[Photograph
above: Dr. Clive Tindle with son Michael at ‘Titanic Quarter,’
INDEX
901 TRUE ‘REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY’
By Derek Rous.
902 BALAAM’S ERROR AND HIS APOSTASY
By Samuel Cox, D.D. [PART
ONE OF FIVE]
903 UNBELIEF AND THE SINS OF BELIEVERS
By Robert C. Chapman.
904 WOE UNTO THEM
By Arlen L. Chitwood. [PART
ONE OF TWO]
905 LOOKING FOR THE
BLESSED HOPE
By Howard Bass.
906 THE BASIS OF THE PREMILLENNIAL FAITH
(THE DAVIDIC COVENANT) By Charles C.
Ryrie. [PART ONE OF THREE]
907 LINE UPON LINE
908 BALAAM’S ERROR AND HIS APOSTASY
By Samuel Cox, D.D. [PART TWO]
909 THE HOME BEYOND By D. M. Panton, B.A.
910 WOE UNTO THEM By Arlen L. Chitwood. [PART TWO]
911THE
BASIS OF THE PREMILLENNIAL FAITH
(THE DAVIDIC COVENANT) By Charles C.
Ryrie. [PART
TWO]
912 SMALL TASKS By D. M. Panton, B.A.
913 KEEPING AND KEPT
By Alexander Maclaren,
914 LINE UPON LINE
915 MOCKERS IN THE LAST TIME
By Arlen L. Chitwood. [PART
ONE OF TWO]
916 THE PROVOCATION By Philip Mauro. [PART ONE OF TWO]
916 BALAAM’S ERROR AND APOSTASY
By Samuel Cox, D.D. [PART
THREE]
917 ITS TIME By Stephen Cargin.
918 TO THE JEW FIRST By Arlen L. Chitwood.
919 SAINTS RULING THE WORLD
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
920 MOCKERS IN THE LAST TIME
By Arlen L. Chitwood.
921 THE PROVOCATION By Philip Mauro. [PART ONE OF TWO]
922 REAL OR COUNTERFEIT By D. A. Cook.
923 THE FLOOD AND THE ADVENT
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
924 THE COMING MAN: TO-MORROW’S MASTER
925 THE PROVOCATION [PART TWO]
926 LINE UPON LINE
927 THE GLORY TO BE REVEALED
IN US By Philip Mauro.
928 THE BRANCE By David Baron
929 THE BASIS OF THE PREMILLENNIAL FAITH
(it’s basis in the Davidic covenant)
By Charles C. Ryrie [PART FHREE]
930 BALAAM’S ERROR AND HIS APOSTASY [PART FOUR]
By Samuel Cox, D.D.
931 THE UNEQUAL YOKE By G. H. Lang.
932 THE CHALLENGE OF A DEFERRED ADVENT
By D. M. Panton, B.A.
933 BALAAM’S ERROR AND APOSTASY
By Samuel Cox, D.D. [PART FOUR]
934 LINE UPON LINE
935 DESTRUCTION OF GENTILE
WORLD POWER By Arlen L. Chitwood.
936 WORTHINESS A CONDITION
OF ENTERING THE KINGDOM By G. H. Lang.
937 WHAT CONSTITUTES WORTHINESS?
By G. H. Lang
938 ANTI- SEMITISM By Arlen L. Chitwood.
939 THE COMING RUSSIAN INVASION
OF ISREAL By Arlen L. Chitwood.
940 GRACE MAY IMPOSE CONDITIONS
By G. H. Lang.
941 BALAAM’S ERROR AND APOSTASY
By Samuel Cox, D.D. [PART
FIVE]
942 LINE UPON LINE
943 THE “IF’S” OF SCRIPTURE By G. H. Lang.
944 THE WOUNDED GUEST
By Dr. A. T. Scholfield,
M.D., M.R.S.C., &c.
945 THE COMMON SALVATION
By Alexander Maclaren, D.D., LITT. D.
946 KEEPING OURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD
By Alexander Maclaren, D.D., LITT. D.
947 FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST By G. H. Lang.
948 “WHY DO THE WICKED PROSPER?”
By Derek Rous.
949 A BLOCK TO PROGRESS
950 PRAYER By D. M. Panton, B.A.
950b (1) United Kingdom Prayer Shield.
(2) Family Prayer Shield. By Stephen Cargin
* * *
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
901
TRUE “REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY”
By DEREK ROUS
-------
“Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for
and the evidence of things not seen.” HEBREWS
11: 1.
The N.T. Book of Hebrews was written to be an encouragement to believers who
were going through a difficult period of persecution. And so - a very relevant book
for our times! Judaism was accepted in the
The crowning chapter 11, illustrates the point of the excellency of Jesus that fills
the earlier chapters, who is so much “better” in every way than anything that
Judaism could ever offer. Jesus is the substance of their
faith and it is Jesus who will bring about the thing so hoped for. He would be the one to come and
Replace the Kingdoms of
this world with a brand-new Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace. Believing or
trusting in Jesus as Saviour meant that you declared that God is the one who
had replaced your old life with a
new one. It couldn’t be repaired, so He had completely replaced it.
This is true “Replacement Theology” and not the theory that teaches that
God has finished with
Faith and Trust is primarily in the person who first testified
to you of the truth of God (which says, you need to be “born anew.” It is the truth of the One higher than all, who promises to
bring you into a
This means that Faith is not based on those obvious things
that our mind can be convinced about. As Hebrews 11 says, it is evidence of things - not seen. The chapter is full of testimonies of
people led by Faith all in God in a direction that was not clear to their human
eyes but changed history. Noah, for example trusted God for 120 years to help
him build an
For ourselves, trust comes first -
experience follows. The “good news” was confidently shared with us and our trust in Him for
redemption resulted in us being prepared to follow Him wherever that led. Of
course, only by reaching the goal can we all be absolutely assured of the fact
that He has led us along successfully. That’s real faith and not presumption.
Its trusting and following someone so closely, to prove that they are reliable
and will guarantee your arrival at the other end of the journey.
The Mind is the
battlefield
Life is full of challenges to Faith. But the arena of greatest
attack is the Mind. It is a wonderful creation of God. It is He who has given
us this special tool that can sift and weigh the right and wrong actions to
make in life. Our bodies are wonderful tools that are able to interact with the
world in which we live but our mind is really precious. However, it is delicate
and can be easily damaged by wrong thoughts, wrong attitudes and is the arena
of conflict with the Prince of this world. (Ephesians 6: 10-20).
The mind has been
described as “… the set of cognitive faculties, including
consciousness, imagination, perception, thinking, judgement, language and
memory, which is housed in the brain.
It is usually defined as the faculty of
an entity’s thoughts and consciousness.” That’s a mouthful - but what it is saying is that although it is not your spirit. it
does operate under instructions.
Paul put it this way in Romans 7: 23 “But I see
another law in my members,
warring against the Law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the Law of sin…” In other words, the
Mind is a battle ground for all sorts of conflicting ideas and emotions where
Satan can put us in a spin. But HOW DO
YOU refuse “... to be conformed to this world and be transformed in the
renewing of your mind?” Romans 12: 2.
What is it that is in us that chooses to refuse the bad and choose the good and
right way? That’s
a mystery you say! Surely, it’s the mystery of “Christ in us, the hope of glory!” 1
Corinthians 2: 7; 15: 51. “So brethren, lets us
continue in the faith, grounded and
steadfast and don’t be moved away from the hope of the gospel” Colossians 1: 23.
* *
* * *
* *
902
BALAAM’S ERROR AND APOSTASY
By SAMUEL COX, D.D.
[PART ONE OF FOUR]
“But these [apostates] rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally,
like the creatures without reason, in these things they are
destroyed (or ‘corrupted’).
11 Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously
IN THE ERROR OF BALAAM for
hire…” (Jude
10 & 11, R.V.)
-------
Even the
severest criticism, however, can find little of any weight to allege against
the authenticity of the Epistle of St Jude; and in this Epistle (Verse 11) it is said of those who revile
whatsoever things they know not, “Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and ran
riotously in the error of Balaam for hire.” St Jude,
therefore, not only brings the old charge against Balaam and ascribes to him a
mercenary spirit, a willingness to let out his art of divination on hire; he
also anticipates our next point, and implies in him a certain sensuality of
spirit. For in this verse, “Lust stands hard by hate.” Cain is here the emblem of fierce and
cruel hate, say the critics; Balaam that of carnal indulgence: those who ran
riotously in his error being men - and even in the Christian Church there have always been men, the Antinomians to wit, that have turned the grace of God into
licentiousness - who made their
piety a cloak for sensual depravity,
and blackened the very name of Religion by the immoralities which they held it
to justify or condone. The reference may be only to that vile expedient which Balaam counselled,
and by which, as we are about to see, the
[redeemed] men of Israel were lured into the flagrant orgies of
Baalpeor; yet surely that was an expedient which it could never have
occurred to any man of pure heart or pure life to advise.
For the next allegation which Scripture brings against him is
perhaps the worst of all. The very Chapter (25.) which follows the Chronicle in the Book of Numbers tells the sad and shameful story of
how the fair women of Midian came down to the camp of Israel, and tempted the
men of Israel to join in the licentious rites by which Baalpeor was worshipped;
and how, for this sin, the anger of the Lord was kindled so that He sent a plague upon them,* and “those that died of the plague were twenty and four thousand;” but it in no way connects the name of Balaam either
with the sin or its punishment. Probably it was not known at the time that it was
he who had dug this pit for their feet. But in a subsequent Chapter (Numbers 31: 16) the dismal secret is disclosed, and
the whole guilt of this foul device is fastened upon him: for, in the war of
vengeance against Midian, Moses commanded that even the women should be slain, “because they
caused the children of Israel,” - [when on their journey to their
inheritance in the Promised Land] - “through
the counsel of Balaam, to commit impurity against the Lord in the matter of Poor,
and there was a
plague among the congregation of the Lord.” To those who bow to the authority of
Scripture a charge so plainly made needs no confirmation; yet it is confirmed
in the most explicit terms, and on an
authority no less than that of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself: for in the
epistle which he sent to the Church at Pergamos by his servant John (Revelation 2: 14),
He sharply rebukes as many as “held the
teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the
children of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication.”*
[*
Presumably, the ‘plague, was similar to the ‘coronavirus’ we see
spreading throughout the world today: this is the result of our Lord’s
displeasure with many members of His Church and the ungodly of the World; for we know nothing can happen outside
of His will: ‘For I the Lord change
not! (Malachi 3: 6ff. Cf. Luke
22: 61-69;
Gal. 5: 21; Eph. 5: 5. R.V.
etc.)]
* Compare 1 Corinthians 10: 8.
So that, despite his splendid fidelity to the words which God
put into his mouth, and his utter refusal to curse the people whom God had
blessed, he did curse them most effectually after all, by a deed which spoke
louder than any words. “The expedient he pitched upon,”
says Bishop Butler, “was that concerning which Solomon afterwards observed that
it had cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men had been slain by it, and of which he himself was a sad example when his wives turned away his heart
after other gods.” And
so moved is the good bishop, whose mind was as a rule singularly thoughtful and
composed, by so foul and sordid a sin in
a man otherwise so noble and great, that, after relating it, he breaks out
into the exclamation, “Great God, what inconsistency,
what perplexity is here!” And, indeed, the sin was so vile, and the
tragedy which avenged it so terrible, that we find more than one echo of it
even in the later prophets. Hosea, for instance (Chap.
9: 10), “dwells with special interest on the first love of Jehovah to
his people when He found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, when He knew
them in the thirsty desert, before the innocence of the nation’s
childhood was stained with the guilt of Baalpeor,” and “they
separated themselves unto Shame” (a prophetic synonym for Peor), and
became as “abominable” as the god they served:
while Isaiah (Chap.
9: 4)
caught and reproduced the thunders of the “day of Midian,” on which God took vengeance on the
sensual race by which that early innocence was debauched.*
* Unless, indeed, with some commentators, we find in this “day of Midian” a reference to the story told in Judges 7.
It is when we bring together such passages as these that we
begin to comprehend the bitter and unsparing indignation with which the Bible,
and especially the New Testament, glows against the Prophet of Pethor, speaking
of him with a severity utterly unlike to the benign generosity of most of its
verdicts on human character even when the character of which it speaks is of no
singular or remarkable excellence. His sins were as sordid, as base, as foul, as his
virtues were eminent and his endowments rare; and they suffer by force of contrast. That a good man should be so bad, and a great man so mean,
this is the wonder, this the shame
[and this is the danger of apostasy within the
I do not deny that there may have been palliations of his
guilt of which the Divine Mercy took note, or that that Mercy may long since
have recovered him to a more steadfast and victorious pursuit of righteousness;
“for to this
end was the gospel (of
that Mercy) preached
even unto the dead - that they might be judged
according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”* And even we, who are apt to be as unmerciful in our judgment
of our fellows as though we stood in no need of merey
for ourselves, know by observation, if not also by experience, that violent
spiritual excitements react dangerously upon the soul, inducing a torpor of its
higher faculties, and leaving it perilously open to temptations from the flesh:
and therefore we can admit that, after the strain of over-powering inspiration,
the trances and ecstasies in which Balaam saw his visions from the Almighty and
delivered the oracles of the Most High, he may have yielded to temptations
which he would have resisted in moods less morbid, less agitated and depressed;
for it is one of the profoundest yet most patent mysteries of our nature that, when the Spirit of God departs from us, an evil spirit is only too likely to usurp his seat, and, alas! to find
it ready swept and garnished for him. We confess, too, that the moment in which the main ambition of a
life breaks down is a moment at which a
man is prone to sink into despair; and
that, in his despair, he may be so transported from himself as to be wholly unlike
himself: and hence we can understand that if, as seems probable, Balaam had fondly cherished an ambition to abandon his recluse life, to mingle with men, and to become the honoured counsellor of a
king, or a clan, the sudden failure of this ambition may, for a time at least, have led him to hate the very virtues to
which his failure was due, and to lift the yoke from passions which he had hitherto held in check. And we can also understand that his
faith in the moral government of the world may have been perilously shaken when he foresaw, as in his last vision he did
foresee, that even the [redeemed] people [of God, who
sheltered under the lamb’s blood (Ex. 12: 13)
which] Jehovah had [rescued and] blessed, even the one race in which he could descry no sin, the unique nation
which lived for righteousness, was
ultimately to be carried away captive, and
to share the fate of empires founded on rapine and maintained by blood.
* 1 Peter 4:
6.
All this we can understand and allow for; all this we are
bound to make allowance for; but, allow for it as we will, the unsophisticated
conscience of every candid man must surely condemn Balaam as a sinner beyond
others, and pronounce his guilt to be as rare and strange as his virtues and
his gifts. Our one hope for him lies in the fact that he suffered for his sin
in the flesh, that he received the punishment of it here and now, and was not
permitted to add to his guilt by flaunting it in the face of the sun. Of all
fates that can befall a transgressor the worst is the impunity which makes him bold in transgression. And from this
fate Balaam was mercifully spared. For, in the war of vengeance against Midian,
he was taken captive by the warriors of Israel, together with the kings or sheikhs of that clan, tried, and condemned to a judicial death (Numbers 31: 8, in the Hebrew, and Joshua 13: 22). “Justice did not suffer him to live.” He was taken in the trap he had set for
others, and fell into the pit which he himself had digged, making by his death, let us hope, such poor atonement as was still possible for his crime against God
and man.
* *
* * *
* *
903
UNBELIEF AND THE SINS OF BELIEVERS
By ROBERT C. CHAPMAN
-------
I
UNBELIEF is oft a hypocrite clothed in
a white robe, as an angel of light, having the semblance of all humility; but
drag him to the light, and the monster appears! He would cast down God from His
throne and set himself thereon.
Where Unbelief is, there is pride; and where pride is, her
whole brood of evils are to be found with her. So with the obedience of faith,
there is humility with all her train.
There will be no room for the fretfulness of Unbelief, if I
only see that He who is the Ruler of heaven and earth is my very Kinsman - my
Brother.
When a child of God takes an
unbelieving step, and God suffers it to succeed, this is one of the sharpest
corrections he can be visited with. (2 Chron. 16: 2-9.)
Let us not nourish Unbelief by plans and contrivances of
fleshly prudence.
One step of Unbelief unrepented of leads to another.
Hard thoughts of God are, alas! natural to us, and swarm in
our breast: it is only as the love of God is revealed to us in the cross of
Christ that we are able to cast them out.
If in great tribulation we are by faith walking upon the
flood, we shall seem to the eye of Unbelief to be sinking in the flood.
If Unbelief prevail in saints, they slight the assemblies of
God’s people; but let us who diligently frequent them be able to say, “We have seen
the Lord” (John 20: 25): that will be the best rebuke for the negligent.
Unbelief is in man’s sight no sin at all - whilst in God’s
sight it is of all sins the greatest.
Whilst we are looking to Jesus at the right hand of God, all
circumstances are our occasions for honouring God by faith; but if we look to
circumstances and not to Christ, they cast us down, and leave us a prey to
Unbelief.
By Unbelief the child of God degrades himself; losing sight of
his heavenly robe he makes much of the earthly rags of this world’s honour, and
can even envy the wearers (Psalm 72: 3.)
We do well to remember that God is as true as His forewarnings
of wrath and curse, as He is to His promises of grace We take the latter for
our particular comfort, but should also solemnly meditate the former for our
ripe and full acquaintance with God.
Unbelief cripples and puts in fear where no fear is; it leads
to despair, and despair is but unbelief without a bridle.
Do you, at the Mercy-seat, confess the iniquity of Unbelief?
Remember that it makes God to be the
very contrary of what He is.
Unbelief and its rebellion will make of a mere nothing a great
mountain.
Every murmuring thought is the child of Unbelief, and makes
God a liar.
II
THE SINS OF BELIEVERS
THE heart of man is a restless deep, ever
casting up mire and dirt (Isaiah 57: 20); but in the sins of God’s children
there is s pre-eminence if guilt.
Jonah could not sin himself out of the love of God; therefore,
sinning himself out of communion with God, he had the greater guilt.
I count myself more vile than the murderer who suffers death
by the hangman’s hand, because the atoning blood of the Son of God acquaints me
with myself. ... That which shows me my forgiveness reveals to me my pollution.
By far the greater part of the sins of God’s children are sins of ignorance. How needful therefore the cry, “Cleanse Thou me from secret faults” (Psalm 19: 12) - faults hidden from mine own eye
and from mine own conscience! Without atoning blood they would bring down God’s
curse on the offender’s head. Oh, let us not make light of sins of ignorance!
The sins of our unregenerate state should indeed be ever before
us; but by frowardness, since we tasted that God is gracious, we sin (as
natural men cannot sin) against the heart of Christ, against God’s love and His
Spirit, who seals us unto the day of redemption. The natural man is a rebel
against his Maker; but it is against a Father that we, the saved, offend.
Forgetting the cross, we go astray. The remedy is true and speedy confession;
for we have an Advocate with the Father. (1 John 2: 1.)
We must be ever waging war with the secret workings of sin.
Where it is but in a little measure allowed, God may suffer His child to go
further and further in that allowance, until the seven locks are shorn on
Delilah’s lap.
To be doubting Christ’s love, to be limiting His grace, is
alike unworthy of us and grieving to Him. The last offence of Joseph’s brethren
(Genesis 50: 15-21) was not the least.
There is no fault in our character that the grace of God
cannot cure. It becomes us therefore to give no quarter to the Canaanites. (Judges 2.)
God deals with us after conversion otherwise than before it:
He, as a wise Father, has a rod of correction for His children, and smites them
when He might let them alone, did they not know His love.
Peculiar temptations bring forth peculiar corruptions, after
neglected warnings.
The Lord Jesus took loving pains to make Peter acquainted with
Himself, and was compelled to humble him by his threefold denial of his Lord,
but without exposing him to the eye of enemies. Overcome by a sudden
temptation, he was quickly forgiven and restored. (Luke 22: 55-62) Whereas David, who had deliberately transgressed, and who had long been
in a backsliding state of heart, was exposed to the people as well as made
loathsome in his own eyes. (2 Samuel 12. & 16.) When Christ
restores a fallen one, He often makes that disciple stronger than before his
fall. “When thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren” (Luke 22: 32). So it will he with those who, like David and Peter, have
been wont to follow the Lord fully.
The people of God are in general slack and slothful in
searching out sins of ignorance ; but if we persevere in the search, asking God
to reveal them to us, He will give us very humbling knowledge of ourselves and
of our secret faults; with it also blessed comfort and communion, which
otherwise we could not enjoy.
* *
* * *
* *
904
Woe Unto Them
By Arlen L. Chitwood
[PART ONE OF TWO]
Woe unto them!
for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward,
and perished in
the gainsaying of Korah. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast
with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are
without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit,
twice dead, plucked up by the
roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars,
to whom is
reserved the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 11-13).
The admonition to earnestly strive with reference
to the faith in Jude 3 is followed by the introduction of
apostates - those who have stood away from the faith - in
verse
four. Three Old Testament
examples concerning apostasy are then given; and the Holy Spirit moved Jude to
record a triad in verse eight, drawing from these three examples. The apostates who had been introduced
in verse
four reappear in verse eight, and verses nine and ten continue
with the thought of apostate acts committed by these individuals. Verse eleven then presents another triad concerning
these same individuals, continuing with the thought concerning the various
forms which apostasy may take.
Jude’s manner of teaching is with constant reference to the
Old Testament. In verses five through seven he calls
attention to three periods in Old Testament history. These form the object
lessons, and the central teaching in verses eight through ten is
then taken from these incidents. Verse eleven
presents three Old Testament individuals, along with events surrounding these
individuals, and verses twelve and thirteen describe the folly of those who
follow in the paths of these three individuals:- Woe unto them ...
The Old Testament is filled with word pictures, types, and
illustrations. There is nothing redundant or superfluous; nor is anything
lacking. It is God’s Revelation to man, perfect in every detail. Every historic
event occurred under Divine, Sovereign control; “holy men of God were then
guarded from error as they, moved [‘borne along’] by the Holy
Spirit, recorded
these events (2 Peter 1: 21); and this Record has been preserved in order that the Holy Spirit might
have these things to draw upon in teaching Christians the deep things of God.
The true nature of the Old Testament is spiritual. “God is spirit”; this Revelation emanates from Him; it is the “breath of God”; and the Holy Spirit takes the breath
of God and imparts spiritual truth to man through his saved human spirit. Thus,
the Old Testament is a book written for the spiritually minded to guide them in
their spiritual lives unto spiritual maturity. And the lessons in Jude, drawn
from the Old Testament Scriptures, have been recorded for this purpose (cf. Luke 24: 25-32).
The Way of Cain
The way of Cain is the “way of the
man of flesh.” It
is following the old nature. It is doing things after the manner, wisdom, and
strength of man. It is doing things outside the realm of faith, walking by
sight.
The great section in the New Testament on walking by faith is Hebrews, chapter
eleven. This is a chapter
which draws its material entirely from the experiences of individuals in the
Old Testament. One central truth pertaining to a walk by faith in relation to the salvation of the soul is presented,
and this chapter forms, in this fashion, the capstone to the Book of Hebrews (cf. Heb.
10: 39). The key verse in chapter eleven, reflecting on the central message
throughout this book, is verse six: “But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him.”
Abel offered unto God “a more excellent sacrifice” than Cain. Abel offered his sacrifice
“by
faith.” Cain did
not so do (Heb. 11: 4). Consequently, Abel’s sacrifice was
accepted, but Cain’s was rejected. Abel brought the sacrifice which God required, but Cain brought something
other than what God required. Abel brought “of the firstlings of his flock,” but
Cain brought “of the fruit of the ground.” God required shed blood, as set forth
in Abel’s offering; but Cain brought that which was bloodless.
God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering and rejection of Cain’s
offering followed the principle set forth in Heb. 11: 6. God had previously revealed to both individuals exactly what
He required, else neither could have acted “by faith.” Faith is simply believing what God has to say
about a matter and acting accordingly. Abel, exercising faith, brought the
offering which God required. But Cain, rejecting what God had to say, brought
something other than what God required.
Cain was the first of a long list of individuals, following
the fall, who governed their lives in “a way that seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 16: 25). Cain failed to take into account that
man’s ways and thoughts are in contradistinction to God’s ways and thoughts: “For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than
your thoughts” (Isa.
55: 8, 9). Man’s perspective is finite, emanating from a fallen human nature. God’s
perspective is infinite, emanating from a point where corruption cannot exist.
The Creator’s ways and thoughts can become the creature’s ways and thoughts only in the sphere of
“faith,” i.e., in the sphere where the creature believes God and acts accordingly.
Redeemed man MUST follow the man of
spirit in a walk “by faith.” There is no other way to please God.
Christians have a Book, a Book containing the ways and
thoughts of God. This Book, the written Revelation of God, has been given for a
definite and specific purpose; and that purpose is, twofold: 1) unredeemed man being brought into a right relationship with God, and 2) redeemed man following the man of
spirit in a walk by faith within
this right relationship. In order to walk “by faith,” man MUST know the Revelation of God; for he cannot believe God and act
accordingly apart from knowing what God has to say about the matter. Thus,
redeemed man, through the man of spirit, ascertains the ways and thoughts of
God through this Revelation; and his pilgrim walk, “by faith,” is then governed according.
Going “the way of Cain,” the way of the man of flesh, is set forth in the Epistle of Jude
as a form of “apostasy,” a standing away from the faith. Apostate Christians remove themselves
from God’s ways and thoughts revealed in His Word and go in a contrary
direction, governed by their own ways and thoughts. Man’s goals, aims,
ambitions, plans, methods, and schemes then come into view and find their place
among the acts of the apostates and those who do their bidding.
“The way of Cain” is not necessarily something
offensive in the eyes of man. In fact, in the eyes of religious man today it is
quite the contrary, and the way of Cain is often exalted and held in high
esteem. It is not called “the way of Cain,” but, rather, it is disguised
and clothed in proper religious attire and passed off in Christian circles as
the way and work of the Lord. This is a relatively easy task to
accomplish because very few Christians are grounded in the Word of God in a
manner sufficient to ascertain the ways and thoughts of the Lord; and
understanding only the ways and thoughts of man, it is a very simple thing for
them to, unknowingly, be led in “the way of Cain.”
The only protection which Christians have against the
onslaught of the enemy today is a knowledge of the Word of God, providing the
necessary instructions concerning the manner of one’s pilgrim walk. Christians MUST receive the Word of God into their saved human spirits
and allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead them into “all truth” concerning
the ways and thoughts of God. There is NO substitute! Only in this manner can there be an
effective walk by faith, one which pleases God and ultimately
results in the salvation of their souls.
The Error of Balaam
Jude 11 records “the error of Balaam,” 2 Peter 2:
15 records “the way of Balaam,” and Rev. 2: 14 records “the doctrine of Balaam.” All three of these are used in passages referring to [regenerate] Christians entering into a state
of affairs within Christianity which not only defiles their high calling but
also dishonours the Lord Who purchased their salvation with His Own blood.
The error and way of Balaam appear in companion portions of Scripture and
would seem to refer basically to the same thing. The error of Balaam is
associated with “reward” in Jude,
and the way of Balaam is
associated with the “wages of unrighteousness” in 2 Peter. Thus, the error and walk of Balaam have to do with “monetary gain”; and, according to the Old Testament account, this monetary gain is acquired through one’s willingness to compromise
the principles of God and proclaim things contrary to the revealed Word
of God.
The error and way of Balaam can be found in Numbers, chapters
twenty-two through twenty-four. Balak, king of the Moabites, hired
Balaam to come into his land and pronounce a curse upon the children of
The doctrine of Balaam is different than [from] his error and way. His doctrine had to do with that part of his teaching which
was contrary to the Word of God. However, an inseparable
relationship exists between his doctrine, error, and way. That part of his teaching which was
contrary to the Word of God (his doctrine) resulted from his willingness to prophesy either good or bad for
monetary gain (his
error and way). And it is little different among servants of the Lord today. One’s willingness to compromise the principles of
God (the error and
way of Balaam) - for whatever reason - must always be inseparably linked to [prophetic] teaching that which is contrary
to the Word of God (the doctrine of Balaam).
1. Doctrine of Balaam - Past
Scripture surrounding the doctrine of
Balaam and its tragic results is given in Num. 25: 1-3: “And
The Israelites, after coming into
What caused the Israelites to depart [and later apostatise] from the one true and living God Who had delivered them from Egypt, and begin serving false gods and following the
idolatrous ways of the Moabites? The answer is given in Num. 31:
16: “Behold, these caused the children of
Balaam could not curst
The counsel of Balaam - i.e., “the doctrine of Balaam” had to do with the sins committed by the Israelites in
view of their covenant relationship with God. Briefly stated, this doctrine had
to do with the fact that the Israelites were the covenant people of God, this
covenant could not be broken, and consequently the Israelites could sin with
immunity. However, such was not the case. It wais true that the covenant established between God and Israel could
not be broken; it was also true that Israel’s position as firstborn could not
be changed; but it was not true
that Israel could sin with immunity. God’s
wrath was manifested because of the sins of His [apostate] people, and the thousands of
Israelites who succumbed to the counsel of Balaam were overthrown in the wilderness
short of the goal of their calling.
* *
* * *
* *
905
LOOKING FOR THE BLESSED HOPE
By HOWARD BASS
Pastor, Nachalat Yeshua Congreation,
BeerSheva
I was saved when I finally realised that my hope for a
better world was going to be the Lord Jesus Christ coming back to make this
world right, according to the prophetic Word of God that He has given us in the
Bible. When I repented and believed the good news, I got much more than I had
expected or even thought of: forgiveness of my sins, baptism of the Holy
Spirit, eternal life with the Lord in a new creation that will be perfect, far
better even than the
I
remember that when we were first saved, much of the expectation then (1981) was
that Jesus could come back in 1988, which meant that the rapture could happen any time very soon in 1981. This was “the blessed hope”. Randi and I went to a church service not long after
in another state, and the pastor that day said that the rapture, our blessed hope, could happen any time very soon, and that the
Christians would escape the terrible things that were going to come on the
Earth. But every time that I read the Bible about these things, I was not
as sure as these pastors and teachers were about
the timing or the purpose of the rapture. Also, I thought, Christians had not done any better than the Jews had with respect to
living in a manner that honoured the name of the LORD.
I
heard another well-known teacher, who recently spoke at a conference in another
country, say that the blessed hope of Christians - was not dying; i.e. being
raptured when Jesus comes for His bride. This expectation was, and is, believed and taught by
both Jewish and Gentile believers.
My
thoughts always took me to consider all the thousands, millions, billions of
believers who have already died over the last almost 2,000 years. According to all of these teachers and
teachings, they all missed the blessed hope! They simply were not living at
the right time! Yet the Scriptures give this blessed hope to all believers, not
only to those who might still be alive when the Lord returns, when He calls,
firstly, for those dead in Christ, and also to those alive in Him to gather
together unto Him. (Psalm 50: 4-5; 2
Thessalonians 2: 15.) In
fact, the catching up of those alive at His coming was a “new thing” that would not have been thought of before the
revelation given to the apostle Paul: whether dead or alive, all who have hoped
in YHVH’s Messiah for salvation will be in the new body with Him at that moment
which the Father has appointed (Genesis 3:
15; Matthew 24: 36; Romans 8: 18-25; 1 Corinthians 15: 50-58.)
Have
you noticed that after the mark of the
beast has been taken - to the doom of all who do so, the apostle John is
told by a voice from Heaven: “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the lord from now on!’ Yes, says the Spirit, that they rest from their labours, and their works follow them.” (Revelation 14: 13.) As much as we
might like not to die, God is saying that those who do die in the lord even during the time
of great tribulation are blessed! For they will be resurrected to eternal
life in the body. The gates of Sheol/Hades - death - cannot prevail against the
Church! In any case, it does seem that the Holy Spirit is awakening the Body of Messiah to the coming again of
the Lord.
Many still
seem to be sleeping, or having awakened, they still seem unprepared or indifferent
to it. This is what the parable of
the ten virgins teaches us. As often as we fellowship in the Lord’s Supper,
we remember the Lord’s death until He
comes. (1 Corinthians 11: 25-27.)
An
argument used to support an “imminent” - any
time, whether very soon or very distant - rapture are the verses and
expectations of the apostles in their letters to believers that the Lord was “at the door”, “at hand”, “approaching”,
“coming quickly” (which is not the same as ‘coming soon’).
Paul,
in his first epistle to the believers in Thessalonica, wrote to them of the
Lord’s coming and the catching up of those believers who would be alive at His
coming. Paul even wrote as if he himself might be alive at that time. Yet in
his second letter to them, he clarified what had apparently been misunderstood:
that this would not happen until the
falling away (apostasy) and the revelation of the antichrist. This
does not occur until midway through the
last seven years of this [evil] age (the 70th week of Daniel).
It
could perhaps be said that from that
midway point the Lord’s return will be imminent.* But even then, maybe not:
remember that those who are alive in Messiah [when He returns (1
Thess. 4: 16,
17, R.V.)] meet in the
air those who are being resurrected on the way up, and in these verses from Revelation regarding the
opening of the fifth seal, the Lord is letting us know that there are going to be a certain number of martyrs before His vengeance is poured out. (Revelation 6: 9-11.)
Both
Paul and Peter came to know that they were going to die, and they did not say,
‘unless the Lord should come between now and then’.
The return of the Jewish people back to the land of promise was, and is, a big
sign of the last days that needed to occur before these other events can play
out. The Holy Spirit gave the early believers an earnest expectation that their
blessed hope would truly be in God and the fulfilment of His plan of
redemption. But beyond them, the Scriptures are written for us living at the
end of the age, and so this expectation is being quickened in our generation to
a level not known for most of the last 2,000 years. (1
Corinthians 10: 11.)
The
Word of God promises to those in Christ that we are delivered from God’s
wrath, the Day of YHVH. (Isaiah
61: 2b) Jacob’s Trouble or The
Great Tribulation is essentially Satan’s wrath being unleashed on especially
Jews and Christians, whom he especially hates, since both are connected with
Yehovah God and His Son in covenant relationship, even if individuals among
them do not believe. God’s wrath is
against His enemies, and of His people, both Jews and Christians.
Some
of His enemies can include
individual Jews and [regenerate] Christians
who have forsaken the covenants He has “cut” with them. God’s wrath will be seen to be His righteous judgment
against those who are clearly opposed to Him. Those who hold to a
pre-tribulation rapture as the blessed hope have had to redefine the whole of
“Daniel’s 70th Week” - the last
seven years before the coming again of the Lord - as God’s wrath or The Day of
the LORD, in order to justify their particular position, but which is also the
eschatological view of all believers: we will not suffer the wrath of God. This
is good news! And the Holy Spirit will
enable us to help others understand what is going on, and purify us to be the spotless and chaste Bride of
our glorious Bridegroom! This is
also good news! (Matthew 3: 11-12; Daniel 11: 31-35; Ephesians 5: 25-27; 1 John 3:
1-3.)
Let’s
look at some verses that express the promise of God which gives the confident
hope that has sustained the faithful throughout the ages of mankind:
Titus
2: 11-14; Acts 23: 6; Acts 24: 14-16; Job 19: 25-27; Hebrews 11: 17-19; John 11: 23-27;
Daniel
12: 1-2; Acts 26: 6-8; 1 Corinthians
15: 16-20; Philippians 3: 7-12;
Revelation
20:
6.
Our
blessed hope as believers in Yeshua / Jesus is the same as that given to the Fathers and the Children of Israel,
and which was believed by men and women of faith in the Word and promise of God
before them: in it is the resurrection of the dead in Messiah/Christ, and the
rapture of the living in Christ/Messiah at His revelation, at the return of the lord Jesus Christ in great
power and glory, and sin will trouble
us no more: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and
every eye will see Him, even those who pierced
Him. And the tribes of the Earth will mourn
because of Him.
Even so,
Amen.” “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
*
* * *
* * *
906
THE BASIS OF THE PREMILLENNIAL FAITH
AND
ITS BASIS IN THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
By CHARLES C. RYRIE
[PART
ONE OF FOUR]
The second important covenant upon which premillennialism is
based is the covenant with David. While the Abrahamic covenant is not often ignored by interpreters of the Word, the
Davidic usually receives the merest attention. This is a fundamental defect,
for the main themes of the covenant, namely the throne, the King, and
the kingdom, are vitally important to any professed system of truth. It is not
enough to say that all the promises of the Davidic covenant have been fulfilled
by Christ. What aspects of the covenant have been fulfilled, what aspects remain to be fulfilled, the
question of literal or spiritual
fulfilment, the relation of the covenant and the kingdom to this [evil] age and to the Church, and the future millennial reign of Christ must all be included in a
complete discussion of the covenant. Without a proper understanding of the Davidic covenant, God’s purposes concerning His own Son, His throne, His kingdom, and His church are a hopeless blur. Premillennialism is the only system
of truth which can bring these things into focus.
1. THE ANALYSIS OF THE COVENANT
In these words God made His covenant
with David:
“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy
seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy
bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name,
and I will
stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If
he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the
rod of men, and with the stripes of the children
of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from
him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away
before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established for ever before thee: thy
throne shall be established for ever:” (2
Sam. 7: 12-16.)
The background of the covenant is familiar. David desired to
build a temple for the Lord to replace the temporary tent-like tabernacle.
David himself lived in a house of cedar and it seemed only congruous to him
that there be a more permanent building for the centre of worship. But to
Nathan the prophet was revealed that God had something far greater in mind for
David. In this revelation, which we call the Davidic covenant, there are made
certain promises to David and certain ones to his yet unborn son.
The promises of the covenant to David. God promised three things to David. First, he was to
have a posterity. The covenant explicitly states that he would have a son and
that David’s house would be established forever. This clearly has reference to
David’s physical descendants, for David’s line would always be the royal line.
Secondly, David’s throne was to be established forever. Thirdly, David’s
kingdom was also to be established forever.*
This has reference to the earthly, political kingdom over
[* NOTE: That is, for as
long as God will allow this present creation to remain. God has plans to
destroy this creation, and have it replaced at the end of the Messianic Reign
of Messiah Jesus with “a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away;
and the sea is no more”! (Rev. 21: 1, R.V.). Cf. 2
Pet. 3: 10,
R.V.]
The promises of the covenant to Solomon. To Solomon likewise were promised three things. First, he was
promised that he would be the one to build the temple. Secondly, God promised
that Solomon’s throne would be established forever. It is important to notice
that Solomon received no promise that his seed would sit on that throne
forever. The promise was that David’s seed would never be abolished, but no
similar promise was given to Solomon. This fine point must be recognized in
order to reconcile the provisions of the covenant with the historic fulfilment,
for Solomon’s line was cut off from sitting on the throne of David. Thirdly, chastisement was promised for disobedience,
but the perpetuity of the covenant is
nevertheless assured. The Word of God is perfectly plain concerning this,
as already quoted. It seems as though God especially anticipated the
a-millennial argument that disobedience abrogates the covenant, and so He
specifically says that it would not. History records
that disobedience did bring punishment, but the covenant stands sure.
II. THE HISTORIC FULFILLMENT
OF THE COVENANT
It is only necessary to mention briefly that David had a son,
that David’s throne was established, that David’s kingdom was established, that
Solomon built the temple, that his throne was established, and that he was
punished for disobedience. It is agreed by all conservatives that these things
were established forever, for all recognize that Christ is the ultimate
fulfiller of these promises. Luke 1: 31-33 makes this clear:
“And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and
shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Most High:
and the Lord God shall give unto him [i.e., our Lord Jesus, ‘the Most High’s’ anointed Messiah] - “the throne of his father David: and he” - [i.e. Jesus, our
Lord and Saviour, the coming King and High Priest.] - “shall reign over the house
of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom
there shall be no end.”*
[* NOTE: See Rev.
3: 21,
R.V. Contrary to popular opinion, there are two thrones and two
kingdoms are shown in this text! The Christ (Messiah Jesus), has promised to
share
His inheritance (see Psalm 2: 8. Cf. Zech. 6: 12, 13, R.V.) - His Millennial
and Messianic
Throne - with overcomers
from amongst His Church: but there is no mention made of any
overcomer being allowed to sit down with Him on
His Father’s throne - the ETERNAL throne - a ‘throne’ NOT for one ‘age’ only (see Luke 20: 35; 1 Cor. 15: 25, 26,ff. R.V. Cf. Psalms
110 and Psalm 72 with Luke 24: 25; 1 Pet. 1: 6, 7, 11, ff.; Rev. 20: 6ff.) but for
all eternity - for ‘the ages of the ages.’ (Greek).]
Pre-millennialists agree with A-millennialists in recognizing
that David’s posterity had its consummation and eternal fulfilment in Jesus
Christ, for only the eternal Son of God could fulfil these promises. However,
the question of fulfilment not only consists in whether or not Christ fulfils
the promises of the covenant, but also must include a discussion of when and how He fulfils them. In brief,
the A-millennialist answer is that Christ fulfils these promises in His present
session at the right hand of God. The kingdom, therefore, is solely a spiritual
one. The Pre millennialist answers that the fulfilment is yet future and
will take place when Christ returns to the earth to set up and reign over a
literal kingdom beginning in the millennium, and continuing throughout all
eternity. This is the teaching of the Old Testament
passages which confirm the yet un-fulfilled promises of the covenant, and it is
the teaching of the New Testament even though the King was rejected.
But before considering this, it is necessary to deal with one additional
problem concerning the historic fulfilment of the covenant.
The question which must be answered is this: does the historic
partial fulfilment (conceived of as partial from the pre-millennial contention
that Christ is not now fulfilling the provisions of the covenant) disallow a
future literal fulfilment? The chief difficulties which history brings up are
three: (1) there has been no
continuous development or continued authority of the political kingdom of
David, (2) Israel’s captivity and
the downfall of the kingdom would seem to argue against a literal
interpretation for a future fulfilment, and (3) the centuries which have passed since the first advent of Christ
would seem to indicate that a literal fulfilment should not be expected.
Negatively, it should be remembered that A-millennialism has just as much
difficulty as Pre millennialism with the first two problems since they have to
do with events before the first coming of Christ. Positively, the Pre
millennial position holds that the partial historic fulfilment in no way
mitigates against the future fulfilment for these four reasons. First, the Old
Testament prophets expected a literal fulfilment even during
“... the line which was to fulfil the
promise of the eternal throne and eternal kingdom over
* Valvoord, Bibliotheca Sacra, CII. 161.
Part of the covenant, then, has been fulfilled literally in
the past. That there have been and are interruptions in the carrying out of the
provisions of the covenant does not mean that the yet unfulfilled parts will
not be fulfilled in the future.
The importance of literal interpretation. Only literal interpretation will bring
out all the significantly prophetic features of the Davidic covenant. First of
all, if the covenant is interpreted literally, then it follows that what Christ
is doing now in His present session is not fulfilling the Davidic covenant. In
the Old Testament the throne of David as perpetually promised is the throne of
the house of
It then follows that if Christ is not now fulfilling the
Davidic covenant, there must be a future
fulfilment, and if there is to be a future fulfilment, then the premillennial system of
interpretation is required, for it
alone gives a place for such a future earthly reign of Christ.
Therefore, the question of literal interpretation is extremely important.
The arguments for literal interpretation. There is no
better list of arguments for the literal interpretation of the Davidic covenant
than the one which Peters gives.
(1) It is solemnly covenanted,
confirmed by oath,
and hence cannot be altered or broken.
(2) The grammatical
sense alone is becoming a covenant.
(3) The impression
made on David, if erroneous, is disparaging to his prophetical
office.
(4) The conviction
of Solomon (2 Chron. 6: 14-16) was that it referred to the literal throne and Kingdom.
(5) Solomon claims
that the covenant was fulfilled in himself, but only in so far that he too as
David’s son sat on David’s throne. Some from this wrongfully infer that the
entire promise is conditional over against the most express declarations to the contrary as to the
distinguished One, the pre-eminent Seed. It was indeed, conditional as to the
ordinary seed of David ... and if his seed would have yielded obedience,
David’s throne would never have been vacated until the Seed, par excellence, came.
... The reader will not fail to observe that if fulfilled in Solomon, and not
having respect unto the Seed, how incongruous and irrelevant would be the
prophecies given afterward, as e.g. Jer. 33:
17-26, etc.
(6) The language is that ordinarily used to denote the literal throne and
(7) The prophets
adopt the same language, and its constant reiteration under Divine
guidance is evidence that the plain grammatical sense is the one intended.
(8) The prevailing
belief of centuries, a national faith, engendered by the language, under the teaching of inspired men,
indicates how the language is to be understood.
(9) This throne and
Kingdom is one of promise and inheritance, and hence refers not to the Divinity
but to the Humanity of Jesus.
(10) This same is
distinctively promised to David’s Son “according to the flesh” to be actually
realized, and, therefore, He must appear [sometime future, as] the Theocratic King as promised.
(11) We have not
the slightest hint given that it is to be interpreted in any other way than a
literal one; any other is the result of pure inference.
(12) Any other view
than that of a literal interpretation involves the grossest self-contradiction.
(13) The denial of
a literal reception of the covenant robs the heir of His covenanted
inheritance.
(14) No grammatical
rule can be laid down which will make David’s throne to be the Father’s throne
in the third heaven [or upon the ‘new earth’ (Rev. 21: 1, R.V.)].
(15) That if the
latter is attempted under the notion of “symbolical”
or “typical,” then the credibility and meaning
of the covenants are left to the interpretations of men, and David himself becomes the “symbol” or “type” of
the Creator.
(16) That if
David’s throne is the Father’s throne in heaven, then it must have existed forever.
(17) If such
covenanted promises are to be received figuratively, it is inconceivable that
they should be given in their present form without some direct affirmation, in some place, of their figurative nature, God foreseeing (if not
literal) that for centuries they would be pre-eminently calculated to foster
false expectations, e. g. even from David to Christ.
(18) God is
faithful in His promises and deceives no one in the
language of His covenants.
(19) No necessity
existed, why if this throne promised to David’s Son meant something else, the
throne should be so definitely
promised in the
form given.
(20) The identical throne and Kingdom overthrown are the
ones restored.
(21) “... These, in connection with the covenants themselves, make
David’s throne and Kingdom a requisite for the display of that Theocratic ordering which God has
already instituted … for the restoration and exaltation of the Jewish notion …
for the salvation of the human race … and for the dominion of a renewed
curse-delivered world. … Such a throne and kingdom are necessary to preserve the Divine
Unity of Purpose in the already Purposed Theocratic line.”*
*Op.
cit. I, 343-44.
These
reasons conclusively prove that the only proper way to regatd
the covenant is literally, and its being true, the covenant must have a future
fulfilment which is according to the Pre-millennial system of interpretation.
* *
* * *
* *
907
LINE UPON LINE
CHAMPTER 19
DAVID, OR THE
2 Samuel 5: 7-11; 1 Chronicles 13.;
15.;
16.
AT last
David was made king, as God had promised. I will tell you the name of the city
in which he lived: it was
David desired some men to build him a house upon
David loved God very much, and so he thought he should like
God’s ark to be very near his palace.
Where was the ark?
You remember that the ark was once at Shiloh, and that the
Philistines took it in battle, and that they sent it back to the Israelites;
but the ark never was taken back to
The ark had been kept in a man’s house; David knew where it
was, and he went himself to fetch
it. A great many priests came with David, and a great many people, who played
on musical instruments, such as harps, and trumpets, and other instruments,
called cornets, and cymbals, and psalteries, and some people who sang sweet
psalms in the praise of God; and there were some women playing on timbrels.* So
they brought the ark from the man’s house to Mount Zion in Jerusalem. David was
dressed in a white ephod, and all the singers and players of music were dressed
in white, and the priests were dressed in white.
* The
singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were
the damsels playing with timbrels. Psalm 68:
25.
David played upon his harp, and he went with the players and
singers; and the ark came afterwards with the priests.
How beautiful it was to see all these men in white, and to
hear them praising God!
Would not the sight have put you in mind of the angels of God
in heaven?
A great many of the Israelites came to see this beautiful
sight. They saw their king praising God upon his harp. Oh, how glad David felt that day!
The ark was taken up the hill called
* “Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
even lift them up, ye
everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall
come in.” Psalm 24: 9.
** 1 Chronicles 15: 1.
David also offered some sacrifices upon
David was very glad that God’s ark was near his own palace. He
desired the singers and players on music, to sing and play every day near the
ark. He desired them to sing in the night also; some used to sing in the day,
and some used to sing in the night.* They sang by turns. The angels in heaven
can sing night and day without resting, but these singers could not do so. When
David was in his palace, he could hear them singing God’s praise: even at
night, if he lay awake upon his bed, he could hear those sweet songs.
* “Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye
servants of the Lord, which by night stand in
the house of the Lord” Psalm 134: 1.
David wrote the psalms himself. God’s Spirit taught him what
to say?* He sang the psalms to his own harp, and he wrote thousands down and
sent them to the singers that they might sing near the ark.
* David, the son of Jesse, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, said, “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me.” 2 Samuel 23: 1,
2.
David did not always stay in his palace on
* “And David spake unto the Lord the
words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him, out of the hand of all his enemies.” - 2 Samuel 22: 1.
DAVID’S JOY
Behold the pious king advancing
Amidst the white-robed priestly train:
Behold him playing, singing, dancing,
His joy unable to restrain!
Now close
beside king David’s palace .
Within a
tent the ark shall dwell;
Let
For God himself shall guard it well.
Their watch the holy servants keeping,
With psalms shall cheer the silent
night,
The monarch in his palace sleeping
Shall wake and listen with delight.
CHILD
Oh, may I love such holy pleasures,
And taste them in the courts above;
Where saints in softest, sweetest
measures,
For ever praise the God they love!
* *
*
CHAPTER 20
DAVID, OR THE GRATEFUL DESIRE
1 Chronicles 7.
ONE day David was sitting in his beautiful palace, and he said
to his friend Nathan, ‘I live in a
fine house, but God’s ark is placed under curtains.’ And David wished to build a beautiful house
for God’s ark.
Nathan, David’s friend, was a very wise and a very good man,
and he advised David to build a house for the Lord.
In the night God spake to Nathan, and said to him, ‘Go, tell David not to build me a house; I am pleased with David for wishing to build it, but I do not choose him to build me one, because he has fought so many battles and killed so many
people: but I will give David a son, who shall build me a house:
but David shall go on fighting battles, and I will bless David always.’
God was not displeased with David for fighting battles, only
he did not choose that he should build him a house.
Then Nathan came to David in the morning and told him what God
had said.
David was very much pleased to hear that God would bless him,
and that he would give him a son who should build a house for God. So David
went to thank God for his kind promises.
David said, ‘O Lord, how kind
thou hast been to me! And wilt thou still go on
blessing me? I do not deserve such kindness.
How can I thank thee enough? Pray go on blessing me and loving me!’
God liked David’s prayer. David was not proud. He wondered
that God should be so kind to him, and that he should have taken him from being
a shepherd to be king over
Has not God been kind to you, my dear child? and has he not
promised to take you to live with him, if you ask him? Did you ever, my dear
little child, wonder to yourself why God was so kind to you? It was not because
you are good, because you are full of sin. It was because God is so good, and
loves to bless people.
DAVID’S WISH
Once David in a palace dwelt,
Whose walls were built of cedar wood;
But sorrowful the monarch felt,
For in a tent God’s ark abode.
He wish’d,
to build a temple grand
Of marble, silver, brass, and gold,
Where men might flock from every land,
And
His God approved the pious thought,
And yet his servant’s wish denied;
Because in battles he had fought,
And human blood his hands had dyed.
Yet when his days were all fulfilled,
God promised him a peaceful son,
Who should a glorious temple build,
And sit upon his father’s throne.
CHILD
And did the Lord the wish approve,
Which show’d
affection true and warm?
Will he accept my thoughts of love,
Though I no glorious deeds perform?
He knows my heart, he knows I long
That every ear should hear his word,
Till Jews and Turks and heathens
throng
Into his house, and call him Lord.
* *
*
CHAPTER 21
2 Samuel 11.
WAS
David a good man? Oh yes! he loved God, and tried to please him. What made
David good? God’s Holy Spirit. God put his Spirit into his heart; yet still
there was wickedness in David’s heart, as well as goodness. Satan, too, used to
tempt David to do wicked things. Sometimes David did not pray to God to keep
him from Satan, and then David used to mind what Satan said. Shall you not be
very sorry to hear of a wicked thing that David did?
I am now going to tell you how David once displeased the Lord.
Once David’s men went out to fight; against some wicked,
people who lived near
So David stayed at
‘Satan finds
some mischief still
For idle hands to do’?
One day when it was hot, David lay upon his bed, and when it
grew cool he got up and walked on the top of his house, which was flat like
this table. As he was walking there he looked down and saw a woman whom he
liked very much as soon as he saw her. David wished to have her as his wife; so he sent his servants to ask what her
name was; and they came back and told him that her name was Bath-she-ba, and that she
was married to a man called Uriah.
Could David have Bathsheba as his wife, if she was married to
Uriah? Oh no; David could not take her away from Uriah to be his wife; that
would have been wicked; for God has said in the ten commandments, ‘Thou shalt
not commit adultery.’ David ought to have prayed to God to keep him from thinking of Bathsheba
any more; but he went on thinking of her, and wishing that she could be his
wife; and he thought, ‘If Uriah was dead, then
Bathsheba could be my wife.’ Then he wished that Uriah was dead. Now
Uriah was a very brave and good man, and he was gone with the captain Joab a
great way off, to fight against some wicked people.
David wished that Uriah might be killed in the battle. Was not
that very wicked? God said in the ten commandments, ‘Thou shalt
not kill,’ and we
must not even wish a person to be killed.
At last a very wicked plan came into
David’s heart. I will tell you what David did. David wrote a letter to Joab the
captain, and this is what he wrote: ‘When you take the people out to fight,
let Uriah stand in a place where the wicked people will
be able to shoot him.’
How could David write such a letter? David sent the letter to
Joab. Ought Joab to have done this wicked thing? Oh no; he ought not to have
minded David. But Joab was a very wicked man, so he determined to do as the
king had told him.
Soon afterwards Joab took his soldiers to fight against a
great city with walls all round it, and he told Uriah to go with some of the
soldiers very near the walls of the city, and some of the men of the city shot
arrows from the walls, and killed poor Uriah.
Then Joab sent a man to tell king David at
Was David sorry when he heard that Uriah was killed? He
pretended to be sorry, but he felt glad in his heart. You know why he was glad.
Now Bathsheba could be his wife; so he sent for Bathsheba, and he married her,
and she came and lived with him in his palace.
But God was displeased at what David had done.
* *
*
CHAPTER 22
2 Samuel 12: 1-14.
ONE day,
Nathan, who was a prophet came to David.
God had told Nathan what David had done.
Nathan began by telling David a little history. He said, ‘There were
two men in one city; the one was rich and the
other was poor: the rich man had a great many
sheep; the poor man had only one little lamb,
which he had taken care of since it was first born;
he fed it, and gave it
drink out of his own cup, and he nursed it in
his bosom, and loved it as one of his children.
One day a visitor came to the rich man’s house, and the rich man sent for the poor man’s lamb, and killed it and prepared it for dinner for his visitor.’ Then said Nathan, ‘What shall be
done to the rich man?’
And David felt very angry with the rich man, and he said to
Nathan, ‘He shall die, and give the
poor man four lambs instead of the one which he took.’
Then Nathan said to David, ‘thou art the man!’
What did Nathan mean? Was David the man who had taken the poor
man’s lamb? No, David had not taken a lamb, but he had taken Uriah’s wife, and
that was much more wicked. Nathan had told him this story to show him what a
wicked thing he had done. Did not David deserve to die?
Nathan said to David, “God has been very kind to you,
and made you king. Why
have you disobeyed his commandments? God will
punish you for your wickedness. Your children shall
fight each other, and kill each other, and behave very wickedly to you as long as you live.”
David was very sorry when he heard that God was angry with
what he had done, and he said, “I have sinned against
the Lord.”
Then Nathan said, “God has forgiven you; You shall not die.”
David was really sorry for what he had done. He was not like Saul, who only cared for the
punishment; he was most sorry because he had displeased God.
David played a very sad psalm on his harp, and he gave it to
the singers to sing near the ark.
He asked God in his psalm to wash out his sins. These were
some of David’s words: “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O
God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
You see that David prayed to God to forgive him, and God did
forgive him. God would not send David to hell, but he would forgive him,
because Jesus had promised to die for him some day upon the cross. Yet still
God would punish David while he was alive, that all people might know that God
hated wickedness.
I hope, dear children, that you will often pray to God to keep
you from Satan; but whenever you have done a naughty thing I hope you will feel
sorry, and that you will ask God to forgive you; and I know he will forgive you,
because Jesus died on the cross for sinners.*
* ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and
he is the propitiation for our sins’ - 1
John 2: 1, 2.
If you do not feel sorry, then you should ask God to make you
feel sorry: for it is God’s Spirit that makes people sorry for their sins.
Can this be David - this the man
Whose course in piety began?
Whose ways the holy God approved,
And whom he call’d
his son beloved.
Ah! see him take the lamb away,
That in Uriah’s bosom lay:
And see Uriah at his word
Perish beneath a heathen sword!
Has he forgot God’s love of old,
When first he took him from the fold;
And how with grateful heart he swore
To serve this God for evermore?
Why have his feet gone thus astray?
Ah! surely he forgot to pray:
For God will never leave to fall
Those who on him for succour call.
CHILD
Satan’s nets are thickly spread,
On every path my feet shall tread
But they shall ne’er entangled be,
If, Lord, I fix my eyes on thee.
* *
* * *
* *
908
BALAAM’S ERROR AND APOSTASY
By SAMUEL COX, D.D. [PART TWO]
Sins so
sordid, base, and foul as those which we have now seen brought home to him
compose a terrible indictment against the Prophet in whom we have found so much
to admire, - inspirations so lofty, gifts so rare, and a loyalty to the words
which God put into his mouth so disinterested and steadfast. As we ponder the
indictment and dwell upon its counts, we may be tempted to forget his redeeming
virtues, the qualities which we have admired in him and approved. But the Bible
will not suffer us to do him this injustice; for among these supplementary
Scriptures there is one which not only confirms all the good impressions of him
which we have derived from the Chronicle, but raises him even higher in our
thoughts. It is the passage which we are now to consider. In Micah 6: 5-8, we read: “O my people, remember
now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam, the son of Beor,
answered him,
from Shittim to Gilgal,* that ye may discern the righteous acts of the Lord.
* Ewald conjectures with much
probability that “from Shittim to Gilgal” is a
marginal note which has crept into the text.
[Balak loquitur.] “Wherewith shall I come to
meet the Lord, and bow myself before the God of the high place? Shall I come to meet him with burnt-offerings, with yearling calves? Will
the Lord take pleasure in thousands of rams, in
myriads of rivers of oil? Shall I give up my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
[Balaam loquitur.] “He hath shaved thee,
O man, what is good: and
what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God?”
There seems no reason to doubt that in these verses we have a
colloquy which actually took place between the king of
(1) The weight of authority is on our
side. The literary instincts and spiritual insight of such men as Bishop
Butler, F. D. Maurice, Cardinal Newman, Robertson of Brighton, and Dean
Stanley, especially when backed by the verdict of critics so learned and
accomplished as Ewald and Kalisch, are not
to be lightly over-ridden; and all these take this passage as reporting a
conversation between Balak and Balaam.
(2) It is admitted all round that the
verse which introduces this passage (verse 5)
is patient of the construction we put upon it, and lends itself more easily and
naturally to it than to any other. When we are told of what Balak consulted, and how Balaam answered him, we naturally expect to find in
the verses that follow some account of the question and its reply: and in these
following verses there is a personal tone (note, the “O man” of verse 8), a conversational tone, which answers to that
expectation.
(3) Such supplementary Scriptures as this
are common in the Bible; we have already considered a good many of them by
which our conception of Balaam’s character has been deepened and enlarged. And
there are many similar passages. For example, it is no more wonderful that Micah should make this addition to the
Chronicle than that Hosea (Chap. 12: 3, 4) should
tell as that Jacob “prevailed” over the angel
with whom he strove at Peniel, because “he wept and made supplication unto
him,” although no
mention is made of his tears and supplications in the Book of Genesis; or than that the author of the first
Book of Chronicles
(Chap.
7: 21, 22) should relate how certain men of Gath, while
making a raid upon their cattle, came down upon the children of Ephraim in the
land of Goshen, and slew them with the sword, nearly exterminating the whole
tribe; and how Ephraim their father mourned for them many days, and his
brethren came to comfort him; although no mention of this catastrophe is made
in the Book of Exodus. It is no more
wonderful than that
(4) There are
local touches and undesigned coincidences in this passage which fall in with
our assumption and confirm it. What, for example, could be more natural than
that Balak, who led the Prophet from one sacred grove on the hill-tops to
another, and drenched the altars of so many high places with the blood of his
sacrifices, should conceive of Jehovah as “the God of the high place,” and anxiously
inquire how He might be placated? In the Chronicle, again, Balaam speaks
familiarly of leaving the sacred groves to meet Jehovah and of Jehovah’s coming to meet him (Chap.
23: 3, 4). So familiar is the phrase with him that he
abbreviates it into a technical term, and once, at least (Chap. 23: 15), he speaks to Balak simply of going to meet,
leaving him to infer that it was the Lord whom he expected to meet, and quite sure that he would
know how to take the phrase. Micah
preserves this singular expression, though in the Hebrew he uses a different
verb, and makes Balak ask, “Wherewith shall I come to meet the Lord? Shall I come to meet him with burnt-offerings?” Nor must we omit to note that, in this passage, Balak,
king of
And (5) the
speeches here ascribed to Balak and Balaam are in character with the men. There
is an imperious and yet a reckless and prodigal tone in the demand that Micah
puts into the mouth of the King, which is quite in harmony with all we know of
him. He who sent messengers to Balaam. saying, “Let nothing, I beseech thee, hinder thee from coming unto me, for ... I will do whatsoever
thou shalt say”;
he who pursued Heaven with fierce and pertinacious importunity from altar to
altar and hill to hill; he who, even after he had smitten his hands together in
impotent anger, and had cried out on the Prophet, “Thou shalt
never curse them again nor bless them again!” could yet command and beseech him to
make one more attempt to wring a curse from the reluctant Power on high - may
well have huddled one desperate offer and demand on the top of another as Micah
makes him do. While Balaam, who loved and admired righteousness, who was true
to the words he received from God at all risks and all costs, who was simply
fascinated by the holiness of Israel and longed to share their lot, live their
life, die their death, and who knew that it was to their comparative
sinlessness they owed their strength and their peace, was surely not unlikely
to have conceived such an ideal of righteousness as Micah here attributes to
him.
For all these reasons, then,* reasons which, when combined, form an
argument, I think, of irresistible cogency, we may take this passage as
supplementing the story contained in the Chronicle, as preserving a colloquy between Balak and Balaam which, but
for Micah, would have remained
unknown to us.
* For the opposite conclusion Mr Cheyne alleges nothing but the assumption that those who see in
this passage Balak’s question and Balaam’s reply, have “probably not realised the amount of personification which exists in the
prophetic writings.”
The exact point in the Chronicle
in which we are to insert this colloquy is not easy to determine. Dean Stanley thought that Balak saluted
Balaam with this question when he first met him on the border of
* *
* * *
* *
909
THE HOME BEYOND
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
“TABITHA, which by
interpretation is called Dorcas” (Acts 9:
36): the Holy Spirit - as so often in Scripture - emphasizes the
name, for in Scripture a name reveals a
character even more than a person: Tabitha,
Dorcas, Gazelle - such is the name in Aramaic, Greek, and English. As ‘Rhoda’ is the budding ‘rose’ of the Acts,
so ‘Dorcas’ the ‘gazelle’ or roe - an
emblem among Orientals for beauty - is loveliness in its maturity. I doubt if
we should go too far if we see in the word a remarkable translation of the
physical into the spiritual: of all animals the gazelle is one of the most
graceful - ‘grace-full’:
the grace that distinguished Tabitha is translated - not lost - into another ‘grace,’ which can never age, and never die.
Dorcas was a violet blooming in the shade; but the fragrance of her life has
filled the Churches for two thousand years.
For here is one of the wonderful biographies of Scripture
sketched in a few words by the Holy Spirit. “Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple” - the
only time the word ‘disciple’ is ever used in
the feminine: it is found nowhere else in the literature of the world - for
Heathenism never admitted a woman-disciple. Tabitha is the typical
woman-disciple delightsome to God: “this woman was full of good works” - the [Holy] Spirit is careful to say that she was
a ‘disciple’ before she did ‘good works’: fruit does not make a tree alive;
but a live tree makes fruit - “and alms-deeds which she did.” Eve sewed fig leaves together, to
cover sin: her daughter, four thousand years after, sewed garments together, to
cover want and disease and poverty and pain. It is not social position, or
wealth, or great natural gifts, or learning, for which the Holy Spirit
distinguishes the only woman ever raised from the dead: it is not even for ‘alms-gifts,’ but ‘alms-deeds’ - that is, she did not get the
garments made, but with her own fingers sewed what she may have been too poor
to buy: and “FULL OF GOOD WORKS”; which no woman is too poor to give,
and none is prevented from giving because she is rich. What a biography in four
words! - “FULL of good works”: good works in the soul, and the soul in the good works: each
full of the other. We have not the record of a single word Tabitha ever said; but he who is full of good
works is a far happier and a far more memorable man than he whose bank is full
of gilt-edged securities.
Now the shadow falls. “And it came to pass in those days
that she fell sick, and died.” What a wonderful thing is a holy
death! A mother, some time ago, speaking of her neighbour who had just lost her
child, said to her minister with moistened eyes:- “Oh,
I wish I had buried my lassie when she was seven years old!” A holy death is
a happy death. When Sir Harry Kane
stepped on the scaffold to which he had been sent by Charles II, stooping to embrace his children, he said:- “I am going
to my Father’s house. Suffer anything from men
rather than sin against God.” As he bowed his head to the axe, he said:- “Blessed be God, I have kept a conscience void of offence
toward Him, and have not deserted the holy cause for which I suffer.” Happy death!
Now there rises before us the after-death scene - the change
which awaits us all. “All the widows stood weeping and shewing the coats” - tunics, or
inner raiment - “and garments” - the robes worn
over the tunic - “which Dorcas made.” The poor can give no rich funerals, but they can bring their
tears; and they can show the reasons why they weep: who would envy any funeral
but that? Dorcas had used only a needle: but she had embroidered her name in
deathless letters into the practical charities of the
Now we arrive at the hidden moment and the secret scene that
is coming. “But
Peter put them all forth, and
kneeled down and prayed.” The secrecy of resurrection is exceedingly remarkable. If
dying should be a quiet scene, and we instinctively guard the death-chamber
from interruption or curiosity, may not the coming back to life call for the
same delicacy and seclusion?
Peter, representing his Lord, kneels alone: unlike his Lord,
he has to pray before the body can be quickened: the Resurrection and the Life
must enter the room.
So we reach the great reunion. “Turning
to the body” - for
there was no doubt that it was a corpse - “he said, Tabitha, arise: and she opened her eyes; and
when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her
his hand, and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows he presented her ALIVE.” She who had loved so well, and been so beloved, is restored to them, to
love and be loved once more, and to resume the happy tasks of charity and
grace. What a parable! When a French ship, which had been absent from France
for four years, drew near its shores, the sailors were almost incapacitated for
service through joy, as they cried again and again, La Belle France, La
Belle France! and when,
approaching the wharf, they saw their wives and mothers and children, they were
so helpless with joy that the Captain had to get other labourers to help dock
the vessel. How quickly every tear must have dried as the widows re-entered a
death-chamber that was now a cradle, not of an infant, but of a saint in the
full maturity of her experience and her powers! One of the most saintly women
of a past generation, Mrs. Reilly, of Harrisburg, when asked by one of her
large Bible Class what reward she would like in the day to come, replied:- “Some service which
will keep me near my Lord and Master.” As Tabitha eagerly resumed
the unfinished garments, so with what joyous, glorious intensity we shall
resume a new sinless service in the
Beneath and within all the beautiful life and its crowded
service is the word used only here in all literature - a ‘female disciple.’ Incandescent mantles are a lovely
parable of how the silent, but radiant, life is made. A web of cotton is soaked
in a solution of rare minerals, until it has absorbed every particle it can absorb. Then it is dried; and then it
is burned. The cotton all passes away; and the mantle, which, fragile as it is,
endures in white loveliness the fierce flame, survives. What was the cotton
for? Simply to feed that which is
imperishable, something to build the permanent around. So it is in
discipleship. Our web of cotton must be soaked
in the [Holy] Spirit, and lit from the flame of CHRIST: then all life is but cotton
burnt away in the flame: but what is holy and good shines: and more than shines - it is imperishable; death
itself only bums away the cotton, and leaves in character, in works, even in
the body itself, the immortal.
* *
* * *
* *
910
Woe Unto Them
By Arlen L. Chitwood
[PART TWO]
2. Doctrine of Balaam - Present
The doctrine of Balaam is one of the most widely taught
doctrines in the Church today. Christians know - as their counterparts in the
Church in Pergamos (Rev. 2: 14) - that they have been saved by grace
through faith, and nothing can alter their positional standing “in Christ.” In view of this unalterable
positional standing, they reason that they can conduct their lives in any
manner which they choose and it will make no difference.
However, as in the case of the Israelites, so in the case of
Christians. Christians, as the Israelites under Moses, have been saved for a specific purpose. Every [regenerate] Christian is enrolled in a race (1 Cor. 9: 24-27); every
Christian is engaged in a conflict (Eph. 6: 10-18; 2 Tim. 2: 4, 5).
The goal set before Christians is to win
the race, be victorious in the conflict. God has made provision for
Christians in order that at the end of
the race they might say with Paul, “I have fought a good fight [‘I have
strained every muscle in (to maintain) the good
contest’], I have finished my course [‘race’],
I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness
...” (2 Tim. 4:
7, 8).
The enemy, Satan, on the other hand, is doing all within his
power to bring about defeat in the lives of Christians. Satan’s main objective
in the present warfare is to prevent Christians from
qualifying for crowns and thus positions of rulership with Christ in His coming
[messianic and millennial] kingdom. God is presently bringing into
existence a new order of sons to replace the order now ruling in the heavens; and the
incumbent rulers - Satan and his angels - are doing all within their power to
retain their present governmental control over the earth.
The main facet of the doctrine of
Balaam which is being widely promulgated in Churches today is the teaching that
future blessings and rewards are guaranteed for every Christian solely on the
basis of Christ’s finished work on
“...
and I took the
crown that was upon his head” (2 Sam. 1:
10; Cf. Rev.
3: 11).
The Gainsaying of Korah
Korah was a Levite, the cousin of Aaron and Moses (Ex. 6:
18-21). His sin was speaking against the
authority of God vested in Aaron [God’s anointed High Priest] and Moses. Korah sought,
particularly, to intrude into the priestly office held by Aaron, saying that
all the Levites were “holy” and had as much right as Aaron to perform his assigned priestly duties.
The word “gainsaying” in Jude 11
is antiogia in the Greek text,
which means “against the word.” Korah moved against
the Word of God. Aaron was the high priest whom God had appointed,
and the power to exercise this
priestly office was vested in him alone. Korah dared to question
God’s choice of Aaron, which is looked upon in the three preceding verses (verses 8-10) as a rebellion against Divinely
established authority. A rebellion of this nature is a
rebellion against the One in Whom all
power and authority reside, against God Himself.
Questioning Divinely established authority is a serious matter
to say the least. God’s displeasure with Korah and those who followed him is
shown by their being removed from the camp of Israel through 1) being taken down into ‘Sheol alive,’ and 2) being
consumed by fire proceeding out from the Lord (Num. 16: 25-35). Christians following the path
trod by Korah and those who followed him are looked upon in the Epistle of Jude as “apostates.”
Korah stood away from the position which he
was to occupy in the camp of
Christendom today is filled with apostates who follow the “gainsaying
of Korah.” They refuse to recognise that power and authority reside in God alone, and that He has vested His power in certain individuals (men and
angles) whom He has chosen. They,
as Korah, move against the Word - whether they realise it or not - when they move against those whom God has chosen
and in whom He has vested His power.
1. Government of the Earth
The government of the earth is presently in a very complex
state. Satan was originally given dominion over the earth, and a vast number of
subordinate angels were placed in positions of power and authority under him.
Following his rebellion, Satan was rejected as the ruler of the earth, but he
was not immediately deposed. Satan was allowed to continue exercising dominion
over the earth for a period of time. During this time God brought man into
existence to assume the governmental power which Satan possessed. The first
man, Adam, however, was disqualified through sin; and Satan continued to rule.
God then sent His Son, the Last Adam, to redeem what the First Adam forfeited
in the fall. Christ not only paid the price for man’s redemption but He also
showed that He was fully qualified to take the governmental reigns of the
earth. But the incumbent ruler, Satan, was not immediately overthrown. Jesus
did not immediately take the sceptre; nor has He taken it to this day. Jesus is
presently in a place removed from the kingdom. While in this
place, He is calling out a select group [of ‘disciples’ who will be ‘accounted worthy’] to occupy the throne with Him when He returns to take the
kingdom. And the [chosen] individuals whom He is calling
out are NOT to involve themselves in the present
system under Satan.
The present and future status of both Christ and Christians in
relation to the government of the earth is graphically set forth in Biblical
typology in the Books of 1, 2 Samuel. Saul had been anointed king over
So long as Saul remained in power, neither David nor his faithful followers
sought to control any facet of the affairs of the kingdom under Saul. David
had already been anointed king over
In the antitype, Satan has been
anointed king over the earth. He is the earth’s present ruler. Satan rebelled
against the Lord and was rejected by the
Lord. Jesus was then [Messiah
and] King over the earth. There are presently two anointed Kings, but Satan
continues to occupy the throne. As Satan continues to reign, Jesus has gone
into a place of exile. Jesus is presently at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Certain Christians follow
Jesus during this time. They are typified by the Israelites in distress,
in debt, and discontented, who gathered themselves unto David. They constitute a hidden group, separate from the world’s system under Satan, and separate
from the kingdom plans of Satan and those who rule with him.*
[* See the danger of disciples’ of Christ
reigning
before
God’s appointed time: “… ye have reigned without us: yea and I would that ye did reign, that we
also might reign with you:” (1 Cor. 4: 8b.)]
So long as Satan remains in power, Jesus will not seek, to
control any facet of the affairs in the kingdom under Satan. In like manner,
neither should Christians. Jesus has already been anointed King over the earth,
but the time has not arrived for Him to assume power. Jesus is waiting until “the time,” and so should Christians (Cf. 1 Cor. 4: 5). The day will come when Satan will be put down
his crown taken and given to Jesus, and then Jesus will rule over the earth. The faithful men who
follow the Lord during His time of exile will then find themselves occupying various positions of power and authority in the [promised (Ps.
2: 8) messianic] kingdom under Jesus the Christ.
2. Subject To - Coregent With
One of the ancient rabbis in Jewish history stated, “The secret
of Adam is the secret of the Messiah.” In other words, to ascertain truths concerning the
Messiah, go back to the very foundation upon which these truths rest - the Book
of Genesis - and ascertain the same truths
relative to Adam. Scripture MUST be
interpreted in the light of Scripture, and Scripture MUST be interpreted after the manner in which it was written
(types, shadows, word pictures, etc.). All other methods of Scriptural
interpretation can only lead to the multiplicity of pseudo thoughts and
opinions originating from and held by man today.
The [‘accounted
worthy’ members of the] Church is to one ‘day’ [see 2 Pet. 3:
8, R.V.] reign
with the Last Adam in the same position that Eve was to reign with the First
Adam. But, during the time when the effects of the fall are present, prior
to this reign, the Church is to occupy the same position relative to Christ
that Eve occupied relative to Adam following the fall. Eve, following the fall,
was no longer in the position of coregent with Adam but was placed in subjection to Adam (Gen.
3: 16; cf. Gen. 1: 26-28). In
like manner, the Church today is not in the position of coregent with Christ
but, rather, is subject to Christ (Eph. 5: 24; cf. Eph. 3: 6). And the Church in this
subjective position is completely out of place exercising governmental power
and authority today.
As Eve was to reign as coregent with Adam, the Church
is to one ay reign as coregent with Christ. Eve could not reign while subject to Adam; nor can
the Church reign while subject to Christ. The
completion of the redemption of Christians must occur first (body and soul). Then, and only then, can they be placed in the position
which Eve occupied in relation to the First Adam prior to the fall. Then, and
only then, can they reign as “joint-heirs”
with Christ in the kingdom (cf. Rom. 8: 16-23; 1 Peter 1: 9-11; 4: 12, 13).
Concluding Thoughts:
The condition of Christians who follow
the “way of Cain,” the “error of Balaam,” or the “gainsaying of Korah” is described through the use of
metaphors in Jude 12, 13. Four different metaphors are used to describe their present condition,
and one to describe their future condition. Their present condition is depicted
by showing a fruitless, shameful condition in which they are
carried about every which way in the world; and their future condition is depicted by the statement, “wandering
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of
darkness forever.” The word “forever [Gr. aion]” should be translated “for an age.” The age in view is the coming age, the Messianic Era.
Apostate Christians described in Jude 12, 13 will occupy no position with
Christ in the [coming Messianic] kingdom. These
are the same ones who previously, prior to the establishment of the kingdom, will
have found themselves in “outer darkness” during the time of the wedding
festivities (Matt. 22: 1-14; cf. Matt. 8: 11, 12; 25: 14-30; Luke 13: 28, 29); and the thought of darkness is used by Jude to describe a continued condition of these
Christians in … [‘Sheol’ = Gk. ‘Hades’
for ‘a thousand
years’ (Rev. 20: 6b, 12-15,
R.V.). cf. Luke 20: 35; Phil. 2: 11ff; Acts 2:
31-34; 2 Tim. 2: 16-19, R.V.).]
Compare Jude 13 with 1 Peter 1: 4. There is an inheritance “reserved” for Christians, and there is also the
blackness of darkness “reserved” for Christians (the word “reserved” is the same in both passages in the
Creek text). The former is reserved for faithful Christians, and the latter is
reserved for unfaithful Christians. The “inheritance,” according to 1 Peter 1: 5, is reserved for those “who are kept
by the power of God through faith [faith being brought to its goal through works, cf.
vv. 6-9; James 2: 14ff] unto salvation [salvation of the soul, cf.
vv. 9-11; James 1: 21] ready to be revealed in the
last time”; and the “blackness of
darkness,” according
to Jude 10, 11, is reserved for those who “corrupt
themselves”
through the “way of Cain,” the “error of Balaam,” or the “gainsaying of Korah.”
“Faith,” is the key issue in both 1 Peter and Jude. The salvation of
one’s soul, associated with the inheritance
reserved in heaven [until the
return
of our Lord Jesus Christ to resurrect the ‘blessed
and holy’ dead (Rev. 20: 6)]; is contingent on “faith” being brought to its proper goal; and the apostates in Jude depart
from this path by standing away from “the faith.” Thus, the faithful alone [resurrected,] will come into a realisation of the “inheritance.” Apostates have only one thing to which they can
look forward: that described by Jude as the “blackness of
darkness.” Both
are being kept in reserve.
*
* * *
* * *
911
THE BASIS OF THE PREMILLENNIAL FAITH
AND
ITS BASIS IN THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
By CHARLES C. RYRIE
[PART
TWO]
IV. THE CONFIRMATION OF THE COVENANT
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Old
Testament is replete with confirmations of the promise of God to establish His [millennial] kingdom on the earth. The prophets
are united in their testimony, looking forward to and proclaiming a Messiah who
would establish the house of David on David’s throne over David’s kingdom. No
other conclusion is possible without perverting the meaning of these
prophecies.
In the Psalms. Brief mention should be made of the forty-fifth Psalm
which speaks of the marriage of the King and of the seventy-second Psalm which speaks of His
character. By no stretch of the imagination could this be made to refer to
Solomon. The principal confirming Psalm is the eighty-ninth which says in part:
“I have made a
covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David
my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever,
and build up thy throne to all generations. … My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him, His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,
and their
iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from
him, nor
suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
Once have I
sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall
endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
It shall be
established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.”
(Verses 3, 4,
28-37.)
The Lord seemed to anticipate the Anti-millennial argument,
but He dearly and definitely says that He will not alter or spiritualize, if
you please, the thing that has gone out of His lips (cf. verse 34). Surely there could
be no more certain confirmation of the future King and [Messianic] kingdom than this which was given
to David.
In Isaiah. Isaiah, a contemporary of Micah, also
prophesied concerning the visible, earthly kingdom as promised in the Davidic
covenant. In the days of the approaching Assyrian invasion, he said:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his” - [i.e., our Lord
Jesus’] - “shoulder:
and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,
Of the increase of his” - [i.e., our Messiah’s] - “government
and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his
kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from
henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isa. 9: 6-7)
Chapters 11, 24, 25, 54, 60, 61, etc., all describe various aspects of the [coming messianic] kingdom and add to the proof that the kingdom promised to David and
confirmed by Isaiah is not the present session of Christ in heaven. Of course, this
is based on a literal interpretation of these passages, but this only further
confirms the consistency of the premillennial position.
In Jeremiah. Jeremiah
standing among the falling ruins of the kingdom nevertheless had the same
unchanging confidence in the covenant that was made with David. In the chapter
immediately following the prediction of the cutting off of Solomon’s line from
the throne, Jeremiah says:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will
raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In his” - [i.e., during Messiah’s] - “days
Certainly there was no fulfilment of this promise in the first
advent of the Man of sorrows. The world still awaits the day when this glorious
King shall reign and prosper in the earth. Again the prophet speaks:
“For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that
I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and
will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no
more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king,
whom I will
raise up” - [i.e., resurrect out from amongst the dead (see Acts 2: 34, R.V. cf. Luke
20: 35; Phil.
3: 11; 2 Tim. 2: 18,
R.V.)] - “unto them.” (30: 8-9.)
“Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I
will perform that good thing which 1 have promised unto the house of
If the prophet [of God] meant what he said -
and what else can we believe? - nothing from human history since the days
of the Babylonian captivity can be produced in fulfilment of these words.
In Ezekiel. Ezekiel, a
prophet of the exile, speaks in the same manner of the coming [Messianic and Millennial] kingdom.
“And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall
have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
And they shall
dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your
fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s
children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. (37: 24-25)
In Daniel. Daniel, also a prophet of the exile, is important, for he fixes the time of
the kingdom as at the Second, not the first, Advent of the Lord Jesus. In the
prophecy recorded in Daniel 7: 13-14, he says:
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of
man came with the clouds of heaven, and came
to the Ancient of days, and they brought him
near before him. And there was given him - [i.e., to Messiah-Jesus / the Christ =
God’s Anointed World-Ruler] - “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people,
nations,
and languages,
should serve him:
his dominion is
an everlasting dominion, which shall not
pass away,” - [as former world kingdoms have] - “and” - [a disjunction
- separating Messiah’s Messianic and Millennial Kingdom from His Eternal Kingdom.] - “his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed.
In the minor prophets. In the so-called minor prophets there are a number of
passages which speak of the Davidic kingdom. We can only notice a few of them.
Hosea anticipates
“For the children of Israel shall
abide many days without a king, and without a
prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and
without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the
children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the
Lord and his goodness in the latter days” (3:
4-5)
Amos speaks of the
same event when he says:
“In that day” - [i.e., God’s coming millennial day, the ‘day’ which the Holy Spirit, through His prophets, has
mentioned seven times in Rev. 20! Cf. Heb.
5: 5-10; 2 Pet. 1: 19; 3: 2: 8, 9; Rev. 11: 15, etc.] - “will I
raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the
breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will
build it as in the days of old.” (9:
11.)
Zechariah declares that at Christ’s second
coming, when “his feet shall stand ... upon
the mount of Olives” (14: 4), “the Lord shall be king over all the earth” (14: 9). This, like Daniel’s prophecy, fixes the time of the [coming] kingdom as beginning at the Second Advent of Christ.
Thus the Old Testament proclaims
a kingdom to be established on the
earth by the Messiah, the Son of
David, as heir of the Davidic
covenant. The Jews expected such a kingdom for they took God literally at
His word, which strongly and repeatedly confirmed the hopes and promises of the
covenant with David.
V. THE CONFIRMATION OF THE COVENANT
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
There is little doubt that the Old Testament predicted an
earthly kingdom. The all-important question is, did Christ change in any way
this conception when He came to earth and was rejected by His own people? In
order to answer fully this question it will be necessary to show the nature of
the kingdom as it was anticipated by the Jews from their own concept of that
kingdom and from the preaching of the day, Then the rejection, mystery form,
and future real form of the kingdom must be examined from the Scriptures, for
this is the crux of the matter and the chief point of disagreement between
Pre-millennialism and Anti- millennialism.
In the Jews’ concept of the kingdom at
the time of Christ. In spite of the degraded political and moral condition
of the nation
* Ceperley, The Kingdom
Concept at the Time of Christ and Its Significance, pp. 13-19.
The hope was for an earthly kingdom. When Israel saw Palestine
under the rule of a foreign power, her hope was the more intensified, because
the kingdom she expected was one that would be set up on the earth and one that
would naturally carry with it release from foreign domination. The Scripture
bears testimony to this for repeatedly Christ is spoken of as “He that
should come” (Luke 7: 19), Of the One whom the
people wanted to crown as king (John 6: 15). The nation conceived of a kingdom to
be set up on the earth (cf. Matt.
20: 20; Luke 1: 71; 19: 17; 24: 21).
The kingdom was to be national; that is, the expected
kingdom had a specific relationship to
The expected kingdom has often been referred to as
the Messianic kingdom since Messiah was to reign. Because of the nature of the expected kingdom, the Messiah who was to
come took on the character of a great deliverer and military leader in the
minds of the Jews of that day. Since they recognized that He was to be born in
The kingdom was to be a moral kingdom, for
Obviously the kingdom was not yet in existence and was
therefore future at the time of the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even
all the glory under David and Solomon was not comparable to the expected
kingdom. Consequently, all of
In this fivefold characterization of the Jews’ expectation of
the kingdom there is definite confirmation of the features of the Davidic
covenant.
In the preaching of John the Baptist. John the
Baptist’s message was simplicity itself. Matthew
has recorded it: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of
In the preaching of Christ. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ
was directed at first to the nation
* *
* * *
* *
912
SMALL TASKS
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
IT is
very remarkable that it is God Himself who drops the challenge:- “Who hath
despised the day of small things?” (Zech.
4: 10). When the old men saw Ezra’s puny
Now, in order to overcome the deadly danger of despising the
little, let us first see the principle
on which God has built things. Small
things are constantly the seed of great: the law of the Divine action is
evolution from the littles. We find this in nature. The whole of the forests of
the world were once embedded in tiny pods and seeds: all the diseases of
mankind are wrapped up in germs that most microscopes cannot find: all the
great inventions of the human mind were built up from earlier littles: the Faith that has shaken the world was once held
within the limits of an upper room. A single grain of iodine (chemists tell
us) will dye liquid seven thousand times its own weight. So also it is with character. It is easier to
do a thing a second time than a first, and a third time than a second; everything
grows by exercise: if we have been faithful for twenty years, it is much easier
to be faithful in the forty years beyond. So in history. At
But our Lord reveals a still deeper and more vital principle:
namely, that character is always
disclosed by habitual action,
whether the action is gigantic or minute. He says:- “He that is
faithful in a very little” - really a little, something that never does grow big:
little strength, little means, little health, little knowledge, little
influence, little time; a “very little,” our Lord says - “is faithful also in much: and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous
also in much” (Luke 16: 10). The Lord - like any other employer - dare
not trust vast designs and commissions to unproved labourers; and the man who
idles because his stock in trade is so small, or who filches the farthings, is
simply un-promotable. Fidelity is devotion to a Person: therefore regard is not
primarily paid to the bulk of the thing to be done, but whether the Person wishes it to be done: fidelity is a steady quality of character
which does everything as unto the Lord, and therefore handles a penny exactly as it handles a pound. Now this is the secret of efficiency.
Napoleon, perhaps the most efficient
man the world has seen for countless generations, said: “Men think I improvise; I never improvise; all I do is done only after a complete mastery of all
details.” God entrusts much to those whom He can trust much; and He tests them first. Sydney Smith, the great humorist, made fun of the Baptist Missionary Society, because its
first collection amounted to £13 2s. 6d.: he
would not now make fun of the millions God has poured through it for a hundred
years. The day of small things is the day of priceless things, for it will
yet become the day of enormous things. “Microscopic holiness,” it has been said, “is the
perfection of excellence.”*
[* Christian! Are you not yet, during these godless
and apostate
times, greatly encouraged?]
But there is another reason, still more profound, against
contempt for the insignificant, which is revealed by our Lord. He foretells His
own coming adjudication thus:- “Well done, thou
good servant; because thou wast found
faithful in a very little, have thou AUTHORITY over ten cities” (Luke 19: 17). He who has well done small tasks, is
now fitted for harder: capacity grows with trust: larger commissions are
certain to be entrusted to him who has handled what he had with competent
mastery. The comparative paltriness of our opportunity our Lord here
particularly emphasizes: a talent was worth fifty times more than a pound: so
that the man entrusted with ten talents handled two thousand pounds: but the
man handling a pound - and we all in this parable have a pound only; even
though it is Rockefeller’s millions - handles only three sovereigns. For the
right use of three pounds sterling the Lord entrusts with the wealth of an
entire city: and it is more than mere proportion - it is kind; if we have managed well the comparatively
unimportant goods of earth, He entrusts us with the far more important concerns
of another world. It is the accumulation of a lifetime of minute fidelities
which makes a coral reef of character against which tempests beat in vain.
Our Lord here also reveals that the smallness, the
insignificance, the obscurity are all purposely planned, and are all sharply
limited to the testing present. At the [coming Judgment-Seat
(Heb. 9: 27, R.V.), and before the] Advent, He will say:- “Because thou
wast found
faithful” - for it is fidelity
for which God is supremely looking - “in a very little, have thou authority over TEN CITIES.” We are in this world, not to do great
things, but to do little things greatly; and to pass, by an ever-brightening
path, from commission to commission, until we pass naturally into the highest
and the best. The faithful in obscurity becomes the conspicuous
in inexhaustible blessing and unimaginable glory.
So finally God Himself says to the [regenerate] sinner:- “Who hath
despised the day of small things?” Small sins are as germinal, as character-forming, as
expanding, and as enormously recompensed as small fidelities. No man becomes a
hopeless slave to a bad habit all at once. It is a poor thing to hear a father
say: “My boy would never tell a big lie.” A man who was hung at
* *
* * *
* *
913
KEEPING AND KEPT
By ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D., LITT. D.
-------
‘Because thou hast kept the word of My patience,
I also will
keep thee
from the hour of temptation.’
Revelation 3: 10.
THERE are only two of the seven churches
which receive no censure or rebuke from Jesus Christ; and of these two - viz.,
the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia - the former receives but little praise
though much sympathy. This church at
So here we are not to suppose that these good souls in
I.
Now notice, in the first place, the thing kept.
That is a remarkable phrase ‘the word of My patience.’ A verse or two before, our Lord had
said to the same church, evidently speaking about the same thing in them, ‘Thou hast a
little strength, and hast kept My word.’ This expression, ‘the word of
My patience,’
seems to be best understood in the same general way as that other which
precedes it, and upon which it is a commentary and an explanation. It refers,
not to individual commandments to patience, but to the entire gospel message,
the general whole of ‘the Word of Jesus Christ’ communicated therein to men. That is a
profound and beautiful way of characterising the sum of the revelation of God
in Christ as ‘the word of His patience,’ and is one which yields ample reward
to meditative thought.
The whole gospel, then, is so named, inasmuch as it all
records the patience which Christ exercised.
What does the New Testament mean by ‘patience’? Not merely endurance, although, of course, that is included,
but endurance of such a sort as will secure persistence in work, in spite of all the opposition and sufferings which may come
in the way. The world’s patience simply means, ‘Pour on, I will endure.’ The New Testament patience has in it the idea of perseverance as well as of endurance, and means, not only that we bow to the pain or the sorrow, but that nothing in sorrow, nothing in trial, nothing in temptation,
nothing in antagonism, has the smallest power to divert
us from doing what we know to be right. The man who will reach his hand through the smoke of hell to lay hold
of plain duty is the patient man of the New Testament. ‘Though there were as many devils in Worms as
there are tiles on the housetops, I will go in.’ That speech of
Luther’s, though uttered with a little too much energy, expressed the true idea
of Christian patience. High above the stormy and somewhat rough determination
of the servant towers, calm and gentle, and therefore stronger, the ‘patience’ of the Lord, and the whole story of His life on earth may well be regarded, from this point of view, as the record of His unfaltering and meek continuance in
obedience to the Father's will, in the face of opposition and suffering. His life, to use a
secular word, was the most ‘heroic’ ever lived.
Before Him was the thing to be done, and between Him and it were massed such
battalions of antagonism and evil as never were mustered in opposition to any
other saintly soul upon earth. And through all He went persistently, with ‘His face like a flint,’ of set purpose to do the work for which He came into the world.
But there was no fierce antagonism about Jesus Christ’s patience.
His persistence, in spite of all obstacles and opposition, was the persistence
of meekness, the heroism of gentleness. Patience in the lower sense of quiet
endurance, as well as in the higher, of heroic scorn of all that opposition
could do to hinder the realisation of the Father’s will, is deeply stamped upon
His life. We think of His gentleness, of His meekness, of His humility, of all
the softer, and, as men insolently call them, the more feminine virtues in
Christ’s character. But I do not know that we often enough think of what men,
with equal insolence and short-sightedness, call the masculine virtues of
which, too, He is the great Exemplar, that magnificent, unparalleled, and
perfectly quiet and unostentatious invincibility of will and heroism of settled
resolve with which He pressed towards the mark, though the mark was a cross.
This is the theme of the gospel story, and this Apocalypse of
a gentle Christ, whose gentleness was the gentleness of inflexible strength,
this story, or word ‘of My patience,’ is that which we are to lay upon our hearts. For that name is
fitly applied to the gospel, inasmuch as it enjoins upon every one of us
in our degree, and in regard of the far easier tasks and slighter antagonisms
with which we have to do and which we have to meet, to make Christ’s persistence the
model for our lives. So the whole
morality of Christianity may almost be gathered up into this one expression,
which sets forth at once the law and the supreme motive for fulfilling it.
Unwelcome and hard tasks are made easy and delightsome when we hear Jesus say, ‘The record of My patience is thy pattern and thy power. Be
like Me, and thou shalt be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.’
II. Notice,
next, the keepers of this word.
The metaphor represents to us the action of one who,
possessing some valuable thing, puts it into some safe place, takes great care
of it, carries it very near to the heart, perhaps within the robe, and watches
tenderly and jealously over it. So ‘thou hast kept the word of My
patience.’
There are two ways by which Christians are to do that; the one
is by inwardly cherishing the word, and the other by outwardly obeying it. There should be
both the inward counting it dear and precious, and treasuring it in mind and
heart, as the Psalmist says, ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I should not offend against Thee,’ and also the regulation of conduct
which we more usually regard as keeping the commandment.
Let me say a word, and it shall only be a word, about each of
these two things. I am afraid that the plain practical duty of reading their
Bibles is getting to be a much neglected duty amongst professing Christian
people. I do not know how you are to keep the words of Christ’s patience in
your hearts and minds if you do not read them. I am afraid that most Christian
congregations nowadays do their systematic and prayerful study of the New
Testament by proxy, and expect their ministers to read the Bible for them and
to tell them what is there. A mother will sometimes take a morsel of her
child’s food into her mouth, and half masticate it first before she passes it
to the little gums. I am afraid that newspapers, and circulating libraries, and
magazines, and little religious books - very good in their way, but secondary
and subordinate - have taken the place that our fathers used to have filled by
honest reading of God’s Word. And that is one of the reasons, and I believe it
is a very large part of the reason, why so many professing Christians do not
come up to this standard; and instead of ‘running with
patience the race that is set before them,’ walk in an extraordinarily leisurely
fashion, by fits and starts, and sometimes with long intervals, in which they
sit still on the road, and are not a mile farther at a year’s end than they
were when it began. There never was, and there never will be, vigorous
Christian life unless there be an honest and habitual study of
God’s Word. There is no short-cut by which Christians
can reach the end of the race.
Foremost among the methods by which their eyes are enlightened and their
hearts rejoiced are application to the eyes of their understanding of that
eye-salve, and the hiding in their hearts of that sweet solace and fountain of
gladness, the Word of Christ’s patience, the revelation of God’s will. The
trees whose roots are laved [washed] and branches freshened by that river have leaves that never wither, and
all their blossoms set.
But the word is kept by continual obedience in action as well as by inward treasuring. Obviously the inward must precede
the outward. Unless we can say with the Psalmist, ‘Thy word have I hid in my
heart,’ we shall not be able to say with him,
‘I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart.’
If the Word of the Lord is to sound like a rousing trumpet-blast from our
lives, it must first be heard in secret by us, and its music linger in our
listening hearts.
We need this brave persistence in daily life if we are not to
fail wholly. Very instructive in this aspect are many of the Scripture
allusions to ‘patience’ as essential to the various virtues and blessedness’s of
Christian life.
For example, ‘In your patience ye shall win your souls.’ Only he who presses right on, in spite of all that externals
can do to hinder him from realising his conviction of duty, is the lord of his
own spirit. All others are slaves to something or some one. By persistence in the paths of Christian
service, no matter what around or
within us may rise up to hinder us,
and by such persistence only, do we
become masters of ourselves. Many a man has to walk, as in the old days of
ordeal by fire, over a road strewn with hot ploughshares, to get to the place
where God will have him to be. And if he
does not flinch, though he may reach the goal with scorched feet, he will reach it with a quiet heart, and possess himself, whatever he may lose.
Again, the Lord Himself says to us, ‘These are
those which bring forth fruit with patience.’ There
is no growth of Christian character, no flowering of Christian conduct, no
setting of incipient virtues into the mature fruit of settled habit, without
this persistent adherence in the face of all antagonism, to the dictates of
conscience and the commandment of Christ. It is the condition of bringing forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.
Again the Scripture says, demanding this same persistence,
gentle abstinence, and sanctified stiff-neckedness, ‘Run with perseverance the race that is set
before you.’ There
is no progress in the Christian course, no accomplishing the stadia through which we have to pass, except there be this dogged keeping at what we know to be duty, in
spite of all the reluctance of trembling limbs, and the cowardice of our poor
hearts.
III. We have here Christ
keeping the keepers of His word.
‘Because thou hast kept the word of My
patience I
will keep thee from,’ and in, ‘the hour of
temptation.’
There is a beautiful reciprocity, as I said. Christ will do for us as we have done with His word. Christ still
does in heaven what He did upon earth. In the great high priest’s prayer
recorded by the evangelist who was also the amanuensis of these letters from heaven, Jesus said, ‘I kept them in Thy name which
Thou hast given Me, and I guarded them, and not
one of them perished.’ And now, speaking from heaven, He continues His earthly guardianship, and
bids us trust that, just as when with His followers here, He sheltered them as
a parent bird does its young, fluttering round them, bearing them up on its
wings, and drew them within the sacred circle of His sweet, warm, strong,
impregnable protection, so, if we keep the word of His patience, cherishing the
story of His life in our hearts, and humbly seeking to mould our lives after
its sweet and strong beauty, He will keep us in the midst of, and also from the hour of temptation. The Christ
in heaven is as near each trembling heart and feeble foot, to defend and to
uphold, as was the Christ upon earth.
He does not promise to keep us at a distance from temptation,
so as that we shall not have to face it, but from means, as any that can look
at the original will see, that He will
save us out of it, we having previously been in it, so as that ‘the hour of temptation’ shall not be the hour of falling.
Yes! the man whose heart is filled with the story of Christ’s patience, and who
is seeking to keep that word, will walk in the midst of the fire-damp of this
mine that we live in, as with a safety lamp in his hand, and there will be no
explosion. If we keep our hearts in the love of God, and in that great word of
Christ’s patience, the gunpowder in our nature will be wetted, and when a spark
falls upon it there will be no flash.
Outward circumstances will not be emptied of their power to tempt, but our susceptibility will be deadened in
proportion as we keep the word of the patience of the patient Christ. The lustre of earthly brightnesses
will have no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth, and when set by the
side of heavenly gifts will show black against their radiance, as would
electric light between the eye and the sun.
It is great to wrestle with temptation and fling it, but it is greater to be so strong that it never grasps us. It is great to be victor over
passions and lusts, and to put our heel upon them and suppress them, but it is better to be so near the
Master that they have crouched before Him, ‘and the lion eats
straw like the ox.’
To such blessed state we attain [i.e., ‘gain by
effort’] IF, and only IF,
we draw near to Him and in daily
communion with Him secure that the secret of His patient continuance in
well-doing is repeated in us. So we shall be
lifted [i.e., rapt alive] above temptation. That great word of
His patience, and the spirit which goes with the word, will be for us like the
cotton wool that chemists put into the flask which they wish to seal here
from the approach of microscopic germs
of corruption. It will let all the air through, but will keep all the
animated points of poison out. It will filter the most polluted atmosphere, and
bring it into our lungs clean and clear.
“Because
thou didst keep the word of My patience, I will keep thee
from the hour of trial, that hour
WHICH IS TO COME
UPON THE WHOLE WORLD,” R. V.
*
* * *
* * *
914
LINE UPON LINE
CHAPTER 23
DAVID, OR THE PUNISHMENT.
2 Samuel 15
You
remember, my dear children, that God said he would punish David, though he had
forgiven him.
David had a great many children, and some of them were very
wicked when they grew up. I cannot tell you about all his bad children, but I
will tell you of one called Absalom.
He was a very proud young man: he was very handsome, and he had beautiful hair,
and he was very vain of his beauty; he also told lies, and he even killed one
of his brothers who had offended him. When David heard how Absalom had killed
his brother, he was angry with him for a long time and would not see him; but
at last he let him come to his palace, and kissed him, and forgave him. David
ought never to have allowed Absalom to come to
Yet Absalom did not love his father David. He wished to be
king instead of David, and so he behaved very kindly to all the people in
This kind way of behaving made the people love Absalom, for
they thought that he really cared for them. How very sly and deceitful Absalom
was! God did not love him.
When Absalom. saw that many of the people loved him, he asked
David’s leave to go from
Absalom had desired a great many men to wait till they heard
the sound of a trumpet, and when they heard it - to cry out, ‘Absalom is
king!’ So when
Absalom had left
Poor David was in
How grieved David was to hear this news! He could not bear to
think that his son was so wicked as to make himself king. Then David thought of
his own sin, and he felt that he deserved to be punished. He knew that it was
God that let all these sad things happen to him.
David would not stay in
First they crossed a little river that was outside
Then David and his servants went up a high hill; and David
wept as he went up, and he covered his head, and he wore no shoes on his feet:
he did these things to show he was unhappy: and all the people with him did the
same, and wept as they went up. You see how much the people loved David.
And when David was come to the top of the hill he prayed to
God. He knew that God would comfort him in his distress.
* *
*
CHAPTER 24
DAVID, OR PATIENCE.
2 Samuel 16: 9-14; 17: 27 to end.
THEN
David went on his sorrowful journey. Soon he met a very wicked man who hated him,
and who called David very bad names, and even threw stones at David and his
soldiers. This wicked man called David a child of the devil, and said, ‘You killed
Saul and his children, and now God is punishing
you for your wickedness.’
Had David killed Saul or
his children? Oh no! The man told lies of David. But David had killed Uriah,
and God was punishing him for that sin.
One of David’s friends said to him, ‘Do not let
that wicked man call you names: let me go and
take off his head.’
But David said, ‘No: the
Lord lets him curse me; and I will not hinder
him. My own son seeks to kill me. I am not surprised that this man curses me.’
How meekly David behaved!
This was the way Jesus behaved to wicked people. You see, my dear
children, what we should do when people are unkind and cruel to us. We ought
not to give them rude answers, but we ought to think of the bad things we have
done, and behave meekly.
This wicked man went on cursing and throwing stones and dust
at David and his soldiers.
At last David and his men came to a place where they rested
themselves, for they were very much tired. David and his soldiers travelled a
long way. At last they crossed over the river
There were three very rich men who lived near the wilderness,
and who heard of poor David and his men having come there; and these rich men
said, ‘They must be very hungry, and thirsty, weary,
in the wilderness’; so they brought David, and his men a great many
things: beds to rest their weary limbs upon, and basins and cups to drink out
of, and corn, and vegetables, and
honey, and butter, and cheese, and sheep to eat. These rich men were very kind;
God put in their hearts to be kind to poor David in his distress.
While David was in the wilderness he often prayed to God, and
asked God to comfort him. David felt that he deserved to be punished; so he
behaved very meekly. This is the way, dear children, you should behave when you
are punished for your faults. If you are really sorry, you will not be angry
with the people who punish you; but when you are in disgrace, you will pray to
God to forgive you, and to put His [Holy] Spirit in your heart to make you good.
Alas! what mournful tones
Are heard from David’s harp!
Ah! listen to those groans
That tell of trouble sharp:
How different from the joyful strain
That late made
Ah! well may David weep:
He shed Uriah’s blood.
Should not his grief he deep,
Who has offended God?
When God was pleased ’twas light
around,
But all was darkness when he frowned.
And will the Lord again
Cheer David with his beams,
And wash away the stain
Of sin in mercy’s streams?
Then David’s heart with joy shall
glow,
His lips with praises overflow.
CHILD
It oft has grieved me
To see my parents frown:
How can I happy be
If God with wrath look down?
O Father! smile upon thy child,
And tell me thou art reconciled.
* *
*
CHAPTER 25
DAVID, OR THE OAK-TREE
2 Samuel 28: 1-16.
DAVID
and his men lived in a city in the wilderness. The city had walls and gates.
Absalom soon heard where his father David
was, and he came after him with a great army. Absalom crossed over the river
Then David saw that his wicked son meant to fight against him.
So David one morning desired his soldiers to go out of the city. David was
going with them; but they begged him
not to come, lest he should be killed in the battle. These people loved him
very much. Then the king said, ‘I will do as you think best.’ David did not wish to go to this
battle, for he did not like to fight against Absalom.
David told the soldiers before they went to battle not to hurt
Absalom: for David still loved his wicked son.
Absalom and his soldiers came out to fight against David’s men.
They fought in a wood. This was not a good place for fighting, for a great many
people were knocked against the trees, and bruised, and killed.
Who do you think conquered? David’s men, because God helped
them; and Absalom’s men tried to run away, and a great many of them were killed
by the swords of David’s men, and still more were killed by the trees in the
wood.
Now you shall hear what became of Absalom.
He rode upon a mule (which is a beast very much like a horse),
and as he was riding he passed under a great oak-tree, and his beautiful head
was caught in the boughs;* and the
mule ran away and left him hanging by his head in the tree, with his feet
lifted up from the earth.
* It is not written that Absalom was caught by his hair (though
this is generally supposed) but by his head. His head may have been jammed
between forked boughs.
One of David’s soldiers saw him, and went to the captain Joab,
and said, ‘Behold, I saw Absalom hanging
in an oak.’
Then Joab said, ‘And why did you not kill him? If you had I would have given you a great deal of silver,
and some clothes.’
But the man answered, ‘If you would have given me a thousand
pieces of silver, I would not have hurt Absalom,
for I heard the king desire that no one should hurt him.’
Then Joab went very quickly to the oak-tree, and he found
Absalom still hanging there. So he took ‘three darts, and thrust them through
Absalom’s heart - just through the middle of his body; and ten young men, that
were with Joab, hurt him also with swords, or darts, and killed him.
How frightened Absalom must have felt
when he was hanging in the oak! I wonder whether he prayed to God to forgive
him? Perhaps he did not wish to pray; for he did not love God. Perhaps he only
felt frightened lest any one should see him. The darts must have hurt his body
very much, and must have covered him with blood. Did he not well deserve to
feel pain? What pain had he made his lather feel in his mind?
Joab took his body down from the tree and cast it into a great
pit in the wood, and laid a great heap of stones on the spot.
When Absalom was dead, Joab blew a trumpet to call back his
soldiers from running after Absalom’s soldiers: for now Absalom was dead the
Israelites might leave of fighting. Absalom’s soldiers went back to their
tents, and Joab took his soldiers back to the city where David was.
But before Joab and his men went back, two men ran very fast
to tell David what had happened.
How much David longed to know whether Absalom was dead! David
wished his men to conquer, and yet he did not wish Absalom to be killed. No,
would rather die himself than Absalom should be killed.
* *
*
CHAPTER 26
DAVID, OR THE TWO MESSENGERS.
2 Samuel 28: 19 to
end.
David was
sitting near the gates of the city in the wilderness. A man stood upon the top
of the wall near the gate, to watch and see whether any person was coming into
the city. Soon the watchman saw a man running, and he cried out loud, ‘I see a man running alone.’ Then said David, ‘No doubt he
brings some message.’ Soon afterwards the watchman cried out, ‘I see another man running
alone.’ Then David
said, ‘He also brings a message.’
The first man was a young priest. He ran up to David, and
cried out, ‘All is well.’
He said all was well, because David’s men had conquered. Then
the priest fell down to the ground upon his face before the king, and he
thanked God for having let David’s men conquer. Then the king said, ‘Is the young
man Absalom safe?’ The priest knew that Absalom was dead, but he did not like to grieve
David, by telling him this sad news all at once; so he said, ‘There was a great deal of
noise and confusion when Joab sent me here.’ The
young priest loved David so much that he did not like to tell David what the
noise was about.
Soon the other man came running up to
David, and he said, ‘God has punished the wicked people who fought against the
king.’
Then the king said, ‘Is the young man Absalom safe?’
And the messenger answered, ‘May all people who fight
against the king be as Absalom now is!’ The
king knew that the man meant that Absalom was dead. How very unhappy the king
was When he heard this! He went into a room that was near the gate, and he wept
as he went up, and he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my
son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!’
When David’s coldiers
were coming back into the city, they heard how much the king was grieved for
Absalom, and they felt unhappy, too, because they loved the king. The king did
not come out to meet them, and to thank them for having fought for him, as he
would have done of Absalom had not been killed; but he remained by himself, and
he covered his face, and cried, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son!’
I do not wonder that David was unhappy
about Absalom. Could David hope that he was gone to heaven, and that he should
see him again one day? Oh, it is dreadful to lose a wicked child! God cut off
Absalom in the midst of his wickedness. God is very angry with children who
behave ill to their parents, and He often punishes them by letting them die
while they are young, and sending their souls
to hell [i.e., ‘Gk. ‘Hades’ (Acts 2: 27, R.V.)]*
* ‘Whoso curseth
his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put
out in obscure darkness:’ Proverbs 20:
20.
Jonathan died while he was young, but
he was good; and he … [will
go after his resurrection] to heaven. I hope, my dear children,
that none of you will die in wickedness, as Absalom did. Pray now, my darlings,
to God, to make you love and obey Him, and I know He will hear you. Why will He
hear you? Why will He hear you? Because Jesus died for you.
The prince with the beautiful hair
Is caught in the boughs of a tree:
Behold him suspended in air,
And struggling in vain to get free.
Three arrows are stuck through his
heart;
He dies in his youth’s freshest bloom,
Oh, that all from his sins might
depart
Who hear of young Absalom’s doom!
I wonder not David should weep
O’er a son in his sins snatched away;
Oh, well might his anguish be deep,
As he thought of the great judgment
day!
CHILD
Dear Saviour, thou seest my heart
With pride and with vanity fill’d!
In mercy thy spirit impart,
And make me a dutiful child.
Then weep not, dear parents, for me
If I in my childhood should die;
Believe that my face you would see
Among the redeemed on high.
* *
* * *
* *
915
Mockers in the Last Time
By ARLEN L. CHITWOOD.
[PART ONE OF TWO]
-------
“But, beloved, remember ye the words
which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last
time, who should walk after their own ungodly
lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit” (Jude 17-19).
Verses seventeen through nineteen conclude Jude’s remarks on the
apostasy prophesied to prevail throughout Christendom in the latter days. In
this passage we are introduced to “mockers,” who are specifically associated with “the last time.” The apostles had previously spoken of
their appearance (cf.1 Tim. 4: 1-3; 2 Tim. 4: 1-4; 2 Thess. 2: 2, 3), and their appearance near the close of the age results from the
terminal corrupting process of the
leaven (“. . . till the whole was leavened”) placed in the three measures of meal by the woman in Matt. 13:
33. From the place which these mockers occupy in Jude, it seems
evident that Satan has reserved his most corrupt work for that period of time when
the Church will have reached its most corrupt state.
The spiritually destitute condition of the Church in the
end-time is not a state into which the Church is yet to move, except for the
fact that the leaven is still working, producing further corruption. We are
living during the time prophesied in Scripture when the leavening process has
already worked into the entire mass.
We’re living during the time immediately preceding Christ’s return when the prophesied apostasy of Scripture is rapidly
nearing its pinnacle. We re living during the Laodicean period of Revelation, chapters
two and three; and the present spiritual condition of the Church, typified by the
spiritual condition of the Laodicean Church, is described by the words, “wretched,
and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked”
(Rev. 3: 14ff). It is in these days, in the very time during which we [now] live, that the “mockers” from Jude appear.
Mockers
Jude’s point of termination for his discourse
on apostasy is the same point of termination which Peter records in the
parallel section of his second epistle. This, of course, is easy to understand,
for the Holy Spirit moved both of these men to write about the same thing,
revealing the end of the matter through both men. These are the words of Peter
and Jude only insofar as they were the human instruments used to record the
words. These passages are, as all Scripture, the very Word of God. God Himself,
near the beginning of the Church Age, revealed through Peter and Jude exactly how conditions would be at the end
of the Church Age, immediately preceding His Son’s return.
2 Peter 3: 1-13 forms
the parallel section to Jude 17-19. In the Authorized Version of Scripture, the word, “scoffers” appears in 2 Peter (verse 3) rather than the word “mockers” as in Jude.
However, the same word (empaiktes) appears
in both passages in the Greek text: and there should be no difference in the way
it is understood, for passages refer to the same individuals, etc. Emipaiktes means to “mock,”
“ridicule,” “make fun
of,” “scoff at.” The only other
appearance of this word in the New Testament is in its verb form (empaizo) is used in these accounts only in passages
describing the degradation which Christ endured
at the hands of both the Roman soldiers and the religious leaders in
Israel during His trial and crucifixion (cf. Matt. 20: 19; 27: 29, 31, 41; Mark 10: 34; 15: 20, 31; Luke 18: 32; 22: 63; 23: 11, 36). The same basic thought is in view throughout all these references,
including 2 Peter 3: 3 and Jude 18. Mockers, in
the Word of God, are those who “belittle,” “ridicule,”
“scorn,” “make light
of” both the living Word and the written Word.
A cognate form of empaiktes
is the word paizo used in 1 Cor. 10:
7 (the only appearance of this word in the N.T.). This word
means “amuse” or “play”
and is itself closely related to the word pais,
meaning “child.” Thus, the thought behind paizo has to do with “acting as
a child,” “childlike,” etc. Moving the
thought of “acting as a child” into the
rationale of mockers in 2 Peter 3: 3 and Jude 18
will illustrate one facet of their actions.
Another
facet of their actions can be derived from the way paizo
is used in 1 Cor. 10: 7. Events in this passage have to do with the time in the wilderness of
Sinai when the Israelites revelled in pagan idolatry (Ex. 32: 1ff). They “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (a direct quotation from (Ex. 32:
6). This occurred after Moses had been away from the camp, in the Mount, for many days. The
people “saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount.” and their thoughts turned toward new
leadership. They desired to make a god (Elohim [cf. verses 1, 4, 8,
23-31], same Hebrew word used for the one
True and Living God throughout the O.T.) who would “go before” them, for they didn’t know what had
become of Moses. A “molten calf” was formed to serve as their god (their Elohim), sacrifices were
offered to this calf, and within the festivities surrounding these sacrifices
there were times of eating and drinking. The people rising up to play was associated with the gay times of
dancing, etc. attending such festivities. All of these things were performed
after the manner, customs, and idolatrous practices of the Egyptians.
Moses in the Mount, away from the camp
of
Thus, putting these things together, the “mockers” in 2 Peter and Jude are
seen as individuals who have not only stood away from “the faith” but their actions are associated with
both those of a child and
those of the world. They, in their ofttimes pretence of
exhibiting a spiritually mature, superior knowledge, in reality exhibit a
carnally immature, inferior knowledge (cf.
2 Peter 2: 18,
Jude 16). They, as their counterparts in the wilderness of Sinai
during Moses’ day, revel, not in the things of God, but in the things of the
world. They have rejected the wisdom that comes from above and resorted to that
which is base, from below.
Divisive,
Sensual
The
mockers who appear in “the last time” are said to “separate themselves [lit. ‘cause divisions’] (Jude 9a). They, through their false doctrines, cause schisms among
Christians, seeking to overthrow the faith of those whom Jude is warning. They
themselves are no longer earnestly striving with reference to “the faith”; and their efforts are directed
toward, not those in the arena which they left.
The method which they use to produce
divisions among Christians, according to 2 Peter 3: 4, is questioning the Word of God.
Through their “great swelling words” they make light of what God has promised in His Word;
and Peter, introducing his message on apostates, stated that many would follow
the “pernicious ways” of men such as these, “by reason of whom the way of truth” would be “evil spoken
of.” These
apostates have defiled their own garments; and, through “damnable
heresies,” they
seek to lead other Christians to do the same (2 Peter 2: 1, 2: 18).
These mockers are further described as being “sensual,
having not the Spirit” (Jude
19b). The word “sensual” is a translation of the Greek word psuchikos, meaning
“soulical,”
“natural.” The soul is that part of man associated with the natural
life. The Soul is the seat of a person’s emotions, feelings, and desires
pertaining to man-conscious existence. Christians possess an unredeemed soul,
and Christians resorting to the soulical nature are following the man of flesh
rather than the man of spirit. …
Their Message
1. Where is the Promise of His Coming?
The pseudo message proclaimed by the mockers who appear during
the latter days is given in 2 Peter 3: 4. This message involves
a naturalistic, uniformitarian outlook which smacks at the very heart of
all prophetic Scripture:- “Where is the
promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation.”
This message sequentially appears
immediately following Enoch’s prophecy. Enoch prophesied during the days before
the Flood - five millenniums ago - concerning the very return which the mockers
of the end-time deny. Enoch’s prophecy pertained to a judgment which would come
upon the mockers, other apostates, and all other Christians - faithful and
unfaithful alike - at the time of Christ’s return. The Lord is going to “judge the
people”; and
Scripture states, concerning Christians in relation to this judgment, “It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10: 30, 31; cf.
1 Cor. 3: 11-15; 2 Cor. 5: 10, 11). Many Christians deny that such a
judgment will occur, but the mockers carry this one step further and deny the
very return of Christ to bring about this judgment. They deny Enoch’s prophecy in toto.
God, in His Word, is very specific and clear concerning the
fact of His Son’s return. Jesus will return; and insofar as Scripture is
concerned, that’s the end of the matter. The subject is not open for
discussion. Jesus’ words, “And if I go ... I
will come again” (John 14: 3), mean exactly what they say. He has gone away to prepare a place for Christians, fulfilling the first part of
this verse; and He will come again to receive Christians unto Himself,
fulfilling the latter part of this verse. His departure, as Moses’ departure
into the mount, was fulfilled in a literal manner; and His return, as Moses’
return back to the camp, will, likewise, be fulfilled in a literal manner.
Moses, prior to his departure, promised that he would return, and he did (Ex. 24:
15; 32: 15ff); Christ, prior to His departure, promised that He would return, and He will (John 14:
3; 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17).
The mockers, however, in spite of all the great prophecies of
Scripture, ridicule and belittle the doctrine of Christ’s return. Their
reasoning is built around a naturalistic, uniformitarian premise that nothing
has changed since the creation of the heavens and the earth, and nothing is
going to change. Time, as we know it, will continue on and on uninterrupted.
God is not going to intervene in the affairs of man. He has not done so in the
past, nor will He so do in the future. This is their reasoning, but this is not
at all in accord with what the Word of God has to say about the matter.
2. Willingly Ignorant
The interesting point which Scripture reveals concerning these
mockers and their message is the fact that they are willingly ignorant
concerning their false claims of uniformitarian theology. The word “ignorant” in the Greek text is lanthano,
which means to “escape notice,” or “be hidden.” They have willingly allowed what Scripture has to say about the matter to escape
their notice, be hidden from them. They are in a position to understand God’s
Word. They possess a saved human spirit into which the Word of
God can be received, and they [at one time] possess[ed] the indwelling Holy Spirit*
to lead them into “all truth.” But they have resorted to the soulical man, rejecting the leadership of the Holy Spirit in their lives (Jude 19). Through this means, they have willingly allowed the
veil to be placed over their eyes (cf.
2 Cor. 4: 3-5).
[* See Psalm 51: 11;
Acts 5: 32;
1 John 3: 24ff.
R.V.)]
That which the mockers have willingly
allowed to be hidden from them is something
which would expose the entire pseudo uniformitarian claim upon which their
pseudo message rests. To seek to substantiate their question concerning Christ’s
return by that which is itself false. And the Holy Spirit, through Peter,
showing the utter futility of their ways, exposes their pseudo message by
destroying the false premise upon which it is built. The Holy Spirit draws from
Biblical history to show that all things have not continued “as they were from the beginning of
the creation.” God
has intervened in the
history of this earth in the past (verses 5, 6).
The Holy Spirit then advances this same thought into the future to show
that all things will not continue indefinitely as they presently are. God will intervene once again in
the history of this earth (verse 7).
3. The World That Then Was
2 Peter 3: 6 has to do with a destruction of the
world following its creation, referred to in verse four. There is some controversy in theological circles
concerning whether this pertains to the pre-Adamic destruction in Gen. 1: 2a or to the post-Adamic destruction produced by
the Flood during Noah’s day. Either of these destructions would serve to expose
the mockers’ false uniformitarian theology in verse four. However, even though
this is true, it must be kept in mind that Scripture at this point is only
dealing with one of these destructions; and it is necessary that the correct
destruction be ascertained in order to properly understand this section of the
Word of God. As will be shown, “the world that then was,” refers to the pre-Adamic world,
not to the post-Adamic world of Noah’s day. Peter
dealt with the Noachian Flood in chapter two (verse 5), but in chapter three he is dealing with something
entirely different.
First of all, the text has to do with
a destruction of the earth following its creation, not a destruction of the earth following its restoration.
This destruction came upon a [God’s initial] creation which, “by the Word of God,” was “of old” (verse
5). These words are a direct allusion to the creation of the heavens and
the earth in verse four, referring to Gen. 1: 1. The world of Gen. 1: 1 (a kosmos, an orderly arrangement) is
the world which was destroyed (became a chaos) in 2 Peter 3: 6. Gen. 1: 2a, revealing this destruction forms
the Old Testament commentary for 2 Peter 3: 6, not the Flood during Noah’s day.
Second, the parallel drawn
between past and future destructions in 2 Pet. 3: 5-7 will show that only one destruction was quite different than the
post-Adamic destruction during Noah’s day. The destruction of Gen. 1: 2a involved not only the earth but
the heavens also. The light of the sun, moon, and stars was blotted out (cf. (Gen. 1: 2a, 3: 14-19). Nothing comparable to this occurred during the Noachian Flood. 2 Peter 3: 7, paralleling the past destruction of the earth which will also
include the heavens. Thus,
in the sense of parallel counterparts - past and future - only the destruction of Gen. 1: 2a can be considered in past time.
Further, the emphasis, and really only
matter under consideration in the pre-Adamic destruction was upon the material
creation, as in the future destruction. However, the emphasis or main thrust of
the matter under consideration in the destruction during Noah’s day was upon a people inhabiting a portion
of this material creation - upon the people of the earth. The pre-Adamic destruction was of such a nature that God had to restore
the heavens and the earth. This He did over the six-day period of Gen. 1:
2b-25. God brought into existence order out
of dis order. He brought into existence a kosmos out of a chaos. The destruction during Noah’s day, however, was quite
different. The heavens were untouched, and the earth itself was not destroyed
in the same sense as the destruction in Gen. 1: 2a. No restoration of the earth followed the Flood during Noah’s day, as in
the pre-Adamic destruction, simply because
no restoration was necessary.
4. The Heavens and the Earth, Which Are Now
The expression, “the heavens and the earth, which are now,” refers to the heavens and the earth existing since the
restoration of Gen. 1:
2b-25. Both the heavens and the earth
were destroyed in the previous destruction, and both will be destroyed in the
future destruction. This future
destruction will occur at the end of the coming Day of the Lord. The Day of the
Lord covers the last three and one-half years of the [Great] Tribulation and
the entirety of the Millennium which follows. At the close of the millennial
reign of Christ the present heavens and earth will, through a destructive
process, pass out of existence: and a new heavens and earth will, through a
creative process, be brought into existence (2 Peter 3: 7, 10-13: cf.
Isa. 65: 17).
Following the day of the Lord,
following the time of destruction of the present heavens and earth and the
creation of the new heavens and earth, the “day of the God” will be ushered in (2 Pet. 3:
12). At this time, the Son will deliver up the “
Mockers in the last days have
willingly allowed both Biblical history and Biblical prophecy to escape their
notice. The leaven [i.e. false prophetic
and apostate
teachings] in the meal has accomplished its
deteriorating work, and this leaven will be allowed to continue working - the mockers will be allowed to
continue their pseudo message - until Christ Himself returns and puts a stop to
the entire matter. That is, the mockers will be allowed to continue their pseudo message until the time when the very
event which they have been speaking against occurs. They will then be brought
into judgment, as unfaithful servants, to render an account.
God has intervened in the affairs of man in the past, and God
will intervene in the affairs of man yet future. Make no mistake about these
matters set forth in Biblical history and Biblical prophecy.
* *
* * *
* *
916
BALAAM’S ERROR AND
APOSTASY
By SAMUEL COX, D.D. [PART THREE]
And
surely we may say that as the Lord had opened the mouth of a dumb ass to rebuke
the madness of the Prophet, so now he opened the mouth of
the Prophet to rebuke the madness of the King. It was not inevitable
that
Nothing can be finer than the
Prophet’s reply, whether in spirit or in form:- “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God?” Nothing could more perfectly express that profound belief in
Righteousness which, as we have seen again and again, was a characteristic of
Balaam, or shew more impressively how pure, simple, and large his ideal of
Righteousness was.
And yet, though this ideal is one
which may be reached by any man who trusts and obeys the finer instincts of the
soul and discerns the moral significance of the relations in which he stands,
how wonderful it was that a heathen diviner of that distant time should have
risen to an ideal so pure and lofty! A thousand years before the philosophers
of Athens had begun to inquire after “the first fair”
and “the first good,” this unknown Prophet of
an obscure race flashes into sight for a moment, and, lo, he has not asked the
question only, but gained an answer to it which the accumulated experience and
discoveries, of subsequent centuries has but confirmed! Such wisdom was not
then to be found, no, not even in
THE CONCLUSION
In placing obedience above ordinances, then, character before
worship, right-doing before ritualism, Balaam anticipated the teaching of
Christ Himself; and even a Carlyle, though taught by Christ, was no wiser than
he: and so prophet touches hand with prophet across an interval of four
thousand years. The truth he taught is indeed one “which
all the ages tell;” it is commended to us by philosopher as well as
saint, by the most modern as well as by the most ancient wisdom; and yet it
needs no commendation, since it at once commends itself to our best and purest
instincts.
Obedience is better than
worship, nay, is the true worship; all ordinances of
outward service were intended to cherish and express this inward obedience, and
are valuable only as they help to confirm us in our obedience to the will of
God; God requires of us nothing more than the justice, the compassion, the
humility which our own reason and conscience require of us, so that God’s
requisition on us is, after all, only our own requisition on ourselves, - in
all these ways, and many more, we may state the truth anticipated by Balaam so
many centuries ago. …
1. One of the first combinations by which
the student of Balaam’s error is startled and perplexed is, that one and the
same man should be “a diviner, seeking omens and
auguries, and interpreting them after the approved methods of the ancient East,
and yet a prophet who heard the words of God and saw visions from the Almighty;
a soothsayer, affecting to forecast, if not to control, human destinies, and
yet a seer familiar with the ecstasies of the prophetic trance, to whom the
inspiration of the Almighty gave understanding of thing to be.” Yet a
thousand years after his time Micah
affirms* not only that the
recognised prophets of Israel exercised the arts of soothsaying and divination,
but even that these prophets “divined for money,”
- the very sin charged upon Balaam, - while yet “they leaned upon Jehovah, and said, Is not Jehovah with
us? No evil can fall upon us.” Nor, strange as it may seem, it is
hard to see how those two functions came to be conjoined; how what we should
call Religion and Superstition came to be blended in a single mind.
* Micah 3:
7, 11.
The soothsayer, the diviner, was not then the impostor he has now become. In those early ages he was
sincerely convinced that the will of God was
disclosed in omens and auguries; in the flight of birds, for example, as
they rose to the right hand or the left in the movements and conjunctions of
the planets, in the falling of the lot, in the state of the sacred entrails of
beasts offered in sacrifice, in the intuitions of the thoughtful and
forecasting mind, in portents, in dreams, and in the unwonted ecstasies of
sensitive and holy souls.* Conscious of the unity of the universe, observing
how all things play into each other and form parts of the connected whole -
like the alchymists and wizards of the Middle Ages, he believed that the fates
of men and of nations might be read in these and similar omens by those who had
acquired the art of interpreting them. The sagacity of birds and beasts, for
instance, their quick sense of approaching changes in the physical world,
naturally led him to infer that, from their cries and motions, dumb yet
speaking hints might be collected of every kind of change that was at hand, and
to attribute to them a certain prescience even in human affairs. And if by the
study of these ominous phenomena the diviner could foresee things to come, why
might he not also advise courses of action by which the blows of adverse change
might be evaded, and those who consulted him might put themselves in a posture,
to benefit by vicissitudes which, to the uninstructed, would bring only sorrow
and fear and loss? Why might he not thus in some measure control events as well
as foresee them, shape as well as forecast the future; and by persuading men to
adapt themselves to the will of God, secure for them the blessing of his
favour, a heart unvexed by fear of change, a heart made bold and confident by
the sense of being at one with Him, admitted to the secrets of his counsel,
familiar with the determinations of his providence.
* “Astrology was the only form in which the ancients could give
‘scientific’ shape to their belief that terrestrial life is governed by cosmical
conditions.” Sim Cox.
To us indeed, who no longer look, and no longer need to look,
for intimations of his will, to dream or oracle or seer, it may be easy to
denounce this faith in omens and auguries as rank and folly and superstition;
but before we brand Balaam as superstitious, before, at least, we condemn him
for his superstition, let us remember that even today it is hard to find any
man of Eastern race who does not blend this faith in omens, in auspicious and
sinister signs and influences, with his religion, however pure and simple his
religion may be. Let us remember that there are few even of the Western races,
however long they may have held the Christian faith, who do not cherish the
same superstition, often in grosser forms than he, as we have only to travel in
*Green’s “Short
History of the English People,” chapter 10.
With these facts in mind, we shall be in no haste to conclude
that Balaam was an impostor, or even that he was without true religion and
piety, because he sought to ascertain the will of God by the study of omens and
portents; nor shall we pronounce him unworthy to be a prophet, and to receive
words and visions from the Almighty, simply because he was versed in the arts
of divination, arts too, be it remembered, the inferiority of which he was
forward to acknowledge the very moment he recognized it.*
* See comment on Numbers 23: 23.
Nor is it in the least difficult to adduce a case parallel to
his even from the goodly fellowship of the Hebrew prophets. The character of Saul, the first king of
* Num. 24: 2. **1 Sam. 10: 1-13.
***Ibid. 16:
14.
2. A second
anomaly in the character of Balaam by which we are staggered and perplexed is,
that he should be at once a good man and a bad: “a man of God who, in the face of all
threatening and allurement, professed
that he could not go beyond the word of the Lord his God, to do a small thing
or a great, and who, in the teeth of his own most clamorous interests and
desires did consistently speak the words that God put into his mouth; and yet a man of God who was disobedient to
the word of the Lord,” who
sought to evade the duty with which he was charged, and, while faithful to the
letter of the Divine command, was unfaithful to its intention and spirit. And yet the very words in which I have
stated this anomaly remind us of the unnamed
Hebrew prophet* who, in the days
of Jeroboam, cried out against the altar at Bethel: for he too
delivered the message which God had put into his mouth with the most splendid
fidelity, risking his very life, and yet could not
be true to the charge, “Eat no bread (in Bethel), nor drink water,” and lost his life, not by his
fidelity to the Divine command, but by his infidelity to it. It is he, and not Balaam, who was
originally described as “a man of
God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord.”
* 1 Kings 13. Any one who reads this Chapter
attentively will find many points of close similarity between the history of
this Prophet and that of Balaam, in his bearing before the hostile king, in the
predictions he uttered, in the very terms in which he refused the reward
offered him by Jeroboam, in his temptation and fall; while in the contemptible
old prophet who lied unto his “brother,”
and betrayed him to his death, he will recognise a far worse man
than the son of Beor. Such a reader will do well to peruse also the sequel of
this strange story in 2 Kings 23: 15-20.
And if Balaam is to be condemned as a sinner above all men
because, though he saw visions and heard words from God, he nevertheless wanted
to curse the people he was bound to bless, and studied how he might evade the
spirit of the injunction he had received from the Most High, what are we to say
to Jonah who first tried to flee
from the presence of the Lord rather than deliver the warning to Nineveh with
which he was charged, and then was “very angry” with God because He did not destroy “that great
city in which were more than six score thousand little children, and also much
cattle,” and who seems to have thought less of the destruction of that vast
multitude of living men than of that of the quick-springing gourd which
sheltered his head from the heat of the sun? Was not this a prophet
of like passions with the other, as mean and selfish, but not as great,
although the son of Amittai was a Hebrew, and lived
in the light of a period nearly a thousand years subsequent to that of Balaam?
Nay, more: are Balaam and Jonah the only two men, or even the
only two good men, who, while seeing and approving the better course, have
taken the worse; who have left the path of righteousness to fall into the pit
of transgression? Do none of us ever
attempt to evade the pressure of unwelcome duties and commands, and seek how to
take our own way and to gratify our own desires without altogether breaking with
God and his law? Is even that special device of keeping a command in the
letter, yet violating it in the spirit, wholly unknown in what we justly call “the religious world,” since its denizens are at least
as worldly as they are religious, and may be equally sincere both in their
worldliness and their religion? We have only to recall men whom we
ourselves have known to find many parallels to that combination of good with
evil qualities which we have observed in Balaam; we have only to examine our own hearts to find a key to the anomaly
which perplexes us in him.
* *
* * *
* *
917
IT’S
TIME
WHAT WILL IT BE, RUIN
OR REVIVAL?
By STEPHEN CARGIN
It’s time to wake up, time to get real with
God, time to get right with God, and time to turn from our wicked and sinful
ways.
It’s time
to change our
lifestyles embracing Godliness,
Holiness, Humility, Servanthood and the Fear of God. Shake off shame and
rejection! It’s time for us to be different, stand out and stand up; not to
walk hand in hand with this world’s ways and traditions. It’s time to stop
compromising with the world’s standards, shake off the arrogance for we are
called to be different! Be Christ’s Ambassadors, both in the Church and in the
World!
It’s time to start worshipping God in spirit and
in truth. He is The Potter and we are the clay; stop resisting His marvellous
work in your life, and allow Him to shape you the way He needs you to be in
order that you can fulfil your unique purpose. Age does not matter in God’s
plan!
It’s time to set aside our differences,
arrogance and pride, to get right with God and our brothers and sisters.
It’s time to seek forgiveness for our sins and our rebellion, to
fast, to weep, to mourn, and repent.
It’s time to pray and to get back before the
prayer alter, into the prayer closet and get on our knees before God. We have
neglected our greatest call and our greatest weapon - Prayer. Prayer will
change our nations, our families and our life. Friends, it’s time to cry out to
God while there is still time available! We need to be a people and a nation
that prays!
It’s time to love again, to love our enemies, our neighbours,
those who dislike us or who have hurt us. Time to love like Jesus taught us,
turning the other cheek unconditionally; time to love our children, our wives
and show them how special they are! So many people are running into sin because
they are craving someone’s love. Love starts at home and in God’s Church!
It’s time to take our stand for truth and
justice, to take the plumb line and raise up Gods standards in government,
family and church; fighting for integrity, truth, ethics and justice.
It’s time to stand against the Devil using all
the spiritual weapons at our disposal. Time for using Gods Armour, Prayer,
Warfare, and the Proclamation of God’s Word and promises. Time to take back the
ground he has stolen; time to resist him and to take authority over him! Time
to remind him who is in authority and who’s children we are! If we don’t stand
up against him, who will?
It’s time
to sound the alarm
within the nations, our families, our cities and our church. Warn the Lord’s
people and our Church leaders, warn the lost and tell them time is short for
The King is Coming as their Saviour or their Judge. Warn them of the terrible
consequences of rebellion against the Living God!
It’s time to give God back our hearts again, for we have given our
hearts to others and pursued the things that God hates. Many of us need to fall
in love with Him again.
It’s time to tear and render our hearts, get rid
of the dross and selfishness and allow Him to cleanse us.
It’s time to return to The Lord our God, to get
back into His will again, to stop rebelling and stop resisting Him. We have
followed our own agendas for too long, now it is time for following Gods will,
purpose and plan.
It’s time to be encouragers and not
discouragers. For too long Gods people have carried a spirit of criticism,
discouragement, we would rather criticise others than bringing a timely word of
encouragement. Encouragement is a great gift, it’s time we started to share it
again! It’s time for the body of Christ’s people to stand back to back, side by
side, praying for and helping and encouraging each other. As iron sharpens
iron, we must be there to sharpen each other.
It’s time to choose today who are we going to
serve? Who will we choice to follow - God, Man, or the devil?
It’s time to seek His Face, get back into
fellowship, sonship, and knowledge of Our Lord and Saviour for so many do not
know Him intimately as they should.
It’s time to walk away from the things that are
holding us back from being the person God called, destined and purposed you to
be. It’s time for our nations and leaders to walk away from the laws,
regulations, behaviours and associations that are holding us back from being
great nations.
It’s time to stop
persecuting or harming God’s chosen people the Jews; time to bless and pray
again for Jerusalem and Gods chosen people the way God has taught us. Our Lord
Jesus is a Jew! It’s time to rip up
the replacement theology books and teaching and embrace Gods directions that we
must not curse His Chosen People, but bless them and pray for them. It’s time to be counted as
a sheep nation and not a goat nation; time to stop trying to work deals with
It’s time to stop
persecuting His people because you will experience Gods wrath and His
judgement. That has already started with the spread of plagues, viruses,
earthquakes, global catastrophes, and worse is coming! Stop persecuting Gods
Children now!
It’s time to choose
between ruin or revival? Gods ways are conditional to obtaining His
complete and full blessings. We must choose if we will meet those conditions
and take the road to ruin or revival?
It’s time to raise the
Name of Jesus Christ, and plead His Blood over our circumstances, our families,
our nations and our churches.
It’s time for The Watchmen to get back on the walls
of our cities and nations. It’s time for them to take their positions to pray,
watch for the enemy coming and to sound the alarm! The gaps in the walls are
many but the watchmen must take back their positions again. It’s time to repair
the walls again for the wolves are devouring the sheep and slaughtering the
lambs. The walls in our nations, families and churches are broken.
It’s time to for many to get back into
fellowship and out of isolation, loneliness; shake of your differences, hurts
and even your pity party, and get back into fellowship with Gods people. The
enemy loves to see Gods people isolated for then we become easy prey.
It’s time to search and hunger for truth - Gods
truth, for only in knowing the truth will we be set free. It’s time to test and
examine our ways, lift our hearts and hands to heaven and turn back to The
lord! Lamentations
3: 40-42. Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in
heaven and say, “We have sinned and
rebelled, and you have not
forgiven us.” John 8: 32, Psalm 26:2.
It’s time for the lost to repent from their
sins, seek God in Ernest, and invite Jesus to be your personal Saviour,
receiving the free gift of salvation, while you still have time. John 3: 16. It’s time to avoid Gods judgement,
Gods wrath for many will perish and many will find themselves in a lost eternity.
It’s time to accept the gift of Gods mercy, grace and unfailing love to accept
Jesus as Saviour and to partake in His forgiveness. We cannot afford to reject
such great mercy whilst He has given us time.
It’s time for our nations to turn back to God,
turning away from their sinful ways, traditions and practices. Reject sin! It’s
time to put God first in the public square, our industries, our homes,
education, justice and families.
It’s time to stop murdering Gods children.
Murder is wrong and no one has the right to Rob one of Gods children from their
destiny. God will judge those implicated in these crimes. God hates murder!
It’s time to restore family’s values in the
home, our church and nations. Men must be fathers and examples loving their
wife and children while women must love their husbands and children. The family
unit has been torn apart but it’s time to restore it as God designed it. Man
marrying a woman and raising children as a family unit under Gods headship.
It’s time to take our eyes off our
circumstances, this world and get our sights on God, on heaven and our eternal
destiny. It’s time we stopped storing up treasure here and store up heavenly
treasure. Hebrews
10: 34-39.
It’s time to re-establish our faith in God, His
Character and His promises; time to take hold of those promises, and proclaim
them over your life, family and nation. Stop listening to Satin’s lies and
listen to God’s truth, for in this you will find freedom, life, health and
blessings. Believe His Word, Speak His Word, Live His Word and Trust His Word.
Speak only life and do not entertain words, thoughts or actions that could
bring death. Death and life are in the power of your tongue and will eat that
fruit.
It’s time to stop looking
for men’s approval and seek after God’s ways. Obedience to God’s word and His
ways will bring us His honour. God says ‘Those who honour Me I will honour’. Stop looking over your should for
man’s pat on the back before he stabs you in the back. Keep looking up to
Jesus! His approval is all we need.
It’s time to stop trying to build Gods church
using business models, self-help guides, financial plans, bigger churches, more
debt, seeker friendly; avoiding conflict, trying to accommodate to everyone,
our not to cause offence. It’s time to stop appointing leaders who are charismatic, rich,
popular, who fit the mound; and put leaders back in our churches who will speak
and teach truth according to God’s ways, who will build mission-focused
churches that reach out who extend their walls to take God’s light, love and
word into communities. It’s time to appoint anointed leaders gifted and called
for this time, who are humble, with integrity, living holy lifestyles, focused
on transforming lives, seeing captives set free, feeding the hungry instead of
feeding egos and building popular centre’s that tickle everyone’s needs to be
accommodated? It’s time to get rid of men and women who are leading people into
hell, and start preaching and teaching the full counsel of God’s word in Spirit
and Truth, warning the lost, admonishing sinners, loving the way Christ taught
us to love each other. It’s time for dealing with the big issues, the elephants in the
room that we have compromised over for so long: to train people according to
God’s word, that Sexual sin is wrong, men and women are designed to build
families together, men and women are designed to marry each other; pornography
is wrong, greed is wrong, murder of God’s children is wrong.
It’s time to stop compromising with popular
opinion and the worlds lust for perversion and sick sin. Confronting conflict
and controversy does not mean we should ignore it, but face it we should, and
as we do, we can still be compassionate. It’s time to go into this world as we have been
commissioned, to go and preach the good news to the lost, feed the hungry, pray
for the sick, cast out demons and set the captives free!
It’s time to mediate and study Gods word
spending time in His presence, learning to listen to and be guided by His
voice. It’s time to teach the next generation and prepare them for the terrible
times ahead. It’s time to mentor them, encourage, equip and disciple them so
that they will stand strong and survive.
It’s time to give God back our time and stop
wasting it on foolishness. We give more time to entertainment, social media,
socializing, surfing the net, than we do in prayer, meditating and reading
God’s word, fellow-shipping with God and His people. It’s time to get the
balance right with God and stop wasting time before He removes time from us. Genesis 6-3 Gods Spirit will not always strive
with man. God flooded the earth before because man rebelled. He’s shaking it
today!
It’s time we trembled again at God’s Word. When
is the last time you trembled at God’s Word? Today we preach a selective
message, one that pleases everyone, but we miss the opportunity to understand
who God is and what His word really says! We should tremble when He warns us,
we should tremble when we realize He will judge us, we should tremble when we
realize that there are consequences for our rebellious lifestyles. We should
tremble if we are not walking in fellowship with God or have not rusted Him as
our personal saviour. I know God is gracious, full of love, merciful, loving
and kind; but I also know that God gets angry, He will judge us and that His
Spirit will not always strive with man. Isaiah 66: 5:-
Hear this message from the
lord,
all you who tremble at his
words:
“Your own
people hate you
and throw you out for being
loyal to my name.
‘Let the Lord
be honoured!’ they scoff.
‘Be joyful in
him!’ But they will be put to shame.
We should tremble in the knowledge that hell and the lake of
fire are very real places, for those who rebel against God may find themselves
in that terrible place if they do not heed His warning and turn back to him.
It’s time for Gods people to shake off fear,
weakness, poverty, sleep and slumber, rejection, discouragement, anxiety,
depression, oppression and put on the promises of peace, joy, provision,
protection, freedom, strength; be the overcomer God created you to be, not to
fear or be discouraged, operate in a sound mind. Walk in faith and not fear!
Stand up against the storms and allow God to still the wind! It’s time to
praise Him and not to seek pity for the people who know their God are called to
do exploits! Daniel 8: 32, - Be God’s voice, His light and His example. It’s time to break rank with
the world, run away from ungodly alliances, relationships, expose darkness no
longer hiding or enjoying it!
It’s time to get real for things have never
been so serious for the nations and Gods people!
It’s time to listen To Gods Voice, to be filled
with The Holy Spirit, and led only by His Voice not any other.
2 Chronicles 7: 14-16
N.L.T. Then if
my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my
face and turn from their wicked ways,
I will hear from
heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be
open and my ears attentive to every prayer mode in this place. For I have chosen
this
Shall we humble ourselves? Pray? Seek Gods Face, Repent and
turn back to God? For if we do God will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and
heal our land!
God is warning us, He is shaking the world and all its systems
and people.
What will we do? Will we ignore it, or will we change our
ways? Who will you serve?
The choice is yours and mine, what will it be? Ruin or
Revival?
How have you been challenged? In what way will your respond?
* *
* * *
* *
918
TO THE JEW FIRST
By ARLEN L. CHITWOOD
-------
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation
to every one
that believeth; to the Jew first,
and also to the
Greek” (Romans
1:
16).
“The gospel of Christ” is the good news that “Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures” (1 Cor.
15: 3, 4). It is this gospel to which Paul referred when he declared, “I am not
ashamed”; it is
this gospel which is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth”; and it is this gospel which has a
God-ordained order for its proclamation: “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [Gentile].”
Down through the centuries Satan’s attack against the gospel
of Christ has centered on two areas: 1) an attack against the simple gospel message itself,
and 2) an attack against God’s
order for the proclamation of this gospel. The leaven which the woman placed in
the three measures of meal very early in the dispensation has progressively
done its damaging work (Matt. 13: 33); and today, in the lukewarm confines
of the Laodicean Church, the terminal results of the working of the leaven are
evident on every hand. The clear, simple message of salvation by grace through
faith and God’s order for the proclamation of this message have been permeated
through and through by the working of the leaven.
It is, consequently, becoming increasingly difficult to find a
group of Christians who are unashamedly making known to the world around them
that Christ died for their
sins, that He has already paid the price which God required. And as a
result, salvation - accomplished entirely through Divine activity - is a gift extended to fallen man. All unsaved man
has to do is simply reach out and receive that which has already been done on
his behalf. He has only to put his faith, trust, reliance in the One Who paid
the price which God required. This is the reason Paul and Silas could say to
the jailor in
And it is, consequently (also as a result of the working of
the leaven throughout the present dispensation), becoming increasingly even
more difficult today to find a group of Christians who are not only making
known to the world around them that Christ died for their sins but who are also proclaiming the
message within the scope of God’s order, to the Jew first ... Some who are “not ashamed” of the gospel of Christ appear to be ashamed of God’s order
for the proclamation of this message; and others, by their actions, appear to
either be ignorant of this order or believe that this order is not something to
be followed today.
An ever-diminishing segment of Christendom believes what
Scripture teaches about salvation by grace through faith, and an even
further-diminishing segment of Christendom appears to believe what Scripture
teaches about God’s order for the proclamation of this gospel. This is how
complete the leaven has done its damaging work.
GOD’S ORDER - WHY?
Why is the gospel message to be carried to the Jew first? What
difference does it really make? After all, Jews and Gentiles alike reside in
the same unsaved condition and are equally in need of the same salvation
wrought through receiving the same Saviour. And, viewing the matter from a
slightly different perspective, there are far more Gentiles in the world than
there are Jews. Thus, Why single out the Jew as having priority in the
proclamation of the gospel?
“To the Jew first” is an order established by God, not
by man; and God’s ways of doing things are invariably quite different than
man’s ways. Man thinks and does things from a finite perspective, but God’s
thoughts and ways emanate from an infinite perspective. In fact, the gap at
this point is so great that God stated, “For as the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55: 8, 9).
With this in mind, the reason that the gospel is to be carried
to the Jew first, foremost and primary, is very simple: Because God said so.
God, through the finished work of His Son, has provided
salvation for fallen man; and He, in His infinite wisdom and knowledge, has,
for definite reasons, provided an order in which the message concerning His‑
Son’s finished work is to be proclaimed. This order is clearly given,
and the reason for this order is clearly
revealed, though both, more often than not, are
overlooked or ignored by man.
1. THE GREAT COMMISSION
First, Rom. 1: 16 is not the only place in Scripture
where one finds God’s order for the proclamation of His message of salvation by
grace through faith. It is also given in what some call “The Great Commission”; and, as will be shown later in
this study, it is also given in the example set by the Apostle Paul as he
travelled through different countries on his missionary journeys, recorded in
about the latter two-thirds of the Book of Acts.
The Great Commission actually appears five different times in
Scripture (Matt. 28: 19, 20; Mark 16: 15; Luke 24: 46, 47; John 20: 21; Acts 1: 8). Matthew’s account though is the
form of this commission to which individuals usually refer. However, even
though often referenced, Matt. 28: 19, 20 is seldom understood or followed in its completeness.
The commission, as given by Matthew, is dual in its scope of
fulfilment: 1) disciple (verse 19),
then 2) teach (verse 20). The word translated “teach” in verse 19 (KJV) is from the Greek word, matheteuo, which means to “disciple” rather than to “teach”;
but the word translated “teaching” in verse 20 is from the Greek word didasko (which does mean to “teach”) and refers to “teaching” those who have previously been
discipled.
Individuals following this commission are to go into all the world and make
disciples of “all nations”; and once disciples have been brought into existence, they
are then to be taught “to observe all things” which the Lord has commanded.
The Lord’s commission concerning evangelism in Matthew’s
gospel is centered around the Gentile nations. (the word ethnos is used in the
Greek text, referring to nations as distinguished from
Viewing Matt. 28: 19, 20 apart from the overall scope of The Great Commission as given elsewhere
though is a mistake of major proportions - a mistake which has been generally
followed in Christian missions for centuries, resulting from the working of the
leaven. The gospel message, in accordance with the Lord’s commission to His
disciples, is to be proclaimed to the Gentiles throughout the earth; but there
is a revealed, God-given plan concerning how this is to be accomplished, which
involves an order for the proclamation of God’s message. The gospel message,
within God’s Divinely-ordained plan for reaching the nations of the earth, is
to first be carried to the Jew. The message is to be proclaimed, “beginning at
Man, carrying God’s message into all the world, must do two
things if he is to remain within the scope of the commission which God has
given: 1) He must go in accordance with God’s order (cf. Matt. 28: 19; Luke 24: 47), and 2) he must teach disciples to
themselves go in accordance with this order (Matt.
28: 20).
Man’s failure on both counts (failing to follow God’s order and failing to
teach others to also follow this same order) has resulted in tragic
consequences, culminating in the world and the Church as we have them today.
The Lord promised in Matt. 28: 20 that He would be with His evangels “unto the end of the world [‘age’]” (which would have to do with guidance, provision of needs, and blessing
their efforts through fruit-bearing [cf. verse 18]).
But this promise is connected with the Lord’s evangels following His
instructions rather than their own plans and methods. And after 2,000 years of
missionary endeavour, rather than looking upon the end result of a work which
has witnessed the presence and power of the Lord, man can only look upon the
end result of a work which has been wrought largely apart from the Lord’s
presence and power. Things today in this respect, because of man following his
own plans and methods, are falling apart rather than coming together. There is
a world which is becoming increasingly more pagan, and there is a Church which
is becoming increasingly more decadent.
Man over the years has sought to carry out the Lord’s
evangelistic program apart from following the Lord’s instructions. He has taken
part of a verse (Rom. 1: 16a) and rejected the other part (Rom. 1:
16b).
2.
The key to understanding the whole matter is understanding
that which God has revealed about
There are three primary reasons Israel was called into
existence: 1) to give us the Messiah, 2) to give us the Word of God, and 3) to be God’s
witness to the ends of the earth (Psa. 147: 19, 20; Isa. 7: 14; 9: 6, 7; 43: 9-12).
In the interim,
A) GOD’S WITNESS TO THE NATIONS
In
That part of the wild olive tree which has been grafted in is
not the Church, as some surmise, for the Church is comprised of believers from both the good and wild olive trees, forming the “one new man”
in
Christ, where there is “neither Jew nor Greek
[Gentile]” (Gal. 3:
28: Eph. 2: 15). Romans,
chapter eleven shows certain Gentiles, branches from the wild olive
tree, coming into the responsibility of being Jehovah’s witness through being
grafted into the good olive tree. But it also shows something else. This
chapter shows certain Jews, the natural branches, also believing and actively
occupying a position into which they had already been called - that of being
Jehovah’s witness to the ends of the earth.
All of the branches were not broken off; all
Those comprising branches from the
wild olive tree (which have been grafted into the trunk of the good olive tree)
and those comprising natural branches (which were not broken off) all draw from the same source and all occupy the same
calling. The sap flows up through the Jewish roots into a Jewish trunk and out
through both the natural
branches and those from the wild olive tree. In this respect, any fruit borne
by the “one new man” in Christ today results only from and because of the existence of the nation of
Note verse eighteen: “... thou [those comprising the branches from
the wild olive tree] bearest not the root
[root of the good olive tree], but the root thee.” The nation of
God in His mission program, for the
purpose of seeing His message proclaimed among all the nations, turns to the natural branches first. The reason is
very simple. Those comprising the natural branches have a background which is
altogether different than that possessed by those comprising the wild branches.
They, prior to their salvation, were part of a nation which had been called
into existence to proclaim the gospel message to the ends of the earth. They,
at that time, were part of a people who possessed a God-given ability and sense
of mission to accomplish this purpose. And this is not something which the
Jewish people lose following their salvation. Believing Jews going forth,
possessing this ability and sense of mission, can be seen proclaiming the message
of salvation in a manner which is natural for them, something which can not be
approximated by those comprising the wild branches.
This is the reason for three things
which Scripture reveals about the proclamation of the gospel message during and
immediately following the present dispensation: 1) During Paul’s day, in one generation, when the message was being
carried by those comprising the natural branches, the message was proclaimed
throughout the entire then-known world (Col.
1: 23). 2) During our day, after 2,000 years
and many generations, while the message has been and continues to be carried
mainly by those comprising the wild branches, most of the world has never heard
the name of Jesus; and the Church has ultimately found itself described as being “Wretched,
and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked”
(Rev. 3: 14ff). 3) Just ahead though, during the Great Tribulation,
individuals comprising the natural branches will once again carry God’s
salvation message; and in the short space of the three and one-half years of
the Great Tribulation, 144,000 Jews will carry this message to the Gentiles
throughout the nations of the earth (cf. Matt. 24: 14; Mark 13: 10; Rev. 7: 9-14; 12: 17).
Those who keep statistics today say that seven out of ten Jews
presently reached with the gospel message will become active witnesses, telling
others the story of Jesus. Nothing even remotely approaching this can be said
about Gentiles reached with the gospel message. Why is there such a sharp
distinction between the two? The answer is simple. Jewish converts, unlike
Gentile converts, have a God-given ability and sense of mission to proclaim
God’s message to the Gentiles which stretches back through 3,500 years of human
history.
All of this comes down to one thing: If Christians today are
really interested in effectively going into all the world and making disciples
of all the nations, in accordance with the Lord’s commission, they must follow the Lord's order - “to the Jew first.” The reason is very simple: Reach Jews
with the salvation message and these Jews (having become Christians) will carry
this same message to the Gentiles in such a way and in such numbers that
Gentile converts can never approximate.
B)
More for purposes of this study though,
In the eternal council chambers of God, before the foundation
of the world, the time when nations would be brought into existence or pass out
of existence and the place which they would occupy upon the earth during man’s
day were all predetermined. From the division of the people by various
languages and established geographical boundaries in Gen.
10, 11,
down to the present time, Gentile nations have appeared on the earth only after this
fashion. Every nation throughout history today, or yet future owes or will owe
its position, both chronologically and geographically, to God’s sovereign plans
and purposes surrounding Israel, predetermined in the eternal council chambers
of God before either Israel or the nations were even brought into existence.
Nations occupy their respective positions chronologically and
geographically, according to Acts 17:
27, for purposes
surrounding salvation. Though God in His sovereignty uses nations occupying
positions in which they have been placed for numerous purposes, everything
occurring among the nations of the earth has one ultimate goal in view - the
outworking of a predetermined plan in complete keeping with Deut. 32: 8 and Acts 17:26, 27.
The United States, for example, one of the two most powerful
Gentile nations on earth today, was the first nation to officially extend
recognition to the new state of Israel on May 14, 1948; and the United States has been a friend to Israel ever since (note
the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars, wherein Israel could not have been victorious
without a supply of weapons from western nations, especially the United
States).
God, in His sovereignty, has placed both the
Why is the gospel to be proclaimed to the Jew first? A reason
in addition to and in conjunction with what has previously been covered
(concerning the natural branches) is the position which the Gentile nations
occupy, both chronologically and geographically, in relation to
For the past 1,900 years
the Jewish people have been scattered among the Gentile nations of the earth,
nations which, during the present time, occupy their set geographical
boundaries because of the very number of the children of Israel which have been
scattered in their midst. Reach some of these Jews with the salvation message
and it will become evident in a very short time why God said, “to the Jew
first.” They,
fulfilling God’s purpose for their very existence, will carry God’s message of
salvation to those among whom they dwell after a fashion seen only in first
century evangelism, when the message was carried by those comprising the
natural branches to “every creature which is under heaven” (Col. 1: 23; cf. Rom. 10: 18).
* *
* * *
* *
919
SAINTS RULING THE WORLD
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
The [coming] ravaging desolation created by Antichrist, when laid alongside what we are
witnessing [today] - both
startlingly alike - is convincing proof that we are in its immediate
neighbourhood. The
Beast had “great iron teeth: it devoured
and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
with his feet” (Dan. 7: 7): it devours whole provinces and
countries; it breaks in pieces all national organizations and subject races,
and turns them into vassal States; and it stamps out all power but its own.
Count Ciano, Foreign Minister and son-in-law, exactly
expresses it in a radio broadcast:- “The losers in this current war will be subjected to
expropriation. They will be exploited in every possible manner. They will be reduced
to the state of Chinese coolies compelled to toil for others. There is not a shred of internationalism
which can save to-morrow’s vanquished from this fate. The victors will attempt to take possession of the whole world and
there is no fine promise which can make them do otherwise.” “The fourth
beast shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.”
THE WILD BEAST
To-day leading statesmen describe the world as a jungle and
the aggressive nations as wild beasts, exactly as did the Prophets, by divine
inspiration, thousands of years ago. In the prophecy describing the
successive empires of the world, no gentle, peaceful animal is chosen to stand
for the nations:* their diplomacy is like a crouching lion; their attack
like the swift rush of a panther; their propaganda like the guile of a leopard;
and behind all is the Snake spitting poison - Satan, the dragon, or winged
serpent. But even animal savagery can offer no type for the last Wild Beast - “diverse from
all the kingdoms, terrible, and strong exceedingly.” But his destiny is fixed. “What
is the Carpenter’s Son doing to-day?” a Judge asked a Christian prisoner
in the days of Julian the Apostate. Quick as a flash came the answer:- “He is making a coffin for your Emperor.”
Daniel sees the end:- “I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and he
was given to be burned with fire”: so we read in the Revelation
- “The beast was taken, and cast
alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone” (Rev. 19: 20). In the words of Horace
Walpole: “Tyrants
are a proof of an hereafter. Millions of men cannot be formed for the
sport of a cruel despot.”
* With in exception of the ram and the
he-goat (Dan. 8:
3, 5);
perhaps indicating exceptional nations such as history has known, purely animal
indeed, but unsavage, unbloodthirsty.
JUDGMENT
Now there bursts on us the
world-revolution that utterly out-balances all the worst that can conceivably
happen today. “I beheld till thrones were set, and one that was ancient of days did sit: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him” - one hundred millions: “the judgment
was set, and the books were opened”. God at last makes his reckoning with
the iniquitous kingdoms of the world, and launches His legions of universal
conquest. And it is not one Throne set, but many: as in the Apocalypse, - “I saw THRONES, and judgment was given unto them” (Rev.
20: 4). Irresistible force will move behind
flawless righteousness, “The Son of man shall send forth his angles, and they shall gather out of his kingdom” - the whole earth - “all things
that cause stumbling” - drinking-dens, brothels, gambling pools, theatres - “and them that
do iniquity, and shall cast them into the
furnace of fire” (Matt. 13: 41).
THE SON OF MAN
The contrast to the Wild Beast now
appears. “Behold, there came with the
clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man” - no savage beast, but One who is
exquisitely human; and with no type from among animals, except the Lamb - “and there was given him dominion and glory and
a kingdom”.
Only once (Acts 7: 56) is the title ‘Son of man’ given to our Lord by human lips: eighty times Jesus applies it to Himself: it is, in His favourite
expression, the utterly Human King, to whom the Kingdom is here given, not inherited: “ask of me,
and I will give thee the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession” (Psalm 2: 8). It is as an overcoming saint that
our Lord ascends the Throne, as He Himself explicitly states concerning both Himself and those
who [for one ‘day’ (2
Peter 3: 8, R.V.) will] reign with Him:- “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). “Then shall the righteous” - not [all regenerate] believers
merely, but - [the obedient, repentant, and restored by
grace into divine fellowship] - believers who have proved their possession of active [righteousness (see Matt.
5: 20, R.V.)] as well as [at the time of their conversion, were accredited with (i.e. divinely Justified by faith, by Christ’s] imputed righteousness - “shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13: 43).
SAINTS
Now we arrive at the glorious event, central of all for us,
and which may happen ‑within the next few years. “The kingdom
and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
High.” So in the
Apocalypse:- “Judgment was given
unto them” (Rev. 20: 4); or, in our Lord’s words to the Apostles, - “Ye shall sit upon twelve
thrones, judging” (Matt. 19: 28.) Why are they thus enthroned? “Because
they have ‘overcome’. By the power given to them they have
overcome evil,* and only good remains; and good is the final, the
everlasting, the all-absorbing power of the universe” (D. Wright, M.A.). This
dispensation tests our capacity, our fitness for rule: the next discriminates
the result: “because thou wast found faithful in a very little, have
thou authority over ten cities” (Luke 19:
17). The thrones, the governments, the courts, the banks, the
stock exchanges of the world are one day to be in holy hands; goodness is one
clay going to be power; the whole earth will be
administered by saintly souls: earth’s Golden [Millennial and Messianic] Age will [then] have arrived at last.*
[*
See 1 Sam. 15:
23ff. ; 16:
14, 15ff.
; 18: 12ff;
28: 16ff.
; 2 Sam. 1:
10ff; Psalm 51:
8-11ff. Cf.
Acts 5: 27,
34 with 1 John 3:
21-24,
R.V.]
* “Neither shall they learn mar any more” (Is. 2: 4). The awful destructiveness of war is seen in
almost simultaneous vote (Times, July 10th 1940) of
the British Parliament and the American
Congress of £1,000,000,000 and £1,200,000,000, respectively, on war, and war preparation, alone. It
staggers imagination to grasp what blessings these sums could have brought in
pence. But this will be done in the - [the coming promised and prophesied (Ps. 2: 8), Messianic reign of our Lord Jesus, in the Holy
Spirit’s six times mentioned (Rev. 20.) ‘thousand years’] - Kingdom.
A ROD OF IRON
In this radical change of dispensation
we see a change of conduct equally radical. “Judgment was given to the saints of
the Most High”;
and so in the Apocalypse:- “And I saw
thrones, and they sat upon them, and Judgment was given unto them”(Rev. 20: 4). Judgment is given to them because
hitherto it has been forbidden: “Judge not” is repeated to us again and again. So
royalty. Paul reproves wealthy Corinthian disciples: “Already ye are become rich, ye have
reigned without us: yea, and I would that ye did
reign, that
we also might reign with you (1 Cor. 4: 8) - the kingdom would [then] have come! To Pilate our Lord said:- “My kingdom is not from hence” (John 18: 36). But the moment the kingdom does come, from no continent of the earth
- not even from Palestine - but out of the heavens, the sword is put into the hand of the [overcoming] saint, and he exercises full royal,
judical and military authority [i.e., under our Lord Jesus - Israel’s long awaited true and only
Messiah’s] authority. Our Lord expresses it with
extraordinary force:- “He that overcometh, and he that keepeth
my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron,
as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers”
(Rev. 2: 26). Love, presenting God’s mercy
to the world, is to rule our action [in it] now: justice, presenting God’s holiness,
is to rule it - [i.e., the
world in ‘the age to
come’ (Heb. 6:
5b, R.V.)] - then.
ANTICHRIST
The importance of mastering, this
truth is critical for the days immediately ahead. For the Apocalypse goes out of its way to warn us that even against
Antichrist himself we must use no sword, for “it was given unto him to make
war with the saints, and to overcome them”. No sooner have his blasphemies been
named, and that “all that dwell on the earth shall worship him”, than, the command fails. “If any man
hath an ear” - a
warning that a difficult truth is being stated: the phrase always implies that
as a matter of fact few will accept what is being said - “let him hear.
If any man is for captivity” - that is, attempts to inflict
captivity - “into captivity he goeth: if any man shall kill with
the sword, with the sword must he be killed. HERE” - that is, supremely here - “IS THF PATIENCE AND THE FAITH OF THE SAINTS” (Rev. 13: 9). Daniel also reveals that
saints take the sword against Antichrist, un-backed of God. “The horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them” (Dan.
7: 21). The argument that [regenerate] Christians must draw the sword because
they face gross wickedness - or must join the fighting forces of a State if and when it faces gross
wickedness - was an argument simply
overwhelming at the moment when our Lord said that His servants do not
fight; for Calvary is the most wicked thing that will ever be done for all
eternity, and Satan was, actually in the
Upper Room entering Judas, to effect it.* Yet when Peter draws the sword on the Satanic forces thus creating Calvary, our Lord not only bids him sheathe it, but actually heals the
soldier whom the sword had wounded. So our
principle, until the [Messianic and Millennial] Kingdom comes and reverses it, Paul explicitly lays down:- “Avenge not yourselves, beloved; for it is written,
Vengeance
belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord. But if thine enemy hunger, feed him”
(Rom. 12:
19). But in the coming [messianic] Age all this is
extraordinarily reversed. The Overcomer “shall rule them
with a
rod of iron, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROREN TO SHIVERS”
(Rev. 2: 26).
* It is extraordinarily pertinent that as we write these lines a
leading prophetical journal, after expressing the judgment that we are facing
the spirit of the Beast, counsels Christians to attack Antichrist with physical
weapons. “If ever there was a just cause for nations to arm and to defend themselves,
that cause is before us now”, and therefore approves of a Christian’s
conscription for military duty in defence of the nation against evil doers.”
OVERCOMING
So we face our enormous practical problem:- Are we overcoming?
Is each of us [who are regenerate
believers] (like a nation involved in war) concentrating on victory, at
all costs? “This promise to the overcomer is the promise of
the ascended, victorious, crowned, and almighty Saviour to men whom He would
have imitate and reproduce the life which He lived while upon the earth. Many fail where one succeeds. The higher we rise in any sphere of life
the smaller do the classes become. The
promise affords glorious encouragement in the blessed assurance that it is
possible in this life-battle to overcome” (T. Mc Cullagh,
D.D.). In the words of Dr. Horatius
Bonar:- “A
throne: not merely salvation, or life, but higher than these - glory, honour,
dominion, and power. From being the lowest here they are made the highest hereafter. It is Christ’s throne. He has a seat on the
Father’s throne [in heaven] as the reward of His victory [down here], so we have a seat on His [(Luke 1: 32b; 22: 29, 30; Rev. 3: 21; R.V.)] as the reward of ours.” Many of the humblest and obscurest saints will shine out the brightest
stars in the coming [Messianic] Kingdom.
* *
* * *
* *
920
MOCKERS IN THE LAST TIME
By ARLEN L. CHITWOOD
[PART TWO]
This One Thing
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of
this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:
8).
Peter’s summation of the matter concerning “the world
that then was” and
“the
heavens and the earth which are now” involves a period of time referred to by the expressions “day” and “one thousand years”; and he does not want Christians to
be ignorant concerning this time. The word “ignorant” is a translation of the Greek word lanthano,
the same as in verse five; and the manner in which the
prohibition appears in the Greek text of verse eight indicates that those addressed
were, the mockers in verse five, allowing something to escape their
notice. Literally Peter states, “But, beloved,
stop allowing this one thing to escape your notice, that
one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as one day.”
1. One Day, One Thousand Years
The time in verse eight is to be ascertained by reference to the
preceding verses. These preceding verses set forth Biblical history as it
relates to Biblical prophecy. This section covers the complete scope of
revealed events pertaining to the heavens and the earth - from the point of
their creation, through the time of their first destruction, to the time of
their second and final destruction. Time, however, does not come into view until the restoration
of the ruined creation following its first destruction. Behind this is a
dateless past, wherein time, insofar as the revealed scope of time in Scripture
is concerned, is not reckoned. Thus, time in verse
eight, within its
context, must be recognised to begin
at the point of the
restoration of the heavens and the earth (“the heavens and the earth, which
are now.”) in
verse
seven.
2 Peter 3: 5-8 can be outlined under four headings: Creation, Ruin,
Restoration, and Time.
(a) Creation (verse
5b): Parallel 2 Peter 3: 5b with Gen.
1:
1.
“… by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water [‘the
earth having been placed together out of
water and by water’].”
“In the beginning God created the heaven [‘heavens’]
and the earth.”
(b) Ruin (verse 6): Parallel
2 Peter 3: 6 with Gen. 1: 2a.
“Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished.”
“And the earth was
[‘became’]
without form,
and void;
and darkness was
upon the face of the deep [‘upon the face of the raging waters’].”
(c) Restoration (verse 7):
Parallel 2 Peter 3:
7 with Gen. 1: 2b-25.
“But the heavens and the earth, which are now,
by the same word [ref. verse 5]…”
“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
[beginning the restoration process for ‘the heavens and the earth, which are now’] ...”
(d) Time (verse 8): Parallel 2 Peter 3: 8 with the septenary arrangement of time set forth in Gen. 1: 2b-2: 3.
God worked six days and rested the seventh in the past restoration; and, following man’s sin,
bringing both himself and the material creation under “the bondage
of corruption,” God began working to bring about another restoration - that of the creature and the creation [see Rom. 8:
19-23,
R.V.)]. The latter [millennial] restoration and rest is patterned after the former. God will, once again, work six days and rest the seventh. In the latter
restoration and rest, each day is one thousand years in length. This is the teaching set forth
in 2
Peter 3: 8.
(Note that within the septenary arrangement of time in 2 Peter 3: 8 attention can be directed only to the
restoration of the heavens and the earth destroyed in Gen.
1:
2a and 2 Peter 3: 6 MUST be looked
upon as synonymous, for the septenary arrangement of time in verse eight
is drawn from the context [verses 5-7])
2. The Sabbath
According to Ex. 31: 13-17, the Sabbath was given to Israel to
keep the thought ever before them that the present six - and seven-day (six and
seven thousand-year) pattern of restoration and rest is based on the original pattern
of restoration and rest in Genesis, chapters one and two; and, just as God rested on the
seventh day following six days of work in the Genesis account, He is going to rest for one day following the
present six days of restoration work. The Sabbath was a “sign” established between God and the children of
The present-daycounterpart to the
Israelites failing to keep the Sabbath, and thereby rejecting what God
had to say concerning a day of rest following six days of work, is Christians
who reject what Scripture has to say concerning the coming Sabbath of rest.
These individuals in Christendom today are called “A-millennialists”
a word designating the belief that there will be no Millennium or Sabbath rest
following the present six days of work. And it should come as not surprise that
Anti-millennial teaching has become far more prevalent in Christendom than
millennial teaching. Wny? Simply because of the
corrupting process of the leaven over a period of nineteen hundred years. God Judged the Israelites in the Old Testament for their failure to
recognise the sign of the the Sabbath, and God will
judge Christians for exhibiting this same attitude today.
A Sabbath rest is coming. Heb.
4:
9 states, “There
remaineth therefore a rest [‘Sabbath keeping,’
‘Sabbath rest’] for the
people of God.” The word translated “rest” is sabbatismos in the Greek
text. This is a form of the word for “Sabbath,” referring to a “Sabbath keeping,” which is a seventh-day rest. The allusion is by no means to a
present rest into which Christians enter, for such has nothing to do with the
seventh day. The sabbatismos can only be millennial in its scope of fulfilment. This is in keeping with the context (verses 5-11), the septenary
arrangement of the pattern established in the Book of Genesis, the reason why the Sabbath was given to
God
answers the mockers in 2 Peter 3: 3, 4 by calling attention to a
panorama of events which encompass the entire scope of God’s Rev elation to man, written particularly around the septenary arrangement of time
established in the Book of Genesis. All the Scriptures are about Christ (Luke 24:
27), and His first coming is incomplete without His second
coming. “Where is the promise of His coming?” It’s in Genesis … Psalms
… Malachi … Matthew
… Acts … Revelation. The enlightened Christian might well
ask, “Where isn’t the promise of His coming?”
* *
* * *
* *
921
THE PROVOCATION
By PHILIP MAURO
[PART ONE OF TWO]
In Hebrews 3: 4, 5, 6, Christ is
compared with Moses, who was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, for a
testimony of the things which were to be spoken subsequently (which we take to
be “the things which we have heard”). Christ,
however, is not a servant in God’s house, but Son over His house; and then
follows the statement that directly concerns us: “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end.” What follows these verses is given for the purpose of teaching us what is
meant by holding fast the confidence and rejoicing (or, as it has been
otherwise rendered, the boldness and boasting) of the hope firm to the end. That such is the purpose is evident
from the fact that the next words are “Wherefore (omitting the parenthesis to end of verse 11) take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,
in departing from the living God.” For information as to what is meant
by departing from the living God as the result of unbelief, we are referred to
the ninety-fifth
Psalm, the last part of
which is quoted in full and declared to
be the saying of the Holy Spirit.
From this we learn that the period denominated “Today” is the present day of our sojourn and
pilgrimage on earth; and that “the end,” unto which we are again and again admonished to hold
fast our confession and our confidence, is
the end of our pilgrim journey. We learn further that the danger against
which we are so pointedly and earnestly warned is something that corresponds to
the “provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness,”
the dire consequence of
which was that God swore
in His wrath that those who provoked should not enter into His rest.
What, then, was the “provocation,” and what does it stand for as a type?
Turning to Numbers 14 we find at
verse 11 the words, “And the Lord
said unto Moses, How long will this people
provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the
signs which I have shewed among them?” And at verse 23 we read: “Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto
their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.”
Here we have the provocation and the penalty. The provocation was
- not a single act, but - the culmination of a series of acts. The Lord’s
question was; “How long will this people
provoke me?” And in verse 22 He spoke of them as “those men which ... tempted me now
these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice.” Therefore, it will be profitable to
trace the steps which culminated in provoking the irrevocable punishment
inflicted on those whom God still owned as His people, and over whom He still
continued to watch in the wilderness where they were compelled to remain. If we
take care to avoid the first step of
the provocation we shall not incur the indignation.
In the latter part of Numbers 10, we read of the journeyings of the Israelites under the
guidance of Jehovah, the Shepherd of Israel, the Ark of the covenant going
before to search out a resting place for them; and we read also the words that
Moses uttered when the
The next incident is recorded in Numbers
11: 4-6:
“And the mixt multitude that was among
them fell a lusting: and the children of
So the next step in the provocation came through the “mixed
multitude” which
had come up with them out of
The manna which God supplied to His people in the wilderness
stands for the Word of God on which His people are privileged now to feed, that
they may be “nourished up in the words of faith” (1 Tim. 4: 6). From this we may learn that it is a very serious matter to slight the Word of God. To do so is to
neglect the appropriate spiritual food which God, in His goodness, has supplied,
in order that we may be nourished and strengthened to bear the trials of the
way. Disinclination to feed on the Word is a common complaint among the
Lord’s people, particularly among such as have fellowship with the mixed
multitude of Christendom, who have no taste at all for the bread of life. Let
us take careful note of this, and not permit either the habits of our
neighbours or the pressure of things about us, to divert us from the daily,
deliberate, meditative reading of the Word of God. Regular attention to this important matter will go far towards fitting
us to overcome the severe trials that surely lie in our path. The reading
matter of the day that is devoured by the people of the world and by the mixed
multitude is utterly unfit for the people of God. Not only is it quite void of
spiritual nutriment, but it vitiates the taste therefor. Much of the religious
literature of the day is no better, and some of it is even worse. The attempt
to make spiritual things palatable, by means of artistic and literary
expedients, is sure evidence of a state of spiritual decline, which may end in [their] apostasy. It is written of the Israelites that they subjected the manna to culinary
expedients, in order to make it more palatable, not relishing it in the state
in which God gave it to them. For “the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it
in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made
cakes of it” (Num. 11: 8). But that did not satisfy them; for eventually
they came to such a pass as to say, “Our soul loatheth this light bread”
(Num. 21:
5). It is safe to say that, of the literature of the day, not
the thousandth part contains any spiritual nutriment; and besides that, it must
be remembered that the very soundest and most spiritual books cannot take the
place of the Word of God. This admonition applies to the old and young alike.
To despise the provision which the Lord has made for His
people is to despise the Lord Himself, as He said on the occasion we are now
considering, “Ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying,
Why came we forth out of Egypt?” (Num.
11: 20).
God has taken pains to teach us very plainly and forcibly the
seriousness of neglecting our spiritual food, which He supplies, namely, the
words of eternal life. The incident of the preference of the Israelites for the
food of
Again in Psalm 106 the incident is recited in detail; and, as we have already seen, Psalm 95 refers prominently and pointedly to
the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
Proceeding with the record given in Numbers, we find in chapter 12 the sedition of Aaron and Miriam
against Moses, which amounted to rebellion against the Word of God, who spoke
through Moses. Aaron and Miriam wished their utterances to have the same
authority as those of Moses. “And they said, Hath
the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he
not spoken also by us?” Many among professed [and
regenerate] Christians are saying the same thing today, putting the
uninspired words of man on the same level with the Word of God. Those who were
most closely related to Moses by the ties of nature “refused him that spake on earth” (Heb. 12: 25), and they “escaped not” [His] punishment.
Chapter 13 relates another step in the departure of the Israelites from
the living God, giving a further manifestation of the existence in themselves
of “an evil heart of
unbelief.” The subject of this chapter is the sending of the spies to investigate
and report upon the promised land. They believed
not God’s report concerning [their inheritance in] the land. His announcement [concerning it] did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard. So
they sent chosen leaders to spy the land, with instructions to
“see the land, what it is, and
the people that dwelleth therein, whether they
be strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and
what cities they be that they dwell in, whether
in tents or in strong holds; and what the land
is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not” (verses 18, 19, 20).
From Deuteronomy 1: 22 we learn that the sending of the
spies was the act of the people, God permitting them in all these matters to
have their own way, which they preferred to His. They saw His works, but did not know or desire His ways.
Moses in his farewell words to the people said:
“And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess
it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said
unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged” (Deut.
1: 20, 21).
This surely should have been enough for those who had faith in
God. But “their heart was not right with him.” They did not hold the beginning of their confidence, in which they set out from
“And ye came near unto me every one of
you, and said, We
will send men before us, and they shall search
us out the land, and bring us word again by what
way we must go up, and into what, cities we shall come” (verse
22).
Two things are prominent in this action of the congregation of
Israel: first, that they had more confidence in the report of men than in that of God; second, that they had more
confidence in the guidance of human leaders than in that of God, notwithstanding that He, as Moses reminds them, “went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you the way ye should go, and in a cloud by day” (verse
33).
Taking the two accounts (that in Numbers and that in Deuteronomy) together, we may see that God was virtually ignored by His [redeemed] people. They did not consider His purpose or will in the matter, or even consider
whether He had a will as to their entering the land of their inheritance. They disregarded
His promise made to them in
Let it be noted that it was those who had heard the announcement of God that
provoked Him by
the way in which they acted with regard to the things announced. “For some, when they had
heard, did provoke” (Heb. 3: 16). The announcement was perfectly plain. It could not be misunderstood, although
it could be treated with indifference, slighted and neglected.
* *
* * *
* *
922
REAL OR COUNTERFEIT?
By D. A. COOK.
-------
“For the Word
of God liveth and worketh, and is sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, yea, to the inmost parts thereof, and
judging the thoughts and
imaginations of the heart.” Hebrews 4:
12.
The Word
of God makes a clear distinction between the appreciation and understanding of
Divine Truth, and the experience of it.
The natural man has a strong religious instinct, which is
frequently mistaken for a work of the Holy Spirit, and is a very subtle counterfeit
of His operations in the heart.
What are the essential characteristics of the natural man’s
knowledge of spiritual things, and the spiritual man’s experience of them? In
the former case, the truth has not penetrated into the heart, but has only entered
the unrenewed mind; and truth held only there, is not reproductive, because not
quickened by the Holy Spirit, for He only can quicken the seed that finds its
way to the spirit; and the spirit must not be confused with the soul of man,
which is his personality, and is composed of his intellectual faculties,
emotions and desires; and it is possible for the faculties to be stirred and
moved by spiritual truth, and yet for the life to undergo no radical change.
We see this illustrated in the book of Ezekiel, where God describes the attitude of
the children of
Here we have an inspired picture of
the natural, or soulish man, sitting under the
preaching of Ezekiel the prophet, enjoying his eloquence and zeal, and moved by
his burning words, but the whole sum of this apparent religious fervour is
given in these few simple - yet how tragic - words, “They hear thy
words, but they WILL NOT do
them.”
They could appreciate and applaud the prophet, but they had no
intention of obeying his message. And alas, this condition of things is no less
evident in our day, and it is saddest of all, when it exists amongst those who
profess to be children of God. There are certain tests, which, if applied to
our hearts, will save us from falling into so great a deception regarding
ourselves. We must first of all understand, that the Holy Spirit’s objective in
His dealings with us, is not simply to stir our emotions, or win the assent of
our minds, but to gain the consent
of our Wills, without which, He cannot work. And by the assent of the mind is
meant, the natural intelligence of man, in his total, or partial, unenlightment
by the Spirit of God; the mind that apprehends God’s truth, much in the same
way in which it absorbs any other facts, or accumulates any other knowledge.
Thus, many people have perfectly correct doctrine, and could preach upon the
whole plan of salvation, including the need for conviction of sin, repentance
and confession, and yet they may never have had the experience of these things
themselves. They know nothing of brokenness of heart because of the corruption
and enmity to God, that is their own evil nature. They would agree that the
human heart, in general, is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,
but they have never been horrified by the deception of their own heart. And so
these truths simply lodge in the mind, and become, instead of the illumination
and liberating power, which God intends His Word to be, to the honest and
humble soul, so much more knowledge to clog the fleshly mind, and to grow
stagnant there. For God has ordained that His Word shall live, and accomplish
that which He pleases, not in the natural and corrupt mind, of fallen man, but
in the obedient heart and will. The psalmist understood this, when he said:- “Thy word have
I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Ps. 119: 11. And Paul tells us that it is “with the heart man believeth.”
There is no more appalling deception than that which leads a
soul to mistake a mental grasp of Truth, for the experience of it.
We must ever bear
in mind that the truths of Scripture are only the scaffolding of the Great and
Eternal realities which are folded up in them. It is not so with any other
knowledge. The highest human wisdom and science demands and requires nothing
more than a highly-developed human intellect, to receive its wisdom; for being
human in its origin, it can be received by human intellect. But it is far
otherwise with God’s Divine Words; for His Word is the expression of His own
Nature and Being, and therefore only the Spirit of God can interpret and apply
it. Thus it is written:- “But the natural man (lit. the man of soul) receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can
he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned.” (1 Cor.
2: 14). And this is equally applicable to the regenerate, as well as to the unsaved
soul, in so far as his natural mind
has not been fully renewed, and he
is still approaching and handling the Word of God with his fallen wisdom, and with his fleshy mind.
The Word is living and powerful (Heb.
4: 12)
and the Lord Jesus, Who is the Incarnate Word, declared:- “The words
that I speak unto you are spirit and life” (John
6: 63). Thus the Word of God effects something in the hearer,
and therein lies the crux of the whole matter. If it does not work a radical
change in the whole being, we may suspect that, so far, the truth has not
penetrated deeper than the natural mind, and thus we may test ourselves by the
Word which is “a sharp two-edged sword, dividing
asunder between soul and spirit.” “Let us search
and try our ways.”
How we need to humble ourselves before God, and cry to Him “Search me,
O God, and know my heart;
try me and know my thoughts” (Ps. 139: 23), for “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,
who can know it?” (Who indeed but He Who has eyes like a flame of fire.)
“I
the Lord search the heart” (Jer.
17: 10).
Let us examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith, and
apply the unfailing test of the Word of God to our own experience.
Have we ever had real conviction of sin? or in our secret
heart (though we may never have been sincere enough to have put the thought
into words) have we thanked God that we are not as other men are? The Lord
Jesus, Who is the Truth, has told us that such a prayer of thanksgiving awakens
no response in the heart of God, and is only the signing of our own
condemnation - “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest: for wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself.” (Rom. 2: 1). Whereas the poor, stricken publican, who beat his breast in
anguish of conviction because of his lost state, and cried out, “God be
propitious (which
is the literal meaning of the word merciful) to me a sinner,” arose and went his way a justified soul.
Conversion is always deep and real, when it begins with a deep
sense of sin, and an unveiling of the depths of the fall.
The publicans prayer is not only to be the expression of a
notorious sinner, but of everyone of us, for “There is no
difference” “all have sinned.” “There is none righteous.”
When we believe in the corruption of our own heart and nature,
we shall have, like St. Paul, no more confidence in the flesh, even when
adorned in its best robes and ornaments, and we shall confess, with him, that “in me,
that is, in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing.” (
“Woe is me, for I am undone” (Isa. 6) was the cry of one who had been in contact with God; and it is ever so.
When one has caught a glimpse of the thrice-holy God, there is
no room for boasting, and instead of clinging to some supposed righteousness
and reputation of our own, and feverishly seeking to appear unto men to be
religious and righteous, we shall be concerned only to find shelter under the
Blood of the Lamb from the anguish of a conscience awakened by the Holy Spirit.
What do we know of real repentance? Have we been convicted and
broken because of our sin, and have we repented and confessed? Much seeming
repentance is self-pity and wounded pride, we suffer because we have not shone
as we would like to have done, in the eyes of our fellow men, and it hurts us,
too, to discover we are less holy than we had imagined. But repentance toward
God is, oh, so different. It takes the place of a sinner, that has nothing but filthy
rags to offer. It comes to God with no excuses, or shams, but in honesty and
contrition receives God’s Grace, and His provision, and it is then that a soul
becomes a new creation in Christ, through His atoning work on the Cross; and
this work of regeneration is God’s supreme miracle, for it is nothing less than
the impartation of God’s own Life and Nature to man’s spirit.
What are some of the evidences that the miracle of recreation
has been performed?
1. The eyes of the heart are opened. We
see, whereas were once blind.
2. We love those who love the Lord, and
are indwelt by Him. We find our truest liberty and joy in the company and
fellowship of those who are His. “By this we know that we have passed
from death into Life, because we love the brethren.”
3. God’s Word becomes precious to the
heart. This is beautifully expressed by Jeremiah. “Thy words
were found and I did eat them, and Thy word was
unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.”
4. A real experience of the regenerating
life and power of God will result in personal testimony. “Come and hear what God has done to my soul.” The
psalms are rich in personal testimonies. “Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh.”
One word more. Has there been obedience unto death all that
belongs to the old Adam life, with his activities, wisdom, desires and
imaginations? It is only one thing to have mental knowledge of the truth of
identification with the Lord Jesus Christ in death and resurrection, but quite
another thing to have to consent to the Holy Spirit applying the Cross to one’s whole being, which means, that we have
renounced our own life, root and branch, and chosen to live only in the Life,
activity and holiness of Another, even Him Who is raised from the dead. Until
then, we can know nothing of resurrection power, and much less of the reigning
Life in heavenly places in Christ, “far above all,” for it is not until the natural life
is denied and handed over to death, that the streams of resurrection Life begin
to flow, out of our inmost parts.
And in closing, let it be emphasised that only when Light is
obeyed, and yielded to, does it become Life, and the simple test of reality
is just this - whenever we see a truth, do we at once tell the Lord that we now
yield to Him that He may make it our own experience? If so we may rest
assured that He will take us at our word. May He grant that all our theories be
transformed into living realities, and then others will see that we, also, bear
in our bodies, “the marks of the Lord Jesus.”
* *
* * *
* *
923
THE FLOOD AND THE ADVENT
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
A
tremendous dogma was laid down by a great Geologist (James Hutton) at the end of the eighteenth century, a dogma which
has since become the master-principle of Geology. It is simply and purely a
dogma, and a dogma which, in the nature of the case, can never be proved, and
it is this:- that nothing has happened in the past which is not happening
to-day; that all we see around us was originally produced by forces and
processes exactly such as are operating at this moment. All huge catastrophes,
therefore, have been imagined, but never occurred: all miracles, and especially
miraculous judgments, no evidence could prove, for, as contrary to experience,
they could never have happened. And this, so far as the
A DEFERRED ADVENT
Now such a doctrine, springing naturally from the soil of a
dying age throughout which God has withheld all miraculous intervention, is enormously
strengthened by that Divine silence. We know that for two thousand years there
was no creative act, no flood, no fire and brimstone on wicked cities:
therefore it is far easier now, than before, to say there never has been any. And the doubt most naturally fastens,
at the close of the Christian Age, on the challenge of the coming Advent. So we
find around us exactly what was foretold: “in the last days mockers shall come
with mockery” - in
scoffing, scoffers; clothing themselves with scoffing as with a garment - “saying,
Where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Pet. 3: 3). Miraculous catastrophe, embodied in a returning Christ, was
foretold: why has it not happened? The Old Testament prophets said it; Jesus
Himself said it; the Angels at the Ascension said it; all the Apostles said it:
why has it not happened, except that it could not happen? that miraculous intervention is not God’s habit of working at all, and
never has been: “for [they say] from the day that the
fathers” - the Patriarchs (Heb. 1:
1.
* Thus they acknowledge a Creator and a
beginning; but they assert all undisturbed development from the “beginning of creation”: that
is, that God created, not by catastrophic strokes, but by implanted evolution;
creation itself, for them, is embraced in the
Doctrine of Uniformity. Thus they appear to be scoffers inside
the Church.
THE FLOOD
Now the Apostle counters the scepticism by the statement of an
enormous oversight; and it is not the oversight of a doctrine, or of a theory,
but of a fact. Not only does uniformity of law last only so long as the Creator
decrees, and so can be broken but uniformity has been broken, and so can be broken again. “This they forget,” he says, “that there
were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted
out
of water” - by the
retreating tides - “and through water” - by the upthrust of the land - “by the word of God,” and not by evolution; terraqueous, and thus made, so to speak, for a deluge*: “by means of
which” - that is,
both heavens and earth: reservoirs, in the overhanging firmament and the
ocean-containing earth, of waters which drowned the world; the windows of
heaven, and the fountains of the great deep - “the world that then was,
being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens that
now are, and the earth, by the same word” - the Word that by fiat created all can far more easily by ruat dissolve all - “have been
stored up for fire.” That is, the universe is loaded with its own self-destruction: its
ground-plan reveals its death-day: destruction by deluge was but a rehearsal of
conflagration by fire. (The new earth has no sea, for it will have no deluge.) Earth is now stored with fire for fire.** For the
universe, by the very form of its creation, is loaded with its own dynamite: as
it was pregnant with water, so it is now pregnant with fire: lightnings,
meteors, volcanoes, judgment reservoirs embedded in the universe itself, are a
slumbering funeral pyre. So the scientific sceptics of a catastrophic Advent
are answered by the very thing on which Science itself bases everything - fact. God broke into history gigantically,
overwhelmingly, at the Flood: therefore no silence of two millenniums can
disprove what He has foretold - that, more gigantically, more overwhelmingly,
He will break into history again.
* Dr. A. R. Wallace shows that if the present oceans of earth
were increased by only one-tenth, the whole globe would be under water.
For the theory ingeniously worked out (we offer no opinion) that if the Flood was caused by a
change of the axis of the earth’s rotation, see W. B. Galloway’s The North Pole and the Deluge (Thynne and
Jarvis).
** Professor H. H. Turner, in presenting the report of the
Seismological Committee to the British Association (Times, Aug. 7, 1926) said that
seismology indicates that while earth’s rocky shell has a mean rigidity twice
that of steel, its core appears to be a fluid of molten iron.
HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
For the historical evidence of the Flood so converges from all
quarters of the globe, and in detail is so specific, as to make it impossible
that it should spring from anything but a fountain of fact. All the three great
civilized races of mankind, says Lenormant, have
preserved the history of the Flood. Exact details are given. Fohi, the Chinese Noah, is saved together with his wife,
three sons and three daughters; or eight souls in all. Manu, the Indian Noah of
the Mahabharata, is saved together with the seven Rishis,
or holy beings; again eight in all. Even the Figi
Islanders talked of eight souls being saved from the Flood, and landed at Mbenga. And another critically decisive fact in regard to
the Flood is the way in which ancient chronologies go to support the
approximate Scriptural date of its occurrence. According to ancient traditions
(Luken) the Assyrians placed the Deluge in 2234 B.C.
or 2316, the Greeks in 2300, the Egyptians in 2600, the Phoenicians in 2700,
the Mexicans in 2297. So also minuter details put a common source in fact
beyond doubt: such as (in the Indian record) the introduction of animals into
the
WILFUL OVERSIGHT
So then the fact of the Flood shatters for ever the doctrine
of Uniformity. But how is it possible that thoughtful, learned men could make a
blunder so colossal? The Apostle answers:- “This they wilfully forget,” they deliberately ignore; the word
expresses a deliberate act of the will (Bp. Wordsworth): it requires an effort
of the will to shut out the facts; they refuse all evidence which conflicts with a dogma already
assumed. For the Holy Spirit lodges the scepticism in the life: “walking after
their own lusts.”
All men have lusts, but all men do not walk in them; and of all fruitbeds of
doubt, the most fertile is immorality. The man of fierce passions is the man of
contemptuous doubts: the denial rests, not on fact, or on study, or on reason,
but on lust; because sinful pleasure and the sense of judgment - past or
imminent - cannot co-exist in the same heart. For the ignoring of Deluge evidence
is deliberate. “It is a singular fact,” says Major Merson
Davies, F.G.S., “that the really monumental works
of Sir Henry Howorth,
on the palaeontological and geological evidences of
the Flood,* have been almost totally ignored by orthodox geologists. Surely
nothing but Divine Inspiration could have thus described the basal dogma of
modern evolution, in its appropriate twentieth century garb - the doctrine of
uniformity - eighteen centuries before that garb was ready to be used. And see
how the whole thing is done - both the history and the essential character of
the movement indicated - by the unerring Spirit of God in a single sentence. The great, modern doctrine stands
pilloried by Scripture, in a flashlight portrait of 15 words - ‘Since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as from the
beginning of the creation.’ ”
*Some of these evidences will be found
in a later article in this issue on ‘Deluge Debris’.
DISSOLUTION
The Spirit finally reveals the dissolving worlds. “The heavens
shall pass away with a great noise” with a crashing roax (Lange) “and the
elements” - the
creative rudiments, the electrons - “shall be dissolved” - the word
implies a fever; the universe, like a dying man, will perish of an unbearable
temperature - “with fervent heat” - the liberation and ignition of gases under
white-hot heat - “and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned
up” - the fire will reach to the floor and foundations of the
mighty fabric on which we stand. There is no substance known which fire does
not melt; gold and iron run like butter, and diamonds turn to vapour, even
under temperatures now known to us. Curbed fire has a more dreadful explosion.
The earthquake at Messina was preceded, says an eye-witness, by “a low growling like distant thunder, followed by a
tremendous roar like the firing of a hundred guns,” as the earth cracked
and split with the underground explosions. If the roar of burning forests and
boiling oceans, of crashing cities and rolling mountains, baffles all
imagination - the crash of the final dissolution of burning worlds, and
exploding systems, no mortal mind can conceive.
* *
*
Since the above article was written, and curiously illustrative
it, a devastating hurricane has struck the one spot on earth where, of recent
years, probably most wealth and brain
have been spent for the creation of pleasure.
* *
* * *
* *
924
THE COMING MAN:
TO-MORROW’S MASTER
[This leading article, printed in italics, in Pourquoi Pas? (May 14, 1926), a Brussels magazine, and here translated from the
French, is an almost uncanny proof of the last Caesarism now beginning to haunt
the imagination of the world; and, emanating as it does from Belgium, it discloses a fresh limb of the Roman Empire
as craving for its divine dictator. - Ed. [D. M.
Panton.]].
If we
had the honour to include on our editorial staff Mr. Guglielmo Ferrerro,
the historian who excels in comparing the present with the terrible or glorious
past in which he lives professionally, we should have asked him for this
article. No one, better than he, could have shown to what a degree the period
in which we are living resembles, in certain respects, those which, in the more
or less distant past, have preceded the coming of Messiahs, or at least
providential men, upon whom Humanity calls whenever it is in difficulties of
which it cannot foresee the end.
When the Jews, instead of offering to Jehovah, with a pure
heart, the ritualistic sacrifices that this God demanded, had been unfaithful to
Him, and had turned toward Baal or the Golden Calf, and when they had suffered
much disgrace because of this master, they would appeal to the Messiah. When the Romans felt threatened by their
troublesome neighbours, they would choose a Dictator. Since the average Belgian
has realized that the lira stands at 135, and that the deputies, senators, and
ministers of his choice have only succeeded in indefinitely increasing taxes
and expenditures, he too asks for something like a Messiah or a Dictator.
This has already lasted some little time, because for some
time the affairs of “Belgium & Co.,” as Mr. Theunis
said, have been managed in defiance of
all good sense. It was one of the electors of the late Mr. Xavier De Bue, questor
of the Chamber of Deputies and burgomaster of Uccle,
who said to him, (and at the time we reported the remark), “What we need, Sir, is a Mosselmans!”
A naive and provincial bit of homage to the prestige of Mussolini! This has
already lasted for some time but since it
cannot be denied that things are going from bad to worse, this appeal of
some to an individual, this fear which others feel toward an individual, is
becoming strangely general.
The Dictator! Why, everyone is talking about him, in the
duchess’s palace as in the doorkeeper’s home; the bene
ficiaries of the present policy, with terror; the
down-trodden, with affection. We met a fellow recently who, half-seriously,
half-jokingly, said to us, “Don’t you know what
they’re saying? He’s coming, the providential Man, the Saviour, the Dictator,
the Master; he is growing up in the shadow, like Annie Besant’s
Messiah. They’re forming him, brooding over him, initiating him.
“And what is this mysterious man?”
“A mystery. He will suddenly reveal
himself as a master and a god. He will be the Word and the Deed.”
“But what about Pierre Nothomb, our own Pierre Nothomb?
And Maurice Despret?”
“Just forerunners, heralds, nothing
more.”
Do you think we are joking? Besides an early prophet of this
messianic truth, who was half-joking lest he be made sport of, we have met
others who showed a disarming gravity, and who firmly believe in the coming of
the Antwerp Saviour. Then we decided that we were dealing with a myth, a
powerful idea, a manifestation of the sub-conscious mind.
Why not, after all? The providential person who re-establishes
order in the Belgian household will be welcome, whatever he may be and wherever
he may come from. We shall receive the Messiah-Saviour with palms and Incense,
even though he take the sympathetic and cheerful visage of comrade Rotsaert, a true Fascist.
*
* * *
* * *
925
THE PROVOCATION
By PHILIP MAURO
[PART ONE OF TWO]
In Hebrews 3: 4, 5, 6, Christ is
compared with Moses, who was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, for a
testimony of the things which were to be spoken subsequently (which we take to
be “the things which we have heard”). Christ, however,
is not a servant in God’s house, but Son over His house; and then follows the
statement that directly concerns us: “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end.” What follows these verses is given for the purpose of teaching us what is
meant by holding fast the confidence and rejoicing (or, as it has been
otherwise rendered, the boldness and boasting) of the hope firm to the end. That such is the purpose is evident
from the fact that the next words are “Wherefore (omitting the parenthesis to end of verse 11) take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,
in departing from the living God.” For information as to what is meant
by departing from the living God as the result of unbelief, we are referred to
the ninety-fifth
Psalm, the last part of
which is quoted in full and declared to
be the saying of the Holy Spirit.
From this we learn that the period denominated “Today” is the present day of our sojourn and
pilgrimage on earth; and that “the end,” unto which we are again and again admonished to hold
fast our confession and our confidence, is
the end of our pilgrim journey. We learn further that the danger against
which we are so pointedly and earnestly warned is something that corresponds to
the “provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness,”
the dire consequence of
which was that God swore
in His wrath that those who provoked should not enter into His rest.
What, then, was the “provocation,” and what does it stand for as a type?
Turning to Numbers 14 we find at
verse 11 the words, “And the Lord
said unto Moses, How long will this people
provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the
signs which I have shewed among them?” And at verse 23 we read: “Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto
their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.”
Here we have the provocation and the penalty. The provocation was
- not a single act, but - the culmination of a series of acts. The Lord’s
question was; “How long will this people
provoke me?” And in verse 22 He spoke of them as “those men which ... tempted me now
these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice.” Therefore, it will be profitable to
trace the steps which culminated in provoking the irrevocable punishment
inflicted on those whom God still owned as His people, and over whom He still
continued to watch in the wilderness where they were compelled to remain. If we
take care to avoid the first step of
the provocation we shall not incur the indignation.
In the latter part of Numbers 10, we read of the journeyings of the Israelites under the
guidance of Jehovah, the Shepherd of Israel, the Ark of the covenant going
before to search out a resting place for them; and we read also the words that
Moses uttered when the
The next incident is recorded in Numbers
11: 4-6:
“And the mixt multitude that was among
them fell a lusting: and the children of
So the next step in the provocation came through the “mixed
multitude” which
had come up with them out of
The manna which God supplied to His people in the wilderness
stands for the Word of God on which His people are privileged now to feed, that
they may be “nourished up in the words of faith” (1 Tim. 4: 6). From this we may learn that it is a very serious matter to slight the Word of God. To do so is to
neglect the appropriate spiritual food which God, in His goodness, has supplied,
in order that we may be nourished and strengthened to bear the trials of the
way. Disinclination to feed on the Word is a common complaint among the
Lord’s people, particularly among such as have fellowship with the mixed
multitude of Christendom, who have no taste at all for the bread of life. Let
us take careful note of this, and not permit either the habits of our
neighbours or the pressure of things about us, to divert us from the daily,
deliberate, meditative reading of the Word of God. Regular attention to this important matter will go far towards fitting
us to overcome the severe trials that surely lie in our path. The reading
matter of the day that is devoured by the people of the world and by the mixed
multitude is utterly unfit for the people of God. Not only is it quite void of
spiritual nutriment, but it vitiates the taste therefor. Much of the religious
literature of the day is no better, and some of it is even worse. The attempt
to make spiritual things palatable, by means of artistic and literary
expedients, is sure evidence of a state of spiritual decline, which may end in [their] apostasy. It is written of the Israelites that they subjected the manna to culinary
expedients, in order to make it more palatable, not relishing it in the state
in which God gave it to them. For “the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it
in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made
cakes of it” (Num. 11: 8). But that did not satisfy them; for eventually
they came to such a pass as to say, “Our soul loatheth this light bread”
(Num. 21:
5). It is safe to say that, of the literature of the day, not
the thousandth part contains any spiritual nutriment; and besides that, it must
be remembered that the very soundest and most spiritual books cannot take the
place of the Word of God. This admonition applies to the old and young alike.
To despise the provision which the Lord has made for His
people is to despise the Lord Himself, as He said on the occasion we are now
considering, “Ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying,
Why came we forth out of Egypt?” (Num.
11: 20).
God has taken pains to teach us very plainly and forcibly the
seriousness of neglecting our spiritual food, which He supplies, namely, the
words of eternal life. The incident of the preference of the Israelites for the
food of
Again in Psalm 106 the incident is recited in detail; and, as we have already seen, Psalm 95 refers prominently and pointedly to
the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
Proceeding with the record given in Numbers, we find in chapter 12 the sedition of Aaron and Miriam
against Moses, which amounted to rebellion against the Word of God, who spoke
through Moses. Aaron and Miriam wished their utterances to have the same
authority as those of Moses. “And they said, Hath
the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he
not spoken also by us?” Many among professed [and
regenerate] Christians are saying the same thing today, putting the
uninspired words of man on the same level with the Word of God. Those who were
most closely related to Moses by the ties of nature “refused him that spake on earth” (Heb. 12: 25), and they “escaped not” [His] punishment.
Chapter 13 relates another step in the departure of the Israelites from
the living God, giving a further manifestation of the existence in themselves
of “an evil heart of
unbelief.” The subject of this chapter is the sending of the spies to investigate
and report upon the promised land. They believed
not God’s report concerning [their inheritance in] the land. His announcement [concerning it] did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard. So
they sent chosen leaders to spy the land, with instructions to
“see the land, what it is, and
the people that dwelleth therein, whether they
be strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and
what cities they be that they dwell in, whether
in tents or in strong holds; and what the land
is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not” (verses 18, 19, 20).
From Deuteronomy 1: 22 we learn that the sending of the
spies was the act of the people, God permitting them in all these matters to
have their own way, which they preferred to His. They saw His works, but did not know or desire His ways. Moses
in his farewell words to the people said:
“And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess
it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said
unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged” (Deut.
1: 20, 21).
This surely should have been enough for those who had faith in
God. But “their heart was not right with him.” They did not hold the beginning of their confidence, in which they set out
from
“And ye came near unto me every one of
you, and said, We
will send men before us, and they shall search
us out the land, and bring us word again by what
way we must go up, and into what, cities we shall come” (verse
22).
Two things are prominent in this action of the congregation of
Israel: first, that they had more confidence in the
report of men than in that of God; second, that
they had more confidence in the guidance of human leaders than in that of God,
notwithstanding that He, as Moses reminds them, “went in the
way before you, to search you out a place to pitch
your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you the way ye should go, and in a cloud by day” (verse 33).
Taking the two accounts (that in Numbers and that in Deuteronomy) together, we may see that God was virtually ignored by His [redeemed] people. They did not consider His purpose or will in the matter, or even consider
whether He had a will as to their entering the land of their inheritance. They disregarded
His promise made to them in
Let it be noted that it was those who had heard the announcement of God that
provoked Him by
the way in which they acted with regard to the things announced. “For some, when they had
heard, did provoke” (Heb. 3: 16). The announcement was perfectly plain. It could not be misunderstood, although
it could be treated with indifference, slighted and neglected.
* *
* * *
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926
LINE UPON LINE
CHAPTER 27.
David, or the Return
2 Samuel 19.
Did not Absalom
come to a very dreadful end? He died in the midst of his wickedness; for God
curses children who behave ungratefully to their parents. How much David loved
this wicked Absalom! He went on crying for him for some time. David knew why
God had let him have such a wicked child. Do you know why? It was because David
had killed Uriah. Yet God had forgiven David.
Now Absalom was dead, David could return to
Did David forgive him? Yes, he did. Was not that kind of
David? The man deserved to die, but David said, to him, ‘Thou shalt
not die.’ The man
was not really sorry; only he did not dare to behave in to David, now, he was
king again. God would punish that wicked man, though David forgave him. I hope,
dear children, that you will forgive people who behave rudely to you; God has
said, that if we do not forgive he will not forgive us.
There was another man who came to see David before he crossed
over the river. It was one of those rich men who had been kind to David in his
distress, and who had sent him the presents of beds, basins, and food. He was
an old man, and David thanked him, and asked him to come and live with him at
David was very glad to come back to
* ‘My tears have been my meat day and
night. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for
I had gone with the multitude, I went with them
to the house of God.’ - Ps. 42: 3, 1.
** ‘Then will I go unto the altar of God,
unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I
praise thee, God, my God.’ Ps. 43: 4.
* *
*
CHAPTER 28.
DAVID, OR THE FAREWELL.
1 Chronicles 28; 29.
You
remember the kind promise that God had made to David. He had promised that
David should have one good son, who should be king after David was dead, who
should build a house for the Lord.
One of David’s sons was good. God loved him and made him good.
His name was Solomon. God told David that he was to be king after him. At last
David grew very old and weak, and he knew that he should die. So he wished to
make Solomon king before he died. He desired the high-priest to pour oil upon
his head; and so the high-priest anointed Solomon to be king.
Then David desired his people to come together to a place in
Then David spoke to Solomon, and said, ‘Solomon,
my son, serve God,
and he will bless you.’ Then David showed Solomon the things
he had got ready for building the house; gold, and silver, and iron, and
stones, and wood: and David asked the people whether they would give any of
their things to build a house for God.
And the people gave a great many things: gold, and silver, and
brass, and iron, and beautiful shining stones: and the people liked to give
their things for God’s house.
And David was pleased to see that they liked to give: for that
was a sign that they loved God.
Dear children, if you love God, you will like to spare your money
to help poor people, and to buy Bibles, and to build churches, and to send
ministers to the heathen.
I shall tell you no more about David. I know that you like him very much. He had
loved God since he was a child, and kept sheep. How pleasant it is to love God
all our lives long! This is what I wish you to do, my dear children. I want you
to love God now you are little, and to go on loving him when you are grown up,
if you live; and to love him when your hair is grey. David began to sing God’s
praises when he was a shepherd boy; and he went on praising him till he died.
God was kind to David all his days. And he will be kind to you, dear children,
even when you are old and grey-headed; and he will take you to that sweet place
where David is now, and where Christ is.
Then David prayed to God, and thanked him for letting Solomon
build him a house, and for letting the people give their things to God. And
David asked God to make Solomon love him, and obey him. David offered a great
many sacrifices to God.
Afterwards all the people went to their own homes again, and
very soon David died.
Where did his spirit go? To the God he loved. He had sung many
sweet songs to him while he lived on the earth, but now he sings sweeter songs.
This was the name that was given to David: ‘The sweet Psalmist of Israel.’ Why do yon think that
name was given to him?
I shall now tell you about Solomon.
* *
*
CHAPTER 29.
SOLOMON, OR THE WISE CHOICE.
2 Chronicles 1: 1-3; 1 Kings 3: 3-15.
ALMOST
the first thing that Solomon did, when he was made king, was to offer
sacrifices to God.
Was not that right?
He did not offer these sacrifices on
The night after Solomon had offered the sacrifices, God spoke
to Solomon while he was asleep; and said, ‘Ask what I shall give thee.’ You see God, allowed Solomon to
choose what he would like God to give him.
Do you not wish to know what Solomon chose to have?
What would you have asked for?
Now Solomon had just been made king, and he saw what a hard
thing it was to be a good king: for Solomon would judge, the people. People who
quarrelled with each other would come to Solomon; and it is very hard, when
people quarrel, to find out who is in fault, and who ought to be punished.
Solomon wished very much to judge the people well; and so he
asked God to make him very wise.
Solomon said to God that night, ‘Thou hast made me king over a
great many people, and I am very young, and I do not know what I ought to do. Oh, make me very wise, that I may judge the people well.’
Did Solomon make a wise choice? Oh yes, it was right in
Solomon to wish to judge the people well.
God was very much pleased with Solomon, and he said, ‘You did not
ask me to make you very rich, or make you live a
long while, or make you conquer your enemies;
but you asked for wisdom; therefore I will make you wiser than any man that ever lived;
and I will make you very rich too; so that no other king shall be as rich or as great as you:
and if you
love me, and serve me as David did, I will make
you live a long while.’
Then Solomon awoke, How pleased he must have been to think of
the promise that God had made him! He went back to
* *
*
CHAPTER 30
SOLOMON, OR THE WISE JUDGMENT.
1 Kings 3: 16 to end.
NOW I
will tell you of something that happened which showed that God had made Solomon
as wise as he said he would.
One day there came two women to Solomon. They had quarrelled
with each other. Solomon was the judge, and the women stood before him.
One of these women held a dead baby in her arms, and the other
held a living baby in her arms. Both the babies were very little creatures,
only a few days old, so that the living baby was not old enough to sit up and
to look about it or to smile.
The woman who held the dead baby seemed very unhappy, and she
said to the king, ‘This dead baby is not my own baby, the other baby is mine. I
lived in the same house with that woman, and no
one lived in the house beside us two; and one
night that woman lay upon her baby in bed, and killed it, and so she got up, and put her
dead baby in my bed while I was asleep, and took
my living baby into hers: and when I awoke in
the morning I was going to feed my baby, but I
found only this dead baby; but when I had looked
at it, I saw it was not my own baby.’
Then the other woman said, ‘You do not speak truth: the living baby is mine, and
the dead one is yours.’ Then the other woman said again, ‘No, the
living baby is mine, and the dead is yours.’
Which of these women spoke the truth? and which of them told
lies? How could Solomon find out? How could he tell which ought to have the
living baby?
But God made Solomon very wise, and he thought of a way to
find out who spoke the truth.
Solomon called out ‘Bring me a sword.’ And the servants brought a sword to
the king. Then Solomon said, ‘Cut the living baby in two, and give half to one woman, and
half to the other; because both the women say
the child is theirs, so let them each have half.’
Then one of the women cried out, ‘Oh, do not cut the child in half: but
let that woman have it; only do not kill it.’
But the other woman said, ‘Oh, let
the child be cut in half, and let as each have
half.’
Now which do you think was the mother of the living baby? Oh!
I see that you know. Was it not the one who said, ‘Do not let it
be killed?’
How do you know that she was the mother? Because she loved the
baby so much. Mothers would rather that any one should have their babies, than
that the babies should be killed.
Solomon knew which was the mother, and he said to his servant,
‘Give
her the living child, and do not kill it;
she is the mother of it.’
Why had Solomon desired the man at first to cut the baby in
half? Had he intended to kill it? Oh no! He only wanted to see what the women
would say, that he might find out which was the mother. Was not that a wise
plan of Solomon’s? God had really made him as wise as he had promised he would.
All the Israelites heard of what the king had said to the
women, and they were surprised at his wisdom, and they were afraid of him, for
they saw that God had put wisdom into his heart.
Should you like to be wise, my dear children? You come to
school to learn to be wise, that you may know what is right and what is wrong;
but you will never be as wise as Solomon, for God has said that no one shall be
as wise as he was.
But there is one thing still better than Solomon’s kind of
wisdom, and you may have it if you ask
God for it. What is that? The Holy
Spirit. If the Spirit is in your
heart, you will know God, and you will love him. God has promised to give it
you. He has said, ‘Ask, and
you shall have.’ I am glad when you are wise enough to answer questions right, or to behave
well: but I wish most that you should love God in your heart, and try to please
him. That is a better kind of wisdom than Solomon’s.
Now if the Lord should say to me,
‘What gift
shall I bestow on thee?’
Should I, like Solomon, reply,
‘Oh, give me
wisdom from on high?’
Yet wisdom is the only thing
That real happiness can bring;
And restless must my heart remain
Until this wisdom I obtain.
It would not make me truly wise
To know the stars that fill the skies,
Or all the fishes in the seas,
Or beasts and birds, or flowers and
trees.
Wisdom to love the thing that’s right,
Oh, this would give my heart delight!
This wisdom, Lord, oh, grant to me,
That I may ever live with thee.
* *
* * *
* *
927
THE ‘GLORY’ TO BE REVEALED IN US
By PHILIP MAURO
Another Scripture
which presents remarkable points of agreement with the truth set forth in the
first four chapters of Hebrews, and in the
third of Ephesians, is found in the eighth chapter of Romans,
verses 14 to 39.
The prominent subject of this passage is the “sons of God,” and it carries our minds to the
period yet future of “the glory which shall be revealed in us,” the age of “the liberty
of the glory of the children of God.”
The passage begins by identifying the “sons of God,” saying, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons
of God.” It is
obvious that one may be born of the Spirit of God without being led by the [Holy] Spirit; for many children of God are
manifestly walking and living, not according to the [Holy] Spirit, but according to the flesh.
(See 1 Corinthians 11).
Sharing with Christ in
the inheritance is
also mentioned in this passage. “If children, then heirs; heirs of God,
and joint-heirs with Christ.” But there is an “if” at this point, “if so be that
we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Many Scriptures testify to the fact
that the glory follows the suffering (2 Cor. 4: 17; 2 Tim. 2: 12; 1 Pet. 4: 13; 5: 10, etc.). This explains why Paul so earnestly
desired to know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:
10); and it warns us against seeking
pleasure and enjoyment in this evil world and its perishing things, which would
cut us off from knowing the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. To encourage this
desire, we have the assurance that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom.
8: 18).
This present world is the place of Christ’s sufferings, and is
the place where His saints are appointed to suffer with Him. If this truth be
grasped it will be seen that it is a very grievous thing in His eyes for His
saints either to seek gratification in the world, or to take part with the
citizens of the world in their schemes for improving and embellishing the
world, with a view to making it a place of satisfaction and enjoyment. To these
saints the word of the prophet Micah
is applicable: “Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because
it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction” (Mic. 2: 10). The line is clearly drawn; the choice is clearly presented to
the people of God between this present
evil age and the age to come. Those who seek their “rest” in this place will surely find to
their sorrow and shame that, because it is polluted, it will destroy them with
a sore destruction. Those who in their hearts turn back to the things of this
age, as Demas did, are they that draw back unto destruction (Heb. 10: 39).
Continuing our examination of Romans 8, we find that the inheritance,
whereof the children of God are heirs, is the creation itself, delivered (as it
will be in the age to come) from the bondage of corruption. We read that the
earnest expectation of the creation awaits the manifestation of the sons of God. Creation itself is suffering from
the effects of sin, for the curse rests upon it. Everywhere in nature are
evidences of the discord, confusion, and strife, which are the results of sin.
There are violent and destructive convulsions, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
tornadoes, tidal waves, avalanches, fires, and floods. There are periods of
withering heat and of blasting cold. There are deserts and waste places, thorns
and briers, disease-carrying germs, poisonous plants, reptiles, and insects. In
the striking language of the inspired apostle, “the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now.” Surely there is in this fact a stern
rebuke to those children of God who, while the groaning creation, convulsed
with pain, awaits with ardent expectation the revealing of the sons of God, are
themselves seeking in that very suffering creation, their pleasures, honours,
possessions, and other satisfactions.
Creation, moreover, became subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason
of him (Adam) who brought it into subjection. But, though subject to the
bondage of corruption, it is subject “in hope* because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God”
(verses 20, 21).
* The
words “in hope” at the end of verse 20 manifestly belong to verse 21.
Through the first man, Adam, creation
became subject to bondage. Through the second man, Jesus Christ, creation will
be delivered from that cruel bondage, and will become the scene of “the liberty
of the glory of the children of God.” It will then be subject, not to vanity, but to the glorified
Son of man. “For unto angels hath he (God) not put in subjection the habitable earth to come, whereof we
speak”; but He has
put all things in subjection under the feet of Him who was made, for a little
while, lower than the angels, that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for everything.
And not only does creation groan, but “ourselves
also, which have (received) the first-fruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of
our body” (Rom. 8: 23). This reference to the Holy Spirit is
very important. In Ephesians 1: 14 it is stated that the Spirit is “the earnest of our inheritance.” Also in Hebrews 6: 4, reference is made to those who “were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost.” In all these Scriptures the complete inheritance that awaits
the sons of God, whereof the Spirit is the earnest or first-fruit, is in view.
This is prominent in Hebrews
and Romans
8, as has been already
shown. In Ephesians
1, also, the passage
relates to those whom God predestinated to the “adoption” through Jesus Christ unto Himself (verse 5), according to His good pleasure
which He purposed in Himself that, in the dispensation (or economy) of the
fullness of times, He might gather into one (lit., might ‘head up’) all things
in the Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth, in whom (Christ) we
have obtained an inheritance (verses 9-11). The “all things” that are to be “headed up” in Christ in the dispensation of the
fullness of times constitute the “purchased possession” (verse 14).
Those who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit do not
rejoice or take pleasure in the present condition of the things they are to
inherit. In proportion as they are led and taught by the Spirit, and are made
aware of the pain in which creation now groans and travails, they also
themselves groan within themselves, awaiting the “adoption, the redemption of our body,” when the groans of creation will
cease, and will give place to rejoicing. For then the heavens shall rejoice,
and the earth be glad, and the field be joyful and all that is therein; then
all the earth shall make a joyful noise unto the Lord, and sing praise; then
the floods shall clap their hands, and all the trees of the wood rejoice, and
the hills be joyful together before the Lord (Psa. 96-98).
The word “adoption,” occurring in Romans 8: 15, 23 and Ephesians
1: 5, is compounded of two words meaning “sons” and “placing”; so that we may take it as signifying
the act or ceremony of placing the sons of God in the position appropriate to
that high and holy relationship, and of investing them with the honour, wealth,
and glory, which it is the good pleasure of the Father to bestow upon them. The
“adoption,” then, will be the consummation of
the Father’s purpose in “bringing many sons unto glory.” We thus see that the connection
between Romans
8, Ephesians 1, and the opening chapters of Hebrews,
is very close. The more they are studied together, the more clearly will that
connection be seen.
Another effect of receiving the Spirit as the earnest or
first-fruit of our inheritance, should be to place and keep us in the attitude
of awaiting the happening of something, which is about to take place, according
to the word of the Lord spoken to us. The word awaiting (sometimes
rendered “looking
for”) is a prominent and
important word in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Son of God Himself is “henceforth
expecting (same
word rendered awaiting) till his enemies be made his footstool” (Heb.
10: 13); and He will appear the second time
to those who look for (await) Him for
salvation (9: 28). The “waiting” state is that which essentially characterizes the true
Hebrew. It makes a vast difference whether one is adapting himself to his
surroundings with a view to making the best of them, or is waiting and holding
himself constantly in readiness for something entirely different. That was what
distinguished “Abram, the Hebrew” from
It is often urged upon God’s people of the present time, and
it may be the same idea possessed the mind of
Let, us, then, submit ourselves to be taught and guided by
these Scriptures, that we be not led off by any specious arguments to
participate in the affairs of this world, that we be not hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin, and that we may know whether or not we are really
awaiting the adoption, the appearance of Christ for
salvation.
That is clearly what the apostle is speaking of in Romans 8; for the next verse says, “For we are
(were) saved in hope:
but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it” (verses
24, 25).
We should notice the parallel expression, creation is subject
to corruption, but “in hope” of deliverance; and we too groan within ourselves, but are
saved “in hope.”
These verses speak of [a future] salvation, hope, patience,
and waiting
for things not seen which are the very subjects to which prominence is given in
Hebrews.
This is so obvious that we need not take the time to point it out to the
reader. The “salvation,” which we “see not,” but “hope for,” is the “placing of
the sons of God” in the [messianic and millennial] “glory” of the renewed earth, which shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption in ‘the age to come’. If ‘we’ truly “hope for” ‘so great salvation,’ [see 2 Heb. 2: 3, R.V.] then will we “with
patience wait for it.” “For ye have
need of patience [i.e., patient endurance], that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive
the promise” (Heb. 10: 36).
Finally, we would call attention to the “purpose” of God as set forth in Romans 8, which is identical with that
announced in Hebrews with respect
to the “holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling.” In Romans 8 we read of “them who are the called according to his purpose,” whom
He predestinated “to be conformed to the image of his
Sons, that he might be the first-born among many brethren”; and furthermore, it is stated
that His ultimate purpose for them is that they may be “glorified” (verses 28-30).
It is clear, then, that in this passage in Romans the Spirit is speaking of the same
things that are spoken of in Hebrews. The difference between the two
Scriptures seems to be mainly this: In Romans the stress is laid upon the divine side of the plan, showing
that, notwithstanding all hindrances, God will carry out His purpose; while in Hebrews, stress is laid upon the human side of the subject, showing that, while God’s purpose will surely be carried out, there is nevertheless a grave danger lest some of us, to whom the call is given, may not secure a share in it. just as the righteousness of God is proclaimed by the gospel
unto all men, but is only upon them that believe (Rom. 3:
22; Titus 2:
11), so the [promised millennial] rest to come is
announced to all the redeemed people of God, but it is entered into only by those who believe to the end. “For we
which have believed do enter into rest, as
he said.”
Moreover, in Romans 8 we have reference to the mighty aid of the Spirit helping our infirmities
and making intercession for the saints according to God, and a reference also
to Christ “at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us” (verse 34).
It is not easy for us to harmonize in our minds the doctrine
of the sovereignty of God in the election
of His saints, and that of the
responsibility of those to whom the gospel of God’s grace is preached. But the doctrine of God’s election, and the doctrine of men’s free will
and responsibility, are both clearly taught in the Scriptures. Our part,
therefore, is not to exercise our ingenuity in trying to “reconcile” those doctrines; but simply to
recognize that both are plainly set forth in the Word of God.
In like manner it is not easy to reconcile the doctrine of
God’s sovereign and irresistible purpose with reference to the glorification of
all the members of the body of Christ, as stated in Romans 8 and Ephesians 1, with the doctrine of the responsibility of those who
are called (as stated by the Lord in the Gospels, and by His apostles in 1 Corinthians, Hebrews,
Peter, and elsewhere) to make their calling
and election sure, by obedience, steadfastness, endurance of tribulations,
diligence, and hope, “unto the end.” But again, our part is not to devise a reconciliation of
these several doctrines, but to believe them implicitly, and
especially to give earnest heed to every warning and admonition spoken to us by
the Spirit of the living God through His living Word.
* *
* * *
* *
928
THE BRANCH
By DAVID BARON
[PART ONE OF FOUR]
-------
[1] “In that day shall the Branch* of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for
them that are escaped of
*
[2] “Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,* and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In His days
[3] “Hear now, O
Joshua the high-priest, thou and thy
fellows that sit before thee;
for they are men
wondered at, for, behold, I will bring My Servant the Branch.” -
Zechariah 3: 8.
[4] “Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
Behold the Man
Whose name is the Branch*; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the Temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and He shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a Priest upon His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” - Zechariah 6: 12, 13.*
* These,
with the exception of Jeremiah 33: 15, which is a repetition of Jeremiah 23: 5,
6, are the only four instances in the Hebrew
Scriptures where [our Lord Jesus,] the Messiah, is designated by the title ‘Branch’…
[* NOTE:
The remainder of the following tracts, can be found in Chapter
3 of the Author’s book, “Rays Of Messiah’s Glory.”]
THE BRANCH, OR
FOUR ASPECTS OF MESSIAH’S CHARACTER.
THERE are four different aspects in which
the Messiah is introduced to us under the above title in the Old Testament
Scriptures, answering to what are generally believed to be the four different
aspects in which the Lord Jesus is presented to us in the four Gospels.*
* “Just as a gifted painter, who wished to immortalise a family the complete
likeness of the father who had been its glory, would avoid any attempt at
combining in a ingle portrait the insignia of all the various offices he had
filled - at representing him in the same picture as general and as magistrate,
as man of science and as father of a family - but would prefer to paint four
distinct portraits, each of which should represent him in one of these
characters, so has the Holy Spirit, in order to preserve for mankind the perfect
likeness of Him Who was its chosen Representative, God in man, used means to
impress upon the minds of the writers whom He has made His organs four
different images - the King of Israel
(Matthew); the Saviour of the world (Luke); the Son
Who, as man, mounts the steps of the Divine throne (Mark); and the Son Who descends into humanity to sanctify the world (John).” - GODET’S “BIBLICAL STUDIES.”
In Jeremiah 23: 5, 6, He is
called the Branch of David,
answering to the description given of Him in the Gospel of Matthew, which
was written for Jews, and where our blessed Lord is represented to them as the
Son of David, the Messiah promised to the fathers. For this reason the
genealogies in this Gospel are only traced to Abraham.
In Zechariah 3: 8, He is represented to us as the “Branch” Who is Jehovah’s Servant, answering to the Gospel of Mark, wherein, in a particular manner, is sketched
the career of Him Who, although He was [and is] God, “made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a
servant.” This Gospel is a
record, not so much of the words of Jesus as of His acts; hence it follows more minutely
than do the others the services of Jehovah’s righteous Servant, of Whom it was
written in the volume of the book, “I come to do Thy will, O God”: (Ps. 40: 7, 8). Mark gives no genealogies of Jesus because a servant needs not such
recommendations, he being judged by his work alone.
In the Gospel of Luke the
most prominent feature of our Lord’s character is that of the “Son of man,” which in the
Scriptures means the Man par excellence, the true Man, both the ideal and Representative of the race, the
second Adam and the Saviour of men. The chief characteristic of this Gospel is its universality. It is a message which ignores all
differences of race and class, and appeals to all the children of Adam, who are
embraced in the one fallen family of man, to whom it proclaims a common Saviour
Who should arise from their midst; and hence the Lord Jesus is presented here,
not, as in Matthew, as the Son of David, the
Messiah of Israel merely, but as the long-looked-for “Seed of the
woman,” Who, by
conquering Satan, should redeem from his power men of all nations, and become
the “Light of the Gentiles” as well as “the glory of His people Israel”:
(Luke 2: 32). This is the reason why the Evangelist
took upon him the laborious task of tracing the genealogies of Jesus to Adam.
In this Gospel “behold the Man Whose name is the Branch,” spoken of in Zechariah 6: 12.
But just as in Matthew the most prominent feature of our Lord is His descent from
David and Messiahship, and in Mark
that of “Jehovah’s righteous Servant,” and in Luke that of the Son of man, so, in the Gospel of John, the light that shines most
transcendently throughout is His Divine Sonship, that glory which He had with
the Father from all eternity; hence His genealogy is not, as in Matthew, taken back to Abraham, for He of
Whom it speaks was before Abraham (John 8: 58), nor yet, as in Luke, to Adam, because John deals not here
with the Son of Adam, but with the Son of God in Whose image Adam was created.
He therefore traces not His human, but Divine pedigree, and shows us that,
although He “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1: 14), He that did thus tabernacle with the
children of men was none other than “the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth;” and that, although “the Light” had only then just shone upon the
darkness of this world, He that in grace and mercy had thus become the Light
and Life of this dark and dead world was none other than He “Whose goings
forth have been from of old, even from the days
of eternity” (Micah 5: 2), “Who in the very beginning was with God and Himself was God”:
(John 1: 1).
Here then is the “Branch of Jehovah,”* Whose glory and beauty Isaiah sang (Isaiah 4: 2),
and Whose Divine fruit has since refreshed and satisfied many hungry and
thirsty souls from John until now.
* It is universally admitted that the word [see Hebrew word …] (‘branch’) in Jeremiah
23: 5 means “son”
in its literal and natural sense; in fact, this is the verse most generally
quoted by Jews as a proof that the Messiah is to be the Son of David. This
interpretation is just, but, on the same ground, is there any reason why the
word [see Hebrew…] in Isaiah
4: 2 should not be interpreted in the
same way? And if we admit that [see
Hebrew …] now means the Son of David, why not also admit that [see Hebrew…] means the Son of God? See my little
book “What think ye of Christ?” p.
24.
But just as in each of the Gospels, though one feature of our
Lord’s character is brought more prominently to the fore, His twofold nature is
always steadily kept in view, so it is also in each of the four different
prophecies to which we have referred. Jeremiah, in this passage, speaks of Him
as the Son of David, thus dwelling more particularly on His human nature; but he also declares Him to be God,
by applying to Him the Divine title of Jehovah, “for this is His name whereby
He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness;” and, though Isaiah, in this instance,
speaks of Him more particularly as the Son of God, he also by designating Him [see Hebrew word …] (Fruit of the earth) declares Him to be an offspring of this earth - human. He is styled Servant in Zechariah 3: 8, but it is the Branch Who is
introduced as the Servant, and by this title we at once recognise, not only the
Son of David, but the Son of God. Lastly, in Zechariah
6: 12, 13,
we are told to “behold the Man,” but it goes on
to tell us that this Man shall not only rule - [upon and over this world for ‘a thousand years’ (Rev. 20.),] - and be Counsellor of peace, but that He shall be a “Priest upon
His throne!” He
must, therefore, to say the least, be a most extraordinary man, yea something
more even than mere priest or king, to have combined both these functions,
which belonged not only to two different persons, but to two utterly distinct
tribes, in Himself.*
* Perhaps in no other single book in the Old Testament
Scriptures is Messiah’s Divinity so clearly taught as in Zechariah. In the second
chapter (8-11)
the prophet calls Him Who is to come and dwell in the midst of the daughter of
* *
* * *
* *
929
THE BASIS OF THE PREMILLENNIAL FAITH
AND
ITS BASIS IN THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
By CHARLES C. RYRIE
[PART
FOUR]
In addition,
the kingdom which Christ preached was one of righteousness. Entrance was to be
based on in the religious profession, the righteousness of which was
to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5: 20). The Lord elaborates on the moral
requirements [for one’s entrance] in the Sermon on the Mount which is a
manifesto of the kingdom and which would have been put into effect immediately
had the offer of the kingdom been accepted at that time. All the conditions
were right - the King was there present, the offer of the kingdom had been
made, great multitudes were following Him (Matt.
4: 25).
And so the King presents the constitution of the kingdom Sermon
on the Mount, but it was the very high standard of
morality that would he required that the Jews refused to accept.
In the preaching of the twelve. The twelve
disciples were the first commissioned by the Lord to proclaim the kingdom
message.
These twelve Jesus sent
forth, and commanded them, saying,
Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Two things from this passage are striking. First, the message
was the same as that preached by John the Baptist and by Christ. Secondly, the
witness was to be only to the nation
All the evidence points to the confirmation of the visible,
earthly kingdom as first promised to David. This was the kingdom announced by
John the Baptist. It was the content of the early ministry of Christ and of the
twelve disciples whom He commissioned.
In the mystery form of the kingdom. This is the
crucial point in the interpretation of the Davidic covenant. The kingdom of
heaven (literally of the heavens, not in the heavens) which Christ faithfully
offered while on earth was the very same earthly, Messianic, Davidic kingdom
which the Jews expected from the Old Testament prophecies. But it is a matter
of history that such a kingdom was not ushered in at the first advent of
Christ. Does this abrogate the covenant, or was something new introduced at
that time? In the understanding of the mystery form of the kingdom lies the
answer. Two things enter into this: the rejection of the offered kingdom, and
the Lord’s actual teaching concerning the mystery form of the kingdom.
Evidence of the rejection of the kingdom is found in many
places. The first is seen in the record that John the Baptist was placed in
prison (Matt. 11:
2). Because of this rejection of John as
well as the rejection of His own message (cf. verse 19), the Lord Jesus pronounces judgment on the cities
wherein He had given greatest proof of His messiahship through the miracles He
had performed (Matt. 11: 20-21). (It is significant that at the end of this
chapter, in which occurs this first evidence of the rejection of the kingdom,
these words appear: “Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”
(verse 28), for these are words which are
entirely foreign to the kingdom message.) In chapter twelve the record of the unpardonable sin is
given, and these two chapters seem to be the turning point in the account.
Nevertheless, other evidences of Christ’s rejection are seen even to the very
end of His life. Later on in His ministry this occurred:
When Jesus came into the
coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I
the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. (Matt.
16: 13-14.)
Near the very end of His life, Christ is seen still offering
Himself to the nation as their King, riding meek and lowly into
The second part of the discussion concerns the teaching by our
Lord of the mystery form of the kingdom, and the principal passage involved is Matthew 13. Though the details of this chapter
have been a battleground for interpreters through the years, it is only within
our purpose to consider certain features which are vital to the doctrine of the
kingdom. Each of the seven parables in the chapter, except the first one, is
introduced with the phrase “the kingdom of heaven is like to.” However, in explaining to the
disciples the meaning of the first parable, which Christ had not introduced in
that way, He told them that to them it was given “to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven” (verse 11). The subject, then, is well
established.
It is important to notice the time limits in the passage. The
second parable is introduced by these words, literally, “The kingdom
of the heavens has become like unto.” This sets the time limit for the beginning of the subject matter involved. In other words, the
kingdom of heaven was assuming the form described in the parables at that time
when Christ was personally ministering on the earth. The end of
the time period covered by these parables is indicated by the phrase “end of the
world” or more
literally “the consummation of the age” (verses
39-49). This is the time of the Second Advent of Christ when
He shall come in power and great glory. Therefore, it is clear that these
parables are concerned only with that time between the days when Christ spoke
them on the earth and the end of this [evil] age. This gives a clue to the meaning of the phrase “the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven.”
Certainly the kingdom was not set up when Christ was on earth.
Instead it was rejected. However, the kingdom of heaven in mystery form was
established at the first advent of Christ. A mystery in the Scriptures is a
truth previously hidden but finally revealed. This is the definition usually
accepted by premillennialists and will have to be assumed to be correct at this
point. It will be defended by an inductive study in the chapter on
ecclesiology. In Matthew 13 the Lord
is introducing the mysteries of the kingdom, that is, something that was
formerly unknown but which is now revealed. The kingdom itself was not unknown
to the Old Testament prophets as has been shown, but the mystery form of the
kingdom was unknown then and could not be known until Christ’s genuine offer of
the kingdom had been rejected. It is the mystery form of the kingdom of which
the Lord speaks in this chapter, and this is the form in which the kingdom is
established in this present age.
This is all-important for it shows ultimately that the present
session of Christ is not the fulfilment of the Davidic covenant. If it were,
then the Lord need not have introduced the mystery form of the kingdom at all,
but rather He should have told the disciples that He would fulfil the Davidic
covenant in a new way, that is, by His session in heaven. He did introduce
something new, but it was not, as the Anti-millennialist claims, His present
session in heaven, but instead it was the mystery form of the kingdom. This
coupled with the fact that the real form of the kingdom, that is, the earthly,
Messianic, and national kingdom, was spoken of after this mystery form was
introduced confirms the premillennial interpretation of the New Testament
confirmations of the Davidic covenant.
While it is impossible to give here a detailed interpretation
of each of these parables, certain characteristic features of the kingdom of
heaven must be noticed. In doing so, the contrast between these and the
characteristics of the Church will be evident, and all of this will add to the
proof that the Church is not the kingdom over which Christ is now reigning.
The parable of the sower teaches that religious profession is
a characteristic of the mystery form of the kingdom of heaven. Those who hear
the word of the Sower and who consequently make some sort of religious
profession are themselves then cast into the world for a testimony (cf. the phrase “he that was
sown” in verses 19, 20,
22, 23, R. V.). Only one-fourth of them bear
fruit, some to a greater and some to a lesser degree. This one-fourth seem to
be the only [productive] ones who are truly saved, for the
point of the parable is that profession is characteristic of the kingdom.
The second parable, the wheat and the tares, teaches the
presence of counterfeits in the kingdom of heaven, a characteristic certainly not
true of the Church. These are unquestionably unbelievers, for they are called
by the Lord “children of the wicked one” (verse
38). That they are
in the kingdom of heaven is also without question, for they are “among the
wheat” (verse 25).
The parable of the mustard seed teaches the abnormal growth of
the mystery form of the kingdom. The birds of the air (verses
4, 19, cf. Rev.
18: 2)
which lodge in the branches represent demonized human beings who are part of
Christendom. Abnormal growth and the sheltering of false religions, then, are
the two characteristics of the kingdom taught in this parable.
Leaven always speaks of evil, but not necessarily of evil
persons. Here, in this fourth parable, it may refer to evil doctrine which
shall permeate the kingdom of heaven in its mystery form. If evil persons were
meant, this parable would teach the same truth as the second one - a seemingly
needless repetition. Evil doctrine, according to this parable, is
characteristic of the kingdom.
The parable of the treasure speaks of the inclusion of
The parable of the pearl teaches that the Church, the body of
Christ, is also a part of the kingdom of heaven in its mystery form. This was
also taught in the first and second parables.
The last parable, the dragnet, brings out the truth that the
unbelieving element of the kingdom will be separated from the believing element
at the end of the mystery form of the kingdom.
From this brief discussion of Matthew 13, two facts stand out as being especially important to
the argument. First, the characteristics of the kingdom preclude its being the
Church, which in turn means that the Church is not fulfilling the Davidic
covenant, and, secondly, the form of the kingdom in this present age is
temporary.
Before showing that the real form of the kingdom is also
promised in the New Testament, a brief word concerning the relation of the
terms kingdom of heaven and
The phrase kingdom of heaven which is used at least thirty-six times is confined to
Matthew’s Gospel. The phrase
Exactly parallel passages in the
Synoptic Gospels, which would seem to make the kingdom of heaven and kingdom of
God equivalent terms, are: Matthew 4: 17
and Mark 1: 15; Matthew 10:
7 and Luke 9: 2; Matthew 11: 11 and Luke 7: 28; Matthew 13: 11;
Mark 4: 11
and Luke 8: 10;
and Matthew 13:
31 and Mark 4: 20. However, we still must insist that similarity is not equivalence
and that the distinctions are not contradicted. In addition, it should be
remembered, in considering this entire problem, that the Holy Spirit may quote
Himself in the different Gospel accounts
with complete freedom; that Christ’s messages were delivered in Aramaic and
translated into Greek after being
condensed and interpreted under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; that God led
the various writers to select from the sayings of Christ those things which
were in keeping with the theme of each particular book; and in each of the five
instances listed above, what is said of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom
of God is true of both.
In the real form of the kingdom. When the Lord
Jesus Christ introduced the truth of the mystery form of the king dom, did He
abrogate all the promises of the Davidic covenant for the earthly, national,
Messianic, moral, and future king dom? The answer is an emphatic no, and this will he proved
by citing three passages which concern the real form of the kingdom but which
were spoken after the time at
which the Lord introduced the truth of the mystery form of the kingdom.
The first is the parable of the ten
virgins (Matt. 25: 1-13). Like the parables of Matthew 13 this one has been variously
misinterpreted, but for the present discussion our chief interest in the
parable is to determine the time indicated by it. If it refers to the Second
Coming of Christ, then this is proof that the promises concerning the kingdom
in its real form as anticipated by the Jews and proclaimed by John the Baptist
and others have not been abrogated, for this is a parable of the kingdom of
heaven (verse
1). Considering the
entire Olivet discourse in which this parable is set, it is evident, even
without a detailed exposition of all the words and phrases in the discourse
which have a time element in them, that all of them refer to the great
tribulation or to events connected with the Second Coming of Christ (cf. Matt. 24:
3, 6, 7, 14, 15, 21, 29, 30, 37, 42, 44; 25: 10, 19, 30. If the discourse as a whole refers to the times of the Second
Advent then the parable of the ten virgins must also be interpreted of the last
times of
The Bridegroom is coming with the bride to a
wedding feast on the earth (in the first part of the kingdom of heaven, the
millennial
* The Parable of the
Ten Virgins, p. 43.
Whether or not one agrees with all the details of such an
interpretation, the fact still remains that the kingdom of heaven is linked
with the Second Coming of Christ and is not abrogated by the present mystery
form.
The Lord Jesus also confirms
* Cf. Hamilton, op. cit.,
pp. 70-78, who makes much of these minor points in order to cloud the real
issue.
The last passage to be cited as proof that the real form of
the kingdom has not been abrogated is the Amos quotation in Acts 15: 14-17. While it
has been shown that on the basis of literal interpretation of Luke 1:
31-33 it is God’s purpose to fulfil the
Davidic covenant, that there is not one reference connecting the present
session of Christ with the Davidic throne, that the kingdom is in mystery form
today, that the real form is still expected in the future, a proper understanding
of this passage will clinch the argument that the present work of Christ is not
identical with the future kingdom reign. The council had met in
The question of
circumcision, or of the terms of admission of the Gentiles to the Christian
church ... involved the wider question of the binding authority of the Mosaic
law, yea, the whole relation of Christianity to Judaism.*
* Op. Cit., I,
335.
After private and public deliberations, the key speech was
delivered by James who said:
Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit
the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I
will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build
again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles,
upon whom my
name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things (Acts 15: 14-17).
The entire ninth chapter of Amos from which the quotation is taken
bears on the interpretation of these verses
in Acts, for Amos
confirms the fact that the “tabernacle of David” is the nation of
Instead of identifying the period of Gentile
conversion with the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David, it is carefully
distinguished by the first (Gentile blessing), and after this, referring to
* Bibliotheca Sacra, CII, 164.
This concludes the study of the Davidic covenant. It has been
shown that the covenant demands literal interpretation and literal fulfilment.
Some of its promises have been fulfilled, but this in no way hinders a future
fulfilment; in fact, it guarantees it. The covenant was confirmed over and over
in the Old Testament, all the prophets agreeing as to the literal, future,
earthly kingdom. Moreover, the New Testament does not in any way abrogate the provisions
of the covenant. It is true that a new thing is revealed; that is, the mystery
form of the kingdom, but explicit references to the kingdom as promised and
anticipated in the Old Testament are also found after the revelation of the
mystery form of the kingdom. Finally, the New Testament nowhere identifies the
present work of Christ with the throne and
* *
* * *
* *
930
BALAAM’S ERROR AND
APOSTASY
By SAMUEL COX, D.D. [PART
THREE]
And
surely we may say that as the Lord had opened the mouth of a dumb ass to rebuke
the madness of the Prophet, so now he opened the mouth of
the Prophet to rebuke the madness of the King. It was not inevitable
that
Nothing can be finer than the
Prophet’s reply, whether in spirit or in form:- “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God?” Nothing could more perfectly express that profound belief in
Righteousness which, as we have seen again and again, was a characteristic of
Balaam, or shew more impressively how pure, simple, and large his ideal of
Righteousness was.
And yet, though this ideal is one
which may be reached by any man who trusts and obeys the finer instincts of the
soul and discerns the moral significance of the relations in which he stands,
how wonderful it was that a heathen diviner of that distant time should have
risen to an ideal so pure and lofty! A thousand years before the philosophers
of Athens had begun to inquire after “the first fair”
and “the first good,” this unknown Prophet of
an obscure race flashes into sight for a moment, and, lo, he has not asked the
question only, but gained an answer to it which the accumulated experience and
discoveries, of subsequent centuries has but confirmed! Such wisdom was not
then to be found, no, not even in
THE CONCLUSION
In placing obedience above ordinances, then, character before
worship, right-doing before ritualism, Balaam anticipated the teaching of
Christ Himself; and even a Carlyle, though taught by Christ, was no wiser than
he: and so prophet touches hand with prophet across an interval of four
thousand years. The truth he taught is indeed one “which
all the ages tell;” it is commended to us by philosopher as well as
saint, by the most modern as well as by the most ancient wisdom; and yet it
needs no commendation, since it at once commends itself to our best and purest
instincts.
Obedience is better than
worship, nay, is the true worship; all ordinances of
outward service were intended to cherish and express this inward obedience, and
are valuable only as they help to confirm us in our obedience to the will of
God; God requires of us nothing more than the justice, the compassion, the
humility which our own reason and conscience require of us, so that God’s
requisition on us is, after all, only our own requisition on ourselves, - in
all these ways, and many more, we may state the truth anticipated by Balaam so
many centuries ago. …
1. One of the first combinations by which
the student of Balaam’s error is startled and perplexed is, that one and the
same man should be “a diviner, seeking omens and
auguries, and interpreting them after the approved methods of the ancient East,
and yet a prophet who heard the words of God and saw visions from the Almighty;
a soothsayer, affecting to forecast, if not to control, human destinies, and
yet a seer familiar with the ecstasies of the prophetic trance, to whom the
inspiration of the Almighty gave understanding of thing to be.” Yet a
thousand years after his time Micah
affirms* not only that the
recognised prophets of Israel exercised the arts of soothsaying and divination,
but even that these prophets “divined for money,”
- the very sin charged upon Balaam, - while yet “they leaned upon Jehovah, and said, Is not Jehovah with
us? No evil can fall upon us.” Nor, strange as it may seem, it is
hard to see how those two functions came to be conjoined; how what we should
call Religion and Superstition came to be blended in a single mind.
* Micah 3:
7, 11.
The soothsayer, the diviner, was not then the impostor he
has now become. In those early ages he was sincerely convinced that the will of
God was disclosed in omens and auguries;
in the flight of birds, for example, as they rose to the right hand or the left
in the movements and conjunctions of the planets, in the falling of the lot, in
the state of the sacred entrails of beasts offered in sacrifice, in the
intuitions of the thoughtful and forecasting mind, in portents, in dreams, and
in the unwonted ecstasies of sensitive and holy souls.* Conscious of the unity
of the universe, observing how all things play into each other and form parts
of the connected whole - like the alchymists and wizards of the Middle Ages, he
believed that the fates of men and of nations might be read in these and
similar omens by those who had acquired the art of interpreting them. The
sagacity of birds and beasts, for instance, their quick sense of approaching
changes in the physical world, naturally led him to infer that, from their
cries and motions, dumb yet speaking hints might be collected of every kind of
change that was at hand, and to attribute to them a certain prescience even in
human affairs. And if by the study of these ominous phenomena the diviner could
foresee things to come, why might he not also advise courses of action by which
the blows of adverse change might be evaded, and those who consulted him might
put themselves in a posture, to benefit by vicissitudes which, to the
uninstructed, would bring only sorrow and fear and loss? Why might he not thus
in some measure control events as well as foresee them, shape as well as
forecast the future; and by persuading men to adapt themselves to the will of
God, secure for them the blessing of his favour, a heart unvexed by fear of
change, a heart made bold and confident by the sense of being at one with Him,
admitted to the secrets of his counsel, familiar with the determinations of his
providence.
* “Astrology was the only form in which the ancients could give
‘scientific’ shape to their belief that terrestrial life is governed by
cosmical conditions.” Sim Cox.
To us indeed, who no longer look, and no longer need to look,
for intimations of his will, to dream or oracle or seer, it may be easy to
denounce this faith in omens and auguries as rank and folly and superstition;
but before we brand Balaam as superstitious, before, at least, we condemn him
for his superstition, let us remember that even today it is hard to find any
man of Eastern race who does not blend this faith in omens, in auspicious and
sinister signs and influences, with his religion, however pure and simple his
religion may be. Let us remember that there are few even of the Western races,
however long they may have held the Christian faith, who do not cherish the
same superstition, often in grosser forms than he, as we have only to travel in
*Green’s “Short
History of the English People,” chapter 10.
With these facts in mind, we shall be in no haste to conclude
that Balaam was an impostor, or even that he was without true religion and
piety, because he sought to ascertain the will of God by the study of omens and
portents; nor shall we pronounce him unworthy to be a prophet, and to receive
words and visions from the Almighty, simply because he was versed in the arts
of divination, arts too, be it remembered, the inferiority of which he was
forward to acknowledge the very moment he recognized it.*
* See comment on Numbers 23: 23.
Nor is it in the least difficult to adduce a case parallel to
his even from the goodly fellowship of the Hebrew prophets. The character of Saul, the first king of
* Num. 24: 2. **1 Sam. 10: 1-13.
***Ibid. 16:
14.
2. A second
anomaly in the character of Balaam by which we are staggered and perplexed is,
that he should be at once a good man and a bad: “a man of God who, in the face of all
threatening and allurement, professed
that he could not go beyond the word of the Lord his God, to do a small thing
or a great, and who, in the teeth of his own most clamorous interests and
desires did consistently speak the words that God put into his mouth; and yet a man of God who was disobedient to
the word of the Lord,” who
sought to evade the duty with which he was charged, and, while faithful to the
letter of the Divine command, was unfaithful to its intention and spirit. And yet the very words in which I have
stated this anomaly remind us of the unnamed
Hebrew prophet* who, in the days
of Jeroboam, cried out against the altar at Bethel: for he too
delivered the message which God had put into his mouth with the most splendid
fidelity, risking his very life, and yet could not
be true to the charge, “Eat no bread (in Bethel), nor drink water,” and lost his life, not by his
fidelity to the Divine command, but by his infidelity to it. It is he, and not Balaam, who was
originally described as “a man of
God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord.”
* 1 Kings 13. Any one who reads this Chapter
attentively will find many points of close similarity between the history of
this Prophet and that of Balaam, in his bearing before the hostile king, in the
predictions he uttered, in the very terms in which he refused the reward
offered him by Jeroboam, in his temptation and fall; while in the contemptible
old prophet who lied unto his “brother,”
and betrayed him to his death, he will recognise a far worse man
than the son of Beor. Such a reader will do well to peruse also the sequel of
this strange story in 2 Kings 23: 15-20.
And if Balaam is to be condemned as a sinner above all men
because, though he saw visions and heard words from God, he nevertheless wanted
to curse the people he was bound to bless, and studied how he might evade the
spirit of the injunction he had received from the Most High, what are we to say
to Jonah who first tried to flee
from the presence of the Lord rather than deliver the warning to Nineveh with
which he was charged, and then was “very angry” with God because He did not destroy “that great
city in which were more than six score thousand little children, and also much
cattle,” and who seems to have thought less of the destruction of that vast
multitude of living men than of that of the quick-springing gourd which
sheltered his head from the heat of the sun? Was not this a prophet
of like passions with the other, as mean and selfish, but not as great,
although the son of Amittai was a Hebrew, and lived
in the light of a period nearly a thousand years subsequent to that of Balaam?
Nay, more: are Balaam and Jonah the only two men, or even the
only two good men, who, while seeing and approving the better course, have
taken the worse; who have left the path of righteousness to fall into the pit
of transgression? Do none of us ever
attempt to evade the pressure of unwelcome duties and commands, and seek how to
take our own way and to gratify our own desires without altogether breaking with
God and his law? Is even that special device of keeping a command in the
letter, yet violating it in the spirit, wholly unknown in what we justly call “the religious world,” since its denizens are at least
as worldly as they are religious, and may be equally sincere both in their
worldliness and their religion? We have only to recall men whom we
ourselves have known to find many parallels to that combination of good with
evil qualities which we have observed in Balaam; we have only to examine our own hearts to find a key to the anomaly
which perplexes us in him.
* *
* * *
* *
931
THE UNEQUAL YOKE
By G. H. LANG.
A minor,
when being driven from employment by the local federation, for separating
therefrom upon his conversion to God, was warned by the colliery manager that
he would be left to the mercy of the world. By no means, was his reply; I shall
be left to the mercy of my heavenly Father! Now were a rich man definitely to
guarantee to look after his poorer relatives, the latter would doubtless feel
free from care. Much more would the children of a wealthy and loving father
rest easily and happily in his promises. Yet, alas, how many children of God
grieve their heavenly Father by being afraid to do His will from not trusting
to His love and faithfulness to see them through. Is the Christian reader
holding on to his worldly organization or religious connection from an honest,
considered conviction that it is pleasing to God for him to be yoked with
unbelievers, or is he doing this simply out of fear of the consequences of
coming out and being separate?
Men trade daily and in immense sums by means of banknotes,
which are of no more intrinsic value than the paper and ink of which they are
made; and they do this in faith that those who issued the notes will duly
honour them. And are the plain, written and exceeding precious promises of the
Lord God the Almighty not trustworthy? O ye of little faith
It is the high privilege of His family to care for the earthly
affairs of one another, and especially of such as are at any time impoverished
for righteousness’ sake; and it is a deep disgrace to the Church when any of
the family are in want or are dependent upon the charities of the world. Yet to
the individual when suffering there is ever this assurance, that should God’s
people prove faithless, He abideth faithful, or that should they not know of
the need, He, our Father, knoweth what things we need, and this even before we
ask Him (Matt. 6:
8).
I write sympathetically, having been through the mill. I know
just where this shoe pinches, having worn it. In early manhood a point of
conscience involved the surrender of business position and all prospects. The
situation offered no alternative, save that of searing one’s conscience. So one
day I left the office with a few pounds in my hand and the promises of God in
my heart.
Three positive results shall be mentioned. First, the signature
to my letter of resignation was scarce written when there flooded and filled my
heart that truly “perfect peace” which God guarantees to the one whose mind is stayed on
Himself (Isa. 26: 3). It swept before it every trace of
anxiety. I had not the slightest sense of care. It is God’s own peace that thus
garrisons the heart that in reality puts all life’s affairs at His disposal (Phil. 4:
5-7). God knows nothing of anxious care,
and He relieves of all worry him who believes. And this sense of satisfaction,
this “rest in the Lord,” He has preserved and deepened all through the succeeding
twenty-six years.
But in the second place, there was trial. I was permitted to
part with my last penny before God intervened, and then He did so in such a way
as to show that He had been watching, and moving beforehand. His help was on
the way before the extremity was reached, though none save He knew how I was
circumstanced. And all these years it has continued thus.
It has been remarked that had Job been protected by insurance
policies we might have read of him saying: “The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away, but blessed be the insurance company!”
Certainly the natural man says, Blessed is he that escapeth trial, and he
concentrates his care to this end: but the history and testimony of all
spiritual men is “Blessed is the man that endureth trial” (James 1: 12).
In the third place there was granted to me a new and
strengthening sense of the nearness of God. The statement, “The Lord is
at hand,” was
known as fact. God became a “very present help in trouble”: the promise, “Come out ... and
touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” was fulfilled. It is ever thus. Here
is the short but wondrous story in two brief facts: they cast him out - and
Jesus found him (John 9: 34, 35) and finding him, gave to one who had
been blind a deep acquaintance with Himself. Thanks be unto God that the
Scripture saith not, “Let us go forth outside the camp
bearing His reproach,” but “Let us go forth UNTO
HIM outside the camp”; and there, in His own company, it is not hard to bear His
reproach.
But it is the inexorable law of the situation that each that
would enjoy His fellowship must “go forth” to where He is, “outside.” Thither this world, its leaders and
its mob, banished Him, since when He has neither had nor sought a place in the
world’s bustling affairs, religious or civil, of which the temple and the city
are the respective centres.
Then let us cheerfully leave the “city,” and “go forth unto Him.” And with what shall we find they are
occupied who so go forth? Are they burdened and groaning, as in the days when
they lived in that vain show? Nay, but “through Him they offer up a sacrifice
of praise to God continually” (Heb. 13: 15), and find their happiness in giving
rather than in getting (ver. 16). These experiences multitudes of
Christians are missing. They enjoy not the love of their Father, but rather
feel like the orphan, unsheltered, unprotected, left at the mercy of the world,
living by their wits. They know not the nearness of the Lord, and so must
strain and slave in their own interests, must ever seize the main chance, must
rush at the world’s feverish pace, lest they be left behind in life’s race and
struggle. They cannot afford to let their forbearance be known, to suffer wrong
patiently, to be merciful, for fear lest they be driven to the wall. And sorely
do they prove in every department of life that when the devil drives the pace
is killing. A withered spirit, an anxious heart, poor sleep, fretful nerves,
impoverished general health, inducing premature old age, and often enough
entire collapse, are not infrequent natural results; or when these are avoided
by reason of a non-excitable temperament then is there often seen a death-like
contentment with worldly company, worldly ways, and the affairs of the “city.”
It is forgotten that the “city” is not abiding, that “the world
passeth away,”
that it is but a colossal bankrupt concern nearing the ruinous smash, and that
every investor therein must ultimately lose his whole stake. One who had
reached exalted honour in this world was turned to the Lord at eighty years of
age, in which experience he was literally one in a thousand. Being felicitated
upon the salvation of his soul he truly but sadly replied, Yes, my soul is
saved, but my life is lost! How pathetic, yet inevitable. Not one hour of that
long life could he recall, nought of its golden possibilities could he recover,
to invest them in that kingdom which alone is eternal: all was lost, and for
ever.
View the matter which way we will, Wisdom sounds out the same
insistent call, “Let us go forth unto Him.” Our
Father’s mandate is given in our own interests, and evermore it is true that in
the keeping of His commands there is great reward. Let the following instance
confirm this statement. In 1918 a Christian man was refused exemption from
military service. Seeing clearly that it was evil before God for a disciple of
Christ to be “yoked with unbelievers,” he could
not accept the situation. When I called upon him he was daily expecting arrest,
facing police court, court-martial, and prison. There was a business to be
forfeited, a wife to be left, and, dearest of all, a happy village testimony to
Christ to be imperilled. As we were parting this man of God said: I should like
to assure you that I have not the slightest concern as to what they are going
to do with me; it does not worry me in the least; for all it troubles me it
might not be my affair at all. And it is just the same with my wife. I am known
all round the countryside; through this affair I have the best opportunities of
my life for witnessing to Christ, and that is all I care about.
Small is the highest price that must be paid for this sweet
serenity. But again we insist that it is only known in the very company of the
Despised and Rejected One. “Let us therefore go forth unto Him,” for taking up
His yoke we shall find rest unto our souls.
* *
*
A PRAYER
(From the
“The God of all mercies and Father of
all consolation show unto you more and more the riches of His mercies in Christ
Jesus our Lord, and grant you a living faith to apprehend and pull unto
yourselves the same, to your everlasting comfort. Amen.” - JOHN
BRADFORD.
* *
* * *
* *
932
THE CHALLENGE OF A DEFERRED
ADVENT
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
That
there are scoffers at the Second Advent within the
* Dr. C. Williams, The
Coming End of the Age, p.
9. A reasoned rejection of the Second
Advent has just been issued by the Christian World (Sept. 2, 1926); and, bearing in mind
that ‘Greek thought’ is only another name for
heathen unbelief, the Christian World’s historical sketch of how the Church
came to reject this truth is so correct, so illuminating, and so
self-condemnatory that we simply reproduce it without comment; “The idea of the Second Advent prevailed widely in
Christianity till it had been permeated and transformed by Greek influence. It
lingered in the East until the beginning of the third century, and in the West
it had a much stronger sway. But the Greek spirit was hostile, and in the end
fatal to it. We can, with little difficulty, understand how attractive it would
be to the Jew to believe in a millennium at
So the Apostle gives a profound reassurance to the waiting
Christian. “But forget not” - as against their wilful forgetting “this one
thing, beloved”, - as a master-solution of the
problem - “that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3: 8); or, as the Psalmist (90: 4) puts it - “a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday.” Divine activity is such that it can
spread over a thousand years, or concentrate into a single day, what, in
nature, would belong to a day or to a millennium. The twenty-four hours of
Moreover the Holy Spirit regards it as of vital importance
that we should understand this extraordinary reluctance of God. He says:- “The Lord is
not slack” - tardy, dilatory, delaying until too
late - “concerning His promise” - to right all wrong by the Advent - “as some count
slackness” as some
account it [His delay] slackness. He is slow and lingering; but it is not from
slackness - that is, not because He is powerless, or indifferent, or ignorant,
or neglectful, or procrastinating; nor is it because He has forgotten His
promise, or changed His mind, or altered His purpose; nor is it for the awful
reason that Gnostics once gave, and will yet give again - that He is Himself
evil; “but” - here starts to light the still further solution of the problem - “is LONG-SUFFERING
to you-ward.” That is, the delay is to be measured, not by years or by
centuries, but by divine purposes and aeonian plans. The world,
misunderstanding the problem, makes a fearful miscalculation. “The wicked
saith in his heart, God hath forgotten; He hideth His
face, He will never see it” (Psa. 10: 11): so they continue eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until, without a moment’s warning,
the sudden crash of Advent sweeps the world.
Now this long-suffering so enormously magnifies the character
of God, that we do well to ponder it. With a hatred of sin out-running our
utmost conception, God, omnipresent, yet stands alongside the murderer as he
beats down his victim, and hears the
dying whimper, motionless: He listens to the vilest obscenity, and the most
daring blasphemies, and says nothing: He sees little children being corrupted
in soul and body by men of awful iniquity, when He has but to think a thought
and they would never provoke Him again - yet He never stirs. It is manifest
that a reason of extraordinary force must, so to say, tie the hands of God - a
deterrent from action inconceivably powerful. What is it? It is because every
human soul is salvable; and the only hope of the salvation of any man lies in the self-control of God. It is an
astounding revelation. For the self-repression in the Deity is as extraordinary
a revelation of the power of the Godhead as the universe contains. A volcano
curbed requires vaster power than a volcano in action. God’s wrath is justice
at white-heat, and repression of it is a thing incomparably more powerful than
its liberation. Herod unsmitten is a greater evidence of God’s power than Herod smitten. Longsuffering,
in such a world as this, is the greatest exhibition of power on this side of
the annihilation of worlds. Moreover, the measure of the restraint must be a
measure of the peril from which God would save man. If it is mercy that
continues whole nations in outrage and horror, and a world in wild tumult, what
must be the doom beyond, from which starvation and massacre are a merciful
interposition of delay? God must foresee a future of inconceivable horror.
So the Apostle now reveals the heart of the divine reluctance,
and into his answer is crowded all the grace, the love, the sob of God. “Not wishing
that any should perish, but that ALL
should come to repentance.” He who bids all, forbids none. God wills here as the result
of conscious deliberation, but not with irresistible coercion (Lange); exactly as a monarch wills that
all his subjects should be happy - but as subjects, not as criminals. God’s wish (or
will) not only embodied itself in the sublime intervention of the Incarnation,
the Cross, the Ascension, the descent of the Holy Ghost - a desire unexhausted,
and now surviving in all its force,
its supreme effort is to achieve repentance in all. And so He delays, and
delays, and delays; for immediate judgment would mean immediate Hell. So (the
Apostle says) “account that the
longsuffering of our Lord is salvation”: that
is, see that you put this interpretation on God’s strange inactivity: esteem
its actual effect to be salvation; for it is actually the salvation of all who are being saved [and will be saved]. Experience shows that this is true. Forbearance can be
fruitful, when chastisement and threatenings fail: men can get simply tired of
disillusionment, and sorrow, and disappointment, and the bitterness of sin -
and turn to God. God does not prolong the world’s sin in order to deepen its
guilt and consequent doom; but for an exactly opposite reason - that NONE should perish; but that all
hardness may be melted; that rebellion may be replaced by loyalty; that hate
may give way to love; and - wonderful words! - “that all [earth’s teeming millions] should come to repentance;” and salvation so quench all evil as to cancel all judgment.
Justice inherently compels, and the order of the universe demands, judgment;
yet the Lord moves like the glacier of a thousand years. Hell is inevitable,
but hell is no wish of God; God never laid on any man the desire or the
necessity to sin; no class, or group, or person, is outside the divine
salvation; the decree consigning to hell can never be operative without a man’s
own signature. It is not according to the heart of God that even one whom He
has created, and one for whom Christ died, should be lost. The one Person in all the universe who
is not responsible jor hell is GOD.
So, then, let the very deferred Advent (as it were) soak into
us God’s delaying grace. Our golden opportunity and privilege is to co-operate
with God’s will to save. Mockers
account it slackness, disciples
account it salvation; we seize the delay, in order to seize its redemption. “I exhort,” says Paul “that prayers
be made for ALL MEN” (1 Tim. 2: 1). If I am to pray for all men, what must I assume? I must assume that all
men need praying for;
that all men can be benefited by my prayers; that the benefits of Christ’s
death, the sole ground of all prayer for sinners, reaches to all men; and
therefore that all men can be saved. As Gordon
wrote from Khartourn:- “Do you really believe that
God loves each of those black Arabs with the same love with which He loves you?”
So the Scripture continues:- “This [prayer for
all humanity] is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who willeth
that all men should be” - not blessed, or improved, or even given a chance, but - “SAVED; for there is one
Mediator, who gave Himself a ransom for ALL”:-
“who is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but
also for the sins of THE WHOLE WORLD” (1 John 2:
2). Language could not be more explicit or
more final. It is true that the awful power of the human will is the rock on
which universal salvation for ever founders; nevertheless, this in no way
affects the desire of God’s heart. Dr.
Campbell Morgan, says: “One Saturday night I
walked through the thronging streets of
Thus the deferred Advent, as we confront it to-day, spells but
one word - Salvation. Work of incalculable importance may still remain. Some
have not yielded, that have been called, some have not yet been called, that
are now in dens of infamy, or in prison cells, or in heathen forests; some have
not yet been born, whose names, nevertheless, are in the Lamb’s Book of Life:
all of us are spared for golden purposes of priceless service. The delay is no
counsel of despair, but an amazing revelation of salvation, and in it is the
whole reservoir of effective grace. Yet the pause is only a pause; and “though He hath leaden feet, He hath iron hands.” For “THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT.”
* *
* * *
* *
933
THE IMPLANTED WORD
By ARLEN L. CHITWOOD
“Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
that we should
be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.
Wherefore lay
apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted [implanted]
word, which is able to
save your souls.” (James 1:
18,
21).
Redemption
is the central issue throughout all Scripture, but redemption includes far more
than the salvation which we presently possess. Redemption begins with unredeemed
man who, because of sin is both alienated from God and dwelling on an earth
which is under a curse; and redemption terminates with redeemed man dwelling as
a joint-heir with his Messiah, ruling over an earth removed from the curse.
In this respect, God’s revealed
purpose for man’s redemption is to ultimately place him in the position for
which he was originally created: “Let them have dominion...” And when this has been
accomplished, restored man will occupy a regal position over a restored earth, removed
from the curse (cf. Gen. 1: 26, 28; Acts 3: 21; Col. 1: 20). Anything short of this
revealed goal is short of God’s purpose for His redemptive work surrounding man.
The Hebrew word translated “dominion” in Gen. 1: 26, 28 is radhah,
which means “to rule.” This is the same word translated “rule” in Psa. 110:
2, referring to Christ ruling the
earth in the coming age as the great King-Priest “after the
order of Melchizedek.” Christ, however, is not to rule alone. He will have many “companions” (Heb. 1: 9; 3: 14) ruling as joint-heirs with Him,
and God’s purpose for His
past and present redemptive work surrounding man is to ultimately bring him
into this regal position - a culmination
of God’s redemptive work, to be realized at a future date.
The text in James 1:
18, 21 encompasses the complete scope of
redemption - past, present, and future. The word translated “begat” in verse eighteen is a medical term in the Greek text
which refers to the actual birth itself. The individuals in this passage (the
writer included himself) had been begotten from above, realising the salvation
of their spirits. And through the birth from above, these individuals had been
placed in a position (possessing spiritual life) where they could ultimately be
brought into a realization of the salvation of their souls through following that which is
outlined in verse twenty-one.
In the preceding respect, the issue surrounding redemption in
relation to alienated, unredeemed man has to do with the salvation of his spirit;
and the issue surrounding redemption in
relation to redeemed man, who possesses a right relationship with God, has
to do with the salvation of his
soul. Thus, relative to the salvation of both the spirit and the soul,
man has been saved (salvation of the spirit) in order to bring him into a
position where he can be saved (salvation of the soul).
The former has to do with eternal verities and the latter with millennial verities. Through the
salvation of man’s spirit, he comes into possession of eternal
life; but only through the salvation of his soul does he come into possession
of the inheritance awaiting the faithful, to be realized during the Messianic
Era.
THEREFORE, PUTTING AWAY ... RECEIVE ...
In James 1:
21, there is really only one command in the wording of the Greek
text. The verse should literally read,
“Therefore, putting away all filthiness and all prevailing wickedness,
in meekness receive the implanted word, which is able
to save your souls.”
Following the salvation of one’s spirit,* an individual (Christian) is commanded to “receive the
implanted word,” for this Word alone is able to effect
the salvation of his soul.
[*
That is, following the time of regeneration (of being ‘born
anew’ John 3: 7, R.V.).]
However, a Christian is to receive this Word only after he has
set aside the things which would hinder the reception of this Word. The words “filthiness” and “wickedness,” though appearing to refer basically to
the same thing in the English text, set forth two entirely different thoughts
in the Greek text.
The word translated “filthiness” comes from a root word which,
relative to the human ear - the channel through which “the implanted
word” is received
- could have to do with earwax. In a metaphorical manner of viewing the matter, the
thought set forth through the use of this word has to do with the possibility
that these Christians’ ears, so to speak, were filthy. There were possibly
obstructions - having to do with a dulled spiritual perception - which
prevented the Word of God from flowing through the auditory canals in a proper
manner; and, if so, they were to remove these obstructions.
Then, after these Christians had removed any obstructions
which could prevent them from hearing the Word of God properly, they are to put
away all “wickedness” in their lives. This is
simply a general term which carries the thought of “anything
opposed to purity.” These Christians were to put away any impurity in
their lives which could hinder the reception of the Word of God. And receiving
the implanted Word in this fashion would then allow them to “grow thereby
unto salvation” (1 Peter 2: 2, A.S.V.), i.e., through
spiritual growth they would ultimately realize the [future] salvation of their souls.
The word “implanted” has to do
simply with that which is placed on
the inside. This Word is to be firmly fixed within a person’s mind, within thinking process. The channel, as we have seen is the ear. According to Rom.
10: 17, “...faith
cometh by [‘out of’] hearing, and hearing by [‘through’] the word of God.” The Word is to flow through unobstructed auditory canals into a saved human spirit, for a revealed purpose.
Once the Word has been received in this manner, the indwelling
Holy Spirit can then perform a work
in the individual. As all hindrances (all impurities) are
set aside and the spiritual man is allowed to exert full control, the Holy
Spirit, using “the implanted word,” can then effect growth. And, as this process continues over time, spiritual
growth of this nature will lead from immaturity to maturity.
The teaching in James 1: 21, or for that matter the Book of James
as a whole, must be understood in the light of the subject matter at hand - the salvation of the soul. In order to properly understand the Word of God at this point, one must not only have an
understanding of the salvation which he presently possesses, but he must also
have an equally good understanding and comprehension of the [future] salvation
which he is about to possess.*
[* For example, see 1 Peter chapter
one.]
Teachings surrounding the salvation of the soul are, in
reality, the central subject matter in all of the epistles - both the Pauline
and general epistles, from Romans through Jude. Each epistle is different,
containing its own peculiarities; and each has been written to provide a
different facet of revealed truth, with all of the epistles together forming a
complete body of revealed information and instructions for Christians relative
to present and future aspects of salvation.
In this respect, apart from an understanding of the salvation
of the soul, it is not possible to properly understand the central message of the epistles. An understanding
of the salvation of the soul, which is introduced in the Old Testament and
continued in the gospels and the Book of Acts, is the key which will open the epistles to one’s understanding.
Thus, the importance of understanding that which Scripture
reveals about the salvation of the soul cannot be overemphasized. And this importance can be shown by the goal,
which the writer of Hebrews dealt with
near the beginning of his epistle, referring to this salvation as “so great
salvation” (Heb. 2: 3; cf.
Heb. 1: 14; 2: 5; 6: 13-19; 10: 35-39; 1 Peter 1: 9). It is the greatest thing God could ever
design for redeemed man, for it includes joint-heirship with His Son over all things during the coming [messianic] age.
GROWING UNTO SALVATION
“Putting away therefore all wickedness,
and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking,
As newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is
without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto
salvation” (1 Peter 2: 1, 2, A.S.V.).
The A.S.V. has been quoted rather than the K.J.V. because it
includes the translation of two important and explanatory Greek words in verse
two (ref. also N.A.S.B., N.I.V.,
Eis soterian should be
properly translated either “unto salvation” or “with
respect to salvation” (ref. N.A.S.B.).
Then the question naturally arises, “What aspect of
salvation is in view?” It can only be the salvation of the soul, for not only is this the subject matter dealt with in 1 Peter (cf. 1:
9, 10)
but [regenerate] Christians do not grow “unto” or “with respect to” the [eternal] salvation which they presently possess.
The salvation of the spirit was effected in past time
completely apart from any accomplishment, effort, etc., of man. Nothing can
ever be added to or taken from this [initial and eternal] salvation, for it is based
entirely on the finished work of Christ at
All Christians remain on an equal plain within the scope of
this [God-given] salvation. A newborn babe in Christ,
a carnally immature Christian, and a spiritually mature Christian all occupy identical positions insofar as the
salvation of the spirit is concerned. Christian growth is brought to pass on the basis of the salvation of the spirit, but there is no such thing as
growing “unto” or “with respect to” this salvation.
The command in 1 Peter 2: 2, although applicable only to newborn babes, parallels
and has to do with the same central thought as the command in James 1: 21:
“... long for the spiritual milk which is without guile,
that ye may grow
thereby unto salvation,” and “...
receive with
meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Both begin at the same point (a
reception of the Word of God into man’s saved human spirit), progress in the
same manner (spiritual growth), and end at the same point (salvation).
The commands to receive the Word of God in both James 1: 21 and 1 Peter 2: 2 are preceded by parallel statements:
“Wherefore lay apart [lit.
‘Wherefore
laying aside’] all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness...” (James
1: 21a).
“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile,
and hypocrisies, and
envies, and all evil speaking...” (1 Peter 2: 1).
Nothing must be allowed to
interfere with the reception of the Word of God as Christians mature day by
day. This is the reason Christians are exhorted over and over in the New
Testament to separate themselves from the things of the world, the flesh, and
the Devil. [Wilful]* Sin in one’s life will impede the reception of the Word of God; and sin
harboured in one’s life will impede the reception of this Word to the extent
that the individual may fail to grow “unto salvation.”
[* See Heb. 10: 26-39, R.V.]
The problem of sin in the Christian’s life today, in view of the coming ‘salvation of the soul’, is the reason Christ is presently
exercising a high priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Christians reside in a body of death
with the ever-present sin nature; and, in this condition, they reside in a
world under the control and dominion of Satan and his angels. Residing in the
present world system after this fashion, Christians come under constant attack
from [Satan and evil spirits (fallen angels)] the archenemy of their souls; and failure in the
pilgrim walk, producing defilement [back-sliding and ultimately apostasy] in their lives, can and does occur.
Because of present conditions and circumstances, Christ, as
High Priest, is performing a work in the heavenly sanctuary. He is performing a present, continuous cleansing for Christians, accomplished solely on the basis of His shed blood on the
mercy seat (Heb.
9: 11, 12).
And forgiveness and cleansing from “all unrighteousness” occur as Christians “confess” their sins (1 John 1: 5,
6, 9; 2: 1, 2).
The reason for Christ’s present ministry has to do with the
salvation of the soul, as the reason for
His past ministry had to do with the salvation of the spirit. God’s complete purpose for man cannot be realized apart from the
salvation of both,
i.e., the salvation of man as
a complete being (which, in that
coming day, will include his body as
well).
MILK ... MEAT ... STRONG MEAT
In the terminology of Scripture itself, milk is for babies,
and meat is for those who have experienced sufficient growth to leave the milk
and partake of solid food. Both milk and meat (solid food) are indispensable
elements as one progressively grows from an immature infant into a mature
adult, and nourishment to produce proper growth in both the physical and
spiritual realms must come from the correct source.
1. IN THE PHYSICAL
REALM
The analogy concerning a newborn Christian’s spiritual needs for the “milk which is
without guile” is
drawn from the physical needs and desires of a
newborn baby. Almost immediately following birth the baby instinctively begins seeking
nourishment from his mother. His needs are very basic: food, warmth, and
security.
These are all satisfied at his mother’s breasts, as he longs
for his mother’s milk. This milk is pure, easily digested, and contains all the
necessary components for the early growth of the entire body, especially the
brain and nervous system. The mother’s milk is a living organism which cannot be duplicated. Man’s best
efforts to reproduce this milk are described by the terms “most like,” or “near to.”
A child in his early physical growth does not continue on milk
indefinitely. The child’s growth always moves toward a day when he is able to
leave the milk and continue on solid food. The solid food which the child first
begins taking is a type which is more easily masticated and digested. But as
the child grows, the teeth become more firmly entrenched, the digestive system
matures, and the day arrives when the child becomes physically mature enough to
handle any type solid food.
2. IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM
God revealed Himself to Abraham as “El Shaddai [‘Almighty God’]”
(Gen. 17:
1). El is the
singular form of the plural Hebrew word - “God” (Elolum), and Shaddai is a derivative of the word shad, which means “breast.”
In this respect, God literally revealed Himself to Abraham as the “All-Powerful, Breasted God,” i.e., the All-Powerful God
Who nourishes, gives strength, and satisfies. This appears to be one
primary thought behind the words EI Shaddai when
used with God’s Own people in view.
God’s revealed Word to man, derived from the “All-Powerful, Breasted One,”
is the means through which God nourishes, strengthens, and satisfies His people
throughout their pilgrim walk. The newborn Christian, because of his new nature,
is to instinctively long for the “spiritual milk which is without guile”; and the more mature Christian
becomes, the more he, in like manner, is to instinctively move on into the “meat” and “strong meat” of the Word.
This Word is “quick [‘alive’],
and powerful” (Heb.
4: 12) and contains
everything necessary for Christian growth unto maturity. The weaning process in
Christian growth pertains only to the “milk,” not the source. It is not possible
for any Christian to
receive nourishment apart from the “All-Powerful, Breasted
God.”
Proper Christian growth begins with “milk,” progresses
to “meat,” and then moves on to “strong meat.” In
Hebrews chapter five, the writer of this book severely rebuked
certain Christians for their inability to handle anything but “milk.” They had been saved for a sufficient
length of time that they should not only have progressed from milk to meat, and
then to strong meat, but they should also have progressed to the point where
they could teach the Word to other Christians.
However, because of a lazy, careless manner of conducting
their spiritual lives over time, these Christians had not experienced proper
growth in their understanding of the Word. They were still on the milk of the
Word and had not progressed in their Christian growth beyond the point of
needing to be taught themselves.
The subject matter at hand in relation to “strong meat” in Hebrews chapter five is the Melchizedek priesthood. The writer of this book had “many things” he would like to have said concerning
this priesthood; but these things had to do with a realm of Biblical doctrine
beyond that which these Christians, because of their immaturity, were able to
comprehend.
The things associated with the Melchizedek priesthood had to
do with strong meat,
and these Christians were still on milk. They were unable to partake of meat, much less strong
meat drawn from teachings surrounding the Melchizedek priesthood.
*
* * *
* *
*
934
LINE UPON LINE
CHAPTER 21.
SOLOMON, OR THE
1 Kings 5: 15-17. 2 Chronicles 3.; 4.; 5.; 6.; 7: 1-12.
Do you
remember what God had said that Solomon should build?
A house for the Lord.
This house would be called a temple, and it would be very
beautiful.
Solomon had a great many things to build it of: gold and
silver, iron and brass, and stones and wood; and he had a great many servants
to build it. David, his father, had told him how to build it. How did David
know how to build it? God had told David, and he had written it down.
Solomon did not build the temple upon
Solomon desired a great many large stones to be laid upon the
ground for the beginning of the house; then he desired his servants to cut down
a great many trees. He had some more wood which David had given to him. Solomon
built the walls of wood, and he put wood at the top; and Solomon covered the
inside of the house with gold.
How beautiful the house must have been
inside! How bright it must have shone when the candlesticks were lighted; for
Solomon made ten candlesticks of gold, to give light to the house. Solomon put
other beautiful things in the temple, besides the ten candlesticks. He put ten
tables for bread, and a golden altar to burn sweet spices in the midst. And
Solomon made a court round the temple; with a stone all round the court; and he
put in the court ten large basins of brass, to wash the animals in before they
were sacrificed; and he made one basin larger than the rest; and he made twelve
oxen of brass, and put this large basin on the backs of the oxen; and he had
the basin filled with water for the priests to wash in.
In the court Solomon placed a very large brass altar that he
had made. It was so large that a great many lambs, and bullocks, and goats,
might be burned on it at the same time.
At last the temple was quite finished, and it was the most beautiful
house in the world. It could not be moved about as the tabernacle had been in
the wilderness: but Solomon never wished to move it from
When it was finished, Solomon desired all people to come to
the temple. The priests came, and they carried the ark into a little room in
the temple called the Holy of Holies: and Solomon had made a great door to the
little room: and he had placed a great curtain or veil* over the door, and he
had made two very large angels of wood, covered with gold, and in the little
room, besides the two golden angels that were on the top of the ark. The large
angels stood upright, and each had two great wings stretched out all across the
little room; the priests left the ark under the wings of the great angels, and
no one could see into the little room because of the great door, and of the
curtain or veil which was over the door.
* Compare 1 Kings 6: 31 with 2 Chronicles 3:
14.
The other part of the temple was
filled with priests, and with singers all clothed in white, and holding harps
and other kinds of musical instruments in their hands - and some of the priests
blew trumpets; and these were the words the singers sang -
‘Oh, give
thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.’
As soon as the priests had left the ark in the little room,
and while the priests and singers were praising the Lord in the temple, the
Lord himself came down in a cloud and filled the temple, so that the priests
and singers were obliged to go out of the temple and stand in the court.
How glad Solomon was to see that the Lord was come into the
house that he had built for him! Solomon liked to see the brightness of the
Lord, though he knew that the Lord filled every place.
Where did king Solomon stand? He had made a high place of
brass, and he put it near the brazen altar in the court, and he stood upon the
high place, so that all the people could see him.
And Solomon knelt down on this place, and spread wide his
arms, and began to pray to God. His prayer was very long; but I will only tell
you a little part of it. He asked God to hear all people who were unhappy, and
who were sorry for their sins, and to forgive them.
When Solomon had ended his prayer, there came down fire from
heaven, and burned up the beasts that had been killed and spread upon the
altar. The fire did not hurt the people; it only burned the dead beasts on the
altar. God sent the fire to show the people that he liked them to offer sacrifices
to him, and to pray to him.
When the people saw the fire, and the glory of God all over
the temple, they bowed themselves down to the ground, and praised the Lord, and
said, ‘He is good, his mercy endureth
for ever.’
At last the people went home to their own houses, but they
very often came to offer sacrifices at the temple and to pray to God. Sweet
psalms and sweet music might be heard at the temple both night and day.
That temple was a delightful place: because there people
praised God, and because there they saw his glory.
There is a sweeter place, where I hope we shall go some day.
There God shines brighter than the sun, and there, angels clothed in white are
always singing his praises. Shall you like to go there, dear children? Then what
must you do? You must pray to God for two things: to forgive you your sins, and
to give you his Holy Spirit. Why
will God hear your prayers? Because Jesus died on the cross; God promised his
Son, that he would hear people’s prayers. God cannot break his promise. My dear
little child, say to God, ‘Oh, keep thy promise to thy Son: forgive me for his
sake: give me his Holy Spirit.’
* *
*
CHAPTER 20
SOLOMON, OR THE QUEEN'S VISIT.
2 Chronicles 7 to end. 1 Kings 10.
You
remember how God once spoke to Solomon in the night, and how he let him choose
what he would have.
A long while afterwards God spoke to Solomon again in the
night.
God said to Solomon, ‘I have heard your prayer, and I will hear the people who pray to me in the temple:
and if you will
obey me as David did, I will bless you: but if you do wicked things and worship idols,
then I shall be
very angry, and this beautiful house that
you have built shall be thrown down.’
Ah, my dear child, do you not hope that Solomon will obey God?
How kind God had been to him! Had he not given him all the things he had
promised?
Solomon was very rich, and very wise, as God had promised. He
built a great many ships, and he built a palace, and he built a great many
towns; and he made a great throne with six steps all covered with gold, and
images of two lions on each of the steps, a lion on each side; and a seat at
the top for Solomon.
When Solomon spoke, he said such wise
things that people came from a great way off to hear him talk, And they brought
him presents; some brought cups of gold or silver, and some brought him
clothes, and some brought spices, and some brought horses and mules.
Solomon grew very rich indeed. He sent his ships to far
countries over the sea, and they came back full of gold and silver, and ivory,
and apes, and peacocks. Solomon was the richest king in all the world.
I told you that people came from far
countries to hear him say wise things; for Solomon knew a great deal; he knew
about all the plants, from the highest tree down to the least plant that grows;
he knew about the beasts, and birds, and fishes, and worms, and insects: but he
knew something much better than these things, - he knew about God, and how to
please him, and he gave people very wise advice.
Now there was w queen who lived a great way off, who heard of
Solomon, and of how wise he was: and she wished very much to hear him talk, and
to see the house that he had built.
She had a great many questions to ask him: I believe that her
questions were about God. She had not been taught about God in her own country,
and she wanted to know a great deal about him. She was called the Queen of
Sheba. It was right of the Queen of Sheba to wish to know about God. She was a very rich lady, so she brought a
great many servants with her, and a
great many camels with spices and gold, as presents to king Solomon.
Solomon was very kind to her, and answered all the questions
that she asked him; and he showed her all the things that he had built. The
queen was quite surprised at all she saw and heard, and she said to king
Solomon, ‘How happy are your servants who are always standing near you,
and who hear the wise things you say! Blessed be the Lord your God, who
made you king.’
Then she gave a great deal of gold and silver to king Solomon,
and he gave her all the things that she liked to have; and then the queen went
back with her camels and her servants into her own country.
The Queen of Sheba brought back to her own home something
better than her presents; she brought a great deal of wisdom in her mind. For
could she not remember the wise things that Solomon had said? I hope that she
left off worshipping idols, and loved the true God.
A great many of the wise things that Solomon said are written
down in the Bible; they are called ‘The Proverbs.’
When you are older, my dear children, you shall read them, that you may grow
wise. I think even now you would understand some of them.
I think that the Queen of Sheba would think you very happy
children if she could see you. Are you not happier than Solomon’s servants? You
can read the wise things that Solomon said, and a great many wiser things that
Jesus Christ said. They are written down in the Bible.
Across the burning plains of sand
Came
To hear king Solomon;
And when she heard his wisdom rare,
She cried, ‘How
blest the servants are
That stand around thy throne!’
And did she count those servants
blest?
More happy we who are possest
of God’s most holy Word.
For we can read what Jesus said,
And how God raised him from the dead,
To be our living Lord.
But oh, how will our hearts rejoice,
When we shall hear our Saviour’ voice,
And see him face to face!
For then much better shall we know,
Than we have ever known below,
The wonders of his grace.
* *
*
CHAPTER 33
SOLOMON, OR THE IDOLS.
1 Kings 11: 1-13.
How many times had God appeared to
Solomon? Twice.
The first time God promised to make Solomon wise; and the next
time God promised to bless him, if he
served him.
But did Solomon serve God? I must now tell you of the wicked
things that he did when he was old.
He married a great many wives. This was wrong. People might
then have two wives, or a few wives; but God liked best that they should only
have one. You remember that Jacob had two wives, named Rachel and Leah. If a
man now
was to have two wives, he would be punished; then he might have two
wives: but not so many as Solomon had.
Solomon had seven hundred wives. Why did he have so many? I
think that Solomon had grown proud, and that he wished to be a very grand king,
and it was thought very grand for a king to have many wives.
These wives were wicked; they worshipped idols. Solomon ought
not to have married heathen women. At last these wives persuaded Solomon to
like their idols, and to build altars for the idols on the high places round
How sad it must have been to see these women offering
sacrifices, and burning incense to their idols, and Solomon bowing down to
them! God was very angry with Solomon; and God said to him, ‘Because you
have done this, one of your servants shall make
himself king; he shall take away a great deal of
the
I believe Solomon was sorry for his wickedness before he died;
but I am not quite sure that he was. It must have made him very sorry to know
that God would punish him! I hope he was sorry for having displeased God, who
had been so very kind to him.
Do you know it is the rule, that when
a king dies the king’s son is king instead of his father? So when Solomon died,
his son was king instead of him; but very soon one of Solomon’s servants tried
to make himself king. The servant’s name was Jer-o-bo
am. This servant made himself the king over a great part of the
What God had said came true: for God
makes all he says come true. God had told Solomon that his son should only have
part of the land. This was the punishment that God gave Solomon. God will
punish [all] people who are disobedient.
I hope, my dear child, that you will not be like king Solomon,
and love God only when you are
young; but 1 hope that you will love God all your life, from the time you are a
little creature, until your hair is
grey, and your back is bent with age, should you live to be old.
Oh, who is this with kingly crown ?
Before an idol bowing down?
Can it be he, - whose early days
Were spent in wisdom’s pleasant ways,
Who built to God a temple fair,
And lifted up his voice in prayer?
Alas! ’tis he; that beauteous train
Of heathen women, bold and vain,
Have stolen his heart from God away;
And now that he is old and grey,
To please the wives he fondly loves,
He worships idols in the groves.
CHILD
From Solomon I’ll warning take,
And I will never friendship make
With those who love ungodly mirth,
And only care for things of earth;
Lest they should make my heart to rove
From him who won my early love.
* *
* * *
* *
935
DESTRUCTION OF GENTILE
WORLD POWER
By ARLEN L. CHITWOOD
-------
By faith the
walls of
about seven
days (Heb. 11:
30).
The
historical account of the destruction of
Prior to
Moses at this time was on the far side of the desert tending
sheep. He had previously appeared to
All of these events foreshadow past, present, and future
experiences of Christ and the nation of
Pharaoh and his armed forces were overthrown in the Red Sea
following the Exodus from
The One Who is greater than Moses will lead the Israelites out
from a worldwide dispersion, and the One Who is greater than Joshua will lead
the Israelites into the
Victory Through Faith
According to our text, “By faith the
walls of Jericho fell down …” The Israelites under Joshua had received certain instructions
from the Lord concerning the conquest and destruction of Jericho (Joshua 6: 1ff). The Israelites acted upon God’s
promise to Joshua that the city had been given into his hand, and the
Israelites under Joshua followed
God’s instructions concerning the conquest and destruction of
God had instructed the Israelites to march around the city of
The numbers “six” and
“seven” are of marked significance in this
account, as are numbers elsewhere in Scripture. “Six” is man’s number, and “seven” is God’s number. Man has been allotted six days, six thousand years (2 Peter 3: 8; cf. Ex. 31: 12-17); but
the seventh day, the seventh one
thousand-year period, belongs to the
Lord. Six days,
six thousand years, will run their course; and at the conclusion of six days, - [and “after the tribulation of those days” (Matt. 24: 29: R.V.)] - on the seventh day, the antitype of the destruction of
The present world system, likewise, has been marked for
destruction from the very beginning an
each day, each one thousand-year period which passes, moves the
impending destruction one day nearer. We are now living very near the
end of the sixth day, with the seventh day in the
immediate future. This present
world-system is, as it were, existing at a point very near the end of
the terminal march around the city. The
judgments of the Great Tribulation, occurring
at the end of the sixth day, await
the present system; and its
destruction will occur … [at some time ‘after’ (Matt. 24: 29, R.V.)] the seventh day, following
the return of
Israel’s Position Among the Nations
The day is near at hand when “the kingdom
of the world” will
become “the kingdom of our Lord, and
of his Christ” (Rev. 11: 15, ASV). For ages the kingdom has belonged to
the Gentile nations of the earth, with Satan and his angels ruling from the
heavens over the earth. Satan is the “god of this world [‘age’]” (2 Cor. 4: 4). He is the present ruler over the “kingdoms of
the world” (Luke 4: 5, 6). And throughout history - especially
the history of
Since the inception of the nation of
God announced
The word of God remains in force. Consequently,
Note that both the heavenly and
earthly seed of Abraham are in view in Gen. 22: 17. The
future destiny of
The “gate,” has to do with the key point in the conquest of a city or
realm. “Possessing the gate” is equivalent to
possessing control. The possession in store for the Church is heavenly. Satan
and his angels are presently in control, but they are to be put down (cf. Eph. 6: 11ff; Heb. 3: 1; Rev. 12: 7-12). The possession in store for
Following the Exodus from
Ensuing events in the world during nearly 3,500 years of man’s
history following Moses’ announcement to the Assyrian Pharaoh in
In the interim, from the announcement during Moses’ day until
the announcement during the days of the coming of the Son of Man, a main thrust
of Satan’s attack is centered on the nation of
Within this framework of thought
concerning
The Lord Jesus Christ is today seated at the right hand of His
Father, removed from the sphere of Satan’s dominion. Thus, Satan’s attack on
Christ must come through the Church. But once the [‘accounted worthy to
escape’ (Lk.
21: 36.
cf. Rev. 3:
10.) members of the] Church has been removed, preceding the Tribulation,
the centre of Satan’s attack on earth will, of necessity, be directed toward [those
‘that are left’ (1 Thess. 4: 17, R.V.) and]
* *
* * *
* *
936
WORTHINESS A CONDITION
OF ENTERING THE KINGDOM
By G.
H. LANG.
At the outset
it must be noted that Christ intimated that sharing in that first resurrection
which will lift dead believers into the kingdom in glory requires that the
individual shall have “attained” thereto and be “accounted worthy” thereof (Luke 20: 34,
35). Negatively He had taught plainly that practical righteousness
of high degree, acquired and marked by strict obedience to the least divine
command, as also true humility, were indispensable to entering that kingdom at
all (Matt. 5: 20; 18: 1-3), so indicating the conditions of
being accounted worthy and attaining.
Peter, concluding his ministry, addressed those who had
obtained a like precious faith with himself in the righteousness of our God and
Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1: 1-11); even persons to whom had been granted the precious and exceeding great
promises of God, with the view that they might not only have the life of God
(which every believer has immediately upon faith in Christ), but also might
become partakers of the divine nature. Thus the character, disposition and
tendencies natural to God might become so in them through claiming in faith the
fulfilment of the promises pertaining to sanctity of nature and of walk. But
for this to become fact they must add on their part all diligence in developing
out of faith other dominant christian virtues. Thereby they should make secure
their calling and election of God unto His eternal [i.e. Gk. ‘aionios’ or ‘age’-lasting] glory in Christ. For the calling of which Peter speaks is not simply unto
deliverance from wrath, but to share the [millennial and] eternal glory of God (1 Pet. 5: 10), a prospect far nobler, belonging to the
people of the heavenly calling only.
No true preacher of the gospel would say to unregenerate men, ye
do these things you will secure eternal life," for that is the “free gift of
God” (Rom. 6:
23), “a
righteousness of God apart from the law” (Rom.
3: 21). But, addressing [regenerate] believers,
as above noted, and referring to the matter of their calling to glory, Peter
distinctly puts the issue upon the ground of [their] works, saying, “if ye do these
things, ye shall never stumble: for thus richly
[emphatic] shall
he supplied unto you the entrance into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1: 10). Thus
did he enforce this portion of what his Master had taught.
Similarly Paul, ever most emphatic upon the acceptance of
sinners by God being solely through the imputing to them by grace of the
righteousness of Another, is equally definite that the final
obtaining of the [millennial] glory of God is not a guaranteed
certainty, but demands
the fulfilment of conditions. So he prayed unceasingly for the Thessalonians that “God may count you worthy of your calling,” for which prayer there could be no call if they were already entirely secure of the same
(2 Thess. 1: 11). But he
knew otherwise, and therefore he most earnestly exhorted, encouraged, and
testified “to the end that ye should
walk worthily of God, who calleth you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2: 11, 12). As with Peter, so with Paul also, the “calling” is not to exemption from wrath, but
to entering the [coming messianic (see Ps. 72
& Ps. 2:
8ff. etc.)] kingdom and sharing in its glory.
Thus the words of Christ as to being “accounted worthy of that [next] age” are adopted by Paul “that God may count you worthy”; and he knew that this could only be
on the ground of works done - [i.e., the Christian’s righteous
works (Matt. 5:
20; 7: 21. R.V.)], and so, his prayer proceeded that God “would fulfil every desire of goodness and
every work of faith with power, in order that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
may be glorified in you [now], and ye in Him
[in His day].” And that this can only be, yet can be, “according to the grace
of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” he knew well and taught clearly, as did
Peter also (“the God of all grace Who called you
... shall Himself perfect ... you” (1 Pet. 5: 10). Yet
both knew that while grace enables, it does never coerce, so that the utmost diligence on our part in godly living must he added
in order that no man should “fall short of the grace of God” (Heb.
12:
15),
and not obtain the whole of what grace
made possible in Christ.
Finally, the Lord had attached this condition of attainment
and worthiness to the specific matter of rising in the first resurrection, and
so did Paul also. For to the Philippians (3:
11) he wrote of his own strenuous efforts in
the service and fellowship of Christ that they were directed to the end “if by any
mean’s I may attain unto the resurrection [out] from among the dead,” which sentence is a repetition of the
words of the Lord in Luke 20:
35, “they that are accounted worthy to attain to that
age, and the resurrection from among the
dead.”
* *
* * *
* *
937
WHAT CONSTITUTES
WORTHINESS?
By G.
H. LANG.
It has been
said that in the three places (Luke 20: 35; Acts 5: 41; 2 Thessalonians 1:
5) where the verb kataxioo is found it means fitness, not
worthiness in the sense of merit. In fifteen English and five German versions,
five lexicons, and a number of standard commentaries, we do not find anyone who
suggests any other translation than “worthy.” This word, as the dictionaries show,
includes the possessing merit, having desert, by reason of actual qualities
possessed. It is the possession and display of these qualities which
constitutes the “fitness” that the word no
doubt also implies.
Granted that the prefix kata does not in this instance carry its
intensive force, and that the word is equal to the simple form axioo, this will still carry the meaning of worthiness as above
defined. The Septuagint at Genesis 31: 28 has axiod; the Complutensian edition thereof
in uses kataxtoo. The meaning is the same. Laban
says: “I was not
counted worthy to embrace my children and my daughters.” This could
nm well be changed to “I was not counted fit,”
etc.
It has been urged that when the centurion (Luke 7:
7) said he was not worthy to make personal application to
Christ, he was thinking, not of his personal merit, but of his Gentile nationality.
Probably he was; but then, at the moment, these two were the same. At that time
nationality was the one thing that counted as regards anyone gaining the help
of Him who was not then sent save unto the lost sheep of the house of
The same word axioo is used at 1 Timothy 5: 17: “Let the elders
that rule will be counted worthy of double honour”: at Hebrews 3: 3: “Jesus hath been counted worthy of more glory than
Moses”: at Hebrews 10: 29:
“Of how much sorer punishment shall he be judged
worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God.” Surely no one would substitute “fit” for “worthy” in either of these places: why, then,
do so in the other place, 2 Thessalonians 1 : 11: “We pray always for you that our God may count you worthy of your
calling”?
It is allowed that the adjective (axios) does imply personal merit. We cannot see why the
verb does not. In one instance they come together and have the same force, and
may properly be rendered alike: “Let the elders that rule well be deemed
to merit double honour ... for the
scripture saith ... the labourer merits
his hire” (1 Tim. 5: 17, 18).
The Septuagint has the verb at Jeremiah
7: 16: “Count them not worthy to be
pitied.”
Is it correct, as has been said, that
God accounts us righteous when we are not? Does He not rather impute to faith the
righteousness of Another, and then reckon us to be what we are in that Other?
The law deems righteous a man who has paid his just debts. It equally deems him
so if another has paid for him. But the law does not reckon him righteous until
he is so in fact, either by his own payment or that of his substitute. God also
does not deal in unrealities, whether with the unjustified or the justified. He
does not deem the justified worthy of this or that reward or honour unless he
is in fact worthy.
What, now, constitutes one worthy of the
We have heard this put baldly at a public conference thus:- “No matter how you live as a christian” (emphasized,
for it was the very point being urged), “you are
certain to be part of the bride of Christ and to reign with Him!” To
this no exception can be taken if the ground of being glorified with Christ is
only His merit imputed to us.
The atoning work of the Lord Jesus, the merit of which is
reckoned to the believer therein, has two effects:-
1. It changes his legal standing and
relationship with God as judge, removing him from the position of a rebel
condemned to death, and setting him in a state of favour, reconciled to God, as
if he had been ever a loyal subject. But this is a forensic, a legal matter. It
changes, and this eternally, the man’s legal status before the law of God, but
it does not of itself alter him in himself, or make him personally holy or
agreeable.
2. But on this new basis and
relationship God is enabled to propose, and by the work of His Spirit to
effect, in the believer all manner of new possibilities and advance in
holiness, fellowship, service, and rewards of service in the kingdom of His
Son. All this is of grace, for God is under no liability so to favour us.
But here enters the question of personal worthiness and
fitness. In the natural realm all sons are sharers in the father’s love and
care and possessions; but not all develop equal fitness for business, fortune,
honours, or are therefore worthy thereof. Their fitness will depend, firstly,
on native endowment (“he gave to each according to his
particular ability” - Darby, Matthew 25:
15), and then on the response of each to the
call of position, to diligence in using opportunities of education, on the
acceptance of discipline, and on profit from training. And for what a son does not thus fit himself he will not be fit, and will
not be counted worthy to attain to that.
Therefore, Hogg and Vine (2 Thess. 1:
5) rightly enough say: “There was no
intrinsic merit in the exercise of faith and patience such as would establish a
claim to the Kingdom of God; their faith and patience testified to the call of
God (Eph. 2: 12) and to the working in
them of the powers of that Kingdom. It was fitting and right, then, that
persons in whom those powers were operating, and in whom consequently a
character in harmony with that Kingdom was being produced, should be given a
place in it at its manifestation.”
But now the solemn question arises: What of believers in whom
these powers are not operating and in whom consequently a character in harmony
with that kingdom is not being produced? That there are such both Scripture and
observation testify. There ever have
been, there still are, Demas-like christians who have
turned back to the world; backsliders are a fact, alas.
Here enters the element of faith, diligence, attainment,
reward; here arises the need for the warnings of loss, disinheriting,
chastisement.
There is such a solemn state as the not using the grace of God
made available in Christ by His Spirit (Hebrews 12: 15; 2 Corinthians 6: 1). Whatever anyone attains it will be
wholly “to the praise of the glory of His grace” which gave the opportunity and the
ability; whatever loss or chastisement is incurred will be because of misuse of
or neglect of the opportunity and the ability grace had provided.
It is manifest that not all loyal women subjects of the king
are worthy to be his queen, nor are all dutiful men competent to be cabinet
ministers. It was Esther’s personal charms that caused the king to choose her
to be his queen.
Granted most fully that it is grace alone that produces this
fitness in us who had no fitness whatever, yet grace must produce it or it will not be there. It is not an imputed, but a real
fitness of character, as Hogg and Vine justly show; a fitness produced by the
power of God indeed, but shown in faith and patience. Were it a simply
imputed fitness, that the Thessalonians already had by faith, why, then, did
Paul so earnestly pray and exhort that they might at last he found possessed of
it? Either that imputed righteousness may be lost, or Paul’s prayers were not
in place, or the explanation here offered must rule.
The dying thief (Luke 23: 39-43) is a peculiarly brilliant example of what constitutes fitness for the
company of the Lord. That man discerned the true person, character and dignity
of Christ in an hour when it seemed inconceivable that He was who He was. His
confession was: “This man has done nothing out of place.” He exercised personal faith in Christ
just when the whole world cast Him out, when even His own followers failed in
faith and forsook Him. He espoused the Saviour when men were deriding Him, and
publicly set upon Him only his every hope.
It was easy for Paul to admit the claims of Jesus when he saw
Him in glory above the brightness of the sun: the faith of the thief was indefinitely
superior; he believed and trusted and confessed in the very hour when the light
was being eclipsed in the deepest darkness of a dreadful death. Perhaps no more
superb act of faith ever was or can be exercised, and according to his faith it
will be unto him, as unto each and all.
John 6: 40 does not regard eternal life and the
first resurrection as concomitant. The resurrection “in the last
day” we take to
mean that general resurrection which was the hope of the pious (John 11: 24)
before (as far as is shown) a prior
resurrection of some of the dead had been clearly taught. What is
guaranteed simply to faith in Jesus as the Son of God is resurrection unto
eternal life in the last day, the names of such believers being in the book of
life for His sake (Revelation 20: 12). What, in addition, is open to every believer
is “to be accounted worthy to attain unto the
resurrection which is out from among the dead,” and so to share the [messianic
and millennial] reign of Christ when He shall sit upon the throne of His glory (Revelation 20: 4-6).
We may therefore most readily quote 1
Peter 1: 13 as to the favour that is
to come at the revelation of Jesus Christ, but also we should heed the
warnings of the Word lest we miss aught that God of His favour is ready to
give. And from among the blessings
possible to be forfeited we see no just ground to exclude sharing in the first
resurrection and the reign of Christ. Scripture, as we read it,
plainly urges us not to, forfeit these but to attain thereto, according to the
distinct statement in Luke 20:
35, “accounted
worthy to attain.” It is not simply being fit for that out resurrection, but attaining [i.e., gaining by
effort] thereto, implying zeal
and diligence in pursuit of an object.
* *
* * *
* *
938
ANTI-SEMITISM
By ARLEN L. CHITWOOD
The
Amalekites were the first of the Gentile nations to war against
The sentence pronounced upon the Amalekites in Ex. 17:
14 was not carried out in its completeness until the days of
Hezekiah (1
Chron. 4: 39-43), and from that point in history the Amalekites ceased to exist. Although
the Amalekites figured prominently in Old Testament history, dating all the way
back to the days of Abraham (Gen. 14: 7), archaeologists today have failed to
unearth a trace of this nation’s existence. The Amalekites have been “utterly put
out of remembrance,” just as God promised.
There is a law of “first mention”
in Scriptural interpretation which states that the first time a subject is
mentioned, the subject remains unchanged throughout Scripture. Exodus, chapter
seventeen presents
the first mention following the Exodus of Satan’s move against
Every nation which has lifted its hand against
During modern times the world has
witnessed anew one of the worst atrocities ever perpetrated upon the Jewish
people by a Gentile nation. The only thing which will explain the actions of
the Third Reich under Hitler during the years 1933 - 1945 is what Scripture
reveals concerning Satan’s attitude toward and method of attack against God’s
son,
* *
* * *
* *
939
THE COMING RUSSIAN
INVASION OF
(Ezekiel 38,
39.)
By ARLEN L. CHITWOOD
This will be the day of
ARMAGEDDON
(Isa. 63: 1-6; Joel 3: 2-16; Rev. 14: 14-20; 19: 17-21.)
The Russian invasion of
The battle of Armageddon has to do with Satan’s final attempt
to prevent
Satan’s final effort, climaxing in Armageddon, is foreshadowed
in Psa. 83: 1-8 by a ten-kingdom confederation of nations moving against
Christ will return at the end of the Tribulation, Old
Testament saints will be raised from the dead, and the “whole house of
Just as Satan has used various Gentile nations throughout
Man’s Day, vainly seeking to accomplish his God- dishonouring purpose, he will
use all the Gentile nations of the world in his last great attempt to effect
his own plans and purposes immediately preceding his dethronement. “The beast,
and the kings of the earth, and their armies,” will be “gathered together to make war against him
[Christ] that sat on the horse, and against his army” (Rev.
19: 19). Although Christ will possess an
accompanying army (composed of angels, cf. 1 Thess. 3: 13; 2 Thess. 1: 7; Jude 14; Deut. 33: 2), He will fight the battle alone. It was alone that He suffered, bled, and
died; and it will be alone that He treads His enemies under His feet (Isa. 63: 1-6).
At the first coming of Christ, immediately before His
crucifixion, Roman soldiers led Him to the governor’s palace, stripped Him of
His garments, arrayed Him in a scarlet robe, and placed a crown of thorns on
His head and a reed (symbolizing the sceptre of governmental power) in His
right hand. This was done in order to openly ridicule the One Who claimed to be
“King
of the Jews.” The
Romans (the centre of Gentile power in that day) had subjugated God’s son,
“This same Jesus” is the One Who will tread the
winepress alone. He appeared on earth the first time as the “Lamb of God,” but He will appear [the second time] as the “Lion of the tribe of
The same scenes which witnessed Christ’s suffering and
humiliation will one ‘day’ witness His glory and
exaltation. Satan’s
final attempt to prevent the transfer of supremacy - his own (exhibited through
the “beast” in that day), his angels, and the Gentile nations, transferred to Christ,
the Church, and
Following the events of Armageddon, God’s Sons will then
exercise their rightful positions of authority and power on and over the earth. God’s son,
Thus will the present [evil and apostate] ‘age’
end, and the new [Millennial and Messianic] ‘age’ begin. “What a termination!” “What a climax!” “What a
new beginning!”
* *
* * *
* *
940
BALAAM’S ERROR AND HIS
APOSTASY By SAMUEL COX, D.D. [PART FOUR]
3. But let us
pass from these general considerations, and take up the two specific sins with
which Balaam is charged, the two special anomalies which have made him an
enigma to us; and see, here again, whether we cannot classify him, whether we
cannot match him with other prophets as favoured and yet as faulty as himself;
whether even we cannot find in ourselves the very complexities which puzzle us
in him.
One of the sins brought home to him with extraordinary force
and bitterness in the New Testament Scriptures is his venality. And it is
impossible to study his career, and to note his ardent love and admiration of
righteousness, yet not be struck with surprise and shame at discovering that he
loved the wages of unrighteousness, and was capable of prostituting his rare and
eminent gifts for hire. Still, do we not find this same strange and pitiful
combination of piety and covetousness in Jacob, who was surnamed
* Genesis 49.
And, again, who can deny that this love of money, this
covetousness which is idolatry, this
selfish and grasping spirit, is of
all sins that which always has been,
and is, most common and prevalent in
the Church, and even among sincerely religious men? It clothes itself with
respectability as with a garment, and walks often unrebuked, often flattered
even and admired, in almost every assembly of the saints. How many
of us are there who, if we love righteousness, also hanker after the wages of
un righteousness, after the opulence, the gratifications, the success which can
only come to us through a selfish and worldly, i.e,,
a sinful life! No transgression is more common than this among spiritual men,
though none is more fatal to the spiritual life, since none renders a man more
impervious to the rebukes of conscience or the warnings of the Word and Spirit
of God.
Or take that other and grosser crime which we have seen
brought home to Balaam, the sensuality that made the foul device by which the
early innocence of
* 1 Kings 4: 32.
** Ibid. 4: 29.
Nor is this craving for sensual indulgence one of those defunct sins against
which we need no longer strive. After
covetousness, in its more or less pronounced forms, no sin is more common than this even in the Church; though this,
not being a respectable sin, cannot be carried to such lengths or be so openly
pursued.*
* It is curious to note that even in the first uninspired homily
of which we have any record, the so-called “Second Epistle of Clement,” the
These, indeed, are the two sins against which we are most
constantly warned in the New Testament; and it is both curious and instructive
to mark that between these two sins the
writers of the New Testament see an occult connection, as if they were
close neighbours, however far they may seem to stand apart, twin transgressions,
although they wear so little likeness to each other.
* 1 Cor. 5:
10, and 6:
9. ** Eph. 5: 3; Col. 3: 5. *** Heb. 13: 4, 5. **** 1 Kings
11: 9, 10.
I am not unaware that we rarely find so many anomalies, so
many “jarring contrasts of incompatible qualities” in a single character as we
have discovered in that of Balaam; nor do I wish to forget that we have had to
look in many quarters to discover cases parallel with his. It is no part of my
duty, or of my aim, either to make light of his transgressions, or to contend
that there is no problem to solve before we can frame any reasonable estimate
of the man. That a man so great in virtues and gifts should fall into vices so
vulgar and glaring must always, I hope, remain in some measure a mystery to us.
But I submit that in thus comparing him with Jacob and Solomon, with Saul, and Jonah, we do, to a large extent, discover the class to which he
belongs, and reduce our problem to more practicable dimensions. For these too
were men of rare and eminent gifts, gifts which, as Browning says, “a man may waste,
desecrate, yet never quite lose;” they were men chosen by God for
distinguished and honourable service, men who were moved, taught, and chastened
by his wise and holy Spirit; and yet, among them, they display the
very vices and disgrace themselves by the very transgressions which we
recognize and deplore in him.* And taking him for all in all,
remembering and making due allowance for his age, his blood, his breeding, his
temptations, I for one should hesitate to pronounce him a worse man on the
whole than Saul, or Solomon, or Jonah. They had advantages denied to him. He
had disadvantages - defects of will and taints of blood, a bias of hereditary
habit, a license of custom, a force of temptation - unknown to them. If God
could use and inspire them, why should He not call and inspire him?
If God could make large allowance for them, and chasten them from their
sins, and make their hearts perfect with Him before all was done, why should
Balaam be “cast as rubbish to the void”? Why
may not the same just and merciful God have long since clothed him in the
righteousness which he loved and desired, chastening him, in this world and in
the next, from the taints which marred a character in much so high and noble,
and not suffering a soul so capable and precious to perish everlastingly?
* “Is there not reason to doubt whether
a natural predisposition to the cardinal virtues is the best outfit for the
prophet, the artist, or even the preacher? Saints from of old have been more
readily made out of publicans and sinners than out of Pharisees, who pay tithes
of all they possess. The artist, the writer, and even the philosopher, equally
need passion to do great work; and genuine passion is ever apt to be unruly,
though by stronger men eventually subdued.” - Morison’s “Macaulay,” p. 57.
To the ordinary reader of the Bible, who has not carefully
observed how graciously, and for what, high ends, God condescends to use even
the most imperfect and unlikely instruments, the main difficulty of this
narrative springs, I suppose, from the fact that the pure Spirit of God came
upon and possessed a man in whom there was so much that was impure, opening his
eyes on visions so far-reaching, quickening in him powers so rare, and lifting
him to the conception of a moral ideal so lofty. They can understand that, as
we read in the Book of Wisdom (vii. 27), “Wisdom
in all ages, entering into holy souls, maketh friends of God and prophets;”
but they are staggered at the thought that this holy and divine Wisdom should
enter into souls not holy, or even unholy. That difficulty has been in great
part removed, I trust, by the cases I have already cited. But that it may be
removed altogether, that it may be made clear and indubitable that God does
deign to employ and inspire men far worse than Balaam, it may be worth while to
refer to the gifts conferred upon the
members of the Corinthian Church in Apostolic times, and to cite an
instance which will put an end to all doubt.
The Corinthian converts were not by any means the pure and
sinless persons we are apt to imagine all the members of the primitive Church
to have been. They indulged themselves in a license which, St Paul had to
rebuke with unsparing severity, admitting to their fellowship licentious and
covetous men,* wrangling about meats, shewing off their gifts in
church with emulous vanity, pouncing greedily on the food spread on their
common table, capable even of being “drunken” at the supper of the Lord.** And yet St
Paul says of them*** that, when they came together, every one of them had a
psalm, or a teaching, or a revelation, or a tongue, or an interpretation; ard implies that they possessed among them all the gifts of
the Spirit, - words of wisdom and knowledge, inspirations of truth, the faith
which removes mountains, power to heal, power to rule, power to work miracles,
power to prophesy.****
* 1 Cor. 5:
11; 6: 15-20.
** 1 Cor. 11: 21. *** Ibid. 14: 26. **** 1 Cor. 12: 10.
Yet even this is nothing as compared
with the case of Caiaphas, the High Priest. It is almost impossible to conceive a worse man than the bad bold
ecclesiastic who wore the robes of Aaron and sat in Moses’ chair. It
is on him mainly that we must lay the
guilt of the Crucifixion, of the death of Him who knew no sin but went about
doing good. And yet when this bad bold priest stood up in the hesitating
Sanhedrin, and said, with a scorn he took no pains to conceal: “Ye know
nothing at all, nor consider that it is
expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not”; we are expressly told: “And this
spake he not of himself, but being high priest
that year, he prophesied, - prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but
that he might also gather into one
the children of God who were scattered abroad.”* So that the divinest prophecy of all time fell from lips as foul as any that
ever breathed!
* 2 John 11: 49-52.
And why should we marvel at this grace
and condescension as at some strange thing? We should rather take comfort from
it and hope. Does not the Spirit of God strive with the spirit of every man,
however guilty and depraved he may be, quickening in him pure memories and
aspirations, gracious impulses and motions, seeking by all means to redeem him
to the love and pursuit of righteousness? What hope would there be for us, what
hope for the world, if God put his pure Word and his cleansing Spirit only into
hearts already clean? Would his Word dwell in our hearts, or his Spirit abide
with us? Instead of marvelling at the grace shewn to Balaam, and to men even
more sinful than he, it behoves us rather to adore that grace, and to draw from it the inspiration of a HOPE that He who sitteth above the
heavens, and in whose
sight even the heavens are not pure, will come down and dwell in US if only, despite our manifold offences against Him,
we are of a humble and a contrite spirit.
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941
GRACE MAY IMPOSE CONDITIONS
By G. H. LANG.
We have
pointed out (a) That all gifts come
to men from God on the principle of grace, since we deserve nothing but wrath.
To the sinner anything out of hell is a mercy; (b) That nevertheless there is always possibility that man may not
accept what grace offers, and so not benefit by the grace of God.
This is true of the unregenerate: such may refuse or neglect
salvation entirely. It remains true of the saved, in so far that they may fail
to receive those further benefits to which regeneration opens the way.
No one questions this in relation to this present life, for it
is certain that many believers do not enjoy very much of the present portion in
Christ available to every believer. Assurance of salvation, conscious relation
with God as child to, father, priestly access and power in intercession, some
heart-sense of sitting with Christ in heavenly places, may be instanced as
privileges often missed, of which, indeed, many who own that Jesus is their
redeemer have no knowledge at all, not even as possible. Through defective
instruction they are like those disciples who had not received the [Holy] Spirit because they did not know He
had been given. (Acts 19: 2).
It is also certain that some who did know these privileges in
power have forfeited this experience through carnality and worldliness.
As, then, present privileges may be missed, on what ground are
we to hold that future privileges cannot be? Of course, intelligent students of
the Word do not so hold. It is generally admitted that rewards in the kingdom will be proportionate to
works of faith, to labours of love, to sufferings for the kingdom in this life,
which rewards therefore have the nature of prizes, crowns, and may be
forfeited.
Now the important point here considered is that, not only
status and reward in the [coming] kingdom, but sharing in it at all
stands also on this precise footing. No new principle of life or recompense is
introduced, but only an extension of the same principle. It thus becomes simply
a question of what is the testimony of Scripture upon the point.
This testimony we deem to be as plain and abundant as for the truth that there
is to be a [Messianic and
Millennial
(Psa. 2: 8; 110: 1-3. Cf. Luke
1: 32; 19: 12-27; Rev. 3: 21; 20: 4, 5, R.V.)]
It is narrated that Queen
Elizabeth was dealing with an appeal for pardon by a would-be assassin. She
proposed to show grace upon conditions that she would name. The suppliant
answered that grace with conditions were no grace. It is said that
Probably many may deem this a striking thought, yet it is
certainly false. Grace is none the less grace if, for good reason, it impose
conditions.
John Bampton left property for the maintenance at
A gift may be absolute or conditional. If it be the former the
property can never be reclaimed by the donor or denied to the receiver. But if
it be the latter the receiver forfeits his title if the condition be not
fulfilled.
Bequests are known which operate only on such conditions as
that the legatee (a) shall take the
name of the testator, or (b) shall
continue to dwell in the house devised, or (c) shall never become a Roman Catholic. Such conditions are of two
classes: (a) operates before the property devised passes to
the legatee; (b) and (c) continue after the property has passed. In the case of (a), the name having been taken the gift becomes absolute; in (b) and (c) it remains always conditional.
Now as regards the gifts of God they are of necessity always
conditional, but some are of the (a)
class, others of the (b) and (c) class.
Justification and ‘eternal life’
are the former. The condition required, and which is necessarily indispensable,
is repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. If this
condition is not fulfilled these gifts offered by grace never pass to the
sinner. If, however, this condition is met these benefits operate, and are irrevocable by God and non-forfeitable by
the receiver. Thus it is written of the repenting and believing man that he
is “justified freely by God’s grace through (out of regard to) the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus,” and that “the free
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 3: 24: 6: 23). We take the terms translated “freely” and “free” ([see Greek …]) to mean not only free from purchase price to be found by the sinner, but
free from after conditions, once upon repentance and by faith these benefits
have been acquired.
But we do not find this asserted as regards any subsequent
privileges offered by the grace of God. These all are equally gifts of grace
but are of the (b) and (c) class, having conditions attached
which require perpetual fulfilment [by regenerate believers]. If God has made reigning with His
Son in His [coming
Messianic and Millennial] kingdom consequent upon suffering with Him now, this does
not impair His grace to men in ever opening so magnificent a prospect, but it
shows that it is indeed marked by “all wisdom and prudence” (Eph. 1: 8 [R.V.]), for thus His grace cannot be abused to promote slothfulness and unfaithfulness.
*
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942
LINE UPON LINE
CHAPTER 34
JEROBOAM, OR THE DRIED-UP HAND.
1 Kings 12: 25
to end; 13: 1-7, 33, 34.
You have heard, my dear children, how Solonion’s servant, Jeroboam, made himself king over part of
Canaan: but Solomon’s son was king over the other part of
You know that God had desired all the people in Canaan to come
to
Why did lie not Ue to go there?
Because there was another king in
Jeroboam worshipped the calves himself. One day God sent a
prophet to him, to tell him of his wickedness. Jeroboam was standing by an
altar burning incense to a golden calf, when the prophet came, and told him how
angry God was with the people who worshipped the golden calves, and how he
would punish them. And the prophet said, ‘And this is the sign that God is
angry: the altar shall be broken, and the ashes that are on it shall fall to the ground.’
When kin, Jeroboam heard this he was
angry, and he wished to punish the prophet: so he stretched out his hand, and
said to his servants, ‘Lay hold on him.’ Now while Jeroboam’s hand was stretched out, God made it grow
dry and stiff, so that he could not pull it back again; and at the same time,
the altar was broken, and the ashes fell upon the ground, as the prophet had
said.
Do you not think Jeroboam must have been frightened then? He
knew that no one could make his hand well but God: so he said to the prophet, ‘Pray thou to
the Lord thy God for me, that my hand may be
made well.’
Would the prophet pray to God for Jeroboam who had been so
unkind to him? Yes, hewould; he prayed to God, and
God made the king’s hand as well as it was before.
Then Jeroboam did not try to hurt the prophet any more,
because he was afraid of hurting him: but Jeroboam did not repent of
worshipping idols and turn to God, but he went on teaching his people to pray
to the golden calves. And God was very angry with Jeroboam.
Why was not Jeroboam afraid of God? He
saw that God could dry up his arm; could he not kill him, and cast him into
hell? Ah! dear ,children, we ought to fear to offend our great God. Have you
never stretched out your arm to do something naughty? To fight? God could have
dried up your arm. He is very kind. But he will punish us one day, if we do not
love him, or care for him.
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CHAPTER 35
ELLIAH, OR THE RAVENS.
I Kings 16: 29 to end; 17: 1-7.
You remember dear children, that Jeroboam was king over only
part of the
I will tell you what Jeroboam was called. He was called King
of Israel; and Solomon’s son was called King of Judah. Will you try to remember
this?
At last Jeroboam died, and there was another king of
At last, after a great many kings had died, one after another,
there was a king called Abab.
He was more wicked than any of the other kings had been. One
of the worst things he did was to marry a woman who worshipped idols. This
woman was the daughter of the king of another country called
The name of Jezebel’s favourite idol was Baal; and she persuaded Ahab to worship Baal, as well as the golden
calves: and Ahab built a temple for Baal in the town where he lived. There were
a great many men who used to teach people to worship Baal; and these men were
called the prophets of Baal; and Jezebel was very kind to them. For Jezebel was
kind to people who loved idols; but she tried to kill the people who loved God. There were some people in the
I will now tell you of one very good prophet that lived in the
Ahab and Jezebel hated Elijah because he was good, and they
would have liked to kill him. Elijah was very sorry to see so many people in
the
How did Elijah get food when there was no rain? God told him
to go to a place where there was a pond or a brook, in a secret place, where he
might hide himself from Ahab: and God promised to send some ravens to feed him.
So Elijah went to this brook; and he drank of the water of the
brook; and in the morning some ravens flew to him and gave him some bread and
meat; and in the evening they came again, and brought him some more bread and
meat; and the next day they came again, both morning and evening: so Elijah had
breakfast and supper every day; and he wanted nothing more.
Who made the birds so wise and so kind? God can do everything.
Most ravens are fierce, but God made these ravens gentle. How glad Elijah must
have been when he saw them coming with the food! How he must have thanked God
for sending them every day! God has, promised to feed all hungry people who
pray to him. God does not send ravens to feed them; but he makes other people
pity them and give them food.
Elijah lived quite alone by the brook: but Elijah knew that
God was with him. At last there was very little water in the brook; the sun
dried up the water, and no rain came to fill it up. There was less water every
day, and at last there was none left.
What could Elijah do now? God could have filled the brook with
water, but he did not choose to do that. He told Elijah to leave the brook and
go to another place.
I will tell you soon where Elijah went.
You see what care God took of Elijah: he will take the same
care of you, if you love him and pray to him.
Elijah, by the brook abides,
And there from furious Ahab hides,
And every human eye!
And while he drinks the waters clear,
To bring him food with faithful care,
His winged servants fly.
’Tis God that gives the ravens meat,
And to the prophet’s lone retreat
Points out the secret way;
The waters sink below the brim,
But still Elijah trusts to him
Who feeds him day by day.
For should the little brook be dry,
Yet God would all his wants supply,
While here he dwelt below;
And then the Lamb his soul would feed,
And through eternal ages lead
Where living waters flow.
CHILD
To bring me food no ravens fly,
Yet parents all my wants supply
With watchful tenderness;
And should they soon be breathless
clay,
My God would find some other way
To keep me from distress.
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*
CHAPTER 36
ELIJAH, OR THE WIDOW.
1 Kings 17: 8 to
end.
WHERE
did God tell Elijah to go when the brook was dried up? He told him to go a
great way off to a place where a poor widow lived, who would give him food. You
know that a widow is a woman who has lost her husband. Widows are generally
poor, because they have no husbands to work for them: and this widow was very
poor indeed, because, since there had been no rain, people could get very
little food to eat, because so little corn grew in the fields.
But Elijah went where God told him. He went all across the
When Elijah was come to the gate of the town he saw a poor
woman gathering sticks, and Elijah knew that she was the widow who was to give
him food; and Elijah called to her, and said, ‘Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in
a cup, that I may drink.’
I do not wonder that Elijah was thirsty, for he had walked a
long way, and there was now very little water in the
Now this widow was so kind that she was going to fetch the
water for Elijah. Then Elijah called to her again, and said, ‘Bring me,
I pray thee, a morsel of
bread in thine hand.’
Then the poor widow said, ‘I have not got any bread; I have only a handful of flour in a barrel, and a little oil in a jar;
and I was just gathering some sticks, that I
might make a fire, and make the flour and oil
into a little cake, that I and my son may eat it; and as we have no more food,
when we have eaten it we must die.’
Would Elijah take all the poor widow’s food? God had told
Elijah what to say.
Elijah said to the widow, ‘Go and make a
little cake for me first, and afterwards make
one for you and your son: for God has said that
there shall always be some flour in your barrel,
and some oil in your jar, till he send rain
again upon the earth.’
What a wonderful promise this was! Did the widow believe it?
Yes, she did. She went and made a fire, and mixed the flour and oil together,
and made some bread for Elijah, and then she made some for herself and her son;
and still there was flour in the barrel, and oil in the jar: and every day she
found enough flour and oil to make bread for them all.
Elijah came and lived with this poor widow; he lived in a room upstairs near her house. The widow
found it was a good thing to have such a man as Elijah in the house. Why was it
such a good thing? Because God made the flour and oil last. Besides this,
Elijah could teach this poor woman about God; for you know that she had been
brought up to worship idols.
Elijah loved God, and wished all people to love him.
Now, you shall hear of a very sad thing that happened to this
poor woman. One day her son, who was a little boy, fell sick, and he was so
very sick that he died, and there was no breath left in him. The poor widow was
very unhappy. She knew that God had let him die, and she thought that God was
angry with her; and she wished that Elijah had not come to her house; and she
went to Elijah, and spoke angrily to him. It was very ungrateful of her to
behave in this manner. Then Elijah said, ‘Give me thy son.’
Now, the widow was holding the dead child in her arms, and
Elijah took the child in his own arms, and carried him to his own room, and
laid him on his bed. Then Elijah began to pray to God. ‘O Lord my God,’
he said, ‘hast thou made this sad thing happen to the
widow I live with? Hast thou killed her son?’
Then Elijah stretched himself upon the child as it lay dead;
he did so three times, and he prayed to God, saying, ‘O Lord my
God, I pray thee let this child’s soul
come into him again.’
And the Lord heard Elijah’s prayer; and he let the child’s
soul come into him again, and then the child was alive again.* Then
it was warm, and it breathed. Oh, how glad Elijah must have been! How kind it
was of God to hear Elijah’s prayer! God let the poor widow know that Elijah’s God was the true God, and could make people alive. Elijah took the child in his arms,
and brought him downstairs, and gave him to his mother again, and said to her,
‘See, thy son is alive.’
[* See Psalm
16:10 and Acts
2: 27, R.V. Cf. Genesis 37: 35ff
- a first mention principle, shown throughout all of Scripture! (Matthew 12: 40;
16: 18; Luke 16: 23) - until stopped at the time of
Resurrection! (John 3: 13; 14: 1-3; 20: 17ff.; 2 Tim.
2: 18; Rev. 6: 9-11, R.V.).]
Was she now angry with Elijah? Oh no. ‘Now,’ said she, ‘I see that
you are a man of God, and that all you tell me
about God is true.’
Now, I hope the widow believed all that Elijah said, and I
hope she loved the God who had been so very kind to her and given her food, and
made her child alive again.
God still hears people when they pray: but he does not always
make children alive again; but he will make you alive again, dear child, when
the last trumpet sounds, if you love him. Some day your body will lie in the
ground, and than I hope your soul will be with God;* and when Christ comes in the
clouds, and the trumpet sounds, then your body will rise from the grave, and
your soul and body will be joined together again. Oh, what a happy day
that will be!
[* See Matthew
16: 18; Luke
16: 23;
Acts 2: 27. Cf. 1 Thess. 4: 14-16; 2 Tim. 2: 17, 18ff., R.V.)]
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943
THE “IF’S” OF SCRIPTURE
By G. H. LANG.
-------
[PART ONE]
AS TO PRESENT PRIVILEGES
It is
now further to he shown that the gifts of God offered to [redeemed and regenerate] believers,
though granted out of grace, are subject to conditions.
To Israel in Egypt exposed to the Destroyer deliverance was
granted solely out of regard by God to the blood of redemption: “When I see
the blood I will pass over you” (“hover over,” as a bird
protecting her nest: see Isaiah 31: 5, where the same term is used and the preceding picture shows
its meaning). No conditions as to the future conduct of the people were
imposed, though God foresaw their coming unfaithfulness. No “if” was then heard from God. The
guarantee of deliverance from death was absolute. Justification [by faith] does not hang upon sanctification; it
is absolute, irreversible, solely because of God’s estimate of the eternal
value of the precious blood of Christ.
But only three days after the now redeemed people were for
ever free from Egypt, by their baptism into fellowship with Moses through
passing with him through the Red Sea (1 Corinthians
10: 1), God spake to them His first
direct utterance as a saved people, and it commenced with “IF”:
“if thou wilt
diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and wilt do that
which is right in His eyes, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His
statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put
upon the Egyptians; for I am Jehovah that healeth thee” (Exodus 15: 25, 26). The
first blessing promised, bodily health,
was placed upon the footing of works, “if thou wilt do,” and was conditional
upon obedience. This
was before they were put under the law of Sinai.
When only the third month was come God gave His second
promise. It also commenced with “IF”: “if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be My
own possession from among all peoples; for all
the earth is mine; and ye shall be unto Me a
kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Exodus 19: 5, 6). The second blessing promised - special relation to God as a kingdom of priests, was also conditional
upon obedience.
In the fact the nation as a whole forthwith forfeited the
priestly dignity, by flagrantly disobeying the first and second commandments of
the just delivered decalogue, by making the golden calf, and only the one
family of Aaron received it. Again, of that family Nadab and Abihu lost
their position and their lives by
disobedience on the very day of their consecration to the holy office (Numbers 10); later Phinehas
secured the dignity to his family by
signal faithfulness (Numbers 25:
10); while still later Eli’s family,
though of the house of Phinehas, lost it by unfaithfulness (1 Samuel 4). In days yet to come in Israel unfaithful
men of the priestly family shall be debarred the office, but faithful men shall secure it (Ezekiel
44: 10-16). And at that time, - [after
their Resurrection out from the dead
(Lk. 20: 35; Phil. 3: 11, R.V), during Messiah’s kingdom-rule] - in relation to the rest of mankind, Israel as a people shall at last be what God meant them from
the first to be as a people, mediators of His blessing to the nations, but of which dignity they have
hitherto proved incapable and unworthy: “ye shall be named the priests of Jehovah.” (Isaiah 61: 6). But at that time, - [during their Messiah’s manifested
presence and glory, and as a nation,] - they will have been born of God, will have a new heart and spirit,
and will fulfil the indispensable
condition of obedience laid down for the priesthood.
These typical instances exhibit the place of “IF” in the dealings of God with men. In the matter of redemption,
justification, deliverance from wrath, a new standing before God, the
declarations of Scripture are positive; the words “The one
believing upon the Son hath eternal life” declare present salvation, and the words “cometh not
into judgment,” as to the question of eternal life or death, cover the future (John 3: 36;
5:
24). But this eternally safe standing
having been reached by faith, and the man having been now called into, and by
baptism actually put into, the fellowship of God’s Son (our Moses), and being
thus set forth into the wilderness upon the path of faith in God, at once God
shows that future privileges depend as to their enjoyment upon the obedience of
faith.
All believers are Christ’s people, but, what is far, far higher, “ye are My friends IF
ye do the things
which I command you” (John 15: 14). The Lord on His side loves unchangeably every one of His own,
but it is “IF ye keep My
commandments ye [on your side] shall abide in [the enjoyment of] My love” (John 15: 10). The promises of God are available to
every believer without distinction, the mercy seat is open to each without discrimination,
but it is only “IF ye abide in Me,
and My words
abide in you [ye shall] ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:
7).
It is significant that these conditional promises were addressed to the most inner
circle of faithful disciples, the apostles, the men to whom the Lord said at
that same time, “ye are they who have continued with Me in My
trials,” and to whom consequently He promised sovereign
positions in His [coming] kingdom. Yet past faithfulness did not exempt them from the solemn and necessary
“IF” as regards [to the possible loss of the inheritance (due to apostasy), at some time in] the future.
These last scriptures show that for us, as for
The application of this principle to future dignity and
privilege will be next shown.
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*
[PART TWO]
AS TO FUTURE HONOURS
The case of Joshua the
high priest (Zechariah 3) is a
further striking illustration both of the divine and human aspects of matters
spiritual and of the place of “IF” in the ways of God with man.
Joshua, representing as high priest all his people, is first seen
as every man is before God, “clothed with filthy garments,” the word “filthy” being “the strongest expression in
the Hebrew language for filth of the most loathsome character”
(Baron, in loco).
The full details of the process of making such an one fit for
the presence and the service of God are given in Leviticus 8. He was stripped, bathed, re-clothed in garments of
glory and beauty, and upon his head was placed the turban bearing the golden
band inscribed “Holiness to Jehovah,” signifying his entire dedication to the service of the
Holy One. All this was on the basis of sacrifices next detailed.
During this process of qualifying a sinner for nearness and
service and worship, Joshua does nothing and says nothing; all is done for him and to him, he being
only a willing, consenting, but passive party. This is the faith in which a
sinner ceases from his own dead works and consents to be justified by God in
Christ Jesus.
But immediately Joshua has been thus securely established
before God without works, God forthwith addresses him with an “IF” concerning works and declares further privileges to be dependent upon his conduct. This is precisely the place of “if” as before shown. We read: “And the Angel
of Jehovah solemnly (Baron) protested unto Joshua, saying,
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: IF thou wilt walk in My
ways, and IF thou wilt keep my charge,
then thou
also shalt judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee a
place of access among these that stand by.”
Here are present privileges in service in the house of God,
and they are dependent upon personal
behaviour. “But the climax of promise in this
verse is reached in the last clause, ‘And I will give thee places to walk among
these that stand by’” (Baron); and this (which is our more immediate point) has to do with
privilege in the age to come and in the heavenly sphere of the Kingdom.
Mr. Baron continues: “‘These that stand by’ - as we see by comparing the expression
with verse 4
- are the angels, who were in attendance upon the Angel of Jehovah, and who ‘stood before Him’ ready to
carry out His behests. The promise is usually limited by Christian commentators
to signify that God would yet give to Joshua, and to the priesthood generally,
fuller and nearer access to Him than they possessed hitherto, or than was
possible in the old dispensation; but the Jewish
Targurn is, I believe, nearer the truth when it paraphrases the words, ‘In the resurrection of the dead I will
revive thee, and give thee feet
walking among these seraphim.’ Thus, applied to the future [millennial
age], the sense of the whole
verse would be this: ‘If thou wilt walk
in My ways and keep My charge, thou
shalt not only have the honour of judging My house and keeping My courts, but when thy work on earth is done thou
shalt be transplanted to higher service in heaven, and have “places to walk” among these pure angelic beings who stand by Me, hearkening unto the voice of My word’ (Psalm 103: 20, 21). Note the ‘if’s’ in this verse, my dear reader, and lay to heart the fact that, while pardon and justification are the free gifts of God to all that
are of faith, having their source
wholly in His infinite and sovereign grace, and quite apart from work or
merit on the part of man, the honour and privilege of
acceptable service and future reward are conditional upon our obedience and faithfulness: therefore seek by His
grace and in the power of His Spirit to
‘walk in His
ways and to keep his charge,’ and in all things, even if
thine be the lot of a ‘porter’ or ‘doorkeeper’ in the House of God, to present thyself approved unto Him, in remembrance of the
[millennial] day when ‘we must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad’” (2
Corinthians 5: 10).
*
* * *
* * *
944
THE WOUNDED GUEST
By Dr. A.T. SCHOFIELD, M.D., M.R.C.S.,
&c.
CHRISTIAN honesty - the essence of ‘The Life that Pleases
God’ - is spoken of in the New Testament in three distinct aspects: As
before GOD, as before MEN, and as before our BRETHREN. In Romans 13: 12,
13 we read: “The
night is far spent, and the day is at hand;
let us therefore ... walk
honestly as in the day; not in revelling and
drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and jealously”.
Before God
Here we get in the first of these passages the highest ground for honesty in walk
- the life before God. The setting
is impressive. It is still night, darkness is everywhere brooding over men’s
hearts and lives. But the night is ‘far spent’, and we can no longer doubt that dawn is nigh. Some earnest, mystic
souls, straining their eyes to pierce the dark war clouds around, think that ‘already the
dawn may be seen in the eastern sky’. However that may be, Christians are not yet in the ‘day’ [2 Pet. 3: 8, R.V.], but are to walk as if they were. In other words, their lives are to be shining
tracks of light through the dark night, ‘shining more and more unto the perfect day’. The
Revised Version here suggests to us a beautiful thought. The passage (Prov. 4: 18) thus
reads: “The path of the righteous is as the light of the dawn,
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”. This life, this walk of Christian
honesty, then, that is here enjoined is nothing less than ‘the light of the dawn’ - that pure, calm radiance that
early risers know and love so well. Thus the very lives of the righteous are in
themselves harbingers of their Lord’s return.
To this end all sin is
here to be avoided. Not only gross sins, but that which some Christians deem a
merit rather than a sin - ‘strife’ and envying. How many there are who vehemently
condemn the first four, while, alas, they practice the last two!
Before Men
The next aspect of an ‘honest walk’ is given in 1 Thessalonians 4: 11,
12: “That ye study
to be quiet, and to do your own business,
and to work with your own hands, even as we charged you”. “That
ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing”. Here we get what perhaps we may term
the lowest incentive for an honest walk, that is, as before men. The good
opinion of men, however, as to this is not to be despised, for the verdict of
the twelve men in the box is generally a correct one, and according to the
facts. In the same way is the Christian on his trial by the world to win a good
verdict by his quiet, decent, and industrious life.
Before our Brethren
The third is in Hebrews 13: 18: “Pray for us; for we are
persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring
to live honestly in all things”. Here the honest walk is before the brethren, that is before [regenerate] Christians, and this is the third
incentive. The great writer of this epistle confidently asks for the prayers of
his brethren on account of his honest life before them.
Such then are the three verdicts that are sought on the
Christian’s life: That of God, that of man, and that of our brethren, and all
are favourable IF the walk be
honest, and [IF] the life be pleasing to God.
The Wounded Guest
And now, in order that the full solemnity of our subject and its
pressing need may be clearly seen and deeply felt, I ask my readers to consider
in this connection the touching words of Zechariah
13: 6: “And
one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in
Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends”.
The amazing character of the reply is soon apparent.* To be wounded by one’s enemies is
only to be expected, to be wounded by one’s friends is unnatural, but to be
wounded in the house of one’s friends
should be impossible. All nations from time immemorial have regarded a guest as
sacred. Once even a stranger or an enemy has eaten your salt his person is
inviolable, so that on no guest, even in an enemy’s house, can an injury be
inflicted. In ‘a friend’s house’ the idea is
obviously inconceivable, or rather is inconceivable in the case of every guest
but Christ. No laws and customs, however old and sacred, avail for Him, for He
alone has been, and is, ‘wounded in the house of His friends’.
* According
to the usual exegesis of this passage. There is another that has been
suggested that does not refer the passage to Christ; but even if this were so,
the truth remains the same.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock,”*
says the Saviour of the world. And the friend
inside hears the knock and opens the door, and the Lord enters and comes in to
sup with him as his Guest. And the friend inside
perhaps goes and buys a large printed card and puts it on his mantelpiece to
commemorate the entrance of the Lord of glory. And
the card reads: “Christ is the unseen Guest in this
house”. And then, incredible though it be, while abiding in the heart,
in the house of His friend and host, the Lord and Guest is wounded, and wounded in the most sensitive
part, the palms of the hands!
[* See Rev.
3: 20.
Note also the immediate context: He that overcometh…”
- a conditional
promise which our Lord Jesus states for those who qualify for a share
(or, an inheritance Eph. 5: 5 with Him) - during the time of His Messianic
and Millennial
Reign “in the midst of his enemies … in the day of thy
power”(Ps. 2: 8; 110: 2b, 3a. R.V.).]
Is this not a true and unexaggerated picture of what is
occurring daily in hundreds of Christian houses? Is not Christ still wounded in
the houses of His friends? Alas! to our shame we answer yes! Oh, what a burning
scandal! what a shameful sin! what an indelible disgrace rests upon us, if we [His redeemed people] can thus handle our Divine Guest, can thus ‘crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame’!
Practical Christianity
That this shall be done no more is a matter that all
Christians must see to; hence the need for this volume on practical
Christianity and consistency of life. Christ, we well know, is wounded to-day
more sorely than ever by His relentless and malicious enemies. Let Him then at
least be safe in His friends’ houses, who owe their very lives to His grace. If
Christ be not safe there He is safe nowhere. However we may treat our
fellowmen, however much we may fail to trust our brethren, let one thing at
least be assured, that we know how to treat an honoured and loved Guest, and
that in our lives and conduct we are watchful and careful
never to wound afresh our crucified Redeemer.
An old Jubilee hymn of infinite pathos runs: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord”? No, we
were not; but we know enough to remember that then His hands
were not pierced by His friends! It is true that ‘His own’, to whom He came,
received Him not, and with wicked hands slew Him; that others, ‘His own’, whom He loved ‘unto the end’, either forsook or denied Him; but it was His enemies (the Romans)
who actually pierced His hands with the nails. Now, alas, it
would seem it is His friends who do this!
The hands are the most sensitive part of the body. Christ’s hands were ever doing good and healing men. They were laid in love on the heads of little children, and were last
raised in blessing ere He was parted from His people (Luke 24: 50). There can be no doubt that the limits of perfidy [i.e., ‘treachery’] are reached when Christ is
wounded in His hands in the house of His friends.
How, then, do His friends thus wound Him? I say thus because all in our lives which is not
the will of God and of faith must in its measure pain the Saviour. But I
understand in this consideration we are not taking into account all the ways in which Christians grieve
their Lord, but only these special ways in which they grieve Him most.
Mistakes, ignorance, foolishness, errors, timidity, dullness, stupidity,
stumbling, and even falling are not,
I think, the ways in which Christians specially thus wound Christ. All these
are doubtless common enough and bad enough, though some of them would seem
unavoidable. And yet they are not
excusable; for in God is an ample
resource for every form of human weakness and deficiency. Weariness,
faintness, depression in the Christian life may one and all be wholly
dispelled, as the closing verse of Isaiah 40 distinctly shows. If Christians never went further than these
sins and failures, I doubt the verse in Zechariah could apply to them, nor indeed would the same urgent need
exist for writing on such a subject as Christian honesty. But it is not so, for
as we all know only too well, the very walls of our houses on which may hang
the motto concerning Christ as our unseen Guest have been witnesses to spoken
words that pierce His hands, as well as to deeds that wound Him in the house of
His friends.
How is the Guest
Wounded?
I would suggest that there are three ways in which the
shameful nails are driven into those blessed Hands. Three sins that on the
spiritual plane crucify the Son of God afresh; and because this is done, not in
the world of sinners but in the houses of His friends it puts Him ‘to an open shame’. It seems to me then that the deepest
distress to Christ is caused by our denials, our doubts, and our differences. I have designedly used the same letter ‘d’
throughout in order to fix more firmly in our minds those three things that we must not do;
and if we love Christ, as we say we do, we will at all costs absolutely
stop, disallow, and never again permit them to defile our lives or our lips and
wound our tender Master.
The first grievous sin that I would
point out then is, -
Denial of Christ’s
Person or Work.
This may of course be explicit or implicit. More frequently
the latter. Of course no Christian could explicitly deny the atoning work which
is the foundation of his faith. But in
practice, and sometimes by
intellectual speculations, or by worldly
neglect or indifference, such an attitude is taken regarding Christ’s
person or His sacrificial work when ‘He poured out His soul unto death’, that must keenly wound the Saviour.
Indeed, similar conduct (Phil. 3: 18) brought bitter tears to the eyes of
the great apostle, that in the Christian
profession should be found these enemies of the Cross of Christ. I do not
say for one moment that these were true Christians, but that similar courses are pursued by such,
and similar shame brought on our Lord no
true Christian will deny. This is not a question of doctrine but of heart,
and is caused by lack of loyalty and
love.
The next sin is, -
Doubting Christ’s
Love and Care.
Doubt of His love, His care, and His wisdom. In Psalm 73: 11,
13, 14 we find the workings of David’s soul
when in this condition. “And they say, How doth God
know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?
Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued,” &c. Here we see the doubts of
God’s wisdom and love so common amongst tried believers; and nothing can wound
Christ more than to doubt His love.
This pierces His hands, and when we awake to the fact and discover the
despicable nature of this sin, we reach verse 22, and exclaim: “I was as a beast before Thee”.
The same thing is seen in Mark 4: 38: “Master, carest Thou not that we perish”? What a stab to that tender heart is
here! What a dastardly suggestion! What an outrage to their beloved Guest!
Surely these doubts caused acute suffering to Christ. We all know they were
sinful, but we don’t often realise as we
should the suffering they inflict on our Lord. It is therefore not without
cause that one of the four deadly sins against which we are explicitly warned
should be ‘murmuring’ (1 Cor.
10:
10);
a sin as common to [regenerate] Christians as it is cruel to Christ.
The third and last I will enumerate is, -
Differences in Word and
Spirit from Christ.
Nothing more severe ever fell from the Master’s lips than: “Ye know not what spirit ye are of”, though to us the occasion was
comparatively trivial, and the rebuke may not seem to be what it really is. But
when we consider that likeness to Christ [and not to Satan] is the purpose for which we are left down here, and that until the resurrection this likeness can only be shown in spirit, and
that, moreover, that this is the only likeness the world can see, we apprehend something of the [vast and personal] importance* of speaking and acting in the spirit of the Master.
[* See Matt.
5: 50; 7: 21; Col. 3: 25; 1 Tim. 4: 1, 2. R.V. Cf. Col.
3: 24; 1 Thess. 1: 6ff.; Luke 20: 35; Heb. 11: 35b; Rev. 20: 4, 5, etc.]
How often have we heard defenders of the faith, and Christian apologists, and champions of
orthodoxy seeking to demolish their opponents in anything but the spirit of
Christ. Saddest of all, when brother
wars with brother with a sarcasm and a bitterness which the Lord never knew.
On these occasions one leaves the scene of strife with a saddened heart that
Christ should be so wounded by those who seek to defend the truth. Oh, for more
of a Christlike spirit! So important is this that the Bible itself may not be
closed until this last wish is breathed out by the Spirit for all believers: “The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen”.
On the other hand, how the contraries of these sins have
rejoiced His heart! And here, to fix them on our memories, we will use the
letter ‘c’.
What Comforts Christ
is our confession, our
confidence, and our conformity.
1.
Our confession of Himself and His glorious work, instead of the denial of the one or the other.
2. Our confidence. “Though He slay me yet
will I trust Him” (Job 13: 15) is as precious to Him as our doubts are
distressing; and He is worthy, and we do well to trust in the Lord with all our
hearts.
3. Conformity to His likeness and the
breathing out of His spirit [or words from the Holy Spirit] wherever
we go is the wanted testimony to His Name.
945
THE COMMON SALVATION
‘The common salvation.’ - JUDE 3. ‘The common faith.’ - TITUS 1: 4.
By ALEXANDER MACLAREN D.D., LITT. D.
JUDE was
probably one of Christ’s brothers, and a man of position and influence in the
Church. He is writing to the whole early Christian community, numbering men
widely separated from each other by nationality, race, culture, and general
outlook on life; and he beautifully and humbly unites himself with them all as
recipients of a ‘common salvation.’ Paul is
writing to Titus, the veteran leader to a raw recruit. Wide differences of
mental power, of maturity of religious experience, separated the two; and yet
Paul beautifully and humbly associates himself with his pupil, as exercising a
‘common
faith.’
Probably neither of the writers meant more than to bring
himself nearer to the persons whom they were respectively addressing; but their
language goes a great deal further than the immediate application of it. The ‘salvation’ was ‘common’ to Jude and his readers, as ‘the faith’ was to Paul and Titus, because the
salvation and the faith are one, all the world over.
It is for the sake of insisting upon this community, which is
universal, that I have ventured to isolate these two fragments from their
proper connection, and to bring them together. But you will notice that they
take up the same thought at two different stages, as it were. The one declares
that there is but one remedy and healing for all the world’s woes; the other
declares that there is but one way by which that remedy can be applied. All who
possess ‘the common salvation’ are so blessed because they exercise ‘the common
faith.’
I. Note the underlying conception of a
universal deepest need.
That Christian word ‘salvation’ has come to be threadbare and
commonplace, and slips over people’s minds without leaving any dint. We all
think we understand it. Some of us have only the faintest and vaguest conception
of what it means, and have never realised the solemn view of human nature and
its necessities which lies beneath it. And I want to press that upon you now.
The word ‘to save’ means either of two things - to heal from a sickness, or to
deliver, from a danger. These two ideas of sickness to be healed and of dangers
to be secured from enter into the Christian use of the word. Underlying it is
the implication that the condition of humanity is universally that of needing healing of a sore sickness, and of needing
deliverance from an overhanging and
tremendous danger. Sin is the sickness, and the issues of sin are the
danger. And sin is making myself my centre and my law, and so distorting and
flinging out of gear, as it were, my relations to God.
Surely it does not want many words to show that that must be
the most important thing about a man. Deep down below all superficialities
there lies this fundamental fact, that he has gone wrong with regard to God;
and no amount of sophistication about heredity and environment and the like can
ever wipe out the blackness of the fact that men willingly do break through the
law, which commands us all to yield ourselves to God, and not to set ourselves
up as our own masters, and our own aims and ends, independently of Him. I say
that is the deepest wound of humanity.
In these days of social unrest there are plenty of voices
round us that proclaim other needs as being clamant, but, oh, they are all
shallow and on the surface as compared with the deepest need of all: and the
men that come round the sick-bed of humanity and say, ‘Ah,
the patient is suffering from a lack of education,’ or ‘the patient is suffering from unfavourable environment,’
have diagnosed the disease superficially. There is something deeper the matter
than that, and unless the physician has probed further into the wound than
these surface appearances, I am afraid his remedy will go as short a way down
as his conception of the evil goes.
Oh, brethren, there is something else the matter with us than
ignorance or unfavourable conditions. ‘The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.’ The tap-root of all human miseries
lies in the solemn fact of human transgression. That is a universal fact. Wide
differences part us, but there is one thing that we have all in common: a
conscience and a will that lifts itself against disliked good. Beneath all
surface differences of garb there lies the same fact, the common sickness of
sin. The king’s robe, the pauper’s uniform, the student’s gown, the mill-hand’s
fustian [i.e., probably
their ‘unnatural style of writing or speaking’], the naked savage’s brown skin, each cover a heart that is evil, and because
it is evil, needs salvation from sickness and deliverance from danger.
For do not forget that if it is true that men have driven
their rebellious chariots through God’s law, they cannot do that without
bringing down God’s hand upon them, and they ought not to be able to do it; and
He would not be a loving God if it were not so. There are dangers; dangers from
the necessary inevitable consequences, here and yonder, of rebellion against
Him.
Now, do not let us lose ourselves in generalities. That is the
way in which many of us have all our lives long blunted the point of the
message of the Gospel to our hearts. That is what we do with all sorts of
important moral truths. For instance, I suppose there never was a time in your
lives when you did not believe that all men must die. But I suppose most of us
can remember some time when there came upon us, with a shock which made some of
us cower before it as an unwelcome thing, the thought, ‘And I must.’
The common
sickness? Yes! ‘Thou art the man.’ Oh, brother, whatever you may have or whatever you may want,
be sure of this: that your deepest needs will not be met, your sorest sickness
will not be healed, your most tremendous peril not secured against, until the
fact of your individual sinfulness and the consequences of that fact are
somehow or other dealt with, stanched, and swept away. So much, then, for the
first point.
II. Now a word as to the common remedy.
One of our texts gives us that - ‘the common salvation.’
You all know what I am going to say, and so, perhaps, you
suppose that it is not worth while for me to say it. I dare say some of you
think that it was not worth while coming here to hear the whole, threadbare,
commonplace story. Well! is it worth while for me to speak once more to men that
have so often heard and so often neglected? Let me try. Oh, that I could get
you one by one, and drive home to each single
soul that is listening to me, or perhaps, that is not listening, the message that I have to bring!
‘The common salvation.’ There
is one remedy for the sickness. There is one safety against the danger. There
is only one, because it
is the remedy for all men, and it is the remedy for all men because it is the
remedy for each. Jesus Christ deals, as no one else has ever pretended to deal,
with this outstanding fact of my transgression and yours.
He, by His death, as I believe, has saved the world from the
danger, because He has set right the world’s relations to God. I am not going,
at this stage of my sermon, to enter upon anything in the nature of discussion.
My purpose is an entirely different one. I want to press upon you, dear
brethren, this plain fact, that since there is a God, and since you and I have
sinned, and since things are as they are, and the consequences will be as they
will be, both in this world [‘age’] and in the next, we all stand in
danger of death - death eternal [and even age-lasting], which comes from, and, in one sense, consists of [having a] separation in heart and mind from God.
You believe in a [future] judgment day, do
you not? Whether you do or not, you have only to open your eyes, you have only
to turn them inwards, to see that even here and now, every sin and
transgression and disobedience does receive its ‘just
recompense of reward’ - [see Col.
3: 24, 25; Gal. 6: 7-9, R.V.)]. You cannot do a wrong thing without hurting yourself, without
desolating some part of your nature, without enfeebling your power of
resistance to evil and aspiration after good, without lowering yourself in the
scale of being, and making yourself ashamed to stand before the bar of your own
conscience. You cannot do some wrong things, that some of you are fond of
doing, without dragging after them consequences, in this world, of anything but
an agreeable kind.
Sins of the flesh avenge themselves in kind, as some of you young men know, and
will know better in the days that are before you. Transgressions which are
plain and clear in the eyes of even the world’s judgment draw after them
damaged reputations, enfeebled health, closed doors of opportunity, and a whole
host of such things. And all these are but a kind of
premonitions and overshadowings of that solemn judgment that lies beyond - [see Heb. 9: 27; 10: 30ff. R.V.]. For all men will have to eat the fruit of
their doings and drink that which they have prepared. But on the Cross,
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bore the weight of the world’s sin, yours and
mine and every man’s. There is one security against the danger; and it is that
He, fronting the incidence of the Divine law, says, as He said to His would-be
captors in the garden, ‘If ye seek Me, let these go their way.’ And they go their way by the power of His atoning death.
Further, Jesus Christ imparts a life that cures the sickness
of sin.
What is the meaning of this Whitsuntide that all the Christian
world is professing to keep to-day? Is it to commemorate a thing that happened
nineteen centuries ago, when a handful of Jews for a few minutes had the power
of talking in other languages, and a miraculous light flamed over their heads
and then disappeared? Was that all? Have you and I any share in it? Yes. For if
Pentecost means anything it means this, that, all down through the ages, Jesus
Christ is imparting to men that cleave to Him the real gift of a new life, free
from all the sickness of the old, and healthy with the wholesomeness of His own
perfect sinlessness, so that, however inveterate and engrained a man’s habits
of wrong-doing may have been, if he will
turn to that Saviour, and let Him work upon him, he will be delivered from his
evil. The leprosy of his flesh, though the lumps of diseased matter may be
dropping from the bones, and the stench of corruption may drive away human love
and sympathy, can be cleansed, and his flesh become like the flesh of a little
child, if only he will trust in Jesus
Christ. The sickness can be cured.
Christ deals with men in the depth of their being. He will give you, if you
will, a new life and new tastes, directions, inclinations, impulses,
perceptions, hopes, and capacities, and the evil will pass away, and you will
be whole.
Ah, brethren, that is the only cure. I was talking a minute or
two ago about imperfect diagnoses; and there are superficial remedies too. Men
round us are trying, in various ways, to stanch the world’s wounds, to heal the
world’s sicknesses. God forbid that I should say a word to discourage any such!
I would rather wish them ten times more numerous than they are; but at the same
time I believe that, unless you deal with the fountain at its head, you will
never cleanse the stream, and that you must have the radical change, which
comes by the gift of a new life in Christ, before men can be delivered from the
sickness of their sins. And so all these panaceas, whilst they may do certain
surface good, are, if I may quote a well-known phrase, ‘like pills against an earthquake,’ or like giving a lotion to cure
pimples, when the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. You will never
cure the ills of humanity until you have delivered men from the dominion of
their sin.
Jesus Christ heals society by healing the individual. There is
no other way of doing it. If the units are corrupt the community cannot be
pure. And the only way to make the units pure is that they shall have Christ on
the Cross for their redemption, and Christ in the heart for their cleansing.
And then all the things that men try to produce in the shape of social good and
the like, apart from Him, will come as a consequence of the new state of things
that arises when the individuals are renewed. Apart from Him all human attempts
to deal with social evils are inadequate. There is a terrible disillusionising
and disappointment awaiting many eager enthusiasts to-day, who think that by
certain external arrangements, or by certain educational and cultivated
processes, they can mend the world’s miseries. You educate a nation. Well and
good, and one result of it is that your bookshops - [with Anti-millennial literature
will] - get choked with trash, and that vice has a new avenue of
approach to men’s hearts. You improve the economic condition of the people.
Well and good, and one result of it is
that a bigger percentage than ever of their funds finds its way into the
drink-shop. You give a nation political power. Well and good, and one
result of it is that the least worthy
and the least wise have to be flattered and coaxed, because they are the
rulers. Every good thing, divorced from Christ, becomes an ally of evil,
and the only way by which the dreams and desires of men can be fulfilled is by
the salvation which is in Him entering the individual hearts and thus moulding
society.
III. Now, lastly, the common means of
possessing the common healing.
My second text tells us what that is- ‘the common
faith.’ That is another of the words which is so
familiar that it is unintelligible, which has been dinned into your ears ever
since you were little children, and in
the case of many of you excites no definite idea, and is supposed to be an
obscure kind of thing that belongs to theologians and preachers, but has little
to do with your daily lives. There is only one way by which this healing and
safety that I have been speaking about can possibly find its way into a man’s
heart. You have all been trained from childhood to believe that men are saved
by faith, and a great many of you, I dare say, think that men might have been
saved by some other way, if God had chosen to appoint it so. But that is a
clear mistake. If it is true that salvation is a gift from God, then it is
quite plain that the only thing that we require is an outstretched hand. If it
is true that Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross has brought salvation to all the
world, then it is quite plain that, His work being finished, we have no need to
come in pottering with any works of ours, and that the only thing we have to do
is to accept it. If it is true that Jesus Christ will enter men’s hearts, and
there give a new spirit and a new life, which will save them from their sins
and make them free from the law of sin and death, then it is plain that the one
thing that we have to do is to open our hearts and say ‘Come in,
Thou King of Glory,
come in!’ Because salvation is a gift; because it is the result of a finished
work; because it is imparted to men by the impartation of Christ’s own life to
them: for all these reasons it is plain that the only way by which God can save
a man is by that man’s putting his trust in Jesus Christ. It is no arbitrary
appointment. The only possible way of possessing ‘the common salvation’ is by the exercise of ‘the common faith.’
So we are all put upon one level, no matter how different we
may be in attainments, in mental capacity - geniuses and blockheads, scholars
and ignoramuses, millionaires and paupers, students and savages, we are all on
the one level. There is no carriage road into heaven. We have all to go in at
the strait gate, and there is no special entry for people that come with their
own horses; and so some people do not like to have to descend to that level,
and to go with the ruck and the undistinguished
crowd, and to be saved just in the same fashion as Tom, Dick, and Harry, and
they turn away.
Plenty of people believe in a ‘common salvation,’ meaning thereby a vague,
indiscriminate gift that is flung broadcast over the mass. Plenty of people
believe in a ‘common faith.’ We hear, for instance, about a ‘national
Christianity,’ and a ‘national recognition of
religion,’ and ‘Christian nations,’ and
the like. There are no Christian nations except nations of which the
individuals are Christians, and there is no ‘common faith’ except the faith
exercised in common by all the units that make up a community.
So do not suppose that anything short of
your own personal act brings you into possession of ‘the common salvation.’ The
table is spread, but you must take the
bread into your own hands, and you
must masticate it with your own teeth, and
you must assimilate it in your own body, or it is no bread for you. The salvation is a ‘common,’ like one of the great prairies, but
each separate settler has to peg off his own claim, and fence it in, and take
possession of it, or he has no share in the broad land.* So remember that the ‘common
salvation’ must be
made the individual salvation by the individual exercise of ‘the common
faith.’ Cry, ‘Lord! I believe!’ and then you will have the right to say, ‘The Lord is
my strength; He also is become my salvation.’
* *
* * *
* *
946
KEEPING OURSELVES IN THE LOVE
OF GOD
By ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D. LITT. D.
“But ye,
beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in
the Holy Ghost,
21. Keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal [Gk. ‘aionian’ = unto or ‘for life age-lasting’] life.’ -
JUDE 20, 21.
JUDE has been, in all the former part of
the letter, pouring out a fiery torrent of vehement indignation and
denunciation against ‘certain men’ who had
‘crept’ into the Church, and were spreading gross immorality there. He does not
speak of them so much as heretics in belief, but rather as evil-doers in practice; and after the thunderings and
lightning, he turns from them with a kind of sigh of relief in this emphatic, ‘But, ye! beloved.’ The storm ends in gentle rain; and he
tells the brethren who are yet faithful
how they are to comport [i.e., ‘to behave’] themselves in the presence of - [rank and file apostasy within the Church and] -prevalent corruption, and where is their security and
their peace.
You will observe that in my text there is embedded, in the
middle of it, a direct precept: ‘Keep yourselves in the love of
God’; and that
that is encircled by three clauses, like each other in structure, and unlike it - ‘building,’ ‘praying,’ ‘looking.’ The great diamond is surrounded by a
ring of lesser jewels. Why did Jude put two of these similar clauses in front
of his direct precept, and one of them behind it? I think because the two that
precede indicate the ways by which the precept can be kept, and the one that
follows indicates the accompaniment or issue of obedience to the precept. If
that be the reason for the structure of my text, it suggests also to us the
course which we had best pursue in the exposition of it.
I. So we have, to begin with, the great
direct precept for the Christian life.
‘Keep yourselves in the love of God.’ Now I need not spend a moment in
showing that ‘the love of
God’ here
means, not ours to Him, but His to us.
It is that in which, as in some charmed circle, we are to keep ourselves. Now
that injunction at once raises the question of the possibility of [regenerate] Christian men - [by their un-Christ-like behaviour and
ultimate apostasy (see Num.
13:
31;
14: 20-23, R.V. cf. 1 Cor. 10: 6, 11ff.
R.V.)] - being out of the love of God, straying away from
their home, and getting out into the
open. Of course there is a sense in which His ‘tender
mercies are over all His works.’ Just as the sky embraces all the stars and the earth within
its blue round, so that love of God encompasses every creature; and no man can
stray so far away as that, in one profound sense, he gets beyond its pale. For
no man can ever make God cease to ‘love’ him. But whilst that is quite true,
on the other side it is equally true that
contrariety of will and
continuance in evil deeds do so alter a man’s relation to the love of God as that he is absolutely incapable of receiving its sweetest and most
select manifestations, and can only be hurt by the incidence of its
beams. The sun gives life to many creatures, but it slays some. There are
crawling things that live beneath a stone, and when you turn it up and lot the
arrows of the sunbeams smite down upon them, they squirm and die. It is
possible for a man so to set himself in antagonism to that great Light as that
the Light shall hurt and not bless and soothe.
It is also possible for
a Christian man to step out of the charmed circle, in the sense
that he becomes all unconscious of that Light. Then to him it
comes to the same thing that the love shall be non-existent, and that it shall
be unperceived. If I choose to make my abode on the northern side of the
mountain, my thermometer may be standing at ‘freezing,’
and I may be shivering in all my limbs on Midsummer Day at noontide. And so it is possible for us Christian people to
stray away out from that gracious abode, to pass from the illuminated disc into the black shadow; and though nothing is ‘hid from the heat thereof,’ yet we may derive no warmth and no enlightening from the all-pervading
beams. We have to ‘keep
ourselves in the love of God.’
Then that suggests the other more blessed possibility, that
amidst all the distractions of daily duties, and the solicitations of carking
cares, and the oppression of heavy sorrows, it is possible for us to keep
ourselves perpetually in the conscious enjoyment of the love of God. I need not
say how this ideal of the Christian life may be indefinitely approximated to in
our daily experiences; nor need I dwell upon the sad contrast between this
ideal unbrokenness of conscious sunning ourselves in the love of God, and the
reality of the lives that most of us live. But, brethren, if we more fully
believed that we can keep up, amidst all the dust and struggle of the arena,
the calm sweet sense of God’s love, our lives would be different. Nightingales
will sing in a dusty copse by the roadside, however loud the noise of traffic
may be upon the highway. And we may have, all through our lives, that song,
unbroken and melodious. That sub-consciousness underlying our daily work, ‘like some sweet beguiling melody, so sweet, we know not we
are listening to it,’ may be ever present with each of us in our daily
work, like some ‘hidden brook in the leafy month of
June,’ that murmurs beneath the foliage, and yet is audible through all
the wood.
And what a peaceful, restful life ours would be, if we could
thus be like John, leaning on the Master’s bosom. We might have a secret
fortress into the central chamber of which we could go, whither no sound of the
war in the plains could ever penetrate. We might, like some dwellers in a
mountainous island, take refuge in a central glen, buried deep amongst the
hills, where there would be no sound of tempest, though the winds were fighting
on the surface of the sea, and the spin-drift was flying before them. It is
possible to ‘keep ourselves in the love of God.’ And if we keep in that fortress we are safe. If we go beyond its walls we are sure to be picked off by the well-aimed shots of the enemy.
So, then, that [accountability truth] is the central commandment for the Christian life.
II. Now let me turn to consider the
methods by which we can thus keep ourselves in the love of God.
These are two: one mainly bearing on the outward, the other on
the inward, life. By ‘building up
yourselves on your most holy faith’: that is the one. By ‘praying in the Holy Ghost’: that is the other. Let us look at
these two.
‘Building up yourselves on your most
holy faith.’ I
suppose that ‘faith’ here is used in its ordinary sense. Some would rather
prefer to take it in the latter, ecclesiastical sense, by which it means, not
the act of belief, but the aggregate of the things believed. - ‘Our most holy
faith,’ as it is
called by quotation - I think misquotation - of this passage. But I do not see
that there is any necessity for that meaning. The words are perfectly
intelligible in their ordinary meaning. What Jude says is just this: ‘Your trust in Jesus Christ has in it a tendency to produce
holiness, and that is the foundation on which you are to build a great
character. Build up yourselves on your most
holy faith.’ For although it is not what the world’s ethics
recognise, the Christian theory of morality is this, that it all rests upon
trust in God manifested to us in Jesus Christ. Faith is the foundation of all
supreme excellence and nobility and beauty of character; because, for one
thing, it dethrones self, and enthrones God in our hearts; making Him our aim
and our law and our supreme good; and because, for another thing, our trust
brings us into direct union with Him, so that we receive from Him the power
thus to build up a character.
Faith is the foundation. Ay! but faith is only the foundation. It is ‘the potentiality of wealth,’ but it is not the
reality. ‘All things are possible to him that believeth’; but all things are not actual except on conditions. A man may have faith, as a great
many professing Christians have it, only as a ‘fire-escape,’ a means of getting
away from hell, or have it only as a hand that is stretched out to grasp
certain initial blessings of the spiritual life. But that is not its
full glory nor its real aspect. It is meant to be the beginning in
us of ‘all things that are lovely and of good report.’ What would you think of a man that
carefully put in the foundations for a house, and had all his building
materials on the ground, and let them lie there? And that is what a great many
of you Christian people do, who ‘have fled for refuge,’ as you say, ‘to the hope set before you in the Gospel’; and who have never wrought out your
faith into noble deeds. Remember what the Apostle says, ‘Faith which
worketh’; and
worketh ‘by love.’ It is the foundation, but only the foundation.
The work of building a noble character on that firm foundation
is never-ending. ’Tis a life-long task ‘till the lump be leavened’ [with goodness].The metaphor of growth by building suggests
effort, and it suggests continuity; and it suggests slow, gradual rearing up,
course upon course, stone by stone. Some of us have done nothing at it for a
great many years. You will pass, sometimes, in our suburbs, a row of houses
begun by some builder that has become bankrupt; and there are mouldering bricks
and gaping empty places for the windows, and the rafters decaying, and stagnant
water down in the holes that were meant for the cellars. That is like the kind
of thing that hosts of people who call themselves Christians have built. ‘But ye,
beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith. ... Keep
yourselves in the love.’
Then the other way of building is suggested in the next
clause, ‘praying
in the Holy Ghost’ - that
is to say, prayer which is not mere utterance of my own petulant desires which
a great deal of our ‘prayer’ is, but which is breathed into us by that Divine Spirit that
will brood over our chaos, and bring order out of confusion, and light and
beauty out of darkness, and weltering sea:-
‘The prayers
I make will then be sweet indeed,
If Thou the Spirit give by
which I pray.’
As Michael Angelo
says, such prayer inspired and warmed by the influences of that Divine Spirit
playing upon the dull flame of our desires, like air injected into a grate
where the fire is half out, such prayers are our best help in building. For who
is there that has honestly tried to build himself up ‘for a
habitation of God’ but has felt that it must be ‘through a Spirit’ mightier than himself, who will overcome his weaknesses and arm him against temptation? No man who
honestly endeavours to re-form his character but is brought very soon to feel
that he needs a higher help than his own. And perhaps some of us know how, when
sore pressed by temptation, one petition for help brings a sudden gush of
strength into us, and we feel that the enemy’s assault is weakened.
Brethren, the best attitude for building is on our knees; and
if, like Cromwell’s men in the fight, we go into the battle singing,
‘Let God
arise, and scattered
Let all His enemies be,’
we shall come out victorious. ‘Ye, beloved, building and praying, keep yourselves.’
III. Now, lastly, we have here in the
final clause the fair prospect visible from our home, in the love of God.
‘Looking for the mercy of the Lord
Jesus Christ unto eternal life.’
After all building and praying, we need, ‘the mercy.’ Jude has been speaking in his letter
about the destruction of evil-doers, when Christ the Judge shall come. And I suppose
that that thought of final judgment is still in his mind, colouring the
language of my text, and that it explains why he speaks here of ‘the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ’ instead of, as is usual in Scripture, ‘the mercy of God.’ He is thinking of that last Day of
Judgment and retribution, wherein Jesus Christ is to be the Judge of all men,
saints as well as sinners, and therefore he speaks of mercy as bestowed by Him
then on those who have ‘kept themselves in the love of God.’ Ah! we shall need it. The better we are the more we
know how much wood, hay, stubble, we have built into our buildings; and the
more we are conscious of that love of God as round us, the more we shall feel
the unworthiness and imperfection of our response to it. The best of us, when
we lie down to die, and the wisest of us, as we struggle on in life, realise
most how all our good is stained and imperfect, and that after all efforts we
have to cry ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’
Not only so, but our outlook and confident expectation of that
mercy day by day, and in its perfect form at least, depends upon our keeping
ourselves ‘in the love of God.’ We have to go high up the hill before we can see far
over the plain. Our home in that love commands a fair prospect. When we strayfrom it, we lose sight of the blue distance. Our hope
of ‘the mercy of God unto eternal life’ varies with our present consciousness
and experience of His love.
That mercy leads on to eternal life. We get many of its
manifestations and gifts here, but these are but the pale blossoms of a plant
not in its native habitat, nor sunned by the sunshine which can draw forth all
its fragrance and colour.
We have to look forward for the adequate expression of the mercy
of God to all that fulness of perfect blessedness for all our faculties, which
is summed up in the one great word - ‘life everlasting.’
So our hope ought to be as continuous as the manifestation of
the mercy, and, like it, should last until the eternal life has come. All our
gifts here are fragmentary and imperfect. Here we drink of brooks by the way.
There we shall slake our thirst at the fountainhead. Here we are given ready
money for the day’s expenses. There we shall be free of the treasure-house,
where the uncoined and uncounted masses of bullion, which God has laid up in
store for them that fear Him. So, brethren, let us hope perfectly for the
perfect manifestation of the mercy. Let us set ourselves to build
up, however slowly, the fair fabric of a life and character which shall stand
when the tempest levels all houses built upon the sand. Let us open our spirits
to the entrance of that Spirit who helps the infirmities of our desires as well
as of our efforts.
Thus let us keep ourselves in the charmed
circle of the love of God, that we may be safe as a garrison in its fortress,
blessed as a babe on its mother’s breast.
Jude’s words are but the echo of the tenderer words of his
Master and ours, when He said, ‘As My Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments
ye shall abide
in MY love.’
* *
* * *
* *
947
FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST
By G. H. LANG.
It is
but of the nature of things that a follower must tread the same
path as the guide if he would reach the same goal, that a soldier must brave
his captain’s conflicts if he would share his triumph, that a maiden must
suffer with a rejected lover-prince if she would share his home and throne.
The ground of the glorifying of the Son of man is His fidelity
to His God while in the path of trial and the conflicts of the kingdom on
earth: Isa. 53: 12,
“Therefore will I
divide him a portion with the great ... because he poured out his soul unto death”: Phil. 2: 9, “wherefore also God
highly exalted him” because “he humbled himself, becoming
obedient unto death”: Heb. 2: 9, “we behold Jesus because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour Rev. 5: 9, “Worthy art thou
... for thou wast slain.”
To such words every believing heart says adoringly, Amen! But
why does not every believer give an equally ready Amen! to such parallel words
as these: Matt. 16:
25, “Whosoever would save his life (for himself) shall lose it:
and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall
find it”: Luke 14: 11, “everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted:” Rom. 8: 17, “joint-heirs with
Messiah if
so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified with him”: 2 Tim. 2: 11, “If we died with him we
shall also live with him; if we endure we shall also
reign with him; if we deny him he also will deny us”? This last is as distinctly called a “faithful
saying” as is 1 Tim. 1:
15, “Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners,” and it will prove to be so whether the christian faces it or
shrinks from it.
The love of God imposes no arbitrary conditions, but such only
as arise from the nature the case and are always for our good and possible of
fulfilment. Therefore they cannot be waived. And if Jesus on the cross masters
the affections, and if Christ on the throne enthrals our gaze, and if His coming
kingdom fills the future, then the heart will find joy in sharing His afflictions
and will be fortified to endure unto the end.
Thus, but not otherwise, shall be fulfilled, to His joy and to
ours, the promise, “He that conquereth, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne,
as I also conquered, and sat down with my Father in His
throne” (Rev. 3: 21); thus, but not otherwise, shall
His wife make herself ready for the marriage with the Lamb (Rev. 19: 7, 8);
thus - and do thou, my soul, take it personally to thy heart - thus, but not otherwise,
shalt thou reach this supreme felicity that:
“He and I in
that bright glory
One great joy shall share,
Mine to be for ever with
Him,
His that I am there.”
“Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the
sheep in the (power of the) blood of the eternal
covenant, even our Lord Jesus Christ, make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight
through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for
ever and ever. Amen. But I beseech you, brethren,
bear with the word of exhortation, for it is but in few words that I have written unto you”
(Heb. 13:
20-22).
HIS CUP
“Are ye able to drink the cup that I
drink?” (Mark 10: 38).
“I fill up on my part that which is lacking
of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh” (Col.
1: 24).
Who once has drunk of Jesus’ cup
Of toil and tears and pain,
Desires that it he filled quite up
To drink and drink again:
And much which seemed so sweet of yore
For him doth quickly cloy;
Christ’s fellowship of grief is more
Than any earthly joy.
For oh, the Son of Man is fair!
And he who shares His love
Rejoices in Him everywhere,
All other joys above:
And finds with Him, e’en though they climb
A long and rugged road,
His cup o’er flowing all the time
And light life’s heaviest load.
’Tis sweet to drink the bitterest
brine
That comes from Jesus’ cup;
The common water turns to wine
When Jesus there doth sup;
From every Marah’s
brackish spring
Fresh limpid streams arise;
From the fierce lion’s corpse we bring
Life’s strengthening sweet supplies.
’Tis sweet to know the Shepherd’s
strife
On
Secures to me eternal life,
Green pastures, waters still;
’Tis yet more sweet to share His toil
To find His other sheep,
To bring them home at last,
His spoil And share His joy so deep.
G.H.L.
(
* *
* * *
* *
948
BALAAM’S ERROR AND
APOSTASY
By SAMUEL COX D.D. [PART FIVE]
It might
well seem as if it were impossible to carry our argument further -, but there is still another stage to which
we must pursue it, and that perhaps the most satisfactory and conclusive of
all. For all the men who have hitherto been cited - Jacob, Saul, Solomon, Jonah - belong to a dubious class; there is not one of them whose
character and fate have not been long and often disputed. I myself have heard
it gravely discussed from the pulpit whether it were possible to entertain any
hope of Solomon’s ultimate salvation and few of the “evangelical”
clergy would hesitate, I suppose, to pronounce a damnatory verdict on Saul,
although he was a king: Jacob is condemned every day by every bluff John Bull
who prides himself, not always with sufficient reason, on his honesty and
straightforwardness; and Jonah, who
was perhaps as irritable as poets are said to be, is set down as but a sorry
and peevish specimen of the prophetic race, to whom judgment may have long
since been meted out in the very measure in which he himself meted it to
others. I do not hold with these verdicts. Those who do hold with them seem to
me to be singularly destitute of the historical spirit, and still more
strangely forgetful of what they themselves are like. But they are common
verdicts. And to me it appears that our argument would gain much in force if,
instead of disputing these verdicts, we were to consider the examples of men
who are universally recognized as good and great, but who, nevertheless, had to
endure that very conflict between the good and evil qualities of their nature
which we have marked in Balaam. They
may have conquered, and he may have been defeated in the strife; but, none the
less, if that strife was obviously waged in their hearts, waged so strenuously
and bitterly and long that even to them the issue of the conflict must often
have seemed uncertain, we cannot be amazed that this heathen diviner should
have been torn by it, or even that he should have succumbed to the powers of
evil he cannot any longer seem to us either an impossible monster or an
insoluble enigma.
And it is only too easy to adduce such examples. I suspect,
indeed I am sure, that, if only we could read their inner history, we should
find that all the best men who have ever breathed, save only He who was more
than man, were agitated and often all but overthrown, in this inward war. Few
men are more generally recognized as heroically good and great, and none, I
suppose, has been favoured with a greater abundance of the visions and
revelations which have altered the face and the heart of the world, than St Peter and
Take, first, the case of St
Peter. Was not he a man of two minds, and therefore unstable in his ways -
unfaithful to the Word with which he was charged, and to the [Holy] Spirit that inspired and sanctified
him The story of that fall, in which one of the boldest of men played the
coward, one of the truest turned false, one of the best plunged into an almost
incredible sin, is too well known to need comment. And yet who would not
hesitate to say that Balaam sinned more heinously when, against the clear
dictate of conscience, and the direct command of God, he tempted Israel into
the licentious idolatries of Midian, than did the Apostle who, in the hour of his Master’s utmost need, denied all knowledge of Him,
all concern in Him, with oaths and curses.
“Yes,” it may be said, “but Peter bitterly repented and nobly retrieved that sin.
When once it was forgiven him, he became a new man, unfaltering in his loyalty
to Christ, steadfast as the Rock after which he was named. You never catch him
tripping again, never find him untrue to the Spirit of Christ when once that
Spirit had descended upon him at Pentecost.” That, I know, is the common
impression of him, and is often heard from men who profess to be students of
the New Testament, - to the mere amazement of all who really study it. For not
only has this conception of St Peter no warrant in the New Testament
Scriptures; it is absolutely contradicted by them. Many years after Pentecost,
St Peter sinned against the Holy Ghost as heinously as he had before sinned
against the Son of Man. By an express and immediate vision from Heaven, he had
been taught to call no man, whether Gentile or Jew, common and unclean.
Obedient to the heavenly vision, he had preached the Gospel to Cornelius the
centurion, and the Christian Jews at
* Gal. 2:
11-14.
Could we have any clearer proof than this that St Peter was still a man of two minds,
still capable of betraying the cause of his Master and of sinning against the
Spirit of all truth and holiness? that
the brave man might still play the coward, and fear men more than God?
There may be no truth in the legend which relates how, to escape the
persecution of Nero, St. Peter fled from Rome, but had hardly got beyond the
Gate when he met the Lord carrying his cross, and asked Him, Lord, whither
goest Thou? “and that Jesus replied, I go to
Take, secondly, the case of
By another autobiographical confession of about the same date,
though it refers to an earlier period in his history,
* 2 Cor. 12:
1-10. * See especially Num. 24: 15-24. *** See comments on Num.
3, 4, and
15, 16.
On the whole, then, I think we may claim to have classified our Prophet - to have
brought him within the recognized limits of humanity. We have found similar
combinations of contradictory qualities in seers of whom we have a right to
expect more than from him - in Jacob,
in Saul, in Solomon, in Jonah - but
who succumbed to the selfsame temptations before which he fell; while even in St. Peter and St. Paul we have seen the very conflict between good and evil in
which he was engaged, although, by the grace of God, they overcame in that inward strife in which he was overthrown. And hence we cannot admit that he
lies beyond either the limits of our humanity or the pale of our sympathies. He
was a man of like passions with us, spirit of our spirit as well as flesh of
our flesh, though he was at once greater and baser, better and worse, than most
of us. We recognize our own image and likeness in him, though in him its lines
are both larger and darker than they are in us; and we can hail him as a
comrade in the war in which we too are enlisted, although we have to sigh over
him as he lies defeated and in some measure disgraced, upon the field which we
still occupy. He is not altogether unworthy a place in our ranks, or even of
the great Captain of our warfare. He did valiant service once, and stood with
splendid fidelity in a post of honour and of danger which many of us might have
deserted. And if at last he proved a recreant [i.e., ‘cowardly:
false: apostate: a renegade’] and a traitor, we must not forget either the noble service he once
rendered, or that he was not drilled and led and sustained as we are now. If we
should prove faithful to the last, it will not be because we are better and
braver than he, but because we come of a purer strain, or have enjoyed a more
auspicious training, or have received a
more sufficient grace. And hence we may look back on him with pity, not
unmixed with admiration, if it be also touched with shame and regret.
Lest however, in thus classifying Balaam I should suggest to
some of my readers a far larger and more difficult problem than that of his
personal character, it may be well to add a few words - and they shall be very
few - on a question which is sure to present itself, sooner or later, to every
thoughtful mind. The question, which looks very difficult and perplexing at
first, is this: How comes it to pass that God should have selected for special
gifts and special service men who were capable and guilty of such heinous
faults and crimes as Jacob, Saul, David, Solomon, Jonah, and even Peter
himself? Difficult as the question seems, the answer to it is very simple, very
obvious, and springs straight from facts with which we are all familiar. For,
obviously, no man has ever told widely and deeply on the world in whose nature
there was not a certain largeness, force, volume. Men conspicuous
for energy, capacity, power, are the only instruments by which God can move and
raise the great mass of their fellows. But is it not
human to err? Are not even the best men still human? And if great men err, will
they not err greatly, and shew the same force of character when they do evil
that they bring to the doing of that which is good? If, then, God elects for the service of the world the only men
who are able to serve it, must He not
inevitably choose men who, when they sin, will sin heinously and conspicuously,
and who can be chastened from their sin only by the heavier strokes of his rod.
only by the sharper and more steadfast discipline of his providence?
It only remains that we gather up and lay to heart the lesson
of this great yet wasted life, - a life not wholly wasted, however, if it serve
to teach us and our fellows lessons of wisdom and humility, and help to make us
more faithful in few things than Balaam was in many. For though we see no vision and utter no oracle, we
lie open to his temptations, and may fall into his sins. We may combine his
love of righteousness with his hankering after the wages of unrighteousness, or
his admiration of holiness with his unclean addiction to sins of the flesh. We must be in danger of falling into these
sins, despite our piety, or we should not be so often and gravely warned
against them.
Many lessons are suggested by this narrative, and at some of
them we have already glanced; but none springs from it so directly as this
warning against that combination of covetousness
or sensuality with religion of which even the Church has yielded so many
examples. This was the warning which Bishop
Butler drew from the story of Balaam, and which was in his mind when, in
his measured and weighty phraseology, he affirmed that it is impossible to
justify men’s “so strong attachment to this present
world. Our hopes and fears and pursuits are in degrees beyond all proportion to
the known value of the things they respect.” And,
as he reminds us, there are many to whom this
excessive addiction to the gains and gratifications of the present time would
be impossible did they not beguile their conscience with religious
equivocations, subterfuges, palliations, and partial regards to duty, like
those of Balaam. Like him, they are apt to protest too much, and to
do too little; to boast of the fidelity with which they meet some part of the
demands which God makes upon them - their scrupulous observance of the Sabbath
to wit or their devotion to the worship and sacraments of the Church, their
diligence in reading the Bible, the orthodoxy of their belief, or even their breadth
of thought, their wide toleration, their superiority to creeds and forms; while yet they neglect the weightier matters of the law, and do not
make it their chief and ruling aim to do justice, to shew mercy, and to walk
in a constant dependence and fellowship with God.
They will not openly rebel against Him. Oh, no! But “they are for making a composition with the Almighty.”
These commands which jump with their inclinations, or which do not too severely
cross their inclinations, they will sedulously observe. “But as to others; why, they will make all the atonements in
their power; the ambitious, the covetous, the dissolute man, each in a way
which shall not contradict his respective pursuit;” but they will not
wholly renounce the special sin they have a mind to, or, at best, they will not
give it up at once, but wait for a more convenient season.
Yet herein, he continues, they stand self-condemned, like
Peter at
This is, substantially, the lesson which one of the sagest of
Englishmen, who had carefully studied the character of Balaam, drew from the
story before us. Nor do I see how we are to improve upon it. It is the true
moral of our narrative, and only needs such modification as we may each make
for himself, to come home to every man’s experience and conscience and heart.
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949
A BLOCK TO PROGRESS
We
append, in two living documents, soul-revelations of the effects of Destructive
Criticism on Christian propaganda. The first is a letter written to the Christian World (July 8th, 1926) by a young man who, brought up in evangelical
truth, claims to voice, and probably truly, a vast section of contemporary
youth. Can any Modernist read it without profound misgivings when he realizes
that not what ought (as he thinks) to be the effect of Criticism, but what
is the effect, is the slow sapping of conviction which precedes total collapse
of Faith? Can it be seriously supposed that the drying up of the fountains of
the Faith - namely, the sharp decrease in candidates for the ministry and the
mission field - is really the work of the Spirit of God, unfolding fresh
revelations of Divine truth? Here is the Letter.
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* * *
* *
1. I was taught to believe that the
Bible was inspired in an absolute and unique sense, that it was dependable as
the Word of God, and that it was the ultimate authority in matters of religion.
What am I to do to-day when every teacher of note says that this absolute
character is absent from certain parts of it? If from certain parts, why not
from those parts which teach of doctrine? What has become of Inspiration? And
when I want to argue about Christianity and religion, why must I be forced to
accept texts from the Bible? And what of other Bibles?
I suggest that here the old evidence has broken down and that
we must go to something farther back and more fundamental than the Bible - the
Spirit of God known to men in all ages and all lands. This process will unite
all peoples instead of dividing them into “religions”
as at present.
2. I was taught that God became
incarnate in Jesus in a unique and absolute sense; in fact, that Jesus was God.
To prove this, certain evidence was adduced - the prophecies of the Old
Testament, the genealogies in the New Testament, the Virgin Birth, the Miracles
of Jesus, the Resurrection, the Ascension, etc. Again I turn to our own
teachers and find that the prophecies do not refer to Jesus, but to people in
the prophet’s own day; that the Virgin Birth is not insisted upon - that the
genealogies contain serious discrepancies; that the Resurrection was probably a
spiritual one common to all members of the human race; that most of the
miracles can be psychologically explained.
I see then the man Jesus, around whom has gathered a large
number of theories - to His great credit, but nevertheless, theories very
weakly attested. This one who can help me, man as I am.
3. I was taught that man had fallen,
not as an individual through sin, but as a race that he could not save himself
or write his own Scriptures that he could not come to God except through Jesus.
I have found that this theory of a Fall of Man is very old- and unscientific.
Many good teachers have had to re-state it as an “ascent”
or “a fall upwards.” Please let it be clearly
understood that I believe that sin is a real, personal thing; I am only here protesting
against a theory, again weakly supported.
4. Lastly, I was taught that by the
Plan of Salvation God’s love was made manifest. (From what I said above it will
be clear that I do not believe in the necessity for any such plan, as man has
direct access to the Father as the Prodigal Son had, who came confessing.) I
accepted the sacrifice of Jesus and was thankful - until I thought of the lost,
many of them, the best people I had known (such a plan of salvation, calmly
considered, does not show a God of love). To-day I would not have anyone die
for my sins, I will take them to my Father. There is much more that might be
said, but I should like to point out that many young people I know have learned
of the weakness of the evidence, and, lacking guidance or being called “swelled-headed,” etc., etc., have left the churches.
When will our professors and ministers, realising the position
under newer light, give up publicly Pauline theology and start again ? We have
had to act similarly in other walks of life, but our teachers seem to point out
the weakness of the evidence‑and somehow return to the same orthodox
position.*
* With such
views spreading among the young, who can wonder at a withering ministry? There
are 16,500 Church clergy to-day where in the opening century there were 21,000.
The United Methodist Conference reports that while 25 candidates are required
annually to maintain the ministry, only 13 are now forthcoming; the Wesleyan
Conference 17, where 35 are needed; and the Presbyterian Church 15 instead of
40 - Ed.
II. IN THE FIELD
Our second document out of life emanates from as lynx-eyed an
enemy of the Faith as the world has ever held - Islam. Mr. Karnal-Ud-Din,
Imam of the Mohammedan Mosque at Woking, a prolific author, and Islam’s
foremost protagonist in
* *
* * *
* *
I was invited to participate in a great
religious conference held at
It has become, though indirectly,
nevertheless, to all intents and purposes, officially established at Canterbury
that the Bible is not free from human adulteration; which was just what the
Holy Qur-an had said some thirteen hundred years ago:
“Do you [the Prophet] then
hope that they would believe in you, and a party from among them indeed used to
hear the word of Allah, then altered it after they had understood it, and they
know [this]? Woe, then, to those who write the
book with their hands and then say, This is from Allah.”
Bishop Barnes, in one of his public utterances, remarked that
if we allowed some of the legends of the Book of Genesis
to remain in the curriculum of studies, the coming generation would think that
our standard of truth was very low. The remark needs no comment. It shows that
the learned Bishop does not believe in the truth of those legends. He regards
them as folk-lore, replete with half-savage morality. He may brush them aside
as unimportant, and yet he cannot do so without damaging seriously the very
structure of his own Church. If the story of the fall of Adam is not correct,
and the theory of sin in nature is therefore untenable, as many of the Church
dignitaries now think, the principle
of Atonement will, ipso facto, fall to the ground.
Speaking on the vexed question of divorce, a Bishop was
reported to have said a few months ago that if Jesus “had
lived in our time he would have been wiser.” I fail to understand how a
servant and a teacher of the
The
There is a growing demand, he said, that liberal theologians
should say, in quite definite words, what they really mean when they use the
traditional language about the Divinity of Christ. The following are some of
the things that we do not, and cannot, mean by ascribing Divinity to Christ*:-
* The Imam is quoting the Dean in what follows - Ed.
(1) Jesus did not claim Divinity for himself. He may have
allowed himself to be called Messiah, but never, in any critically
well-attested sayings, is there anything which suggests that his conscious
relation to God is other than that of a man towards God. The speeches of the
fourth Gospel, where they go beyond the synoptic conception, cannot be regarded
as history.
(2) It follows from his admission that Jesus was in the
fullest sense a man, and that he had not merely a human body, but a human soul,
intellect and will.
(3) It is equally unorthodox to suppose that the human soul of
Jesus pre-existed. There is simply no basis for such a doctrine unless we say
that all human souls exist before their birth in the world, but that is not the
usually accepted catholic position.
(4) The Divinity of Christ does not of necessity imply virgin
birth or any other miracle. The virgin birth, if it could be historically
proved, would be no demonstration of Christ’s Divinity, nor would the disproof
of it throw any doubt on that doctrine.
(5) The Divinity of Christ does not imply omniscience. There
is no more reason for supposing that Jesus of Nazareth knew more than his
contemporaries about the true scientific explanation of the mental diseases
which current belief attributed to diabolic possession, than that he knew more
about the authorship of the Pentateuch or the Psalms. It is difficult to deny
that he entertained some anticipations about the future which history has not
verified.
The Dean has, in my opinion, lowered the position of Jesus
even from the status of a Prophet, leaving aside the question of Godhood. In a
subsequent explanation the learned Dean asserted that the Divinity of Jesus lay
only in the production of Divine morals, as Jesus did in his days. It is not
only the best and the most rational view of the case, but it is a Muslim
verity. “Imbue yourself with Divine attributes,”
and a Muslim cannot possibly take exception to the position adopted by the late
Dr. Rashdall.
The effect of these honest and able deliberations on the mind
of Christian people in general, and on the English in particular, can better be
imagined than described. The churches became empty, and the clergy had to
address vacant pews and unoccupied benches. In this connection the Bishop of
London recently remarked that there are forty-nine City churches, and
forty-nine men have to go there each Sunday to find congregations of four in
some, and not more than twelve in any. These deliberations not only represent
the views of the few, but they seem to be held by most of the thinking minds of
the Church. This I observed with great surprise and interest, and I speak the
simple truth when I assert that these Modernists only represent Islam.
Another happy development [the Imam adds in the preface to his
second edition] of the Modernist Thought since the publication of my book
appears in the pronouncement of disbelief in the theory of sin innate in human
nature made at a Conference, August, 1925. In this Modernists again confirm
Islam, which taught centuries ago that every man is given at his birth a
perfect nature.
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950
PRAYER
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
ONE of the
most wonderful of all lessons on prayer - and one unutterably important to us -
is our Lord’s Parable of the Importunate Widow. It is of vital importance to
note what He has just said. He has just (Luke 16:
22-37)
shown the Son of Man rejected; the Christ has gone into Heaven; the masses are
plunged in gross sin; men of God have become rare, as in the days of Noah and
Sodom; and suddenly amidst it all - a cry, a flash, and the watchful and
prayerful are gone. It is on this Second Advent background, full of lurid gloom
and storm, with a rending Advent like sudden lightning, that our Lord lifts the
form of a lonely widow, besieging the throne of God in great distress.
Now there is one first great outstanding fact, and one of the
most stimulating of all facts concerning prayer. Prayer gets things that cannot
be got without prayer: God
gives in answer to importunity what He does not grant without it. It is
to this point that our Lord draws special attention. “Because this woman troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest she
wear me out by her continual coming. And the
Lord said” - there is peculiar emphasis laid on Christ drawing the lesson “Hear”
- ponder, take in, realise - “what the unrighteous judge saith.”
“Because this woman troubleth me,” with her “forever
coming,” gives me
no rest; exactly as Jehovah said
through Isaiah (62: 7), “Ye that are the
Lord’s remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give Him no
rest.” For who is
the successful widow? “Shall not God avenge His elect, which cry unto Him day and night?” Those of His elect which cry: if a
soul cries at night, it is certain he is no hypocrite when he prays by day. “To faint” here means “to
relax, let go”; importunity is that which never lets go. What else but
no answer could a poverty-stricken widow expect from an unjust judge? Yet, by
her importunity, she, gets it; her importunity won the impossible. “Do not expect a thousand-dollar answer from a ten-cent
prayer.” The widow won her request not by prayer, but by importunate
prayer: she won it solely on her importunity; the judge granted her deliverance
on no other conditions: in the courthouse, on the street, at his doorstep, she
beset and besieged him. So this is the first great fact. Our Lord definitely
says that God will give things in answer to “day and night” prayer which He, will grant in no
other way. Plus importunity, plus answer: minus importunity, minus answer.
Now our Lord draws a tremendous comparison. “And shall not
God avenge His elect?” The judge is unrighteous - “God is not unrighteous to forget”; the judge grows weary - “the Lord
fainteth not, neither is weary” (Isa. 11: 28); the widow is nothing to the judge -
these are God’s elect, the choice of His own love; the widow’s distress was no
distress to the judge - but in all our afflictions He is afflicted: so then -
shall not God answer as fully and freely as an unjust judge? “I say unto
you, that He will avenge them speedily.” “To avenge
here is to deliver by a judicial sentence this term does not necessarily include
the notion of vengeance, but that of justice to be rendered to the oppressed”
(Godet). Sudden and overwhelming,
the deliverance will be sharp and decisive; though it is a deliverance which
sadly and necessarily involves the terror and destruction of the ungodly. So
here is the great second fact. Unanswered prayers are accumulating in massed treasure above: it is only mercy to the wicked, and the blessed testing of God’s
people - “He is long-suffering over them” - over both - that holds back the
accumulating floods of answer: as God is higher than an unjust judge, to that
enormous degree He is the more certain to do that which even an unjust judge certainly does. God delays
so long, only to make haste at last, and to answer overwhelmingly.
Now look at the exceedingly remarkable, and even startling,
comment of our Lord. “Howbeit” - in spite of this dead certainty of
God’s response to importunity - “when the Son of Man
cometh, shall He
find faith”
- the faith that thus prays through -
“on
the earth?” Here
is the third and most arresting fact of all. Christ expects few such praying souls at the end: in the very moment that He flings open the gates of blessing to
intense watchfulness and prayer, He doubts whether any but an exceeding few
will do it. “He spake
the parable unto them” - the disciples - “to the end that they ought always to pray, and not to faint”: but the vision of
For now we reach our triumphant conclusion. “Shall not God
avenge saints which cry unto Him day and night? He
will avenge them speedily.” Persistent prayer will carry us triumphantly through. Only intense concentration
will preserve faith at the last; but the solitary weapon of importunate prayer
will do it. A lonely widow, helpless and powerless; fierce oppression from the
Adversary; a great inheritance at stake
- a world that is ours, but held by the
Usurper; a heaven that has delayed its answers for countless years:- one
weapon carried her triumphantly through; and with the same weapon we can be as sure of victory as she. No position is so desperate that prayer cannot conquer; no arm is so
weak but that, with this one weapon, it can move God; no sin, no circumstance,
no adversary is unconquerable: but the one condition is that the one weapon is
wielded, that it is importunate prayer, and that it is wielded incessantly. God does not
hear us for our much speaking, but He will hear us for our constant coming, the
answer only accumulates. So then, whatever grace we lack now, or whatever glory we desire hereafter,
Pray for; keep praying for it; never leave off praying until you get it and so pray
through till prayer is lost in praise.
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*
[1]
PRAYER SHIELD
2
Corinthians 1: 11,
N.L.T.
And you are helping us by
praying for us. Then many people will give thanks
because God has graciously answered
so many prayers for our safety.
Ecclesiastes 4: 12.
A person standing alone can
be attacked and defeated,
but two can stand back-to-back
and conquer. Three are
even better, for a triple-braided cord is not
easily broken.
Heavenly Father we come before you on behalf of
Lord we acknowledge that you are our fortress, protector, you
are with us. You are the Lord of heaven’s armies and our Saviour.
Heavenly Father we come before you and we seek forgiveness for
our sins and rejection of you. We are rebellious nations that has turned our
back on you; we have embraced sinful ways, altered our laws and regulations in
contravention to your ways; we have murdered your children, embraced idolatry,
sexual perversion, sex abuse of innocent children: we have hated each other, we
carry bitterness in our hearts, and have shed innocent blood. Forgive us Lord
Jesus for our sins, the sins of our fathers and forefathers. We forgive those
who have wronged and sinned against us and our nations.
We are facing viruses, disease, sickness, death, economic
damage, poverty and uncertainty. Nations are in turmoil and people are filled
with fear, many are sick and dying. Heavenly Father we seek your face, we come
before you in humility as your people on behalf of the nations of the
We praise your Great Name for you are a faithful, merciful,
loving and gracious Heavenly Father. We will not be afraid or discouraged by
these things, but we put our trust in you to save and protect us. We give you
thanks for your faithful love endures forever. We will be still; not striving
and acknowledge you are God of our nations. Lord, since the world began, no ear
has heard, no one has seen a God like you, who works on behalf of the people who wait for you. Heavenly Father we
ask that you hear from heaven, forgive our sins, heal our lands, unite us
again, protect us, save us, restore your Church and pour out your Holy Spirit in revival across these nations.
Genesis 1: 1, Psalm 75: 7, 2 Chronicles 20: 6-22, Psalm 46: 6-11,
Isaiah 64: 4, 2 Chronicles 7: 14, 1 Timothy 2: 2-4.
[2]
Family
PRAYER SHIELD
2
Corinthians 2: 11 N.L.T.
And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people
will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our
safety.
Heavenly Father I come on behalf of my family and (name other
family or persons) acknowledging that you are the Lord our God, you made us,
and we are your sons and daughters. I come into your holy presence in humility
with thanksgiving and praise for your Holy name. Lord I acknowledge your
goodness, grace and mercy, for your faithful love never fails us, you are The
King of kings and Lord of lords. Thank you that You always keep Your Promises.
Thank you for the gift of family, friends, marriage,
fellowship, forgiveness, protection, peace of mind and heart, joy, healing,
health, provision and shelter.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, that we do not fight our battles
by force, might or power but through Your Holy Spirit. Thank you that You are
our helper. Thank you that no weapon formed against us will succeed. Thank you
that our bodies are the
Thank you for the blood of Jesus which sets us apart, makes us
holy and for the gift of forgiveness. Thank you that we overcome Satan by the
Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Father I confess my own sins
and those of our families. Forgive our sins, keep cleansing us, showing us if
there are sins, we need to confess and turn away from. Help us to live in
freedom from sinful behaviour or lifestyles and only live a life that pleases
you. I forgive those who have sinned against us. Lord may everything we say,
meditate upon and think, be pleasing and acceptable to you. Thank you that you
delight in every detail of our lives. Guard our thoughts, hearts, steps and
desires.
Help us to be strong in your mighty power, I put on your
armour for each of us, so that we may remain standing strong against the
enemy’s tricks and strategies. I resist Satan and put on the sturdy Belt of
Truth, the Shoes of Peace, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Helmet of
Salvation and I take up the Sword of the Spirit and Shield of Faith. I Plead
your precious blood over each of us and our homes. I pray your blessings over
our enemies and those persecuting us. Raise up a standard against our enemies
and protect us.
Thank you that your angels take charge of us, protecting,
guarding, rescuing us, encouraging and guiding us. Lord send your angels to
protect, guard, rescue, minister and encourage us.
Lord Jesus, pray for us in the power of your Holy Spirit, for
You know exactly how to pray.
I resist Satan and take authority over Satan’s plans; attacks
and I bind his works in The Name of Jesus. Expose his schemes, confuse,
silence, disrupt and blind our enemies, making us invisible to any scheme or
plan to harm us. Bring healing to our sicknesses and diseases, I declare that
no plague, disease, virus, allergy, malignancy, infection, inflammation, stress
or infirmity will come near us for you will protect us. In Jesus name I command
healing for our sicknesses and diseases. I command Satan to flee in your Name
Lord, and I declare that no weapon or voice that is raised against us will
prosper.
Lord give us fresh revelation knowledge with understanding of
your unfailing love, let it permeate our spirit, soul and bodies into our
families so that we can love our children our wives and husbands sacrificially
demonstrating your love. Lord bless us, protect, guard and keep us safe. Lord
smile upon us and be gracious to us. Show favour to us Lord and give us your
peace. I commit these requests to you in the Lord Jesus’ Name.
1. Psalm 95: 2, 100: 3-4, 107:
1, 111: 4, 145: 13, Revelations 17: 14.
2. Psalm 61: 3-4, Acts 3: 19,
John 14: 27,
Psalm 19: 9, Nehemiah 8: 10.
3. Zechariah 4: 6, Hosea 1: 7, Psalm 124: 8, Isaiah 54: 17, 1 Corinthians 6: 19.
4. Psalm 17: 8, 19: 12-14, 34: 23, 37; 45: 11, 139: 23-24. Matthew 6: 9-15, Ephesians 1: 7, 1 John 1: 7.
5. Ephesians 6: 10-18, 1 John 5: 4, Isaiah 59: 17, Ephesians 1: 7, Romans 12: 14, Isaiah 59: 19.
6. Psalm 34: 7, 91: 11, Daniel 6: 22, Hebrews 1: 7, Exodus 3: 2.
7. Romans 8: 26-27, John 14: 16, Ephesians 1: 5.
8. Philippians 2: 9-11, Hebrews 1: 3-4, Ephesians 1: 21-22, James 4: 7, Acts 3: 6,
Psalm 103: 3, Jeremiah 30: 17, Psalm 91: 10-11, Isaiah 54:
17.
9. Numbers 6: 24, Psalm 37: 5, Ephesians 3: 14-19.
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