths surface? God arranged
it so that there would never be a conflict. The proportion of water and land
makes the atmosphere comfortable for Man to breathe. Were it less or more
either way, life would be a painful burden. God knew this and told us about it
through Job:- Or who shut up the sea with
doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and
said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here
shall thy proud waves be stayed (38: 8-11).
The
science of the heavenly bodies has been an arena for many battles in the
supposed conflict of the Bible with science. There is no contradiction between
science and the Bible. The difficulty is in the mind of the objector. The Bible
is plain on every scientific fact that it touches. A beautiful illustration is
found in the book of Job (9 : 7-10; 38: 31-33).
The
geologic beauties of the earth are given great prominence in the book of Job. He says:- Or speak to the earth, and it
shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air and
they shall tell thee (12: 7, 8).
The
diurnal rotation of the earth already referred to deserves fuller mention. This
law, of course, was not known to the ancients, but Job stated it, nevertheless. For he said, It is turned as clay to a
seal (38:
14). In the British Museum one can see the
clay over which the cylindrical seal used by the Babylonians had passed,
leaving the imprint in much the same way that our printing machines which hold
the type and the cylinder that holds the paper roll over each other, so that
the paper takes the impress of the type and stands forth in beautiful forms.
Thus the earth is revolved as the clay under the seal, and in so doing takes
the impressions of the light and heat and appears like an embroidered garment -
and they stand
as a garment. Thousands of years
before the rotation of the earth was known Job
suggested it. Modern times have discovered that as the earth revolves around
the sun so also does the sun have its own axial rotation and orbit of
revolutions; also that in a similar manner the whole universe is in motion, all
heavenly bodies circling about their respective centres and the universe as a
whole. Madler
thought that he had discovered the universal centre in the star Alcyone, in the little group of seven, called the Pleiades,
and suggested that this star might be the throne of God. Job says, Canst thou bind the sweet
influence of Pleaides? (38: 31). Pleo,
to sail, because the rising of this constellation brought spring rains. The
Chaldaic word means a hinge, a pivot, an axle.
This means, of course, that it moves and everything moves with it. Thus the
fact of universal rotation is clearly taught. The Pleaides form at least one of
the hinges or axles for universal rotation.
GENERAL
SCIENCE OF JOB
Meteorology,
including the aurora borealis (37: 22-23),
tornadoes (36: 32;
37: 1-5), dew (38: 28), clouds and rains (38:
26-29),
snow, frost, hail and ice (38: 22, 23, 39), dawning of the morning (38: 12-14).
Zoology : 1.
Insects - The spider (8: 14, 15), the
moth (4: 18,
19; 27: 18). 2.
Reptiles - The asp and viper (20: 16). 3.
Birds and Fowl - The vulture (28: 7), raven (38: 41), the stork and ostrich (39: 13-18), eagle and hawk (39:
27-30),
owl (30: 39).
4. Beasts - Camel, sheep, ox and
she-ass (1: 3;
42: 12),
lion (41: 10,
11), wild ass (6:
5; 39: 5-8), the dog (30: 1), jackal
(dragon) (30: 29),
mountain goat and hind (39: 1-4), the horse
(39: 19-25), behemoth (hippopotamus) (40: 15-24) and leviathan (or crocodile) (41).
Anatomy
(34: 15).
Geography,
or the natural political divisions of the earth (Job
26: 10; 38:
18).
The Equator (38: 5).
The poles (38: 6).
Mining Operations (28:
1-4)
Natural Gas (28: 5).
Writing, Engraving and Coining (19: 23-24; 31: 35-36; 42: 11).
- The Religious
Digest.
*
* * *
* * *
482
APOSTASY IN
THE CHURCH
By V. TOPPS
JUDES short
epistle contains a striking contrast between false teachers and true in the
Church, Certain
men crept in unawares - But ye beloved
- these are the introductory phrases to
the two subjects under consideration in this brief but exceedingly valuable
letter. The writer first traces the course of apostasy and reveals some of its features, then exhorts his readers to
steadfastness in the faith, those who had been sanctified by God the Father,
and preserved in Jesus Christ and called.
The
oft quoted doxology in verses 24-25 becomes richer when viewed against the
background of the whole epistle. This little book might be called the Falling
Chapter, for it contains references to many falls. In verse
5 we see a people falling,
Judes
concern was that certain men had crept in unawares. Note the preposition for it
is all important. Men who had crept out were not the real danger. They went out from us, John says, but they were not of us; for
if they had been of us, they would no doubt have
continued with us, but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us (1 John 2: 19). The Church, though weakened numerically, has
only been strengthened spiritually when some have openly defected. A deadening
work however has been performed by those who have crept in. Even in that early
day, approximately A.D. 66, professing members of the Church were denying the
doctrine of free grace, and it was necessary to urge the saints to contend
earnestly for the faith. Subsequent history has shown how needful the warning
was.
A
consideration of verse 11 will give the
thoughtful reader much light on the subject of these apostatising teachers,
these men who have crept into the Church undiscerned. Woe unto them, cries
Jude, for they
have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward, and
perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Consider each of these illustrations briefly.
THE WAY OF
CAIN
The
mention of Cain indicates how early the trouble started and its source.
Modernism is not really modern for it had its springs in
Cain
may be said therefore to have been the first to introduce a bloodless theology.
In this he was typical of thousands to follow, men now found within the Church
who deny the vital truth of redemption through the blood of Christ. To-day as
in A.D. 66 there are many with an alternative Gospel, and it can be said largely of the great denominational movements that
they have gone in the way of Cain - they have left out the blood. False
teachers abound who deny that the Lord bought us with His blood, and Peter
prophesied that many would follow their pernicious ways (2 Peter 2: 2).
Pernicious teaching, the bloodless theology initiated by Cain, is the first
mark of the apostate teacher.
THE ERROR OF
BALAAM
Balaam
was a professional enchanter. Of
false prophets in the Church, Jude says they have run greedily after the error
of Balaam for reward. What was the error of Balaam? He made several, but his
chief error lay in persisting in a course which he knew to be
wrong for reward. Come, curse me Jacob, and come defy
Peter
draws attention to this fatal greed of Balaams. He loved the wages of unrighteousness. There is no more pathetic figure in Scripture. How
unutterably sad are his words I shall see him,
but not now. I shall
behold him, but not nigh
(Numbers 24: 17).
This man knew the value and the end of righteousness. He coveted
the lot of the righteous, knowing that the end of that man is peace.
Let me die the
death of the righteous, and let my last end be
like his (Numbers 23: 10). But he was not prepared to live the life of the
righteous. He loved the wages of unrighteousness, the present material gain. Balaam hoped to work for one master and draw his wages from another. Fatal
delusion, for God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.
Many
so-called Christian teachers are running greedily after the error, stifling
conscience to preach a Gospel which will secure them advancement and
preferment, but which they know to be futile and false. The error of
Balaam! The Church is indeed suffering at the hands of professional shepherds, hirelings as
the Lord called them. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while
some coveted
after, they have erred from the
faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows (1
Timothy 6: 10).
THE
GAINSAYING OF KORAH
Korah
(Core in Jude 11) headed a rebellion in his
day against the leadership of
Yet
we see the counterpart of Korah from earliest days in the Church. Unregenerate
men are never satisfied with Gods arrangements. The divine order of priesthood
since the ascension of Christ has been one of beautiful simplicity - a
King-priest in Heaven and a kingdom of priests on earth, every [regenerate] believer being a priest unto God, able to offer
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ and needing no
intermediary. There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1
Timothy 2: 5). But religionists from
the first have considered this insufficient and imposed an earthly priesthood
on the heavenly seeking to intrude between the believer and his Lord, ignoring
the clear teaching of the New Testament. Their lot like Korah is to perish, but
alas many perish with them in their gainsaying. Priestcraft is the third great
mark of apostasy.
FOUR-POINT
PROGRAMME
From
these thoughts Jude turns to address his readers more directly - But ye beloved. It had been necessary to dwell at some length on the
character of apostasy so that the false
teaching could be readily recognised. It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should
earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Now he concludes with a brief but forceful appeal
to the believers to develop and deepen their spiritual life, the only sure way
to combat error and apostasy. Verses 20-21 contain a four point programme for victorious
living.
First, building up yourselves in your most holy
faith. This is a call to edification. The Word of
Gods grace is able to build us up, and the believer well-taught in the Word
will be quick to detect error. In a measure the saints are able to build each
other up and to edify one another, but there is also the need for personal
feeding on the Word - building up yourselves.
Second, praying in the Holy Ghost. This is a
call to supplication. The Spirit
directs the mind of the true seeker to the Throne of Grace, where we can obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Only by praying in the Holy
Ghost can the Christian develop his prayer life fully. Prayers composed by
other men centuries ago have perhaps a literary value but not a spiritual. Paul
said, I will
pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the
understanding also. (1 Cor. 14: 15).
The Devil trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
Third, keep yourselves in the love of God -
a call to preservation. There is a sense in which the believer must keep
himself. Though preserved in Jesus Christ and called (verse
1), preservation is here enjoined as a spiritual exercise. Jude points
to Christ as the One who is able to keep, yet exhorts his readers keep yourselves in the love
of God. Deliberately therefore
the child of God must maintain his spirituality by living in the good of
heavenly things and keeping within the influence of Gods love.
Fourth, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal [Gk. aionios]
life - this is expectation. The hourly
expected return [and Millennial Reign] of the Saviour from Heaven is the highest incentive
to holy living and steadfastness in the faith. An atmosphere of expectancy
prevailed in the early Church, and it was doubtless the dimming of
that glorious hope, the slackening in day to day looking, which led eventually
to spiritual sloth and a lack of earnestness, and which let in a flood of error
never since eradicated. No programme for Christian living is
complete without the hope of the Coming. The grace of God teaches us that we
should live
... looking
(Titus 2: 12-13); looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing for the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
-
The Balance of
Truth.
* *
*
BORED WITH
HIM
It is now common practice in most
evangelical churches to offer the people, specially the young people, a maximum
of entertainment and a minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible
in most cases to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is
God. One can only conclude that Gods professed children are bored with Him,
for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of
religious movies, games and refreshments. This has influenced the whole pattern
of church life, and even brought into being a new type of church architecture,
designed to house the golden calf
Any objections to carryings on of
triumphant golden-calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, But we are winning disciples. And winning them to what? To true
discipleship? To self-denial? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To
nobility of character? To a despising of the worlds treasures? To hard
self-discipline? To love of God? To total committal to Christ? Of course the
answer to all these questions is no.
We
are paying a frightful price for our religious boredom.
- A. W. TOZER
-------
WRATH
There is on record the experience of a young man who
went to listen to George Whitfield when that master evangelist was in his
neighbourhood. He said:- Mr. Whitfield described the
Sadducean character. This did not touch me: I considered myself as good a
Christian as any man in
-------
DESPAIR
Stephen Grellet relates
that a young friend - Mary Roscoe -
hearing of Tom Paines destitute and
forsaken condition, frequently visited him on his death-bet, taking nourishment
suitable for an invalid. Once he asked her if she had ever read any of his
writings, and on being told that she had read but very little of them, he
enquired what she thought of them, adding, from such
a one as you I expect a correct answer. She told him that when very
young his Age of Reason was put into her
hands, but that the more she read in it the more the dark and distressed she
felt, and she threw the book into the fire. I wish
all had done as you, he replied, for if the
devil has ever had any agency in any work he has had it in my writing that book.
When going to carry him some refreshment she repeatedly heard him uttering the
language, O Lord! Lord God or Lord Jesus! have mercy upon me!
*
* *
[PART II]
APOSTASY WITHIN
THE CHURCH
The
tragedy of to-days unbelief in the Church is seen afresh in this letter. It
was addressed by Lt. - Col. L. M. Davies
to Professor O. S. Rankin, who
gave an inaugural address on The Interpretation
of the Old Testament in the History of Judaism and the Church,
at the
DURING your address at the Martin Hall, New College,
yesterday afternoon, on the subject of: Interpretation
of the O.T. in the History of Judaism and the Church, you said many
things which I, as a Bible student for more than 50 years, and a scientist for
40 years, regard as completely false. Among these were your assertions that:-
(a) The Old Testament does not contain
prophecies regarding our Lords life on earth. You specifically denied, e.g., that Isaiah
53 refers to Him.
(b) You also denied that the Old
Testament prophets predicted anything beyond what would occur in their own
lifetime, or day.
This,
of course, flatly contradicts the testimony of the New Testament, and
represents as nonsense what even Gibbon
admitted to be the chief claim of the early Christians who, he said, insisted much more strongly on the predictions which announced,
than on the miracles which accompanied, the appearance of the Messiah (Decline
and Fall, end of chapter 15). You derided those who do the same
to-day, saying that they: make the Bible a sort of
Old Moores Almanac. So that is how you describe those who follow our
Lords own example (Luke 24: 25-27; etc.)
II. When your address was concluded, I expressed my protest, and
challenged you to public debate on the score of your assertions. This challenge
you declined. That is typical of people of your stamp.
III. I then asked if you believed that Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and
buried, and yet rose again from the grave on the third day, and you said you
did not. So I told you that you are obviously not a Christian, since you reject
the Gospel proclaimed by Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles (2 Tim. 2: 8), and are still unsaved (Rom. 10: 9) and remain in your sins (1 Cor. 15: 14, 17).
Yet
it seems that you are engaged by a nominally Christian Church, to teach its
future ministers. If any of these youths are Christians when they come to you,
they obviously will not be Christians - if you can help it - by the time that
you have finished with them.
*
* *
* * *
*
483
AN OPEN DOOR
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
HOW unutterably wonderful it would be if we had a
letter put into our hands written by the Lord Jesus Christ since He has gone
into Heaven, and directly addressed to ourselves. But this is exactly what we
have. Our Lord, by the words with which He sums up every Letter He writes to
the Seven Churches, charges these Letters home on every believer, everywhere,
for all time:- He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the Churches: what the
Spirit is saying not to the Angels, but to the Churches; not merely Letters
posted through John to seven cities, but Letters sent to the churches
everywhere, so long as there are churches; Letters spoken by the Spirit silently,
convincingly, with enormous enrichment, to every believer throughout the world
who has an ear that can hear. So these Letters, dictated to John by our Lord
personally in
The Opener
In
every Letter our Lord purposely fills the whole background, and is Himself the
fountain, the dynamo, the hinge of all service; and to Philadelphia He shows
Himself as the One who locks and unlocks with the omnipotence of God, and with
the finality of fate. He that is holy, he that is
true, he that hath the key of David; he that openeth, and none
shall shut; and that shutteth, and none openeth
(Rev. 3: 7). He holds the key of all lands, for the door of
service; the key of all hearts, for the door of hearing; the key of all
Scripture, for the door of holiness: He
holds the keys of Death and Hades, for the opening of the tomb; the keys of
Heavens door - I
saw a door opened in heaven (Rev. 4: 1) - for
rapture. Wherever there is a lock in the universe, Christ holds the key, to
turn it either way: He opens and all Hells might hurled against that little
gate moves it not an inch; and He locks with the finality of doom.
A Door
Opened
So
A Kept Word
In dealing with the present state of the Church, the
Lord opens, as He always does, by finding what He can praise. I know that thou hast a
little power - how humbling for
us all, that this is, the highest praise the Lord gives to any of the Churches!
- and (using that little well, Alford) didst keep (obey, watchfully observe, Moses Stuart) my word - my body of
doctrine, my entire teaching, including (for us) the Seven Letters - and didst not deny my name - tested, in given moments in the past, you stood
forth as Christian, whatever the cost. The supreme quality in the Angel on
which Christ seizes is not his Scriptural creed, but its active embodiment in
his life. A church may be poor in its temporal resources, but rich in its
fidelity; if my strength is small, God does not demand from me what only
greater gifts could produce; wherever I am, it is enough if I live His Word,
and whatever my resources, if I devote them to the glory of His name. Brainerd saw souls crowding to Christ: William Carey, on the other hand,
worked for seven years without a single conversion; and Henry Martyn saw scarcely one throughout
his ministry, yet he cried, - Let me burn out for God,
and he did: God measures by the purity and Intensity of the
flame, rather than by the immensity of the forests which it sets on fire.
Enemies
Our
Lord next unfolds the important lesson that our honour, our ultimate
vindication, is in His hands alone, and that nothing really matters but His
Judgment Seat; and so He touches on the invariable accompaniment of the open
door. Paul said:- A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and (not but: an opened door creates an enraged enemy) there
are many adversaries (1 Cor.
16: 9).
So here. Behold,
I give of the synagogue of Satan - in the first century the Jews were among the
fiercest persecutors of the Church - (some) of them which say they are Jews, and they are not - for all are not Israel who are
merely Israel by blood (Rom. 9: 6): - behold I will make them to
come and worship before thy feet;
and the Angels enemies shall also know that he has won his Lords special love
- and to know
that I have loved thee.* So our Lord
had promised when on earth. He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; AND I WILL LOVE HIM (John 14: 21).
*
It is an extraordinary warning to us all
that a letter from Ignatius to this
very Church, only a generation later, reveals that these Christians, seduced by
Judaizers, had come to reject the New Testament, and to accept only the Old.
Rapture
Our
Lord now gives the only direct and personal promise given in all the Seven
Letters; and He bases it solely on the kept word. He
flings open the door of rapture into heaven. Because thou didst keep the word of my
patience - the truth of the
Lords prolonged patience until He makes His enemies His footstool - I also - I correspondingly - will keep thee - thee, emphatic and prominent (Alford) - from the hour of trial, that
hour which is to come upon the whole world, to
try them that dwell upon the earth.
Second Advent truth, on which our Lord bases the Angels escape, is far from
being kept by all the children of God. No religious
leader, - is the pathetic cry of Miss
Christabel Pankhurst, ever told me, that not by the Labour Movement, nor by the
Woman Movement, but by the way He has Himself provided will God bring peace on
earth. The Angel is not to be preserved through
the Great Tribulation, for he is to be preserved from its season - I will keep thee from the hour - the season in which it happens moreover, as he is
actually dead, he cannot be kept through it he
is to be kept from it, either by removal, or by death; and the Lord thus
bases rapture foursquare on fidelity, not on conversion. If the
Angel had not escaped the Great Tribulation by death he would have escaped it
by rapture. Observe the lex benigna of the Kingdom of God, as Archbishop
Trench observes: because thou hast kept, therefore I also will keep:
because thou hast kept my word, therefore in return I will keep thee.* Satan masses all his legions to block this door (Rev. 12: 7); but he
only has the door of heaven in consequence locked for ever on him: - WHO SHUTTETH,
AND NONE OPENETH.
[* Christian!
beware of wilfully neglecting this stated and Divine condition
for qualification as partaker in the coming pre-tribulation rapture!
See also Luke 21: 34-36, A.V. & R.V.]
The Crown
Our
Lord now opens the door to coronation. Once again comes the inevitable warning,
even to the one Church on which falls no blame: its crown, even its crown, is
in peril. Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown: hold fast your patience, your stedfast faith, your labour of love;
hold fast sound doctrine and your lowly life and unworldly conversation. It
is no small thing to hold even what we have - having done all, to stand; and
many of us need to realize that what we are doing is far more valuable than we
know. A small jewel can be a priceless gem. So, the Saviour says, hold fast; for our crown
- not our life - is in jeopardy thy crown - if
we have run well, it is already banked to our credit but, that no one take it
- be indifferent, be slothful, be
unfaithful, and our crown
passes to other brows. The
parallel truth, of the transference of opportunity, is openly pronounced at the
Judgment Seat:- Take
away from him the pound and give it unto him that hath the ten pounds (Luke 19: 24). LET NO MAN, as Paul sums it up (Col. 2:
18), ROB YOU OF YOUR PRIZE.
The Throne
So
now the last door opens, that door into the [Lords coming
and promised (Ps. 2:
8. cf.
110: 1-3) Millennial and Messianic] Kingdom
through which only the
overcomer passes. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God,
and I will write upon him the name of my God, and mine own new name. Steadfastness in duty culminates in steadfastness in
glory. Satans wisdom always lies in imitating God; and the
tattooing of the name of the Antichrist (Rev.
13: 16)
in the flesh of every votary is doubtless a conscious imitation of what Satan
knows will be done by God - foreheads stamped with the name because permeated
with the character of God. Exactly so we find the 144,000, a body of rapt first-fruits, having his name, and the name
of His Father, written on their foreheads (Rev. 14:
1): with such a
distinction impressed on him, the conqueror would be recognized and
acknowledged by all as entitled to his place in the New Jerusalem (Moses Stuart). So the three golden
distinctions - rapture, coronation, enthronement - our Lord makes dependent on [our] works,
because the whole Letter is governed by its opening statement - I know thy works:
that is, the Letter is no statement of fundamental salvation, but
an analysis of our conduct, with its consequences; and therefore watchfulness,
unfaintingness, overcoming He explicitly states to be the conditions which
alone create the golden rewards. A field-marshals baton (it used to
be said) slumbers in every common soldiers knapsack; and when Napoleon was once asked to create a
marshal, he replied - It is not I who make marshals,
but victory.
An Open Ear
Finally, the Lord clenches all home on the individual
heart:- He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. The fact that the Holy Spirit transmits the words
lifts them out of all limits of time and place, and makes them binding so long
as the Spirit, together with churches, are on earth; and, as it is what the
Spirit is saying to the churches, the
unhearing ear, as well as the hearing, is inside the
Church. Our Lord thus inserts a characteristic and pregnant warning by the use
of a phrase which He always employs (Matt. 11: 15; 13: 9-43; Mark 7: 16; Rev. 13: 9) for
truths of singular importance, disconcerting character, and rare acceptance:- He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. The Saviours implication is
that His words will be accepted and lived by only a few in the Churches.
Be that
one, Jesus says. Such a believers church may perish, but he can reach the
summit of
*
* *
APOSTASY
Sometime back we quoted a foremost Christian journal
which gave the address of the Baptist Chapel in which Mr. Bevin (the Foreign Secretary) was a prominent member as a young
man, and gave Gospel addresses. It is an appalling sign of the times that Review of World Affairs (Jan. 1949) describes
Mr. Bevin as he is now: - In religion he is an agnostic. He simple thinks that there
is nothing beyond this planet; and the religious conviction that life on this
planet is a mysterious process or pilgrimage, involving a great deal of
character building for vast and supreme purposes beyond our present grasp, is
an absolute nonsense to him.
OVERCOMERS
It is tragic
how many evangelicals abhor responsibility truth. A striking example has just been given (Life of Faith, Dec. 15, 1948) by Basil Atkinson. He says, The idea has sometimes been mooted that an overcomer is a
special kind of Christian. This is not so. The New Testament knows of no
special kind of Christian, though we all know people who believe that such cliques
exist today, yet only if they suppose themselves to belong to them! An
overcomer is another name for a believer. He will be freely given the fruit of
the tree - that is to say, he will enjoy the gift of everlasting life.
BACKSLIDERS
What does this mean? That the worst backsliders, and
one who dies as such, will receive all the golden prizes and honours, designed
for developed service even to martyrdom, which our Lord holds out to the Seven
Churches; and if these are attained simply by saving faith - and the Lord says
that every overcomer will receive them - then every
[regenerate] believer must receive them all. Not only does such
exposition baffle all comment, but the solemn warnings of our Lord and the
Apostles, addressed beyond all challenge to [regenerate] believers,
are made totally irrelevant to the
Church. What will such evangelicals
feel when they discover the [accountability] truth at the
Judgment Seat of Christ?
*
* * *
* * *
484
THE SERMON
ON THE MOUNT
(Matt. 5: 20)
By ROBERT
GOVETT, M.A.
WHAT is meant by the kingdom of heaven?
1. Certainly it does not mean, the church. For the party
supposed is a teacher of the Law and its ceremonies. Now Paul bids disciples to
beware of the teachers of the Law.
2. No! Jesus is speaking throughout of one time; of the day of recompense
to each according to his works; and therefore of the millennial kingdom. This
is proved also, by the close of the next verse: where the offence there stated
will shut out from entering the kingdom. This
phrase is always used of the time of reward. Compare Matt. 25: 21; Heb. 4: 3-11; Acts 14: 22; Luke 24: 26.
But whosoever shall do
and teach them, the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.
Doing,
in our Lords words, is set first, as being the chief point. Teaching comes afterwards. The voice of deeds is the
strongest. Thus, also, we learn what our Lord means by destroying, and its contrary, building up.
Destroying is effected by breaking the law, and then maintaining the breach by
hostile words and teaching. Building up is
effected by contrary deeds. Our Lord, as His peoples surety, so fulfilled the
law and prophets. He did as they commanded: He taught others to do, as they required. Witness His words to
the healed leper, His miracle enabling Peter to pay the tribute-money; with
other cases of like kind.
The
Saviour teaches, in the above words, that great lesson which occurs so often:-
the differences of degrees in the kingdom of glory. And those degrees will not
be arbitrarily assigned, but on a fixed, well-known principle, - According as his work shall
be. Thus Jesus has shewn His
value for the Law. The offender against its least claim shall be a loser in
that new dispensation of reward which He came to proclaim. He Himself, as the
chief Doer and Teacher, shall be first and chief in the kingdom.
Ought we then to keep the Law and its ceremonies? Shall we be subject to loss, if we do not?
No, we are not
under law, but under grace (Rom. 6: 14, 15). This question was once tried, and decided in
our favour (Acts 15). These words of the
Saviour applied to men of the Law, up to the date of Christs resurrection.
After that, Peter is taught, that the distinction of meats is done away; and
Paul assures us, that for a Gentile to receive circumcision, is to put himself
away from Christ, and to lose his part in the millennial glory (Gal. 4: 5).
20.
For I say unto
you, that
except your righteousness shall exceed
(that of) the
Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
A
very solemn word! Let us pray to understand it aright!
This
verse refers, in its opening word For, to the last clause of ver. 17. I came to fill up
the deficiencies of the law and the prophets. For I tell you,
etc. The two references to the two parts of Jesus assertion are marked by the
words, For I say
unto you. For I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, no jot, etc., ver. 18. I came not to
destroy, I came to fulfil: for I
say unto you, that except your
righteousness, etc., ver.
20.
I say unto you. This marks the greatness of the speaker. He tells us
secrets which had else been hid till the judgment day. How these
offences would affect men then, could not else be known: or on what it is that
the continuance of heaven and earth is suspended. All rests on His assertion.
Faith clasps it.
1. What is our righteousness,
- we ask? 2. What that of the Scribes? How must
it exceed theirs, that we may enter millennial joy? Righteousness is conformity
to law. It is a doing, with intention of heart, what the law requires. Our
righteousness is either - (1) imputed, received by faith; or (2) practical, the acted holiness of a sanctified life. It is either anothers, or our
own. (1) Imputed
righteousness is not in question here. Jesus is not
calling unbelievers to faith, but believers to action. Imputed righteousness must already be possessed, ere we are disciples :
and it is disciples that Jesus is addressing.
This
threatening of our Lord is the immediate consequence of the elevation of the
standard. Just so was it, when the government of our country introduced new
weights and measures. The old were thrown out; there were penalties annexed to
using them. Except your bushel exceed the old
standard, your goods are liable to be seized. So an inspector might
say, I am come to enlarge the standard of the bushel,
and as a consequence, let me tell you, that any selling by the old bushel will
be liable to a fine. Twas no hostile authority that set up the new
bushel, and set aside the old. Twas the imperial decree of the realm, the
decision of the constitution of
(2) Jesus then is speaking of our obedience or practical righteousness.
Disciples righteousness then differs from that of the Scribes and Pharisees, in its standard;
by owning Jesus as the Great Lawgiver, and His word as our rule. It has a
special reference to the Saviours declaration, that He came to elevate the
level of the moral commands. Justice was Moses demand - Mercy is Christs.
We
must then, in order to enter the
millennial kingdom, admit the superior tone of the commands of the Sermon
on the Mount. This comes first, as the doctrinal basis of our obedience. We
shall not in our conduct obey, what we do not in understanding and heart admit.
(2) We must next obey, or carry out in our lives the new
commands. This is the practical superstructure. Thus will our righteousness exceed
that of the Scribes.
1. For the Scribes denied the new standard, and admitted only the
authority of Moses. They refused the word of Jesus. They would not allow others
to own it, if they could help it. They distinguished themselves as Moses disciples (John 9: 26-29). This
was the doctrinal basis of their righteousness:- God spake to Moses: the commands of the law are to be observed.
2. They sought, some of them sincerely, no doubt, to keep the law. The
Law was their standard: it they aimed to keep. The teaching of the Scribes was
their instruction in righteousness. If they had arrived at perfection, it had
been perfection of justice. Denying the new standard, of
course, they refused to act it out. Thus both their creed and their practice
would exclude them from the [Lords coming] kingdom.
But
the Saviour warns [His] disciples, that their righteousness must exceed this righteousness.
It must exceed the old righteousness in these two great points.
We
shall not exceed the Scribes and Pharisees righteousness, except we take a
higher standard than theirs. Such as the height of our target is, such will be
our aim. In short, Jesus teaches us, that
a perfect observance of the ten commandments of Moses will not admit into His
millennial kingdom. He who
would attain the kingdom, must own, that Jesus has heightened, and rightfully,
the demands of the law and the prophets; and must conform his conduct thereto.
His (1) standard, and (2) his practice, must both
be above those of the Scribes. If we own no higher standard than the Decalogue,
our practice will not exceed that of some of the Scribes and Pharisees. The
righteousness of the Pharisee then assumed the (1) standard of Moses law. (2)
His obedience was that required by it.*
* Our Lord seems to have hinted at the two points, of doctrine and practice, by speaking first of the Scribes,
who taught Moses as their standard: and then of the Pharisees, the strictest sect in obedience of those under law.
Before
Jesus came, to keep the Law was enough. But to keep it as our measure still, is
to deny Jesus legislation, and filling up the imperfections of the law.
An example of a disciple throwing aside the
righteousness of the law, taking a higher standard, and seeking a loftier
prize, is given us in Phil. 3. There you have imputed righteousness accepted,
as setting a man at the starting-post (ver. 3-9). Then suffering and holiness are
desired, as the way to the first resurrection,
and the prize (verses 10, 14) That I might know Him and the
power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of
His sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death: if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection [out] from
the dead. (Greek.)* Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth to those things which are before,
I press towards the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
[* NOTE: The
literal reading of this clause from the Greek text is, - if possibly I may attain to the resurrection out
of dead ones.
One
would have to be self-deceived to imagine this future resurrection is
anything other that what it actually is - a literal,
future, and selective resurrection of reward from the place of the dead in the heart of the
earth, (Matt. 12: 40, R.V.). The disembodied souls
of the dead are presently awaiting this out-resurrection from Hades!
See Luke 16: 23,
30-31; Acts 2: 17-34, cf. Rev.
20: 5, 12-15, R. V.,
and compare our Lords teaching,
recorded by Luke in 16: 22-31, R.V. with Johns
in Rev. 6:
9-11,
R.V.): and Peter describing the same event, which will take place at: the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls,
(1 Pet. 1:
9, R.V.). It is not a standing up out from those who will be resurrected
at this time!]
Thus
the Saviour has exhibited to us the two great portions of the Law. - 1.
THE CEREMONIAL: 2. THE MORAL.
1. He instructs us first, what would be the result of a breach of the ceremonial. That portion is left where it was.
2. He teaches us next, that the moral part of the law is elevated by Himself:
and He assures us, that an ignoring of this, a consequent lower standard, with
a practice reaching only to the height of the old covenant will exclude, not
from eternal life, but from His millennial kingdom.
Both
Jesus disciples of that day and the Pharisees observed, and were taught to
observe, the ceremonial law. In that, therefore, the difference would not lie.
It must then be found in this, - that Jesus elevated the demands of the moral,
beyond Moses: and the disciples were to (1)
own this
righteousness of Jesus, and to (2) obey it. In our
Lords closing words, we find this truth confirmed. Jesus again demands both
these as necessary to enter the [coming] kingdom:- Not every one that saith unto
me Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven.
The
calling Jesus - Lord - owns His right to
command. That suffices not. There must be, beside owning the loftier standard, obedience to
it.
Christians!
[if you are regenerate (i.e. born-again
by the Holy Spirit)] eternal
life is yours! of Gods free gift to faith: Jesus [Christ] purchased it for you by His righteousness, - the righteousness of God.
Great is the boon: ever be God adored for it!
But
that is not all. Faith has set you at Christs feet as His disciples. You have
now to learn His new sayings, which astonish those of the law, as altogether
strange, unheard of, vast! Jesus came to set before you a great prize, - the resurrection of the just, [or righteous (Lk. 14: 14)] - the kingdom
of heaven. This you are to seek; and obedience to Jesus new commands, as the
way thereto. Press on then towards the mark, for the great glory set before
you.
As
this question is so important, I will go over the field again, starting from a
somewhat different point.
WHAT WAS JESUS ATTITUDE WITH REGARD TO
MOSES LAW?
The
ordinary reply is, 1. That
Jesus annulled the ceremonial and judicial portions of it, but re-affirmed the moral; only clearing away as was needful, the
corruptions of the Jewish teachers.
But
this is not true: for -
1. Jesus confirms the ceremonial portions of the law (ver. 19, 23; 8: 4; 23: 2, 3; etc.)
2. He sets aside the judicial part; He annuls to disciple, as we shall see, the very
foundation-principle of judicial law. He sets aside former enactments regarding
the defence of property and person and concerning oaths and divorce (ver. 31-48).
3. He extends the demands of the moral commandments of Moses, both as regards the subjects,
the offences, and the penalties; as we shall presently see.
4. But, since the Gospel has gone forth to the Gentiles, and Christ is
risen [out] from the dead, the ceremonial part of the law is no
longer binding, even on the Jewish disciple of Christ. What portion of Moses
then binds the Gentile, to whom it was never given, and who never came under it
by circumcision? The Gentile is born under the law of the conscience, but not
under that of Moses.*
*
True it is, that at Baptism,
Confirmation, and the Lords Supper, the Churchman is set under the Decalogue.
But it is only by omitting a part of the words - that the Ten Commandments are
made to embrace the Gentile. What says the Prayer Book? God spake these words, and said, I am the Lord thy God: Thou
shalt have none other gods but me. The words, I am
the Lord thy God which have brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage, are omitted. God is not the Lord thy God, of Englishmen. He never brought them out of
Moreover,
Christs apostles teach us that the law is a WHOLE. You cannot extract a part, and leave the rest. The Law curses all who do not keep every commandment
of it (Gal. 3: 10; Jas. 2: 10). You
cannot take the Decalogue and refuse the sacrifices and circumcision. The
Sabbath is a part of the ceremonial law; and no fire may be kindled on it, and
the breaker of it is to be put to death (Ex.
35: 2, 3). Paul resisted circumcision with the most
determined energy, because it was a taking up a portion of the ceremonial law,
and that drew after it the whole (Gal. 5: 2-4). Behold, I Paul say unto you,
that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Take up the ten commands, and you must receive also
the ceremonial, and judicial portions of the law as well. It refuses to be
severed. The hand of God has united its parts.
The
ordinary view supposes, that Jesus means to retain the Decalogue, the old
standard of duty. It distinguishes our righteousness from that of the
Pharisees, in that (1) they refuse and
we accept, imputed
righteousness. (2) Our obedience is
better than theirs. Our Lords command on this view, then, in substance, is, Do you keep the Decalogue more strictly than the Pharisees!
But the most zealous for it, do not observe the whole. They break the Sabbath.
Instead of keeping the day enacted in the fourth commandment, they keep
another. Nor do they observe the first day of the week, for the reason which
God assigned for keeping the seventh. The seventh day was to be observed, because God rested thereon. The first day is kept, because
Christ rose [out] from
the dead.
If
then Christians are the salt of the earth, because they observe the Decalogue:
Jesus,
instantly after speaking of the Scribes and Pharisees righteousness, appeals
to the law of Moses, because it was their standard. He speaks not of their works, till the sixth chapter. He quotes the law, as the standard and ideal of
their righteousness. Righteousness in the teacher has just been set forth, as
consisting in teaching and doing. These words exhibit both the ideal standard, and the corresponding practice. As the laws of Moses were designed for Gods earthly people, so are
those of this discourse, laws for Gods heavenly people.
*
* *
MARTYRS
A
brilliant Chinese student was offered a fine position with the government. When
Bishop Wilson S. Lewis asked the
young man why he refused the splendid offer and volunteered to preach the gospel for a mere pittance,
he said: During the Boxer uprising I lived in an
island village where there was a temple for devil worship. The Christians were
led by the soldiers to that temple and ordered to renounce their religion and
bow before the devil image or they would be executed. I saw one hundred and
sixty-three of my townsmen walk by the devil god with heads erect, when a
little bow would have saved their lives - then out to the great beam over which
they placed their heads for the swift stroke of the executioners sword that
sent their heads rolling in the dust. My father was one of that number. It was
the unshaken integrity of their faith that thrilled me and gave me a longing for the new life. I must go back and tell my
fellow townsmen of Christ.
REFUSAL
To
refuse Christ is to influence others against Him profoundly. The keeper of a
drawbridge received orders to have the bridge closed for a fast express train
which was soon to pass over the bridge. A tug boat came up the river, and
whistled for the bridge to be opened. The keeper thought he had plenty of time
to let it pass before the express train came. So, he disobeyed orders and
opened the bridge. Suddenly, he heard the whistle of the coming train! He
quickly tried to close the bridge, but before he could do so, the express train
came down the track, and plunged into the river! Hundreds of lives were lost
because of the keepers disobedience. The keeper of the bridge went insane. He
was placed in a padded cell. There he muttered day and night, If I only had! If I only had!
If he only had obeyed orders, hundreds of lives would
have been saved and his own life kept from ruin.
*
* * *
* * *
485
ALL THINGS
WORKING FOR GOOD
By D. M. PANTON,
B.A.
THE most brilliant star on the Christians horizon
reveals overwhelmingly the love of God. ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD
(Rom. 8: 28). In these days of darkness and horror, and of
growing iniquity, no comfort is more desperately necessary than this. It is not
that the apparent impossibilities of such a truth are ignored or forgotten:
they are stated in this very chapter. The subjection of the creature to the
bondage of corruption; the groaning and travailing in pain; tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, the sword: -
all are here carefully named; but above all the storm is our exquisite rainbow
- all things
work together for good to them that love God.
Loving God
But
we need first to repeat the Holy Spirits emphasis. The original Greek, followed
by the Revised Version, puts these words first - To them
that love God all things work together for good. Love is the most wonderful thing in the universe: God
is love, and we love him because he first loved us (1 John 4: 19): every re-born child of God loves Him, and for
such only is this marvellous truth. The convictions of Christians may differ,
their relations to each other may be sadly at variance, but in this one
fundamental fact - that they love God - their identity and unity is for all eternity.
Love to God sweetens every bitter cup, and lightens
every heavy burden (C. H. Irwin).
Working
Together
But
now we observe the wonderful complexity of this truth. All nature is full of
mind: all things (for the child of God) are co-ordinated to effect one end: all
is a marvellous and intricate mass of co-operating forces: for all things work together. In boyhood the writer was shown over a newspaper
office which contained a machine, at that time, unique in the provinces. The
machine was composed of intricate rods and wheels, and checks and
counter-checks, all incessantly at work, and working in perfect harmony, a
triumph of the human brain: on the right stood a huge roll of coarse paper,
feeding the machine; and on the left, in folding pans, a complete newspaper was
delivered, actually folded ready to hand to a customer. Exactly so, all things
are co-ordinated to one end: one wheel turns opposite to the other wheels, but all work together to one
goal.
All Things
Let
us ponder for a moment the component parts of this glorious machine in which we
believers are caught up by the grace of God. Wheel and bar and band and screw
and rod - all
things work together for good. In
the words of George Muller:- Not 999 out of 1,000, but 999 plus one. The invisible world, with its angelic
hosts; the rise and fall of empires; all the experiences of our life; the
unceasing conflicts with Satan; our joys and our sorrows: all things are
working to a pattern designed by God and stored in Heaven. To grasp this truth
means that the Christian, so far from murmuring, will realize in eternity that
all the past worked, and is working, for his highest good. Even unjust censure
benefits. The yoke of censure is an irksome one,
said C. H. Spurgeon, but it prepares a man
for future honour. He is not fit to
be a leader who has not run the gauntlet of contempt. Praise intoxicates if it be not preceded by abuse. Men who rise to eminence without a struggle
usually fall into dishonour. That the stars in their courses fought against
Sisera (Judg.
5: 20) is
proof that the universe
works together for evil to them that
hate God.
Judgment
This
truth casts golden light on a painful side of our experience. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth (Heb. 12: 6). All sin must be purged out at all costs,
either in this life or in the age to come: therefore even afflictions that are
purely punitive, and are the consequences of known sinfulness - whether
inflicted now or at the Judgment Seat of Christ - all co-work in the vast
machinery of God for the ultimate good of His child.*
All chastening
seemeth for the present to be not joyous, but
grievous: yet afterward it yieldeth the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12: 11). Fruit
begins to bud after sharp pruning. A lady friend showed to John Ruskin a beautiful handkerchief with a black ink spot upon it,
and expressed her regret that her handkerchief was ruined. Mr. Ruskin, to her
surprise, requested the loan of the handkerchief; and, after a few days, he
brought it back with a beautiful picture drawn upon it in India ink. He took
the black ink spot as a basis, and made out of it the beautiful picture.
* But it is painfully significant that it is for
good, not for the best. So this truth
covers all the experiences of the Judgment Seat. No sin works for good: sin
purged and forgiven is a far less valuable fact than sin never committed. As Dean Alford puts it. - To include (with Augustine
and others) the sins of believers in the all
things is manifestly to introduce an element
which did not enter into the Apostles consideration; for he is here already
viewing the believer as dead to sin. The severe penalties of the Judgment Seat need
never have occurred and the overcomers remain for ever with the hundred-fold
reward (Matt. 19:
29).
Divine
Mechanism
So
then we arrive at a wonderful conclusion. Gods mechanism is far more perfect
than mans; and if a copy goes wrong - and it can, for Gods copies are
personal beings with wills of their own - the machinery is not jarred or
blocked: but is provided with checks and counter-checks, fitted in for this
very purpose, so that the copy, though delayed - and losing greatly in its
value by delay - is delivered a perfect copy at last. Bishop Francis Paget wrote:- I think, as I look back upon my life, that there is hardly a
single thwarting of my wishes, hardly a single instance where things seemed to
go against me, in which I cannot even now see that by Gods profound mercy they
really went for me all the while. So that if I could have looked forward only
so far as the time now present, I should have longed for and welcomed all those
things which I have feared and grudgingly accepted. There is nothing that God
does not work into His perfect plan of our lives. All lives converge, all
movements tend to do His will, on earth as in heaven.
Divine
Purpose
For
the background of it all is revealed. Even to them that are called, according
to his purpose. The vast
workshop of nature is the laboratory working the eternal bliss of the child of
God; and the key of the machine lies in the word purpose - working to a design planned beforehand by God. The ceaseless working
of all things, from the mighty star-orbits to the molecules incessantly
whirling which no microscope can detect - there is nothing neutral: there are
no loose pullies on which useless belts career idly: all is taut, and working
out a single design. Therefore we know: ours is
not a mere conjecture, or wishful thinking; it is the word of a God who cannot
lie, and the work of a God who controls the entire universe. Infinite love,
co-working with infinite power, has stamped upon all things one design. So we
actually cannot afford to lose a single sorrow: they who come out of great tribulation hold the loveliest harp and sing the sweetest song.
The Goal
Finally,
the words reveal the ideal which the purpose will create. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son. When Voltaire
visited
*
* * *
* * *
486
LITTLE
CHILDREN
By PAUL W.
ROOD, D.D.
SEVERAL years ago my outlook upon life was
revolutionized through reading Matthew 18: 1-14, one of
the most important passages in the Bible. The future of the nation is in the
hands of the boys and the girls. Every child is a bundle of possibilities. What
a challenge that brings to parents, Sunday school teachers, school teachers,
and all who have to do with children !
The
children today are neglected. We are facing a problem of juvenile delinquency
in our nation that is unparalleled. Eighty-five per cent. of present-day crime
is committed by youths under twenty-five years of age. In a survey of ten
million criminal cases, it was found that eighty-five per cent. of the
criminals never attended Sunday school. Twenty-seven million boys and girls are
growing up in this country without spiritual training. There are thirty-seven
million under the age of twenty-five without any kind of religious instruction.
Children
are lost and need salvation. Little children are lost and need salvation. Notice the eleventh verse of
this chapter:- For the Son of
man is come to save that which was lost. Jesus was talking about little children in this chapter. In Luke
19: 10 we read, For the Son of man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost. There He was talking about Zacchaeus. He has to seek a lost adult. But Jesus came to
save children. You do not have to work very hard to win a child. All you have
to do is to explain simply and clearly the plan of salvation.
Seven
times in these fourteen verses we have the expression a little child, or similar ones. You cannot understand this passage
unless you understand the meaning of the term, a little child. It is not a question of boys and girls who have reached
the age of twelve and thirteen. It is a question of little
children.
You
ask, - When is the age of responsibility reached?
It is reached as soon as the child knows the difference between right and
wrong. As soon as the child understands that Jesus died for him, he has reached
the age when he can be dealt with regarding his personal salvation, and he
should be won for the Lord. He must accept Christ when he has reached the age
of responsibility in order to be saved, and he must confess Him. We are not
talking about infants. We know that the grace of God works where it is not
resisted. When Christ died, He died for the whole race, and the blood of Christ
covers the infants. We are talking about those who have reached the age of
responsibility. The age of responsibility is reached many times at the age of
five, six, or seven. Jonathan Edwards was
born again at the age of seven. Spurgeon
revealed his belief in the conversion of children in the words he put in the
mouth of John Ploughman:
Ere a child has reached to
seven,
Teach him all the way to heaven;
Better still the work will thrive
If he learn before hes five.
Children
are lost and consequently need to be born again. Even so it is not the will of your Father
which is in heaven, that one of these little
ones should perish (ver. 14). How old is a little one? Certainly younger than thirteen or fourteen. You
could not take a thirteen year old boy up in your arms, could you? You
certainly could not refer to him as a little one. A
little one is five or six. Jesus says there is danger of a
little one perishing. God wants to save children, and Jesus died to save them.
That lovely girl of yours who is not born again is lost. That precious boy of
yours who is not regenerated is lost. Parents, I urge you to recognize this
fact and to deal with your child regarding his personal relationship to Jesus
Christ and to win him for Christ.
Christ
loves the children. He took them in the crook of His arms and showered blessings
upon them. When Jesus was here on
earth, He saw, He loved, He attracted the children. When He went to
We
have made three major mistakes. First of all, we have neglected child
evangelism altogether. We have minimized its importance. You have no doubt
asked someone who had been to church the night before when you could not
attend: Was there anyone saved last night? Oh, there was a little boy that came forward,
indicating that the conversion of a child did not amount to anything. Why, that
was the greatest thing that could happen! When a boy is converted, not only is
a soul won for Christ, but a life is saved. When you save an adult, you save a
unit; when you save a child, you save a multiplication table.
Secondly,
we have postponed the matter of dealing with boys and girls until they have
reached the adolescent period. We should start dealing with the children at the
age of five or six.
The
third major mistake is that we have not given adequate instruction to the children
after we have won them for the Lord. After a child has been won for Christ he
should be taught to tell others about Jesus. The call of God in the present
hour is a call to win boys and girls for Christ. Christians are being stirred
as never before. The next great revival will be a childrens revival. I say to
you today in the fear of God that the greatest work in all the world is to win
children for Christ. It is better to build a fence at the top of a hill than a
hospital at the bottom.
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones;
for I say unto you, That
in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven (ver. 10).
These angels are closest to the throne of God. Heaven is interested in
children.
If
you want to be like Jesus, you will have to love and win the children. God says
to parents, Bring
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is your privilege and responsibility to win the
children and then instruct them. This is also the responsibility of the
preacher. Let us major in the winning of boys and girls for Christ! If the
truth that children are lost would grip every reader, we would have the
greatest revival this nation or this world has ever seen.
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a
little child unto him, and set him in the midst
of them, and said Verily I say unto you. Except ye be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven (verses 1,
2, 3).
Unless you have a childlike spirit, unless you are humble, unless you have
faith as a child, unless you are teachable you will not enter. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive
one such little child in my name receiveth me. If you want to be great
in the kingdom of heaven, receive, love, pray for, and win the little ones. But whoso shall offend one of
these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Notice that expression, little ones which believe in me. Consequently it is possible for a
little one to believe in Jesus. Jesus plainly, clearly, definitely,
specifically says that some little ones believe in Him.
Christ
warns against the serious offence and danger of causing a little one to
stumble. The word offend means cause to stumble. To despise
a little one means to neglect a little one. They are not despised in the sight
of God. The spiritual welfare of the little one is at stake. That is the reason
it is so important for us by precept and example to show the child the
importance of trusting Christ. A lost sheep or a lost lamb cannot find its way
home. A child is unable to find its way home without help. If you doubt or
minimize the conversion of children, you are a stumbling block. If you do not
live right before that child, you are a stumbling block. If you do not witness
to that child, if you do not seek to lead that child to a saving knowledge of
Christ, you are a stumbling block.
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones
... for the Son of man is come to save that which was
lost. Jesus is talking about boys
and girls. He went to
A
friend of mine spent a brief vacation on the premises of a sheep herder who met
him at the station. During the long drive to the ranch the herder was strangely
disinclined to talk. When pressed for the reason of his silence, the old
shepherd wept and told his friend, I lost some of my
best lambs last night. A wolf got in. The sympathetic pastor expressed
his own grief over this great loss of his friend. And
how many sheep did they kill beside the lambs? The shepherd looked
surprised. Dont you know, he answered, that a wolf will never take an old sheep so long as he can
get a lamb? - The
*
* * *
* * *
487
THE SUPREME
AUTHORITY
OF THE
SCRIPTURES
By D.M. Panton, B.A.
IN
order that our faith may be established as upon rock, and our hearts guarded
from all infidel criticism of the SCRIPTURES,
which are the mind of God precipitated into words, let us remind ourselves
exactly where we stand.
1.
We stand where the
For
eight hundred years after Christ no Christian teacher can be found who denied
the absolute inspiration of the Scriptures. Now take this end of the Churchs
long history. Dr. Joseph Parker
voices what all Nonconformists believed in the middle of the Nineteenth
Century. The reading of the Bible, he says, has made me an unquestioning and grateful believer in the
plenary inspiration, the divine authority, and the infinite sufficiency of Holy
Scripture. So also the Church of England. The archbishops and bishops,
in a united protest addressed to Bishop Colenso in 1863, said:- All our hopes for eternity, the very foundations of our
faith, our nearest and dearest consolations, are taken from us if one line of
that Sacred Book be declared unfaithful or untrustworthy. Even the
Church of Rome, as lately as in the Vatican Council of 1870, officially declared that the Scriptures, having been written by the Holy Ghost, have
God for their author.
What
does all this mean? It means that if Polycarp
and Justin Martyr, Augustine and Chrysostom, Luther and Calvin, Wesley and Whitefield, Pusey and Spurgeon, were to rise from the dead, they that is, the whole
Church of eighteen centuries - would stand aghast at the utterances of the
modern pulpit. We stand, with the whole Church of God, where Chrysostom stood fifteen hundred years
ago: There is not anything in Scripture which can be
considered unimportant; there is not a single sentence which does not deserve
to be meditated on: for it is not the word of man, but of the Holy Spirit and
the least syllable of it contains a hidden treasure.
2.
We stand where all Gods Apostles and Prophets have always stood. If Peter were alive, and Paul, and our Lord, how
eagerly we would run to listen to their words as decisive on all our doubts!
Yet that is exactly the evidence we have got. In the thirty-nine books of the
Old Testament there are 501 passages in the Pentateuch, 292 in the Historical Books, and 1,111 in the Prophetical Books in
which the words, Thus saith the Lord God spake, God said, or
words to that effect, occur. No less than 1,904 times do such expressions occur in the thirty-nine books; so that
at least three-fifths of the whole of the Old Testament is directly declared to
be the Word of God. Their truth, their absolute reliability, was the very test
which God Himself proposed to prove their inspiration. If the thing follow not,
nor come to pass, that
is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken (Deut. 18: 22).
Now
the Apostles, in the New Testament, actually heighten the sense of Gods
authorship of the Old: for they say, - The prophets sought diligently what time or what manner of
time - what kind of dispensation
- the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point
unto, when it prophesied beforehand (1 Pet. 1: 11). The Spirit in
them prophesied,
not they; and the
minds of the Old Testament prophets examined separately what had been said
through their mouths; indeed so separate was their mind from the Spirits and
the inspired utterance, that they did not always even understand its meaning.
It
was the word which
was spoken by the Lord through the prophet (Matt. 1: 22 R.V.);
the Scripture which the Holy Ghost
spake by the mouth of David (Acts 1: 16); things which God before
had shewed by the mouth of all
His prophets (Acts 3: 18):
for the Scriptures are God-breathed, and no prophecy - all the Scriptures are the
writings of Prophets - ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God,
being moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Pet. 1: 21, R. V.)
The
Apostle John crowns it all by asserting the verbal inspiration of the last book
of the Bible under penalty of the most fearful warnings:- If any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part from the tree of life, and
out of the holy city (Rev. 22: 19, R.V.) We stand where all Gods Apostles and
Prophets have always stood.
3. We come to the Supreme Authority last: and we find that we stand where Our Lord Himself stood. Take three instances only. In the wilderness our Lord,
meets each assault of Satan by a quoted Scripture, every time resting His whole
weight on a single word in the passage:- Not by bread alone; thou
shalt not tempt the Lord; Him only shalt thou
serve; and Satan, who today will
tell men spiritually ignorant that God never wrote these words, never dared
tell Christ so.
Again,
our Lord, when using words which on the lips of the highest Seraph would have
been blasphemous, and for which the Jews did actually charge Him with
blasphemy, I and
the Father are one, establishes
His position by a quotation from a Psalm in which He rests His whole defence on
a single word:- I
said, Ye are gods; and then, cutting off all criticism with the awful
authority of the Son of God, He adds:- And the Scripture
- that is, even a single word in a Psalm - cannot be broken (John 10: 35); for, according to our Lord Himself, no jot (the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet) or tittle (the tiny strokes in each letter) of the Scripture
can fail (Matt. 5:
18). If no solitary Scripture can fail or be
broken, not even one word, it can only be because God has made it infallible,
and that the whole Book is charged with God.
Finally,
our Lord expresses the inspired stability of Scripture with a force no lips
have ever equalled. It is easier, He says, for heaven and earth to pass
away, than for one tittle of the law - the Old Testament - to fail (Luke 16: 17,
R.V.) He who made the stars, who
created the mighty world in which we live, says that it is easier for the
planets to disappear in mighty explosions, and easier for the earth to roll
away in a sheet of flame, than for one tittle - the smallest fraction of a
Hebrew letter - to fail: the words of God are more sacred to Him than the most
stupendous of all His works.
Thus
we stand where the whole Church of God for eighteen centuries stood, where all
the apostles and prophets have stood, and where the Son of God Himself stood
and stands. Let us remain, even if it
were at the cost of life itself, faithful to the Holy Scriptures.
*
* * *
* * *
488
REWARDS FOR
OVERCOMERS
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
THE Seven
Churches to whom our Lord writes stand (as Victorinus, the first of all
commentators on the Apocalypse, says)
for the entire Church, the complete society of the saved, the Church universal;
and after the Lords unerring finger has separated its sanctified members from
the unsanctified, the spiritual from the carnal, the conquerors from the
conquered, He discloses stupendous glories and incalculable perils, both made
wholly contingent on faithfulness or unfaithfulness, up to the moment of the
Advent. The same exhortation at the close of all the
seven epistles [to overcome] denotes the victory of a stedfast life of faith
over temptations and trials, and over all adverse things in general (Lange). Throughout all 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. Seven times our Lord holds out peculiar glories matching
exceptional nobility, and seven times the gravest warnings ever given to the
servants of God. In the words of Dean
Alford: - The power here spoken of is that
which shall be conferred on the saints when they shall inherit the earth and
reign with Christ in His Kingdom.
The
first Church named is Ephesus, and to its Angel He says:- To him that overcometh - a verb without an object; not an overcomer of some
specific object only, but a victor altogether - one
who perseveres in his Christian course (Moses Stuart): to him -
throughout the overcomer is singled out with peculiar emphasis, to him, and to
him only - will
I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God (Rev. 2: 7). Paradise is the abode of the blessed dead, whither our Lord
went with the dying Thief: the Paradise of God is
* There can be no reference here to the lower
The Crown
The
only two churches which are without blame in the Letters are the only two which
are warned of persecution; and the promise to the overcomer in
*
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 - HENGSTENBERG.
A Secret
Name
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 of the hidden manna -
hidden because, as angels food (Ps. 78: 25) and the
bread of heaven (Ps. 105: 40) it is at present
invisible - and
I will give him a white stone -
white and lustrous, probably a diamond - and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it. This marvellous gift is probably a duplicate of the
Urim and Thummim on which appears, in divine crystal vision, but seen by the
High Priest alone, a new name expressive of a new blessedness, and the
consequence of a new life kept now. A token of reward
and approval from the Son of God (Dean
Alford), will be for ever a secret between the
overcomer and his (or her) Lord; an innermost shrine known only to these two
for all eternity.
Royalty
The
promise to Thyatira reveals the critically important truth that these promises
and warnings are purely and solely Millennial. He that overcometh, and he that keepeth - watchfully performs, obeys (Moses
Stuart) - my
works - both the example and the
precepts of Christ - unto the end -
therefore the 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, and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron: I will make him King (Moses Stuart). 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. That this royal rule is in the Millennium is
certain from nations being shattered as pottery, crushed
or shivered, as multitudinous fragments collapsing into a heap (Alford); for rebellious nations are
unknown in the Eternal State. The iron sceptre,
says Dr. E. C. Craven, is not promised to the Church Militant, as an organization,
and not to individuals in the present state of conflict, but to those who, at
the end, should appear as conquerors. Or as Dr. Steir says:- Assuredly it is the
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. In
the words of Archbishop Trench:- They who have kept their garments here, as a few in
A New Name
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, either by 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. The
victors probation is finally over: stability in grace culminates in stability
in glory: more than a living stone quarried by grace for the heavenly
Enthronement
The
rewards (as Dr. Steir
says) close on their highest peak: the, severest rebuke of all is counterpoised
by a promise which, as Dean Alford
says, gathers all the promises into one. To
the Laodicean Angel the Lord says:- He that overcometh I will give to him to sit with me in my
throne; the Eastern throne is
much ampler and broader than ours (Trench):
as I also - as I correspondingly - overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne. Our Lords throne, as separate
from the Fathers, is purely and solely the Messianic, the Millennial: so the proof here is beyond challenge or doubt that to the overcomer
alone belongs Millennial Royalty. none will ever share the throne of God and
the Lamb. The overcomer (our Lord says) conquers exactly as He did: that is,
this royalty is not hereditary, but achieved by life-long sanctity. Though the Angel is [both
regenerate and]
converted - as many as I love I rebuke and chasten (Rev. 3: 19), co-session
on Messiahs Throne is impossible so long as he is a lukewarm Laodicean, in
momentary peril of being spewed out of the mouth of Christ. This enthronement, as 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. An aged Peer said to
Wilberforce:- So you intend to be a reformer, young
man: that - and he pointed to a picture of the Crucifixion - is the end of reformers. Is it? replied Wilberforce: I
have read in an old Book this, - I am he that
liveth, and was
dead, and behold I am alive for evermore. That
is the end, not death but dominion and if
we be faithful, it is co-session on the Throne.
Hearing Ears
We
do well to heed the warning of Hengstenberg:-
So long as. a man still lives on the earth, however
far he may have attained, he cannot say, I have overcome. To every one
of the Seven Churches our Lord says:- He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith - is saying - to the churches.*
Have we ears to
hear? An intelligent young woman once remarked that she became a Christian upon
hearing her very first sermon; and yet she was not converted until she was
twenty-one years of age, and she had been a church attendant from childhood.
She had heard hundreds of sermons, but until that sermon in her twenty-first
year she had never heard one. God grant us
ears that hear.
*
* *
ADVENT
It
is solemn to know, in view of the above, that Mr. D. R. Davies says:- Dr. Welch told me once out of 5,000 sermons and addresses
which he had read in his capacity as Religious Director of the B.B.C., only
three dealt with eschatology.
FEAR
Our
Lords emphasis on fear - [primarily to edify His own disciples
(ver. 38). See also Acts 9:
31. cf. Isa. 8: 13ff.; Prov.
9: 10; 14: 26, 27, R.V. etc.)] - is
extraordinarily strong. I will warn you whom ye shall
fear: Fear him, which
after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell [Gk.
Gehenna]: yea, I say unto you, Fear him
(Luke 12: 5).
The Prarie Bible Institute conducts each year a
survey of its first year class in evangelism, to determine the motives of the
class members in having accepted Christ. Of a class of 122, recently, the
following gave these reasons:- fear of the Second Coming, 39; feat of hell, 33;
fear of judgment, 6; fear of consequences, 5; fear of death, 4; fear of
failure, 3; desire for joy and satisfaction, 9; desire for power over sin, 3;
moved by Gods love for them, 6; just had a need, 4; did not know why, 10. This
is a remarkable proof of how the Second Coming can be used for the conversion
of souls. These figures tally with a survey made in 1931, when sixty-six out of
eighty had been saved through fear, and another in 1932 when seventy-five out
of one hundred were turned to God, moved by fear.
WARNING
A
welcome warning is given by Edgar Hoover,
director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who urged Americans to return to God and practice daily prayer if they want
to save their children from lives of crime. More and
more children are being led toward crime as parents throw away responsibility,
he says. God, in many instances, is not accepted in
the home, and concepts of morality have been relegated to the junk heap.
The upswing of major crime is the result of this condition, declares Mr Hoover,
with seventeen-year-olds leading all other age groups in arrests for serious
crime. If there is to be peace and happiness in our
homes, then, we, as a nation must return to God and the practice of daily
prayer. Families that pray together stay together.
*
* * *
* * *
489
OUR LOVE FOR
GOD
By D. M.
PANTON, M.A.
WHEN our Lord was challenged with the question - Which is the great
commandment in the law? - He
replied - Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Matt. 22: 37), and with all thy strength (Mark 12: 33): this is the great
and first commandment. As the first commandment in order, it underlies
all lesser commands, and gives them their impetus; and as the great
commandment, it overshadows all others, dwarfing them: it is the alpha and
omega of Divine law: above all law, and under all law, this command, according
to our Lord, is unique.
A Positive
Law
Now
a law of God is a demand upon man; it is a law: and one tremendous fact about
this supreme law is that it is not negative at all, but positive. The Decalogue
supplies us with most striking negatives:- thou shalt do no murder; thou
shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal. But the whole Divine law is summed up in a positive
law, for which all our faculties were made with all thy heart - the affections; with all thy soul - the life: with all thy mind - the reason; and with all thy strength - the activities. All I am and all I do is to be
permeated by love to God: my heart, because I am to feel love; my soul, because
I am to live the love I feel; my mind, because thought can accomplish the
emotions of love; and my strength, because all my life is to be consecrated to
love.
The Supreme
Law
So
love is the pivot, the hinge, the cardinal principle - on these two commandments [of love] hang all the law and the prophets - not only all of the Gospel, nor even of the
Prophets, but of the Law itself. What an extraordinary revelation of God: God
hungers for love; He created us in order to have our love; He made the Law to
enforce love; He made the Gospel to reveal love; and He made eternity to
display love. And what light it casts on the human! The most evil man, the most
malignant hater, was originally created to love: every human soul was made for
the divinest of all emotions, and for the highest of all possible passions - a
devotion to God of which eternity can never exhaust the charm and blessing.
Gods Love For Us
But
now we find far the most profound
urge to the love of God, not in the law that enforces it, but in His love
for us. When we realize what that love for us is, we can respond with our
whole hearts. For it is a love unimaginable. Pauls prayer for his
fellow-Christians was this:- that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend
with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge (Eph. 3: 17). We are
to be so rooted and grounded in love ourselves that the vision of Christs love
will begin to dawn upon us. Its breadth - all mankind; its length - eternity;
its height - the Throne of God; its depth - fathomless corruption. For so the
Scripture asserts:- breadth - God so loved the world; length - I have loved thee with an everlasting love; height- - God is love;
depth - I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners. He gave me His all, therefore I must give Him my all.
A Personal
Love
So
we have a wonderful photograph of the Divine love for us humans, embodied in
Christ. That ye
may know the love of Christ - not
to apprehend its dimensions, but to appreciate its quality, as we grow in our
personal response to that love - which passeth knowledge. The love of Christ is so vast a continent that for all
eternity there will be new lands in it to be explored, new continents to be
discovered. And it is all so exquisitely personal. He loved me, and gave
himself for me (Gal. 2: 20).
Our Lovable
God
Most
happily, love provokes love: in the words of Paul- The love of Christ constraineth
us (2 Cor. 5: 14). George Muller thus expresses our
response to the love of God. As we study the Word of
God we shall find out more and more that God is the Lovable One, GOD IS THE LOVABLE ONE, GOD IS THE LOVABLE
ONE; and before I go any further, I stop and ask you what is the response
of your inmost soul? Is God, to you, the Lovable One? If not, you are not
acquainted with Him. You have yet to find out that He is the most Lovable One.
Oh, seek to say in your inmost heart that He is the Lovable One! The result will be that you will confide in
Him unreservedly, at all times, in all circumstances. Though He slay you yet
will you trust in Him. The following verses were found pencilled on the
wall of a room in a hospital by an unknown patient and discovered only after
his death:-
Could we with ink the ocean
fill, and were the skies of parchment made.
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and
every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above would drain
the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, tho stretched from sky to sky.
Love At Work
So
Paul says we are to know what passes
knowledge: To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be
filled unto all the fulness of God.
Our growth in love for God and His Christ means at last being filled unto all
the fulness of God. You must love, says Robertson of Brighton, to understand love: one act of charity will teach us more of
the love of God than a thousand sermons. And our love for God will
reproduce His likeness in us. In an old Cathedral on the Continent, an
exquisite face sculptured on one of the arches, was uncovered, and such was its
beauty that crowds thronged to see it. The history of that face was this. When
the Cathedral was being built, an old man, worn with years and care, begged to
be allowed a hand in it. Fearing lest his age and failing sight might injure
the carving, the architect set him to work in a dark place in the roof. One day
the stranger was found dead, with his tools lying by him, and his face turned
up to the face that he had carved. It was the face of one whom he had loved and
lost. When the craftsmen looked on it, they all agreed - This is the best carving of all: it is the work of love.
As we love Christ so shall we reproduce Him.
A Loveless
World
Now
therefore, in face of this supreme command, we are confronted with a blank as
terrible. The command is to all humanity:- Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. The Rabbis
counted in the Law of Moses 613 precepts of which 365 were prohibitions, and
248 were commands: had it been possible for a map, to keep them all, but had he
broken this one,
he must appear as a major criminal, for it is the major law. Over the whole
world we see no love of God; and if there be no greater command to break, there
can be no greater sin to commit. Men neither know this law; nor know its
critical nature; nor realize their own disobedience; nor know their consequent
doom. And, most extraordinary of all, there is not a living soul who, if taxed
with the fact that he does not love God, will not acknowledge freely and without
reserve that he is guilty of the Supreme Law.
Love of
Christ
It
is remarkable that a Member of Parliament reveals the worlds need of the love
of Christ. Mr. Lang says:- There is not one of us engaged in public affairs at home and
abroad, who is not convinced that the greatest challenge, the greatest test is
about to come. It may be that people talk too freely about the next war.
Certainly the danger is real, and the tragedy of it could scarcely be
overstated. When it comes I hope that none of us will allow ourselves to be led
away, and merely to look at it from the standpoint of atomic warfare; that
would be an awful and fearful thing. But there is a worse aspect still to be
considered. I have said this a good deal lately on the Continent, as well as in
this country - if war does come again, and there is nothing that can prevent
that, outside the love of Christ in mens hearts - all the political systems in
the world are powerless; all the politicians are powerless; nothing but the
love of Christ in mens hearts can give us real peace.
Obedience Is
Love
Finally,
our Lord sheds wonderful light on how we can love Him. He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is - He deliberately stresses it, singling this man out as
His real lover - that loveth me (John 14: 21).
We must not detract from His commandments, nor add to them, nor modify them;
but, much more than that, we must keep them - obedience is the sole proof of our love. If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments (John 14: 15,
R.V.) An ancient King, much beloved, went into a far country to help to quell
disorder with his gracious personality, and was away for long. When he
returned, he found troubles and tumults, though he received a joyous welcome.
Entering the Council Chamber, he read aloud the rules he had left on his
departure: only to find that some had lost the paper; some had wilfully burnt
it; and many had broken one or more of the rules. Looking sorrowfully at them,
he gravely asked:- Do you love your sovereign?
They all answered - Yes. But when he held up
a copy of his laws, they all hung their heads; and then he said, - He
who has my laws, and keeps them, he, and he only, loves me. According to the fulness of our obedience is the
fulness of our love.
*
* *
A CRADLE
SONG
Hush! My dear, lie still and slumber;
Holy Angels guard thy bed!
Heavenly blessings withour
number
Gently falling on thy head.
Sleep, my babe; thy food and raiment,
House and home, thy friends provide;
All without thy care and payment,
All thy wants are well supplied.
How much better thourt
attended
Than the Son of God could be
When from Heaven He descended,
And became a child like thee.
Soft and easy is thy cradle;
Coarse and hard thy saviour lay,
When his birthplace was a stable
And his softest bed he lay.
See the lovely Babe a-dressing:
Lovely Infant, how he smiled!
When he wept, the mothers blessing
Soothed and hushed the holy Child.
Lo, he slumbers in his manger,
Where the horned oxen fed;
- Peace, my darling! heres no danger
Here's no ox a-near thy bed.
Mayst thou live to know and fear him,
Trust and love him all thy days:
Then go dwell for ever near him,
See his face and sing his praise.
- ISAAC WATTS,
1674-1748
HEADED RIGHT
On
the end of the cement walk that leads to my church in
- The Sunday School Times.
*
* *
* * *
*
490
ATHANASIUS
By C. SYDNEY
CARTER, D.D.
ATHANASIUS was the son of Greek Christians, and was
born at
ARIAN
CONTROVERSY
As
early as the age of twenty Athanasius wrote a learned treatise on the deep
subject of the Incarnation of the Word of God,
in which he represented the Incarnation as prompted by Gods love for man and
for his redemption and restoration to the divine image - The Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and that Christ,
to fulfil Gods law of righteousness, voluntarily suffered death to discharge
our debt of sin. This treatise was fortunately published just before the long
and serious Arian Controversy.
About 320 Arius, a learned Egyptian presbyter, in charge of one of the
churches in
But the battle had only just started since Arius teaching attracted a large number of influential
supporters. Consequently a bitter controversy ensued which led to prolonged
persecution and much suffering for Athanasius. For Bishop Alexander died in
327, and Athanasius, at the age of 30, was chosen to succeed him as Patriarch
of Alexandria. But a strong Arian reaction set in and the Arian leaders secured
the ear of the Emperor, who now demanded that Athanasius should restore Arius and his friends to Church communion. Athanasius
refused, and as a result in 335 he was accused, by the Arian party, at a Synod
of Tyre, and deposed, and banished to
RELENTLESS
PERSECUTION
On the Emperors death in 337 he was able to return to
his see but relentless and virulent attacks and false accusations were made
against the good bishop, and he had to flee for shelter to Bishop Julius of
On
another occasion, when the Bishop was holding a midnight service, an Imperial
General attacked the crowded church, but some monks managed to get the
Patriarch away safely to a six years exile in the Egyptian desert, where he
wrote some valuable doctrinal treatises, and especially one against the Arians.
Later the apostate Emperor Julian exiled Athanasius because he had dared to
baptize some heathen ladies. At last, in 366, the faithful and long-suffering
bishop was permitted to end his stormy career with seven years of peace among
his people, whose confidence and affection he had never lost.
It
is not surprising that such a valiant defender of the faith, inspired with such
a passionate loyalty to his Saviour, gained a wide reputation for saintliness.
A brother bishop, Gregory Nazianzen,
declared that his faith was humble but sublime, and that he was of an angelic temper and disposition, a patron to widows, a father to orphans, a friend to the
poor, a harbour to strangers, and a physician to the sick.
His
conduct during this long and bitter struggle was such as
became a righteous man to do and suffer. Even the infidel historian
Gibbon declared that the immortal name of Athanasius
will never be separated from the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, to whose
defence he consecrated every moment and every faculty of his being. Amid storms
of persecution, he was patient of labour, jealous of fame, and careless of
safety.
Athanasius
waged a lifelong warfare against Arianism, which was
a strong, well-entrenched, and versatile heresy, and as aggressive as modern
Communism. The Arians declared that the Son of God was not eternal, and was
only the first of created beings - a thing made.
In fact they, like the modern Unitarians, denied the deity of our Lord, so that
He could not be worshipped as God.
SAVIOUR OR EXAMPLE?
The
controversy involved the very substance of the Christian faith, and Athanasius
one great question was the Evangelical one: What
think ye of Christ? Do you regard him as
Saviour or merely as a great Example? As Carlyle put it, If Arianism had won, Christianity
would have dwindled to a legend, for God would not have spoken to us through His Son (Heb. 1: 1), and an Arian
Son could not fully reveal the Father to us. Consequently there could be no Mediator between God and man, because according to the teaching of Arius, Christ was neither truly God nor truly man, and
therefore He could not make atonement for the mans sin or truly reconcile man
to God.
It
was this vital attack on Christianity, far more dangerous than that from the
current paganism, which Athanasius spent his whole life repelling. We should
never forget that it was due to his determined and unwavering resistance to Arianism and to his final victory, that the Christian
Church retained its scriptural teaching that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
Himself, and that we have redemption through Christs blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. Newman was
undoubtedly correct in declaring that Athanasius has
impressed an image on the Church which through Gods mercy shall not be effaced
while time lasts. Among those intrepid heroes of the faith for whom we
must for ever thank God, St. Athanasius certainly stands in the front rank. - The
Life of Faith.
*
* *
WESLEY AND
THE ADVENT
IT would be well if the Methodists of today realized
the attitude of their founders to the Second Advent. Samuel Wesley, John Wesleys
father, says: - We believe, as all Christians of
the purest ages did, that the saints will reign with Christ on earth a thousand
years. At the beginning of the thousand years shall be the first resurrection,
wherein martyrs and holy men shall rise and reign here in spiritual delight.
- Athenian Gazette, Vol. IV., 1691.
Wesley himself lived every day, every hour, as though it were his last. He
said:- Perhaps He will appear as the dayspring from
on high, before morning light. Oh, do not set us a time! Expect Him every hour.
Now He is nigh, even at the doors. He wrote thus to Dr. Conyers Middleton in 1749. The doctrine,
as you very well know, which Justin deduced from the prophets and the Apostles,
and in which he was undoubtedly followed by the Fathers of the second and third
centuries, is this: The souls of them who have
been martyred for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and who have not worshipped the beast, neither received his mark, shall live and reign with
Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead shall not live again until the
thousand years are finished. Now to say that
they believed this is neither more nor less than to say that they believed the
Bible.
So
Bishop Coke, who had charge of all
the missionary work of the first Methodism, wrote:- The
period of time which yet remains we know is short, who can tell? We ought to be
in constant expectation of it. At the coming of Christ to deliver and avenge
His people, the faith of His coming will be in a great measure lost. The
doctrine of the Millennium was generally believed in the first three and purest
ages; the doctrine lay depressed for ages, but sprang up again at the
Reformation.
*
* * *
* * *
491
EZEKIEL
38 AND ARMAGEDDON
By Dr. ARTHUR
I. BROWN
IT
is difficult to understand why there should be so much misunderstanding
regarding these two events. There are some students of Scripture who persist in
making them identical; but even a superficial examination of the Record ought
to reveal how unwarranted is that view. That there are resemblances between
these two conflicts cannot be denied, but the differences are clearly marked.
First, the resemblances:-
(1) Each event takes place towards the
close of the Age of Grace and near the termination of the period known as The Times of the Gentiles.
(2) Each describes an assault in
(3) Each army opposed to God and
(4) Each of the armies is defeated by
the supernatural power of God.
Second, the differences:-
(1) Ezekiels message is directed to Gog, of the
(2) In Ezekiel,
Gog, the Russian leader, is mentioned as commander (v. 5, margin)
of five named countries - Persia, Cush, and Put, Gomer, and Togarmah; even many peoples with thee (probably referring to the several satellite nations
under Russian control.)
At
Armageddon, anti-Christ has under his command every tribe and tongue, and people, and nation,
and all that dwell upon earth (Rev. 13: 7, 8).
(3) Gods plan of attack in Ezekiel differs widely from His warfare against
anti-Christ and his hordes. Ezekiel 38: 19-22:-
Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land
of Israel, so that the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the heavens,
and the beasts of the field, and all creeping
things that creep upon the earth, and all the
men that are on the face of the earth, shall
shake at My presence, and the mountains shall be
thrown down, and the steep places shall fall,
and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him unto all my
mountains, saith the Lord God: every mans sword shall be against his brother. And with
pestilence and blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain upon him ... an
overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
The
Armageddon Conflict is described in Rev.
19: 19-21:-
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered
together to make war against Him that sat upon the horse, and against His army. And the
beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his
sight, wherewith he deceived them that had
received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth
with brimstone: and the rest were killed with
the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, even
the sword that came forth out of His mouth: and
all the birds were filled with their flesh.
A
supplemental account of the slaughter of Gods enemies is given in Zechariah 14: 12.
It reads as follows:-
And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall smite
all the peoples that have warred against
Zechariah
is describing Armageddon and provides a few details not found in Revelation.
(4) The END of the two leaders differs greatly. Ezekiel
39: 1, 4,
11:-
And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog. ...
Thou shalt fall on the mountains of
Revelation 19: 20, quoted above, informs us that anti-Christ and
his associate are cast into the lake of fire.
(5) The Ezekiel
picture finds no place for the Lord Jesus accompanied by the armies of heaven
upon white horses, nor any of the interesting features mentioned in Rev. 19: 11-17.
(6) Following the defeat of the Russian
armies in Ezekiel, a period of seven months
is required to cleanse the land of dead bodies and the debris remaining from
the great destruction (Ezek. 39: 9-16).
Armageddon
is followed by the arrest of Satan, his casting into the abyss, and the
beginning of the millennial reign of Christ (Rev.
20: 3).
The
death of the Russian leader is followed by a devastating fire from heaven on
(7) Ezekiel
39: 4 tells us that the birds AND beasts of the field are invited to
feast upon the defeated enemies of God:- I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort,
and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
At
Armageddon, according to Rev. 19: 17, 18:- An angel ... cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the BIRDS, that
fly in the heaven, Come and be gathered unto the
great supper of God.
(8) Another vital difference between the
two is found in the fact that when anti-Christ comes on the world scene, he
adopts a friendly attitude towards the Jews, and actually poses as their
friend, making a seven-year treaty with the Zionist leaders, as shown by Daniel 9: 27,
and Isaiah 28: 14-18.
The Russian prince makes no such
pretence of friendship. These two men cannot rule at the same time. Their policies and
attitude are different, even though each is actuated by hatred toward God.
In view of these clear differences, we
are justified in believing them to be two tremendous end-time developments,
separated by a few years from one another. That we have now arrived at the period known as the time of the end, would seem to be obvious. As never before we can read with exultation, the
inspiring words of Luke 21: 28:-
But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift your heads; because your redemption draweth nigh!
*
* *
WE
have forgotten the God of our fathers, we have trusted in our own cleverness,
we have brought upon ourselves something very similar to the fate of
- AIR COMMODORE H. GORDON DEAN.
-------
BACKSLIDERS
What does this mean? That the worst backsliders, and
one who dies as such, will receive all the golden prizes and honours, designed
for devoted service even to martyrdom, which our Lord holds out to the Seven
Churches; and if these are attained simply by saving faith - and the Lord says
that every overcomer will receive them - then every believer must receive them all. Not only does such exposition baffle all comment, but the solemn
warnings of our Lord and the Apostles, addressed beyond all challenge to
believers, are made totally irrelevant to the Church.
What will such evangelicals feel when they discover
the truth at the Judgment Seat of Christ?
-------
ENDING
SPIRITUAL BOREDOM
[From the former quote by A. W. Tozer.]
That must be the key to our boredom to
Christianity: we have not been keeping in very close touch with our Man in
glory. We have been doing in our churches all the churchy things that we do. We
have done them with our own understanding and in our own energy. But without a
bright and conscious confirmation of Gods presence, a church service can be
very deadly and dull.
We go to church and we look bored - even
when we are supposed to be singing Gods praises. We look bored because we are
bored. If the truth were known, we are bored with God, but we are too pious to
admit it. I think God would love it if some honest soul would begin his or her
prayer by admitting, God, I am praying because I know I should, but the truth
is I do not want to pray. I am bored with the whole thing!
I doubt if the Lord would be angry at such candor. - [i.e.,
*
* * *
* * *
492
FOUR SORE
JUDGMENTS
By D. M.
PANTON, M.A.
IT is exceedingly significant how the opening of this
century foreshadowed the final judgments. Scripture has hoisted the Red Light
on the road down which the world is plunging - a Light terribly sharpened
since. Our Saviour said:- Nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be great
earthquakes, and in divers
places famines and pestilences (Luke 2: 10, 11); all these are the beginning of TRAVAIL (Matt. 24: 8) - the first birth-pangs, preliminary travail
shudders. According to the man of the world, famine is overcome by transport,
pestilence by disinfection, and war by diplomacy - he is silent on how to
counter earthquake - and it is impossible for God to express His estimate of a
nations enormities, or of a worlds sin; whereas the truth is that behind all physical laws are moral laws - moral laws which are far more
inexorable and eternal than the laws which bind the planets in their orbits, or
the stars to their courses. While sometimes God suffers the physical laws to
give way to the moral, under no circumstances does He ever subordinate the
moral to the physical. So for the whole world our
Lord reveals that a moment is coming when, by sickness, by starvation, by war,
all on a huge scale, God will hold forth the red lamp, as indicating a
danger-point past which intercession will be useless. Is that moment arriving?
Famine
Gods
fourfold judgment opens with FAMINE. Son of man, when a land sinneth against Me by trespassing grieviously (A.V.)
- exceptional sin calling for exceptional judgment - and I stretch out Mine hand
upon it, and break the staff of the bread
thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast (Ezek. 14:
13). The
two greatest famines of history occurred within two years, and within six
months of each other. Here is a
summary from the Times (Dec. 15, 1920) of the Chinese
famine:- The population now totally destitute in Chihli is 6,000,000; in Shantung, 2,500,000; in Honan, 3,500,000; in Shensi,
1,000,000 ; in
Earthquake
In
the place of noisome beasts - for during the Great Tribulation this judgment
will take the form of wild beasts from the infernal regions (Rev. 9), as
well as the wild beasts of the earth (Rev. 6:
8) - our Saviour puts EARTHQUAKES as the second great judgment act of God: There shall be famines ... and earthquakes
in divers places (Matt. 24: 7); and there shall be great earthquakes (Luke 21: 11). In December, 1920, an earthquake occurred in China which literally shook the globe -
greater than any known in China since one in the eighteenth century, and
another twelve centuries ago (Times, June 4, 1921). The principle shock
fell on an area of 15,000 square miles, and vast landslides engulfed numbers
that will never be known, wiping out whole villages and towns under falling
hills. The official Chinese report, issued six months after, recorded a million
deaths; and even foreign computations ranked this earthquake as the most
destructive in the history of the world. The following is from the journal of a
C.I.M. missionary:‑
Gods
hand may be clearly seen behind the earthquake, for the trembling of the earth
just came in time to smash up a Mohammedan rebellion. It is said that 10,000 of
the Mohammedan troops were swallowed up in one of the
An
aged worker in Kingston, Jamaica, once said to me:- I
have worked in the slums of London, Glasgow, and other great cities, but I have
never known such sin as there is in Kingston; I do not know how God withholds
his judgments. Within two
years of her utterance
War
Gods
third judgment is WAR. If I bring a sword upon that land and say, Sword, go through the land,
so that I cut off from it man and beast; or, as
the Saviour puts it:- Kingdom shall rise against kingdom. In the opening of the century there were forty-one
royal dynasties in the world: in seven short years twenty-four thrones - including
the three greatest land empires in the world had collapsed and vanished: in
1920 the sword had left only seventeen.*
At the battle of Waterloo thirty-seven tons of metal were used; on one day
alone in the first World War, and by the British only, eighteen thousand tons
were hurled; in the whole South African War, 2,800 tons were used; by the
British alone, in the World War, three and a half million tons (Times, Sept.
10, 1919). The figures, out of all proportion to the mere growth of population,
are due to the fact that nations, not
armies, now engage, and to the portentous growth in the science of destruction.
And the sword has indeed drunk its fill. The casualties in the World War, for
*
It is a remarkable fulfilment of Ezek. 21: 26:- Thus saith the Lord
God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; exalt
him that is low (democracy), and abase him that
is high (autocracy); I will overturn, overturn, overturn it until He
come whose right it is (to reign); and I will
give it Him.
Pestilence
The
last of Gods four judgments is PESTILENCE:
least observed and most mysterious of all, without warning and in the order of
Scripture - that is, immediately after the first World War - fell one of the
greatest epidemics of history. If I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my
fury upon it in blood - a human
haemorrhage - to cut off from it man and beast. ...
In
1918 the medical correspondent of
the Times
(Dec. 18, 1918) said:- Six million persons have
perished of influenza and pneumonia during the last twelve weeks. Business has
been interfered with in every country of the world and enormous losses in trade
have been suffered. This
Plague is five times more deadly than war; never since the Black Death has such
a plague swept over the face of the world. It broke out mysteriously
in ships two thousand miles from land, and no country in the world succeeded in
eluding its grip. In
Final
Antagonism
So
symptoms are already here of the violent antagonism to Christ and to God which
will provoke the appalling judgments that are coming. The British Chaplain in
And
here are the words of Nietzsche:- Christianity is the one great curse, the one enormous and
innermost perversion, the one great instinct for revenge, for which no means
are too venomous, too underhand, too underground, and too petty, the one
immoral blemish of mankind. It is an antagonism which closes in the
final war. These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and
King of kings (Rev. 17: 14).
* *
*
THE RETURN
OF CHRIST
WE do not know anything which so certainly
sanctifies life to its highest service as this great truth, steadfastly
believed and maintained by Gods servants, while they are journeying, not
towards darkness, but the sun-rising. When through the mystics, moral mists,
and half-lights of earth, the promise of the glorious appearing is discerned,
it determines not only the direction of the journey, but also its character. It
settles the question of our affinities. It corrects and brightens our outlook
on the things seen. It chases all gloom and care from the heart, and all
weakness from the feet. It keeps the first love alive, and fans the smoking
flax into flame. It puts a new song into willing lips and makes all life
tuneful and joyful. It transforms every cruse of mourning into a horn of
anointing oil. It makes even the lame man to leap as an hart, and replaces the
tiredness of exhausted nature with buoyant energy.
- DR. DUNCAN MAIN.
*
* * *
* * *
493
SEVENTH-DAY
ADVENTISM
[Part 1]
DURING the turbulent days of religious fanaticism and
reckless theological guesswork which followed the great
disappointment of 1844, the foundation of the Seventh-Day Adventist
creed was laid. At that time the sects commonly termed cornerstone doctrine, or its Christ-denying sanctuary teaching, which embraces the blasphemous atonement and investigative
judgment theories, originated. And in those same days of confusion,
many other erroneous beliefs were added to the cults message,
among them the following:- (1) The
seventh-day Sabbath must be observed instead of Sunday; (2) Sabbath-keeping is the seal of God,
Sunday-keeping is the mark of the beast; (3) the end of the world is to occur in
this generation (meaning within the life-span
of those then living); (4) at His
coming, Christ will translate only 144,000 believers, this select number to be
composed exclusively of those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath; (5) the remnant,
mentioned in Revelation 12: 17, as those which keep
the commandments of God, and have the testimony
of Jesus Christ, are Seventh-Day Adventists - the only true church; (6) all religious bodies, except the
Adventists, constitute Babylon, and are
rejected of God , (7) the dead, both
saints and sinners, rest in their graves in complete unconsciousness until the
resurrection; (8) this earth is the bottomless pit where, as it lies in uninhabited
desolation during the millennium, Satan is to be bound
; (9) the wicked, including Satan
and his angels, are to be finally annihilated; (10) the testimonies, or writings,
of Mrs. White are inspired just as
was the Bible, and are meant to interpret the Bible.
These
false beliefs constitute most of the major tenets which the early day Adventists styled present truth, all of which are held by the sect to this day. - E. B. JONES.
[PART
2]
WHY I LEFT SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM
By E. B. JONES*
*
This article is a valuable
proof of the appalling errors in which a truly converted child of God can live,
sincerely and unconsciously; and which (if he dies so) make the grave
threatened punishments inevitable. - D. M. Panton.
-------
I WAS reared in a typical Seventh-Day Adventist home. My
parents at the time of my birth were Methodists. But after considerable persuasion,
they were, during my boyhood, induced to accept the teachings of Adventism.
Being of the earnest sort, they soon became thoroughly devoted to their newly
embraced faith, and conscientiously reared their children in conformity to its
peculiar and exacting principles. One of the requirements of Adventism is that
much time be given both in homes and schools, to the study of the testimonies (meaning the voluminous writings of the
movements supposedly inspired messenger, Mrs.
E. G. White).
AN EASY PREY
TO TEMPTATION
The
result of my meticulous training in home and school was that I merely imbibed
head knowledge of a system of religion. When, because of stringent financial
circumstances, it became necessary for me to leave the moral shelter of home, I
had merely been religiously influenced and doctrinally informed. But in neither
home nor school had I been taught the true Gospel. I knew nothing about the
miracle of the new birth. I was not saved. As might be expected, I fell an easy
prey to the temptations Satan laid for me on every side. For nearly fifteen
years I was enchained by such sinful habits as drinking, cigarette smoking,
gambling, dance-hall carousing, cursing, lying and cheating. A horrible pit!
But
the time came when I began to realize my lost condition. I was sick of sin. I
had not for years attended church services of any description. No Christian
worker was with me to point to the Way. The Lord Jesus Himself by His Holy
Spirit, wooed me, night and day, for six weeks. At last, I humbly repented of
my sins and in simple faith received Him who came to seek and to save that
which was lost.
I can never forget that transaction with God, when my
sins were rolled away, when my vice-like evil habits were definitely broken,
and when my heart became the abiding place of the Holy Spirit with His glorious
peace and joy. I was not in a revival meeting I was standing alone waiting for
a street car in a Midwestern city that November night in 1914. It was as our
Lord said, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
What
a wonderful experience of soul rest was mine as a result of that quiet curbstone meeting with my long-patient Redeemer! How
miraculous was my complete deliverance, in that very hour, from prolonged
bondage to my many sinful practices! What a transformation was wrought by Gods
grace alone! I became literally a new creature,
witnessing and making restitutions. That night the Holy Spirit began within me
a good work, which, I gladly testify, He has continued to this
time, and will, I am confident perform
until the day of
Jesus Christ.
Naturally,
I felt that I should at once unite with some church. Recalling my childhood
instruction (which I had never questioned) that the Seventh-Day Adventist
movement constituted the one true church, I promptly looked up an Adventist
church and made arrangements for baptism and induction into its membership.
That was more than thirty years ago. During the first fifteen of those years I
was unsuspectingly satisfied to go on serving in that which I found, to my
sorrow, to be an unequal yoke.
In
less than a year after my conversion, I accepted a position with the publishing
house at the Seventh-Day Adventist headquarters in
EIGHTEEN
MONTHS ON HUSKS
On
the mission field I was not long in discerning the same conditions of spiritual
sloth and impotence, of marked unfaithfulness to denominational principles as
set forth by Mrs. White, that I had
observed with perplexity in
I
then took an earnest, open stand for a spiritual revival among both mission
workers and members of the denomination throughout the field. To my great
disappointment, however, my well-meant endeavours for an awakening were largely
ineffective. Denominational leaders were uninterested. They misinterpreted my
undertaking, and in various ways produced discouraging opposition. I felt
compelled to abandon the task, resign my position in the publishing house, and
return to
But
- as I have since realized with gratitude to our sovereign God - it was during
that period on the mission field, characterized as it was by trying
experiences, that I began to discern, vaguely, rays of light from the Word of
Truth which finally led to my liberation from a soul-shackling religion.
Long
before I thought of renouncing Adventism, I perceived the significance of such
Scriptures as John 16: 13; 1 John 2: 27; and Proverbs 4:
18. Never did I accept such a statement as
this, made in my hearing by a minister of the denomination, We [Seventh‑Day Adventists] have all the truth
there is. Never did I agree with this judicious declaration made by
an Adventist executive in addressing a general meeting on the mission field, We [Seventh‑Day Adventists] make a mistake when
we strive for anything beyond the ordinary Christian experience.
For
myself I could not accept this Laodicean standard. Because I was determined to
search the Scriptures for myself, I came, at long last, into the light of
truth, and in that glorious light perceived the appalling darkness of
Seventh-Day Adventism. What a time of trial that was! Only those who have
passed through a similar experience can know the anguish of one who realizes
(despite his aching hearts protestations) that truths
long considered vital, long loved, faithfully proclaimed, are not, after all,
in harmony with the sacred Word upon which they were supposedly founded.
By
this time I was convinced that flaws of a grave character existed at the very
foundation of Seventh-Day Adventism, and that I should make an exhaustive
personal investigation of the system. Providentially, I was enabled to secure
in
At this stage of my religious re-education, when I had
unlearned almost every doctrine 1 had known with the exception of my
"pet" Sabbath doctrine, I learned that the resurrection occurred on
the first day of the week. More than a score of translations of Matthew 28: 1
(both ancient and modern), show the resurrection to have taken place shortly
before the visit of the two Marys to the tomb, which
was after the Sabbath, as it grew toward daylight
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary).
To have come into possession of such glorious truth;
to have come, through so many strange experiences, to this higher ground; to
have, at long last, convictions that are settled, never to be shaken, because
grounded on the Word that is settled in heaven ; to have entered into His rest - all this is worth
more than the price I have paid.
And
now I am called to preach good tidings, sent
to cry aloud, spare not.
- The Sunday School Times.
* *
* * *
* *
494
CHRISTS
COMING AGAIN:
BOTH SECRET
AND OPEN
By A. G. TILNEY
WITHOUT being over-confident and dogmatic, may we not
ask whether truth is not often twofold? It is pleasing to be in the right, but
merely self-pleasing to be the only one right. We can afford to agree that in
the world there are tares as well as wheat, for the earth is cursed as well as
blessed; in the Church there is both gift and reward, for there is both faith
and works; in the Word there is Calvinistic certainty of gift and Arminian
uncertainty of reward. The human race is threefold - consisting of Jew, Gentile
and the
Now
there is no doubt that Christ is going to be seen. Every eye shall see Him (Rev. 1: 7):
therefore His coming will be visible and universal; it will be like the lightning (Matt.
24: 27):
therefore unmistakable. But will the Lord appear to everyone at once? Since
humanity consists of Church, of Jew, and Gentile (or Greek), and since judgment
begins at the house of God (1 Pet.
4: 17),
is it not likely that the Lord will be seen by His house before He
is seen by the others, to whom, therefore, He will for a time be and remain
invisible?
To
believers - men of faith - the Lord says: Watch! That is, keep awake, alert, be
on the look out; be ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man
cometh (Matt. 24:
42-51).
He also tells the Church that He is coming as a thief comes - furtively,
secretly, unsuspected, unknown, till too late; and then, conspicuous by absence
and loss (Rev. 3:
3). The comparison is Christs, not ours - as a thief, He repeats (Rev. 16: 15). Next
door they will know and see nothing at all until they read about it in the
paper; and in our own house we shall see only if we watch for His down-coming
as Elisha watched for his masters up-going (2
Kings 2: 10) and received rapturing
Spirit-power.
Now since our Lords coming is both visible
(lightning-like) and also invisible (thief-like), does it not seem to follow
that it will comprise two parts or stages, with the invisible part - for His
[obedient and watchful, (Lk. 21: 36. cf. Rev.
3: 10,
R.V.)] people to the air, prior to
the visible part - with His people - to the earth (1 Thess 4: 17)? Hence we read, To them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation (Hebrew 9: 28). Must not this imply that those who do not
look for Him will not immediately see Him? And what about those who do not love His appearing? We can think of these parts of the Son of mans
coming: His sudden departure from heaven - His swift descent to the air - His
sudden arrival or coming proper -
His prolonged visit or stay in the air,
which is often translated coming, though its
Greek name parousia (cf. para-llel,
and esse-nce) means being
alongside, or presence; then He will in time leave the air, descend to earth, arrive there, stay
there for judgment and rule.
At
His first coming the Christ appeared only to those who looked for redemption in
Just
as parousia (presence) needs to be
distinguished from erchomai (arrival, cf.
Luke 12: 4,
5; 18: 5; Rev. 3: 3), so does
epiphany (often a private manifestation of
appearing) differ from apocalypse (usually a
public revelation); it needs to be borne in mind that the English of the
Authorised Version is in places not sufficiently exact or precise for careful
Bible study: e.g., end of the world should be
end of the age.
The
harvest is, we are told, the end of the age, and will probably take a
considerable time, just as literal reaping is from the beginning of barley
harvest to the end of harvest wheat with the sequence of first fruits, general
but serial in-gathering, and, finally, corners of the field. Christ is the
first fruits of resurrection; those who are Christs will be gathered not at
His Coming, but during His judicial Parousia - Presence (en su parousia, 1 Cor. 15: 2, 3), every
man in his own order (presumably of ripeness). Though the change [into immortality] takes but a
moment, it is not, therefore, quite certain that all will be changed in one and
the same moment. It will take a considerable time for the Fanner to thoroughly purge His floor - judging (perhaps) a few hundred million believers
at a few minutes each would take, if one after the other, half a century. The
intimate sessions of the Bema, fittingly, will probably be held in camera. With
[watchful and obedient] Christians gone, and Christ still for a time
invisible, iniquity will quickly develop and flourish, and the man of sin will
at length show himself on earth and gain a great following with counterfeit
miracles and all deceivableness of unrighteousness. Meanwhile, in the air, where mingling streams of rapt and resurrected
Christians meet the Righteous judge, there is, apparently, the epiphany IN
the Parousia, before the apocalypse OF the Parousia. Hence we read, God
shall show in His times (1 Tim. 6: 15) the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the
quick and the dead at (1) His
Appearing, (2) His Kingdom (2 Tim.
4: 1), in
which the righteous shall shine forth like the sun, when joint-suffering
joint-heirs with Christ shall be revealed glorified together.
*
* *
S.O.S.
[Not long before the supposedly unsinkable Titanic
sank after its collision with an iceberg, and after a relatively new
distress signal Save Our Souls was hurriedly sent out!
The
apostle Peter has written to the elect of a salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time (1 Pet. 1: 1, 5, R.V.); which will occur at the end of your
faith - and described as even the salvation of your souls, verse
9).
This
is a similar situation existing amongst multitudes of regenerate believers
today,- (as that recorded in the following account of an incident which we
should recognise as a wake-up-call)!
If
we remain willingly ignorant of our Lords plans for us in the age to come (Heb.
6: 5,
R.V.) and are content to live in disobedience to our His commands! See Heb. 10: 30-39, R.V. cf. Acts
20: 30-32,
R.V.: and If His conditional promises and accountability truths mean nothing
to us, then we will imagine there is no danger for all who are
disobedient and unrepentant: and the possibility is that we will continue to
live in disbelief and remain ignorant of Gods promises
of a future inheritance and recompense of
reward (Heb. 11: 6, 8, 26, R.V.).]
The day is coming when
the doors of Heaven will be shut for [an age (Luke 20: 35. cf.
Phil. 3: 11, R.V.), and] for ever. Some years ago a submarine sank in one of the worlds
great harbours, with almost a hundred men. As soon as it settled at the bottom
of the sea, a message came by means of a code tapping from the marooned men:
Is there any hope? As the hours came and went the frantic efforts to save
them were failing, the same question came back to the men who were dying of
suffocation. Finally, the question came once more Is there any hope? and this
time from one surviving officer. Then there
was silence, as the great deep sealed the fate of all the men. They shall call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek
me diligently, but they shall not find me; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of
the Lord (Prov. 1: 28).
*
* * *
* * *
495
I KNOW YOU NOT
By SAMUEL F.
HURNARD
THESE words - Matt. 25: 12 - from
the lips of our Saviour are a cause of difficulty and confusion to not a few.
They occur in a well defined passage of admonition, following a prophetic
picture of events leading up to His second advent. This passage opens and
closes with the arresting words:- Watch therefore. See verses 24: 42
and 25: 12.
It contains three parables, viz., the Householder, the Servants, and the Virgins.
It
is important to see clearly to whom these are addressed. Speaking generally the
whole discourse of chapters 24 and 25 is addressed privately (v. 3) to His disciples.
This is emphasised in this passage, for in verse 42
the words your Lord are used concerning those warned. The next parable
relates to the faithfulness, or otherwise, of servants, clearly with regard to
the return of the Master to enquire into their conduct. While of the Virgins,
it is only to be noted that in New Testament usage the word, including 1 Corinthians 7, always implies saved believers.
The word suggests purity and separation. Moreover the ten virgins of the
parable were all anxious to meet the Bridegroom; they had lamps burning, but
with five their supply of oil was
running very low. All the ten virgins were candidates for the kingdom of heaven, and they were commanded to Watch. Christ never tells unsaved people to watch. Why
should He? Clearly the unsaved do not come into view in these parables. How
then are we to understand His words:- I know you not?
The
English word know occurs eleven times in this discourse. But in the
Greek two quite distinct words are used. One is ginosko, which means to know by effort, or
learning. It is objective and occurs five times in 24:
32, 33, 39, 43; and 25: 24. The
other word is oida and occurs six times in 29:
36, 42, 43; and 25: 12, 13, 26. It is subjective knowledge,
intuitive, or intimate. Let us notice how differently the two words
are used in these chapters. The budding of the fig tree is known by observation
(v. 32).
The near coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven (v. 33) is to be known from the signs He gives in this
chapter. Wicked humanity knew all about the Flood when it burst upon them (v. 39). Know this (ginosko), in verse 43, would be just the
obvious conclusion to come to, if only the goodman of
the house had
known (oida), but of course he
could not possess intuitive knowledge of the thiefs intention. His only
security would have been constant watchfulness. The man with one talent (25: 24), may
have heard an evil report of his master and so said Lord, I knew thee ... an hard man.
Turning
now to oida knowledge, in verse 36 it is used because the day and hour of
the Lords coming is a secret enshrined in the bosom of the Father. Therefore,
because utterly unknown, all [regenerate] believers must watch, be alert and ready for the
unexpected and unknown hour. Thus we find it used in verse
42, and of the ignorance of the Householder in verse
43. It is also used of the wicked servant in 25:
26 who invented his own perverse opinion of
his masters character. Regarding verse 12,
the Lord disclaims that intimate knowledge (oida) with the five
foolish virgins, which would place them among His close friends. This use of
the word is well illustrated in Amos 3: 2, as applied to those like the wise virgins,
where the Lord says of Israel,- You only have I known of all the families of the earth,
meaning His special interest in and
knowledge of His chosen people. It emphasises again in verse
13 the supreme importance of His urgent warning - Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of
man cometh.
In
one other passage only, Luke 13: 25, do we find the Lord saying, I know you not (oida). Both these passages relate to
a time of awakening to bitter shame and remorse. This is described by Him seven
times over as the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
This would appear to be the time when the first fruits are waved, or translated, while the unready crop is left to endure the fiery
trial of the great tribulation, thus to be ripened for the harvest. How intensely solemn are these facts as the
churches of Christ face a future dark with forebodings: yet brightened for the
eye of faith with the [conditional and accountability divine] promise of a glorious dawn.
*
* *
FINANCE
On
one great issue every citizen must make up his decision, for on it the future
of a Christian outlook on life will ultimately rest. Contrast the Marxian ideal
of class hatred with one of the last
utterances of Lord Stamp, one of the
greatest authorities on finance. Shortly before his death by a German bomb, he
closed a wireless talk on the Gold Standard with these words:- Before I finish I should like to say one thing, and it is
this: I have not the smallest interest in what I have been talking about
tonight - not the slightest interest whatever in this or any other scale of
values, excepting that other scale of values introduced into this planet by
Jesus of Nazareth. That is the one and only scale of values which ultimately
matters and which no man listening to my voice can ever afford to ignore in peril of his soul. Good night,
everybody. - SIR ANGUS
WATSON.
*
* * * *
* *
496
THE KINGDOM
A REWARD
THERE are passages of Scripture which plainly indicate
that only those who are fully given up to the Lord, and are faithful to Him,
will share the place of administration with Christ. We do not agree in every
particular in what Mr. R. Govett has
said upon this point, but the following quotation is of interest.
Will all believers, then, reign with Christ? By no means.
The Kingdom of the thousand years is never said to belong to those who only
believe. There are not a few texts addressed to believers which declare that
certain classes of them shall not enter the kingdom.
1. Those whose (active) righteousness shall
not exceed that of the Pharisees (Matt. 5: 20).
2. Those who, while professors of Christs
name, do not the will of His Father (Matt. 7: 21).
3. Those guilty of strife, envy, and
contention. (Luke 9: 46-50; Mark 9: 33-50; Matt. 18: 1-3).
4. Rich disciples (Matt. 19: 23; Luke 6: 24; 18: 24).
5. Those who deny the Millennium (Luke 18: 17; Mark 10: 15).
6. The unbaptised
(John 3: 5).
7. See also 1 Cor. 6: 9, 10; Gal. 5: 19-21; 6: 7, 8; Matt. 10: 32, 39; 16: 26; 18: 17, 18; Luke 9: 26.
Those
who sit on the throne are evidently crowned ones, for the throne-sitters are
always those who are crowned. We know from many Scriptures that all the saints
will not be crowned, and therefore all will not enjoy the high places of
sitting on the throne. Christs injunction to the Church at
Yet
again we listen to what our Lord said to the disciples, when some of them were
desirous of sharing in Christs earthly kingdom, and when, also, Peter called
attention to what he had given up for the sake of the Lord (Matt. 19: 28), Verily I say unto you, that ye
who have followed Me, in the regeneration when
the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.
What
an urgent call this is to go in for all that the Lord has for us, for those who
are willing to suffer with Him now will surely reign with Him in His coming
glory.
Again,
John says, I saw, and this time it was those who had been beheaded
because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the Word of God. This body of
martyrs is a special set of people. They are evidently a part of that company
which John had previously seen, and who are described under the fifth seal as
those who had been slain because of the Word of God, and because of the
testimony which they held. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for
the Word of God, and for the testimony which
they held. And white robes were given unto
them: and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that
should be killed as they were, should be
fulfilled (Rev. 6: 9-11). The
whole company is now seen.
This
special class is further described as those who had not worshipped the beast
nor his image, nor received his mark on their foreheads or on their hand. We
know there will be a terrible time of slaughter after the [watchful
and accounted worthy (Luke
21: 36, A.V. cf. Rev. 3: 10) members of the] Church is removed, and during the Great Tribulation,
so much so that not a single believer of those days will escape death.
This
martyred company will share a peculiar privilege in a distinct resurrection
which is called the First. We must not confuse the First Resurrection with the
pre-resurrection of 1 Thess.
4, when the dead in Christ are raised. Many
will say that we thought the first resurrection included the redeemed of this
dispensation, and they come to this conclusion because of the word first. Dr.
Bullinger has gone into this matter of first and second in a very explicit
way, and I cannot do better than quote in extenso what he says:-
This is the first resurrection: or this completes the first
resurrection. There is an ellipsis of the verb in this sentence; and we may
supply completes, having in mind the several resurrections which shall before
then have taken place.* It is also a fact
that, when two ordinal numbers are used in such a connection as this, they are
used relatively. The one is first in relation to the second, which follows: and
not to what may have occurred before. In like manner, the second stands in
relation to the first. Hence, in English we always say, in such cases, former
and latter, where we have only two things thus related: and not first and
second, unless there are more to follow in the series. It is the same in chapter 21: 1, where we read of the
new heavens and the new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away.
Here again we have two things standing in related contrast.
The first and
the new; i.e.,
the new and the one that immediately precedes it: the former, and not the first. For the present
heavens and earth which are now (2 Peter 3: 7) are not the first. For Scripture tells us of three, of
which the present is the second.* In 2 Peter
3: 6, 7, 13, we read of the first- the world that then was (Gen. 1: 1 of the second - the heavens and the earth which are now; and the third - a new
heavens and a new earth, for which we now
look. This (second of three) is what is called in Rev. 21: 1, the first of the
latter two.
Hence this first
resurrection is the former of the two
mentioned in this verse: and not the resurrection of the Church (the Body of
Christ, revealed in 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17. This special resurrection (1 Thess.
4: 16) must be carefully distinguished from that which is called the first resurrection in Rev. 20: 6. The word first in 1 Thess. 4: 16, does not refer to the
first resurrection, so called in Rev. 20: 6, but merely records the
order of events, and simply states that the
dead in Christ will rise first; i.e., before the
taking up of either them or the living saints.
This
interpretation is confirmed by what Paul says in writing to the Church at
All
these who share in what the Spirit calls the First Resurrection are said to be
blessed and holy, and shall reign with Christ for
a thousand years. They are blessed because
of the special honour that will be placed upon them, and they are holy because they
shall share in this separated and consecrated place of holy dignity, and their
special reward is that they shall not only be with Christ, but shall reign with
Him in manifest glory during that time which we know as the Millennium.
- Prophetic News.
*
* * *
* * *
497
THE PRIZE
By MISS E. M. LEATHES
BEYOND the wondrous gift of Eternal Life in Christ
Jesus, Paul unveils a marvellous secret of a prize to be won, and a priceless
treasure to be secured by all who are willing to count the cost. We find him declaring
with eager intensity, I press on, if so be that I
may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
Brethren,
he cries, I
count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one
thing I do, forgetting the things that are
behind, and stretching forward to the things
which are before, I press on toward the goal
unto the Prize of the Upward Calling of God in Christ Jesus. And what is the Goal towards which Paul is stretching
every nerve and flinging away every hindrance that he may reach it? He then
reveals his most thrilling secret. Howbeit, he declares, what things were
gain to me, those have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all
things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:
for Whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that
I may gain Christ (or win) (Phil. 3: 12, 13, 14, 7, 8. Amer.
R.V.)
And
for those who are out to win this prize the Apostle gives another illustration.
Paul had probably watched the runners who competed for the prize in the Greek
Games, when the winner received a laurel crown. Know ye not, he asks, that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even
so run; that ye may attain. We know that the competitors in these races had to
undergo a very arduous physical training beforehand. So Paul continues, Everyman that striveth in the
games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now
they do it to receive a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, as not
uncertainly so fight I, as not beating the air: but I buffet my body, and
bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected (or disapproved from the prize) (1 Cor. 9: 24-27. Amer. R.V.) Note the Lords words to the
lukewarm
I
am certain there are many of Gods intrepid followers today, who are being
tested beyond all their natural resources: it is at such a time when absolute
reliance on God alone will avail. A free translation of 2 Cor. 12:
10, runs thus - I
take pleasure in being without strength, in
being chased about, in being cooped up in a
corner, for when I am without strength, I am dynamite. And now comes to us ringing down the
centuries from the depths of a Roman dungeon the triumphant shout of that old
battered and wounded warrior, Paul. He exclaims, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I
have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up
for me the crown of Righteousness, which the
Lord, the Righteous judge, shall give to me at that Day;
and not to me only, but also to all them that
have loved His Appearing (2 Tim. 4: 7, 8. Amer. R.V.)
- The Midnight Cry.
*
* *
THE
As an evangelist, meeting many people, I have a chance
to observe. There are few preachers and laymen ripening fast for a place in the
rapture of the Bride. They are deepening spiritually, the glory is upon them,
but many others are drifting in the opposite direction. The separation is noticeably taking place now.
The fundamental Bible-believing Christians are
separating themselves from apostate Protestantism properly known as the Federal Council of Churches. The latter hates and betrays the Christians who hold to the
doctrine of the Blood atonement. There is a sharpening line of demarcation
between the two bodies. The Federal Council is doomed to become incorporated
into Mystic Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots.
But there is also a division noticeably appearing
among the true believers. Some, sensing the present situation, and the special
battle against satanic forces in the spiritual realm are giving themselves to
heart-searchings before the Lord, pleading the precious blood, and are
blossoming out into a deeper Christian experience. The Glory is upon them, they
are ripening for the rapture. Others are
taking the line of the least resistance and are becoming victims of this special
satanic invasion. As a result they will awaken when the midnight cry goes
out, Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. with the awful fact facing
them that their lamps are going out and they are not ready. TAKE HEED TO
YOURSELVES
watch
and pray always, that ye may
be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to
stand before the Son of man (Luke 21:
34-36). - WM. F. BEIRNES.
*
* * *
* * *
498
REGATHERING
By MILTON B. LINDBERG*
[* Published in 1949]
WITHIN a year or more the so-called
Dispersion of the Jews (Goluth) in
In short, says Mr. Zukerman,
the Jewish scene in
When were the Jews dispersed in all the nations of the
earth? Nearly 1,900 years ago! When did the sacrifices cease? Nearly 1,900
years ago! When were the sanctuaries made desolate and
Did
the Prophet like unto Moses come, and was He rejected 1,900 years ago? But thou, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, says Micah
in chapter 5 of his prophecy,
out of thee shall one come
forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose
goings forth are from of old, from ancient days.
Therefore will He give them up, until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth. For what reason will He give them up? In the statement
that precedes, it says, They smite the judge of
In
spite of the huge influx of people absorbed into a small territory in wartime,
Chapters 30 and 31 of the prophet Jeremiah describe a gathering out of all countries back to the
mountains of
Better
the chastening rod, with [a future] salvation the
result, than no chastening and no
return to God. Confirmation of the
truth that
[* NOTE: There is a much deeper meaning to be found in the
word salvation (see 1 Pet. 1: 5, 9, R.V.) by
those prepared to study the context and believe in an Intermediate Place and
State of the Soul in Hades (Luke 16: 22, 23. cf. Acts
2: 27, 34
and Acts 7: 4b,
5, with 2 Tim.
2: 17, 18, R.V.)! Until the time of RESURRECTION, the spirit, soul, and body must
remain separated by DEATH!
Deliverance,
regathering, and restoration of the covenants which God made with the fathers
are promised on one condition. Only acknowledge thine
iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God ... and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I
will bring you to Zion ... At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord;
and all the
nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem;
neither shall
they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart ... and they shall come
together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an
inheritance unto your fathers (Jeremiah
3: 13-18).
The
order is plain: after acknowledgment of the iniquity which brought on this
1,900-year dispersion comes regathering to the Land of their fathers. No such national acknowledgment has yet been made. The Nation has had the predicted sorrows in her dispersion, but she has
not yet had the time
of Jacobs
trouble which shall be
sufficiently severe to bring her to repentance.
In
the meantime, therefore, we have the continuing fulfilment of the words of the
rejected Jesus. In British Hachodosho, New Testament, Luke 21, Jesus tells His followers, all Jewish at that time,
how they should be delivered up to the synagogues, thrown into prison, and
betrayed by their own brethren and kinsfolk. Judgment would therefore fall upon
the unbelieving Nation. And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, He told them sadly, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh
... And they shall fall by the edge of the sword,
and shall be led away captive into all nations :
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled (verses 20-24).
[* See Robert
[Bob] Cornukes book:
The
period which Jesus called the times of the Gentiles
is, therefore, not yet fulfilled. The fact that
The
present gathering, therefore, is not the final regathering when the Messianic
hopes of
- The Jewish Era.
*
* *
ZIONISM
THIS State of fewer than one million people is still
but a marshalling yard for Zionist forces. Not only are its frontiers to be
delineated, but the very character of the country and the people has still to
be evolved. There has been little time for nation building. The policy has been
one of expansion, regardless of cost and effort, rather than consolidation.
Only the mystical concept of the ingathering of the people in Diaspora unites
the country, and promises to fuse it into a nation. It is the most powerful
force, and has a peculiar spiritual as well as racial strength. The inability
of the world generally to recognize its significance was perhaps mainly
responsible for some of the failures of the many commissions which attempted to
settle the future of
This
force will finally mould the character of the new State, but at present the impact
of unlimited immigration is the most unstabilizing factor. The problems it
creates are overwhelming; the cost is enormous. It has been estimated that £950
is required for the transport, initial care, and the training and resettlement
of an immigrant. If this years quota arrives, every cent of the £62,000,000
which the United Jewish Appeal hopes to collect in
Wages,
labour conditions, and benefits have raced ahead of the productive potential of
the country. The Israeli worker is one of the highest paid in the world. At the
present rates of pay, if the Consolidated Refineries Limited resumed production
the average wage paid to its clerks, mechanics, and labourers would be £100 a
month. An unskilled worker earns £2. 6s. a day, and the rates of pay of
building operatives are such that the price of a house of simple construction
is £1,000 a room; and the size of the average room here is smaller than that of
a typical English suburban cottage. - The Times, July 7, 1949.
*
* * *
* * *
499
THE SEED AND
THE SOIL
By GORDON
CHILVERS
BY comparing mens
hearts with four kinds of soil (Matt. 13: 1-23) our Lord gave a complete summary of all mens
reaction to His word. He had been preaching to, and teaching the people of
The
sower takes the handful of corn from the bag he carries in front of him, and
with a sweeping movement of the hand allows corn to fall to the ground. As a
result, some falls on the hard ground. This was a foot-path trodden-down, and
hardened by those who passed over it. The seed could not penetrate
this soil, so it lies exposed on the top of the soil, but not for long. The
birds had been watching the sower, and at the earliest moment they sweep down,
and carry away the seed with them. So the result of
one sowing had proved to be fruitless - except to the birds of heaven that devoured the seed.
Some fell upon stony places, where
they had not much earth, (v. 5). These
stony places were not loose stones lying together in various parts of the
field, but large rocks with just a thin covering of soil over the top. This
ground, then, was only a thin layer of soil covering a barren rock. And forthwith they sprung up,
because they had no deepness of earth. The seed is easily able to send roots through the thin
layer of earth, but there they must stop, for they cannot penetrate the hard
rock. And when
the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. They had not gone down deep [into
the word of the Kingdom (Matt. 13: 19, R.V.) truths], so they could not remain up for long. They had
no root, so they could get no moisture, and soon they showed the effect by
being completely withered.
And some fell among thorns. The seeds of the thorns were already in the ground,
The seed came up with the thorns, but as the thorns were the stronger of the
two they ousted the seed. Thorns were regularly used in
There
was one other kind of soil, and this rejoiced the heart of both sower and
reaper alike. Others
fell upon the good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundred
fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold. Contrasted with the first, the ground had been broken up by the plough:
contrasted with the second, it was deep, rich earth: contrasted with the third,
it was clean soil, and not filled with thorn seeds. In other words, it was ideal ground for the seed. It received the same seed from the
same sower as the other ground, but what a difference in the results!
While such a high yield as a hundred fold was indeed high and unusual, it was
by no means unknown. Then Isaac sowed in that land (that is, the land of the Phylistines), and received in the same year an hundred
fold: and the
Lord blessed him (Gen. 26:
12).
Such
was our Lords parable. The disciples did not understand why He should speak to
the people in parables. They go to Christ with their difficulties, and He in
response gives them the explanation of the parable. How thankful we are for the
disciples question, for it brought forth from Christ the Divine explanation. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower. Our Lord Himself
called for the earnest, careful, and undivided attention of His disciples. When any one heareth the word of the
kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and
catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. Christ Himself was the first sower of the seed. He
sowed the seed in
The
doctrine is not understood by the first class of hearers, though Christs reign
is not more difficult to understand than the reign of any other monarch. As the
word is not understood, the soil is hardened against its reception, and so the
words of Christ make no impression upon the soul. Even though the soul is
regenerate, the heart can be hardened through pride. The Kingdom is denied as
being only an earthly kingdom, and therefore not to be sought after by
Christians. Or, the heart may be hardened through prejudice. Many of Gods
people refuse the Kingdom because they think it to be Jewish. Although our Lord
has bidden his disciples strive that they may enter the Kingdom, they refuse
their Lords word and say, No, it is for Jews only.
Some go to the other extreme and assert that if Christ is in this kingdom, they
will certainly have a place in it as they are bound to be where Christ is. It
is our Lord Himself who says so distinctly,- Except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5: 20). They
say, Oh no, we shall all be there. They then who hear the word of the Kingdom
with such prejudice, refuse it and so make the word of God of none effect by
their tradition. It may be that sin comes between the believer and his Lord. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that [regenerate] Christians do
sin, and sin wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the [millennial] truth; and to them [if repentance
and restoration is not forthcoming] Christ Himself shuts the door of the
Kingdom. They are blinded to the
higher truths of Scripture and will not seek for any prize. They simply rest on the fact that they have eternal
life [as a free gift
(Rom. 6: 23, R.V.)] and
nothing can take it away from them. Satan, who is the embodiment of all evil,
then gladly takes away the seed that was sown. All sin is headed up to him, and
so, by one device or another, Satan is able to take the seed from the ground.
It is a very striking and solemn thought - the ground retains the seed no
longer. It is gone, never to return. If we [persist,
and] refuse
the light God has given us, He will give no further light, and that which we
refuse will be taken away. So Paul says to the Hebrew Christians, Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the living
God. But exhort one another daily while it
is called Today; Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin
(Heb. 3: 12, 13).
But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Our Lords birth was to bring joy to mankind. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord (Luke
2: 10, 11).
There is no message on earth like it.
This Gospel of the Kingdom is accepted
by heart and mind. There is a great
desire to participate in the benefits of this [our Lords promised]*
kingdom, but the enthusiasm does not last. There appear to be prospects for
these people, but they did not count the cost. They are equally quick in
receiving and in letting it slip, Yet, our
Lord continues, hath he no root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation
comes (this word is connected in its root meaning with the
threshing roller - something which crushes exceedingly small). We remember the
words of our Lord to Peter on the very night of his trial, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you, that he may sift you as wheat
(Luke 22: 31).
That is what disturbs these hearers. Or persecution arises because of the word [of the kingdom], by and by he is offended. There is
receptiveness but nothing more, for their acceptance of truth is short lived.
[* See Psalm 2: 8. cf.
Psalm 72 with 110:
1-3, and Luke 24: 21-26 and verse 44, R.V.]
They found there was
opposition from the world, the flesh, and the Devil, and even (sad to say) from their fellow [regenerate] believers. They
find to their horror that the doctrine [of reward
in the age to come (Heb.
6: 5,
R.V.] is not fashionable. This is the time to suffer loss, for Christ, but they are not prepared to
pay the price, and they are amongst those who fall away. So once there is difficulty over the truth they have
accepted, they let it go just as quickly as they received it. They are like
sponges which absorb any liquid without the slightest difficulty, but
immediately you start squeezing the sponge it lets out the liquid even more
quickly. Believers can be without depth of spiritual knowledge or experience.
They cannot stand the heat of persecution and trial. In that case their
spiritual life will soon wither. These Christians are like weather-cocks, they
agree with the doctrine that is fashionable at the time and which is accepted
by those in whose company they find themselves. If their associates accept the
Word of the Kingdom, then so do they. If the others - [especially
anti-millennialists, ordained pastors, or their chosen heads of Bible Colleges] - do not accept it, then nor do they. They have never taken heed to the exhortation of the
Apostle Paul that we be no more children, tossed to
and fro, and carried about with every wind of
doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the
truth in love, may grow up into him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ (Eph. 4: 14, 15). It is
always difficulty and hardship that cause the people to go back. When Jesus
said He was the bread of life which came down from heaven, many of his disciples, when
they heard this, said, This is an hard
saying; who can hear it? (John 6: 60).
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more
with him (John 6: 66).
How very sad this must have been to the first Sower of the seed - Christ. He gave
this parable just before these people went back! What a warning
they had, yet it was despised.
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that
heareth the word; and the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. There is a divided heart and so the fruit was not
perfect. The trouble was that the seed would get no sun. When a believer loses
touch with the Sun of Righteousness his Christian life will soon be clouded,
and he will bring forth no fruit to perfection. If any man is to seek first the
Secondly - ambition. If ambition controls a [Christian] mans [or
womans] life
there are many things he [or she] will
be tempted to do which are not agreeable with the Christian character. He may
be called upon to compromise in certain ways if he [or
she] wishes to attain to the
highest that this world has to offer. There is too the possibility of the
unequal yoke. There may be attendance at social functions when it is not
popular to be too exact in speech or conduct. There is the possibility of
having to keep on good terms with a senior and this may bring disastrous
effects. Wm. Taylor speaking of
ambition says:- If the office seeks him he may be
safe and may keep himself in the line of spiritual growth; but if he seeks the
office with overmastering ambition let him beware, for if he persist in such a
course he will choke out his Christian life.
Thirdly, there are riches - the
deceitfulness of riches. The great
Puritan preacher Jay says:- Some years ago when preaching at
Our
Lord looked on a young man and loved him. The young man had said that he had
kept all Gods commandments from his youth up. Jesus said unto him - If thou wilt be perfect, go
and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But
when the young man heard that saying, he went
away sorrowful: for he had great possessions (Matt. 19: 21, 22). The young man can say nothing - his riches
completely barred his road to the Kingdom. Christ then turns to His disciples
and says,- Verily I say unto
you, That a rich
man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the
So,
the Devil takes the first seed, the flesh the second seed, and the world takes
the third seed, leaving only one to delight the heart of the Lord. He that received
the seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and
understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundred
fold, some sixty, and some thirty. They were
regenerate like the others but they were not content with anything less than a
life lived wholly for God. In the words of Luke, those on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep
it (Luke
8: 15). (That is, holds it so that it doesnt run away, D. M. Panton). Here was not a prejudice
against the word, but the willing reception of it for Christs sake. As a
result they bring forth a magnificent yield of the fruit of the Spirit which
is, Love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal. 5: 22, 23). There was a difference in the yield even when
the seed fell on good ground (possibly because there were differences in the
gifts dispensed by Christ), but even the last brought forth thirty fold. This
class of hearers fully understood the teaching and its consequences and give it
their whole-hearted allegiance, and it becomes the only ambition of their life.
Their heart is honest. That is, they look the matter straight in the face and
accept Gods word at its face value. They hold fast the truth and practise all
they know to be right. This is the only class to bring forth fruit.
Persecution, cares, and losses come, but still they go on. There are
differences in fruit now; there will be differences in glory in the day to
come. There was no defect in the seed, for it was all the same; nor in the
Sower, for He was the same in each case. The
difference was in the soil alone, that is, the hearer. The way may be
tedious, but we are pressing on to a goodly land. Take heed how you hear!
*
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*
500
HADES
By HERBERT
BEIBER, D.D.
THE Word of God
teaches us that man is a tri-unity. He consists of a material part called the
body, and immaterial parts called spirit and soul. With the spirit man has
God-consciousness. By death is meant the separation of these component parts.
In the Word of God life is always union, and death is always separation. In
death the spirit and soul are separated from the body. We know where the body
goes. It is placed in the ground awaiting resurrection.
Where do the spirit and soul go? In the Old Testament
we are told they go to Sheol.*
This word is used sixty-five times. It is translated hell thirty-one times, and the pit three times [in the Authorised King James
Version, 1611.]. In the New Testament the spirit and soul go to Hades, which is the
same place as Sheol.** Hades
is used eleven times and is translated hell ten times
and grave once. Proper nouns should never be translated in
going from one language to another. So in the American Revised Version you will find Sheol or Hades eleven times
in the New Testament. Seventy-six times we are told where the spirit and soul
go at death. They go to Sheol or Hades, the place of disembodied spirits.
* NOTE: It is
important to differentiate (by a careful examination of the context), to
understand precisely what spirit
is here intended! Our animating or life-giving spirit returns to God at the time of Death: Father, into thy hands I
comment my breath (translated spirit in
the R.V.): and having said this, he breathed out, (Lit. Greek). That is, He expired! (Luke 23: 46, a
literal Greek translation.). So, our animating spirit
does not
descend into Hades along with the disembodied soul at the time of Death! It ascends to Heaven - the
place where our heavenly Father resides!
** But, there is a
different spirit presently in
Sheol or Hades!
It belongs to one of Gods faithful witnesses; who, amongst all
others, are presently awaiting the time
of their RESURRECTION:-
But in every deed, as I live, and as all the earth
shall be filled with the glory of the Lord;
because all those men (those who apostatized at Kadesh Barnea) which have seen my glory, and
my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the
wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they SHALL NOT SEE THE LAND which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of
them that despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had ANOTHER SPIRIT with him, and hath followed me
fully, him
will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it: (Num. 14: 21-24, R.V.).
That is, for God to fulfil His promise, He must RESURRECT Caleb from
Sheol / Gk. Hades,
at the first Resurrection (Rev. 20: 5, R.V.) which will take place sometime still future, when
Jesus returns. (1 Thess. 4: 16; 1 Cor. 15: 23. cf.
2 Tim. 2: 17, 18; Heb. 11: 29, 40. R.V.)!]
But where is Sheol of Hades? Death and Sheol are
linked together thirty-three times. Death gets the body. Sheol or Hades gets
the spirit and the soul. But where is Sheol of Hades? But those that seek my soul
to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth (Psalm 63: 9). Here we are told that Sheol or Hades is in the
lower parts of the earth. We know where the earth is, for we are living on it.
When folks died in Old Testament times, they did not go up; they
went down. In the Old Testament times we are told twenty-two
times that when folks died they went down into Sheol. Psalm
55: 1 Let death seize upon them and let them go down
quick into Sheol.
Now we want to know - do the godly and ungodly mingle
with each other in Sheol as they mingle on earth? Jesus [our
Lord and Saviour] answers this question
when He unveils the unseen for us in Luke 16:
19-31.
This is not a parable. It is an unveiling. A rich man dies and goes to Sheol [Gk. Hades]. A poor man Lazarus by name, dies and also goes to
Sheol, but Jesus tells us that Lazarus was in a place called Abrahams bosom
and that he was in conscious bliss. The rich man was in torment. Between
Abrahams bosom where Lazarus was and the place of torments where the rich man
was, a golf was fixed. The Greek calls this golf a chasm.
Two ungodly men were crucified with Jesus. One became
penitent and prayed the Lord to remember him when He came into His kingdom.
Jesus replied, Today
shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Now we have two names for the compartment in Sheol where Lazarus was, Abrahams
bosom and the Old Testament paradise. When Jesus and the penitent thief died,
where did they go? They went to Sheol, to Abrahams bosom, to the Old Testament
paradise. Jesus was there three days. **
[* That is, until the time
of His
resurrection out of dead ones (lit. Greek)!
See also Acts 2: 31ff,
R.V. cf.
2 Tim. 2:
16-18,
R.V.).
And while they were speaking to the people, the
priests and the captain of the people came upon them, being grieved, because they
taught the people and announced in the
Jesus the resurrection that out of dead ones. (Greek) And they laid hands on them, and
placed them in custody till the next day
(Acts
4: 1-3).
How many Bible students are teaching the people
of The Intermediate Place and State of
* The conviction (shared by
Dr. Beiber) that all Paradise has now been emptied,
and the saved taken to Heaven, is upset by the fact that both saved and unsaved
come up out of the tombs (none from Heaven) in a resurrection yet to come: they
that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;
and they that have done ill, unto the resurrection of
judgment (John
5: 29). The Paradise of God (Rev. 2: 7), to which Paul was caught up (2 Cor. 12: 4), is in Heaven; but the
*
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* * *
To be
continued, D.V.