THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST AND HIS
UTTERANCES
By Rev. E.
L. LANGSTON.
"Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but My words shall not pass away."
(St.
Matthew 24: 35; St. Mark 13: 31; St. Luke 21: 33.)
1. - AN EPOCH MAKING STATEMENT.
These
words bring us face to face with an irresistible alternative, and one whose
issues cannot be avoided.
He
Who said these words "Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away," must
be either Divine or demented; either an irresponsible fanatic, or Very God
of Very God. There can be no middle ground upon which we
can take our stand concerning this matter.
In
the light of this statement, the authority of the words of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth cannot be called into question. Everybody must decide one way or
other, either that He was God, or else He was insane.
Surely,
it is an amazing sign of the times, that scholarly and apparently earnest
Christian men doubt the authority and trustworthiness of our Lord’s
utterances. Yet, alas, we are faced with
the fact to-day, that many of our leading theologians,
scholars and preachers, call into question the absolute authority and accuracy
of the words of our Lord.
It
is therefore essential for us to investigate the whole question, and in so
doing, we shall find that as a result of a close study of our Lord’s own
testimony both to Himself and to His utterances, that the matter is settled
once and for all.
Let
us for a moment try by imagination to transfer ourselves in thought to the
days, in which our Lord lived.
Here
was a poor man of the most despised nation on the earth, the son of a humble
Jewish carpenter of the most despised village in that country, and apparently
only an illiterate peasant, speaking to a few fisher folk and others upon the
In
this remarkable forecasting of events, He Himself said that Jerusalem should be
under the heel and domination of the Gentile nations, until a certain time when
"the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled,"
when the city of Jerusalem should be freed from Gentile power; and that when
that came to pass it would be one of the great signs of His return again to
this earth; not this time as a poor carpenter's son, the apparently illiterate
peasant, but triumphantly in the clouds of heaven with hosts of angels, "with power and great glory," and that He would
judge and reign over the nations of this earth.
Try
and place yourself in the midst of that little group on the
"Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but My words shall not pass away."
Think
of the important meaning attached to this remarkable statement! He bade His disciples look at the sun, moon and
stars, and then on the earth with all their apparent stability,
and He boldly said to them that though heaven and earth should pass away, His
words would still abide, unaltered, unchanged, and unchangeable. Surely "Never man spake like this Man!"
This
statement carries with it the impression of its own truthfulness, and we are
constrained to see in this Jesus of Nazareth, none other than Deity
Incarnate. Here in the form of man is
the Creator of the heavens and the earth, Whose
words are more sure than His own creation. Yes, "Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass
away."
2. - WHAT IS IMPLIED BY THIS
STATEMENT?
1.
The conscious knowledge of the speaker Himself of all the difficulties and
contingencies which in the future should arise to hinder the fulfilment of
these His words.
Undoubtedly
He could and did both foreknow, and foresee, all the eventualities that would
seek to hinder the fulfilment of His words.
This Man of Nazareth was therefore superhuman, and supernatural, in His
knowledge and foresight. None other than
God Himself could thus forecast, and foretell the happenings of the future.
2.
In the second place, this statement "Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass
away," implies that the Speaker Himself had at His command,
power and wisdom sufficient to meet and control any combination of opposing
forces.
Take
for example the predictions in St. Matthew 24: 14,
with regard to the preaching of the
Gospel of the Kingdom, as a witness to all nations. As we look back upon the history of the past
nineteen centuries, what tremendous forces have been and still are arrayed
against this divine programme. Empires,
governments, kings, princes, public opinion, have done all they could devise to
prevent the preaching of the Gospel.
False
systems of religion down the ages have tended to silence those who have sought
to preach the Gospel. Yet to-day, as
never previously, the Gospel is being preached as a witness to the nations. Men may plot and plan, and all the powers of
hell with all the unseen demons of darkness may do what they may, yet He Who
was the lowly Jesus of Nazareth has at His disposal wisdom and might, greater
and stronger than any seen or unseen opposing forces.
"Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but My words shall not pass away."
3.
This statement implies the conscious unchangeableness of His purpose.
Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but My words, under
conceivable contingency, will neither be modified or altered. There is only one Person who could thus
speak, and that is our unchangeable God.
4, What reference has this
statement to the doctrines our Lord taught?
There
is nothing ambiguous, vague or hazy about what our Lord taught when He was here
upon earth. He did not mince His
words. He told men that they were slaves
of sin, and in consequence they were lost spiritually. That no man could either see or enter the
It
is just here, in this enlightened democratic century, that many theologians
wish to cross swords with the Lord Jesus.
They say they cannot accept the same religious teaching that was
promulgated in the first century. Those
that believe in the ipsissima verba
of Christ, they say, must recognize that there is such a thing as "progressive revelation"; that men therefore know
more to-day than either our Saviour or His disciples did.
Modern
scholars may say what they like but they cannot get away from what the Saviour said,
when He was here upon earth, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
5.
Let us apply this statement to the warnings of our
Lord. He gave us warnings many - "He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him."
Surely
this refers to our Lord’s utterances, as well as to His claims! That we are not wrong in thus interpreting
this verse, we find as the result of a close study of the following passages -
Look
again at another remarkable statement of our Lord’s; in
This
is a tremendous position for any man to take up; but in our Lord’s High
Priestly prayer, St. John 17., verse 8, He says, "For
I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me." Language cannot be plainer, He Himself
substantiated this very clearly in
Man
may ignore these statements - many do; men may cavil at them - many do! Men may prove to their own satisfaction that
these words do not mean what some people think they do; yet over and against
their ignoring, their cavilling, their discarding, their explaining away,
stands this tremendously solemn statement, "Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass
away."
6. Let us apply this statement to the promises
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Come unto Me all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
"Him that corneth unto Me, I will in
no wise cast out."
"I will give unto My sheep eternal
life, and they shall never perish."
"I will not leave thee nor forsake thee."
These
and hundreds of other promises, our Lord assures us are in the eternal purposes
of God for those who believe and accept Him.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
7.
Let us apply this statement to His predictions. What are predictions but promises and
warnings?
Our
Lord predicted that there would come false prophets, or teachers, and as a
result of their false teaching "iniquity should
abound" and the love of many wax cold, there would be "distress amongst nations," perplexity, men’s
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things are coming on
the earth. He foretold that at the very
period when He should come the second time His
own professed servants should slumber and sleep, and not be ready for His
coming.
He
clearly indicated that the professing
Church in the last days would comprise two, distinct classes of people,
"the wise and the foolish," "the wheat and the tares," the professing and the
possessing Christian and that there would come a great separation day, when He would come as lightning from heaven
suddenly unexpectedly and unannounced.
In St. Luke 13: 25 He very solemnly
predicted the fate of those who would not be ready, the unprepared, the
professor who was not a possessor [and the
possessor who was not watchful.].
When
once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye
begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto
you, I know you not, whence ye are. Then
shall ye begin to say, we have eaten and drunk in Thy presence."
That
is to say, We have knelt at the Lord's table, we have
partaken of the Lord's supper or Holy Communion. "Thou hast
taught in our streets," yes, we have attended the House of God, we have heard Thy word expounded, but He shall say,"I tell you I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me all ye
workers of iniquity."
What
bitter disappointment there will be that day amongst the so-called Christians
of Christendom who are not ready for His coming. These words may seem hard to understand, but
let us never forget that He Who spoke them said,
"Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but My words shall not pass away."
In
the light therefore, of our study of our Lord’s statement, and His testimony
both to Himself and to His words and to His utterances, let us take all the
more heed to what He said, and to what He promised, what He warned, and what He
predicted, for this we know, "God manifest in the
flesh" in the form of the lowly Jesus of Nazareth, said,
"HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS
AWAY, BUT MY WORDS SHALL
--------
THE
FATAL LINE.
By DR. ALEXANDER.
There is a line by us unseen
That crosses every path-
The hidden boundary between
God’s patience and His wrath.
To pass that limit is to die-
To die as if by stealth;
It does not quench the beaming eye,
Nor pale the glow of health.
The conscience may be still at ease,
The spirits light and gay;
That which is pleasing still may please,
And care be thrust away.
But on that forehead God has set
Indelibly a mark,
(Unseen by man, for man, as Yet,
Is blind and in the dark).
Indeed, the doom’d one’s path below
May, bloom as Eden bloom’d;
He did not, does not, will not know,
Or feel, that he is doom’d.
He feels, perchance, that all is well,
And every fear is calm’d;
He lives, he dies, he wakes in Hell-
Not only doom’d, but damn’d.
Oh where is that mysterious bourn
By which our path is cross’d
Beyond which God Himself hath sworn
That he who goes is lost?