“And
they come to
[* See No. 526]
-------
“Perhaps no words are more frequently on our Lord’s lips than these:-
‘Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each (disciple) according as his work is’ (Rev. 22: 12). To whom is this said?
‘I
Jesus have sent mine angel to
testify unto you these things for the Churches.’ So Paul says: ‘He that planteth
and he that watereth are one’ - in standing and redemption - ‘but each shall receive his
own reward according to his own labour’ (1 Cor. 3: 8). Our Lord singles out a
grave act of discipline, and presents it as symptomatic of His habitual action,
‘I do
cast her into great tribulation … and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth
the reins and hearts: and I
will give unto each one of you according to your works’ (Rev. 2: 22). So Paul balances the
double-edged recompense. ‘Servants obey: … knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the RECOMPENSE OF THE INHERITANCE: ye serve the Lord Christ. For’ - on the other hand
- ‘he
that doeth wrong shall receive again for the wrong that he hath done: and there is no respect of
persons’
(Col. 3: 25.) It is a truth that
concerns US.”
- D. M. Panton.
-------
COMA*
[* A
selected quotation from ‘DAWN’
(No. 248. Dec., 1947.) -
‘ An
evangelical magazine edited by D. M. Panton, B.A.’
See 529 “CHURCH
AMUSEMENTS”]
“
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
INDEX
501 BE YE ALSO READY
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
502 OUR SEAT OF AUTHORITY By D. M. Panton, M.A.
503 OUR TIME IS SHORT
By Wilbur M. Smith.
504 THE IMMINENCE OF THE ADVENT By D. M. Panton, B.A.
505 REWARD By
D. M. Panton, B.A.
506 NATURE’S PUNISHMENT OF SIN By Harry Lindblom,
Sc. D.
507 A BURGLAR AND CHRIST
508 THE LORD’S WARNING By R.
H. Boll.
509 THE MARK OF THE BEAST By D. M.
Panton, B.A.
510 LAWLESSNESS By D. M. Panton,
B.A.
511 WHY I BELIEVE CHRIST IS COMING
By William G. Channon.
512 SEDUCING SPIRITS
513
WORLD EVENTS AND BIBLE PROPHECY
514 SHORTENED COURSE OF INSTRUCTION
FOR A SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST
515 HAS THE CHURCH MISSED THE MARK By A Young Christian.
516 LAYING UP TREASURE
By D. M. Panton, M.A.
517 THE ROMAN CHURCH AND POWER By Aovo Mahnattan.
+ PART II By Robert E. Fitch.
518 THE
519 THE LOST MILLIONS By Hyman R.Hurnard.
520
SIN AND SINS By W. P. Clark.
521 THE WORSHIP OF SATAN By D. M. Panton, M.A.
522 PRAYER FOR
523 VERY FAR BETTER
(Phil. 1:
23.)
524 WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY LIFE? By General William Booth.
525
MODRENISM By Dr. W. A. Criswell.
526 THE REBUILDING OF THE
527 THE PRAYING LIFE
By D. M. Panton, M.A.
528 MULTIPLE RAPTURE
By WM. Beirnes.
529 THE LAST HOUR
530 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS (13: 1)
By Robert Govett, M.A.
531THE
PROBLEM OF THE TRADE UNION
By Frank E. Batson.
532
THE APPEARANCE OF THE ANTICHRIST
By J. E. Davidson, M.A.
533
TRENDS TO THE TRIBULATION By G. G.
Benson.
534 THE BIBLE AND THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
By H. F. Green.
535
THE POTTER AND THE CLAY By P. G.
Thurston.
536 FOUNDATION AND SUPERSTRUCTURE
By D. M. Panton, M.A.
537
EXCOMMUNICATION AND EXCLUSION
By D. M. Panton, M.A.
538 DENYING THE ADVENT
539 REIGNING
540 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (Matt. 5:1-3)
By Robert Govett. M.A.
541
THE COMING CRISIS By Kenneth De Corcy
542
ONESIMUS By D. M. Panton, M.A.
543
THE VISOBLE RETURN OF CHRIST GOD’S ANSWER
TO INFIDELITY AND ERROR By Dr. R. A. Torrey.
544
LITTLE CHILDREN By D. M. Panton,
M.A.
545
WOMEN AND THE MINISTRY By D. M.
Panton, M.A.
546
THE DOVE OF GOD By D. M. Panton,
M.A.
547
RETRIBUTION By H. S. Gillimore.
548 OUR REACTION TO THE BROKEN ALTARS
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
549 A NEARING CRISIS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH
By D. M. Panton, M.A.
550 THE TRANSIENCE OF THE TRUTH By
D. M. Panton, M.A.
* * *
501
BE YE ALSO READY
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
NVER has our need been more urgent to do what Enoch did - the
morning star of the Old Testament - to walk with God. The earth in his time was
“filled with violence” - the violence 0f lawless movements,
and raging nations; all mankind stood on the threshold of a universal
judgment-flood; Enoch, alone of his generation, walked with God; when suddenly
- for him only - all ended in instantaneous TRANSLATION. And never was the need more urgent to see the
condition of translation. “By faith Enoch was translated that he should
not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for
before his translation he hath had witness borne to him that
he had been well-pleasing unto God” (Heb.
11: 5).
The Promise
So on the promise of Christ our souls deeply, gladly rest. “Because
thou didst keep the word of my patience” - the Saviour’s patient waiting
for His return, when His enemies shall be made His footstool - “I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, the hour which is to come upon the whole
inhabited earth” - thus
it is the Great Tribulation, the only
judgment since the Flood to overwhelm the whole earth at once - “to try
them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3: 10). Here is
the overthrow of the teaching that all the Church must pass through the
Tribulation: total
escape from that time of horror is possible for every child of God. But the promise is sharply conditional. It is to the
Angel alone - ‘thou’: it is based solely on his action, not on his standing - “because
thou didst keep”: it is grounded on
a specific action of the Angel, namely, his Second Advent attitude - “because thou didst keep the word
of my patience”: and the escape is made wholly contingent
on this attitude of the Angel - “because thou didst keep,
I will keep.” It is ‘kept’
for ‘kept’; it is a quid
pro quo; it is a specific reward for a specific service:
and since this is “what the Spirit saith to the churches,” all who are in the spiritual position of the Philadelphian
Angel are certain of total deliverance.
The Warning
So then, since escape is thus conditional on conduct, our Lord drops an exactly
correspondent warning. “If thou shalt not watch” - again it is
Second Advent truth, with a life squared to it, which is the deciding factor - “I will
come (arrive) as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I
will come upon (arrive over) thee” (Rev.
3: 3):
the Parousia will have begun, and the Angel, because unrapt, be wholly ignorant
of the Saviour’s arrival. Here is the overthrow of the
teaching that all the Church [regardless of their beliefs, attitude, and behaviour] will escape the Tribulation: the unwatchful child of God is certain to be caught in the last whirlpool. God has decreed neither our deliverance nor our overthrow, for
the threat, like the promise, is sharply conditional. If the unwatchfulness ceases, so does
the danger: “God appointed us not unto wrath” (1 Thess. 5: 9): only if
the salt have lost its savour, like the ‘dead’ Sardian Angel, will it be trodden
under the foot of men. For if
The Command
Thus out of the promise, and the warning, springs the
inevitable command. “Watch ye at every season, praying that” - so
that, in order that - “ye may be accounted
worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass upon the earth” - the Great Tribulation is in the
immediate context - “and to stand (be set) before
the Son of man” (Luke 21: 36).
What is the ‘worthiness’? (1) Not Christ’s worthiness,
imputed to us on faith: for that we have already; and all [regenerate] believers have it, whether watchful or
not, and to pray for what we already
possess is unbelief. This is a
worthiness towards which, and for which, we have still to pray; and that
always, until the End: “watch and pray always.” After an address in
The Worthiness
Nor (2) is it
sinless perfection, - that saints will not die
because they cannot die, having become sinlessly perfect: for
even the First-fruits - the first-rapt before Harvest - are offered with leaven (Lev. 23: 17): in the old body, no soul of man can be
sinless. The worthiness is obviously a relative worthiness, - Christ’s
being the sole absolute worthiness; a measure of sanctification known only to
God: a fact put beyond all doubt by the word our Lord uses, “that ye
may prevail (have the upper hand, succeed, prevail
- Liddell and Scott) to escape”;
that in the stiff, long battle we may “win
through,” “prevailing over”
world, flesh and devil, to reach the holy rapture of God. “If a
man keep
my word” - watchfulness, or the conscious squaring of all life to the Second
Coming; and prayer, for hourly grace to persevere: these are the supreme words
of Christ on Translation - “he shall
never
see death” (John 8:
51).
The Preparation
So our sharpening crisis calls urgently on us to walk with
God, as Enoch walked with God. For it is the Bride, not the Bridegroom, who
contributes the trousseau of marriage readiness. “His wife bath herself
READY: and it was given unto her”
- from the inexhaustible
reservoirs of grace on which she can draw - “that she should array
herself” - her active application of that grace to her own
heart and conduct - “in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine
linen is the righteous acts” - the holy behaviour, the sanctification and not the
justification - “of the saints” (Rev. 19: 8). “Therefore
be YE also ready” (Matt. 24: 44).
The Walk With God
Brother Lawrence, in The
Practise of the Presence of God, has expressed his own walk with God. “The time of business,” said he “does not with me
differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen,
while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I
possess God in as great tranquillity as if I were on my knees at the Blessed
Sacrament.” His one method of going to God and abiding in His
Presence was to do all for the love of Him. “The
littleness of my work does not lessen the value of the offering, for God
regards not the greatness of the work, but the love which prompts it.”
It was enough for Brother Lawrence to turn the cake in the frying-pan for love
of God, or to pick up but a straw from the ground. “To be with God,” he said, “there is no need to be continually in church. Of our heart
we may make an oratory, wherein to retire from time to time and with Him hold
meek, humble, loving converse.” The spirit in which Lawrence spent
the last years of his life finds expression in two of his Maxims:- “I would suffer not for ten years but till the Day of
judgment if it were God’s will, and I hope that He would continue to aid
me with His grace to bear it”: “I
am doing what I shall do through all eternity - blessing God, praising God,
adoring God, giving God the love of my whole heart. It is our one business to
worship Him and love Him, without thought of anything else.”
Readiness
So therefore readiness is vital to escape the horrors that are
coming. Bodily removals from earth to heaven have always followed the ripening
of the wheat. Plurality of rapture is proved beyond dispute. (1) Our Lord, probably with those who
broke out of the tombs accompanying Him, has been rapt, and as ‘the first-fruits’ (1
Cor. 25: 20) of the harvest; (2) a body of saints, specifically named ‘first-fruits,’ are on high before the Tribulation (Rev. 15: 4) ; (3)
two prophets are visibly taken up in a separate rapture during the reign of
Antichrist (Rev. 11:
12) ; and (4) the martyrs under Antichrist, on high (Rev.
14: 4),
could not have been rapt before the close of the Tribulation. “BE YE ALSO READY; FOR IN AN HOUR THAT YE THINK NOT THE SON OF
MAN COMETH” (Matt. 24: 44).
* * * * * * *
502
OUR SEAT OF AUTHORITY
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
Our Lord says:- “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE SHALL GUIDE YOU
INTO ALL THE TRUTH” (John 16: 13). Amid the
fearful and growing chaos, we learn at once what is our ultimate, infallible,
and final seat of authority.
The Baptism of the Spirit
Now it is vital to understand that two
sharply actions of the Holy Ghost divide the regenerate from the inspired. All
the regenerate possess the Spirit within: “your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is
in you” (1 Cor.
6: 19):
whereas the inspired had the Spirit fallen upon them, thus passing, utterance and all, under the Spirit’s complete
control. “The Apostles prayed for them” - the Samaritan believers - “that
they might receive the Holy Ghost; for as yet He
had fallen
upon none of them; only they had been
baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 8:
15). So of the Old Testament prophets we
read:- “The Spirit rested upon them, and they prophesied” (Num.
11: 26); “the
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me” (Isa. 61:
1); “the Spirit of the Lord came upon
Saul, and he prophesied” (1 Sam.
10: 10); “Would
God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His
Spirit upon them” (Num. 11: 29). Peter
expounds this descent of the Holt Ghost upon a person, thus creating inspiration,
as the baptism of the Spirit promised by the Lord. “And as
I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell
on them; and I remembered the word of
the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptised with water; but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 11:
16). For Jesus had said, “Ye
shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days thence” (Acts 1:
5); so, at Pentecost, “there
appeared upon them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire, and it was
set upon each of them” (Acts 2: 3). So Paul, after giving the technical catalogue
of miraculous gifts, says:- “For in one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12: 10). As a man must be born before he can be
baptised, so he must be born of the Spirit, before he can be baptised with the
Spirit; and it is the baptism of
the Holy Ghost which is the creation of Holy Scripture.
Inspiration
For inspired utterance was the
invariable accompaniment and the indispensable proof of the baptism of the
Spirit. “They of the circumcision were amazed,
because that on the Gentiles was poured out the gift of
the Holy Ghost: FOR” -
herein lay the proof to an apostolic eye - “they heard
them SPEAK WITH TONGUES”
(Acts 10: 45).
So at Pentecost: “and they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other
tongues, AS
THE SPIRIT GAVE THEM UTTERANCE” (Acts
2: 4). Even our Lord did no miracle
until the Holy Dve had descended upon Him in
Infallibility
“No PROPHECY” - that is, no utterance of a prophet as a prophet - “EVER CAME BY THE WILL OF MAN” - it sprang from no human brain, and
originated in no human will; “but holy men spake from God” - as a telephone
alive- “being moved” - swept on the Divine urge - “by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet.
1: 21). Its infallibility was God’s test
that it was a prophecy at all. “The prophet which
prophesieth, WHEN THE WORD OF THE PROPHET SHALL COME TO PASS, then shall be known that the Lord hath truly sent him” (Jer. 28:
9); but “if the thing follow not,
nor come to pass, that
is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken” (Deut.
18: 22):
so that “the prophet that shall speak a word in My name” - that is, not as a private word of the prophet, but as a prophetic oracle - “which I
have not commanded him to speak,” was in instant peril of his life: “THAT SAME PROPHET SHALL DIE” (Deut.
18: 20).
Thus they were “words which the Spirit teacheth” (1 Cor. 2: 3): that is,
the Spirit first selected the words He then instructed the prophet’s mind
by furnishing them to him; and finally He superintended their transmission through the prophet in “the WRITINGS of the prophets” (Rom. 16: 26).
The Spirit’s Utterance
Now an inevitable consequence follows,
of critical importance through miraculous orders, and in the midst of miraculous assemblies, the voice heard was actually the
voice of the Holy Ghost.* Here is the
point of impact; here is the receiver of the telephone. The very first thing
the Holy Ghost did, on His arrival in the upper room, was to embody His
language in human mouths - for “they all began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2: 4), and
consequently authoritative decisions fell from the lips of the inspired, and
regulated the Churches as with the voice of God. “As they ministered to
the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said” - doubtless using human lips for
audibly pronouncing His own words - “Separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 13:
2). So the apostles issued decrees
sanctioned by the Holy Spirit; “for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost” - expressing His decision through
some prophet or apostle - “and to us” - for the human,
sanctified judgment of the apostles was in itself wholly separate
- “to lay upon you none other burden” (Acts 15:
28). So universal was this spoken Scripture,
this infallible utterance, that Paul could say, “The Holy Ghost testifieth in every city, SAYING” - for it was the Holy Spirit Himself
speaking, foretelling what no human mind could assert “that
bonds and afflictions abide me” (Acts 20: 23). And this supernatural unction on the
miracle-gifted made them, while under the power, or while exercising their
permanent ‘gift,’ and in respect to what they so uttered, infallible. “He that
is spiritual
[inspired, Spirit-endowed] judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the LORD, that
he should instruct Him? But we [the apostles, the inspired] have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2: 15). Thus the
* Such was the full, universal, and unquestioned
doctrine of the Church of the first ages, nor is it possible (outside the ranks
of Gnostics and unbelievers) to find a denial of plenary inspiration for eight
centuries after Christ. Says Theophilus,
Bishop of Antioch from 171 to 183 A.D.:-
“While entranced, they uttered that which was wrought in them, the Spirit using them as its instruments, as a flute-player might blow a flute.” The gift of ‘discernment of spirits’
(1 Cor. 12: 10) guarded the assembly from the supernatural utterance of demons: it would instantly unmask a Satanic speaker
who had slipped in among the flock.
Holy Scripture
So our problem of how the Holy Ghost imparted His mind is
solved in a priceless solution. We stand at the fountain-head when we touch the Holy Scriptures.* We know nothing so vital, yet nothing
so rarely understood, as the miraculous origin of Scripture. The Scripture was
born in an age of immediate inspiration; it was cradled in miracle; by its very
nature as the written Word, it stereotyped for ever the breath of the Holy
Ghost; and the canon was composed, and all apocryphal literature excluded,
under the direction of God the Holy Ghost still speaking in the assemblies.* The Scriptures
of the Bible are as infallible as the miraculous actions and persons amid which
it was born: the Apostolic Church carried the source of infallibility in its
own bosom, and produced for us, once for all, our final, glorious and divine
Seat of Authority. The Canon itself was thus composed, so proving the Old
Testament also verbally inspired. For seventeen hundred years the telephone of
audible and miraculous utterance has been silent;** - so that, as Canon Biggs
has put it, - “From the time that the voice of
the apostles was hushed, the religion of the Church became the religion of the
Book”;*** and until and unless the Holy Ghost is again
miraculously enthroned in the assemblies, and again miraculously uttering
living oracles, the Book remains exalted above the Church as its sufficient and
exclusive authority. For the very wholeness of the Bible - opening with the
creation, and closing with the last judgments - proves that God, in His grace,
foreseeing the lapse of the Urim and Thummim from our spiritual Temple, and the departure of our Shekinah
Glory, has safeguarded us by preserving a stereotyped telephonic record, a
complete and final pilgrim chart, a perfect and infallible seat of authority, put into our hands until He shall speak again in the Second
Advent of Christ.
[* See Ezekiek
* New Testaments in Latin and Syriac, together containing all
the books except Second Peter, together with miraculous gifts historically
recorded, appear in the first hall of the second century, among disciples some of
whom must have seen the Apostle John,
and doubtless had received miraculous gifts (Acts 8:
18) from him. “Many in the Church [still] possess [A.D.
176] prophetic gifts, and
speak through the Spirit in all kinds of tongues” (Irenaeus of Lyons). It is
extraordinarily significant that the ‘interpretation
of tongues’ (1 Cor.
12: 10)
is simply an inspired gift of translation: one of the nine miraculous gifts, it
was given for the sole purpose of passing on infallibly the spoken or written
utterance of the Holy Spirit into the languages of the world, and so
safeguarding every recorded utterance of God.
** So Chrysostom
(circa A.D. 400) : “Of miraculous powers not
even a vestige is left.”
*** The embarrassing loss of the original manuscripts is most
explicable if we understand that God’s original intention was a resident
and permanent speaking of the Spirit in living oracles. When this was lost, it
was the duty of the Church, still more urgent, to have preserved the priceless
deposit from prophetic lips. Nevertheless,
“the
words still subject to doubt [in existing manuscripts] can hardly amount to more than a thousandth part of the New
Testament” (Dr. F. J. A. Hort). When some thousands
of manuscripts drawn from all quarters of the globe, composed in many different
languages, gathered from all ages of the Christian era, and all purporting to come from one original, differ in only one
word in a thousand, it is a mathematical certainty that in nine hundred and
ninety‑nine words out of every thousand we have in our hands the actual
utterances of the Holy Ghost.
* * *
REIGNING WITH CHRIST
AS a
king calls to his cabinet 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 [‘holy’ and overcoming (Rev. 20: 6 & Rev. 3: 21)] saints.
This future rulership is really the secret of our present
discipline. We are being trained in service with a view to the coming kingdom.
What an outlook! Through faith in Christ we shall experience the fullness of an
eternal life in a new and better [curse-free (Rom.
8: 19-21. cf. Gen.
3: 17, 18)] world. And if we are faithful to him
here, we shall reign with him there.
“The thousand years for
Christ’s 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 in this [promised (Ps.
2: 8; cf.
Ps. 72. & Ps.
110:1-3, R.V.] thousand
years must also be of proven merit, [Matt. 5:
20; 7: 21, R.V.] many of
them even proven by martyrdom [2 Tim. 2:
4-6. cf.
Heb. 11: 35b; Lk.
20: 35,
R.V.)]. Any position held in this regime and reign is upon individual
merit alone. No position in this kingdom is held because of grace alone.
Everyone in this reign with Christ, of course, is a born-again, saved,
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 [Mk. 10:
38, R.V.].
“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.”
- Dr. Paul Rader.
ADVENT
It is a significant symptom of today [i.e. in 1950] that a converted journalist, Mr. Hugh Redwood, who has remained in
his profession and expounds the
Scriptures in one of London’s chief daily papers, says of the Second
Advent: “I accept absolutely the Bible statement
that, although it may seem long in coming, the
day is fixed and will surely dawn when the whole world will be flooded with the
knowledge of the glory of God. And the more I read my Bible, side by side
with my daily paper, the stronger grows my belief that the hour of fulfilment
is close at hand. Almost all the signs
are present. We cannot afford to disregard them, and that fact alone is
sufficient warrant for doing everything in our power to give the Bible
publicity.”
CHRIST
“Take Christ from the Gospel,
and the Gospel is a mockery! Take Christ from the pulpit, and preaching is
madness! Take Christ from our hearts, and trouble and despair are our heritage!
Take Christ FROM THE WORLD, and
darkness settles down on it; the world is done for.”
- EMILIEN FROSSARD.
* * * * * * *
503
OUR TIME IS SHORT
By Dr. WILBUR M. SMITH
THIS ATOMIC AGE AND THE WORD OF GOD.
W. A. Wilde Company,
“It is safe to say that this is
far the ablest book yet published on the Atomic Bomb and its relation to Holy
Scripture and our closing age. An extraordinarily erudite history is given of
the problem of the ‘atom’ as studied by thinkers down the ages; the
Scripture revelation of the coming dissolution of the atom, in the final
dissolution of the universe, follows ; a thorough exposition of the one related
verse - 2 Pet.
3: 10 - is included; and all
closes in inevitable world government, an imminent world dictator, and the
extreme brevity of our opportunity.
Dr, Wilbur
Smith has
an admirable style, wisely avoiding technical terms, and a knowledge of
world-wide literature; but the dynamic
power of the book is an overwhelming devotion to the near Advent of God”- D.
M. Panton, B.A.
-------
From
time to time the church has experienced a deepening interest in prophetic subjects,
especially in the return of the Lord Jesus, and sometimes in these periods of
renewed prophetic study there has been a tendency, probably inevitable, to say
that the Lord’ return was very, very near. Sometimes, most unfortunately,
dates have been set for which there is absolutely no scriptural foundation, but
even without the dates some of the finest Christians of a given generation
would in their writings and in conference groups, affirm with great earnestness
that they believed that the coming of
the Lord could not be far off. The world laughed at all these assertions,
and many in the Church took occasion to sneer at these sincere servants of God
and students of the Holy Scriptures. The atomic bomb has altered this sneering
attitude toward the possibility of an impending Divine judgment: there is a great reversal in the thinking of modern times, to be
observed at this point. Previously certain groups of Christians would declare
that the coming of the Lord was near. Today we hear very little of the return
of the Lord and the end of the age, but everywhere we
read in secular literature that we have not much longer to live in peace and
comfort on this earth; in fact, the very phrases which were formerly used by
Bible students and laughed at by the world are now being used by our
outstanding thinkers without any reference to the Scriptures and without any
knowledge of prophetic truth.
Professor Albert
Einstein himself just
recently has said, because of the present drift in military preparations, that “1957 will be the year of crisis - the year when
* Albert Einstein, Time,
June 23, 1947, p. 22.
Mr. Raymond Swing has said, “We have but four or five years left. Either we will find a
way to establish a world government at that time or perish in a war of the atom.”
Dr. Raymond B. Fosdick, president of the Fellowship Foundation, in his annual report of 1945,
echoed the same warning, “The bomb on
* Raymond B. Fosdick in Annual Report of the Rockefeller Foundation for 1945:
pp. 15-17.
** William Liseum Borden: There
Will Be No Time: The Revolution in Strategy.
*** Leland Stowe: While Time Remains,
Dr. John A. Simpson, chairman of the Executive Committee
of Atomic Scientists of Chicago, in testifying before a special Senate
Committee, said, “It seems to me at the moment
that we have a very short time to put our house in order.”*
* Dr. John A. Simpson, in Senate Resolution 179, 79th
Congress, 1946, Pt. 2, p. 315. See also the testimony of Dr. Alvin M.
Weinberg of the
I think that the most remarkable Christian
pronouncement about the nearness of disaster and the general indifference of
the Church in a letter of Dr. Paul Hutchinson from
* Paul Hutchinson, “Churches in
the Post-war World,” Christian Century,
March 26, 1945, p. 393.
Five years ago and twenty-five and fifty years ago a statement
like this on the part of a conservative would have been howled down by the liberals,
and the fact that a liberal can now write it is only one indication of how the
atomic bomb is transforming the thinking of every member of humanity.
“The time is short” (1 Cor. 7: 29).
* * *
COMING SUDDENLY
Suddenly God opened the clouds of heaven and
broke up the fountains of the great deep, and the world that then was, perished
in a flood.
Suddenly He came down upon the builders of the
Suddenly He rained fire and brimstone on the
wicked cities of
Suddenly the angelic host announced the glad
tidings of peace and good will on earth at the advent of the Saviour (Luke 2: 13, 14).
Suddenly that peace and good will will be taken from the earth at the Second Advent of that
same Jesus. He whom men rejected and crucified, whom God raised [out] from the dead, and seated at His own
right hand, will come again.
Suddenly! like the lightning flash; as the
twinkling of an eye; as the blast of a trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised, and the living shall be changed.
- J. W. BROWNING.
-------
WATCH THEREFORE
WATCH against the leaven of false doctrine.
Remember that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light.
Remember that bad money is never marked bad, or else it would
never pass. Be very jealous for the whole
truth as it is in Jesus. Do not put up with a grain of error merely for the
sake of a pound of truth. Do not tolerate a little false doctrine one bit more
than you would tolerate a little sin. Watch
and pray!
Watch against slothfulness about Bible study
and private prayer. There is nothing so spiritual but we may at last do it
formally. Most backslidings began in the closet. When a tree is snapped in two
by a high wind, we generally find there had been some hidden decay. Watch and pray!
Watch against
bitterness and uncharitableness toward others. A little love is more
valuable than many gifts. Be eagle-eyed in seeing the good that is in your
brethren. Let your memory be a strong box for their graces, but a sieve for
their faults. Watch and pray!
Watch against pride and self-conceit. Peter
said at first, “Though all deny Thee, yet will not I.” Presently he fell. Pride is the
high-road to fall. Watch and pray!
Watch against the sins of
Watch not least against the sin of Jehu. A
man may have great zeal to all appearance and yet have very bad motives. It is quite
another thing to love the truth. Watch
and pray.
Let us watch for
the world’s sake. We are the books they chiefly read. They mark our ways
far more than we think. Let us aim to be living epistles of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Let us watch for
our own sakes. As our walk is, so will be our peace. Above all, let us watch for our Lord Jesus Christ’s
sake. Let us live as though His [coming manifested] glory* was concerned in our behaviour. Let
us live as though every slip and fall was a reflection on the honour of our
Lord. Let us live as though every allowed sin was one more thorn in His head -
one more nail in His feet.
[* See 1 Pet.
1: 11. cf.
Habakkuk 2: 14,
R.V.)]
O, let us exercise godly jealousy over thoughts, words, and actions,
over motives, manners and walk! Never, never let us fear being too strict.
Never, never let us think we can watch too much.
- Bishop J. C. RYLE.
* * * * * * *
504
THE IMMINENCE OF THE ADVENT
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.*
[* NOTE: This tract
was written in 1948]
THE dating of the return of our Lord is absolutely forbidden. He Himself says:- “Of that
day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the
Father” (Mark 13: 32).
Even so sane and sound a teacher as Dr.
C. I. Scofield said before the first World War:- “If you were told to-day what I think hinders, strangely and
mysteriously, the breaking out of the awful war which Europe has been expecting
for the past seven years, I believe God is restraining the war until He takes
His own out of the world.” Nevertheless two World Wars have come
since he spoke, with no Advent.
READINESS
A profound principle underlies the prohibition. “Then
shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left. “Watch
therefore: for ye know not on what day your
Lord cometh” (Matt. 24:
40, 42).
Total ignorance of the date makes perpetual watchfulness the only safety; and
we can no more deny a date than we can name one. Robert Murray once said to some friends, “Do you think Christ will come tonight?” One
after another they said, “I think not.”
When all had given this answer, he solemnly repeated this text:- “The Son
of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.” It may be at midnight, at
cockcrowing, or in the morning - but at all times we are to be ready. “BE YE THEREFORE READY” (Matt.
24: 44).
UNMISTAKABLE SIGNS
But a remarkable modification of a dateless Advent is given,
more than once, by our Lord Himself, and is now pressing on the Church as never
before. “When ye see these things coming to pass, KNOW ye” - not guess, or conjecture, but know - “that
the
TWO THOUSAND YEARS
One enormous fact confronts us.
Something like 2,000 years have already passed since the First Advent; and the history of the earth, before its final destruction
- its existence for 7,000 years - makes it inescapable that the last 1,000
years - the Millennium - is on the doorstep. The Authorized Version dates the
Creation as 4,004 years before Christ; so the
dispensations cover the world’s history: Science, 2,000 years; Law, 2.000
years; Grace, 2,000 years; and Righteousness, 1,000 years, when judgments will
establish the Golden Age. “Forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:
8) - the world has its one week of life. And
one extraordinarily significant fact - though a fact most dangerous, for it
tempts us to fix a date - has revealed afresh our possible proximity to our
Lord’s return. The ablest estimate yet made of the exact date of the
world - Martin Anstey’s
- sets, the Creation as not 4,004 years before Christ, but 4,042: therefore we
are now not in 1948 but in 1990, or only ten years off the close of our 2,000
years. It is extraordinary what
is being planned all over the world for the next decade.
THE ATOMIC BOMB
Of all the signals of the Advent we will take one only -
perhaps the most drastic of all. The atomic bomb, with its rapidly approaching
developments, is something without a parallel in the history of the world.
Scientific discovery has suddenly put the life of all humanity in danger. The
atomic bomb wiped out 136.000 lives in a moment; but already there are
explosives far more powerful, which can be flown across continents and oceans,
and wipe out whole nations. “If war breaks out,”
says the Emergency Council of Atomic Scientists, “atomic bombs will be used, and they will surely destroy our civilization.”
Addressing an international conference in
A FORCED ADVENT
The crisis is thus unprecedented. The President of Chicago
University, R. M. Hutchins, predicts
that the world will destroy itself in five years. Our Saviour’s words are most significant:- “Except
the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have
been saved” (Mark 13: 20). As never before in the world’s history
the Most High will be compelled to save the world from self-destruction, by the
intervention of the Advent: “for the elect’s sake, whom he chose, he shortened the
days” - by the return of Christ.
MOCKERS
One spiritual symptom of the end is outstanding. Sir Isaac Newton made a remarkable
prediction a hundred and fifty years ago. “About
the time of the end, in all probability, a body of men will be raised up who will
turn their attention to prophecies, and insist upon their literal
interpretation in the midst of much clamour and opposition.” Scripture has made it still clearer. “In the
last days mockers shall come with mockery saying, Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Pet.
3: 4).
The delaying of Divine judgments, solely owing to the love of God postponing
judgment to the last possible moment, will only turn the sceptics - who will
often have heard of the Second Advent - simply to mockery. Solomon expressed it thus:- “Because sentence against an
evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is
emboldened [margin] in them to do evil” (Eccles.
8: 11).
The delay in the heart of God is beautifully expressed:- “The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise” - of our Lord’s return - “but is
long suffering to youward, not wishing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet.
3: 9).
And yet the Church as a whole shares the
mockery at the Second Advent. In the words of Dr. D. R. Davies:- “The fact of the
matter is that the vast majority of Christian people in all the churches do not
believe in the New Testament affirmation of the return of the Lord.”
URGENCY
One overwhelming fact, therefore, faces us in the imminence of
the Advent. OUR TIME IS SHORT. For older folk life is now, in any
case, very brief; but for even the youngest believer an imminent Advent spells
what may be only a few hours left. Words of the Archbishop of York, spoken to the conference of 326 Anglican
Bishops in Westminster Abbey, are very solemn. He Says (Times,
Aug. 9, 1948):- “With the discovery and use of
the atom bomb, we live more nearly in the mental atmosphere of the first
Christians who expected at any time the end of the world. Within a few years
our civilization may utterly pass away. Now is the time of crisis; before it is
too late we must preach the Gospel, bear our witness, repent and call upon
others to repentance, before the door of opportunity is shut. We are watching
the death of an old age, and the new is still in its birth pangs. The
civilization of which we were so proud, and thought so permanent, is now
threatened with the fate that has overwhelmed 18 civilizations which once were
strong and flourishing. No wonder the hearts of millions are fainting for fear
from expectation of the dread things which may come upon the earth. We feel we
are near some great change - perhaps, in some undreamed-of way, a coming of the
Lord.” It is now or never.
THE THRONE
And what an incredible possibility is ours, which now hangs on
this our last lap. “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” (Rev.
3: 21). Our
Lord is to be Monarch over the whole earth, and He will share that royalty -
its power, its glory, its wonder - with the humblest believer who has overcome
the world, the flesh, and the devil, and who has won the prize of the race. One
day of such an honour will be worth infinitely more than a lifetime on any
throne in the world to-day. May our cry be, Paul’s:- “Forgetting
the things which are behind, and stretching
forward unto the things which are before, I press
on toward the goal UNTO THE PRIZE of the
calling upward of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil.
3: 13).
* * * * * * *
505
REWARD
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
SCRIPTURE
regards each disciple as a runner racing, an athlete wrestling, a warrior fighting,
a farmer sowing, a mason building, a fugitive flying, a besieger storming; and
all this strenuous intensity rests on a fundamental of revelation - that God
is, and that “He is a Rewarder” (Heb. 11: 6). “With many
disciples,” in the words of Dr.
A. T. Pierson, “the eyes are yet blinded to
this mystery of rewards, which is an open mystery of the Word. It must be an
imputed righteousness whereby we enter: but,
having thus entered by faith, our works determine our relative rank, place,
reward.”
A Church Truth
Perhaps no words are more frequently on our Lord’s lips
than these:- “Behold, I come quickly;
and my reward is with me, to render to each
(disciple) according as his work is” (Rev. 22: 12). To whom is this said? “I Jesus
have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the Churches.” So Paul says:- “He that planteth and he that
watereth are one” -
in standing and redemption - “but
each shall receive his own reward according to his own labour” (1 Cor. 3: 8). Our Lord
singles out a grave act of discipline, and presents it as symptomatic of His
habitual action. “I do cast her into great tribulation: ... and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts:
and I will give unto each one of you according to your works” (Rev. 2: 22). So Paul balances the double-edged recompense.
“Servants, obey:
... knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the
recompense of the inheritance: ye serve the Lord Christ. “For” - on the other hand - “he that
doeth wrong shall receive again for the wrong that he hath done: and there is no
respect of persons” (Col. 3: 25.) It is a
truth that concerns us [who
are His regenerate ‘servants’ Gk.
‘slaves’!]
Character
All honest difficulty on this truth vanishes when we examine what God rewards;
and, first of all, God’s recompense rests supremely on godlikeness, and
godlike conduct. “Love your enemies, and do them
good, and lend, never
despairing; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be
sons of the Most High: for He is kind toward the
unthankful and evil” (Luke 6: 35). Here reward turns upon likeness in character
and conduct to our Father in heaven. Secret devotion, also, will be rewarded. “Pray to
thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall recompense thee” (Matt. 6:
6): not only will the prayer be answered,
but the praying will be recompensed. Moreover our attitude of heart will help
to sway the Lord's adjudication on our service: “Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:
37). Our life [and daily behaviour] is putting, word by word, the
sentence upon ourselves into Christ’s lips: we are manufacturing, as
servants, our own adjudication. For goodness and glory are but two halves of
one whole: goodness is the suffering side of glory, and glory is the shining
side of goodness. Every beatitude has a reward attached.
Labour
So labour, also, will be exactly recompensed. “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a
cup of cold water only” - the
minimum of gift - “in the name of a disciple, verily
I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward” (Matt. 10: 42). For what is reward? “To him
that worketh, the reward is
not reckoned as of grace, but as of
debt” (
Motive
But most searching truth of all, God rewards supremely the why that underlies the service. “Take
heed that ye do not your righteousness” - conduct really good in itself - “before
men, to he seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven” (Matt.
6: 1).
Motive is thus revealed as decisively crucial. “The Lord will bring to
light the hidden things of darkness, and make
manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then
shall each have his praise from God” (1 Cor. 4: 5). For exaltation in the [coming Millennial] Kingdom is in inverse ratio to lowliness of service in the Church. “For whosoever would
(wishes to) become great among you, shall be your servant: and
whosoever would be first among you,
shall be slave of all” (Mark 10: 43).
Suffering
Reward is also reserved for all suffering undergone for
Christ. “Blessed are ye, when men shall
hate you, and when they shall separate you from
their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice in that day, and leap
for joy: for behold, your reward
is great in heaven” (Luke 6:
23). Suffering generally ensures
purity of motive; and the Lord counterbalances the fear of man, not only by the
more tremendous fear of God (Rev. 2: 16), but
also by the magnitude of His rewards. “Every reward suggested,” in the words of Mr. J. H. Lowe, “is a prize of a value inconceivable by us at present, and
can only be appreciated at the Judgment Seat.” So Moses accounted “the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Its Effect
Thus Reward not only supplies a motive
in itself legitimate: it is a motive to which our Lord and His Apostles make
constant and direct appeal; e.g., Christ (Matt.
6: 1),
Paul (1 Cor. 9: 24), Peter 1 Pet. 1: 17), James (Jas.
1: 12),
and John (2 John 8). “I believe for my part,” says Dr. Alexander Maclaren,
“that we suffer terribly by the comparative
neglect into which this side of Christian truth has fallen. Would it not make a
difference to us if we really believed and carried away with us in our
thoughts, the thrilling consciousness that every act of the present is
registered, and will tell, on the far side beyond?”
A Full Reward
We do well to remember three things:- that Sadoc,
the founder of the Sadducees, started his career of unbelief by denying the
doctrine of reward: also, that this principle took full effect even upon our
Lord - “who for the joy that was set before Him endured” (Heb.
12: 2):
moreover, that no wise disciple can afford to neglect so great a mass of Scripture,
or to throw away so mighty an incentive to holiness. Our discovery of this truth at the
Judgment Seat will be too late. Every seed we drop into the soil -
every thought and word and act - is banked in God, and will one day spring up
in lovely, or alarming, harvest, - as we sowed, what we sowed, as much as we sowed, and
why we sowed. Therefore “LOOK TO YOURSELVES, THAT YE LOSE NOT
THE THINGS THAT YE HAVE WROUGHT, BUT THAT YE RECEIVE A FULL REWARD” (2 John 8).
* * * * * * *
506
NATURE’S PUNISHMENT OF SIN
By HARRY LINDBLOM, Sc.D.
SYPHILIS
is the most serious of the venereal diseases. It is caused by germs which are
carried in the blood through the whole body. When uncured, it may destroy any of
the body tissues (bones, muscles, teeth, nerves, blood vessels, etc.) causing
insanity, paralysis or death. The germs causing this horrible “Filthiness
of the Flesh” are brought into the system through immoral sex practices and prostitution
of the procreative organs. Sin has a method of punishing itself. The penalty is
tied up with the act. Nature will not have her sacred laws violated. Her
punishment is severe. The final stage may appear at any time from one to twenty
after the early active stages. It may attack any organ of the body and thus
cause Paresis (softening of the brain), other forms of insanity, locomotors
ataxias, other forms of paralysis, early apoplexy, blindness, deafness, kidney,
liver or heart disease, deformity of the bones and joints and destroying
ulcers.
This disease takes the same course in
women as in men, entering the blood stream and attacking any part of the body.
The germs may be passed from the mother to the child before birth, having most
terrible effects These little germs kill many a child before birth, bring
others into the world already diseased, who die soon afterwards or go through
life with a handicap. Syphilis may be safely rated as one of the three most
deadly diseases in the world today. It causes many deaths, hidden by other
names.
Sex-prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. It is
that SIN
that has ruined the finest of individuals and wrecked the greatest of nations.
Men have conquered large and well trained armies but have gone down under the
infectious syphilitic germ. Men have had talent and intellect, but one sinful
act has blighted all that was beautiful. The great Beethoven, the possessor of humanity’s finest and most
sensitive musical ear, was made deaf because of this disease. Though his
fingers struck the keys in Fortissimo, he could not hear his own musical
creations. Over his eyes rested a veil of passion and his mouth was lined with
bitterness. Much of royal blood has been the home of this destructive germ. Karl the 8th, Ludvig
the 12th, Philip the 2nd of
Many a fine young man and woman has gone down in modern times
because of this same disease. Our age is sex-emphasized. Art, Literature,
Fiction, custom and manners all seem to be contributing forces making a growing
generation sex-minded. The condition of the mind has considerably to do with
sex health. Various mental conditions often cause bodily changes. For instance
sorrow, a mental condition, may cause loss of appetite. The smell of food makes
the saliva flow more freely. Likewise if a boy or man frequently permits
himself to look at suggestive pictures and scenes, to listen to vulgar stories
and indulge in lewd thoughts, he brings about a mental condition which may lead him later into a house of
prostitution. Furthermore, such indulgence develops a low attitude towards sex,
which ought to be associated with the finest and most beautiful relationships
of life. While it is not always possible to prevent lewd ideas coming to
one’s attention it is possible, by the help of God, through His Son, to
keep clean in this realm of life by having the thoughts directed to wholesome
and pure fields. If our thoughts are defiled our whole being will soon be made
filthy. Here is the first and greatest
battle-ground. Pure thoughts will cause pure words and pure deeds.*
[*
See Job 31: 1-5, R.V.]
-------
“For
this ye can be sure, that no FORNICATOR*, nor unclean person,
… hath any
INHERITANCE
in the kingdom
of Christ and God. Let no man deceive YOU” - (the apostle is writing to “the saints”
1: 1) -
“with empty words: for because of these
things cometh the wrath of God
UPON THE SONS
OF DISOBEDIENCE”
(Eph. 5: 5, 6, R.V.).
[* NOTE: A
fornicator is a person who ‘commits lewdness’
and has ‘unlawful sexual intercourse’.
The text is primarily addressed to regenerate believers; and in this
context, the ‘inheritance in the kingdom’
has direct reference to Christ’s thousand-year- reign upon and over this
earth during “the age to come,” (Rev. 20: 4, 5; Heb. 6: 5, R.V. Cf. Psa. 2: 8; 110: 1-3 and Lk. 30: 35, R.V.]
The Evangelical Beacon.
* * *
RESPONSIBILITY
The believer’s peril is a C3 life.
How little Christianity does for the average Christian - this, Dr. Marcus Dods confesses is the mystery that baffled him all his
life. One reason is that the truth of reward, extraordinarily pugnet and boundlessly tonic, is withheld, to the irreparable
loss of the church. … A disciple can be a tragedy. “Are you afraid to die?” a sinking Christian was
asked. “Not afraid,” he replied,
“but ashamed.”
“The
great command, even to Apostles, is - ‘Seek ye FIRST the kingdom
of God’ (Matt
6: 33), for all our regenerate life is to be the pursuit of a
‘glory’
beyond the grave; and ‘no man, having put his hand to the
plough, and
looking back, is
FIT [ready,
prepared, ripe] for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9: 62), since fitness for the coming kingdom springs, not from
conversion only, but from a face which, having
fled from Sodom, never looks back.”
See Mr. G’ H. Lang’s book “First-born
Sons Their Rights and Risks,” relative to the possible
loss of a regenerate believer’s “Inheritance.”
*
*
*
* *
*
*
507
A BURGLAR AND CHRIST
VALENTINE
BURKE was an old time burglar, with kit and gun always ready for use. He had courage born of many desperate
“jobs.” Twenty years of his life Burke had spent in prison, here and there.
He was a big, strong fellow with a hard face and a terrible tongue for
swearing, especially at sheriffs and jailers.
Years ago, when D. L.
Moody was young, he went to St. Louis to lead a Gospel meeting, and one of
the big dailies announced that it was going to print every word he said -
sermon, prayer, exhortation. Moody quaked inwardly when he read this, but made
up his mind to weave in a lot of Scripture for the paper to print, and that
might count if his own poor words failed. His printed discourses were -
sprinkled with Bible texts.
Burke was in the city jail, waiting for some offence. Solitary
confinement was wearing on him, and he spent his time railing at the guards, or
cursing the sheriff on his daily rounds. Somebody threw a daily into his cell,
and the first thing that caught his eye was a big headline reading: “How the Jailer at
Burke sat down with a chuckle to read about the jailer’s
discomfiture. Somehow the reading had a strange look, out of the usual
newspaper way. It was Moody’s sermon of the night before. “What rot is this?” he said to himself, as he
read: “Paul and Silas - A Great Earthquake! - What
Must I Do To Be Saved?” “Have the
papers got to printing such stuff?” He looked at the date. Yes, it
was the morning paper, fresh from the press. He threw it down with an oath, and
strode about his cell like a caged lion. After a time he picked up the paper
and read the sermon. The restless fit grew on him. Again and again he picked up
the paper and read its blessed message. It was then a strange something came
into the burglar’s heart and cut him to the quick.
“What does this mean?” he said to himself. “Twenty years and more I’ve been a burglar and a
jailbird, and I never felt like this before. What is it to be saved anyway?
I’ve lived a dog’s life, and I’m getting tired of it. If
there is such a God as that man is telling about, I believe I’ll find it
out if it kills me to do it.”
Away toward midnight after hours of
bitter remorse over his wasted life, and with many broken prayers, the first
uttered since he was a child at his mother’s knee, Burke learned that
there is a God - One who is able and willing to blot out the darkest record at
one stroke. He found out the wondrous secret of the Cross, how that on it Jesus
Christ bore his many sins and put them all away forever. That night God saved
the burglar; he believed the Word of Christ and received everlasting life. Then
he waited for daylight, a new creature, crying and laughing by turns.
Next morning when the guard came round, Burke had a pleasant
word for him, and the man eyed him with wonder. When the sheriff came, Burke
greeted him as a friend, and told him how he had been led to Christ by reading
Moody’s sermon. “Jim,” said
the sheriff to the guard, “you had better keep
an eye on Burke, he’s playing the ‘pious dodge,’ and the
first chance he gets he’ll be out of here.” When the case
came to trial, it failed through some legal entanglement, and Burke was
released. Friendless in a great city, known only as a daring criminal, he had a
hard time for months of shame and sorrow. Men looked upon his face when he
asked for work, and upon its evidence turned him away. But he was brave, and
sustained by the mighty power of God, he struggled on. Seeing how his
sin-marred face told on him, he asked the Lord if He would not make him a
better looking man, so he could get an honest job, and God answered that
prayer, for Moody said that a year from that time, when he met Burke in
Chicago, he was as fine looking a man as he knew. This was of the Lord, who did
it for him in answer to his childlike faith.
After seeking in vain for a long time to find steady work,
Burke went to
One day there came a message from the sheriff that he was
wanted at the courthouse, and he went with a heavy heart. “Some old case they’ve got against me,” he
said, “but if I’m guilty, I’ll tell
them so; I’m done lying.” The sheriff greeted him kindly.
“Where have you been, Burke?”
“In
From that time the tide began to turn. He set his face like a
flint. Steadily and with dogged faithfulness Burke went about his duties, until
the best men in the city came to know and recognize him. Moody was passing
through, and stopped off to meet Burke. He was found in a room upstairs in the courthouse,
serving as a trusted guard over a bag of diamonds. He sat with the bag of gems
in his lap and a gun on the table. There were $60,000 worth of diamonds in the
sack.
“Moody,” he said,
“see what the grace of God can do for a burglar.
Look at this sack of diamonds! The sheriff picked me out of his force to guard
it.” He cried like a child, as he held up the stones.
Some time after that, Christians of St. Louise had made ready for
the coming of an evangelist, who was to lead a meeting, but he was prevented
from coming. There was sore disappointment, until someone suggested that they
send for Valentine Burke to carry on
the meeting. He led night after night, and many sinful men and women were saved
from lives of crime and shame by the wonderful grace of God. Burke’s
gentle and faithful life of service was greatly blessed of God in the city
where he had been such a sinner.
-
The
Gospel Herald.
* * * * * * *
508
THE LORD’S WARNING
By R. H. BOLL
“BUT watch ye at every season, making supplication that ye may prevail to escape
all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:
36, [R.V.]).
This sentence concludes our Lord’s prophetic discourse
as recorded in Luke. It is very evident from
this:- (1) that certain things shall
come to pass; these are in part mentioned in the preceding part of the
discourse (v. 25ff);
(2) that by watchfulness and
supplication we may prevail to escape all those things; (3) that those who so escape shall stand before the Son of man.
First let us examine some of the peculiar and meaningful words
the Saviour used in this sentence.
Aggrupneite - watch ye; not the usual word gregoreo, but a term implying
sleeplessness, as of a burdened heart. It is the word used in Mark 13: 33;
also, significantly, in Eph. 6: 18.
Deomenoi - making
supplication; meaning to make urgent request; stronger word than proseuchomai, to
pray.
Katischuste - prevail; ischuo means to prevail; katischuo, to prevail against or over something or
somebody; to overcome, to get the upper hand. The mob cried out till their voices prevailed (Luke 23: 23)
and they got their wish.
Ekphugein - to escape; the simple word “phugo” means to
flee when strengthened with “ek”
it means to flee out of some danger or evil situation, to escape.
Stathanai- to stand; but to be exact it means
“to be stationed,” for it is a
passive form of “histemi,”
to stand.
Emprosthen - before; more literally “in front of.”
These are remarkable words. That the heavenly wisdom of the
Lord Jesus used them with purpose and determination needs not to be said. Let
us then, having examined these outstanding words, try to take in the meaning of
the verse. It forms the final word of the conclusion. To get its force we must
look at the two verses preceding:- “But take heed to yourselves,
lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting,
and drunkenness, and
cares of this life, and that day come on you
suddenly ... as a snare; for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of
all the earth” (Luke 21: 34,
35).
It is worthy of particular notice how the Lord distinguishes
between His own, the disciples He addresses, and “them that dwell on the
face of all the earth.” These latter are “earth-dwellers,” in the bad sense; people who have
settled down here below, “men of the world whose portion is in this
life” (Ps. 17: 14) as contrasted with those who are “sojourners
and pilgrims” (1 Pet. 2:
11). Upon such - “that
day” will
come “suddenly, as a snare” - which obviously, in the
Lord’s warning, must be considered as a dreadful calamity, by all means
to be avoided.
He solemnly cautions His disciples not to let their hearts be taken
up with self-indulgence, drunkenness or the cares of this life which choke the
word, and it becometh unfruitful (Mark 4: 19); for in that case would “that
day” come
upon them “suddenly, as a snare,” precisely as it will upon the
earth-dwellers (Comp. Rev. 3: 3).
Now to our verse. Here the Lord Jesus marks out the course
necessary for His own who are to escape the terrible things that shall come to
pass and who shall be permitted to stand before the Son of Man. It is for
them:-
To watch at every season. Though He points out certain signs,
at the inception of which they should look up and lift up their heads, for the
time of their redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:
28) - there is never a time when they should
not watch - signs or no signs. For the signs may go unnoticed, and we may
easily misjudge our times. The only safety lies in watching always. (See here Mark 13: 35-37).
Making supplication. This, being a participle, shows that the
supplication is to go on during the constant watching. If they are to watch at
every season, so must they be making supplication at every season, constantly.
And for what this constant, urgent prayer? That they may prevail to escape all the things that are to come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of man. Both the escape, on the one hand, from the calamities and
judgment of that day and the privilege of being placed “in front of” the Son of man are here made
contingent on watchfulness and prevailing prayer.
If anyone asks how this harmonizes with the widely-held tenet
of “the eternal security of the believer”
and the doctrine of salvation by grace - I would be far from detracting one
whit from the plain face value of any of God’s precious promises. But let
me say this - that if your faith in those promises sets your soul on fire to
serve God, to work and watch and pray, and to do all His good will gladly, then
there is no doubt that you have truly understood, and your faith in His
gracious promise is having its intended result and manifestation. But if yours
is a sort of pleasant fatalism that tends to make you careless and easy going,
you have surely misunderstood something somewhere. And you surely need the
Lord’s warning.
Let us watch and make supplication always that we may escape
the things that shall come upon the world and be accounted worthy of the
-
Herald
of His Coming.
* * *
THE KINGDOM
THE Lord
is now selecting and training the kings and rulers for the coming new age in
His great plan of redemption. “Unto him that hath
loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father”
(Rev. 1: 5, 6).
“And we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5: 10). A warless world to last
1,000 years will some day be a reality, but only those who have parted company with sin and the world will ever have
place in that greatly to be desired “New Order.”
“Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection: on such the
second death hath no power, but they shall be
priests of and of Christ, and shall reign with
him a thousand years.” - F.
BEIRNES.
* * * * * * *
509
THE MARK OF THE BEAST
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
IT is of immense importance to warn our
young folk of the tremendous events at our doors; and none is more stupendous
than the Mark of the Beast. Satan’s profound wisdom is proved by his
studied imitation of God; and he knows perfectly well, from the Apocalypse,
that the 144,000 body-guard of the Lamb “have his name, and the name of his Father, written
on their foreheads” (Rev.
14: 1);
and of all the redeemed at last it is written, - “They shall see his face,
and his name shall be written on their foreheads” (Rev. 22: 4). The names of God confessed on earth are now
the glory of the saints on high: their ownership by God, and the character of
God, are stamped for ever on the redeemed. Exactly so, the Antichrist, equally
with the Christ, will have his name stamped on his worshippers, and they will
be the whole world.
A Flesh Mark
It was very startling, some years ago, to confront - for the
first time in modern
A Mark
Now the False Prophet yet to come is to enforce the worship of
the Antichrist with a cutting in the flesh. “He causeth all, the small and
the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond” - wealth cannot buy itself out of the
obligation, nor is anyone too obscure to escape notice - “that
there be given them A MARK” - a tatoo,
a brand; a puncturing of the skin so as to produce an indelible impression - “on
their right hand” - this selection of the right hand at
once proves it is a literal mark- “or upon their forehead” (Rev. 13: 16) * Under the Law one sex of God’s people had to receive
a mark in the flesh - circumcision: all other flesh-cuttings were strictly
forbidden. “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, NOR PRINT ANY MARKS upon you” (Lev. 19: 28). Upon
only one Gentile in the Old Testament was a mark ever set with the approval of
God, and one full of an awful significance. “The Lord appointed a sign for
Cain, lest any finding him” - it must therefore have been a
visible mark, probably in the forehead - “should smite him” (Gen.
4: 15).
The first murderer, the first apostate, God branded as a forecast and prototype
of the murderers and apostates who will form the Church of the Antichrist, and
meet an identical doom.
* The forehead, as the most conspicuous, would be used by the
enthusiastic; hand by females, as less detrimental to beauty - GOVETT.
Its Significance
What the significance of a tattoo is, history has already
abundantly proved. Slaves were branded by the Romans as we brand cattle, to
show their ownership by their master’s mark burnt into the flesh; and so
to reveal that they were his inalienable property. “You know slaves,” says a Roman writer (Petronius), “by their foreheads.” So Roman soldiers also, as
devoted body and soul to the Emperor had branded as stigmata on their hands the
name of the Emperor. This tattooing was done in various ways: by puncturing
with needles, or burning with hot irons, or marking with indelible ink: “the operation”, we are told, in the East today,
“performed with a hammer and a serrated chisel,
causes great swelling and excruciating pain, and is sometimes the work of years.”
Early in the Russian Revolution a private letter from
A Sacrament
But the history of Paganism reveals a significance still
deeper and more sinister. Stigmata have always been associated with Idolatry.
No Hindu can enter his temple without a mark on his forehead, painted on it by
a Brahmin, called the Tiluk; a scarlet mark and
perpendicular, if of Krisha; or a saffron and
horizontal, if of Liva. So, in ancient
Coupons
But the main reason of the Mark is a masterpiece of economic
diabolism. It is imposed in order “that no man should be able to
buy or to sell, save he that hath
the mark.” The transactions of commerce are made illegal without
it: it is the voucher for all business transactions: no one is prevented from
entering the shops or markets, but before any deal across the counter can be
accomplished, the hat must be removed, or the palm opened. All food will be
rationed, and will be reserved for worshippers of the Antichrist, publicly and
indelibly self-confessed as such, alone: it makes all secret worship, or secret
refusal to worship, impossible: as God demands public confession, so does
Antichrist. The two World Wars, by their universal registration and strict
food-rationing, brought us an enormous stride nearer the goal; but the economy
of the final system is obvious - no enrolment, no registration cards, no
coupons, no costly organization; simply a cutting in the flesh, self-inflicted,
and therefore the cost of the victim alone.
Hell
Now the awful consequence of accepting the Mark of the Beast
is revealed in the most terrible revelation of Hell given in the whole Bible. “If any
man worshippeth the beast and his image and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which
is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger; and
he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name.” (Rev.
14: 9).*
* The enforcing the Mark on entire humanity by making it a
compulsory food-coupon, without which is certain starvation, seems to make sure
that the Mark will not be stamped on the flesh of those who refuse it. If it
were, it manifestly would not incriminate the victim, nor involve him in
eternal punishment.
Heaven
Could anything make more vitally important the love of God
still wooing all mankind, just before the awful revelation of Fire and Brimstone?
Less than a century ago the South Sea Islanders were ignorant, idolatrous,
immoral, and inhuman. Neighbouring islands were raided and captives were
roasted and eaten. For fourteen Years, missionaries laboured at the risk of
their lives and without any visible results. Mr. Hunt, a missionary, translated the Gospel of John, and, before
printing it, read it to the natives in their own language. After he had read verse 16, “God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” a Chief stepped out and said, -
“Would you read that again, Mr. Hunt?”
After the Missionary had read it again, the Chief said, - “Ah, that may be true of you white folks, but it is not true
in these islands; the gods have no love for us.” Mr. Hunt fixed on
the word “whosoever” and showed that poor Chief it meant him. The old Chief was
convinced and said,- “Well, then, if that is the
case, your book shall be my book, and your people shall be my people, and your
heaven shall be my heaven. We, down on the
* * * * * * *
510
LAWLESSNESS
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
LAWLESSNESS
is a deep antagonism to law, all law, and especially Divine law: it is an
appeal to force, not law; and it is preceded by a weakening of all authority -
parental, scholastic, civic, national, moral, and Divine. Scripture reveals
that the supreme sin at the end will be lawlessness. Translating the Greek
exactly as it is, our Lord foretold that, at the end, “because
lawlessness shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold” (Matt.
24: 12)-
that is, lawlessness will undermine the Church; and He foretold that He would
say to latter-day sinners, - “Depart from me ye
that work lawlessness”
(Matt. 7:
23); and so also He says that at his Advent His
angels will “gather out of his kingdom those that work lawlessness” (Matt. 13: 41).
Lawlessness
Modern statesmen, who have charge of public order, are
naturally sensitive to the ever deepening lawlessness. Before the first World
War Lord Balfour said:- “I remember a good many years ago Mr. Gladstone telling me that the problems that would have to be
solved by my generation were far more intricate and difficult than those that
had to be solved by the generation of which he was one of the most distinguished
representatives. Mr. Gladstone, I suppose, was
about forty years older than myself. I suppose about the same difference of
years separates me from the great bulk of those I now address, and I say to you
what Mr. Gladstone said to me. I say to you, that the problems which your
generation will have to solve are more difficult even than the problems that
have fallen for solution to the generation of which I am a member.”
Much more can we say the same thing to-day. A former Archbishop of Canterbury said:- “There
has grown up of late years a distinct change of attitude towards the laws of
the land; I do not think it can be denied that in recent years the sense of the
reverence of law - to law as law - has become weakened in a curious degree.” Mr.
Bonar Law said:- “I believe that one of the
worst signs of the times is a loss of respect for the authority of the law.”
Anarchists
It is exceedingly instructive that the first open profession
of lawlessness - the Anarchists - began (some seventy years ago) in Russian
origin. Prince Kropotkine
said (Pamphlet, p. 56):-
“Instead of inanely repeating
the old formula, ‘Respect the law,’ we say, ‘Despise law and
all its attributes.’ In place of the cowardly phrase, ‘Obey the
law,’ our cry is, ‘Revolt against all laws’!” So
Lavaleye’s
Contemporary Socialism, p. 202:- “We wish to destroy all
States and all Churches, with all their institutions and laws, religious,
political, judicial, magisterial, academical, economical, and social.”
The Russian founder of Anarchism, Bokunine, says (Lavaleye’s Contemporary Socialism, p. 204):- “The Revolutionist despises and detests existing morality.
Between him and society there is war - war to the death, incessant,
irreconcilable. So much the worse for him if he has in this world any ties of
relationship, of friendship, of love. He must live in the midst of society,
feigning to be what he is not; he must penetrate everywhere. Poison, poignard, running noose - the revolution sanctifies all
means without distinction” (Lavaleye’s
Contemporary Socialism, p. 204). Marriage, the social foundation of every State, is
rejected by all Anarchists. In the words of Carlyle a century ago:- “Is not
Anarchy, or the Rule of what is baser over what is nobler, the one life’s
misery worth complaining of, and in fact the abomination of abominations,
springing from and producing all others whatsoever?” *
* The word ‘Anarchy’ is now scarcely ever used, nor its
successor ‘Nihilism’ but its whole force
is now in Communism which is threatening all the governments of the world.
Atheism
Lawlessness naturally involves the abolition of God, the
source and fountain of all law. Stepniak says:- “Absolute Atheism
is the sole inheritance that has been preserved intact by the new generation,
and I need scarcely point out how much advantage the modern revolutionary
movement has derived from it” (Underground
Russia, p. 7); or as Karl Marx, the founder of the Communism
which is now sweeping the world, expresses it:- “The
idea of God must be destroyed: the true root of liberty, equality, culture is
Atheism.” So Lenin, the
creator of the Soviet, says:- “Religion is one of the worst forms of
spiritual oppression. Our propaganda must include Atheism.” “If God existed,” says Bukunine, “it would be necessary to abolish Him.” “By precipitating from the heights of the heavens Him from
Whom all power is reputed to descend, societies unseat also all those who
reigned in His name” (Messrs. Cafiero and Reclus, God and
the State, p. 4)
The Lawless One
But the extraordinary fact is that lawlessness, while it is
atheism, towards Jehovah, is worship of its own gods. The Satanic growth of
Lawlessness has a very definite aim and goal. Lawlessness will culminate in the
Lawless One - an embodiment and
perfection of anarchy; an abrogator of all law, in order to impose his own; a
monarch whom the Old Testament calls “the wilful King,” and the New Testament (2 Thess. 2: 8, R.V.), “the
Lawless One.” “And the King shall do
according
to his will and shall exalt himself above every God; for he shall magnify
himself above all” (Daniel 11: 36).
“And he shall think to change the times and the law” (Daniel 7:
25). Now the drift of Imperialism all over
the world towards this fearful issue is supremely revealed by an utterance of
the late Kaiser, truly called by Lord
Cromer an “astounding”
utterance:- “There is only one law, and
that is my law” (Spectator, July 31st, 1915). As far back as
seventy years ago, Dean Vaughan
said:- “The reign of lawlessness is begun;
though a few years, or a few tens of years, may yet intervene before the actual
unveiling of the Lawless One.”
Worship
One example will be sufficient of this astounding drift of lawlessness.
Even seventy years ago this was written of a young Anarchist. “Lassalle is looked upon by his disciples as the Messiah of
Socialism. After his death they venerated him as a demi-god.
To them he is the object of a real worship. They do not hesitate even to
compare him to Christ. The impression is so profound that numbers of people
believed, and still believe (in 1883) that he did not die, and that he will
come again in his glory, to preside over the great revolution and
reorganization of society” (Lavaleye’s
Contemporary Socialism, p. 54). So modern Anarchism is acting as a
dissolvent on Divine Law, and yet concurrently building a platform for the
worship of the Lawless One: the very revolt against law is
preparing the world to receive his lawlessness as its final and supreme law.
The Wrath of God
Jude’s unutterably awful description of the
corruption in the closing days begins
with its lawlessness. “These set at naught dominion” - destroy every form of government - “and
rail at dignities” (Jude 8) - whether civil or
ecclesiastical: a lawlessness which holds all authority in contempt, and
creates a volcano of revolution. Their doom foretold is one of the most
extraordinary prophecies in the Bible. Five thousand years before they exist,
to-day’s anarchists are directly warned of the Second Advent. “TO THESE
also Enoch prophesied” - not of them, but to them - “saying,
Behold, the Lord came
with ten thousand of his holy ones, to execute
judgment upon all” (ver. 14,
R.V.). The warning is explicit: what army can fight angels who cannot be shot,
and who cannot even be bruised by an atomic bomb? And with extraordinary
appropriateness the prophesy is given by the embodiment of all rapture, Enoch, who was caught up from earth
before the whole human race was wiped off the earth; thus signalling to us that
if we too are to be translated [before
the Great Tribulation commences (Rev. 3: 10)], our whole soul must be poured out, like that of Enoch, in warning of the
awful judgments that are on the threshold.
Grace
Before our Lord returns and stamps it out, there is only one
effective antidote to lawlessness - grace. It is exquisitely expressed in a
recent incident. In the Communist rising in
*
*
*
THE REPLY OF GRACE
A young Christian girl in
-------
ZIONISM
It appears that there is an
underground current in Zionism on which we would not venture to make a comment.
Review of World Affairs (Mar., 1949) says:- “We are told on
very high Jewish authority that nearly all the Jewish theologians are convinced that the Messianic age is
about to begin, and this conviction is going to spread and create a force, the power of which may prove immense.”
We venture a further revolutionary view:- “There
are reasons for believing that
MILLENNIUM
The bitter opposition which true
Christians can offer to our Lord’s coming Reign on earth is exceedingly
painful. Dr. David Smith commented
thus for The British Weekly (April 7, 1910), perhaps the foremost
Nonconformist journal. Dr. Smith says:- “Millenarianism,
which had a considerable vogue in pietistic circles a generation ago, but
which, I thought, had now gone the common way of absurdities in a more or less
sane world, is a stupid and prosaic perversion of Jewish apocalyptic. Prophecy-mongering
is an unwholesome farrago of charlatanry, ignorance, and vanity, and I had
thought its day was past. Its record would be entertaining were it not so
deplorable.”
TRUTH
On the exact contrary, the early
Church were Millenialists to a man. Dr. Bonar says:- “Millenarianism prevailed universally during the first three
centuries. This is now an assured fact and presupposes that Chiliasm was an
article of the Apostolic creed.” So Mosheim:- “The prevailing opinion
that Christ was to come and reign a thousand years among men before the final
dissolution of the world, had met no opposition till the time of Origen.”
It is significant that it was the Church of Rome that wiped it out. In 373 A.D.
the Council of Rome under Pope Damasus “formally denounced
Chiliasm” (Millennialism).
TENSION
It is remarkable that James D. Forrestal,
U.S. Secretary of Defence, says:- “In my opinion
the state of tension will continue for the rest of our lives and those of our
children. It is a gloomy prospect, but the cloud has a silver lining; our
earthly lives may be cut short at any moment by the shout, the voice of the
archangel, and the trump of God as the advent of Christ to a strife-torn world
is announced for the second time.”
* * * * * * *
511
WHY I BELIEVE CHRIST IS COMING
By Wm. G. CHANNON.
FOR more
than a score of years now the truth of the Lord’s Return has been with me
something more than an article of creed ; it has helped my life, and shaped my thinking.
It was this particular truth perhaps more than any other, which induced me to
commit my life to the work of the ministry.
In my early teens I had that revolutionary experience which is
known by the old-fashioned term of “conversion.”
It was by means of a very unlettered man, who knew more about grace than about
grammar, that 1 became converted. He was the instrument which God chose to
bring me to Himself, and build me up into the Christian faith.
I can never forget how one afternoon as I left the train to
continue on my further journey to school, I saw outside an Anglican Church an
announcement to the effect that in that Church certain days would be given to
the contemplation of the truth of the Second Advent. The names listed on the
notice-board were names which in the past were well-known. So I decided that
for a few afternoons, instead of studying trigonometry, I would go and listen
to the addresses that were to be given on the Second Advent. There I learned
that one day “this same Jesus” would come again. I grant you there was a good deal
said that was beyond me.
As I look back over the years I ask myself the question,
“What has this truth of the Second Coming meant
to me?” To begin with it gave me a new
sense of awe at the wonder of redemption’s plan. I had grasped the fact that in our
Lord’s redemptive mission there were four great epochs; but I had yet to
learn that these all awaited their consummation. As to His Incarnation I could
worship the infant Redeemer at
This truth, further, gave me a better understanding of the Word of God. I would even go
so far as to say that, in many respects, the truth for which we stand here is a
key to the Scriptures. There are large tracts of the Bible which cannot be
understood apart from it. Almost one-third of the word of God is devoted to it
in one or other of its aspects; sixteen of the prophetic books of the Old
Testament, part of the Psalms, a
large section of the four Gospels; some part of almost all the Epistles, give
to this truth a prominent place; whilst the last book in the Bible, the Book of
the Revelation, is almost entirely given
over to events associated with it. It is not too much to say that, in my
experience, this truth made the Bible a new Book to me.
Furthermore, it gives me a better understanding of the true function of the Church. You know the
popular fallacy, that it is the business of the Church to Christianise society,
to convert the world. What a hope! If the Church is to be so enlarged as
eventually to embrace all nations, then I submit to you on any showing, she is
fighting a losing battle. If I really believed that it was the business of the
Church to convert humanity, I should forthwith quit the ministry. I search the
Bible in vain for any commission to convert the world. We are to evangelise it,
but we are never led to believe that men everywhere will accept our message; on
the contrary, we are assured that they will reject it; but it is still
obligatory on our part to bear witness to it. This truth taught me that these
are the days when God is calling out a people from the world, a people for
Himself, and that when that work is complete, Christ will return for, and reign
with, them. Many a time that thought has helped me to keep my sanity in the
face of great odds. That is what God is doing.
Then also this truth gave to me an added incentive to holiness of life. “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,
even as he is pure” (1 John 3:
3). Here was the thought which came to me in
the glow of my early enthusiasm. This truth was to influence my conduct, I must
do nothing, say nothing, go nowhere, which would, in any way, be inconsistent
with the thought that at any time Christ might come. Let me be found in all
things doing His will, that I be not ashamed before Him at His Coming. That, I
know, has been, and I trust, is your experience. If His death affords the
means, then His Coming [millennial
reign] supplies the inspiration for a holy life. And, of course, when I use the
word “holy” I do not mean anything squeamish. When I talk about holiness
I mean something very practical, and very beautiful, too.
Then I found that this truth gave me a quickened zeal for service. There are those
who say that the Second Advent cuts the nerve of Evangelism. That is utter
nonsense! I could prove it to be such on many grounds. Some of our greatest and
most successful missionaries have been Second Adventists. When Moody discovered the truth that Christ
would return he affirmed that he put two days’ work into every one. I
know what it did for me; I was filled with a zeal to make Him known; it gave me
a desire to go out into the open-air and to speak simply, and yet faithfully,
for Him. Did not the same desire possess the Apostle Paul? “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at
His coming?”
This truth gave me a keener appreciation of the Holy Communion service. To the vast majority who observe this
Service it is simply one of remembrance. But I discovered that the Communion
Table was, in effect, a bridge; and I could never convey in words the thrill
that was mine when next I broke bread and poured out the wine; for it was not
only a service that was retrospect, but one which gave me a glorious prospect -
“Till He come.” Every time we come to the Lord’s Table we pass
another milestone. The thought is not only that of remembrance, but hope. Incidentally, how do those who
reject this truth explain the words which they use at the Communion Table, “Till He come”?* Thank God in Churches where the pulpit has been silent on this truth,
the Table has always been eloquent.
[* That is, to resurrect the ‘holy’
dead, (Rev. 20:
5. Cf. Luke 20:
35; Phil.
3: 11; Heb. 11: 35b R.V. and to commence His millennial reign.]
Furthermore, this truth gives me the power to comfort the bereaved [and persecuted for their faith]. Paul used this
truth for the self-same purpose. “Wherefore comfort one another
with these words.” This truth is a healing balm to the heart that has been crushed and broken
by bereavement.
This truth also gives me the solution as to the goal of history. It did a great
thing for me when it did that. Every thoughtful person must have a philosophy
of history. Surely we all ask ourselves at times, “What is the meaning, and purpose, and aim of human
existence?” How often we hear it said, “What is it all going to
lead to? What are we here for? Do men just live and die, and is this process to
go on indefinitely? Is this dismal process never to be arrested?”
Yes, every thoughtful person must have some view as to the manner in which the
chapter will wind up. This Book tells me that man, unaided by God, has always
failed, and that he always will. It tells me that there will be wars and
rumours of wars. I learn from its pages that men’s hearts will fail them
for fear for what is coming on the earth. God knows that is true. Someone said
recently that the atomic power is here to stay. “Yes”,
was the retort, “but are we?” I
learn from the Word of God that human
standards of government will give way to His righteous reign, when “the
kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” I do not know when the Saviour will
return, but I know He is coming. I am not confused as to what the issue of it
all will be. Let the world go down in darkness, and it surely
will, we know that there is coming the dawn of a new day. We live in a world of
delusions. Man can never fulfil the promises that he makes. We know what is to
be the goal of all human history. It lies in the Return of Christ to reign.
Let me conclude with this. In my 18th year I went to a great
meeting in the Royal Albert Hall; the Chairman was Dr. F. B. Meyer, and Miss Pankhurst was one of the speakers; and the Rev. Walter Young led the choir. At the
close of that meeting Dr. Meyer asked everyone present to stand. And after he
had repeated the words “Surely I come quickly,” I shall never forget how the cry rang
out from that great multitude gathered there, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.” The years have sped by since then. Tonight our faces
are towards the sunrise, and we say with renewed intensity: “Even so,
come, Lord Jesus.” And
He will.
- The
Advent Witness.
* * *
LAWLESSNESS IN THE CHURCH
No contributing cause of anarchy has been more potent and
virulent than the dissolvent of destructive criticism disintegrating the Word of God, and it is remarkable how this was
foreseen even in the nineteenth century. Dean
Stanley, in his farewell sermon at Christ Church, Oxford (December, 1863),
said:- “It is possible, no doubt, to see in the
advance of critical knowledge a dreary winter of unbelief, which is to be the
beginning of the end of the world, and to shrivel up every particle of
spiritual life.” A discredited Bible spells a
lawless world. Professor
Delitzsch said before the German Emperor that there can be no greater error
of the human mind than to regard the Bible as a personal revelation of God:-
“With my hand on my heart, I declare that we
require no revelation other than that which every man carries in his own
conscience” (Daily Chronicle, Jan. 14, 1903). In quarters less
virulent, yet no less dangerous, it is the correct thing to hunt Divine
inspiration off the field. “It should be a part
of the obligation to truth,” says Dr. R. F. Horton, in his Yale Lectures, “which
every living preacher feels laid upon him, to deliver the Church from the
confusion, and the mischief, and the error which have been incurred by this one
baseless notion that a book written by human pens and handed down by human
methods, transcribed, translated, compiled by fallible human minds is, or can
be, as such, the Word of God.” The tragedy is
that men of apparent spirituality and devotion, and with a regenerate love of
Christ, can so blindly lay the obvious foundations of apostasy. Canon Liddon
is said to have died of a broken heart when Bishop Gore and the Lux Mundi school accepted destructive criticism: he
saw the end. “This fight is killing me,” exclaimed Mr. Spurgeon of the downgrade
controversy, two months before he died. The last battle between the Church and
the world will be on the Inspiration of the Scriptures; and it is the defection
of the Church, passing over to the world’s view in a great betrayal,
which will force the last crisis. Even as far back as 1863, Bishop Wilberforce wrote, in his
triennial charge:- “It may be that what we hear
around us now are the echoes of the coming footfall of the great Antichrist.”
SECTS
“Perish Sects! I have
consecrated myself to Christ alone. I seek no advantage for my church nor for
myself but for Thee, O Christ of God, Whom I love and reverence that I
should desire Thy [coming*] glory in whatever way. Aloof from all party spirit or strife, I
was born, have lived and die, adhering to Christ alone. O that all who call on
the Name of Christ were persuaded to be of the same mind and to dismiss all
trifles and contentions as worldly rubbish altogether out of place.”
[* See Psa. 72: 19; 85: 9; Isa.
66: 18; Ezek. 39: 21; Hab. 2: 14; Mt. 25: 31; Mk. 8: 38; Rom.2: 7; 5: 2; 9: 4; 1 Pet. 5: 1, Jude 24, etc.]
- COMENIUS, A.D. 1623.
* * * * * * *
512
SEDUCING SPIRITS
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
“THE Spirit saith expressly” - so momentous is the announcement, that for once the Holy Ghost
italicises His own utterance - “that in later times” - that is, on the threshold of the
Second Advent (2 Thess.
2:
2) - “some shall fall away
from the faith” - become apostate - “giving heed to seducing spirits” (1 Tim.
4: 1) -
spirits, that is, who masquerade in a personality or a holiness not their own,
for the seduction of Christian souls. That is, the Great Apostasy is to spring out of
Christians giving heed to untested spirits. It is a fact of incalculable gravity
that Christian leaders, at this moment and before our eyes, are giving ever
deeper and closer heed to spirits miraculously present, and advancing monstrous
claims. Our Lord foretold it with perfect clearness. “Beware
of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep’s clothing” - having all the appearance of belonging to the flock of
Christ - “but inwardly are ravening wolves” (Matt.
7: 15).
1. These seductive spirits most frequently
masquerade as the dead. A leading theologian of the nineteenth century thus
expressed it. “I pray to my wife,” said Dr. Joseph Parker, “every day. I
never come to the work without asking her to come with me: and she does come. I
never come to this place without her coming with me” (Review of Reviews, Jan. 1902). This is Spiritualism: and Spiritualism is either the
work of the dead, that is, Necromancy (Deut.
18: 11),
and therefore of the wicked dead; or it is the work of personating demons, that is,
Sorcery: either was forbidden by the law of Jehovah under pain of death. Conan Doyle - the creator of ‘Sherlock
Holmes,’ and therefore a master of evidence - gave £250,000
for the spread of Spiritualism; but he said that his one difficulty was that
often spirits were proved, by the evidence, not to be the dead whom they claimed to be. “Demons speaking lies hypocritically” (1 Tim. 4: 2).
Again, these seducing spirits are preparing for the Antichrist
masquerading as the returning Christ. The Return of the
Christ, which asserts
that out Lord never left the earth at all, but, present here, is waiting to
disclose Himself, says:- “He has been for two
thousand years the supreme Head of the church invisible, the spiritual
Hierarchy, composed of disciples of all faiths. He recognises and loves those
who are not Christianised but who retain their allegiance to their Founders -
the Buddha, Mohammed and others. He cares not what the faith is if the
objective is love of God and of humanity. If men look for the Christ Who left
His disciples centuries ago they will fail to recognise the Christ Who is in
process of returning. The Christ has no religious barriers in His
consciousness. It matters not to Him of what faith a man may call himself. The
Son of God is on His way and He cometh not alone. His advance guard is already
here and the Plan which they must follow is already made and clear. Let
recognition be the aim.”
Theosophy teaches an identical creed. The
Theosophical Society, founded to “lead an
open warfare against dogma,” by Madame Blavatsky, who asserts that
“the Serpent of Eden was actually the Lord God
Himself,” whereas “Jehovah is Cain,”
later foretold, through Mrs. Besant, the imminent coming of “the blessed Buddha yet to be, who shall shape the religions
of the world into one vast synthesis. He loves all faiths, blesses them all
alike, sends his messengers to every one of them and is the heart and life of
each. And ever the World-Teacher is connected with what is called the mysteries,
that which Origen called Gnosticism; and in those mysteries the teaching of the
World-Teacher was ever the same. He is waiting till his messengers have
proclaimed his advent, and to some extent have prepared the nations for his
coming.” Here is the Satanic groundwork
preparatory to the Advent of Antichrist. Our Lord’s warning
exactly fits the case. “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ,
or, Here: believe it not. For as the lightning
cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west ; so shall be the
coming of the Son of man” (Matt.
24: 23, 27). Ignorance or refusal of [unfulfilled and Divine] prophecy is as grave a danger as is now possible to a human soul.
Nor do these conscienceless spirits - having “consciences
cauterised as with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4: 2) - shrink
from masquerading as the Holy Ghost. “We state
the grave fact,” says a collective utterance of German pastors
(1908), “that in the late Tongues movement in
Only in eternity shall we fully know how the Apostasy [by many regenerate Bible students] was created by evil spirits. Here is the testimony of a medium, who was
converted, and became a clergyman. “I have yet to
meet the first Spiritualist of whom I did not find one of two things to be
true;- either they were renegade church members, who had given up their faith,
or they were persons who had at one time been under deep conviction from the
Holy Spirit, and had driven away their convictions. I do not say it is true of
all Spiritualists; but I have never met one (and I have met a great many) of
whom it was not true.”
* * * * * * *
513
WORLD EVENTS AND BIBLE PROPHECY*
[* NOTE: This article was published by D. M. Panton in September 1949. Compare
the following details with what we now know 70 years later and our ‘defence budgets’, weapons of mass destruction,
‘mobilisation’, building programs,
spy satellites; and God’s ‘creation’
still
being allowed to groan under human activity!
God, who is nor willing that any should perish,
has said He will not allow it to continue! The sooner His regenerate people
begin to study His unfulfilled prophecies and awake form their spiritual slumber;
read and understand His past actions against sin and disobedience to His Word,
and stop being continually at variance with what He has said will one day occur: then their thinking and planning about
what they
hope to achieve in 20 of 50 years time would cease! They would be better
prepared for His soon return, and an end to what they see happening all
around us in 2019, and for the establishment of all things on this
sin-cursed earth as they once were! See Gen. 3: 17. cf.
“And now I commend you to God,
and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you
up, and to give you THE INHERITANCE among all
them that are sanctified” (Acts 20:
32 ff). Cf. Ps.
2: 8 with
Acts 7: 1-6; 1 Cor. 6: 9ff.; Gal. 5: 21ff; Eph. 5: 5ff, R.V.)]
-------
PARALLEL with the
peace movements of today, including the U.N. organized to maintain world peace,
is the mad rush of nations to build up their armaments before the outbreak of
another war. The following facts and figures brought together, though
incomplete, reveal the preparations being made for war, and that on a gigantic
scale never known before in the history of nations.
DEFENCE BUDGETS
Following a
A bill calling for defence appropriations of $15,909,800,000
has been introduced to the Congress of the
ARMAMENTS
Armies -
Lest it be caught unprepared for war, the
Navies. - The
1. Big aircraft carriers to handle
fast, very long range heavy attack planes of 100,000 pounds and 1,700 mile
combat radius.
2. Super-fast, deep diving, long range
submarines.
3. Submarine killer ships which can
detect, track down, overtake and destroy the fastest new submarines.
4. Special ships for polar and radar
picket duty.
Air Forces - The red air
force is roughly estimated to be between 8,000 to 16,000 first line combat
planes with 600,000 to 700,000 men.
TOTAL MOBILISATION
A master blueprint for the regimenting of every phase of
American life, and which includes the drafting of women into the armed forces
or into industry, has been drafted by the Department of National Defence. It
would place the country under absolute dictatorship and in respect to total
mobilisation, give the president more power than that exercised by Josef Stalin.
BUILDING PROGRAM
In the late summer of 1947, an article in the United Nations World disclosed that the
WEAPONS
The Atom Bomb - On January 31 of this year the U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission reported that its steadily growing plants were turning out atomic
bombs faster and cheaper, yet more powerful than ever before. The piling up of
A-bombs is held vitally necessary in order to maintain the lead over
Dr. David Bradley, atomic medical scientist, recently affirmed
that
Alarming are the words of Marshal Tito, who boasted:- “We have a powerful army ready to drive out the gangsters
(Americans and British) from
Guided Missiles - It
has been announced in
Other Weapons - At an Army Day celebration this April, General Jacob L. Devers, Army’s Chief of Field Forces, gave warning
that there are other “weapons of unprecedented
destruction,” equally as terrifying as the atomic bomb. One of
these weapons to which he referred may be associated with germ warfare now being studied in all parts of the world.
It is feared that one of
RADAR INTERCEPTORS
On March 18, 1949, the
United States Senate approved and sent to the White House a bill authorizing
the establishment of a radar screen around the continental
BURDEN OF THE WORLD
An editorial in a newspaper which proclaimed, “Let all the World Peoples Bear the Atom Burden,”
brought to mind the Biblical usage of the word, burden, for impending judgments upon
nations. There is “The burden of
“Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth
from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind
shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even
unto the other end of the earth; they shall not
be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried: they shall be
dung upon the ground” (Jer.
25: 32-33).
- The Midnight Cry.
* * *
REFUGEES*
By PROFESSOR HANS IWAND
[* This
is another article published by D. M.
Panton in September 1949.
How the history of this evil age
continues to repeat itself!]
THERE are
something like ten million refugees in
But amid these horrible experiences one is suddenly confronted
by testimonies of unbroken faith, by deeds of noblest humanity, which are far
beyond our normal Christian experience as the temptations which they meet are
beyond those which we are called upon to face. Heights and depths are reached
here, unimaginable for our normal church life, but which bring us face to face
with the standards of the Bible itself.
Some time ago I met some Christians who had lived for three
years under Russian rule in
The really anti-Christian, the really terrible thing, is that
men could thus act towards other men - this is the awful abyss opening before
our society, and which threatens to engulf us all. Every attempt to solve our
problem on a national scale is culpable since it ignores its religious root. So
far from being a national problem, it is a phenomenon of a decrying, soulless
culture, returning to nomadism.
- Evangelical
Christian.
* * * * * * *
514
SHORTENED COURSE OF
INSTRUCTION
FOR A SOLDIER OF JESUS
CHRIST
1. You have only
one weapon, the Word of God.
2. God’s
Word needs no allies.
3. You are to
rely only on the Word of God; do not rely on your own wisdom, nor on that of
other people.
4. Do not appeal
to your own feelings of responsibility, but always to a definite text and
command of the Scriptures.
5. Belong
completely to Him who always belongs completely to you.
6. He shares with
no one His power to command.
7. No human discipline
can absolve you from the duty to speak out and acknowledge Him.
8.You cannot
better serve a government which orders you to do what is against God’s
command than by refusing such false obedience and suffering for it.*
[* See ‘The
Christian And Politics”.]
9. Do not forget
to pray for your rulers.
10. Do not forget
that the world hates nothing so much as God’s Word, and needs nothing so
much as God’s Word.
11. Never believe
that a doubter believes in his doubt.
12. In every defeat
be certain of this: that the God who raised from the dead Him who was crucified
has won His victory in defeat.
13. There is no
battle awaiting you in which He has not already been victorious.
14. It does not
follow that you will be vindicated, but only that God will let no blow be a
grief to you which you receive for His sake.
15. You have come
out on Christ’s side; do not be surprised then that they treat you like
an outcast.
16. Take note of
the fact that the Christian’s position in the world is with his back to
the wall.
17. If fighting
comes your way that you never dreamed of at the beginning, take it as a good
sign that you are among the outposts.
18. Do not behave
as though you were the only soldier of Jesus Christ; but obey your orders, even if nobody except you obeys them.
19. Do not ever think God needs a first rate man like
you; you need God.
20. When you are waiting for orders from above do not dig
yourself in too deeply.
21. God’s warfare in the world is not a war of
defence, but a great war of aggression.
22. Do not confuse the commands of God with the peace
offers of the world.
23. Remember that the respites of inactivity can become
times of temptation.
24. Use your rest periods for the next battle.
25. Keep on the road and avoid all side tracks.
26. There is a great future before you -
God’s future.
27.
You are on the march towards resurrection and eternal life.
- HENRY
VOGEL.
* * *
The Christian and Politics
ANSWERING
the question whether a Christian should engage in political and social
activities, Dr. C. J. Scofield, referring
to the very shadow of Peter healing the sick (Acts
5: 12-16)
gave a very beautiful reply. He said:- “God
undoubtedly honoured the sincere faith of these people, even through the shadow
of Peter. But that was a by-product of Peter’s work. Suppose Peter,
realising that God was working through his shadow, had said to the other
apostles, ‘Now we have found our work. On sunny days announce that we
will walk along the streets and let our shadow fall upon sick people.’ In
doing this they would have gotten far away from the will of God; and their work
would have gone to pieces, as does the work of the Church of Christ when it
turns aside from its true business of soul-winning to the shadow business of
improving temporal conditions. Yet a certain amount of shadow business is all
right, so long as it is merely incidental.”
Peter
The Pope’s claim to be identical with the Apostle Peter
is a pure myth; and the Papal claim that Christ founded His Church on Peter (Matt. 16: 18) is no less a myth. An examination of the
patristic evidence yields the following results: 17 Fathers find in Peter the “rock”;
14 regard is as the faith he
confessed; 16 regard it as Christ
himself (Augustine’s view); 8
regard it as the Church built up by all the apostles. The truth is expressed in
Eph. 2: 20:- “Being built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone.”
Catholicity
Andrew Murray has well expressed the true catholicity. “It needs little grace to know where we differ from other
Christians, but this indeed is grace - where amid conduct that tries or grieves
us, we give unity of the Holy Spirit first place, and have faith in the power
of love to maintain the living union amid outward separation. ‘Keep the unity of the Spirit’
is God’s command to every [regenerate] believer. It is the new
commandment to love one another (John 13: 34). Keep the unity of the Spirit in the active exercise of loving
fellowship. Study to know and prize highly in thy brother the things that will
maintain this unity which is not of
creed or custom or choice, but the unity of the Spirit.”
* * * * * * *
515
HAS THE CHURCH MISSED THE MARK?*
By A YOUNG CHRISTIAN
* “This
article by an unnamed young believer in The Brilish Weekly (Aug. 11, 1949) is most refreshing, as
proving that there are golden young hearts which will stand for God’s
truth in the coming World crisis.” - D. M. Panton.
THE
Church, so I’m told, has failed in its purpose. I am not in favour of the
past tense. Rather I would say, it is failing.
Why is this?
Paul, you will remember, spoke of “pressing
toward the mark of my high calling.” If we, members of the twentieth-century Church, are honestly
trying to follow Christ, Paul’s high calling must be ours and therefore
the Church’s also.
The Church, in its infancy, was merely a band (a large one, I
grant you) of men and women who loved
Christ more than life itself, and sought to be like Him. They wanted to do
(and did) the things that He had done. They “went about doing good.” They told others about Him, about His
love, His death and, most important of all, the glorious news of His resurrection.
The Church has travelled a long and a painful way since then. But - it turned the world upside down! Not even the imperial Roman eagle could stop its advance. Men
lived gloriously and died singing, for its sake, why? What was its attraction?
Because it proclaimed good news of a Loving Father Who wanted all men to be His sons.
It proclaimed victory over death and a new way of life. A way of Love and Mercy
in a world of barbarity. Who, but the mean heart, could help being attracted to
it? This glorious creation survives among us - as a rather special social club.
A Church I know is described as ‘active,’ and has, for these days a fairly large following.
It has a good dramatic society, a fairly good concert party, but I’m
afraid there is little emphasis in that Church on the Divine Destiny of Man. It
isn’t an unusual case.
Don’t you think we are being rather paltry? Aren’t
we missing the mark of our high calling?
The Church should be demonstrating a Way
of Life, not seeking merely to entertain. In our anxiety to “popularise” Church-going we have employed quite
a number of the devices of secular entertainment. Unfortunately, instead of the
Church converting them to its own use, as it might have done, they have
converted the Church.
We have well-run socials full (usually?) of good fellowship,
concerts by the score, sewing parties (excellent things for a purpose), but do we care a jot about the spread
of the Kingdom?
Do we mind that the Church is missing the mark? That the world counts it a
failure?
We are meeting expenses, you say. Excellent! We are keeping
our doors open. Fine! Splendid work, but what about the mark? What is the mark? Let’s examine
it again in case we have forgotten.
The Church was surely intended to exist as the Body of Christ
on earth. His Hands, with which to “do good,” His Voice to teach the way of Love
and Mercy. His Voice telling Men the startling, thrilling news that they are “called
to be sons of God.” It’s a frightening thought that
every time we do something we hope no one has seen; every time we “put up” with something we ought to “put right,” we are betraying Christ as surely
as Judas did and with less excuse. We have had nearly two thousand years in which to get
things into their right perspective. It’s no use each of us saying:
“Well! Why look at me? What can
I do? What about the others?” Never mind the others. We must get
ourselves right first. Ask God to help you remember that you are Christ’s
Hands, His Feet, His Voice. Remember that by what you do and say, the Church is
judged. It is the responsibility of each
member to assist the Church to leave behind its social club days and become
once again the Messenger of God, pressing toward the mark.*
[* See
also Phil. 3:
8-16,
R.V. Cf.
2 Tim. 2:
1-13,
R.V.]
* * *
CHASTENING
HOW deep is the mystery of God’s chastening of His
children! And how the soul shrinks at the very mention of the word! “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby.”
No heart can conceive in what surpassing love God measures the
cup of suffering for His child. It has been well said that God had one Son
without sin, but none without
suffering. One who for years lay on
a couch of suffering says: “I kept for nearly a
year the flask-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. It is very peculiar in its
construction. A narrow opening is left in the neck of the flask, through which
the perfect insect forces its way so that a forsaken cocoon is as entire as one
still tenanted, no rupture of the interlacing fibres having taken place. The
great disproportion between the means of egress and the size of the prisoned
insect makes one wonder how the exit is ever accomplished at all, and it never
is accomplished without great labour and difficulty. The pressure to which the
body of the moth is subjected in passing through the narrow opening is a
provision of nature for forcing the fluids into the vessels of the wings, these
being less developed at the period of emergence from chrysalis than they are in
other insects. I happened to witness the first efforts of my imprisoned moth to
escape from its long confinement.
“I watched it patiently
striving and struggling to get out. It never seemed able to get beyond a
certain point, and at last my patience was exhausted. I thought I was wiser and
more compassionate than its Maker and resolved to give it a helping hand. With
the point of my scissors 1 snipped the confining threads to make the exit just
a little easier ; and lo, immediately and with perfect ease out crawled a
swollen body and little shrivelled wings. In vain I watched to see the
marvellous progress of expansion in which the wings silently and swiftly
developed before our eyes ; as I traced the exquisite spots and working of
divers colours which were all there in miniature. I longed to see them assume
their due proportions and the creature appear in all its perfect beauty, as in
truth it is one of the lovliest of its kind, but 1 looked in vain. My false
tenderness had proved its ruin. It never was anything but a stunted abortion,
crawling painfully through that brief life which it should have spent flying
through the air on rainbow wings.”
-
S. C. BREDENNER.
A CONCENTRATION CAMP
The
Bible: what did this Book mean to me during the long and weary years of
solitary confinement, and then for the last four years at Dachau Cell-Building? The Word of God was simply everything to me -
comfort and strength, guidance and hope, master of my days and companion of my
nights, the Bread which kept me from starvation, and the Water of life which
refreshed my soul.
And even more:- “Solitary
confinement” ceased to be solitary. My window was too high to look
outside, but not too high to call through and give forth portions of the Bible
- as grains of Seed that might be caught from my window by the passer-by. And
later on when I was allowed to walk in the courtyard for half an hour daily
there were other windows - not too high to call up the Word to him, the brother
prisoner. “The word of God is not bound.”
And it became a comfort and strength, guidance and hope for others, as it ought
to become.
And to-day? What does this Book now mean to me? I think, just
the same, only that the restrictions have gone and the opportunities have
widened. The task is lying ahead of us. There is a world waiting for the life
of God and for His peace. We have to unfold it to them from the pages of the
Bible, and announce to a longing manking - the message of love and
righteousness, of grace and truth, the message of the desired peace which
passeth all understanding. Here is a Book given from God. Take it, read it pass
it on, and keep it; for it knows the Way of Salvation!
- NIEMULLER.
PRISON
Samuel Rutherford used to write letters from a prison,
and head them, “Christ’s Palace,
Madame Guyon, from her cell in the
* * * * * * *
516
LAYING UP TREASURE
By D. M. PANTON, M.A..
“As the fabric of the world
totters, let us quickly transfer our treasure to a world which will know no
shock.” Augustine (whom I have paraphrased
rather than translated) had a special reason to say this, for he was Bishop of
Hippo, in Africa, and the barbarian invasions which had devastated
[* ‘And now,’ - some 70 years nearer the
return of our Lord Jesus Christ - when Church attendance is in the decrease,
Divine prophecy is being neglected, misunderstood, and not being
taught to the people; and materialism has affected so many of
His regenerate people (who could almost be forgiven for thinking and acting
as though their present-day conditions will never end)! God has other
plans; and the results of these are presently awaiting fulfilment upon all
of humanity! See Mark 13: 5-30. R.V. Should
all
regenerate Christians today not be living in obedience to His will, and have a
‘Hope’ of being “Accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come
to pass…” (Luke 21: 36, A.V.)? See also Rev.
3: 10,
R.V.)?]
Desire of Wealth
Therefore the Holy Spirit’s warning sinks at once to the
very heart of the sin. “They that desire to be rich” - it is remarkable that the Apostle does not say, “they that inherit riches”; the
word (wish, or desire) means a
purpose formed after mature deliberation - “fall into temptation” (1 Tim.
6: 9).
The Holy Spirit unveils to us the consequences of this secret lust. “They
that desire to be rich fall into temptation” - temptation to
unjust gain, to doubtful business, to dangerous speculation, to absorbing
self-centredness;
in a word, to profiteering. Not that the temptation is always yielded to.
Paralysed from head to foot, a millionaire to whom health was the one
unpurchasable boon, Sir Jesse Boot,
when he gave £250,000 to a philanthropic scheme, offered it to commemorate
“seventy years of a happy life.”
Money and misery are by no means inseparable. Nevertheless the Spirit defines
the peril still more closely: “and a snare,” a
Satanic trap; that is, a temptation with an entangling power, out of which it
is not easy for the trapped soul to escape (Ellicott). A rich man once said: “I
owned £10,000, and was a happy man. Now, £100,000 owns me. It says,
‘Lie awake at nights and worry.’ It says, ‘Run here,’
and I run. It says, ‘Trust in me,’ and I trust in riches. I am
rich, unhappy, and hankering after more.” “But,” someone asked him, “why don’t
you give away the £90,000 and be happy again?” “Ah,” he answered, “did you ever hold the handle of a galvanic battery? The
stronger the current the tighter you hold.” Two gentlemen were
riding past a fine mansion, surrounded by fair and fertile fields. “What is the value of this estate?” asked one.
The other replied,- “I don’t know what it
is valued at, but I know what it cost the late possessor: it cost him his soul.
Early in life, he professed faith in God. He started out in a small way as a
clerk in a mercantile business. Then he rose until he became a partner in the
firm. As he rose higher in business, he paid less and less attention to his
soul. The care of this world choked out the Word. He became exceedingly rich in
money, but he was so poor and miserly in his soul that no one would have ever
suspected he had ever been interested in God or the church. At length, he
purchased this large estate. Then he fell sick and died. Just before his death,
he said, ‘My prosperity has been my ruin’.”
Love of Money
Once more the Spirit emphasises His warnings. “Which
(money) some reaching after” - literally, reaching out hands
eagerly to take (Ellicot)
- “have been led astray from the faith.” Nothing so hardens a man - [especially
a covetous
regenerate man (or woman)] - against all [accountability] truth, and especially God’s [prophetic] truth on laying up treasure - as the love of money. So the sorrowful conclusion
ends in sobs:- “and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows”; pierced themselves about (as a hand
plunged into a hornet’s nest) with many pangs. “Millionaires who laugh,” said Andrew Carnegie, “are rare.” Sir
Ernest Cassel, who spent vast fortunes for the
benefit of mankind, a multi-millionaire, the friend of kings and emperors, said
to one of his visitors:- “You may have all the
money in the world, and yet be a lonely, sorrowing man. The light has gone out
of my life. I live in this beautiful house, which I have furnished with all the
luxury and wonder of art; but, believe me, I no longer value my millions. I sit
here for hours every night longing for my beloved daughter.” “BE YE FREE FROM THE LOVE OF MONEY; content with such things as ye have; for himself hath said, I will
in no wise fail thee” (Heb. 13: 5). “With such words before him, one would think that any
Christian man who is laying up money, or is planning to do so, would at once
abandon his project. But how many such cases have been heard of? I
cannot remember one”
(J. P. Gledstone).
Heavenly Treasure
But the marvellous truth, so little realized, is that earthly
treasure can be transmuted, here and now, into heavenly treasure. “Beware,” as Augustine puts it, “lest you be like
the men of earth, who, when they awaken in another world, awake with empty
hands because they placed nothing in Christ’s hands, which were stretched
out to them in the hands of His poor and needy.” The Queen of
Sweden sold her jewels to provide her people with hospitals and orphanages; and
when on a visit to a convalescent home of her own providing, tears of gratitude
from a bedridden woman fell on the royal hand, the Queen exclaimed, “God is sending me back my jewels!” Does such giving impoverish here and
now? “Hearken, my
beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the
poor of this world, rich in faith, and HEIRS
OF THE KINGDOM which He hath promised to them that love Him?”
(James 2: 5).
Lord Erskine,
when told of a man who had just died leaving £200,000, replied: - “That’s a poor capital to begin the next world [‘age’] with.”
Ready to Distribute
John Wesley, when he was eighty-seven years of age,
with all the wealth of a vast Christian experience behind him, and standing on
the threshold of another world, said:- “One
great reason of the comparative failure of Christianity has been the neglect of
the solemn words, ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth’” (Matt. 6: 20). “In the last days men shall be lovers of money” (2 Tim. 3: 2). The Holy Spirit has expressed the command
thus:- “Charge them that are rich in this present age, that they be ready to distribute, willing to Communicate (their wealth); laying up in store” - for that is how treasure is
sent ahead - “a good foundation” - a substantial sum in the heavenly funds - “against
the time to come” - the coming season or [messianic] ‘age’ - “that they may lay hold on
the life which is life indeed” (1 Tim. 6: 17) - the glory of millennial life. “I
make no purse,” said Whiffield, when stopping a public subscription for himself
in
Laying Up Treasure
So we learn the method of laying up treasure in heaven.
“Sell that ye have, and give alms: make for yourselves”
- by that very act of giving - “purses” - our modern word for bags
which hold money - “which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not” (Luke 12: 33). A
gift to a pauper is an investment in heaven. Solomon had already revealed this method of investment a thousand
years earlier:- “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord” - that is, God takes charge of the
amount - “and his good deed will He pay him again” (Prov. 19:
17). As we see from the widow’s two
mites, every farthing is
credited; “and there came a
poor widow and she cast in two mites, which make
a farthing; and Jesus said, She hath cast in more than they all” (Mark 12:
42). What we give is measured by what we
keep, a method by which the poor can invest vaster wealth than the rich.
“To have our treasure in Heaven is to send our riches
to be stored up there by the hands of the poor and needy” (Bossuet). How
masterly the method! It relieves the hungry and the naked; it enriches the
character of the giver, as only giving can; it proves to the world what grace
can do at the very point - money - where the world is most cynical; and it
pleases and glorifies God. And it also reveals a truth which we need thoroughly
to understand. God does not wish us to lose even His lesser gifts, and
therefore offers to take them into His own keeping in that world to which we
are all rapidly going; in order that, when we arrive, we may find them already
there.
Friends In Heaven
But there is a still richer treasure in [the
kingdom of] Heaven to be obtained by the use of
earthly wealth. “Make to yourselves FRIENDS by
means of the mammon (a
Syriae or Aramaic word meaning ‘money’) of unrighteousness” - earthly
wealth - “that when ye shall fail” -
in death - “they” - the friends you
have so made - “may receive you into the eternal [Gk. ‘aionous’] tabernacles”
(Luke 16: 9).
When Alexander, the conqueror of the
world, lay dying, he gave orders that at his funeral his hands should be left
exposed to public view, so that all might see that the mightiest of men could
carry nothing into the world beyond. Let us never forget the Italian proverb:-
“Our last robe is made without pockets”
; so Christ would have us to use our possessions as to yield this priceless
fruit on the other side of the grave - love in Heaven. “Every
one that hath left houses, or brethren,
or sisters, or father,
or mother, or lands” - house property begins the list, and
landed property closes it - “for My name’s sake” - because Christian principles compelled, or for investment in church or
evangelistic or missionary work - “shall receive” - in the Regeneration just named - “a
hundredfold” (Matt. 19: 29) - that
is, a hundred times the capital invested, or 10,000 per cent.; “and” - as Mark
10: 30 puts it - “in the
age to come eternal life”: that is, his eternal life
will begin Millennially. So that the world, if it robs us, or keeps us poor
because we refuse the tricks of trade and the dishonesties of wealth, or spoils
us of our goods by persecution and confiscation, is all the time enriching us
beyond computation.
* * *
DEPARTURE FROM GOD
SURELY
we have allowed nineteenth and early twentieth century critical agnosticism to
eat into our faith with ghastly consequence? Family life has deteriorated to the
point of disaster, manners have declined, dishonesty is rampant, morals are
bad, freedom is fast going. A third war is the speculation of the day.
Between the two great wars of this century, many people were
convinced that the last enemy had been laid - the enemy of war. There would be
orderly progress in a smooth evolution of unaided human effort to supreme
heights of material achievement. Events have shown how hopelessly wrong that
was. We have instead reached the brink of dire moral and physical catastrophe.
Everyone knows it.
It is, therefore, at last, a time of wide-spread questioning.
What is the solution? Is there one?
There is a glorious and complete one, but it can only be found
in a return to a profound worship of Almighty God; a reverent acceptance of the
religious sanction; obedience to Divine Law - which clearly legislates for
every human problem if we would take the trouble to look it up.
When the choice is one between atomic warfare, following a last fling of
paganism, and a Godly peace in an ordered world, it is incredible that anyone
should hesitate.
Every trend away from
the Christian religion has been followed by widespread disaster, and every such
disaster has been greater than the one preceding it. Before the Christian era too, it was
the same every time the people departed from the supreme Law.
Not only are the irreligious masses of
- Intelligence Digest.
* * * * * * *
517
THE ROMAN CHURCH AND POWER
By AOVO MAHNATTAN
I
JUST twenty years ago, in February, 1929,
This new State is unique. The smallest in the world - under
one square mile - it has the tiniest population; about 400 resident citizens,
but no women apart from a few nuns, and no children. It is inhabited almost
exclusively by life-long bachelors, and most of its employees work for nothing.
Although just like a miniature modern State, with its own
coins, stamps, radio station, newspapers and toy railway, apart from a handful of
Swiss Guards employed only for ceremonial purposes it has no army, not even a
single modern gun with which to protect itself. Yet this State exerts an
influence as far-reaching as that of the mightiest nations, including the
What is it that gives the
To understand its workings, we must first glance at another
organisation: that of the Government of the Catholic Church; hidden within it
is that power which gives the
OWE OBEDIENCE TO THE POPE
Some of these Ministries are headed by the Pope himself or by
high prelates, but more often by Cardinals, who are to the Church what members
of the Cabinet are to a civil government. Cardinals are Princes of the Church,
and in addition to forming the foundations on which the whole structure of the
Catholic hierarchy stands, are also the backbone of the Church as a political
institution; that is to say, of the Vatican. Whether posted in the various
countries of the world or resident at the
All of them, however, owe absolute obedience to the Supreme
Pontiff; although theoretically they may adopt a quasi-independent attitude in
political issues, in the long run they all must fall into line with the grand
strategy pursued by the Pope. The most important of them is the Cardinal
Secretary of State, corresponding in a modern civil government to a combination
of the Foreign and Prime Ministers. All other departments must submit to his
decisions, and this chief Cardinal rules three particular departments: the
Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, by which all important
diplomatic matters are tackled; the Secretariat of Ordinary Affairs, which
deals with matters relating to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican,
current political events, and so on; and the Chancellery of Brief - a Brief
being a diplomatic document carried by the Pope’s Ambassadors to the
civil governments abroad.
The Secretary of State is responsible for all diplomatic
despatches coming in or going out of the
The Pope, however, is the fundamental source of authority; his
will is law; he need account to no human being for his actions; his only judge
being God. It is the Pope who conceives and dictates the policy of the
Behind the apparently simple organisation of the
This enormous army is officered by a High Command, composed of
efficient Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops - there are more than a thousand in
the
In addition, the
Furthermore, it can influence through direct or indirect
control the Press, radio, the screen and other means of public information.
This not only in predominantly Catholic countries, but also in Protestant ones.
For example, the U.S.A., where the Catholic Church controls 342 papers with a
circulation of 10,000,000, and where the sales of Catholic pamphlets alone
approximate 27,000,000, where influential organisations like the Knights of
Columbus are 650,000 strong; the National Council of Catholic Women, 5,000,000,
and the National League of Decency, censoring Press, radio and screen, hang on
the decisions of the hierarchy.
Indeed, politicians - beginning with the President himself -
must never forget that one out of every six
Numerous other countries have powerfully organised Catholic
Labour Unions and Catholic Parties. There are the Christian Democrats in
France, one of whose leaders is the Premier; the Christian Democrats in Italy,
whose government is composed entirely of Catholics led by their leader, the
Premier; and similar parties in Holland, Germany and Austria. These parties
mould their politics in harmony with the tenets of the Church, with the result
that often the fate of any given government, coalition or party depends on the
support or hostility of the
To quote only a few of the most recent important instances
which have had incalculable consequences in contemporary history: the leader of
the Catholic Party in Italy was directly dismissed by the Vatican for opposing
the Fascist dictatorship, and the party was finally dissolved in 1926; the
Centre Party in Germany, the last political obstacle to Nazism, was also
ordered to dissolve itself in the summer of 1933 by the present Pope; only two
years ago, the Vatican ordered the Italian electorate to vote for the Catholic
Party, while openly condemning those who voted for the Communist, with the
result that the Catholic Party was swept into power, where it still remains.
In wartime the
- World Christian Digest.
* * *
II
By ROBERT E. FITCH
THE Roman Catholic hierarchy is the most tough and wily and
intransigent hierarchy on earth. Let us state simply and without rancour the
fresh convictions that have come from recent experience.
1. The Roman Catholic Church is a power
polity. Its hierarchy wants power, believes itself divinely commissioned to
hold power, and is incredibly uncritical of the corruption that works in all
human beings and institutions that wield it. Nothing was more startling to this
writer, as a fledgling Navy chaplain, than to hear Catholic chaplains boast
openly and brazenly of how they had usurped the authority of others even to the
extent, in some instances, of supplanting the executive or the commanding
authority. And the power that was seized was not merely a spiritual power but
reached out greedily to embrace all things.
2. The Roman Catholic Church in the
3. The power of the Catholic Church is
a power that is incompatible with liberty. It militates against freedom of
inquiry, explicitly repudiates freedom of conscience, denies to the other side
the right even to be heard, and deliberately breeds in its people the
unquestioning acceptance of authority.
-
World
Christian Digest.
* * *
ONLY HALF-AN-HOUR TO LIVE
“I fear it will be a mere
waste of your time.”
Three men stood outside the door of the Condemned Cell in an
Austrian prison. Within were two lads convicted
of the murder of a policeman. It was now 5. 30 in the evening and at 6
o’clock their lives were to end. “These
young men are Roman Catholics,” the priest was saying. “I have done my best to influence them, but they are utterly
hardened. Just as I was leaving, however, they said, ‘Can we speak to the
Protestant Pastor?’ ”
With an earnest prayer in his heart the Pastor entered. Sobot and his
seventeen-year-old comrade, Kosil, stood up to welcome him. “We thought you would come,” said Sobot. “I am glad I happened to be at hand,” replied
the Pastor, laying his Bible on the table.
“What book is that?”
asked Kosil.
“That is the Bible,” was the
answer. “Is that the book which says God made the world?”
“Certainly,” replied his visitor. “But
there is much more. It says not only that God created the world, but that He
loved it. Here are the words.
John 3: 16.
‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.’
Let me sit between you on the bench. Now listen: God loved the world. That is a
fact, and something has really happened which proves that He did, and that He
still loves it.”
With a condemned youth on either side of him, now listening
intently, the Pastor read to them of Christ the Son of God, Who came to
reconcile God and man, and to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
“And when they were come to the place which is called
Again he questioned, “Pastor,
do you really believe there is anything after death? I have always believed
death to be the end.” “No, my
friend; death is not the end; there is something still to come.”
“If that is true,” cried Kosil, “there is something bad coming for us.”
“That need not be so,”
was the glad reply. “It is possible for
something wonderful to happen. Listen to this.” And from the
twenty-third chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel there was read to them the
story of the dying thief who turned in his last distress to Jesus Who hung
beside him on the Cross, saying, “Lord, remember me.” And Jesus said unto him, “In truth I say unto thee, To-day
shalt thou be with ME in
A thoughtful silence fell on them. “Lads,” said the Pastor, taking their hands in
his, “never in my life have I advised anyone to
follow the example of a criminal. But now I say unto you, Follow the example of
this thief who died beside Jesus on the Cross. Openly confessing ‘we receive the due reward for our deeds’, he turned to Christ calling Him LORD, and believing Him to forgive. When God forgives, our sins are
wiped out by God’s forgiveness. Jesus answers that faith with the words.
‘Today shalt thou be with ME…’ ”
“What have you achieved?”
questioned the priest as the Pastor came from the Cell. “Come in at once, Chaplin,” was the reply.
Ten minutes only were left, but they were hallowed moments of
acknowledged guilt, and of faith in the crucified and living Christ. Then a
word of thanks, greeting, and goodbye.
As the two youths were marched away, pastor and priest stood
side by side, watching till they passed out at the door from which they would
not return. Then their hands met. Both had seen that the Gospel of Christ is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Souls are redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ.
- The Bible in the World.
-------
WATCH THEREFORE
WATCH against the leaven of false doctrine. Remember that Satan can transform
himself into an angel of light. Remember that bad money is never marked bad, or
else it would never pass. Be very jealous for the whole truth as it is in
Jesus. Do not put up with a grain of
error merely for the sake of a pound of fruit: Do not tolerate a little
false doctrine one bit more than you would tolerate a little sin. Watch and
pray!
Watch against
slothfulness about Bible study and private prayer. There is nothing so spiritual but we
may at last do it formally. Most backsliding began in the closet. When a tree
is snapped in two by a high wind, we generally find there had been some hidden
decay. Watch and pray!
Watch against bitterness
and uncharitableness toward others. A little love is more valuable than many gifts. Be
eagle-eyed in seeing the good that is in your brethren. Let your memory be a
strong box for their graces, but a sieve for their faults. Watch and pray!
Watch against pride and
self-conceit. Peter
said at first, “Though all deny Thee, yet will
not!” - presently he
fell. Pride is the highroad to fall. Watch and pray!
Watch against the sins of
Watch not least against the sin oi
Jehu. A man may have great zeal to all appearance and yet have very bad
motives. It is quite another thing to love the truth. Watch and pray.
Let us watch for the world’s sake. We are the books they
chiefly read. They mark our ways far more than we think. Let us aim to be
living epistles of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us watch for our own sakes. As our walk is, so will be our
peace. Above all, let us watch for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake. Let us
live as though His glory was concerned in our behaviour. Let us live as though
every slip and fall was a reflection on the honour of our Lord. Let us live as
though every allowed sin was one more thorn in His Head - one more nail in His
feet.
O, let us exercise godly jealousy over thoughts, words, and
actions, over motives, manners and walk! Never let us fear being too strict.
Never, never let us think we can watch too much.
-
BISHOP J. C. RYLE.
* * * * * * *
518
THE
AS an
evangelist, meeting many people, I have a chance to observe. There are a 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 the 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 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 be.fore the Son
of man” (Luke 21: 34-36).
- Wm. F. BEIRXES.
* * *
TESTIMONY
I am now ninety-two years of age. I
was a slave of the Devil for forty-six years, and for a similar period I have been
the love-slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Often when serving the old master, I
knew what it was to lack food and clothing: since I have been saved, my
Heavenly Father has loved me too much to neglect me. For the sake of the Gospel, I have been dismissed from my employment,
but the promise has always been
fulfilled: “My God shall supply all your need, according to his
riches in glory, by Christ Jesus.”
For the future, although I am ninety-two years of age, I am not looking for death,
but for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is coming again, as He
promised. I have “the blessed hope”
of His appearing. To those who are unsaved I say: change masters now. I speak
from experience, that time and strength spent in the service of Satan, is loss,
sadness and death.
- W. J. DOCKINGS.
* * * * * * *
519
THE LOST MILLIONS
By HYMAN J. APPELMAN
“If any man see his brother sin
a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for
them that sin not unto death” (John 5: 16). To
me this is the greatest promise in the Bible. It is the greatest Hallelujah
shout, not of a pampered, luxury-surrounded, easily-situated, trouble-avoiding,
difficulty-escaping child of God who never knew the burning scourges and
vicissitudes of a contrary fate, but of a battle-scarred warrior of the Faith.
John the Apostle and his brethren were in the midst of the bitterest persecution
that the church and God’s people ever endured.
The arenas of the
From almost every corner of the Roman Empire there arose to heaven
the sobbing, blood-choked cry of those who were sealing their witness with
their lives, yet in the face of all that darkness, destruction, distress, John
could lift his hands to heaven and cry for the ages, “If any
man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall
give him life for them that sin not unto death.”
There is the mightiest promise, the mightiest challenge, the
mightiest appeal, the mightiest constraint to intercessory prayer. It is
shocking to notice and to know that intercession is the terribly missing note
in all of our Christian activities. Yet it is more necessary to-day than it
ever was.
I believe in my soul that, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psa. 2: 8) is almost as much of a promise to us as it is
to the Lord Jesus Christ. In His Name, for His sake, by His authority, through
His power, on our faces in intercession, we may claim this word of God as definitely
as did the Apostolic band. By it they wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths
of lions, changed the course of empires.
We need conviction, pungent, burning, urgent, fiery, driving,
impelling, constraining conviction. It will convict each of us of the needs of
a lost world, of men, women, children, by the multiplied myriad, sin-dead
multitudes, goose-stepping on the road to hell - dancing on to eternal
destruction, in a bad, sad, and dead oblivion of the increasing, blinding,
maddening tempo of Satan’s music.
It will convict us to the cores of our souls of the burning
destruction awaiting all those who live and die out of Christ. This matter of
an eternal hell will become not something we read about, or hear about, but a
torturing reality, - the flames and smoke of this terribly inevitable doom
constantly leaping about before us.
It will convict us of the killingly tragic coldness of so
heart-breakingly many of our people, of their
blighting indifference, their callous unconcern to the things of God and
eternity, their totally compassionless disregard of the destiny of the lost and
the perishing about them. Oh brethren, it seems to me that my own poor heart
will burst with the agony of the conviction of the back-slidden [and apostate] condition of so many of our church
members. Judge ye then what a heart-break they must be to the dear Saviour!
It will convict us of our own inescapable, unassignable
responsibility in all this. We dare not, we cannot, we must not be priests,
Levites, passing the wounded wayfarer by. We must be Samaritans stopping to
apply the oil and wine of our intercessory oblations to these souls, these wounds, these bruises, these putrefactions.
We must pay with the coin of our intercessory tears for the
hospitality of God’s grace extended to these perishing sinners, to these
drifting derelicts. We must be the Elishas stretching
our burning selves upon these cold corpses of Satan’s making so that the
flesh of them by the surging power of God in us may wake to life everlasting.
- Herald of His Coming.
* * * * * * *
520
SIN AND SINS
By W. P. CLARK
“SIN” is the root inherited and inbred
in everyone’s nature. “Sins” are the fruit of Sin. “All
have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.” “There is none that doeth good, no, not one,” not even Mary the mother of the Lord Jesus.
There is no such thing as eradication of sin, or sinless perfection, as some
erroneously teach. We can be delivered from the power of sin - “sin
shall not have the dominion over you,” but not from its presence - that will
not be until we stand on the other side of this life. There is no need to sin. “The
Lord is able to guard you from stumbling, and to
set you before the presence of His Glory, without
blemish, in exceeding joy” (Jude 24,
R.V.) The authorised version has kept from “falling,” but in the original it is from even
stumbling. Peter walked on the water, but when he saw the wind he was afraid:
otherwise he could have walked all the way to Jesus. If the Lord is able to
keep from one sin - and surely no Christian will deny he has been kept by Him
from one sin - logically He can save from all sin.
There is a tremendous difference between sins committed before
conversion and those committed after it. Thank God, the first are gone for
ever, and God has used in this work every simile to illustrate and confirm it.
“As far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our
transgressions from us.” There is no point where East begins and West
ends: go East and you go East for ever, go West and you go West for ever: the
distance between the two cannot be measured. “Thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7: 19). The weight of the water in the sea is so
great that not the most powerful hydraulic lift can bring up anything fallen
into its depths. “I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions and will not
remember thy sins.” How can God judge sins that are blotted out and not even
remembered! “Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back,” so that He cannot see them even.
“Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow,” “Blessed is he
whose sins are forgiven and whose sins are covered,” “Wounded for me - wounded for me - There on the Cross He was
wounded for me - Gone my transgressions and now I am free - All because Jesus
was wounded for me.” “How shall we escape if we
neglect so great a salvation?”
All those sins of the Believer are washed away in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus, and he may forget the things which are behind and
press on towards the mark for the prize of the high calling. Why press on? Not
only for the prize - reigning with Him for a thousand years - but because “we must
all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ,
that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” So then everyone of us shall “give
account of himself to God”: our whole life, since we became the children of God in
Christ, will be in review, and every unforgiven sin committed since then will
be judged. So keep short accounts with God, and confess and obtain forgiveness
of each sin as soon as we are conscious of it. “If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and the
blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanseth” - present tense, keeps on cleansing -
“from all sin.”
What we call gross sins all Christians endeavour to avoid; we
are enjoined “not once to name them, as
becometh saints.” And yet, alas, there are believers who succumb to them. What we call
little sins are not so readily avoided; but let us remember that little sins
are as much sins as big ones, and must be confessed and put away and either
forgiven or judged - sin is sin, whatever its size. “Be ye
angry and sin not”; we are all apt to call it “righteous anger”
when we get angry; but as it is hard to be angry without sinning, let us try
never to be angry. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,” and “grieve not the Holy
Spirit.” “Let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour be put away from you with all malice,
and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ’s sake
hath forgiven you” (Ephes. 4: 26-32). Little sins easily grow into big sins - anger
to murder, evil speaking to slander, and so on. The Apostle James points out
the tongue is a little member but it can be “a fire, a world of iniquity.” He also points out a little fire may
kindle a great matter. A spark from a passing engine may set on fire and
destroy acres of growing grain. “The little foxes spoil the
vines” - the
little leak in the dam may lead to a great flood, and so on. An artist chose
for his painting of Christ the purest-faced
lad he could find. Years later he chose the vilest faced man he could find for
the face of Judas, and to his astonishment he found they were one and the same
person. So little sins grow to great sins.
* * * * * * *
521
THE WORSHIP OF SATAN*
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
[* NOTE. This tract was published in February, 1950.]
AN
extraordinary record of our Lord’s encounter with Satan puts beyond all
challenge that Satan is a reality. Our Lord names him, not the writer of the
Gospel; Jesus speaks to him exactly as he does to Peter, or James, or John;
Satan is as real, as personal, as visible as our Lord Himself. And one of his
supreme functions appears in this encounter. All temptation is so skilful, so
astute, so strategic, that it becomes manifest that behind the temptation there
must be a tempter; so Matthew (4: 3) says, “THE TEMPTER came,
and said unto
him”; because
temptation is one of his supreme functions, temptation is personally planned
and superintended, with all his subsidiary hosts under him. So able, so supreme
is he in all such work that into his hands alone is committed the temptation of the
Son of God.
The Empire of the World
Now the central temptation of the
three is the empire of the world. “The devil taketh him” - the word ‘taketh’ is the same as that indicating the bodily rapture of the saints; it is
what Spiritualists know, and experience, as ‘spirit
levitation,’ the ‘reaping’ by an angel “unto an
exceeding high mountain, and showeth him” - not in a map, or by geographical
tables, but by television - “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”; the Apostle Luke (4: 5) adding, “in a moment of time” - not in successive pageants, but in
one overwhelming picture; from vast China in the cast to an America in the west
not yet discovered for fourteen centuries, from Iceland in the north to burning
Africa in the south.
All Authority
Now on this television of the empire of the world Satan founds
his temptation. “To thee will I give all this authority” - this imperial jurisdiction - “and the
glory of them” - the world’s applause and profit and pleasure; “for it
hath been delivered unto me” - whether by God’s delegation, or by man’s sin
Satan does not say; “and to whomsoever I will I give it.” Jesus Himself calls him “the prince of this world” (John 12:
31); but most remarkably Satan’s words
unconsciously admit the world is not his by inherent right. ‘Delivered’
to him, he can ‘deliver’ it to
another, as he does to Antichrist. Thus our Lord, who had come to establish His
glorious rule * over all the
earth, is offered it without
[* At the
Divinely appointed time - yet future - the time of our
Lord’s asking, (Ps. 2: 8, R.V.).]
Worship
But now the condition of the offer, in its unparalleled
horror, is laid down. “All these things will I give thee, IF THOU WILT FALL
DOWN AND WORSHIP ME.” We need to realize what is actually not far from us at this
moment. That it is actual worship which Satan demanded is clear from our
Lord’s reply:- “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.” Satan’s power over the world is to end at last in a
worship almost incredible. “And the whole world WORSHIPPED the Dragon” (Rev.
13: 4).
Paul names Satan as “the god
of this world” (2 Cor. 4: 4). It is
most significant how world dictators who have sought world-empire by yielding
to Satan’s temptation, have met their doom - Alexander, who mourned that “there
were no more worlds to conquer,” died of drunkenness; Julius Ceasar,
who founded the Roman Empire that ruled over the whole known world, was stabbed
dead by a friend; Napoleon died an
exile in St. Helena; Hitler committed
suicide; Mussolini was hanged: Stalin’s end we have not yet
seen. The Antichrist himself, who
receives the Empire of the World at the hands of Satan, is cast alive into the
A Prayer to Satan
The worship of Satan is already here. Here is a prayer
actually offered by Professor W. Chancy
in
Scripture
Our Lord’s method of countering Satan is of
extraordinary significance, and can never be exaggerated: it is our model for
all time. He never reasons with Satan; He makes no appeal, no
argument, no discussion: He uses only the Sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God; throughout He quotes Scripture alone. “He answered and said,
IT IS WRITTEN.” In every attack, Jesus responded by
one defence alone - holy Scripture. This is of immense significance to us: any line
of conduct which is forbidden by a single word of God - in this case, “Him only shalt thou serve” - comes from Hell; and in every
instance Satan is completely defeated.*
* Satan
might have said that He might worship God, but worship him at the same time:
our Lord’s ‘only’ cancels out
all other worship for ever.
Worship of God
So our Lord counters the worship of Satan with the worship of
God. “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get
thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him ONLY shalt thou serve”: that is, for no pretext
whatever, for no object however ideal, for no purpose however golden - even
such as out Lord reigning over the world - must any man swerve from absolute
devotion to God, and to God alone. What light Christ’s words cast on
world politics!
Our Lord assumes that Satan’s
statement is correct - that he has world-power in his grasp, and can delegate it to any man of his choice: it
assumes - what Satan
asserts - that world-power can now be held only by Satanic co-operation: it assumes, therefore, that without some sort of wrong
compromise, some deviation from the service of God, world-power is impossible.
It is a prohibition of using worldly means to attain Divine ends - the power of
politics, the power of science, the power of wealth, the power of the atomic
bomb. Their use will produce the Kingdom that is coming: “There was given unto him
[Antichrist] authority over every tribe and people and
tongue and nation; and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him” (Rev. 13: 7). As we worship both God the Father and God the
Son, so Satan (whose wisdom always lies in the imitation of God) contrives that
the world worships both the Dragon and the Man of Sin. Man’s duty is
not to reform the world, but to serve God; and in obeying God he will
co-operate in the only reformation the world will ever know - the glorious
reign of our Lord on earth.
The Son of God
In the first interview, Satan - who never knew that his words would
be reported all down the ages - makes a slip such as the keenest intellects so
often make. “And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become
bread” (Matt. 4: 3): not pray, or ask, or conjure, but command. He knew who
Christ was, for the demon said, - “I know thee, who thou art” (Mark 1:
24): here he acknowledges that ‘the Son
of God’ is
the Creator, who at any moment can turn stones into bread, for He made both stones and
bread: for “without him was not anything made, that hath been made” (John 1:
3). The whole devil-world betrayed
themselves for ever. “Demons also came out from many, crying out and saying, THOU ART THE SON OF GOD. And rebuking them, He suffered
them not to speak, because they knew that he was
the Christ” (Luke 4: 41).
Satan offers Christ the whole world for a single act of homage but by this very
act he unconsciously betrays his complete knowledge of who Christ was, and
voices the testimony of all Hell that He is the Son of God.
* * * * * * *
522
PRAYER FOR
By HANNAH R. HURNARD
WE need
as perhaps never before the powerful and understanding prayer support of
God’s people. We are privileged to be working and witnessing in the New
State of Israel in tremendously important and momentous times, and we could
hardly be fewer in numbers and weaker than we are. This is not the time to pray
and support only one particular mission, but to pray earnestly that all whom God has privileged to work for
Him here, may be bound together in the closest, most loving and most powerful UNITED witness to
our Lord and Saviour.
Before the end of the Mandate, in May, 1948, acting on the advice
of the mandatory Government, nearly all British and other foreign missionaries
left the country. All
In the new State of Israel, there is at the time of writing no
Following the mass evacuation of foreigners at the end of the
Mandate, missionaries were left in only four towns in the new State of Israel.
Now, about a year after the second and permanent “Cease Fire,” missionaries are beginning to return, though
many missions still remain empty.
In
There is remarkable and happy unity and fellowship among the
Christians in
We find ourselves with all our normal Missionary channels no
longer functioning. Our hospitals, schools and other institutions are closed, and
as already stated, there seems little likelihood of reopening many of them.
Therefore our methods have had to be revolutionised. At present all seems to
depend upon our homes becoming centres of vital Christian life and witness, and
upon our personal work. Please pray for these Christian and missionary homes in
At present all the out stations of all the missions are
closed. And we in Jerusalem also long and pray that the sad barriers between
the two parts of the city, which separate us from fellowship with the Arab
Christian communities, will soon be removed. It is perhaps difficult for our
friends at home to realise how complete is the separation between the two
areas. As I have already said, one cannot even write or wire to friends in Arab
Palestine. From our housetops in
Another important matter for prayer is the great need for
Bibles, especially Hebrew ones. There are practically none to be bought in the
whole country. There is a famine of the Word of God which is the vital
ammunition of the Christian. We hear with joy from the Bible Society that
Bibles are to be sent, but not nearly enough to meet the need, as there has
been a shortage for years. Do please make this need a special matter for
prayer.
Please pray also that all missionaries privileged to live in
We do not know. But
surely His Return cannot be long distant now. Besides the wonderful
developments in connection with the return of the Jews to their Homeland, this
new hope and expectation and longing for His Return which is stirring so
strongly now in all our hearts, must surely be one of the signs that He is
coming soon. One would expect Him, as the time draws near, to give His own true
Church just such a joy and expectation in the thought of His Appearing. Out
here in
-
Trusting
and Toiling.
* * *
CONFESSION OF CHRIST
“WHOSOEVER shall
confess me before men, him will I
confess also before my Father which is in heaven”. What an extraordinary
world is this that such a sentence should ever have been uttered in it.
Consider what is implied in these words. They manifestly imply that it is an opprobrious thing in the
estimation of mankind to give honour to Him Who is the brightness of the
Father’s glory and to acknowledge any connection with Him. They imply
that it is necessary to present the most powerful motives to the mind in order
to subdue the feeling of shame that would naturally arise in the confession of
Christ. Is not this a fallen world?
Is not the race of mankind an utterly depraved race? Were it necessary to
hold up powerful motives in order to induce a person to confess his alliance
with some arch-villain, one could think better of man. But the most magnificent rewards are proposed, as an inducement to those
who are acquainted with Christ, to acknowledge their acquaintance; to those who
rely on Him for salvation, to confess Him as their Saviour.
- GEORGE BOWEN
* * * * * * *
523
VERY FAR BETTER
“To
depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better” (Phil.
1: 23,
R.V.)
Polycarp. - A.D. 155. - Christian martyr and
disciple of John. “Eighty and six years have I
served Him, and He has done me nothing but good. How could I curse Him, my Lord
and Saviour?”
Martin Luther. - 1546. - “Our God is the God from whom cometh salvation. God is the
Lord by whom we escape death.”
Philip Melanchthon. - 1560. - When several portions of Scripture had been read to
him, he was asked by his son-in-law if he would have anything else, and his
reply was in these emphatic words, “Nothing else
but Heaven!”
Michael Angelo. - 1564. - Eminent sculptor
wrote in his will, “I die in the faith of Jesus
Christ, and in the firm hope of a better life.”
Samuel Rutherford. - 1616. - “Mine eye shall see my Redeemer. He has
pardoned, loved, and washed me, and given me joy unspeakable and full of glory.
I feed on manna. Glory, glory, glory to my Creator and Redeemer for ever!
Glory, glory shines in Immanuel’s land!”
John Bunyan. 1688. - Author of The
Pilgrim’s Progress. - “Weep
not for me, but for yourselves. I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who will, through the mediation of His blessed Son, receive me, though a
sinner, where I hope we shall meet to sing the new song, and remain
everlastingly happy, world without end.”
David Brainerd. - 1747. - Well known missionary. - “I am going into eternity; and it is sweet to me to think of
eternity; the endlessness of it makes it sweet. But O! what shall I say to the
eternity of the wicked? The thought of it is too dreadful!”
William Pitt. - 1778. - Earl of Chatham, statesman, and orator. -
“I throw myself on the mercy of God through the
merits of Christ.”
Augustus Toplady. - 1778. - Author of “Rock of
Ages”. - “The consolations
of God to such an unworthy wretch are so abundant that He leaves me nothing to
pray for but a continuance of them. I
enjoy Heaven already in my soul.”
Countess of Huntingdon. - 1791. - “I have no hope but that which inspired
the dying malefactor. And now my work is done, I have nothing to do but go to
my Father.”
John Wesley. - 1791 - Almost his last words were, “The best of all, God is with us.”
John Bacon. - 1799. -
Eminent English sculptor, whose
George Washington. - 1799. - First President of the
Lady Powerscourt. - 1800. - “One needs a great many Scriptures to live
by, but the only Scripture that a person needs to die by is 1 John 1: 7, and that verse never
was sweeter to me than at this moment.”
Sir Walter Scott. - 1832. - The famous author on his death-bed begged
his son-in-law to read to him. “What shall I
read?” said Lockhart. “Can you ask?”
replied the dying man; “there is only one Book.”
William Wilberforce,
M.P. - 1833. - The champion of the
slave, - “My affections are so much in Heaven
that I can leave you all without regret; yet I do not love you less, but God
more.”
Sir Henry Havelock. - 1857. - Who relieved
Michael Faraday. - 1867. -
Chemist, electrician, and
philosopher. - A distinguished scientist, calling on him, put this question,
“Have you conceived to yourself what will be your occupation in the next
world?” Hesitating a while, Faraday answered, “Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that
God hath prepared for them that love Him”. And then he added, in his own words,
“I shall be with Christ, and that is enough.”
Charles Dickens. - 1870. - Whose works are world-famed, wrote in his
will: “I commit my soul to the mercy of God,
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Brownlow North. - 1875. - Profligate nobleman who became a preacher, said: “‘The
Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ That is the verse on which I am now dying. One
wants no more.”
John Nelson Darby. - 1882. -
“Well, it
will be strange to find myself in Heaven; but it won’t be a strange
Christ - One I have known these many years. I am glad He knows me. I am not a
demonstrative man, but I have a deep, deep peace, which you know.”
Earl Cairns. - 1885. - Lord High Chancellor of
D. L. Moody. - 1899. - Well-known evangelist. -
“I see earth receding, Heaven is opening, and
God is calling me.”
Sidney Cooper. - 1902. - Royal Academician, wrote when 98. - “I have full faith in Thy atonement, and I am confident of
Thy help. The precious Blood I fully rely on. Thou art the source of my
comfort. I have no other. I want no
other.”
John Pierpont Morgan. - 1913. - American millionaire. -
First paragraph of his will: “I commit my soul
into the hands of my Saviour, in full confidence that having redeemed it and
washed it in His most precious Blood, He will present it faultless before the
throne of my Heavenly Father, and I entreat my children to maintain and defend
at all hazards and at any cost of personal sacrifice the blessed doctrine of
the complete atonement for sin through the Blood of Jesus Christ, once offered,
and through that alone.”
-
The
Gospel Herald.
* * * * * * *
524
WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY LIFE?
By GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH
A CERTAIN celebrated authoress is reported to
have said that were she called upon to live her life again, she would commence
by hanging herself!
Now, were the privilege of repeating my earthly career
allotted me, I am quite sure that I should not be tempted to inaugurate it
after that fashion. It is true that I have had my share of sorrow, perhaps more
than ordinarily falls to the lot of man; but after all, I have not been so
disappointed with my life’s happenings, or so maddened by its failures,
as to be tempted to take the effective method of preventing their recurrence by
bringing my existence to violent conclusion.
No, that is certainly not the course I
should adopt; but I will tell you what I should do, could I go back once more
to the beginning of my career and be assured that a long spell of vigorous life
was before me. I should offer my life
up, without a moment’s hesitation, on the altar of redeeming love. I
should place myself - spirit, soul and body - at the feet of Jesus Christ,
ready and willing literally to live, suffer, fight and die for Him.
But did I not do this many years ago? Certainly I did! When a
lad of only fifteen years of age I made this offering so far as my limited
knowledge would allow. But if found in the circumstances I have imagined, with
all the light that has, since those days come into my soul through experience,
observation and instruction, I should make the same offering, only far more
wholeheartedly than I did then. And, having made the offering, I should at once
proceed to act in harmony with my consecration, and that in the most thorough
manner possible.
I should say, “Oh my God, I am
Thy, son, Thy servant, Thy soldier. Henceforth let me do nothing, and allow
nothing in my heart or in my life but what is calculated to promote Thy
interests on earth, make Thee famous among men and answer the purpose for which
I have been entrusted with my being; and then let me come up and reign with
Thee forever and forever.” In pursuance of this object, I should
resolve to be something that would count in the strife between good and evil
raging around me. No silly wasting of time, or strength, or faculties, or
goods, or opportunities would satisfy me. All would be consecrated, all
baptised with holy power, all made truly Divine.
To further my design, should do many things:-
1. I should be a man of
spiritual skill - I should
learn how best to fight the enemies of God and man, bring them in submission,
transform them to good soldiers of Jesus Christ, unite them for the most
effective action and lead them forth to combat with the foe. By night and by
day I should read, inquire, plan, scheme and experiment, until I could do this
work, either as leader or as a follower, as
2. I should be a man of
sacrifice - I would
accept a life of poverty, privation and toil, as being my Heavenly
Father’s way for me. And I should struggle until I attained that state of
mind which would enable me to endure hardship without a murmur or complaint.
3. I should be a man of prayer - I
should accustom myself to holding intercourse with Heaven, until my spirit
was ever communing with God, interceding for man and crying for the Holy Ghost
- that is, until I prayed “without ceasing”. Oh, when I look back over the course I have travelled
through the world, my comrades, what a precious invaluable privilege of prayer has
been mine! Were I, while I write this, again standing on the threshold of my
earthly life, whether long or short, I should at once start to pray. Indeed, I
should pray in public and in private; yes, everywhere I should pray, until my
every thought was a prayer.
4. I should be a man of
holiness - I should
rejoice in being known, revered and
feared everywhere for truth, honour, purity and generosity - a truly righteous
man. One of my Officers was telling me the other day that such was the
effect produced upon his mind by first reading of the Gospels that he could not
bring himself to believe that the Apostles were natural men; he thought they
must be spirits sent down from heaven, who had assumed a human form in order to
show the poor, blind world what real religion was. Oh, if I were young again,
with the prospect of a long life before me, I should surely say, “Oh, my God, my God, let me indeed and of truth be a holy
man, that I may make men know what the
5. I should be a man of
compassion for human suffering - I should cultivate the spirit of sympathy with human
distress wherever and whenever I might find men, and women and children in
sorrow, no matter whether their distress had been brought about by their own
evil conduct or the evil conduct of others, or by some mischance for which they
were not responsible.
I should pity their condition and, so far as I had
opportunity, contrive to give them practical assistance.
In this I should only be copying the usage of my Heavenly
Father, who makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good, the just and the
unjust, and following in the steps of my Saviour, who went about doing good
alike to the bodies and the souls of men.
6. I should be a man of
faith - In reply to our Lord’s
question, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall
He find faith on the earth?” I should say, “Yes, Lord, if in no other heart, Thou shalt find the
precious principle reigning and ruling in mine.”
To that end I should cultivate the holy habit of trusting God.
In season and out of season I should practise believing.
Under the most difficult conditions that could possibly befall
me, I should accustom myself to a bold reliance on the protection and provision
and direction of my loving Lord.
In every hour and in every place I should believe all the time
that my Father’s arms were around me, that my Saviour’s wings were
over me, that the Spirit’s light was guiding me, and that all was going
well and could not be other than well, both for earth and for Heaven.
I should struggle after a full trust in God:-
When the way was dark, and I could not
see;
When my heart seemed hard, and I could
not feel;
When my spirits sank and I could not
rise;
When persecution raged, and comrades
fled;
When poverty and temptation were my
lot;
When bereavement and loneliness
darkened my home -
I should be a man possessed of the Holy Ghost - when men heard
my name they would think about God.
I should seek to be
filled with the Spirit, and aspire, like the Apostles of old, to go about
the world imparting the Holy Spirit, and breathing forth light, hope and power
on the souls of men. Verily, verily, I should be an exemplification of the
Master’s prophecy: “Out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”.
My comrades, I have given you only a very faint and imperfect
idea of the manner in which I should deal with my life, had I the privilege of
living it over again. Nevertheless, it is there, and to the realization of that
standard I shall consecrate the remaining
days of my advanced years. For all will agree that the service and devotion
which I feel would be my duty at the commencement of my life must be equally my
duty at its close.
Whether young or old, this, then is my standard of love and
duty, and [by God’s grace and power] my standard it shall continue to be until I utter my
last word, and breathe my last breath on earth.
Will you not join me in this consecration? Long years may yet
be your portion. The world may yet be before you: God is on your side.
* * *
Away with every fear! Trample hesitation and half-measure
beneath your feet, forget the failures of the past; leave them behind you.
And, having taken your stand, then on, on and still on!
-
The War Cry.
* * * * * * *
525
MODERNISM
By DR. W. A. CRISWELL
“One
concrete example of the almost incredible poison of Modernism in the Churches
will bring home to us with
deep shock the rapidly approaching
apostasy.” D. M. Panton.
THE
unspeakable tragedy that happens to many of our Baptist institutions eventually
threatens them all. They are delivered to secularism and infidelity, not because
of a bitter frontal attack from without, but because of the slow, gradual
permeation of the rot and curse of modernism from within.
Take, for example, the
Appeals were sent to 1, 200 Baptist pastors in the
Then the infiltration began. The curse, the rot, the virus,
the corruption of modernism began to work. Here are some of the professors who
have taught the preachers during the course of the years.
Prof. G. B. Foster, Baptist teacher in the seminary,
pastor of a Unitarian church.
Prof. Haydon, Baptist leader in the seminary, pastor of a Unitarian church.
Prof. Merrifield, Baptist teacher in the seminary,
pastor of a Unitarian church.
Prof. Soares:- “Redemption is an absolute fancy.
Revelation is self-deception. We refuse the idea that the principal business of
the church is to get people converted or committed to the Christian life.”
Prof. G. B. Foster:- “An
intelligent man who now affirms his faith
in miracles can hardly know what intellectual honesty means. The hypothesis
of God has become superfluous in every science, that of religion itself. Jesus
did not transcend the limits of the purely human. He never thought of ascribing
a pre-mundane existence to himself; nor did he claim to be the judge of the
world. It is doubtful if he ever called himself the Son of man.”
We cannot help but find ourselves in sympathy with the comment
of a great
The
Harry Emerson Fosdick, leading radio speaker of the Federal Council, pastor of the Park Avenue
Baptist church, turned by the Rockefeller millions into the
President A. C. McGiffert of the Chicago Theological seminary:-
“It is not absolutely certain
that Jesus himself actually instituted such a supper and directed his disciples
to eat and drink in remembrance of him. Expecting as he did to return at an
early day he can hardly have been solicitous to provide for the preservation of
his memory.”
Theodore Parker:- “The
Lord’s Supper is a heathenish rite and means very little. Cast away the
elements. Let all who will come into a parlour and have a social religious
meeting, eat bread and wine, if you like, or curds and cream and baked apples,
and have a conversation free and cheerful on moral questions.”
If modernism were a separate movement in itself, built its own
churches, launched its own institutions, projected its own denomination, then
we could look at it as just another of the many sects that appear on the
surface of history. But modernism in itself builds nothing; it is a parasite
that grows on institutions already built. The physician tells us that a given
virus can multiply and cause disease only when within the cells of certain
specific organisms; that no virus has been found to reproduce in the absence of
living cells. This is a picture of historical modernism. It grows on the work,
the heritage, the sacrifice of the orthodox. The humble disciples of Christ
make the converts, evangelize the fields, build the churches, launch the
institutions, erect the denomination - then modernism destroys their life from
within.
-
Christ
For The World Messenger.
* * *
FOOLISH VIRGINS
WHEN
people accept, without a Scriptural investigation, that there is only one translation of the saints at Christ’s
second coming, they must teach that the foolish virgins represent mere nominal
Christians never having had an experience. Every eternal securitist must accept
this view for he believes that all
backsliders are included in the rapture and the Bride of Christ, since,
according to their teaching, they cannot be lost.
It should be remembered that you do not trim a lamp that has
not been lighted. Sinners and nominal [or even regenerate believers turned apostate] Christians do not have lights to shine for Christ. It is the oil, typifying the Holy Spirit or the supply of Divine grace,
that burns within the lamps. This is entirely lacking in the lives of the
unsaved [and disobedient believers (Acts 5: 32. cf.
1 John 3: 24f.
R.V.)]. Sinners have no interest in the
coming of the Heavenly Bridegroom. There are none taking the way to meet Him.
So there is a vast line of demarcation between the ungodly, the nominal
Christian, the backslidden class, and
the true born-again believer. The latter has received forgiveness of sins,
and a light to guide him.
On the other hand, the only difference between the wise and
foolish virgins is shown in the possession by the wise of an extra vessel of
replenishing oil, which the foolish lacked. The foolish had thought the supply
of oil in their lamps sufficient to carry them through, but the wise wanted
more grace, a more abundant supply to assure them “an abundant entrance in,” hence had sought and
obtained it. Furthermore, the world is not awakened by the midnight cry as it
goes forth. Only the Church, the true believers are awakened. And see how Jesus
points out that of those awakened, only part are ready to enter in.
Those translated at the first phase of Jesus coming are seen
in Rev. 4
and 5. The great harvest of believers will
be translated “out of the great tribulation”
(Rev. 7: 9-17). Another
order of believers is translated in the middle of the seven years (Rev. 12) and
still another group just before the Armageddon battle (Rev.
14: 14-16; 15: 2-3). These
saints won the victory during the three and one half years reign of the
antichrist. The final order of the first resurrection will be after Armageddon
(Rev. 20: 4-6).
Those who believe in a “one event” translation must
wrest these plain Scriptures to their own confusion.
- The Midnight Cry.
-------
A WARNING ON REVIVAL
ONCE we
prayed through for a big revival in a certain church. The answer was so real
and so definite, that we could see souls coming from every direction to the altar,
the house filled and the whole country stirred. But when God gave us this
vision He said, “See thou tell it to no man.”
Somehow, without a thought of disobedience, we told it in public and made our
faith known by letters and by postal cards. We were going to have a big
meeting. God had given the confidence, and we wanted this one or that one to be
sure to come. What was the actual fact? That meeting proved to be the biggest
failure, that was ever in that church. It amounted to absolutely nothing. We did
the preaching and it was all pulling. There was no liberty, nothing happened.
Oh, what a disappointment! We felt we never wanted to preach there again, and
for years God did not let us. What was the trouble? God had answered and given
us His secret, but we became inflated, and spiritual pride got in, and God
could not afford to answer prayer, He could not afford to pour out His Spirit
and make known His grace in that community. It would bring the glory of us
instead of Jesus Christ, and He “will not give
(His) glory to another.”
- God’s Revivalist.
* * * * * * *
526
THE REBUILDING OF THE
By H. J. SHEPSTONE, F.R.G.S.*
[* NOTE: This tract
was published by D. M. Panton in March 1950.]
-------
FROM
time to time the Freemasons of the world have hinted at their desire to rebuild
King Solomon’s
[* See Robert (Bob) Cornuke’s book:
“
It would seem now as if the wish of the Freemasons may materialise.
One of the spokesmen of the new Israeli Government, Mr Menachin Beign,
who was commander of the Irgun in
[* NOTE: There is much controversy today
amongst many Christians and regenerate Jews, that what was believed to be the correct
location of Solomon’s Temple for centuries - (behind what is known today
as ‘The Wailing Wall’) - is not
the ‘ancient site’ where his Temple
once stood! the correct location being some distance away, and closer to what
has been described as ‘living water’ - the Gehon
Spring,
which was the only source of water in that area at that time.]
Solomon’s sacred and historic worshipping place was one
of the grandest structures ever raised by man. It represented first a daring
piece of engineering work and embodied all the skill and cunning of the
craftsmen of those days. Furthermore, its conception was only possible through
the united enthusiasm of a
whole nation. Not least, it was reared in the comparatively short
space of seven years. It is doubtful if our leading contractors, with all their
mechanical and labour-saving devices, would undertake to duplicate the feat in
a like period.
But before Solomon could erect his
With its outer buildings which included the judgment Hall, the
King’s palace, the House of the Forest of Lebanon, the courts for the
worshippers, cloisters, accommodation for the army of priests, the stables and
stalls for the beasts used in connection with the sacrifices, Solomon’s
Temple, like that erected later by Herod, covered the whole of the 35-acre
platform. The Temple was not a single building, like a modern cathedral, but a
system of concentric enclosures or courts, of which the Temple proper, though
the most splendid part of it, and lifted high above all the rest, was but a
small part.
It represented the brain and heart of the nation, a kind of
university, the home and centre of the learned men and priests. It was not only
the first permanent worshipping-place of the Israelites, but the first permanent edifice to be reared
for the service of God.
This sacred edifice, with its subsidiary buildings and courts,
wonderful water supply and drainage, costly and elaborate decorations and
sacred vessels by the tens of thousands, were all reared and fashioned in the
short space of seven years. Stones have been found 80 feet below the present
surface bearing Phoenician masons’ marks. In Chronicles we read of
150,000 men being employed by Solomon in quarrying and carrying stone. Research
would go to show, however, that the total number of men called into requisition
to erect this wonderful worshipping-place, was no less that 183,000. These men
worked constantly for a period of three years. To-day, with modern methods of
construction and up-to-date labour-saving devices, the number of workers could
be considerably reduced. But the cost would still be enormous.
Those authorities who have studied the subject declare that
the cost of building a
The Jews declare that the
temple will be built on its original
site. This great 35-acre platform [they believe] belongs to
the Moslems. To them it is no less sacred than
-
The
Prophetic News.
* * *
In 1400 B.C. it was first wrested from
the Jebusites.
In 587 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar sacked the
city and took
In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great took
the city.
In 322 B.C. Ptolemy of Egypt smashed
his way through the defences.
In 65 B.C. Pompey besieged and took
the city.
In A.D. 70 every stone was levelled to
the ground by Titus who also inflicted great carnage on the inhabitants.
In 614 came Chrosroes
of Persia, and the city was once again sacked.
In 629 Heraclius defeated Chrosroes and entered the city.
In 637 Omar took the city from Romans.
In 1099 the Crusaders entered
In 1187 it was conquered by Saladin.
In 1517 Selim
I, of
In 1917 General Allenby took the city
peaceably from the Turks.
In 1948 Arabs have caused serious
damage to the ancient part of the city.
In the good time coming, Jesus Christ will sit in
- The Jewish Magazine.
-------
THE EXHORTATION
WHEN, in
the fourth century, the Roman Emperor
Diocletian issued a decree to imprison all priests and to eradicate the
Christian Faith from the earth, Bishop
Nicolas, of
“Brethren in Christ! The
day is near that may be our greatest glory or our blackest shame. The time
has come for threshing the harvest. By God’s grace, we may now discover
what in ourselves is chaff, and what is good wheat. The chaff shall be burnt
and utterly destroyed. The corn shall be the living seed of a new church.
Pray for
grace to stand firm in this terrible storm. Pray for grace to suffer
afflictions. You shall be scourged with rods, burnt with fire, tormented beyond the
fear of death.
Brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father
his child and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put
to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for His name’s sake but he that endureth to the end, the same
shall be saved.
In the name of Christ, Who suffered death upon the
Cross for us, be strong unto death for Him. Amen.”
-------
WATCH
All our Lord’s emphatic warnings
in His many Second Advent parables in Matthew 24
and 25 are exhortations to unsleeping watchfulness.
Christ gave His disciples no reason to believe their readiness for His coming
rested an any experience of [initial and eternal] salvation they may have had. Pointed
and plain He made preparation, for the timeless and dateless Advent means unsleeping
vigilance and prayer. All teaching, all preaching, all activity, religious,
secular or otherwise, that to-day silences our Lord’s grave and solemn
warnings to His own to, “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,”
vitiates watchfulness and makes for dangerous sleep.
- The
* * * * * * *
527
THE PRAYING LIFE
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
PRAYER
is something indescribably wonderful - it is personal conversation with God. “Draw
nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (Jas.
4: 8).
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears,
And spirit with spirit can meet,
Nearer is He than breathing,
And closer than hands and feet.
And prayer is still more wonderful. All that we ask of God in
conversation He has promised to give: it could not be expressed with more
studied emphasis than our Lord expresses it. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek,
and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and
to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt.
7: 7). Or
as the Apostle James puts it negatively:- “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (Jas.
4: 2).
The possibilities of prayer are simply boundless.
All Prayer
Paul opens his special word on prayer with its limitless
reach. “Stand therefore with ALL
PRAYER and supplication” (Eph. 6: 18). To whom
is this addressed? If any believer asks, “Am I
holy enough to pray?” the answer is that all prayer - prayer in
its entirety - is a trust committed to every child of God without exception. In
Scripture we have prayer kneeling, standing, walking, sitting (1 Kings 18: 42),
and on the face before God. There is prayer in the bedroom, in the family, in
the prayer-meeting, in the church; prayer audible and prayer silent; prayer in
companies or alone; exceptional prayers; prayers of set purpose, or in sudden
ejaculation, or the continued, all-suffusing atmosphere of prayer. It is all
most gloriously varied. The ministers and evangelists pray over their subjects,
the Sunday School teacher over every scholar in his class; the mother over her
child, the business man over his engagements, the youth and maiden over
marriage, the aging over the last lap.
It is prayer in every employment, recreation, undertaking; in joys, in trials,
in sudden temptations; in personal life, in family life, in church life. “In
everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil.
4: 6). Mr. Spurgeon says:- “Our seasons of fasting and prayer at the Tabernacle have
been high days indeed; never has heaven’s gate stood wider; never have
our hearts been nearer the Central Glory.”
All Seasons
Next the Apostle deals with the calendar of prayer - “praying
AT ALL SEASONS in the Spirit.”
“Continuing steadfastly in prayer” (Rom.
12: 12).
This, in itself, is a beautiful revelation of the spiritual character. It means
that to us prayer is to be utterly natural; that we live in the same room with
God; that it is never a violent transition, but always our very life. It was Fletcher of Madeley
who, whenever he met a friend, said, - “Do I
meet you praying?” The early Christians never met without invoking
a benediction, and never parted without a prayer; and to the saints of the
Middle Ages each passing incident summoned to intercession - the shadow on the
dial, a tolling bell, the flight of a swallow, the setting sun Sir Thomas
Browne, the author of Religio Medici,
covenanted with himself “to pray in all
places where quietness inviteth; in any house, highway, or street; and to know
no street in this city that may not witness that I have not forgotten God my
Saviour in it.” All our life is to be an unbroken litany of
prayer: the maturest saint will never grow independent of it: and the smallest
child that believes can prevail with God in prayer. “Pray
without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5: 17).
Prayer is the Christian’s vital
breath
The Christian’s native air,
His watchword at the gates of death,
He enters Heaven with prayer.
All Perseverance
Paul’s third point is a critical warning. “Watching
thereunto”, constantly alert in regard to prayer
- “in ALL PERSEVERANCE.”
D. L. Moody used to say that a saint who failed in his prayer life might
as well lie down and die, as die he would spiritually if he ceased to pray. Natural
impulse, even the spiritual instinct of the regenerate, must be reinforced by
vigilance and systematic discipline: “watching thereunto” - watching against forgetfulness and
sloth, watching against neglect, watching against formality and unreal prayers;
watching for occasions, watching for answers, watching for deepening power in
prayer: so watching, that we successfully persevere. There is confession,
supplication, intercession, thanksgiving. In Archbishop Trench’s words:-
When prayer delights thee least, then
learn to say,
Soul, now is greatest need that thou should’st pray.
Andrew Bonar said: - “I see that unless I keep up short prayer every day,
throughout the whole day at intervals, I lose the spirit of prayer.”
Paul prayed “day and night exceedingly”
(1 Thess. 3: 10).
All Saints
Paul now unrolls the map over which
our prayer is to travel “supplication for ALL
SAINTS”;
all saints, of any intellectual grade, of every social rank, of every degree of
holiness, of every theological group; all saints, in all tribes and nations and
peoples and tongues. Paul did not know the thousands in God’s Church
personally, and much less could he suppose that we should know the millions of
a later, larger Church: yet our prayer is to be as ample, as catholic, as the
Church itself. It is most comforting thus to learn that prayer in the mass is
effectual; that the Church throughout the world is a better, holier, lovelier
Church because you and I pray for it. “The
weakest and simplest Christian can take part in the efforts of the strongest”
(Westcott), and can mightily help
believers he has never seen. Every moment some saint is tempted, or falling, or
dying; every moment some saint somewhere is being tortured or shot, or fiercely
tempted, or torn with anxiety, or racked with disease, or has denied Christ, or
has lapsed into the world - and your prayer and mine can be like an angel
descending on him through an open window.
Dr. R. W. Dale sketches the consequences of praying
for all saints:- “Some Christian brother, under
the stress of bad trade and unexpected losses almost driven to dishonesty, will
preserve his integrity: some young man, no longer sheltered in a religious
home, and all but dragged down into vice, will stand firm in his fidelity
to Christ. Some poor woman,
harassed by anxiety, worn down by unkindness, will receive strength and lofty
faith. The feverish passion for wealth will be cooled in some Christian
merchant. Saintly souls will become more saintly. New fervour will kindle in
hearts already glowing with apostolic zeal. New gifts of wisdom and of
utterance will be given to souls already conspicuous for their spiritual power.
So those living in quiet and obscure places may share the honours and victories
of all their comrades, and some part of their final reward.”
Prayer Answers
We do well to ponder the vast fruits of prayer. Dr. Adoniram
Judson says:- “I never prayed sincerely and
earnestly for anything but it came at some time - no matter at how distant a
day, somehow, in some shape, probably the last I would have devised, it came.”
Or in the words of William Wilberforce:-
“ALL may be done through prayer, I am ready to say - and why
not? For that it is almighty is only through the gracious ordination of the God
of love and truth. O then, pray, pray, pray!” And prayer covers
our every need, and brings God into it all. It was Lancelot Andrewes, of the seventeenth
century, who prayed:- “Be, Lord, within me to
strengthen me, without me to guard me, over me to shelter me, beneath me to
stablish me, before me to guide me, after me to forward me, about me to secure
me.”
Faith in Prayer
Finally, the enormous possibilities of Heaven’s answers
rest on its being believing prayer. Our Lord
said:- “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, BELIEVING,
ye shall receive” (Matt.
21, 22). Hudson
Taylor, on his first trip to
“I will,”
responded Mr. Taylor, “providing you will set
your sails to catch the wind which my God will send.” “You mean set my sails when there is not a breath of air
stirring?” asked the captain. “Why,
I cannot do that. I would become the laughing stock of the entire crew. No, I
will set the sails after God has answered your prayers.”
“Then I will not pray,”
Mr. Taylor firmly answered. “If you do not have
enough faith in my God to set your sails, then I will not call upon Him for
help.”
When the captain realized that Mr. Taylor meant what he said
he threw aside his pride and set the sails as if the wind were up and blowing
in the right direction. In the meantime, Mr. Taylor went to his knees calling
upon God for help. After some time, Mr. Taylor heard a knock at his door.
“Who is there?” he asked. “It is I,” the captain responded. “Are you still praying for wind?” “Yes, I am,” answered Mr. Taylor. “Well,” replied the captain, “you’d better stop praying, for we have more wind than
we can manage already.”
* * *
CONFESSION OF CHRIST
“‘Whosoever
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also
before my Father which is in heaven’.
What an extraordinary world is this that such a sentence should ever have
been uttered in it. Consider what is implied in these words. They manifestly
imply that it is an opprobrious [i.e., a reproach and scandlious] thing in the estimation of mankind to give honour to Him
Who is the brightness of the Father’s glory and to acknowledge any
connection with Him. They imply that it is necessary to present the most
powerful motives to the mind in order to subdue the feeling of shame that would
naturally arise in the connection of Christ [and
His manifested ‘glory’ (Hab. 2: 14; Hos. 5: 15 - 6: 1-3, R.V.), during the messianic and millennial
‘age to come’ (Heb. 6: 5)]. Is not this a fallen world? Is not the
race of mankind an utterly deprived race? Were it necessary to hold up powerful
motives in order to induce a person to confess his alliance with some
arch-villian, one would think better of man. But the most magnificent REWARDS are proposed, as an inducement to those who are acquainted
with Christ [and His coming inheritance (Ps.
2: 8,
R.V.)], to
acknowledge their acquaintance; to those who rely on Him for salvation, to
confess Him as their Saviour [and to recognise Him as
this sin-cursed world’s Restorer
(Gen. 3: 17, 18. cf.
Rom. 8: 17-22, R.V.), its true Messiah, righteous Ruler and divine King: (Isa. 40: 10, R.V.).]”
-
GEORGE BOWEN.
-------
TRUTHFULNESS
“If a man adopts a calling which entails lying, such as that of
a spy, he cannot expect to escape the guilt that attaches to the liar. If a
physician is afraid to tell his patient the truth lest he should endanger his
patient’s life, it is, as a Scotch author declares, because he fears to
put his trust in God’s
-
R. H. CHARLES.
* * * * * * *
528
MULTIPLE RAPTURE
By WM. BEIRNES
THE unsound
and unscriptural teaching that the Church must go through the tribulation comes
as a result of a misunderstanding of the Scriptures dealing with the
resurrection and translation of the saints. The generally accepted theory along
this line of prophecy is that all
the believers are translated to heaven at one time. This is incorrect. There
will always be confusion on this line until the believers come to recognize the
fact that the book of the Revelation
definitely shows the rapture of the saints in different orders and at different
times during the seventieth week of Daniel while the judgments of the Revelation are in progress. It is at the “time of
trouble such as never was” that the angel said to Daniel, “thy people shall be
delivered, EVERY ONE that shall be found written in the book.”
Only the ‘Bride’ of Christ escapes the tribulation
judgments as described in the book of Revelation.
The reason I say this is that there are other tribulation judgments upon earth before
those described in the Revelation. Matthew, in chapter
24: 7, 8,
describes a world war followed by famines, pestilences and earthquakes as the
indication that we have entered “the beginning of sorrows.” We are now in that period, and
tribulation judgments are being visited on the earth in preparation for the
revelation of the man of sin and the rapture of the saints in their “own
order.” Matthew 24: 1-14 gives us a picture of world events and signs
preceding the rapture of the Bride, while verses 15-31 picture events after the rapture of the
Bride of Christ, during which time other saints are resurrected and translated to heaven, and the antichrist rules the
world.
[* NOTE: “The
first resurrection” of deceased saints will not take place until after
the Great Tribulation.]
Paul says, “for as IN ADAM all die, even so IN CHRIST
shall all be made alive, BUT every man in his
own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they
that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Cor. 15: 22-23). “EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER” reveals the facts verified in the
book of Revelation. Until this truth so plainly stated in the Scriptures is understood
there will always be great confusion among the people of God.
The first order of the first resurrection was Christ. He became the “firstfruits” of them that slept, the “first
begotten of the dead,” and the PRINCE of
all the redeemed regal saints. See Revelation 1:
4-6, 13-18.
The second order of the first resurrection took place a moment after Christ
came out of the grave. Study the events in Matt.
27: 50-54. “MANY bodies of the saints
which slept arose, and came out of their graves AFTER HIS RESURRECTION.” Here is a literal resurrection of
many of the Old Testament saints. They are described in heaven as “Living Creatures,”*and testify that they are redeemed
from the earth, and that they shall reign on the earth. They say that they have
been made unto God kings and priests. They are associated with the Lamb, the
four and twenty elders and the 144,000 and all together are called “firstfruits.”
[* NOTE: There is no scriptural evidence to suggest that this
was a resurrection into immortality, but rather a
resurrection like that of Mary and Martha’ brother, Lazarus (John 11: 21-23, R.V.) - a literal resurrection from death, and
an extension of life upon this earth. In 1 Sam. 28:
11-20,
R.V. we read of God allowing a similar resurrection of His prophet Samuel to
have taken place, who, after speaking to Saul, returned to ‘Sheol’ - (the underworld of the souls of the
dead) to await resurrection into immortality! See Luke
16: 29-31; Acts 2: 27-34; Rev. 6: 9-11, R.V. cf. 2
Tim. 2: 17,
18, R.V.)!
Furthermore, the scriptures are silent as to where
these resurrected saints went after “entering into the holy city” and appearing “unto many” (Matt.
27: 50-53, R.V.)! To assume, as the writer does, that
they are ‘in heaven’ now, and before
“the first resurrection” (Rev. 20: 5, R.V.) is human speculation with no scriptural
evidence to suggest this actually happened!
The “Living Creatures”
who are in Heaven, are not the ‘many … Old Testament saints’ from a
previous era! They are angelic creatures who will lay down
their crowns after “the resurrection of the
just” (Lk.
14: 14):
and that event (according to Peter & Paul) cannot occur until Christ
returns to resurrect the holy dead; and that event is not ‘past’ but at some time in the future
(2 Tim 2: 16-18; Acts 2: 34ff.; 1 Cor. 15: 23; 1 Thess. 4: 16, R.V.)! All previous persons, who were
resurrected before our Lord Jesus Christ, were not immortal: they all
died sometime later!]
The third order of the first resurrection will be the New Testament Bridehood saints, and these will escape the
great tribulation judgments visited upon the earth under the reign of the
antichrist. This order is described in Rev. 4: 1-5. These verses give the rapture scene in detail.
They are seated upon thrones and crowns are placed upon their heads. They also
have harps and golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of saints.
Together with the Living Creatures they testify that they are regal saints (Rev. 5: 8-10). They are
translated to heaven before the
opening of the seals for they are glorified, enthroned and crowned before the sealed book is brought
forth. They cannot be angels as some affirm for it cannot be said that angels
are redeemed from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation.
It is inconsistent to say that we are now living under any of
the seals. If that were true then the rapture of the Bride is over and we are
left behind. When the Lamb of God takes the sealed book to open it the Living
Creatures and Elders praise God in heaven and give their testimony as to their
position in the first resurrection [translation]. When Christ takes the book these redeemed and
glorified saints fall down before the throne of God and of the Lamb, and shout
the praises of our Lord and Saviour.
This group of saints
escape the reign of the antichrist and the judgments that fall in the time of
great tribulation.
After prophesying of those times of tribulation, Jesus warned his followers, “Watch
and pray 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:
36). This admonition would be unnecessary if
there was to be no escape. He has no reference here to tribulations that come
to all Christians. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” We
cannot escape those tribulations, but we can, if we will take heed, escape THE tribulation under the reign of the
antichrist.
Isaiah, the prophet, speaking with
confidence of his own resurrection, and thinking of others, says, “Come my
people, enter thou into thy chambers and shut
thy doors about thee: HIDE thyself as it were
for a little moment, until the
indignation (tribulation)
be overpast.
For behold, the Lord
cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their
iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her
blood, and shall no more cover her slain” (Isa. 26:
19-21).
Again, after Zephaniah vividly
described the tribulation in the first chapter, He admonishes the people of God
to seek righteousness and
meekness, adding, “it may be ye shall be HID in the day of the Lord’s
anger.” He will
hide the Bride of Christ from this
dispensation in the heavens before any of the seals are opened. In God's
message to the
The fourth order of the rapture occurs sometime after the translation of
the Bride of Christ. and before the second revelation of the antichrist to the
whole world at the beginning of the forty-two months of his reign over a
federated world. They are described in Rev. 7: 9-17. The angel tells John this unnumbered company
is translated to heaven “out of the great tribulation.” They do not have thrones nor are they
crowned. This is the great harvest of the earth. They are raptured during the
tribulation. This statement is so clear and emphatic that even a child should
understand.
The fifth order of the rapture is seen in Rev.
12. Immediately before the opening of the
second seal God seals 144,000 of the children of
They are sealed on earth and are later seen in heaven, and the
catching away of the man child is the only account of their rapture. The book
of the Revelation describes the translation
of each order and shows them in heaven in their resurrected state witnessing to
the time of their translation. The rapture of the man child, the war between
Michael and his angels, and the devil and his angels, the flight of the woman
into the wilderness, the breaking of the covenant and the beginning of the
forty-two months reign of the antichrist are events that mark the middle of the
covenant week of Daniel, the last three and one-half years of the tribulation.
The sixth order of the rapture takes place just before the Armageddon
battle. See Rev. 14:
14, 15.
These saints are the final harvest of the earth. They are not numbered. They
tell us in their testimony that they lived during the time the mark of the
beast was forced upon the people of the world, but that they had gotten the
victory over it (Rev. 15: 2-4). They are raptured just before the seven last
vials of God’s wrath are poured upon the earth, and are strictly
tribulation saints.
The seventh order of the resurrection consists only of those who are
martyred during the entire tribulation. From the time of the rapture of the
four-and-twenty elders, martyr’s blood will flow as rivers. Millions of
the foolish virgins will be martyred during the first part of the tribulation
and millions will refuse the mark of the beast and be martyred during the last
three and one-half years, and together they are resurrected and go into the
thousand years reign. See Rev. 6: 9-11, and 20: 4-6. In this
last Scripture it is stated, “This is the first
resurrection.” Literally it is the completion of the first
resurrection. Our friends who believe the entire Church goes through the
tribulation and are translated at the revelation of Christ as described in Rev. 19 quote
this as proof, but it does not prove their point.
There are two precious Scriptures often quoted as proof that
all believers the world over, living and dead, will be translated at the same
moment, but if that is so there could be no translation of the saints until
after the battle of Armageddon or at the time of the battle when the
tribulation martyrs are raised. Paul in 1 Thess. 4: 14-18, and 1 Cor. 15: 51-53, is merely stating that the dead saints are
first raised, and then the living ones changed and together caught up to be
with Christ, but the book of Revelation
gives us the scenes of the different orders of the rapture. It reveals the time
when each order is raptured or resurrected.
Our good friends who do
not believe in the millennial reign
of Christ on earth base their theory on the Scripture which states the fact
that both the wicked and the righteous are raised from the dead [at the same time]. They stick by their theory and ignore the plain statements of the Word
regarding the thousand year reign. They conclude that since the righteous and
the wicked are mentioned in the same verse or chapter there must be a general
resurrection. In like manner multitudes of pre-millennialists are missing the
mark by doing the same thing regarding the resurrection and translation of the
saints at the coming of Jesus, and are being led into many grave errors. The
purpose of Satan in this is to keep the multitudes of believers from making the
necessary preparation for a place in the Bride
of Christ. Let us face the facts; the hour is late, midnight is approaching,
and with it comes the midnight cry waking every believer the world over, but
then it will be too late to obtain the oil (the Holy Spirit). The new birth is
not enough. Forget the wide differences of opinion as to what takes place in
the heart of the believer who receives the Holy Spirit in His fulness, and seek
Him at the point of full surrender
until the witness comes.
-
The Midnight Cry.
* * *
INVESTIMENT
We know perhaps no example so signal of the reversal of the
young man’s refusal to “leave all and follow Him” as the devotion of C. T. Studd to Christ. Studd, who had sailed for China two years earlier as a
member of the “Cambridge Seven,” knew before he left England that
under his father’s will he was to inherit a considerable sum of money
when he reached the age of twenty-five. Deliberately he determined to do what
the rich young ruler had failed to do, and to “sell
all that he had and give to the poor,” relying henceforth entirely
on the providence and care of God. The expected amount of his inheritance was
about £29,000. He began by sending off on one day four cheques of
£5,000 each, and five of £1,000. Of the former, one went to Mr. D.
L. Moody, who used it to start the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago; one to
George Muller, of Bristol, £4,000 to be used on missionary work, and
£1,000 for the Orphanage; one to Mr. George Holland, of Whitechapel, for
use among the London poor; and one to Commissioner Booth-Tucker, for Salvation
Army missionary work in India. The five smaller gifts were given to smaller
organizations. A few months later Mr. Studd learned
the exact amount of the money due to him, and found that it was more than he
had anticipated. He therefore gave some thousands to the China Inland Mission,
leaving him with £3,400. On his marriage shortly afterwards he presented
this sum to his bride. She, however, was of a like spirit, and insisted that it
must all be given freely to the Lord’s work. The money was therefore sent
as a further
gift to the Salvation Army. A postscript to the covering letter said, “Please to enter the subscription as coming from ‘Go and do thou likewise’.”
Even so. “LAY UP
FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN” (Matt.
6: 20).
* * * * * * *
529
THE LAST HOUR
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
THE
Apostle whom Jesus loved sums up his passionate warnings in one word never so
apt as it is at this moment:- “MY LITTLE CHILDREN, IT IS THE LAST HOUR” (1 John, 2: 18). God’s dial has six fingers upon it
before the last. (1) Adam and the Garden; (2) Enoch and the Patriarchs; (3)
Noah and the Flood; (4) Abraham and the Uncircumcision; (5) Moses and the Law;
and (6) Christ and Grace. Beyond that sixth dial-figure blazes the glory of God, when “ye
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven”: behind it are the struck hours of an
irrevocable past. When the clock next strikes it will be the Advent of God.
A Decade
It is remarkable that the keenest observers of world events in
all journalism sense that this Age -
the Age of Grace - will end within a decade. Review
of World Affairs (Jan.
1, 1947) says:- “Within ten years or so the
human family will have started upon a new path. Before this, events of immense
significance will occur: the course of affairs will be one of unparalleled
drama and danger: we believe, however, the end of this dreary dispensation in
which we now are, is relatively near, and absolutely sure. This is probably our
last chance to repent and worship.”
Pardon
The Apostle begins by addressing the little children. “I write unto you, my little
children, because your sins are forgiven you for
his name’s sake” (ver. 12). Little
children recently converted; but also doubtless recently born-again believers
who, whatever their physical age, are still in spiritual childhood; and to some
degree it includes us all, for we are all babes in the Faith, and Christ tells
us to become as little
children.* In the last hour, says the Apostle, realize that all your pardon comes
from Christ. A ragged looking man was once hovering round the Law Courts. He
applied to a policeman, and gained admittance. The judge glanced at him, and
impatiently ordered him out. Still the man lingered. The judge became angry;
and the man went up timidly to him, and handed him a note. Instantly the judge
saw that it was in the handwriting of his own son, living in a far off land,
and the note ran thus:- “Dear Father, - Please
help this man as far as lies in your power. He saved my life.” When the judge read it, he
could not do enough for the outcast. So our first and last devotion is to a
Christ who died for us.
* “Children in ver. 18 must apply to all those addressed in the Epistle.” - The
Pulpit Commentary.
Power
Next, the Apostle, addresses young men. “I have
written unto young men, because ye are strong,
and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the Evil One.” The infant in grace is weak and
tender, knowing little more than the forgiveness of his sin; Christian manhood
calls for fierce battle and mighty victories. God is calling for athletes:
youths and maidens who by faith shall “subdue kingdoms, work righteousness, obtain
promises, stop the mouths of lions, quench the power of fire,
escape the edge of the sword, from weakness be
made strong, wax mighty in war, turn to flight armies of aliens.” In the words of Mark Guy Pearse:-“Is there no room to-day for any heroism for Jesus Christ?
This holy faith has come down to us through the succession of a noble army of
martyrs. And now our turn has come. Are we going to falter? Let us put on a new
courage, and afresh give ourselves to the Lord, to be His utterly, wholly,
always, only His.” Ignatius,
when a prisoner in
Thirdly, the Apostle addresses the fathers. “I have
written unto you, fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning.” Christian maturity means absorption
in God. “To an old man,” says Bishop Moorhouse,
“who has nearly come to the end of his working
days, when the eternal world, with its tremendous interests, is already opening
before him, the real thing is our relation to what is real and eternal.”
If we live in eternity, and haunt the Throne, we shall get to know God,
and our faces will hold the borrowed glory of Heaven.
A Dying World
So the Apostle presses the lateness of the hour. “Love
not the world”; for “the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of
God abideth for ever.” The heart of man is a mighty void which none but God can
fill. Machiavelli, who had drunk of
all the world’s pleasures, pleasures both refined and brutal, said:-
“The most fearful thing in life is not poverty,
‘or care,’ or sickness, nor sorrow, nor death: it is uneasiness of
spirit.” John Wanamaker,
one of
Antichrists
The Apostle drops one word of dread solemnity. “Little
children, it is the last hour: even now have there arisen many antichrists. They went out from us, but they were not of us.” It is unutterably awful that the Antichrists who will shortly
be here are to come out of the Church,
even as Judas, the False Prophet of the
coming Trinity of Hell, was one of the twelve Apostles. It is strictly
consistent with this prophecy that Mussolini
and Hitler were both members of the
Roman Catholic Church. It is little wonder that even many years ago, when the
crisis was far less serious, Principal
Forsyth said: “The Gospel is fighting for
its life inside the Churches,
as well as outside.”
Love
John, the apostle of love, closes in a later sentence (4: 16), with
the golden sunshine which is to fill the last hour, and utters a word of
overwhelming wonder. “God is love; and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him.”
Whatever our excursions -
in discipline, or reproof, or righteous anger - our home is to be love, and that home is God: we dwell IN GOD. The further we penetrate into
love, the further we penetrate into God, for God is love; and God dwelleth in
us - we are God’s home: in proportion as we love, in that proportion God
makes us His dwelling-place, His home. “Melt me
with Thy love that I may be all love, and with my whole being love Thee.”
How amazingly love can come at last! In the first World War a
British officer said:- “I was at the front in the
early days of the War, and after a bad bit of an engagement I came upon a
German officer in a shell hole. He was in a terrible state, poor fellow, and we
couldn’t take him in, so I decided to stay with him. His mind was
perfectly clear, and he said, ‘Colonel, don’t you think this is
strange?’ ‘What’s strange?’ I asked.
‘Well,’ said he, ‘if you and I had met in the trenches, I
suppose you would have tried to kill me for the sake of Motherland; and I should
have tried to kill you for the sake of Fatherland: yet here you are trying to
save me for the sake of Brotherland.’ More of
the same kind he said in those last hours; and when the end came he was in my
arms and his head was on my breast; and I don’t mind telling you I - I
kissed him.” Love is the best of all preparations for
eternity. “Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.”
So also the unbeliever does well to be ready for his last
hour. In the words of Dr. De Witt Talmage:-“There are two
things that I do not want to bother me in my last hour. The one is, my worldly
affairs. I want all those affairs so plain and disentangled that the most
ignorant administrator could see what was right at a glance. The other thing I
do not want to be bothered about in my last hour is the safety of my soul. God
forbid that I should crowd into that last feeble, languishing, delirious hour
questions momentous enough to swamp an archangel!”
* * * * * * *
530
AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE
TO THE HEBREWS (Heb. 13: 1)
By ROBERT GOVETT, M.A.
-------
SANCTIFICATION
THIS concluding chapter presents views of the holiness expected
to result from the Christian’s foregoing privileges. It shows both what
is to be sought, and what avoided; and that, in relation both to the (1) millennial glory, and (2) eternal salvation.
1. “Let brotherly-kindness continue.”
This grace had appeared in great splendour at the first
descent of the Holy Spirit. Houses and lands were sold, and money given, to aid
the necessitous of the saints, till there was none that lacked. But then times
of trial had come, through persecution without, and failure of faith and hope
within. And darker days yet have still to come upon the world (Matt. 24: 9-12).
Here is a new brotherhood, not founded, like that of Moses, on
the flesh. Then the Israelite alone
was a “brother,” all others were the
“strangers” who were not their
brethren.
2. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some entertained angels unawares.”
This doubtless refers to the histories of Abraham and of
3. “Remember the prisoners, as
imprisoned with them; [and] those who are
maltreated, as being yourselves also in the body.”
This verse seems to prove, that in the tenth chapter (ver. 34) we should read: “Ye had compassion of Me in My bonds.”
It seems clear, that the writer would not first praise them
for sympathy with prisoners, and then urge them to do what they had already
done, unless, indeed, he noticed their previous grace in this respect. But
while they might have remembered the Apostle when imprisoned at
Christians are to care for those who suffer for Christ’s
sake. “For we are members one of another,” and members of Christ. And if one
member suffer, the whole natural body suffers with it.
Under the Law, might was to be on the side of right, and the
case here supposed would not occur.
With imprisonment, generally went ill-treatment also.
Moreover, there was much of hatred, oppression, and violence, in private,
towards believers. Towards such, grace and help were to flow forth. Another
reason for this conduct is now suggested. The dead are beyond suffering
persecution from man; but, while we are in the body, suffering may at any
moment be laid upon us. And then, how grateful to the sufferer the sympathy and
kindness of his brethren! As then, if in prison and affliction they would
desire succour and affection to be shown to themselves, let them manifest the
same to those in such trying circumstances.
4. “Marriage is honourable in all,
and the bed undefiled: but fornicators and
adulterers God will judge.”
Perhaps contrary views to this were among the “divers
and strange doctrines” which were coming in.
The Most High here sanctions marriage for all believers.
It was not that the Spirit of God forgot, in stating this
truth, the marriage of the rulers of the Church, for thrice over, in the
immediate context, are they named (ver.
7, 17, 24).
In this passage, the Law’s sentence of uncleanness, and
of the need of immersion and sacrifice for the married (Lev. 15: 12) are repealed. “The
season of correction” has come, and the one sacrifice, the one
immersion, and the one sprinkling, no longer of the flesh, but of the heart,
have set us at liberty before God.
This word of doctrine was very wisely and graciously given
here. For typically we are like Israel, awaiting before the mount the
Lord’s descent, and called to sanctify ourselves, with a view to meeting
Him. Did, then, preparation for meeting the Lord involve the prohibition of
wedlock during the days of expectation of the Saviour’s advent? Some,
perhaps, judged it to be so, resting their thoughts on the fifteenth verse of the nineteenth
chapter of Exodus. But this present
word, and the directions given to husbands and wives in other epistles, prove
the contrary.
“But fornicators and
adulterers God will judge.”
This is a warning addressed to [regenerate] believers. It is
not: ‘Offences like these no believer can
commit; or, if any do commit them, they never were believers.’
What says Paul, in 1 Cor.
6: 18, to
believers of
In Gal. 5: 19-21, those sinning thus are to be excluded from the
Church, and from the millennial “
But there is an advance here upon those passages. This tells
us of positive infliction upon conduct so subversive of sanctification. God, as
‘the judge of all,’ will take these
cases in hand; for He is “the Avenger of all
such” (1 Thess. 4: 3-8). And the appeal of the Saviour to
disciples, in the Sermon on the Mount, is very awful (Matt.
5: 27-30).
Here is somewhat vastly weightier than the Law’s
sentence. Under Moses, “the adulterer and the
adulteress shall both be put to death” (Lev.
20: 10). Man
was then to inflict the penalty. But now God Himself is to do it, and after death.
This Epistle presents close together, the brightest lights and
the deepest shadows; but the style of our day is to assert the lights, and to ignore the shadows. Nevertheless both are given of God; and they are the results of two closely related
truths. (1) The present day is that
of God’s grace; (2) the
coming day is that of judgment, which is to take effect on all, the living and the dead, believers
and unbelievers. It is to be the day of the manifestation of God's righteous judgment. Now, justice
cannot be manifested, unless it take effect on “every soul of man that
doeth evil”
(Rom. 2).
5. “Let
your conduct be free from the love of money;
content with present things. For Himself hath
said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ So
that we boldly say, “The Lord is my helper; and I will not fear what man can do unto me.”
To
Wealth was the promise of God to those obedient to Moses. But now
we are not to be settled on earth. We are but passengers through the desert, on
our way to our land and city of abode. Hence we are not to be ‘fond of money’ and seeking wealth. The pursuing the riches of this world takes off the heart from the
glory to come, and the prize of our calling above. The Saviour warns the rich disciple not to get his “consolation” here; lest he get it not in the day to
come (Luke 6: 20-26). And we are in the last days, not
knowing how soon the Master of the servants may come.
‘But should we not lay up
against a rainy day? Do not the improvident fall oft into trials, which by care
they might have avoided?’
Hereupon comes the ipse dixit
(Himself said) of our Lord, to decide the true-hearted. While the worldly may
be put into straits, and find no way of escape, because left to the thoughts
and acts of blind and feeble flesh, yet with the child of God it is not so.
‘The Lord
will never forsake His people.’*
* Here is another instance in which the Apostle has departed
from the Greek of the Septuagint.
Whence are the words taken? There are several passages where
the sentiment is found: as, where the Lord appears (1) to Jacob fleeing from his brother (Gen.
28: 15);
(2) where Moses predicts
Israel’s restoration, after the forgiveness of their sins (Dent. 31: 6, 8); (3) where Jehovah encourages Joshua,
upon the death of Moses (Josh. 1: 5); and
elsewhere. If I mistake not, it is to the two latter that the chief reference
is here made. And the argument would be: ‘If
that needed promise of aid were made to the old people and their Jesus (Joshua)
of the Old Testament, how much more will it be true of the New Testament Jesus,
and of those who are His members?’ It is, however, a nice question
‘How far may believers now cite Old Testament
promises as theirs?’
Resting on such words of God, the Christian not only may, but
should say: ‘Many are my enemies and hinderers,
but the Lord is my helper. And if He be for me, who can be against
me?’ Man is an object of dread, when possessed of power,
and incensed against us; how much more is God to be feared?
7. “Remember your leaders who spoke to you the word of God,
whose faithfulness imitate, tracing upward the result of their conduct [‘in reward’].”
This would seem to refer to apostles
and others, who had taught the Church at
Light is thrown on this passage by
comparing it with the history of
For us it is, as yet, the wilderness, and the call to faithfulness;
we have yet to appear before the heavenly Joshua, and shall then receive the
wages of our work.
These departed leaders were men of faith; and their life was
the conduct of faith. This the survivors might and should imitate. Some of them
had been faithful unto the martyr’s death. And to these the Saviour
promises “the crown of life.” That word, I believe, gives us the
key to the rather obscure expression which follows: “Tracing
upward the result of their conduct.” For Christ would remember, when He comes, the service
of His disciples. If the cup ‘of cold water’
given in His name shall not fail of its reward, how much less
shall the ministry of truth to his people’s edification, and the
surrender of life at His call, pass unrewarded? They were then to
look upward and onward to the day of the Saviour’s advent, when His
rewards shall be dispensed; and, as they desired to hear the Lord’s “Well
done, good and faithful servant,” so were they to tread in their
footsteps.
8. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.”
A full-stop should separate this verse from the preceding.
While sons of men show they are but flesh, and are soon moved
off the scene, He is the Eternal, Self-Existent One, Who was before all things, and shall endure evermore.
Here, then, is consolation. Here is He Who will not forsake us - “the
First and the Last.”
Jesus here takes the place of Jehovah; the contrast to these
dead leaders. “Moses My servant is
dead.” But here is the Son, alive for evermore. “I will
not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” He is the true Joshua Who shall lead
in the men of faith and grace.
9. “Do not
be borne away by various and strange doctrines;
for it is good that the heart be established with grace, not with articles of food, which
profited not those walking in them.”
Doctrines of all kinds may appear to be, and may be, plausible
at first sight; but all teaching must be tested by the Word of God. There are
different readings in this verse; not, however, much affecting the sense. If we
take the usual reading, the figure employed by the Apostle is the force exerted
on fallen leaves by the wind, causing them to eddy round and round. If we take
the other, the figure is that of leaves or straws borne along on a river.
Observance of God’s prescriptions concerning articles of
food made men ‘holy’ once. “Ye shall be holy men unto Me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast
it to the dogs” (Ex. 22:
31). “Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of
itself (thou mayest give it to the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou
mayest sell it to an alien); for thou
art an holy people unto the Lord thy God” (Deut. 14;
Lev. 11).
This seems to prove, that some of the doctrines warned against
related to the use of animal food and wine; against which, and marriage, there
have been those who have from time to time arisen. (1
Tim. 4) philosophers have come
forward, teaching how important is diet for all those who would have fellowship with God. But such
teaching is vain.
The old commands respecting meats have been done away, with
the change in the character of the holiness sought by God. Our Lord laid down
principles, showing the change which was about to place. He was dining with a
Pharisee, who wondered at His bathing before dinner. Jesus answered, that they cared for the cleanness of the outside,
and not of the interior. “But rather give alms of
such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you” (Luke 11:
41). On another occasion, He announced that,
“not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man” (Matt.
15: 11).
Now, though these principles set aside the Mosaic law of meats, yet the
apostles saw it not. They were detained at Jerusalem and in Judah from their
commanded mission to the Gentiles, by their observance of the Mosaic laws of
the table; as Peter’s reply to God, when the vision of the Great Sheet
was set before him, proves (Acts 10 : 14).
In this verse is a reference to the Old Testament way of
establishing the heart. Abraham says to his three visitors: “I will fetch a morsel of bread, and establish ye your hearts”
(Hebrew) (Ex. 18:
5). Abraham’s feast was suited to
strengthen the wayfarer. But our supply of grace establishes the spirit.
Our stability is a new one; it lies,
not in our observance of the Law, not in the faithfulness of man, but of God.
The heart is to be “established in grace.” ‘We
are to know, and believe, the love that God
has to us.’ We
stand by faith in the grace that brings us salvation. Here is repose for the
soul; a building up, a sure anchorage-ground, amidst the perils of the world,
the flesh, and the devil. “God is faithful, Who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.”
Even when God prescribed these rules respecting food, they did
not really establish the soul. They brought no pardon in keeping them, though
transgression against them would bring the curse. How much less the commands of men respecting articles of food, as though by means of them
man might know God, or be at rest before Him! Blessed be God, that, to the
believer, it is no more the flesh set under Law, but the spirit resting on
grace!
* * * * * * *
531
THE PROBLEM
OF THE TRADE UNION
By FRANK
“This review by Mr. Batson, a
railway employee who has been in the heart of the trouble, although it is exceedingly
definite in outlook, may help us all to a conclusion on a difficult and most
dangerous problem.” - D. M. Panton.
SEVEN
reasons why membership of a trade union is unacceptable to me as a believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ.
(1) Because the trade
union method of obtaining its demands, by threats, and, if necessary, strike
action is directly contrary to the spirit and teaching of the New Testament (e.g., Matthew
5: 1-12, 38-48; Luke 6: 27-36; Romans 12: 17-21; 2 Timothy 2: 24; Hebrews 12: 14; 1 Peter 2: 18-20; James 5: 6-8). The strike is war on the general
community; an industrial sword, bringing distress and suffering on many, and
making victims of the innocent, as has been so frequently proved in recent
disputes.
(2) Because I cannot surrender my freedom
of decision and action and allow others, especially unsaved worldly men, to
decide for me as to withdrawing my labour, when I may not even agree with the
demands which they make and strike for.
(3) Because a trade union, as it stands
constitutionally, can be antagonistic to Government authority, and even a
revolutionary organisation. This has been proved by the recent dispute in
* By this I understand him to mean that should any Government
issue any order, etc., which the Unions do not agree with, they will oppose in
any way which they consider necessary.
N.B.- The character, function and order of man’s earthly
rule and ordinances in this present dispensation, which receive Divine
approval, are set forth by God in the New Testament, and can be briefly
summarised thus:- A supreme ruling authority
(1 Peter 2: 13)
which discharges its responsibilities by punishing evildoers (Romans 13: 3; 1 Peter 2: 14),
and praising them that do well (Romans 13: 3; 1 Peter 2: 14). “It is the
office of the State to behold the mighty conflict between truth and error,
light and darkness, with strict impartiality, protecting all in their rights
and patronising none.” (Robert
Key). Rulers of lesser authority to be sent (appointed) by the supreme authority (1 Peter 2: 14)
and therefore obedient and not antagonistic to it. To
these God’s people, as strangers and pilgrims (1 Peter 2: 11)
and ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5: 20) in a foreign land (Hebrews
13: 14), are to submit (Romans 13: 1-2; 1 Peter 2: 13; Titus 3: 1) , giving honour to all according to their
positions and stations in the realm (Romans 13: 7; 1 Peter 2: 17), and disobeying only when their commands clash
with Divine dispensational commands (e.g.,
Acts 4: 19).
Any departure from this, God’s standard of earthly rule,
as given in the New Testament, must necessarily cause the Christian to regulate
and adjust his attitude accordingly; but he should endeavour at all times to
manifest that Christ-like spirit of gentleness and meekness, and show respect
to all in authority, according to their position and office (Titus 3: 2).
(4) Because I have
Christian brothers and sisters working in industry, who feel that membership of
a trade union is contrary to God’s will as revealed in Holy Scripture.
When the ‘closed shop’ policy (i.e.,
compulsory trade union membership for all) is enforced, they are expelled
from their jobs. I should therefore be supporting an organisation which
persecutes my brothers and sisters in Christ (Romans
14: 10).
(5) Because trade
union policy is shaped by unsaved worldly men with ‘utopian’ ideas and views. They look for an
ideal kingdom brought about by their own activities, which is a point-blank
contradiction of prophecy concerning the end of this age; a denial of the
Christian’s hope concerning Christ’s coming for His faithful,
watching people, and later with them to establish His Kingdom. By
membership, I should be giving them the impression that their views and policy
are right, whereas I know it is all heading up for Revelation
13: 16-18.
(6) Because it
entangles me in a ‘brotherhood’
with the unregenerate, contrary to the counsel of God (2
Corinthians 6: 14-18).
The idea of ‘brotherhood’
is very strongly implied in trade union literature.
(7) Because it
involves me in a share in ‘ruling’
in this present evil age and therefore before the time, for which the
Corinthian believers were rebuked (1 Corinthains 4: 8-14, 21);
instead of going forth unto Jesus without the camp, bearing His reproach (Hebrews 13: 13),
and suffering with Him (2 Timothy 2: 12).
It should be a cause for praise and thankfulness to God to
observe that “the trade unions have been given a
direct hint, by the British Government, to consider giving membership exemption
to all workers who have religious objections to trade unionism.”
Trade union leaders have also said that “the
Government hint would be considered by their executive councils.”
Let us continue to pray that, for the sake of our brothers and sisters in
Christ, faced with possible dismissal from their jobs because of their
non-union attitude, this may soon be brought to pass.*
* In order to prove to trade union officials and fellow-workers
in the union that his attitude is one of principle and not ‘finance,’ he can offer to pay the trade union
rate of contribution to any orphanage, hospital, or similar institution which
they would like to name.
* * * * * * *
532
THE APPEARANCE OF
THE ANTICHRIST
By J. E. DAVIDSON, M.A.
The
crisis for Christendom will reach its climax when the Man of Sin, the son of
perdition, will make his appearance. He will challenge Christendom to transfer
its religious worship (2 Thess. 2: 3-10). His appearance will be the performance and
great success of Satan. He will be an outstanding personality, and be in a
position to command obedience. His power will not be acquired, but it will be
delegated to him (Dan. 8: 24). “The
dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (Rev. 13: 2). He
will not be limited to any one country, but be a world personality.
The World seems ready for such a personality to appear. A
world government is being shaped and formed. First individual countries demand
that life in all its forms and details should be subject to the State. The
States then are beginning in turn subject to a
His first act will be the demand to be worshipped, and in this
demand he will be successful. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall
worship him, whose names are not written in the
book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev.
13: 8).
He will have convincing credentials by which he will establish his claims. “He
doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men” (Rev.
13: 13).
An imitation of the miraculous work of Elijah (1
Kings 18: 36-38).
He will have power to give life to inanimate metal. He will order that an image
be made, that is a statue, “saying to them that dwell on the earth that
they should make an image to the beast ... and
he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the
beast should be killed” (Rev. 13: 14-15).
This will be a crisis hitherto unexperienced by Christendom. In
the face of such practical demonstrations and powerful signs who will be able
to withstand? Certainly not men and women who are indifferent and barely call
themselves Christians, but have never had their names registered in the
Lamb’s Book of Life. But amid great and deep darkness there will be some
light, for even in this period there will be those of whom it is said - “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”
(Rev. 8: 14). This will be the time for innumerable
individuals but not for mass Christendom. To give one’s life for a cause
voluntarily there must be powerful conviction of its value: mass Christendom is
not convinced of its Christian profession.
At all times and in all places God has His people who are
ready to give their lives for the faith and the truth. Hundreds of thousands of
Christians have given up their lives for the faith in the anti-God movement,
during the Russian revolution and since, but not the millions who nevertheless
were once bedecked with ikons. Thousands went to
German concentration camps and prisons, who refused to worship the beast, but
not the millions. Masses always succumb to the popular movements of the day.
The challenge to Christendom, by the man of sin, will be all
the more impressive, because he will have the world government at his disposal.
It is easily seen how this is being prepared. In democracy, the individual
mattered much and private enterprise was encouraged. To-day the way is being
prepared for a terrible autocracy, and the “little
man” is being crushed out of existence in favour of large
combines, and these in turn to be controlled by the state, and the states by
the world government, and the world government by the man of sin. With
industry, capital and labour, at his disposal on a world-wide scale, he will be
able to enforce his will very effectively. Already every aspect of life is
under strict control, it is impossible to buy or sell without a permit, licence
or coupons. No one can go to a shop without a ration book, no one can move
about without a passport, identity card, or to distances without a permit. All
this and more, is preparatory and working towards the great climax, and the
great crisis. Presently the world ruler will make his appearance, and this need
not be interpreted as idle speculation, for the world secretary is already in
existence; when he took office he took the oath, not to any country but to the
world, the Secretary of the United Nations Organisation. When the world ruler
will appear, this will be the way in which he will enforce his will upon the
world - “and he causeth all, both small and great ... to receive a mark ... that no
man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,
or the name of the beast, or the number of his name ... and his
number is 666” (Rev. 13:
16-18).
In the past many people enjoyed fanciful speculation on the subject of this
number, but came short of the solid solution of the problem. But when it will
come to pass it will be clear to all, yea, painfully clear. Already to-day,
there is no need for wishful thinking or speculations, but calm observation of
the trend of events and clear prayerful thinking, and it will be seen that that
which has been promised in the Word of God thousands of years ago, is being
brought to pass before our eyes. Rapidly the world is being prepared for the
great and terrible event, the government of the man of sin. Events and
impressions succeed so rapidly that the individual fails to note and register
them.
Limitations of freedom commenced with the commencement of the
tribulation in 1914, and ever since then, liberty has been lost to the world,
and this limitation continues to narrow down, till life is becoming the
experience of the grand universal prison cell. Gently but surely, even the very
figure spoken of is beginning to make its appearance. Some months ago we
received two documents from a foreign government source, then resident in this
country, and with no little surprise we noticed on the top of the sheet, in the
left hand corner, the number 666. We were impressed and left it. The other day,
a friend bought some articles of clothing and the trade mark bore the number
666 printed on the goods and written on the little card that was appended. Some
might say it is a mere coincidence. Be that as it may, but are we not gently
being introduced to the number, so that when it comes to be printed on all our
documents, legal and civil, that it will almost be printed on all human life,
that it may not come with a shock, but be accepted as a normal fact. “Therefore,
what I say unto you, I
say unto all, Watch” (Mark
13: 37).
- Immanuel’s Witness.
* * * * * * *
533
TRENDS TO THE TRIBULATION
By G. G. BENSON
It goes
without saying that this age is one of the most momentous the earth has ever
known. We stand at the crossroads and at times behave as disinterested spectators
when before our very eyes is being enacted the mightiest drama of all time.
The tribulation is just around the corner! All signs point in
that direction. Viewing conditions from any standpoint one is bound to admit
that the climax of the ages is upon us.
Political conditions stress the nearness of the man of sin.
Visualize, if you can, the upheaval and turmoil of the day. Start in any
country, travel from east to west and from pole to pole, and the same sorry
plight confronts you. Listen to the frantic groans of the starving millions.
Pandemonium and fear paralyze all strata of society. Distrust
is rampant. Everywhere people speak of World War III, and sometimes we fear we
hear the tramp, tramp of marching feet. The unstable, incohesive conditions
predicted in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, in Daniel
2, are everywhere evident.
Then, too, the swift-moving moral scene is symptomatic of
tribulation times. Christ spoke of conditions to prevail in the time of His
return. We are told that the drunkenness and debauchery of Noah’s day
would be evident. He declared also that we would see the loose, lecherous
behaviour of
Divorce courts are full. Outbreaks of vice and unheard of
atrocities are numerous. The record from day to day becomes more sickening and
the scene grows darker. A sin-laden, sin-loving age gladly sets the stage for
the revelation of the Man of Sin. Christ confronted a rebellious world with
righteousness and was crucified. Antichrist shall come as the incarnation of
all that is deceitful and wicked and shall win instant acclaim.
We are compelled to consider also that
satanic activities point to nearness of tribulation torment. The Bible
authorizes our statement that in the last days demonic powers shall increase
their influence on human affairs. Unclean spirits, springing from the abyss,
shall travel to and fro throughout the earth, carrying on their diabolic
schemes. Falsehood shall prosper (Dan. 8: 25, Strong)
under the direction of lying spirits blanketing the earth with their malignant,
God-hating deceit.
Through his many-sided genius, Antichrist shall persuade the
millions, all strata of society included, that he is the answer to their need.
Deluded and deceived, they gladly will believe a lie and thus move closer to
their inevitable damnation.
During tribulation times, totalitarianism in its worst form shall
find ready acceptance and the whole world shall wonder after the beast. The
plans are being well formed. Myriads of demons and spirits of uncleanness are
relentlessly sowing the seed on a world wide scale. Falsehood, ever the keynote
of their programme, shall find universal acceptance and its grand culmination
will be the unveiling of the man of sin.
LUKE 21: 34-36
The aroused and watchful Christian takes a different
view-point from that which is earthly. Political unrest makes him happy to be a
citizen of God’s kingdom. The increase of sin causes him to draw close to
the Lord and hide beneath the precious blood. Satanic activity makes him more
conscious of the truth. He lives in the joy of Christ’s all-complete
victory. Consequently one born of God can see these things come to pass and
lift up his head and rejoice. He thanks God and prays that he might be counted
worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of man.
Christian, will the Bridegroom cry find you watching - waiting - ready?
- The
Gospel Call.
* * *
ESCAPE
“O that
the thought, the glorious hope of the Millennial blessedness may animate me to
perfect holiness in the fear of God, that I may be counted worthy to escape the
terrible judgments, which will prepare its way, to stand before the Son of man.”
- FLETCHER, of Madeley.
-------
CHRISTIAN, LOOK UP
By ANNA HOPPE
Christian, look up! The dawn will soon
be breaking -
The glorious dawn of which God’s
Word doth tell,
Though wars increase, and all the
earth is shaking,
Fear not! Look up! Await Immanuel!
Soon thou wilt see the Lord of Glory -
Oh, what a sunrise will His advent be!
Till then, proclaim the precious story
-
Redemption through the Lamb of
Christian, look up! Soon will be past
forever
Thy pilgrim journey through this vale
of tears.
A home awaits thee - built by Christ,
the Saviour;
No night is there, no pain, no death,
no fears.
With loved ones thou again wilt be
united;
No more to say goodbye, no more to
part.
The flowers of
Oh, blessed hope! Christian, look up!
Take heart!
Christian, look up! When dawns that
glorious morrow,
Thy every burden thou wilt soon
forget.
Now, with Christ’s Gospel,
comfort those in sorrow;
So many eyes to-day with tears are
wet!
The way is dark, but Christ, the Light
Supernal
Will bide thee till thy last pilgrim
mile;
Soon thou wilt sup with Him, the King
Eternal!
Oh, blessed hope! Christian, look up
and smile.
- The Advent Witness
* * * * * * *
534
THE BIBLE AND THE WHOLE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH
By H. F. GREEN
FROM the
end of the first century and for the next 300 to 400 years there was a
Christian company of teachers now known as the Early Fathers. The majority of
the students of the Early Fathers find very little that the Fathers held in
common, insomuch as they came from many different classes and ways of life
(some had been pagans and had subsequently become Christian converts); yet
despite the diversity of their individual make-up and of their concepts of life
generally, they were unanimous in their views of the Old and New Testaments
which they taught with one mind and with one voice. There was absolutely no
divergence of opinion among them; they all believed and taught the absolute
authority of the Old and new Testaments.
Dr. Westcott in his “Introduction to the study of the Gospels” gives a selection
of the writings of the Early Fathers on this subject and his selection will be
good enough for us, so we will have a look at some of their testimonies.
Clement of Rome quotes many passages from Scripture
with the words for “the Scripture saith”;
“by the testimony of Scripture”;
“the Holy Spirit saith.” He exhorts
his readers to “look carefully into the
Scriptures which are the true (utterances) of the Holy Spirit.”
Again he says, “Ye know beloved, ye know well
the sacred Scriptures and have looked carefully into the Oracles of God.”
Justin Martyr gave numerous Scriptural quotations
and his mode of citation is singularly expressive. He tells us of the “history which Moses wrote by Divine Inspiration”
while the “Holy Spirit of Prophecy taught
through him.” Again he quotes the language of David who spake thus
(Psalm 19, verses
2: 5) through the Spirit of Prophecy;
and of Isaiah who was moved by the same Spirit.
Cyprian held the books of the Old and New Testaments are to him
the “Fountains of Divine fullness from which the
Christian must draw strength and wisdom”; “the foundation of our hope, the bulwark of our Faith, the
support of our hearts, the guide of our path, the safeguard of our salvation.”
Origen tells us that it was “most
evidently preached in the Churches that the Holy Spirit inspired each of the
Saints, Prophets and Apostles, and that the same Spirit was present in those of
old times as in those who were inspired at the coming of Christ”;
for “Christ, the Word of God, was in Moses and
the Prophets,” and by His Spirit they spake and did all things.
All the sacred volumes “breathe the Spirit of
fullness, and there is nothing, whether in the Law or in the Prophets, in the
Evangelists or in the Apostles, which does not descend from the fullness of the
Divine Majesty.”
I do not think that any Evangelical to-day could more enlarge
the point at issue than have the authorities quoted. All evidence thus far goes
to show that the Bible was considered the Oricles of
God, the bulwark of our faith and foundation of our hope.
From the close of the period of the Fathers for a matter of
many centuries the preponderant Church was the Roman Catholic whose teaching
was as follows:- “Holy Scripture is the
collection of sacred writings of Prophets and Sacred Writers, Apostles and
Evangelists inspired by the Holy Ghost, and received by the Church as inspired.
Holy Scripture is divided into two parts, the Old Testament and the New. The
word Bible means the collection of sacred books, the Book inspired by God. Holy
Scripture is called the Book par excellence, because of its Author. In Holy
Scripture there can be no error, because, as it is all inspired, the Author of
all its parts is Himself.” In another paragraph they taught -
“The truths God has revealed are contained in
Holy Scripture and Tradition.” It is on the last two words that
the Protestant Communions part company with them in this matter at least.
As I
have previously said it is natural to expect that throughout centuries a great many
traditions and habits should have been introduced into the Christian Church;
and it was the struggle of certain Christians against these traditions and
against the “diluting” as it were
in any shape or form of the truth of the Bible that led to the uprising known
as the Reformation, amongst the leaders of which was The Morning Star, no other
than devout and courageous John Wycliffe.
Dr. Dyson Hague in his book on the “Life and Work of John Wycliffe” says:- “For, first and foremost of all, Wycliffe maintained as the
comer-stone of his doctrinal position the supremacy of the Authority of the
Holy Scriptures. With him the infallible test of all doctrines was the Word of
God.” He quotes Wycliffe as follows:-“It is impossible that
any word or any deed of the Christian could be of equal authority with the
Scripture.” Further Dr. Hague says - “We
say then without hesitation that Wycliffe’s doctrine with regard to the
Canon of Scripture and the authority of Scripture is the doctrine of the Church
of England, and that the teaching of Cranmer
and Ridley was simply, almost line
for line and word for word, what John Wycliffe himself, the Master Builder, had
laid down.”
Immediately following Wycliffe the great struggle and the
terrifying onslaught which the Reformation produced took place and this was
based entirely upon the Reformers’ attitude towards the Testaments. The
Reformers said in so many words:- “We shall not
have anything to do with the trappings and traditions which you have introduced
into the Christian Faith.” By making their position so plain as
not to be in any way veiled, many of them were prepared to suffer martyrdom and
death rather than accept, for instance, the truth of the traditions of the
Roman Catholic Religion. Amongst such a noble army, one could find many
evidences of their attitude to Scripture, but we will use just one instance
which to my mind very beautifully sums up the attitude of the whole. Foxe’s
Book of Martyrs, which is one of the greatest authorities of the happenings at
this particular time, gives us the Confession of various Godly Preachers sent
from their prison whilst awaiting martyrdom, addressed to the Powers that were
at that time. In it they state:- “If they will
write we will answer, and by writing confirm and prove out of the infallible
verity, even the very Word of God. First, we confess and believe all the
canonical books of the Old Testament, and all the books of the New Testament,
to be the very true Word of God, and to be written by the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost, and are therefore to be heard accordingly, as the judge in all
controversies and matters of religion.”
Men peace to a limited degree had come to the Church life a
certain Bishop wrote an “Apology of the Church
of England,” and on it being attacked, he, Bishop Jewel, wrote
what he called “A Defence of his Apology.” I give these details
so that you may see that what he stated was with considerable care realizing
that all statements would be subject to rigid examination by his opponent, a
certain Dr. Harding. This is what he
stated:- “We receive and embrace all the
canonical Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament, giving thanks to our
God, Who hath raised up unto us that light which we might have before our eyes.
Also we profess that these be the heavenly voices whereby God hath opened unto
us His Will; that they be the foundation of the prophets and Apostles,
whereupon is built the Church of God; that they be the very sure and infallible
rule whereby may be tried whether the Church do swerve or err, and whereunto
all ecclesiastical doctrine ought to be called to account.”
Soon after the establishment of the Church of England dissent
arose from different quarters and various Nonconformist Communions were formed.
All these however subscribed in the same way to the doctrine with regard to
Scripture. We will just take two illustrations to demonstrate this fact. In
1643 the Westminster Confession of Faith, the doctrinal basis of the
Presbyterians, was issued; and on this matter they taught “The authority of the Holy Scripture dependeth not on the
testimony of any man or church; but wholly upon God (Who is Truth itself), the
Author thereof.”
In 1677 the Baptists issued what was called a “Second
Confession of Faith” which was modelled on the Westminster Confession. In
it they stated:- “The Holy Scripture is the only
sufficient, certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith and
obedience ... nothing is at any time to be added, whether by new revelation of
the spirit or Traditions of men ... The infallible rule of interpretation of
Scripture is the Scripture itself.”
Within the limits allowed us we have traced the whole of the
Church’s teaching with regard to Scripture up to the latter half of the
17th Century, and now we will see what they have to say during the latter half
of the 19th Century and up to date, in other words, during the last hundred
years.
In 1854 a series of eight lectures
were given at the University of Dublin by the late William Lee, D.D., Archdeacon of Dublin, sometime Fellow of Trinity
College, Archbishop King’s Lecturer in Divinity in the University of
Dublin, and examining Chaplain to His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin. I give
these details to show he was not ignorant on these matters. I will quote from
three of those lectures:- “The facts to be
accounted for are briefly as follows. Firstly, from a multitude of writings
extant among the Ancient Jews and Christians, a selection of certain Books was
made to the exclusion of others. Secondly, the several Books thus selected were
received as infallible and Divine; those which were excluded being regarded as
fallible and human.” “The principle
involved is that the narrative portion of the Bible, whether contained in the
historical books of the Old Testament or in the Gospels ... is to be looked
upon as stamped with the same infallible truth as the account of Christ’s
discourses ... That even the form and language in which its truths are
expressed bear the impress of its Divine origin ... in which it is invariably
assumed that the Words of Scripture are no less stamped with the seal
of the Spirit - no less divinely significant than the
doctrine which they convey.”
* * *
THE WORD OF GOD
IN
opposition to all error, to all false philosophy, to all false principles of
morals, to all the sophistries of vice, to all the suggestions of the devil,
the sole, simple and sufficient answer is the Word of God. This puts to flight
all the powers of darkness. The Christian finds this to be true in his
individual experience. It dissipates his doubts; it drives away his fears; it
delivers him from the power of Satan. It is also the experience of the church
collective. All her triumphs over sin and error have been effected by the Word
of God. So long as she uses this and relies on it alone, she goes on
conquering; but when anything else, be it reason, science, tradition, or the commandments
of men, is allowed to take its place or to share its office, then the
church, or the Christian is at the mercy of the adversary. Hoc signo
vinces - the apostle may be understood to say
to every believer and to the whole church.
- CHARLES HODGE.
* * * * * * *
535
THE POTTER AND THE CLAY
By P. G. THURSTON
-------
Hebrews 10:
14. “Perfected
for ever” -
The Vessel in Christ -
Positional Perfection.
Hebrews 13:
21. “Make you
perfect” -
Christ in the Vessel -
Moral Perfection.
Hebrews 12:
23. “Made
perfect” -
The Vessel like Christ -
Absolute Perfection.
A SHAPELESS lump of clay lay on the
Potter’s Wheel. It rejoiced that it had been taken in hand by one so
skilful and so mighty, to be fashioned into a vessel of honour. As the wheel
began to whirl the clay was dazed, and as it felt the pressure of the hand it
cried out in despair. It forgot that even the cleverest potter needs a wheel,
and that the hand touched only the mould. At length the wheel stopped, and the
great artist was heard saying, “It is perfect.” The clay was now a vase, graceful and beautiful in form; and it
sighed in satisfied gladness and said, - “The
Master says that I am perfect.”
Having stood it on the shelf for a while, the potter took it
in hand again and gave it to a servant saying, - “take great care of it, for it is perfect.” The servant took it and
covered it with a rough jar and placed it in an oven. As the heat of the
furnace became intense the vase cried out in agony, “The Master said that I was perfect, and commanded that I should be taken care of; and yet I am plunged into this fearful heat.” At last the fire had done its
work, and the vase stood again before the Master. There was no fear now that the touch of a finger would leave its
impress, spoiling his work. He looked at it critically, and then set it
down saying, - “It is perfect.”
The vase was not, however, yet complete, but now it was
covered with enamel, and put again in
the kiln, and it despairingly
wondered when the painful processes were to cease. When it was withdrawn
from the oven it shone with the brilliancy of absolute whiteness. The Master
looked and said “It is perfect!” Then he took it and began to colour it, and the vase mourned that
its whiteness should be sullied. Again
it was subjected to the fire till the Master's handiwork was burned into it so
that it could not be erased; and again the potter said, - “It is perfect!” Again the vase rejoiced
though with trembling from many disappointments, hoping that at last its trials
were over.
The potter now traced lines and patterns upon it in a dull
dark shade, that seemed to spoil everything that he had done before, and once more the vase was placed in the kiln,
and this time the heat was greater and the process was continued longer than
before. At length it was taken from the fire and placed before the Master
and the dull lines were seen to be gold. The Lord inspected it with a gracious
smile. He was satisfied and He said, “It is finished; it is perfect!”
Then he set it on high in his own palace, and many looked upon
it; and as they did so they gave honour and glory to the Master himself, who
had wrought so good a work.
And is it so I shall be like Thy Son!
Is this the grace which He for me has
won?
Father of glory! Thought beyond all
thought,
In glory, to His own blest likeness
brought.
Nor I alone; Thy loved ones all
complete
In glory round Thee with such joy
shall meet
All like Thee: for Thy glory like
Thee, Lord
Object supreme of all, by all adored!*
* The writer of this article is in his
ninetieth year. So we can never pass beyond doing something for God.
* * *
CONTROVERSY
Controversy is the very law of life. Light
is a controversy with darkness, cleanliness with dirt, and truth with error.
CHRISTIANITY ITSELF WAS BORN BECAUSE OF GOD’S CONTROVERSITY WITH SIN. Our lord’s life was one long
controversy with the Pharisees and those who, like the Romanists of to-day,
follow the traditions of men. It culminated at last in the cruel death of the
Cross, thus making possible the settlement of God’s controversy with you
and me. What are all the New Testament epistles but controversies with those
who undermined the Faith, and exhortations of those who had been redeemed by
the precious blood of Christ to stand fast, to quit them like men, and to
contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.
No one desires controversy less than
we do. The thing itself is not pleasant. It is abhorrent to our nature. No one
likes the wintry blasts that sweep the land in winter. Sunshine, calm, and
balmy breezes are more to be desired, but God sees differently. The storm may
be necessary as a purifying agent, the thunder and lightening to cleanse the
atmosphere even while it uproots and destroys. Let it never be forgotten that
it was in the time of the greatest controversy that the truth of God shone
clearest, and that it was when no voice was heard to challenge error that
darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people. The sacred flame
burned brightest when Tindale, Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer were lying down
their lives for the truth, and Luther and Knox were breaking lances with
Romanism and winning victories the fruit of which this Empire enjoys to-day. It
is not controversy that we desire that the fruits to be won from it. Anyone who
cares to make a short excursion into history will find that it is through
controversy our rights, privileges, and blessings have been won, and these can
be maintained only by our being willing to defend, protect, and perpetuate
them, and by our readiness to give a reason for the HOPE that is in us. It must
not be peace at the expense of truth.
- J. H. HUNTER.
* * * * * * *
536
FOUNDATION AND SUPERSTRUCTURE
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
LET us begin with a parable. Here, in a library holding on its
shelves all the so-called Christian volumes ever issued, is a brazier of burning coals. Two patriarchs - one
named Time, the other named Eternity - are testing the volumes. One
by one they slowly cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Here is a
Breviary, full of prayers in an unknown tongue: it burns slowly, but it burns. Here is a whole
armful of criticisms on the Scriptures, portly and erudite. “These,” says Time, as he flings them into the fire, “are the labour of a hundred universities”; but
as they quickly burn away, “Dust and ashes,”
says Eternity. Philosophic volumes,
scientific volumes, ecclesiastical volumes, poetical volumes - together with
170,000 volumes on peace, gathered in the Palace of the League of nations in Geneva: Time remarks, with a sigh, -
“Here is the brilliance of converted genius”;
but as they all fall away into silent ash, Eternity remarks, - “Love
not the world, neither the things that are in
the world.”
At last Eternity takes up in his hands one Book, and casts that into the
burning coals, and lo, all the room and the faces of Time and Eternity are lit
with the white glory of a Book unconsumed; and it is called, “The
Word of God.” The Bible - learned and lived - is the imperishable book of eternity.
The Foundation
We first observe that it is God who lays the foundation for
the soul. “Behold, I lay in
A Warning
But at once a warning follows. “But let each
[disciple] take heed how he buildeth thereon.” Works do not emerge into sight until
Christ has been laid as the foundation of life: works before faith not only do
not save, but they are sins to be repented of, - “repentance from dead works” (Heb.
6: 1). “But” implies that while there is one foundation, there are many superstructures:
“take heed” implies that grave consequences attach to how a disciple
builds after conversion. Some of Paul’s passages are masterpieces of
revelation; clear as crystal, and flashing with a truth like a gem. Stage by
stage he takes us through the different lives which disciples lead after
conversion, and their consequences. Let us ponder it. Slowly, surely,
imperceptibly a house of works is rising round every disciple’s life:
tier over tier, every day adds an arch or lays a stone: blocks of granite and
marble, pillars of solid silver, and cornices of gold; or else wooden doorways,
hay mixed with mud for the walls, and straw thatching for the roof. And the
supreme fact is this:- one set of materials stands fire; the other feeds fire; and since fire is coming - “let each disciple take
heed how he buildeth thereon.”
A Choice
Therefore we all have a choice “If any buildeth on the
foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble”: that is, every disciple has absolute
control over the material with which he builds. He may build with stubble if he
choose; if he choose also, he may build with gold. Now contending motives sway
the choice: popularity, social prestige, wealth, carnality, on the one hand -
love to Christ, fidelity, a sense of truth, fear, on the other. What is the material that will stand fire? Material that matches the foundation. What is the
foundation? The personal Word of God.
Then what ought the superstructure to be? The written Word of God. There are a thousand voices in the world
to-day: to the wise man there is only One. Every thought, every word, every act, is to be built out of
the quarries of Scripture. “Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my word shall not pass away”: that is, the Scriptures will survive the fires of judgment,
which will consume the universe. The highest level which a Christian
teacher can reach is to frame a not altogether inadequate setting to the jewels
of revelation; and the highest a Christian disciple can reach is to translate
into actual life the mind of God as revealed in the Word of God. The work of
the teacher is to get the Book into the soul: the work of the disciple is to
get the Book into the life.
An Exposure
Next follows an exposure. “Each [disciple’s] work shall
be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed in fire.” The
believer’s life is a palimpsest, the invisible lines of which steal forth
into sight as it nears the fire. Observe, there is no testing of the
foundation: it is, as Isaiah says, “a tried stone,” an already tested Stone: it is the superstructure which the
fire searches. No believer will be tried for his standing, but
for his walk; not for his faith, but for his works; not for his life, but for
his living ; not for his foundation, but for his superstructure. And
the exposure - at all events between God and his soul - will be complete. “For we
must all be made manifest before
the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may
receive the things done by means of the body, according
to what he hath done” (2 Cor. 5: 10), “in the day
when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ” (Rom. 2: 16). Suppose
this day next month all the hidden things of our life, all the secret motives
of the heart, all the thoughts in which we most delighted, were to be disclosed
to multitudes:- how watchful,
this month, we should be over our hearts, what an agony of apprehension sin
would cause us! It compels us to Whitfield’s
words, - “O could I always live for eternity,
preach for eternity, pray for eternity, and speak for eternity! I want to see
only God.” That Day dominated Paul’s entire vision: “the single eye,” as Robert Chapman says, “is the eye
that is fastened on the Judgment Seat of Christ.”
The Test
So the testing follows. - “The fire itself shall prove each [disciple’s] work of what sort it is.” What is the fire? “His head and his hair were
white as white wool, white as snow: and his eyes were as a
flame of fire” (Rev. 1: 14). This is
also clearly stated by Malachi. “Who may abide the day of His
coming? for He is like a refiner’s fire” (Mal. 3: 2). The fire, you observe, does not cleanse, it
tries, and, if the material be inflammable, it destroys: it is not that Christ
purges our works, but He searches them judicially. We have already seen this
definitely judicial process in actual operation. “These things saith the
Son of God, who hath His eyes like a flame of
fire,” -
there is the fire; “I know thy works” - there is the fire playing into the material; “and thy
love and faith and ministry and patience” - there is the fire testing the
quality and finding gold; “and that thy last works are more than the
first” (Rev. 2: 19) - there is the fire testing the quantity, and finding
much pure gold. The fire proves.
Reward
One consequence is reward. “If any [disciple’s] work shall abide which he
built thereon, he shall receive a reward.” “If the work abides the fire - reward: for while salvation is attached
to the foundation, reward (or loss) is attached to the superstructure: reward is utterly conditional on what
our own hands have wrought. Again and again our Lord rings this truth in our ears. “Behold,
I come quickly; and my reward
is with me, to render to each [disciple] according as his work is” (Rev. 22: 12); or, as Paul puts it in this very passage (v. 8), “each
shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” One of the
costliest diamonds in
Or it may be loss. “If any [disciple’s] work shall be burned, he shall suffer
loss: but he himself shall be saved
; yet so as through fire.” The truth could not be presented with
a more crystal clearness. Himself saved
- for no [regenerate] disciple can ever be swept off the
mighty foundation of Christ; but his work burned - for it is solemnly possible for a [regenerate] believer to spend his life in a
discipleship which will end in a conflagration. The picture is that of escape
from a burning ruin. As the fire-balls descend upon the
labouriously-constructed house, the inmate within, to his amazement it may be,
suddenly sees a burst of flame, and, running for his life, escapes through a
blazing corridor of fire: “he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.” It is a sorry
thing to have all one’s life-work fall away into silent ash because of a
wrong choice of materials. Oh, the tremendous importance of building rightly
now!
An Appeal
So the appeal is to every child of God
for the sacrifice of absolutely everything, if need be, to the Divine Word; to
build with the adamant of eternity. “Let each [disciple] prove his own work” (Gal.
6: 4).
Let us mark well: isolation is the price of purity; but better be shamed now
than shamed then: better discover the stubble and burn it with our own hands,
than meet the exposure of that day. Let us not suffer ourselves to remain in a
position where we are forbidden to do what God commands, or commanded to do
what God forbids. “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” A soldier once came to Lord Kitchener
to explain why he had not carried out an order. Lord Kitchener replied:-
“Your reasons for not doing what you were told
to do, are the best I ever heard. Now go and do it.” “He that
hath my commandments, and keepeth them,
he it is that loveth me” (John 14: 21).
Finally, “that thou doest, do quickly.” The shadows are falling across a
dying world. A doctor whom I know visited
An Experience
For the sake of our young readers, before whom a dying
dispensation opens with enormous possibilities, perhaps the writer may be
allowed to record his own experience which may give them light. As a young man
God revealed this truth to me so clearly that for all eternity I can never unsee it again. In the vast cross-currents of university
life, in which many a young man gets swept off his feet for ever, I came out
absolutely sure of one thing, and of one thing only. That was the Word of God. God mercifully
revealed to me the tremendous fact that the Voice of God had been heard in the
world, and that that Voice had been enshrined in a Book. I saw that all
Christians were based, whether they acknowledged it or not, on this Book; that
this was the guide, the chart, and the final account, that lay at the root of
the whole Christian faith. What followed? I resolved that, at all costs, I
would spend my life in shaping it to the Book. Life became a thing of
extraordinary value because it could be lived with God, for God, and unto God: it was possible to please God. What followed that? An inevitable
collision, - not only with the power and influence and
wealth of the world, but with all the tremendous ecclesiastical systems, which
have cleverly, though I believe largely unconsciously, mixed the rubble of
human tradition with the pure gold of Divine Revelation. I saw that I must be
willing to stand alone; that isolation is the
penalty of purity; and I found that to shape one’s life
to the Book, without fear and without compromise, meant the sacrifice of
ambition after ambition, and sometimes the most painful divisions from the
hearts you love best. It meant all that: but it meant also the transplanting of
the heart to a better world. God
wants us to be crucified in this world that we may be crowned in the world [i.e., the ‘age’ yet] to come. This is [pictured by the apostle as] gold, silver and precious stones.
We close with the golden goal. “Now unto Him that is
able to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24).
Is that not a possibility that fairly staggers the soul? But what does it mean
now? It means absolute obedience to every word of God. After an address on this subject in
* * * * * * *
537
EXCOMMUNICATION AND EXCLUSION
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
OUR Lord
said to the Church in
Fornication
Now it is certain that a disciple's life can be too unclean
for the
[* NOTE: See Num. 14: 20-24, R.V.): “And the
Lord said,” - [in answer to Moses’ prayer vv. 17-19] - “I have
pardoned according to thy word: 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” - [i.e., all who apostatised, and threatened
to kill the two faithful spies 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
BE FULLY, him will I bring into the LAND whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.”
This Divine prophecy awaits a literal
fulfilment after the Second Advent of Christ! and only those who have
‘another spirit’ - with
respect to the ‘LAND,’ and God’s promised “INHERITANCE”
in it, will be allowed to enter it:
for there is coming a “DAY,” when God will do what He has promised!
See Hab. 2: 14; Jer. 32: 37-42; Isa. 52: 7-10ff.; Psa. 2: 8; Acts 26: 6-8; 1 Cor. 6: 9ff.; Gal. 5: 21; Eph. 5: 5, 6; 1 Pet. 1: 9-13; 2 Pet. 3: 8, 9, R.V.]
Excommunication
But Paul goes much further than this. A fact of overwhelming
decisiveness now confronts us. Paul assumes that the identical sin might sweep
through the whole assembly. He says:- “Know ye not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:
6). What was the whole lump? Was it a
mixture of good and bad dough? or good dough only? Were all regenerate or not?
Paul answers “Purge out the old leaven,” he says, “that ye
may be a new lump” - fresh, clean dough throughout - “even as ye are unleavened.” That is to say,
the Church Paul is addressing were all pure and clean; it consisted of the
regenerate alone; “YE are unleavened”: now, Paul says, keep so; and if any
leaven has come back, purge it out. See the decisive importance of this.
Hypocrites, empty professors, nominal unregenerate members God is not
addressing at all: “ye are unleavened”: all you have got to do is to keep so, and you are
sure to enter the [promised coming]
The Exclusion
So we now arrive at the tremendous revelation. It is certain
that [regenerate] Christians can commit these sins: it is certain that some in
* Naturally there are sins which exclude from the Kingdom which do
not exclude from the Church, for the standard for the Kingdom is higher than
the standard for the Church; since the Kingdom requires fellow-occupants of the
Throne of Christ, proved worthy by the height of their devotion and
achievement.
The Peril of the Believer
If proof is still required, Paul’s concluding words are
finally decisive. “Such were some of you” - that is, in your unconverted days, “but ye were washed” - through blood and water - “but ye were sanctified” - set apart for God - “but ye were justified” - made righteous through the
righteousness of Christ. Whom then is Paul threatening with exclusion? The
washed, the sanctified, the justified; he puts it in that order for he is
pressing their former cleanness at the moment of their conversion:- defiled, ye
were cleansed; profane, ye were hallowed; unrighteous, ye were justified. See
how finally decisive this is. Paul finds fornication in the church: he sees the
danger, not only of its spreading, but of the church’s deception as to
its consequences: therefore he threatens them openly with exclusion from the
Kingdom.* Now if only unbelievers are to be excluded, Paul’s threat is not
only pointless, but unjust. Believers are sinning: unbelievers are threatened,-
is that just? Ye do wrong: therefore the world will be punished! is that
justice? Who then are these who are threatened with exclusion? The washed, the
sanctified, the justified. Are hypocrites
- false ‘brethren’ [and false ‘prophets’] who have slipped in past the church
examiners [who previously ‘were’] - justified, sanctified, washed? Does God reveal the sins of
one set of men, and then proceed to threaten another set of men for those sins?
Listen. “He that doeth wrong shall
receive again for the wrong that he hath done: and there
is no respect of persons” (Col. 3: 25): “I fear lest I should find you not such as I would; lest, when I come again,
my God should humble me before you, and I should mourn for many of
them that have sinned heretofore, and repented not
of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they committed” (2 Cor. 12: 20). It has been said that the language of chapter 5 is
so broken, it is as if Paul wrote with sobs: even as a mother over a prodigal
child, he cried, “Let my brother be smitten to
death, if only his soul be saved!”
* It is not stated specifically where the excluded will be
during the Thousand Years; but it is a singular confirmation that both
departments of the underworld, therefore including saved souls - are emptied
for the final judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev.
20: 13).
Only the wicked die in the Millennium (Is. 65: 20).
Final Proofs
Finally, let us marshal some of the Scriptures which explicitly
exclude carnal believers from the Kingdom. Our Lord states it to two of the
Churches in the last words we have ever received from Him. To Thyatira He
says:- “He that overcometh, and he
that keepeth my works unto the end” - what a condition! - “to him will I give authority
over the nations; and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron” (Rev. 2:
26). To Laodicea He says:- “To him that overcometh, will I give to sit down with me in my throne” (Rev.
3: 21).* So our Lord had
stated it on earth:- “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” (Matt. 7: 21) - that
is, works, after faith; for no unsaved soul can do the works of God; and He
presses it with extraordinary emphasis, - “The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and men of violence take
it by force” (Matt. 11: 12). So the Apostle Paul gives a specially
strong warning: after giving a list of the works of the flesh, he says, - “Of the
which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you,
that they which practise such things shall not inherit the
* It is extraordinarily confirmatory
that our Lord Himself bases His own Reign not on His personality, but on His having
overcome as a human servant of God; for He adds, - “Even as I
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”
From that angle His death was a martyrdom, and therefore with all martyrs He
reigns. “And 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).
“The more reward you get at the
Judgment Seat, the more glory and honour you will bring to Him” - F. E. MARSH.
* * *
ABSOLUTION
There is only one Priest [and righteous Judge] in the
universe who can give absolution. A poor woman (says Dr. H. A. Ironside) dying in one of our large hospitals, had been
brought up in the Roman Catholic Church. She had not been a good member of it,
and now her sins were tormenting her, and she was crying out in anguish,
“My sins! What will I do to get rid of them?”
A sweet-faced sister of charity passed through the ward and seeing her distress
talked to her kindly. “O sister,”
the woman said, “can you get me a priest that I
may confess my many, many sins, and be prepared for death?”
“Yes, I will go for the parish priest. But in
the meantime let me put this scapular around your neck. It mat help you at
least a little, if you should die before the priest comes.” And
away she went.
In the meantime, as God would have it,
a city missionary was passing through the ward and she heard the groaning, for
the scapular had not given her peace. She said, “My
poor woman, you seem to be in great distress.” “Oh, yes, my sins are troubling me and I do not know how to
put them away.” “Let me read to you
from God’s holy Word,” and reading scripture after scripture
she unfolded to her God’s peace through
[the ‘Lord’] Jesus alone.
Finally the poor, dying soul rested on the Word, “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins,” and oh, the joy that came to her!
A few minutes later the priest
arrived. He was a kind man and had all his paraphernalia with him. He said,
“Now make a good confession, in order that I may
give you absolution, that you may die in peace.” She was very weak
now, but said, “Father, let me see your hand.”
He thought her mind was wandering and said, “Pull
yourself together, you have only a little time. Make your confession that your sins
may be forgiven.” “Let me see your
hand, father.” Thinking that he had better humour her, he held up
his hand, but her eyes were glazed and she could not see. She reached up her
hand and felt his, and then said, “It
won’t do, father, it won’t do.” “What do you mean, it won’t do? Do not waste the time,
make me a good confession that I may do all I can for you before you die.”
But she continued, “It won’t do. The hand
of the One that forgives my sins has a nail print in it. I can’t find it
in yours.”
There is only one Priest to give
absolution, “who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree,
that we,
having died unto
sins, might live unto righteousness;
by whose stripes
ye were healed” (1 Pet. 2: 24).
* * * * * * *
538
DENYING THE ADVENT
By W. F. ROADHOUSE
“With the vast majority of believers of all groups openly
denying or else totally ignoring the Second Advent, our Lord's warnings become
extraordinarily significant, with the drastic consequences of disobedience.”
- D. M. Panton.
A study
of the elements that make up the essential attitude of our hearts toward the
Lord Jesus and His Return in the New Testament, actually number twelve. By no
chance could all this admonition and example be a casual matter - for there are
scores of references with their contexts to Christ’s Coming for His
“faithful” ones. We cite these.
1. “Wait for” - Heb.
9: 28, “Unto
them that wait for Him shall He appear a second time, apart from sin, unto salvation.” 1 Cor. 1: 7, “Waiting for the revelation of
the Lord.”
Also Rom. 8: 19, 23, 25; Gal. 5: 5; Phil. 3: 20; also 1 Thes. 1: 10.
2. “Give
diligence” - (an overplus word) - 2
Tim. 2: 15,
“Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God.” Heb.
4: 11.
3. “Work”ing (both ergon and poieo, Gr.) - Col. 4: 11, “Fellow-workers unto the
4. “Awake” - Rom.
3: 11-13, “That now it is high time to
awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation (end-time rapture) nearer … the night
is far spent, the day is at hand.” Eph.
5: 5ff.
5. “Watch” - Luke 21:
36, “Watch ye therefore … (thus) accounted worthy to escape” (in rapture). 24: 43; Rev. 16: 15. Used 15
times.
6. “Pray”
- Luke 21: 36,
“And pray always … escape.”
Escape used 13 times.
7. “Look for” - Titus 2:
13, “Looking for that blessed hope.” Jude 21,
etc. Used 14 times.
8. “Hasting unto” - 2 Peter
3: 12, “Hasting unto the day of
God.” Three
times.
9. “Endurance” - Jas.
1: 12, “Blessed
is the man that endureth (hupomeno,
Gr.) temptation … approved
… the crown.” Heb. Heb.
12: 1; Matt. 24: 13; Mak.
13: 13.
Twelve times, and another great word (makrothumia, Gr.), 3 times, Jas.
5: 7, 8; Heb. 6: 12, “Be
patient therefore unto the coming.”
10. “Love”
- 2 Tim. 4:
8, “Unto them that have loved His
appearing.”
Contrast Demas (v. 10,
Jas. 4: 4). Matt. 24: 12. The
overcomers (Rev. 12:
11) “loved not their lives unto the
death.” The
word is hagios,
the deeper word for love.
11. “Ready” - Matt.
24: 44, “Therefore,
be ye also ready … the Son of man cometh.” Luke 12: 40. This word is used fully 10 times re
preparedness. “All things are now ready!” Are we?
12. “Abide” - 1 John
2: 28, “And now little children,
abide in Him; that if He
shall be manifested, we may have boldness,
not be ashamed before Him at His presence?”
1 John 2: 17, “He
that doeth the will of God, abideth forever.” 1 Cor. 3: 14, “If any man’s work abide
…” Five
times.
Summary - Thus there are 122 references to
one’s deep, innate attitude toward our Lord’s Return. The
worldling, the apostate, the agnostic, the cleric minus the evangelical message
(1 Cor. 15: 1-4), the all-absorbed world-betterer
without “the blessed hope,” these and multitudes everywhere of indifferent,
self-pleasing believers will be shortcomers in that day - not “overcomers” as the foregoing Scriptures reveal
these to be. It is His standard - not
ours! Do we “love His appearing?”
* * * * * * *
539
REIGNING
GOD would
have granted to all
In this age of grace God seeks rulers for His [coming millennial] kingdom.
The promises by means of which He encourages us and strengthens us to allow Him
fully to prepare us are many. Notice:- “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if
we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Tim.
2: 12). “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). “Do ye not
know that the saints shall judge the world? and
if the world shall be judged by you, are ye
unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye
not that we shall judge angels? how much more
things that pertain to this life?” (1 Cor.
6: 2, 3).
The crowns which are offered to us, provided that we meet specific conditions, distinctly point to
positions of highest authority in the [messianic]
The promise in 1 Corinthians 6:
2, 3
reveals the scope of the inheritance
which falls to the obedient in the
One of the most powerful incentives which a Christian can know
is the realization that God offers him surpassing reward, even the honour of
reigning with Christ, if he continues
obedient to Him to the point of suffering while living now on earth. Christians have neglected this supremely
important truth, and so they lack its power to fortify them unto all obedience
for Christ’s sake.
When our Lord appears and establishes His kingdom by
indisputable right, He will have ready His full staff of administrators;
princes, rulers, and officials of all degrees of authority. These will abolish
all rule save His own. These will destroy the works of wickedness in the earth.
These will compel the nations to submit to the Lord. These will maintain
perfect order and righteousness in all parts of the [coming] kingdom. The Lord’s staff of
administrators will be thoroughly trustworthy to perform His least command, for He tried them and proved them by the
discipline of varied experiences when they lived on earth. These He will
send forth throughout His kingdom to put all His enemies under His feet.
We may exclaim, “How trifling
this life appears in comparison with the experiences we shall have in the
-
The Prophetic Word.
* * *
*ESCAPE IS CONDITIONAL ON CONDUCT
“… So then, since escape is thus conditional
on conduct, our Lord drops an exactly correspondent warning. ‘If thou shalt not watch’ - again it is
Second Advent truth, with a life squared to it, which is the deciding factor -
“I will
come (arrive) as a thief, and thou shalt not know what
hour I will come upon (arrive over) thee” (Rev. 3: 3): the Parousia will have
begun, and the Angel, because unrapt, be wholly ignorant of the Saviour’s
arrival. Here is the overthrow of the
teaching that all the Church will escape the Tribulation: the unwatchful
child of God is certain to be caught in the whirlpool. God has decreed neither
our deliverance nor our overthrow, for the threat, like the promise, is sharply conditional. If the unwatchfulness ceases, so does the danger:
“God
appointed us not unto wrath” (1 Thess. 5: 9): only if the salt have lost its saviour, like the ‘dead’ Sardinian Angel,
will it be trodden under the foot of men. For if
- D. M. Panton, M.A.
* * * * * * *
540
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
(Matthew 5: 1-3.)
By ROBERT GOVETT, M.A.
OUR Lord Jesus Christ was the prophet like Moses. There are
parallels, designed of God, which run through the characters and histories of
the two.
Jesus was born in the crisis of Gods mercy to
John Baptist, also, in some degree, answers to Moses. Judea
resembles
Multitudes respond to the call; but not the nation as a whole.
At length Jesus and John met in the desert, as did Moses and Aaron. Ex. 4: 27, 28. They gave a joint
testimony to
Jesus is baptized. Herein His superiority to Moses is seen.
Moses is nearly cut off at the outset of his mission, by God Himself, because
his child is uncircumcised. Ex. 4: 24. Jesus,
with a valid plea of exemption, yet fulfils all righteousness in being immersed
in the
* Here is a proof, that the baptism of the Spirit does not mean
regeneration or conversion. Was not John the Baptist converted already? Luke
1: 51.
Moses is sent to meet Pharaoh; Jesus to meet the prince of
this world. Satan, like Pharaoh, asks for signs; but is overcome. Then Jesus
leads on His people to the Mount, as did Moses. Moses’ message to Pharaoh
was, “
To Moses were given signs, as witnesses to
1. Now seeing
the multitudes, he went up into the mountain;
and when he had seated
himself, his disciples came unto him.”
The time
was come for the new lawgiver to take his place on the new mount; a mountain,
not in the wilderness, but in the land. A definite mountain is supposed by the
presence of the article. What mount it was, is doubtful. It is most probable
that it is the solitary hill of Galilee, called “the
Horns of Hatteen.”
Moses “went up” into
2. “And
he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying -”
Whom did
Jesus teach? The disciples,
as the words show. It is true that the unbelieving multitudes were present
and listened; and commented, at the close of the sermon, on the wonderful words
they had heard. But disciples only were the parties directly addressed. This
will appear clearly proved to any one who will go carefully through the Sermon.
He will find, that the persons addressed are the world’s salt and light;
that God is their Father; that His pearls are theirs; His holy things theirs; and they are children
of faith,
though it be but “little faith.” The same conclusion may greatly be strengthened, if
need be, by comparing with this the similar sermon in Luke
6, - “The whole multitude sought to touch him ... And he
lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said,
Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the
kingdom of heaven.”*
* The sermon in Luke
6, greatly as it resembles the one in Matthew,
is not the same. Greswell
has well pointed out the differences. In Luke
there is no reference to the law’s commands, which is so prominent a
feature in Matthew.
He “opened his mouth”; for mighty was the assembly, and loud the voice
needed.
3. - “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.”
There is
blessing conditionally offered, in the law. But twelve curses precede it. Deut. 27. The
curse upon a single transgression goes before the
blessing of Moses and nullifies it. Moses’ blessing encircled the tribes of
The style of blessing is also very different, even to
contrast. ‘Blessed,’ said Moses in effect, ‘are the
rich in the flesh’: Deut. 28: 3-6. But Jesus
pronounces blessed “the poor in spirit.” What now is meant by poverty of spirit? The first
blessing in Luke sixth is devoted to the
disciples who are physically poor; but this is poverty, not of nature, or of the flesh, but of the spirit.
It is the studied contrast to the spirit of
Poverty of spirit is the temper of the Psalmist, sensible of
transgression, of its deep roots in the soul, and of its just desert: yet
confident of God’s grace and His provided righteousness, as we see in Psa. 51: 5, 6, 10, 16, 17. It is
the temper described by the prophet, after pouring contempt upon the
law’s material residence provided by God. “To this man will I look, even to him
that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word”: Isa. 66:
2.
It is the proper answer to God’s call, just raised by
the Baptist- ‘Repent!’ Yes! the soul
is by it made sensible of no deserts from justice, but eternal death. It
confesses that there is no strength in the flesh to obey, and win itself
eternal life by obedience. It would not put itself under law, but under grace.
It is the perfect contrast to the spirit of the Pharisee, strong in assurance
of its own powers and righteousness; ’tis the spirit of the publican. Luke 18: 9. To
this temper the law was designed to lead. It was given on purpose to bring down
man’s false notions of his strength.
It is the contrast to the spirit of the world, and of the flesh still. That is
still boasting of “progress.” Still
prophesying the ‘world’s regeneration,’
and the ‘good time coming,’ through
man’s strength and goodness. ‘Poverty in self, riches in Christ,’ is the true sentiment of a son of the
kingdom. Rom. 7: 18;
4: 13; 1 Cor. 1: 30, 31. It is at the root of Jesus’ prohibition
of oaths and vows.
But why are they blessed? Because “theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.” What is meant by this kingdom?
1. ’Tis commonly understood to signify - The
Gospel dispensation: but this idea has poured darkness over many
passages, which else had shone with surpassing lustre.
2. It really means, in every case - THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM OF MESSIAH. ’Tis that kingdom which Daniel promised (Dan. 7: 13) to Christ and to the saints, 18, 22, 27. It is the kingdom which
The Pharisee then, or self-justifier, cannot enter this glory.
We are not even at the starting point of the race, till we renounce our own
righteousness, and welcome Messiah’s. Phil.
3;
* * * * * * *
541
THE COMING CRISIS
By KENNETH DE COURCY
“It is
exceedingly impressive that the Editor of one of the best informed magazines in
the world - The Review of World Affairs -
sees vividly the imminent
crashing crisis of our Lord’s return.” - D. M. Panton.
-------
WE
should be in a poor way in building up our evidence for Christianity if we did
not call upon the Old Testament prophets, because they exactly foretold, with
minute detail, the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of our blessed
Lord. We have a mighty confidence that the evidences for Christianity are
overwhelming and decisive. We should no
more dream of casting those evidences aside or belittling or disbelieving those
prophets than we should of attempting to eat to-morrow’s breakfast in the
moon. But the same prophets had a great deal to say about other subjects,
too. They did not only deal with the first advent of the Messiah. They
portrayed a whole design of events, to which the human race was to conform. They had a great deal to say about what
would happen far beyond the first advent of Christ. They drew brilliant and
vivid pictures of the course that human affairs would take right down the
centuries, not only to the
second coming of Christ, but, beyond it, into the time of blessedness.
The whole world is asking great questions about the future.
What is going to happen? Towards what climax is the human world now rushing? If we are silent on this subject, then I
think we shall be, of all men, most ineffective. If there is one thing for
which the world is looking, it is an answer to this great question.
Is the world heading towards physical disintegration as a
result of an atomic war? If the Church is going to remain silent on this
subject, then we shall fail. The human family is at its most critical hour of
need. The prophets, upon whom we so greatly rely in the case of the first
Advent, have a vast amount to say about the drama of the human story. We should
be unwise no doubt to play about too much with dates and times, though the
prophet Daniel tells us that there will be clearer understanding of the details
of the things he had to say at the time of the end, and, therefore, towards the
time of Christ’s second coming. We thus have scriptural authority for
thinking that we shall know more clearly the meaning of the prophets in this
connection.
I think the time has come when, without becoming fanatics or
sensationalists, lay people should, after a period of prayerful thought and
humility, search the Scriptures afresh for instruction as to the future crises
of the human story and that we
should not be afraid boldy to proclaim the one thing
which all the prophets foretold and of which the creeds speak in a sense, and
of which the whole Communion Service constantly reminds us, namely, that
Christ, who came the first time in humility, is to return again in glory. I greatly dislike beating about the
bush. I do not see what object is served. The men in white apparel, of whom we
read in the first chapter of Acts, clearly said that the same Lord Jesus, whom
the disciples saw go up to Heaven at his glorious Ascension, was to come in like manner. Like manner
means like manner, and I do not know why the Church does not boldly and
triumphantly proclaim it, especially at a time like this.
I am constantly irritated by theologians telling me that
But there is great evidence to suggest that we are now fast approaching the time when,
unless the days are shortened, no flesh should live. No one can deny this.
That being the case, I think that we should with prayer and humility search the
Scriptures and proclaim the truths which
they reveal to a perplexed and troubled world. What a grand and blessed
hope it is that the human race will not in fact end bedrenched
by atomic attacks, but whatever fearful ordeals we have to go through first,
the whole story will in fact end with the breaking of the everlasting dawn, and
a period of supreme blessedness and
mighty dominion for our God and His Christ upon this planet and for this human
race.
-
The Record.
* * *
ALL THINGS WORKING TOGETHER
Thou’ long days did Anguish
And sad nights did Pain
Forge my shield, ENDURANCE,
Bright and free of stain!
Doubt, in misty caverns,
’Mid dark horrors sought
Till my peerless jewel,
FAITH to me she
brought.
Sorrow, that I wearied
Should remain so long
Wreathed my starry glory,
The bright crown of SONG.
Strife, that rack’d
my spirit
Without hope or rest,
Left the blossoming flower,
PATIENCE, in my
breast.
-
* * * * * * *
542
ONESIMUS
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.*
[* NOTE: This exposition can also be
used to encourage all repentant backsliders into renewed Fellowship,
Restoration and Divine Service.]
NOT the
least value of the little epistle of Philemon is its exquisite indirect presentment
of the Gospel. Philemon - wealthy, loving, wronged, hurt; Paul - a sufferer, a
sympathizer, an intercessor, a surety; Onesimus - a run-away, a thief, an
outcast, a criminal: Philemon represents God; Paul, Christ; Onesimus, you and
me. In all the Bible it is doubtful if we can find the principle of the Gospel more beautifully worked
out than in this Phrygian story of long ago.
A Runaway Slave
Onesimus had fled from the mountains
of
A Go-Between
Now what is the first thing Paul does? “Who I
have sent back to thee in his own person.” The first thing Christ does with a
soul is to send it back to God. Sinner or
saint, pure or foul, saved or unsaved, we must get back to God. But notice how they meet. There is not a
whisper from Onesimus: no excuses, no denials, no money, no vows, no promises,
no labour, no offer to pay debts, or make restitution: all Onesimus does is to
present Paul’s letter to his master. He stakes everything on Paul’s
influence with Philemon. Onesimus is silent as the grave. His heart may well
have been bursting with emotion: yet all he does is to point silently to the
letter; nothing more. He stakes everything on Paul’s influence with Philemon.
An Identity
Now how does Paul present Onesimus to Philemon? In a way that
is extremely awkward for Philemon; a way which makes it impossible for him to
refuse Onesimus. “I beseech thee for my child, Onesimus; whom
I have sent back to thee in his own person, that
is, my very heart: if then thou
countest me a partner, receive him as
myself.” Onesimus comes
back, not as Onesimus, but as a part of Paul. He has become so dear to Paul
that for Philemon to cut off Onesimus is like cutting out Paul’s eye, or
plucking out his heart. What a revelation of Christ’s love to the members
of His body whom He introduces to the Father! “I in them, and Thou in Me, that the world
may know that Thou lovedst them EVEN AS
THOU LOVEDST ME” (John 17: 23). Who is the partner of God? “The man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zeck. 13:
7). “If then thou countest me as a
partner,” says Paul - and Christ is the partner of God - “receive
him as
myself.” Paul and Onesimus are now so one that Philemon must receive him.
A New Birth
It is a most powerful plea. But we can
well imagine Philemon saying:- “But how can I
take back one who has proved so untrustworthy, so damaging? He may ruin me
utterly the second time.” Our Paul provides against that by a new
birth. “My child, whom I have BEGOTTEN in my bonds; (who) perhaps was parted from thee for a season, that thou shouldest have him for ever.” Paul says:- ‘I am sending you back another man; one born over again; one [now restored, enlightened,
more
willing to serve, and] recreated in my likeness;
one whose body you used to have, but now I give you back
his soul, his love, his life.’ Paul gives back to Philemon more, far more, than Philemon had ever
lost. So it is with the redeemed. Christ first reproduces Himself in me, and then He gives me back to God. Had I never
fallen, I could have served God; but had I never been redeemed, I could never
have shared the likeness of God. God
has been made a tremendous gainer by what Christ has given back to Him in the
redeemed. The Greek is comprehensive:- “Have in full, have exhaustively.” What a philosophy of the Fall and the
Redemption is here! “Perhaps he was parted from thee for a season that thou
shouldest have him for ever: Onesimus, who was aforetime unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me.”
A Paid Debt
But a difficulty - and a most righteous difficulty - could
still remain in Philemon’s mind. “If my
slave can rob me with impunity, and I simply cancel the debt, how can this be
right to my other slaves? What
becomes of the laws of my household?” Was it just to the other
slaves merely to wipe a sponge over the past? Paul now meets this tremendous
need. “If he hath wronged thee at all, or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account: I will REPAY
it.” The Law
never can forget. Lord Herschell, the astronomer, when he completed
his great telescope, took it to the King,
George III, to explain it. Before he had said a word, the King said, -
“Mr. Herschell, before
I can speak with you, I have something to say.” He then turned to
an officer of the Court, and said, - “Arrest
this man; he is a deserter from my army.” Herschell,
confounded, exclaimed, - “But, your Majesty, it
is seventeen years ago, and I had even forgotten it.” The King
replied, - “Mr. Herschell,
the
Law never forgets.” Herschell threw himself on the King’s mercy; and
George III replied, - “Now that the Law is
vindicated, I can talk with you about your telescope.” Paul
decides that the debt shall be discharged in full; and, since Onesimus is
utterly bankrupt, he becomes surety for everything that Onesimus owed. Paul had not robbed
Philemon: but the liability for the debt passes, by this generous offer of Paul,
from Onesimus to him. After this Onesimus was no more in debt: he neither promises to pay, nor offers
to pay; another pays for him. Exactly so it is with the [unregenerate] sinner [and also the repentant back-slider]. “Having blotted the bond of
ordinances that was against us, HE NAILED IT TO THE CROSS.” Crucifixion was the full penalty of a
runaway slave; and Jesus paid it: as Onesimus had nothing in his hand except
Paul’s bond, which he silently presents to Philemon, so the sinner comes
to God offering nothing, promising nothing, excusing nothing; but holding up in
the face of the Father the Calvary of His Son. The debt is paid. “Ye are
not your own, for ye were bought
with a price” (1 Cor. 6: 19). Paul
takes the whole liability; Onesimus takes the whole discharge: Philemon’s
righteous household laws are vindicated; and
now before the whole world both are ripe for the perfectly honourable
reconciliation.
A Brother Beloved
The last point in the reconciliation is this. Philemon
formerly had the body of a slave; now he has body, soul, and spirit, as he
never had before. And he now had more than that. “No longer as a slave, but more than a slave”
- though, from the point of view of service, still God’s servant, and so, for ever - “A BROTHER BELOVED.”
The startling and tremendous truth is that there is no being in all the universe
so near to God’s heart as the believer; “more than a
servant,” an heir and a son
of God for ever, a brother beloved.
* * *
DIVINE GUIDANCE
Lead us, O Father, in the paths of
peace;
Without Thy guiding hand we go astray,
All doubts appal, and sorrows still
increase;
Lead us, through Christ, the true and
living way.
Lead us, O Father, in the paths of
truth;
Unhelp’d by Thee, in error’s maze we
grope,
While passion stains, and folly dims
our youth,
And age - [even Your ‘Age to come’ (Heb.
6: 5,
R.V. cf.
2 Tim. 2:
7ff.)]
comes on uncheer’d
by faith and hope.
Lead us, O Father, in paths of right;
Blindly we stumble when we walk alone;
Involved in shadows of a dark some
night,
Only with Thee we journey on.
Lead us, O Father, to Thy heavenly
rest,
However rough and steep the path may
be,
Through joy or sorrow, as Thou deemest best,
Until our lives are peaceful in Thee.
- W. H. BURLEIGH
* * * * * * *
543
THE VISIBLE RETURN OF CHRIST
GOD’S ANSWER TO INFIDELITY AND ERROR
By Dr. R. A. TORREY
THE
return of our Lord Jesus in glory will be God’s answer to infidelity. The
promises regarding that return that are found in the Bible, both the Old
Testament and the New, are very plain; and they are also, humanly speaking,
very improbable and apparently impossible of fulfilment; and, when they are fulfilled,
they will constitute an unanswerable proof of the Divine origin of that [Holy] Book that contains these promises and
prophecies. The promises and prophecies regarding the first coming of Jesus
Christ, His virgin birth, the place of His birth, the time of His manifestation
to His people, the manner of His reception by His people, His death and burial,
and the detailed circumstances connected with it, His resurrection [out] from the dead, and His victory
subsequent to His [select] resurrection,* seemed most improbable when made; but
these predictions have been fulfilled to the very letter, and by their
fulfilment in Jesus of Nazareth we have conclusive proof of two things: first,
that Jesus is the predicted Messiah of
the Jews, and second, that the Old
Testament is the Word of God.
[* See John
3: 13, R.V. Cf. Acts 4: 2,
R.V.).]
But the Old Testament contains far more detailed and explicit
predictions regarding the second coming of Christ than it contains concerning His
first coming, and in addition to these Old Testament predictions we have in the
gospels and in the epistles and the book of Revelation in the New Testament
still more detailed predictions regarding the same event.
And when these numerous predictions are fulfilled to the
letter, the prediction for example regarding His descent from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, the rapture and
all the events predicted as to follow the rapture, the manifestation of the
Antichrist, the time of Jacob’s trouble and the coming of the glorified
Christ visibly and bodily to the deliverance of His people, and His blessed and
glorious [millennial] reign, then every infidel mouth will
be stopped and every knee shall be forced to bow and every tongue has to
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2: 10, 11). There
will be no possibility in that day
of denying the Divine origin of these predictions and the supernatural
inspiration of the Book which contains them.
The second coming of Christ, the visible and glorious return
of Christ, will be God’s final answer to the destructive criticism. One
of the fundamental postulates of the destructive criticism, and of pretty much
all that in our day is called “Higher Criticism”,
is that there can be no such thing as minute and detailed and supernaturally
inspired, predictive prophecy. So, whenever any minute and detailed prophecy is
found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel or Daniel, or any other Old Testament
prophet, the destructive critics take that at once as conclusive proof that
these passages could not have been written by the person whose name it has
borne for so many centuries, but that it must belong to a later period.
This fundamental postulate of the destructive criticism has
already been proven untrue time and time again by the many minute and exact
literal fulfilments of prophecy that have already taken place: for example, by
the prediction in Micah 5: 2 regarding the place of the birth of the Messiah;
the prediction in Daniel 9: 25-27 regarding
the time of the Messiah and His cutting off, i.e., His death; the many
predictions concerning the manner of His reception by His people, the manner
and details of His death, burial, and resurrection contained in Isa. 53, for we may bring these predictions down to the
latest date that the most daring destructive critic ever thought of assigning
them to, and still they will be centuries before their minute, detailed and
literal fulfilment in Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore the fact that there are
many minute, detailed and specific predictions regarding the Jews in the
Scriptures of the Old Testament and the New which are being fulfilled before our very eyes to-day.
But when the Lord Jesus comes again and the many and detailed
predictions connected with His second coming are fulfilled to the letter before
the very eyes of men in a way that cannot be misunderstood or mistaken, then
the utter folly of the fundamental postulate of the destructive criticism will
be seen by all. So the second coming of
Christ, His visible return in glory, with all the events connected with it will
be God’s final and crushing answer to destructive criticism in all its
forms.
Lastly, the second coming of Christ will
be God’s final answer to all would-be world conquerors and world rulers.
His coming will be the solution of all the world’s problems and the cure
for all the ills of human society. He alone can bring peace, and He will.
If I did not know that Christ were coming again, I would necessarily be plunged
into the depths of a hopeless pessimism and despair. War will continue, more frightful wars even than this, until He comes;
but His coming, the Prince of Peace, will end it all. Boastful man tells us
how he will bring all evil to an end by his evolutionary progress and the
growth of knowledge. When He comes war will end, except for that brief space at
the end of the Millennium when Satan shall be loosed for a little season that
he may meet his overwhelming and final defeat. Then war ends, tyranny will end,
unbelief will end, every evil will end, and “The earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the
sea” (Isa. 11: 19). Then, and not till then. Even so come, Lord Jesus; come
quickly.
* * *
CERTAIN CONDITIONS
On certain conditions being fulfilled,
stressed by our Lord again and again, where the soul is watchful, ready,
faithful - it turns entirely on an attitude of mind and heart - should the Lord
appear during the lifetime of those saints, they will be translated, the rest
will be left, and get ready through the trial through which they must pass; and
at last the whole company of believing people will be gathered, when the
seventh angel “begins to sound, and the mystery of God is finished”, and the kingdoms of this world become the
kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, when Jesus comes in visible power
and glory, and His appearance is made manifest.
A. J. ATTWOOD
-------
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BELIEVER
Yes! no word in human vocabulary is
dearer, and we can hardly overemphasize the wonderful fact that we are saved by
Grace alone through faith - free, unmerited grace with no works of our owb, and that we shall never perish; but it is possible to
emphasize Grace to the exclusion of God’s infinite justice, and to
attribute to Him an easy generosity which would gloss over the unconfessed and
un-forgiven sins of His own people, and so deprive believers of all
responsibility for their walk and life and character. In view of such
statements from the lips of our Lord Himself- “the Son of man shall come
in His Glory and then shall He render to every man according to his deeds”,
and, “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to render to each
man according as his work is” - it can hardly be denied that reward is
according to our works, and will be awarded at the Coming of our Lord.
- D. M. PANTON
* * * * * * *
544
LITTLE CHILDREN
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
OUR Lord
lays down the fundamental fact that childhood can be converted: that He
“blessed” little children is absolute proof of their conversion. “Jesus
called them [the
little children] unto him, saying, Suffer the little
children to come unto me, and forbid them not” (Luke 18:
16); “and he took them in his arms,
and blessed them, laying
his hands upon them” (Mark 10: 16). So the Apostle John:- “I write
unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake” (1 John 2:
12). Jesus called the children to him; and then pressed them to His
heart, as He blessed them. It has often been pointed out that far the larger
number of conversions occur in early age. One writer puts it thus:- “Some years ago I gathered together the testimony of 1,000
believers in Christ, at what age they were converted. 128 gave the age of
conversion under 12 years. 392 from 13 to 16 years of age. 322 from 17 to 20
years of age. 118 from 21 to 24 years, and only 40 from 25 to 60 years of age.
Thus it would appear that 52 per cent. of conversions took place before the age
of 16 years, 84 per cent. before the age of 20 years, 96 per cent. by the age
of 24 years, and only 4 per cent. after that age. These are momentous figures.”
Little Children
It is lovely to observe that those whom Christ called to Him -
in what has been called the most beautiful scene in the Bible - and who came to
Him at His call, are “little children.”* A little Chinese boy asked his father
that he might be baptized. The father replied that he was too young, and that
he might return to heathenism if he was baptized so young. The little lad
replied:- “Jesus has promised to carry the lambs
in His arms. I am only a little boy; it will be easier for Jesus to carry me.”
This was too much for the father: he had him baptized; and the whole family
joined the mission church at
* ‘Babes’
were also brought (Luke 18: 15), but needless to say there is not the remotest
reference to baptism: Jesus speaks of “little
children which believe on me” (Matt. 18: 6). The dedication of infants fully fits in with
the passage; but the dedication is fulfilled when (as He says) the little ones
‘come’ unto Him.
Disciples Forbidding
But it is startling to learn who it was that forbid the
parents to bring their little ones to Christ. “They brought unto him
little children, that he should touch them; and the
disciples rebuked them” (Mark 10:
13): not the hard, inhuman Pharisees, but
hearts in which the Divine love had been kindled. What the disciples, including
even the apostles, had not realized is that beneath the brightness, and the
innocence and the laughter of the little children lies a deadly germ which will
require all a Saviour’s grace; a seed in them which holds in it the
potency of every sin. The children are about to launch into life: if they slip
from the rock without Christ, they will plow the ocean without helm and without
pilot; and the horizon bristles with mastheads of wrecks. Even the Antichrist
will have been once ‘a little child.’ As Solomon said long ago:- “Remember
now thy creator, in the days of thy
youth.” A little lad only six years old gave as lovely a
definition of prayer as any ever given “Whenever
we kneel down in Sunday School, my heart talks.”
Displeasure
A very grave challenge follows. “When Jesus saw it,
he was moved with indignation” (Mark 10: 14). The
word is used only three times in the New Testament, and here only is it ever
used of Christ. It is perhaps the only time our Lord is recorded as severely
angry. It is remarkable that children’s love also roused the anger
elsewhere:- “When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful
things that he did, and the children crying in
the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they
were sore
displeased” (Matt. 21: 15). Again,
when Mary Magdalene poured the ointment on our Lord’s feet, “when his
disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?” (Matt.
26: 8).
How wonderfully this sore displeasure of Christ proves His welcoming love to
the little ones!
Its Value
For the value of child conversion can be so wonderful. There
is deep wisdom, as well as love, in our Lord’s taking them into His arms.
Convert an old man, someone has said, and you convert a unit: convert a child,
and you convert a multitude. If Paul had been converted at eighty, you and I
would have had no Paul. Gypsy Smith
says:- “The great influence in my life leading
to my conversion was my father’s life and example.” What
tens of thousands of conversions followed that father’s bringing his son
to Christ! The future is in the hands of the children. “When to-night you return home to the cradle-side,”
declared Signor Bottai
to the mothers of the
The hand that rocks the cradle rules
the world.
The Kingdom
On the strength of the blundering ignorance of children by His
disciples, our Lord utters a remarkable warning to us all, a warning addressed
even to apostles. “Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18: 3).* “Be quite a child, and
you will soon be quite a saint.” As Lange puts it:-
“In children
there is confidence instead of
suspicion; self-surrender instead of self-distrust; truth instead of hypocrisy;
modesty and humility instead of pride.” Jesus says:- “Whosoever
shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt.
18: 4).
The wicket-gate into the coming
* Jesus does not say ‘infants’
- for He is not telling us to become babyish; nor does He say ‘children’ - children (especially modern
children) can show grave sins: He says ‘little children’ - perhaps between the ages of three
and seven. The Law of Great Britain says that a child under seven “is incapable of forming a guilty mind in a criminal matter.”
Mothers
Though all of us are to bring the little ones to Jesus, it is
naturally the function of one of us supremely. Listen to the words of William Buxton. “Although women may have produced no work of surpassing
power, have written no Iliad, no Hamlet, no Paradise Lost; have designed no
Church of St. Paul’s, composed no Messiah, carved no Apollo Belvidere, painted no Last judgment; although they have
invented neither telescopes nor steam engines - they have done something better
and greater than all this: it is at their knees that upright men and women have
been trained - the most excellent productions in the world. It was the patient,
gentle schooling of Monica which turned Augustine from a profligate to a saint:
it was the memory of a mother’s lessons which changed John Newton from a
blasphemous sailor to an earnest minister of God.”
The Child
So our Lord sums up our attitude. “And he
took a little child, and set him in the midst of
them; and taking him in his arms, he slid unto them, Whosoever
shall receive one of such little ones in my name” - that is, on the ground that the
little one is born of God - “receiveth me; and whosoever
receiveth me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me” (Mark 9:
36). We receive Christ in the little
believer. How unutterably solemn also is the final warning:- “Whoso
shall cause one of these little ones which believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone should be
hanged about his neck, and that he should be
sunk in the depth of the sea. See that ye despise not one of these little
ones” (Matt. 18: 6, 10).
Guardian Angels
Our Lord’s final reason is most wonderful. “See
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” (Matt.
18: 10).
God so loves them that not only are special angels appointed as their guardians
- it is possible we all have guardian angels (Ps. 34: 7; 91: 11; Heb. 1: 14) - but little believers, who naturally are
exposed to countless dangers, have angels who, unlike other angels, have
constant access to God, and so can report any need at any moment. “They are so precious in the sight of God that He selects for
their protection His most exalted messengers” (Gerlach).
Soul-Winners
So we now reach the climax of the blessing on the little folk.
Little children can lead others to Christ. One day a man said to Dr. Wilbur Chapman:- “Would you like to shake hands with a redeemed drunkard?”
Dr. Chapman said that he would. Then the man put his hand into Dr.
Chapman’s hand. He said, “Listen to my
story: Once I was a big businessman in this city. I had a lovely home, a
wonderful wife, and a dear little boy. Strong drink became my master. I soon
fell low. One day, I was helplessly lying in the gutter, drunk, when someone
came and said, ‘If you want to see your boy alive, hurry home.’ The
words aroused me from my drunken stupor. I arose and quickly went home. I went
to the dark room where my sin had forced my wife and boy to live. We had lost
our beautiful home. I found that a truck had passed over my boy and seriously
hurt him. He was dying. My boy took me by the hand, and pulled me down by his
side and said, ‘Father, I love you. Even though you get drunk, I love
you. I will not let you go until you promise to meet me in Heaven!’ Still
holding my hand, he died. From that day, I have felt him pulling me Heavenward.
I am now a saved man. The Lord Jesus is my precious Saviour. How I thank God
for my little boy who loved me and would not let me go until I promised to meet
him in Heaven!”
* * *
CHILDREN
No one knows how much he handles when
he is handling the soul of a child. Many years ago a young lady gathered a
Sunday School group, of whom Bob was
the most wretched and unpromising. These ragged boys received the gift of fresh
clothes from the Superintendent. After a Sunday or two Bob, who was absent, was
found by his teacher with his new clothes in rags and dirt. Given a new suit,
the experience was repeated; but he was promised a third suit if he would
attend the class regularly. He did so, became interested, was converted, joined
the church, became a teacher, and finally studied for the ministry. That dirty,
ragged, runaway boy became Robert
Morrison, the great missionary to
* * * * * * *
545
WOMEN AND THE MINISTRY*
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
[* This tract is from D. M.
Panton’s ‘Dawn’ No. 281, Sept., 1947.]
ONE by
one the Free Churches in this country have accepted the principle “that there is no barrier in principle to the admission of
women to the ministry.”* The Church of England (through the Report of the
Archbishops’ Commission on the Ministry of Women) has gone so far as to
say:- “We do not deny that a reunited Church may
in the future, have the power to contradict its past and declare that women can
be priests and that as women they ought not to be debarred either from the
priesthood or the episcopate.” It is one of the grave symptoms of
to-day. For the Holy Spirit, whose exaltation of womanhood is
exquisite, nevertheless prohibits all public authority of the female in the
church; and it is an extraordinarily impressive fact that throughout its
history the Church of God, practically without exception, has accepted these
Scriptures as final and has acted on them for two thousand years.
* As far back as
thirty years ago it was written:- “There are no
fewer than seven thousand ordained women in the Free Churches of America”
(Nineteenth Century, Sept., 1916).
Prohibition
The Holy Spirit lays down the rule in unmistakable terms.
“LET THE
WOMEN KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCHES: FOR IT IS NOT PERMITTED UNTO THEM TO SPEAK”
(1 Cor. 14: 34); a
Scripture so clear, so decisive, that no one doubts what it seems to mean: let us
ponder, therefore, the explanations advanced to prove that it does mean what it
seems to mean - namely, the absolute silence
of sisters.
Objections
(1) It is said
that the word here should be translated ‘wives,’
not ‘men,’ and that thus it is a
rule for the married only. But the vast majority of women, as of men, are married: this objection,
therefore, would give but little relief; the rule would still be binding on the
vast majority of womankind. Moreover, if so, it compels the inference that
while godly and mature matrons are enjoined to silence, girls in their teens
(as well as mature unmarried women) may rise and teach the Church, a statement
which has only to be made, to be rejected.
(2) It is said that
the word means ‘chatter,’ and
refers only to thoughtless or flippant interruption. But the word is used
twenty-four times in this very chapter, and never once in the sense of “chatter” or “interrupt”: it is used throughout of prophecies and
inspired utterances; and once (ver.
21) of God’s own utterance. The Greek
word exactly corresponds to our English word “speak,”
covering all utterance, dignified or undignified. Moreover, the Holy Spirit has
already said, - “Let the women keep silence”: the injunction is thus wholly
unmistakable, for it is affirmed both positively and negatively.
(3) It is said that
this is a restriction belonging to the Law of from which the Gospel has freed
women. But Paul says, - “Let them be in subjection, as also
saith the law”; that is, on this
point, according to the Apostle, the Law and the Gospel are identical.
Women’s ministry in synagogue and temple was wholly unknown and
forbidden; though, as nothing to that effect is explicitly recorded in Mosiac Law, the restriction has actually advanced
in definiteness under the Gospel.
(4) It is said that
the regulation was for Corinthian women, accustomed to loose habits, and
educated in a lawless atmosphere. But the Epistle is addressed (1: 2) “to all
who call upon the name of the Lord in every place”: “let the women keep
silence”;
and not [only], in the Church at
(5) It is said that
these are rules confined to the miraculously gifted of the
(6) It is said that
Paul elsewhere (1 Cor.
11: 5)
allows the woman to pray and prophesy, if
covered. Obviously the gift of prophecy is for both sexes; but there is no
New Testament example of a woman’s public
prayer or prophecy:
* ‘Does the regulation cover public prayer also?’ It would seem so. This very
chapter regulates prayer in the assemblies, - “If
I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth” (ver. 14):
and then the Spirit says, - “Let the woman keep
silence.” Is not audible prayer a breach of silence? and is it not
an assumption of some degree of authority in leading an assembly to the Throne?
In 1 Tim. 2:
4, 5, the
word for ‘men’ is man inclusive
of woman: “God willeth that all men [all human beings] should be saved”; but in ver. 8
it is man as distinct from woman;
“let the mates pray everywhere.” So, moreover, Alford:- “The English Version
[A.V.], by omitting the article, has entirely obscured
this passage for its English readers, not one in a hundred of whom ever dreams
of a distinction of the sexes being here intended.” Even questions, which are no assumption of authority, are (ver.
35) forbidden.
Collective singing (Col. 3: 16) is
commanded.
(7) It is said that
God has set His seal of approval on woman’s ministry, at least in
evangelism, by granting conversions under her words. But nothing that can
occur, not even conversions, can unsay what the Holy Spirit has said: only a
rescinding order from the Spirit Himself, verbally expressed, can authorize
disobedience. The kindred fact that conversions can occur under an unregenerate
preacher is no Divine authorization of an unconverted ministry, but merely
demonstrates that the life is in the Seed, not in the hand that sows it. The
Word of God is liable to convert from any mouth. Moses may strike the rock,
“rebelling against the word of the Lord,”
yet the waters flow (Num. 20: 11-24) - for the Holy Spirit will flow forth to
parched lips from the smitten Christ even when disobediently invoked.
(8) Finally - (and
this exhausts the objections known to us; objections, we may add, never
advanced, so far as we are aware, by front-rank commentators) - it is said that
exceptional women have been raised by God above this rule. The answer is
obvious. God is sovereign, and may make what exceptions to His own rules that
He chooses: but I may not make them. And is it certain that there have been any such exceptions in this dispensation
as will stand the searchlight of the Judgment Seat of Christ? There is a
Deborah in the Old Testament: there is no Deborah in the New. No female pastor,
apostle, ruler, or evangelist, - no head or teacher in any church except Jezebel (Rev. 2: 20) - is named throughout the New Testament.*
* Whoever believes sane,
catholic-hearted Paul guilty of sex-prejudice which he has embedded deeply in
Holy Scripture, not only tramples underfoot the doctrine of inspiration, but is
spiritually incompetent to comprehend the Apostle. In private, she may instruct
the other sex (Acts 18: 26).
Divine Authority
But God has not left us to human reasoning, however loyal, or
to human scholarship, however careful and competent: it is most startling to
observe that He has made obedience to this rule one discriminating test,
Himself assuming full and final responsibility for the decree. For the Apostle,
foreseeing the strongest opposition, challenges the Church at
The Fall
It is vital for our beloved sisters to realize that their
subordination is a part of our original creation and of the Fall: it is no
question of ability, or suitability of gifts - many women are spiritually and
intellectually superior to many men: she may publicly teach (her own
sex) more than half of the human race, and address ten thousand women in the
Royal Albert Hall. It is part of the original design of God, and also
of the woman’s primacy in the Fall. “I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have
dominion over a man, but to be in
quietness. FOR ADAM WAS FIRST
FORMED, THEN
EVE; and Adam was not beguiled, but the
woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression” (1 Tim.
2: 12). Nevertheless “the woman is the glory of the
man” (1 Cor. 11: 7); and for
all eternity a supreme glory rests on
womanhood - last at the Cross, and first at the Tomb.
* * *
FUNDAMENTALISM
“As we are totally unaware of the alleged facts in
this startling article, we cannot under-sign its statements;
but if correct - and the authorship deserves the
most respectful attention, itself fundamentalist -
they form one of the gravest symptoms that has yet
appeared of a dying Church”
- [D. M. PANTON] - Ed. ‘Dawn’.
“FUNDAMENTALISTS” have become famous for
their militant spirit, for their bickerings and strife, for their contentious spirit
which has often developed into a “holier-than-thou”
and “Pharisaical” spirit, rather
than the Spirit of Christ. They have forgotten that “contending for the Faith” does not mean warfare;
there is nothing “contentious”
about the kind of “contending” Jude
speaks of in his Epistle. Our warfare is not against “the brethren” who disagree with us - the
brethren we would gladly classify as “heretics”
or “apostates.” The first Biblical
evidence of “apostacy” is not
heterodoxy, or un-orthodoxy, or even departure from the faith. According to the
real Head of the Church, our Lord, the first step in apostacy is the “leaving (or loss) of our first
love.” More Fundamentalists have taken this first step in apostacy
than any other group we know! Why? Because they do not seem to realize that
when Jesus commanded us to “love the brethren”
(John 13: 34,
35), He meant “ALL the [regenerate] brethren” -
every one who professed the name of Christ ; and not just those who belonged to
our particular group, or those who believe as we believe. “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
So, our warfare is not directed against “the
brethren,” not even against those who have departed from the faith - but
against our adversary, the enemy of our souls; against the powers of darkness,
etc. Contention, strife, bickering never build-up, but [can] only tear down. Therefore, we must sadly conclude
that Fundamentalism IS dying out!
Everything points to it. There can be no true denial of this statement. There
is but one way out, and that is Christ’s way! See Revelation 2: 5. The “first
love” must return. Only the restoration of the “first love” in our lives will pave the way for a
fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on us, which will bring us the Revival we
need. May God grant it!
- The Congregational Beacon, Jan. 1947.
* * * * * * *
546
THE DOVE OF GOD
IT is
most wonderful that once, and once only - in the Bible records - has the Spirit of God been actually seen upon the earth; and by one man only -
the only man who was filled with that Spirit from birth (Luke 1: 15).
“John bare
witness, saying I have beheld the Spirit descending as A DOVE out of heaven” (John 1:
32):- a descent in the form of a dove which
all four Gospels - a rare thing - record. That it was the actual form of a
Dove, though invisible to all except Jesus and John, Luke puts beyond doubt:- “The
heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a
bodily form, as a dove” (Luke 3: 22). The heavens opened, and out of those heavens,
descending upon the Son of man, came down the Heavenly Bird, the snow-white
Dove of the Spirit of God. “The Father shall give you another comforter,
that he may be with you forever; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:
17).
Now this descent of the Holy Dove of God not only takes us back
to the very dawn of creation, but it reveals the unchanging character of the
Spirit - the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The Revised Margin puts it thus:- “The Spirit of God was brooding upon the face of the waters” (Gen.
1: 2);
or, as the Talmud exquisitely
paraphrases it, - “The Spirit of God was borne over the water as a
dove which broods over her young.” The word in Genesis for ‘brood’
is the same as that used, in Deut. 32: 11, for the
eagle “fluttering over her young.” The Holy Spirit, from the first dawn
of creation, was the Holy Dove of God: He brooded, germinating life, as “the
Lord and Giver of life”; and just as He
filled the
Now before we deal with this exquisite revelation of the
character of the Holy Ghost, we observe that He is working that character into us,
and that therefore everything we learn of God’s Dove, we learn of our
own ultimate character. The very term ‘dove’
runs through the Bible revelation of the Christian. The moment Peter made his
saving confession, at that moment Jesus said, - “Blessed art thou,
Simon, Bar-jonah” - son of the Dove, child of the Holy Ghost - “for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven” (Matt. 16:
17). In His charge to the twelve apostles -
sample Christians of all ages - our Lord says, - “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye, therefore wise as
serpents, and harmless” -
guileless, defenceless, gentle - “as doves” (Matt. 10: 16). And our ultimate departure from the world, the
Holy Dove returning with us to Heaven, is thus described:- “Who are
these that fly as a cloud, and as the
doves” - for doves move in flocks - “to
their windows?” (Is. 60:
8); and the cry that comes, in moments of
pain from many a watchful saint to‑day, is the inspired cry, - “Oh that
I had wings like a dove! then would I fly
away, and be at rest” (Ps.
55: 6).
What darts more swiftly and surely home than a carrier-pigeon? All therefore that we learn of
the Spirit, we learn concerning God’s ideal for us.
Now the dove is the bird of love. Little children love it. The look of
the Spirit - as the Song of Solomon reveals - is a look of love:
“thine eyes are as doves: let me see thy
countenance, let me hear thy voice” (Song
1: 15, 2: 14). It is the
only bird of the heaven which is domestic:
it does not require to be caged as a
prisoner, in order to be kept among men. The Holy Spirit has alighted amongst
us of His own free will: He has alighted at the impulse of love. The steeple of
an old church was to be pulled down, in order to prepare the way for some
modern improvements. Soon everything was ready and the foreman shouted aloud to
the men to pull. As the old steeple began to tremble, and sway from side to
side, a beautiful white dove was observed to fly round and round, not daring to
go in at its accustomed place, and yet evidently unwilling to depart. She
seemed to be aware that a great calamity was about to happen, while a hundred
voices shouted, “See that dove!”
“Poor thing!” the foreman observed,
“she must have young ones up in the steeple.”
Again the workmen gave a vigorous tug at the rope, and the old steeple reeled
and tottered. The distress of the poor dove became so great that everyone felt
sorry for her, and not a word was spoken. The bird hovered a moment on her
wings, and at the instant that the creaking timbers began to topple over, she
darted into the steeple and was hid from view. When the rubbish was cleared
away, she was found lying between her young ones - all three crushed to death.
Here was a spectacle of devoted love - love even unto death. So it is with the
Lord. “Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” The Holy Spirit was the crushed Dove
on
The second
characteristic of the Dove is gentleness. The dove, unlike the eagle or the
hawk, is utterly defenceless: it is a shy, sensitive bird: it is probably the
most harmless of all living creatures. It has no talons, and naturalists tell
us it has no gall. It is remarkable how often the dove is referred to in the
Scripture as the bird of gentle, brooding sorrow, - “I did
mourn as a dove” (Is. 38: 14). The Spirit wakes the sweet sorrow of
the penitent soul: “they shall be like doves of the valley, all of them mourning, every one in his iniquity” (Ezek. 7: 16); and the Spirit “helpeth our infirmity with
groaning that cannot be
uttered.” It
is God’s indescribable sorrow over a lost world. Fenelon says, - “We must lend an attentive ear, for His voice is soft and
low, and it is heard only by those who hear nothing else,” - the sweet, low call of the
Lastly, the dove has always been the emblem of
purity. It was
so pure a bird in the eye of God, as not only to be classed as ‘clean,’ but the only bird allowed on the altars of God. “If his
oblation to the Lord be a burnt offering of fowls, then he shall offer” - as the only birds permitted - “his
oblation of turtle-doves, or of young pigeons” (Lev. 1: 14). His mother offered for Jesus two white doves.
Both the Dove and the Lamb were offered on the altar of
Now we see where the Dove rests. The Dove descended upon
the Lamb. Over the young
child stood a star; but over the Lord stood the Dove of God: “upon
whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him,
the same is he that
baptizeth with the Holy Spirit” (John 1: 33), - the Christ [or
Messiah] of God. There is a Jewish tradition that, as
all the world did not know where Noah’s Dove came from, and Noah himself did not at last
know where it went to - “it
returned not again unto him any more” - so the door would at last open, and
- “blowing where it lusteth” - ‘the
Spirit of Messiah’ would come forth, and abide upon the head of Messiah.
Certain it is that just as the dove that went forth from Noah’s
So, finally, the Holy Spirit, abiding on earth since
Pentecost, has, in the Bible, only one recorded prayer, a prayer which prays
for the return of the Lamb. Nothing could more decisively enthrone the truth of
the Second Advent. “The Spirit and the bride say,
COME” (Rev.
22: 17).
The prayer, the preaching, the expectation of the Second Advent [and
His righteous ‘REIGN’] has no more massive foundation than this -
that it is the one recorded cry to God of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit knows
perfectly all evolution, all progress, all Gospel advance, all revival; yet He
says that there is one solution, and one only, for world-problems: “the
Spirit and the bride say, Come.” He is the master of all knowledge, of
all solutions of all problems, and He
says there is but one possibility for the [present] world’s salvation: “the
Spirit and the Bride say, Come.”
None but the Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God - the [messianic and] everlasting plans, the profound
purposes, the unrevealed powers of God [‘and of the
age to come’ (Heb. 6: 5, R.V.)]; yet, knowing all, He says that the one and only hope for the world is the return of Christ.
* * *
UNBELIEF IN THE CHURCHES
The deep undermining of [prophetic] faith inside the
churches is now
visible to other eyes than those which, sharpened by sorrow, watch for the dawn
beyond the coming crash. “Every one will agree,”
says a correspondent in the British Weekly,
“that to-day there are vast multitudes to whom
the records of the resurrection of Christ bring no certainty. We might even put
it stronger than that. They leave a great many [Christian
and non-Christian] people in despair. Is the testimony available sufficient to support the
stupendous fact? I believe the number who feel the answer to this must be in
the negative is very great - greater than, perhaps, we have any conception of. They are to
be found in all our Churches. They are to be found, a great host of them,
outside of our churches. For an immense number of people in the world Easter is
the saddest day of all the year. On that day old things are recited from which the life has fled. We have
to face the facts. If the Church is bold
enough to face the truth it must be ready for a schism that will try the
bravest.” With the
substructure of the Resurrection the whole of Christianity collapses, and the
‘schism’ contemplated is apostasy.
* * * * * * *
547
RETRIBUTION
By H. S. GALLIMORE, M.A.
IN the
spiritual world there are no precipices which men walk over by accident. No one
stumbles into hell inadvertently. Hell is a gulf fenced about with warnings.
If, however, despite these warnings - warnings from conscience, the facts of
life, the fate of others, and, most solemn of all, the strivings of the [Holy] Spirit and the admonitions of the
Word - men and women persist in slipping down the declivity and over the brink,
nothing can save them.
Hell is not a doom from which God could save men but
won’t it is a doom to which there is no alternative. If there had been,
would God have given His Son to die, would Christ have emptied himself and gone
to the Cross? It is inconceivable. When, therefore, a soul trusts to the mercy
of God to save him without timely repentance, the enemy of mankind and his own
evil heart are tricking him into eternal ruin.
Every blessing connotes a corresponding curse; each Gerizim
has an Ebal. The pillar of cloud is bright toward the saved, and dark toward
the lost. On the one hand, there is the peace of God “which
passeth all understanding”; and, on the other, the miserable gnawings of remorse. The
fire of the divine presence, and the penal flame of hell. The glorious light of
heaven and the outer darkness of separation and banishment. An endless ascent
of character and attainment, and a bottomless pit of declension. These
opposites are as determinate as night and day. The life of obedience is the
prelude to the one, and the life of disobedience the prelude to the other. They
stand out in marked contrast even here.
Throughout the Church’s history, those most convinced of
the existence of hell have been, not the harsh and unfeeling, but the gentle,
loving, and kind. The reason is obvious. Having spiritual discernment, being
under no illusion, they wished to save as many of their fellow-men as possible.
Those who deny the reality of hell are either the ungodly and profane, or else
foolish people who, like the ostrich burying its head in the sand, simply close
their eyes to the danger.
“Do not
preach severe doctrine,” a churchwarden once urged me
“preach the teaching of Christ, which was love.” “You are mistaken,” I assured him, “Christ’s teaching was the most solemn ever taught; it
was the teaching of the worm that never dies and the fire that never shall be
quenched.” His, one might have added, was the parable of the rich
man in ‘Hades’; which Trench interpreted as history. “He moves in that unseen world of spirits,” says
Trench, “as one perfectly familiar with it; speaking without astonishment as of things
which He knows.” Having come [up (Matt.
12: 40. cf. Acts 2:
31 & 34;
Matt 16: 18,
R.V.)] from the beyond, Christ
understood all about conditions there.
Underlying the doctrine of Substitution is an awful revelation
of danger. The sinner or his substitute must die. Without shedding of blood is
no remission of sin. Hence those altars, that universal confession of guilt.
These provisional sacrifices were intended to bring home to the human heart and
conscience the exceeding sinfulness of sin, its fatal consequences, and the
critical position of mankind. Most important of all, they pointed forward to
the perfect Offering, and the redemptive plan which was the only possible way
of escape.
“Thou
alone wast counted worthy
This world’s ransom
to sustain;
That a shipwrecked race for
ever
Might a port of refuge
gain:
With the precious Blood
anointed
Of the Lamb for sinners
slain.”
Through Christ’s Finished Work, salvation becomes
effective in as many as believe. Yet - such is the moral and spiritual atrophy
resultant from the Fall - man is shockingly irresponsive to the claims of
divine love. That was why Wesley,
with his knowledge of the human heart, instructed his preachers not to
overstress the love of God when preaching to the unregenerate. “If you do,” he insisted, “they will perish, and their blood will be on your head.”
It is only where the graver side of the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed that
its healing balm can safely be applied. The heart of stone must first begin to
beat.
In all probability many more souls are saved through the fear
of hell than the hope of heaven. This was indirectly emphasised by Canon Lyttleton,
then headmaster of
How merciful, then, is the doctrine of Retribution! It might
be compared with the lantern on the headland and the bell on the reef. When, through
the murk and rain of a stormy night, the mariner catches the flash of the
lantern or hears the tolling of the bell, he feels sensations of dread, but
heeds the warning. Practically every sermon recorded in the New Testament was a
call to repentance or an exhortation to flee from the wrath to come. Shall we,
from reluctance to make people uncomfortable or fear of unpopularity, shrink
from declaring the whole counsel of God? Shall we hang out false lights along
the shoreline of eternity?
In the account of the rich man in Hades, our Lord stresses the
means by which salvation [of the
soul] is experienced. It is by hearing and believing. If men
believe not the Scriptures, neither would they he persuaded should one rise
from the dead. Nothing, however phenomenal and spectacular, could call them to
repentance. Yet a single salvation promise, personally appropriated and
believed, is sufficient to bring the soul from death unto life.
* * *
THE MILLENNIAL THRONE SHARED ON CERTAIN CONDITIONS
The millennial throne of Christ is to
be shared with others on certain
conditions, by the gift of
Christ himself. “I will give to him to sit with Me.”
Paul refers to this heir-ship in his unfolding of the work of the Holy Spirit
in Rom. 8,
“joint-heirs
with Christ … if so be that we suffer with Him”
(Rom. 8: 17). This is foreshadowed
in Daniel 7: 22-27, where it says, “the time came that the saints possessed
the kingdom.”
The fact that Christ’s coming [messianic and millennial] throne is to be shared by overcomers, who are
appointed by the Father to be ‘joint-heirs’ with Him, who was “appointed heir of all
things,” is therefore quite clear, Glimpses are to be found,
too, into the future time when Christ, and those who are to share the throne with
Him, will reign. Paul said: “Know ye not that the
saints will judge the world?” “Know
ye not that we shall judge angels?”
(1 Cor. 6: 2, 3).
What angels? Certainly not the
unfallen ones. The explanation will be found in 2
Peter 2: 4. “The angels which kept
not their first estate … judged.”
These fallen angels - Satan and his hierarchy of evil powers - are to be judged
by those who reign with Christ on His throne. In brief, they who are ‘overcomers’ - those who overcome the world and
Satan now will be the ‘judges’ of
the fallen hosts of evil, when those overcoming ones are ‘glorified together’ with Christ upon His throne.
The obtaining of the prize of this
‘high calling’ of sharing the Throne with Christ was the incentive
which urged Paul on to count all things loss to obtain it, and to be willing to
be made conformable to the death of Christ as the primary means for reaching
such an end (see Phil. 3: 10-14); for each believer who reaches the prize of
the throne, goes by the way of the Cross in the path of the Ascended Lord.
J. PENN-LEWIS
-------
PEACE
The son of a Belgian pastor, who had been
studying medicine with a view to the mission, wrote these words before being
executed in the first World War.
“In a few hours I shall no
longer be on this earth of misery and war. … Dear friends, I am saying to
you not good-bye but au revoir, for we shall see each
other again on high, and be reunited for ever. I think again with pleasure of
the blessed times which we have had together. I ask you to sing the hymn -
‘Blest be the tie that binds,’ at one of your meetings, thinking of
me for the last time. I want to send you a last message. God holds the destiny
of each one of us in His hands, and when
He calls us to appear before Him, let us be ready to answer Him in all
circumstances: Here I am. God may ask great sacrifices of
us; let us know how to surrender everything and
have the calm of leaving this earth without regret. What does the earth [now] offer us? Nothing very splendid. So let us go forward,
trusting in the Lord, our hand in His, ready to face any situation in which He
may place us. That is why I thank and
bless God for maintaining peace in my soul. I wish each one of you a blessed
New Year. May God send you His
peace and bless you all. I greet you all for the last time, calling each one by name; and may those whose names are
not written here believe that I do not forget them either. Au revoir (the names follow) ... Psalm
23.”
-------
MARTYRDOM
Torn from loved ones, precious, dear,
Thrust in prisons dark and drear,
Tried and tempted, yet they stand,
Victors of the Promised Land.
In their awful loneliness,
In their pain and deep distress,
Flood with light the gloomy cell,
Whisper to them, “All is well.”
Make then strong amidst their foes,
Give them sight beyond their foes,
Glimpses if the
Where, Lord, Thou art throned above.
- KETTIE K. PAYNE
* * * * * * *
548
OUR REACTION
TO THE BROKEN ALTARS
By D. M.
Panton, M.A.
Elijah at Horeb
is a marvellous revelation - doubtless designedly so - for our dying
dispensation. For Elijah is the man who is never to see death, but to be rapt
to heaven: face to face with the deepening apostasy of God’s own people,
a man of like passions with us and overwhelmed with the tragedy he is watching,
he retreats into a cave: there God gives him an apocalyptic disclosure of the
Divine character and the Divine action in such a crisis: re-strengthened,
re-commissioned, he is sent back into the tremendous struggle which is to
precede the chariots of fire. It is the man of God caught in the whirlpool of
the collapse of a great dispensation.
Now in answer to God’s challenge - “What doest thou here,
Elijah?” - the prophet, in the cave, confronts Jehovah with the facts, and with the facts alone. He said, “I have been very
jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts” - I have exhausted my resources for Him; “for the children of Israel” - it is the apostasy of God’s [redeemed] people, not the world, that faces him - “have (1) forsaken thy
covenant, (2) thrown down thine altars, and (3) slain thy
prophets with the sword” (1 Kings 19: 10): they have abandoned Thy Word; they have
wrecked the Atonement (the broken altars); they are now stamping out the Faith:
first a deserted Creed; then an overthrow of Divine institutions; lastly, a
murderous assault.* All Elijah does,
perfectly legitimately, is to place the facts, and the facts alone, before God.
*
The fierce contempt with which
‘fundamentalists’ are now regarded a prelude to active persecution
(as in
Jehovah
at first is silent. But in a moment the Prophet is aware of a panorama of
miracle, so like the profundity and majesty of God that it plunges us almost
out of our depth. “Behold the Lord passed by”: first, in a hurricane so powerful that it rent even
mountains; then in an earth-shock; finally, in lightning, far the swiftest and
most dangerous of all. Now these are to be the portents of
the Advent. “The earth shook and
trembled, the foundations also of the mountains
moved, because he was wroth: he made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion round about him” - the Parousia - “thick clouds of the
skies: he bowed the heavens also, and came down; he sent out
lightnings manifold, and discomfited them.
He sent from on high, he took me” (Ps. 18: 7). The
rapture of the watchful, and the storms of judgment, are timed, approximately,
for the same epoch.
But
suddenly all miracle ceases: “and after the fire a still small voice”: the
perfect calm of perfect knowledge based on perfect power. And an exceedingly
penetrating comment states a fact. “But the Lord was not in the wind,” not in the earthquake, not in the fire; but when
Elijah heard the still, small voice, he veiled himself, in awe; and as he stood
outside the cave, a second time came the challenge - “What doest thou here,
Elijah?” and a second time, in exactly the same words, he confronts God with the universal bankruptcy of Faith.
Now
this hieroglyphic telegram of God, together with what follows, is designed to
solve our modem problem. For Elijah, standing at the mouth of the cave,
embodies God’s devoted modern worker (and all conceivable moods are in
that mantled figure) standing on the brink of the judgments. We may confront
the facts baffled, and with shaken faith at the incredible disaster we are
watching; or with black depression, as we see our own lifework merging into
universal darkness; or with hot anger at apostates who
have betrayed the truth; or with despair for the future of
the work of God and the world. So God first satisfies the sense of
justice in the heart of Elijah. Jehovah says:- “Go, return:
him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu
slay; and him that escapeth from the sword of
Jehu shall Elisha slay.” So
the Most High first reassures the wounded heart of His servant with miraculous
proofs, not only of His omnipotence, but of His concern and wrath. There are
times when we are tempted to exclaim, not, “Hath
God forgotten to be gracious?” but, “Hath God forgotten to be righteous?” The answer is unutterably solemn. A hurricane of judgments
will sweep the earth; under the last earth-shock (Heb.
12: 27)
the world itself will disappear; and beyond lies the unquenchable fire.
But
now the Most High gives the second, and vastly more important, half of the
hieroglyphic telegram. The wilderness vision reveals the essential and abiding
character of God. A world may be, and will be, convulsed with war, or swept
with pestilence, or decimated with famine, when the Lord “passes by”; but it is in “the still small voice” - the whisper of conscience, the appeal of love, the
flutter of the Dove’s wings, the hidden work in the hidden man of the
heart - that God dwells. The Lord accompanies judgment, but He is love. The thunders of Sinai are not so essentially
what Deity is as he seven utterances from the Cross. All
So
the practical command is - “GO, RETURN.” Plunge back into the battle, and help God create the
seven thousand of every age: only eternity will reveal how many of those seven
thousand of whom he had never heard the Prophet himself had created: Elijah
never again turned back until suddenly confronted with chariots of fire. As the
work and each soul becomes more difficult to win, each soul won is a more
glorious work than any won before: jewels priced according to their rarity. And
how exquisite is the change in the prophet’s prayer-life! In the cave
Elijah (as Paul says,
Will
there be many Elijah-spirits on the eve of rapture? It is profoundly to be
hoped that a remarkable forecast made some years ago by the Great Commission
Prayer League is correct. “Our prediction is
that not a generation remains between us and the formation of a mighty body of
believers, the strongest and the most powerful that ever shook the world: they
are massing from the rivers to the ends of the earth. They are ready to break with any and all denominations when the call of
God shall sound. They will not abide the presence of that foe who would cut
the Old Book to shreds, depose Jesus
Christ from His throne of Deity, and rob the heart of man of the mighty
change, known as the New Birth, and taught by the fathers, whose eyes were
fixed on the Cross and whose messages never wandered far from a fountain of
blood. It will all but tear the heart out of some of us when the rending of the
timbers is heard. For we love the churches in which we were cradled. We are
ready to give our lives to them. We are even ready to shed our blood for them. But we will not be led into the trap of the deceiver and the snare of
the despoiler by our leaders. They must lead
toward [‘the whole counsel of’ (Acts
20: 27, R.V.)] God or we will refuse to
follow.”
* * *
POSSIBILITIES
“I dare to say that it
is possible, for those who are willing to reckon on the power of the Lord for keeping
and victory, to lead a life in which His promises are taken as they stand, and
are found to be true. It is possible to cast all our care upon Him daily, and
to enjoy deep peace in doing it. It is possible to have the thoughts and
imaginations of our hearts purified, in the deepest meaning of the word,
through faith. It is possible to see the will of God in everything, and to
receive it, not with sighing, but with singing. It is possible, by taking
complete refuge in divine power, to become strong through and through; and,
where previously our greatest weakness lay, to find that the things which
formerly upset all our resolves (to be patient or pure or humble) furnish today
an opportunity - through Him who loved us, and works in us an agreement with His
will and a blessed sense of His presence and His power - to make sin powerless.
These things are divine possibilities; and, because they are His work, the true
experience of them will always cause us to bow lower at His feet and to learn
to thirst and long for more.”
- BISHOP HANDLEY MOULE.
* * * * * * *
549
A NEARING
CRISIS IN HEAVEN
AND EARTH
By D. M. PANTON,
BA.
A tense, extraordinarily pregnant crisis, involving the
vastest issues, balances two hostile forces in the unseen. Jerusalem - a
‘woman’, in the Apocalypse, always
symbolises a city - sums up God’s redeemed of all dispensations, for one City
has been the mother of them all, from Melchizedek to Christ: twelve stars - the
Patriarchs - around her head, the moon - the Law - under her feet, and the sun
- Christ, clothing her; and she is on the brink of giving birth. Watching her
with concentrated venom is a Serpent, a red Dragon, for he is responsible for
the blood of all the martyrs; and his passionate concentration is on the
destruction of the ‘child’ about to
be born. It seems exceedingly probable that this is the exact situation at the
present moment, though no man living can tell how prolonged the period may be
during which Satan watches in intense anxiety.
THE
CHRISTIAN ESCAPE
Suddenly the Child is born. That this ‘child’ is a body of saints is obvious from the
words in which (ver. 11) the Angels describe it:- “they overcome
him by the blood of the Lamb”; * and the birth, like our
Lord’s (Heb. 1:
5), is a birth out of the tomb. It is a
rapture in which these saints are caught up to God and His Throne. The holy angels
hail with joy their arrival in Heaven: the evil angels draw the sword for the
first and last time to prevent it. They are very definitely and sharply defined
as fellow-kings with our Lord in His coming [promised (Ps. 2: 8) Messianic] Reign, for it is “a man child, who is to rule
all the nations with a rod of
iron”; and they are ‘overcomers’
- “they overcame him,” thus
falling exactly under our Lord’s words to Thyatira (Rev. 2: 26) - “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.”
*
The fact that the ‘birth’ ushers in the final three and a half
years of Satan’s activity alone makes it impossible that the ‘child’ is Christ. Christ, unlike this Child, was
the first-born of His mother, nor did evil angels dispute His ascent, only His
exit from the tomb (Col. 2: 15).
THE
This sudden ascent of overcomers precipitates an
immediate war in heaven, a desperate conflict between the angelic powers. Satan
disputes the ascent; his supplanters, who will supplant him both in heavenly
standing and in power over the nations on earth, he stakes all to block; and
the fierce struggle of the Satanic hosts with the holy angels involves his
final fall. But he is not yet cast into the
THE JEWISH
ESCAPE
So
now the Great Tribulation opens, and the second great escape, the escape into
the wilderness, occurs. Satan, “having great wrath, knowing
that he hath but a short time”
- therefore he believes God’s prophecies, for in no other way could he
know the brevity of the time left him: “the demons also believe and shudder” (Jas. 2: 19) - first
concentrates on that with which the world is already seething - the attempted
extermination of the Jew. The Woman - the godly in Jerusalem - obeying the word
of Christ, “When ye see the abomination of desolation” - Antichrist’s image - “standing in the holy place” - set up in the Temple precincts - “let them that are in
Judea flee unto the mountains” (Matt. 24:
15) - is in instant flight. Any Israelite
who breaks the condition of the earthly escape - immediate flight - is doomed;
but the armies sent in pursuit of the Woman the earth - as, millenniums before,
the Red Sea - opens and engulfs; and in the desert, earth’s only spot of
safety because of its very famine of all food, God’s earthly saints are
again fed by manna or equivalent food from Heaven.
REMNANTS
After
both escapes are accomplished, so far from earth now being emptied of the
godly, the enraged Dragon concentrates on both the groups who broke the [pre-tribulation] conditions of
escape, and so failed to disappear. “The dragon made war with THE REMNANTS of her seed - ‘remnants,’ that is, sections identical with
those escaped, but who are left; and there are two of these remnants - “ (1)
which keep the commandments of God, and (2) which hold the testimony of Jesus.” Keepers of ‘the
commandments of God’, the Law, are a definition of Israel: they
who hold - that is, those in whose keeping is ‘the
testimony of Jesus’* is a
description impossible of any but a Christian; it has been a definition of
Christians for nineteen centuries; it is the only name given to Christians
throughout the eighteen prophetic chapters of the Apocalypse, and describes
even the Apostle John himself (Rev. 1: 9). The
Dragon impales these two groups on his Ten Horns - that is, he persecutes them
by means of the Ten Dictators who are masters of earth’s chief nations; ** and as the Divine plan is a prior escape, God
withdraws protection from those that are left, who flouted His design.
Two-thirds of
*
Illuminating extracts from commentators
on this phrase will be found in DAWN, VOL iii.
P. 101.
**Apparently the Ten Dictators (or the majority of them) at first
collaborate with the Roman Beast in support of the Harlot, so that she can and
does become drunk with the blood of the saints; but on Satan’s descent,
and manipulated by him, what has happened in Spain in the last five years [i.e., from 1932-36] - the destruction of more than 1,000 Catholic churches
- becomes universal, and includes every Christian group. We can readily imagine
how the great apostasy from the Christian Faith now occurs.
HINDRANCES
TO ESCAPE
Now since it is probable that the birth of the Child
may occur at any moment, it is wise that we should keep in our minds, as vivid
as lightning, the hindrances that block the way to escape; because, that the
Israelite is godly, or that the believer is regenerate, will deliver neither
from the consequences of disobedience. (1) The hour coming “is to come upon the whole inhabited earth” (Rev. 3: 10), our
Lord says, and therefore the only possible earthly escape is the Wilderness,
the uninhabited earth; and the flight is to be instantaneous - if a
Jew in the field has left his cloak or house, he has no time (the Lord says) to
fetch it (Matt. 24:
18) - that disobedience in rapidity forfeits
escape. So to the Church our Lord’s words - for both critical commands
from the Son of God to each group - could not be more explicit:- “Watch ye and pray
always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these
things that shall come to and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21: 36). The escape of God’s earthly people is
physical, and therefore on instantaneousness of flight; but the escape of His
heavenly people is moral - passive and static: [See Greek …], to be set
before the Son of Man - and therefore
turns on prayerful vigilance: and
failure to watch and pray will be as
fatal to the one as failure in instant flight will be to the other.*
* It is pregnant
with meaning that neither the rapt nor the left are said to be the Church: for
those who ascend are not the Church, but a
section of it; and those who remain are not the Church, for church-standing
ceases with the arrival of the Day of the Lord. Thus it is unscriptural to say
either that the Church escapes the
Tribulation, or that the Church passes through it:
the Church does neither; and therefore no ‘church’
is named throughout the prophetic portion of the Apocalypse.
COND1TIONS
OF RAPTURE
So
we are shown, by Heaven itself, the exceedingly high standard of the upward
escape. (1) “They overcame him
because of the blood of the Lamb:” not only the fundamental cleansing in salvation, but a constant
confession and abandonment of known sin which re-invokes the Blood. “They washed their robes” - their own conduct: Christ’s robe, the robe of
imputed righteousness, needs no cleansing - “And made them white in the blood of the Lamb: therefore are they before the throne” (Rev. 7: 14). (2)
“Because of the word of their testimony.” The truths of
God they stand for are the platform on which they ascend: an abandoned testimony is a collapsed platform.
Or, to borrow Paul’s figure, the ‘blood’ is
the foundation, and the ‘testimony’
is the superstructure of gold, silver, costly stones which they erect upon it.
(3) “And they loved not their life even unto
death.” It does not say that
they are all martyrs; but they were, to a man, ready to be martyred: they
never compromised, even to save their life. What a standard! Yet it is a
standard perfectly possible for every one of us to achieve.
THE UNRAPT
That
what remains on earth is a ‘remnant’ -
the rest, the remainder - from those who have gone is proof wholly
decisive that it is Christians [who are ‘left unto the coming of the Lord’ (1 Thess. 4: 17ff.)] who
remain; but if any reader still
doubts it, let him ponder a recent revival scene (World Dominion, Oct., 1936) on the Congo; and let him
ask himself - Were these Christians that were ‘revived’?
and if so, how does their pre-revival
condition fit Heaven’s description (ver. 11) of the rapt? “Judgment began at the
house of God. Christians were awakened to a deep distress for sin. Sometimes
the revelation was so overwhelming that people under conviction cried out in
anguish, and trembled, or even fell to the ground. It was the sham and secrecy of Church members in former times that
determined the early character of the revival, for it came naturally to be felt
that men who had preached and taught in Christ’s name while cluttered up
with all manner of sin must make public confession. In the eyes of the
heathen, all that had veiled the face of Christ must openly be renounced. For
weeks and weeks there was a constant
stream of men waiting their turn to make public avowal of the sins that had
besmirched their lives and betrayed Christ’s cause. Time fails to
tell even a fraction of the stories that broken-hearted men and women poured
into our ears during these amazing weeks when judgment had begun at the house
of God. Through a valley of humiliation
like this all our leading men passed save one.”*
*
Both ‘remnants’
are purged as is the Israelitish:- “I will bring
the third part through the fire, and will refine
them” (Zech. 13: 9). Both
were warned to remember
If
Christ had come a week before the revival,
would these have been rapt? and if so, what becomes of Heaven’s summary of
their life and character before removal?
and will anyone say that no such believers will be on earth when the Lord does
come? Let it be
carefully pondered that this is no mere detail of a disputed prophecy, but a
fearful practical urgency for us all; for all will agree that if
rapture turns on fidelity, he who influences others to believe that escape is
safe for an unsanctified life not only makes a most painful blunder for
himself, but, in a moment of intensest crisis, does a grave disservice to the
whole church of God.
* * *
THE OVERCOMER
“‘He that overcometh.’
It is there in this one or that who has not allowed the pressure of the world to
prevail, who has not let the salt of
a consecrated personality lose its savour, or the light of a steady
witness to Christ grow dim, who has used
the God-given talents, be they ten or five, or even if there were only one,
as God would have them used - that
the answer to the message of the risen
Christ is given. It is he who has met the buffetings of the stream, and yet
has not let the stream [of false Doctrine and Prophecy] carry him away, he who, with whatever slips and stumbles,
has yet remained faithful in a very little; he who may seem to himself
sometimes to have lost much, yet has never
lost heart - it is he [or she]
who overcomes, who is a victor.”
- CANON J. K. MOZLEY
-------
“THY KINGDOM COME”
“It is the only prayer (so far as we know)
that God ever commanded Christ to pray:- ‘Ask of Me, and I
will give Thee the uttermost parts
of the earth for Thy
possession’ (Ps. 2: 8). At this very
moment we are probably entering the greatest war in all history, in which the
whole world may yet be involved: never was there a moment more urgent for prayer invoking Christ’s universal dominion [throughout
this sin-cursed earth, (Gen. 3: 17. cf.
Rom. 8: 19-21, R.V.)]. The fundamental denial of Scripture eschatology in the
Churches requires what is, as a fact, almost universal - the change of
‘the coming’
of the Kingdom into ‘the extension’ of the Kingdom: but the [Messiah’s
millennial (Rev. 20:
4)]
Kingdom has not [yet]
come. It is very beautiful
to observe that we do not pray for the Church to be taken to the Kingdom, but
for the Kingdom to be brought to the world: it is not love of the world, that is to
make us to pray the Bible’s last prayer, ‘Even so come, Lord Jesus’ (Rev. 22: 20).”
- D. M. PANTON, M.A.
* * * * * * *
550
THE
TRANSIENCE OF THE TRUTH
One of the most solemn of all facts is the transience
of the truth. There is in the library of the Bible Society a book that no
living man can read. It is the complete Bible translated by John Eliot into the language of a tribe
of North American Indians and published in 1663. The translator is dead, those
he laboured for are dead, and the language they spoke is dead. But it is
infinitely more solemn that truth can pass from the
living, and a Bible that has left our homes and hearts can become the
infinite joy of souls on the other side of the world.
Our
Lord had just spoken of giving to those too poor to give back, “for thou shalt be
recompensed in the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14: 14) - the
first resurrection; and this immediately prompts a hearer to exclaim:- “Blessed is he that
shall eat bread in the
*
The bridal robe for the Marriage Supper
of the Lamb is, not the
imputed righteousness of Christ, but “the righteous
acts of the saints”
themselves (Rev. 19:
8): therefore the [regenerate] believer’s invitation is not for
acceptance merely, but a summons to [an undisclosed standard of personal] righteousness
for [their
entrance into (see Matt. 5: 20ff., R.V.] the Kingdom.
The
invitation is a broadcast, unconditional, instantaneous. “He bade many; and he sent forth his servant at supper time to say to them
that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.” A host alone decides who shall be his guests: he will
not invite any guest he does not want: therefore the moment God’s truth
reaches us, since the invitation is free, unconditional, instantaneous, the
highest glories coming are ours, in offer, on the spot.
Now
the Lord unveils the hearts of many that are faced with the urgency and
costliness of the invitation in a marvellous revelation of the human heart.
“And they all with one consent -rejection
of the truth, in whole or in part, is the only unanimous thing we shall ever
meet in the world - “began to make excuse.” The startling thing about the excuses is their
excellence; and it is their excellence that makes them so deadly. The bought
field, the purchased oxen, the married wife are business and domestic
obligations which are, in themselves, perfectly right: the decision is a critical balance of values. Duties can be so done as to be made hostile to God:
they can be made absorptions that exclude the highest. It is a very startling
word of our Lord that harlots are
entering the Kingdom before moralists. Robert
Hall once wrote ‘God’ on a slip
of paper, and handed it to a friend, saying, “You
can read that?” “Yes,”
his friend replied. He then covered the word with a golden sovereign, and
asked, - “Can you read it now?”
Paul has perfectly countered the excuses for ever, and in doing so expresses
the heart of the Christian Faith. “This I say, brethren, the time is shortened, henceforth
those that have wives be as
though they had none; and those that weep, as though
they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and
those that buy, as though they possessed
not” (1 Cor. 7: 29).
The
critical truth now dawns. The servant reports, in prayer, the dearth of
response: what, then, will God do? close the hall, cancel the supper, suppress
the invitations? or will He mark the seats as reserved for those first invited,
and re-issue the invitations to them? The answer is lightning:- “Then the master of the
house being angry” - God is hurt when we refuse His truth - “said, Go
quickly” - for every hour
the time shortens, and the Banquet is nearer - “and bring in the poor and maimed and blind
and lame.” It is exactly
paralleled by God’s response to
* The wrath is on the [redeemed] people of God, both
in the type and in the antitype, for the Apostle adds, “Let us therefore
give diligence to enter into that that rest, that
none [of us] fall after the same example of
disobedience” (Heb. 4: 11).
For
now we see the underlying principle in the transfer of invitations. “Constrain them to come
in, THAT
MY HOUSE MAY BE FILLED.”
A vast multitude must be gathered for a
vast multitude of seats: not a throne will be empty, not a crown unworn, not a
line in the Lamb’s Book of Life vacant; the world is to be prolonged, and
the race preserved, until the seats are full. This necessity rules the
situation absolutely. “And the servant said, Lord,
what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room. And the
lord said, Go out into the highways and the
hedges” - go further afield,
where the gypsy tribes of the world bivouac. It is not because they
are outcast that these are saved, but although they are outcast: the first invited were just as
welcome: it is because the Hall must be filled. Beyond, there are always accepting guests: if not the
higher ranks, then the lower; if not the city, then the nation; if not the
nation, then the world.
So
the summary of our commission, in face of falling conversions and [apostate
Bible-teachers and] withering churches, is simply a joyous and hopeful
intensification, a wide-flung enlargement of our operations. We are to go forth
to still needier souls, with fresh and more urgent appeals: turning our backs
on those who make excuse, we appeal to the blind that can see no field to buy;
to the lame, who can drive no plough; to the maimed, who have no home. And the
urgency deepens. To the first class it is simply said that the meal is ready: the second class - weaker,
feebler souls - are to be brought in, as you would support a cripple across the
threshold: the final class are to be compelled, even as Lot left Sodom under the compelling hands of Angels.
The
strongest statement of all is reserved for the final invitation. “CONSTRAIN them” - use all the moral and persuasive power that you can
master - “to
come in”; for even when so ‘constrained’,
only those who ‘come,’ and come voluntarily,
will ever be accepted as guests. Compelled by the terrors of the Law; compelled
by the fleeting brevity of the invitation; compelled by the Christlike life:-
the truth is to be put so convincingly, so winsomely, so practically, so
forcibly that the seats are filled. With all seats filled, all invitations cease.
So
our golden opportunity reveals itself. Paul is able say at the end (1 Tim. 4: 7):- “I have fought the good fight, I
have finished the course, I have kept the
faith”; Christian Faith in its entirety, the whole revelation of God: it has
lodged and dwelt in heart and life, and passes with the faithful servant into
the unseen. At the close of the first century Justin Martyr said:- “There is not a
nation, Greek or Barbarian or of any other name, even those who wander in
tribes or live in tents, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered
to the Father and Creator of the Universe in the Name of the Crucified Jesus.”
Yet not one spot on earth has kept that
Faith throughout the centuries since. But there are individuals who will be able to repeat in the death-hour
- “I have kept
the faith:” it has ruled my heart, filled my mouth,
worked my hands, guided my feet: “HENCEFORTH THERE IS
LAID UP FOR ME THE CROWN.”
* * *
TRANSIENT
TRUTH
A Methodist minister of
-------
THEY LOVED
NOT THEIR LIFE
From
gaol the pastor at
-
The Church of England Newspaper, Dec. 4,
1936.
-------
AFTERWARDS
Light after darkness, gain after loss,
Strength after weakness, crown after cross;
Sweet after bitter, hope after fears,
Home after wandering, praise after tears.
Sheaves after sowing, sun after rain,
Sight after mystery, peace after pain;
Joy after sorrow, calm after blast,
Rest after weariness, sweet rest at last.
Near after distant, gleam after gloom,
Love after loneliness, life after tomb;
After long agony, rapture of bliss -
Right was the pathway leading to this.
FRANCES R. HAVERGAL
* * * * * * *
To be continued, D.V.