‘THE
AND THE
‘CONFLICT’
The photograph above was taken along
a road somewhere in
There
is a spiritual lesson in all of this for born again believers; for it would
appear not all of God’s redeemed children do pay attention to His warnings, or following
His advice! It is my sincere prayer that those who read His Word, be given eyes
to see the many conditional promises and accountability truths which are
contained therein: and will find the grace, and the Holy Spirit’s help, to
better understand how we can avoid the dangers, which we will, from time to
time, have to encounter.
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SELECTED SCRIPTURAL HEADINGS
1
Ephesians 4: 22,
R.V., - “…put
away,
as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, which waxeth corrupt
after the lusts of deceit; 23 and that ye be renewed in the
spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new man, which after God hath been created in
righteousness and holiness of truth.
Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye the truth each one with his neighbour: for we are members
one of another, 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go
down upon your wrath: 27 neither give place to the
devil. 28
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him
labour, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have
whereof to give to him that hath need. 29
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be,
that it may give
grace to them that hear. 30
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: 32
and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each
another, even as God also in Christ, forgave you.
5: 1 Be ye therefore imitators of
God, as beloved children; 2
and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself
up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet
smell. 3 But
fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be
named among you, as becometh saints; 4
nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, or jesting, which are not
befitting: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know of a surety, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, which is an
idolater, hath any INHERITANCE in the
2
1 Peter 1: 17: “And if ye call on him as Father, who withour respect of persons judgeth
according to each MAN’S work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear:
18 knowing that ye
were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain
manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, even the
blood of Christ…”
3
2 Peter 2: 1: “But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false
teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the
Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their
lascivious doings; by
reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And in covetousness shall they
with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose
sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not. 4 For if God spared not angels when they
sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them
down to pits of darkness, to be reserved into judgment; and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah
with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the ungodly; 6
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an
overthrow, having made them an example unto those that
should live ungodly; 7
and delivered righteous
Lot, sore
distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their lawless deeds):9
the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of
judgment; 10 but chiefly them that walk
after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and
despise dominion…”
4
Numbers 14: 19, R.V.: “Pardon, I prey thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of
thy mercy, and according as thou hast forgiven this
people, from Egypt even until now. 20 And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: but in very deed, as I live, and as ALL
THE EARTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH THE GLORY OF THE LORD; 22
because all those men which have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted
me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23
surely THEY SHALL NOT SEE
THE LAND WHICH I SWARE UNTO THEIR FATHERS, NEITHER SHALL ANY OF
THEM THAT DESPISED ME SEE IT: 24
but my servant Caleb, because he had
another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he
went;
and his seed shall possess it. … 26 “And
the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 27
How long shall I bear with this evil
congregation, which murmur against me? I
have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. 28 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears,
so will I do to
you; 29
your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and
all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years
old and upwards, which have murmured against me, 30
surely YE SHALL NOT COME
INTO THE LAND, concerning which I
lifted up my hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son
of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But
your little ones, which
ye said should be a prey,
them will I bring in, and
they shall know the land which ye have rejected. 32 But as for you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty
years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your carcases
be consumed in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your
iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation. 35 I
the LORD have spoken, surely
this will I do unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together
against me:
in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. 36
And the men, which Moses sent to spy our the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to
murmur against him, by
bringing up an evil report against the land, 37 even those men that did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the plague
before the LORD.”
*
* *
[PART
ONE]
THE
By G. H.
PEMBER.*
[* The following is from VOLUME ONE and PART THREE in the author’s book:-
“THE GREAT PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE GENTILES, THE JEWS, AND
THE
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PUBLISHERS
COMMENTS
George Hawkins Pember, a contemporary of Robert Govett,
G. H. Lang, and D. M. Panton, shared many of the same unique (to their time and
to ours of this era) hermeneutic principles which categorized them into a ‘set’ by themselves. They were vastly ahead of their
time and produced teachings which perplexed many and
blessed many others. It is the latter group that feels
deeply indebted to Mr. Pember and his colleagues for heavenly instruction. The best known work of Mr. Pember is EARTHS EARLIEST AGES (Kregel Pub. Co.,
The
publisher solicits your original letters from: G.H.
PEMBER, ROBERT GOVETT, G.H. LANG, and D.M. PANTON, for a future (D.V.)
publication now being readied. With this statement, we mention that one of Mr.
Pember’s letters in reply to a request for a photograph of himself,
stated that he intentionally avoided leaving behind a photograph of himself ...
as he didn’t want others to look at a sinner ... but to the Saviour. Mr. Panton
suggested to Mr. Lang that they should reprint Mr. Pember’s works ... of which
the latter three volumes were condensed into a
one-volume edition in May of 1941. Since this time, only the very fortunate
were able to secure the vast riches of Mr. Pember’s studies in the second-hand book stores.
With
Mr. Lang, we say: “He was
pre-eminently a teacher of teachers, and one of the best exponents of prophetic
Scripture during his period, so rich in great teachers of the Word of God. It
is in the hope that, in the kind and perfect providence of God, the present
volume may reach other and younger readers, eager for all heavenly knowledge,
that it is issued. It will guide and fortify honest
hearts for the wars of the Lord now upon us, in which the faithful must meet fierce and dangerous conflicts, and
meet them with few older soldiers of Christ to lead and encourage them. The
labour of preparing it is but a debt of gratitude paid cheerfully. If God shall
graciously use it to enlighten, to sanctify, and to strengthen the witness of
some of His servants, He shall be glorified and I
shall be satisfied. There are other writings of Mr. Pember of high value which
1 shall be glad to issue, if God shall open the way.”
(from the Editor’s Preface of
the
1941 GREAT PROPRECIES condensation)
SCHOETTLE PUBLISHING CO., INC.
* *
*
[Page
283]
I
THE MYSTERY
HIDDEN
FROM ALL
AGES
IN the previous
section we have seen that, at the first advent, our Lord broke His covenant
with the Jews, because they rejected Him; and that a suspension of the
fulfilment of Jewish prophecy has, consequently, supervened - a long interval which seems, however, to have almost exhausted its
term.
But what
were God’s plans for this interval? Would He during its course remain without
witnesses, and without a people upon earth? Not so:
while the glory of
It
was late in the evening of that memorable day on which the Lord ate the last
Passover. He was still sitting at the table with eleven of His disciples: the
supper was ended: the bread had been broken, and the
wine drunk. The traitor [and apostate] Judas - though he had been suffered, like many others
who shall never sit down with Christ in the Kingdom of the Heavens, to eat of
the bread and drink of the wine - could not be permitted to share the great
secret which was about to be disclosed. Therefore he
had been dismissed, that the Lord might speak in peace the farewell words of
love and hope to those whom He had chosen.
[284]
They
had just been partaking of the joyous feast of deliverance, but there were no
signs of joy upon their features: deep sorrow, nay, the very shadow of
death, seemed to have fallen upon the little company,
an every face had gathered gloom.
For
they had heard strange and terrible things that night: their security had been
dispelled, and their hopes utterly destroyed. There
was, indeed, no excuse for their surprise: for in past time the Lord had more
than once foretold the impending trouble. But they had
neither heeded, nor cared to understand, His warnings; and were, therefore,
entirely unprepared for the events which He had just declared to be then
actually confronting them.
His
first remark, before supper, must have excited their alarm: for He spoke of the
intensity of His desire to eat that Passover with them before He suffered.
Then
He announced that one of their number was traitor, and
would betray Him.
That
Satan had demanded and obtained all of them, that he might sift them as wheat.
That
Peter, who had been so loud in expressing devotion, would deny his Lord three
times in the course of that very night.
And,
saddest of all, that He Himself was just about to leave them, and that whither
He was going they could not then follow Him, though they should do so - [at His return, (see John
14: 3; cf.1 Thess. 4: 15-17, R.V.)] - in
after-time.
This
last-mentioned disclosure must have struck a death-blow
at all their hopes. For as yet they knew nothing of the
purposes of God: they talked only of
But not
only had their high hopes fallen; there was something even worse: for, if their Lord should
depart, what would become of them in
the world! He had been their support and stay, their guide, their
help and defender in all danger, the One Who was never without resource to
deliver them from every snare, to ward off every assault of their enemies. He
had also been their joy; and if the Bridegroom should be taken away, what could
the children of the bride-chamber do, but weep and lament for
ever! Now they began to comprehend His dark saying;-
“The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the
days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it.”
Who would thenceforth be able to comfort them in times
of distress; to speak words which could make their
hearts burn within them, and lift them to hope from the lowest despair? Who
would give them succour - [during these days of the church’s apostasy, and] in every
perplexity, create bread for them in the desert, and command the fishes of the
sea to bring them the tribute money?
[286]
Who,
if their ship were again sinking beneath the storm, would bid the boisterous
wind be still, and command the white-crested billow to fall back ere it broke?
Who, if the Pharisees should excite a tumult against them, would stand forth
and expose the hypocrisy of their adversaries with such clear and incisive
words of power that the surging crowd would melt away, until there remained but
a few awe-struck sinners, no longer threatening, but crying out with emotion. “Never man spake like this man!”?
And if
any among them should lie ill, who could rebuke the disease, and in a moment
heal the sick? Or if the death of a beloved one should rend their hearts with
anguish, who would turn their mourning into joy by commanding, even at the door of the sepulchre, with a voice which neither Death nor Hades could resist, “Lazarus,
come forth!”?
And who
could supply His tender affection? For He had not been with them those three
years without entwining Himself around their hearts, and making them feel that
in Him they had a Friend indeed, Whose love passed the love of women, and Who
was nearer to them than a brother. And yet He had just predicted that all of them would, on that very night, forsake
Him in the hour of trial; nay, that one [of His ‘disciples’] would betray and another deny Him!
We
can imagine their despair: we can conceive the confused thoughts raging in
their minds, like the wild waves of a tempestuous sea. Yet they could not
disburden themselves: no sound escaped their lips, and a gloomy silence
possessed the room.
At
length the Lord opened His mouth, and broke the
oppressive stillness with soothing words which shed [287] hope upon their hearts, even as His command, “Let there be light,” had once gone forth over the shoreless ocean of earth, and dispelled
its darkness.
“Let not your hearts
be troubled,” He said. “Believe in God, and believe in Me.
In My Father’s
house are many abodes: if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I am coming again, and will receive you
unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be
also.”*
[* NOTE: words shown
in italics are mine. All regenerate believers who imagine that they can go to
where He is today, are in error; and they negative the importance of ‘the first Resurrection’ (Rev.
20: 5,ff., R.V.)! See also Acts 2:
34,ff.; cf.
2 Tim. 2:
15-18,
R.V.]
It
is difficult for us to comprehend the surprise which these words must have
occasioned to the disciples - if, at least, they understood them at the time. They had thought only of peace and glory in
connection with the Jerusalem which is on earth, and such a vision would have been their sole consolation in the
present distress; but the Lord
removes this stay, gives them no
hope of anything better - [before His return] - than tribulation in the world, and at last reveals in plain terms the great secret of God’s purpose.
He
bids them resign their privileges and expectations as Jews; for He has called them to a higher destiny. Because they have received Him, He will give them power to become the sons
of God; and they shall dwell, not at
A
few weeks later, when the apostles and some other faithful believers were
assembled in an upper room, the Holy Spirit descended to
baptize them into
[288] one body [of
both Jews and Gentiles]*, and to found the Church of Christ. And from that time God began to seek out
for Himself a people from all flesh;* not, however, to rob the
Israelite of his future dominion over the earth, but to sit in the Heavenly Places with the Lord Jesus, and in association with Him to become the
spiritual rulers of the world.
[* NOTE:
Beware of all errors and demonic teachings - especially the error of ‘hyper dispensationalism’
- which teaches that resurrected Gentiles will be given greater privileges than resurrected
Jews after ‘the first resurrection’ (Rev. 20: 5): and that during the Millennial reign, resurrected
Abraham, will have less privileges than resurrected Gentiles! Abraham, it
has been said, will be on earth in a body of ‘flesh and
blood;
but Gentiles will have bodies of ‘flesh and bones’
(Luke 24: 39,
R.V.)! That is, resurrected Jews will not be capable of any heavenly
privileges in the Age to come!
This
teaching is deadly error, and contrary to all the teachings of Holy Scripture!
It falls into the same category, as the A-Millennialist teachings concerning
our Lord’s future inheritance (Ps. 2: 8, R.V.) and millennial reign - upon and over this
earth! See also Isa.
9: 6, 7; Jer.
23: 5-8; Ezek. 34: 23-31; Hosea 5: 15- 6: 1-3; cf.
Luke 1: 32;
1 Pet. 3:
8-12; Rev. 3: 21; 20: 4, R.V.).
Now,
at the end of the ages, and because of the apostasy and false
prophetic teachings, Christians need to - ‘SLOW DOWN’ - and
ask the Holy Spirit for His help, when they read and study
God’s Word. All Christians today, are in desperate need of more respect for His
warnings,
and consequent judgment, (both now and in the future), against ungodly
behaviour (Col. 3:
25ff. Cf. Heb.
10: 26-31; 12: 17, R.V.): and to show themselves worthy
to be with Him during His Messianic and Millennial reign. We need to be amongst
those ‘approved unto God’ (1 Tim. 2: 15, R.V.); and have divine strength to resist
temptations to overcome every ‘DANGER AHEAD’; and to avoid being deceived by false
prophetic teachers, who are content to travel along a dangerous road, which our
Lord Jesus and His Holy Apostles did not take! See Acts 7: 4, 5, 51-60, R.V.]
*
Joel 2: 28.
Thus
the present age commenced, but there
is no prophecy which will enable us to discover the exact length of its course.
We must, however, remember that, although
dispensations may overlap, and a
short transitional period be the result, yet God cannot, with this
exception, have two peoples of
different callings upon earth at the same time. Such a law is implied in the prediction of Micah, that, because of the smiting of the judge of Israel on the cheek, the Jews should be given up for dispersion
until the travailing Woman should bring forth - that is, until the number of
[regenerate] believers [of both Jew and
Gentile]
should be completed. And when this
point is taken up in the Book of Revelation,
we are further instructed that, as soon as the Man-child is born, he shall be
caught up to God and to His Throne; so that the way will then be cleared for
the resumption of dealings with the Jews. Precisely similar is the teaching of
Paul: for he affirms that “a hardening in part
has befallen
Thus the
first sign of the end of this [evil and apostate] age
will be the sudden translation of all waiting saints: and until that event has
happened, there is no place for calculation. For, as we have before observed,
the times of the Church are not properly a part of the Fifth [289] Dispensation, but a parenthesis fixed in it on account of the perversity of the Jews; an inserted
period, unknown to Old Testament prophecy, and set apart for the preparation of
a heavenly, and not of an earthly people.
It
was, as we are told, “at the end of the world,” or rather, “of the ages,” that Christ appeared, and
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. For
when the Son of Man bowed His head in death upon the cross, there remained but seven
short years for the course of this world. Mercy had been
rejected; the time of forbearance was exhausted; and the terrific agents
described in the Revelation were awaiting
the command to speed forth upon their deadly missions, and execute the last indignation.
But the wrath which had been
gathering burst upon the Lord Jesus; the righteous
sword of the Almighty was turned against the Man Who was His Fellow: and then God granted a respite to the
world for which Christ died: then He
checked the rapid flight of events,
and, as it were, stayed the wings of the fleeting age, until a time [we
are living in today] shall have passed the duration
of which is known only to Himself.
For
if the Church inquires when her Lord will return, she receives but the answers;- “At an hour when ye
think not;” “Surely I come quickly;” “Be ye therefore ready.” The great apostle of the Gentiles warned her of the
futility of attempting to compute the length of her stay upon earth. But of the times and seasons, brethren, he said, “ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know
perfectly that the Day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” The duty of the Church [of
the firstborn]
is to keep herself in readiness and to watch, not to reckon times. But, as soon as she is removed, all will be changed. The Fifth Age will finish [290] its intercepted course; the
Seven Years will quickly commence; there
will be the Time, Times, and Half a Time, the Three Years and a Half, the
Forty and Two Months, the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days: all periods will then be capable of exact
calculation.
But, if
we cannot accurately compute the times of the Church, we are by no means
without intimation of the present nearness of Christ’s coming. For we see Christendom
beginning to assume its last form, and the
Mystery of Lawlessness daily gaining strength; while the Jewish prophecies seem to be on the point of [literal] fulfilment. Since, therefore, the - [‘accounted worthy to escape’ (Luke 21: 36, A.V. cf. Rev.
3: 10,
R.V.)] - Church must be taken away before any of
these things is consummated, we may
be well assured that the Lord is at hand, and should exhort one another so much the more as we see the Day approaching.
Moreover,
besides other revelations in the New Testament, there are two great prophecies
from the mouth of Christ Himself, the interpretation of which appears to
intimate that the acceptable year of the Lord is almost ended. These prophecies
are the Seven Parables in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, and the Seven Epistles
in the second and third chapters of the Apocalypse, both of which we propose now to
examine.
The
number of Parables and of Epistles is seven, that number being significant of
dispensational completeness; and, in each of the two prophecies, we apparently
have set before us seven successive phases, or characteristic epochs, of the
Church, which embrace the whole of her career upon earth. These epochs commence
in the order in which they are given; but any of them may overlap that which
succeeds it or [291]
even extend its influence, in a greater or less degree, to the end of the age.
II
THE SEVEN PARABLES
IT is usual to treat these Parables as if they merely
contained matter for what is called practical
application. This, however, as we hope to show, is by no means the case; they
are a continuous prediction of the whole career of the Church between the two
advents. Undoubtedly they will also yield an abundant
supply of more general instruction; but in this context, at least, the
prophetic is the primary meaning.
We have previously sketched the plan of the earlier
chapters of Matthew, and pointed out the
manner in which they lead up to and introduce the Parables as a revelation of a
new order of things then about to be brought in. For, on the one hand, they relate the repeated offers of the [promised] Kingdom to
the Jews, the proclamation of its laws by the King, and the exhibition of His
marvellous credentials; on the other, the ever-increasing hatred of the Jewish
leaders, and their refusal to recognize the Lord’s authority - a refusal
prompted by so bitter a spirit that, when they are unable to deny His mighty
works, they even dare to accuse Him of doing them by the aid of infernal power.
By this blasphemous assertion their true condition is
revealed: their immediate salvation is proved to be impossible; and, at the end
of the twelfth chapter, the Lord intimates that they are about to be ejected of
God, and delivered into the hands of Satan for a season.
[292]
A
crisis in the history of the [Jewish] nation had arrived
similar in some points to the time when
For
the earlier chastisement merely deprived the Jews for a while of their right to
be “the Kings of
the Earth upon the earth.” God
still retained them as His people, though He sent them into captivity, and
caused them to be bound in affliction and iron. Consequently,
at that time it was only necessary to appoint temporary World-rulers, until the
Kingdom could be restored to
Such
were the circumstances connected with the assumption of the supremacy by
Nebuchadnezzar, and the plan of the Gospel of Matthew is in strict analogy with
them. But, in this second crisis, the Jews, by the rejection and murder of the
Son of God, brought upon themselves a far more grievous punishment than the
mere loss of their earthly dominion: for the covenant of Jehovah was now
altogether suspended, and they were no longer recognized as His people. Yet it was necessary, during
the interval which followed, that some witnesses should be chosen to maintain a
testimony for Him upon the earth - without, however, infringing the power
already granted to the Gentiles - and, accordingly, from that time He began to
raise up a new band of believers who received a heavenly calling. And since the [293] Father would again, as in
the days of Daniel, have some knowledge of His purpose revealed for the
guidance of the humble, the Lord Jesus proceeded, on the very day in which He
announced the rejection of the Jews, to unfold the mystery which had been
hidden from the ages, and to foretell in parables what should befall the people
of God during the interval between the Sixty-ninth and Seventieth of Daniel’s
weeks.
That
His discourse contained an entirely new revelation, we are informed by the
Evangelist, who observes that, in delivering it, Christ fulfilled the prophecy;- “I will open My
mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”* Indeed,
we are more than once reminded in the New Testament that the purpose of God in
regard to the Church and the heavenly calling had been kept secret, until the
Lord Himself disclosed it.**
*
Matt. 13: 35.
** Rom. 16: 25, 26; 1 Cor. 2: 7; Eph. 3: 5, 9; Col. 1: 26.
Thus the
Seven Parables were similitudes of the Kingdom of the Heavens, intended to
foreshadow the varying conditions under which those who shall hereafter reign with
Christ have been, and are still being, gathered out of the present age. And the main burden of the prediction was that this body would, during its stay upon earth, be continually liable to
become clogged and corrupted by admixtures of evil; that it would be
interpenetrated, surrounded, and even altogether concealed, by a far greater multitude [of false prophets] who would profess to belong to
it, while they were in reality the children of
the Wicked One.
The
prophecy is, therefore, concerned with the whole [294] number of nominal believers throughout the world with
every Church or sect which professes to derive its doctrines from the word of
God, and in any way acknowledges His Son Jesus Christ. This
vast and motley crowd spreads over the whole extent of Christendom in the
largest sense of the term; while here and there in the midst of it, and ever
acting more or less as a check upon the corruption around them, stand the
scattered children of God, unable to extricate themselves from the press, and
destined to continue unable, until heaven shall ring with the cry;- “Gather My saints
together, those that have made a covenant with Me by Sacrifice!”
Now
the whole of this great mixed multitude of Christendom is, for the time, called
the Kingdom of the Heavens, because it holds within it - and so entangled that
none but God can separate them - the true heirs of the Kingdom. Hence each of the Seven Parables appears to foreshadow some
characteristic of the nominal Church especially prominent at a particular time.
And they seem to be arranged in chronological order;
for, to pass by details which we shall presently consider, they begin with the
sowing, or first preaching, - [of ‘the word of the kingdom’
(Matt. 13:
19, R.V.)] - and end with the separation of good and evil at the
close of the dispensation.
Yet,
although they indicate the true succession of the phases
which they represent, it does not, of course, necessarily follow that
the period of one Parable must be completely ended before another commences: on
the contrary, as we before remarked, it may overlap, and be contemporaneous
with, that which follows it. We will now proceed to examine them separately.
[295]
III
THE PARABLE
OF THE SOWER
THE first scene which opens before us
is a large field already ploughed and prepared for the sowing. On one side of
it runs a road, the wayfarers and waggons travelling
by which have passed so heedlessly that they have trodden down and pressed the
bordering ploughed land, until it has become well-nigh as hard as the highway
itself. Extending underneath a considerable portion of the field lies a slab of
rock, with but little soil above it; so that this part is
quickly dried up by the sun. A third portion has rich and deep mould,
but abounds in thorn-roots and seeds: the remainder of the field consists of
soil both clean and good.
Presently
the sower comes, and scatters his seed broadcast over the furrows. Some of it
falls upon the trodden ground near the highway, and lies exposed upon its hard and
smooth surface. Possibly it might yet sink into the
soil, if it could be left untouched till heavy rains set in; but there is no
chance of that. Multitudes of little birds are on the watch, and, as soon as
the sower’s back is turned,
snatch up and devour every grain.
Some
seed, again, falls upon the rocky soil, and, being unable to sink far beneath
the surface, quickly sends forth blades of promise. But
the sun arises in his strength, and they soon wither and die; for the
thin-spread mould is speedily reduced to dust.
Other
seed is scattered over the place already occupied by the thorn-roots: it comes
up well, but [296]
the thorns also appear with it. It is not injured by the sun,
for it has depth of soil; but the ever-increasing weeds draw away its nourishment
and take up room, until, almost concealed by their luxuriant grow, it becomes
sickly and thin, and cannot bring its fruit to perfection.
But
the seed which falls upon good ground puts forth its blades in due time, and
grows and produces much fruit, though in varying quantities; some grains a
hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
This Parable exhibits the first period of the Gospel
dispensation. The ploughed field is the world prepared for the reception of
Christ by previous dealings of God: the untilled highway is the bordering
Kingdom of the Air, tenanted by those fallen angels and spirits to whom the
offers of Christ were not extended; so that their
realm is neither ploughed nor sown. The Sower is, first and principally, the
Lord Jesus Himself, and, afterwards, those who succeeded Him in the work of
carrying on all that He began to do and to teach. The seed is the glorious ‘word of the [kingdom,’
- Christ’s /Messiah’s good news] Gospel: the various conditions of soil represent the
four classes of hearers which are found among men. And the
fact that but one of these brings forth the desired fruit is a hint, at the
very outset of the discourse, that all expectations of the universal success of
the Gospel in the present age are false; that the way of the strait gate will
remain narrow, and only a few, comparatively, find it, until a change be
brought about by the [second] advent
of the [true and coming]
King.
The
first class of hearers are those who live so nigh to, and in such close
communion with, the Powers of Evil, that they have become similar to them, and [297] almost as hopelessly callous. For if men, like demons, do not care to retain God in their hearts, He gives them over to a reprobate mind,
so that they have no further thought of
Him. His Spirit is grieved, and ceases to strive: the sentence is pronounced, “Ephraim is joined
unto idols, let him alone”; and henceforth they become more and more hardened. Therefore, the seed cannot penetrate their hearts, but lies on the surface,
whence it is immediately picked off and devoured by the
watchful spirits of the air, lest
something unforeseen should cause it to sink in and quicken. And these agents of evil have countless
devices whereby they can steal away the word - such as frivolous thoughts, idle conversation, pleasure-excitements,
business-cares, and many other
things. And so they destroy the germ
of good from off the earth, that it
may benefit neither him in whom it was sown, nor any of those around him.
There
are other hearers, again, who have hearts as hard as the nether millstone, but
overspread with a thin layer of sentiment. These receive the Gospel, or
anything else, with an eagerness and a gushing enthusiasm which give hope of
abundant fruit. But if, perchance, persecution appear on the horizon, or they be called to deny themselves an
indulgence or convenience, they will
straightway cast off their faith [in Messiah’s promised
kingdom],
and, by their unyielding obduracy to
all subsequent appeals, show how
stony their hearts really are beneath the soft envelope. Such people will weep in their comfortable
rooms over the miseries of others,
but will rarely bestir themselves to aid the objects of their compassion. They delight in talking of what they mean
to do; but, if any opportunity for action [298] should obtrude
itself, usually find that they have
need to attend to some private care,
or social duty, which must take
precedence of the Lord’s business. They
are they which spring up on all sides in times of revival, and cast the greatest dishonour upon
Christ by their apparent conversion and ostentatious zeal, for they quickly fall away, and practically, if not avowedly, disown ‘the faith’ for which they had professed themselves
ready even to die. Their inner
selfishness is firm as a rock; but,
unstable as water in all other things, they cannot excel, and will be found at last - [as non-
overcomers] - without the gates of the Golden[-age] City.
The
mind of the third class of hearers is of a different order. These can think and
feel deeply; but they can do so in regard to other
matters besides the love of God in Christ. In their heart
the word lies amid various seeds and roots, which will presently spring up into
the deceitful pleasure-seekings of early life, the
cares of middle age, and the desires of other things rather than God. Nor is
the range of the last-mentioned temptations confined to such spheres as
ambition, political power, intellect, love, hatred, or covetousness, can
afford; they may be discovered in very unsuspected
quarters. In some cases, for instance, they war against the
soul by inducing a quiet indulgence of appetites, to which many yield, by no
means so far as to provoke the rebuke of their fellows, but just so much as to
incline their bodies to an apparently well-meaning indolence and complacency,
which, while it lasts, most effectually bars out the powers of the World to
Come. But, whatever their individual bent, the
wheat and thorns grow up together in persons of this class. They
would be Christ’s, but will not give up the world: they [299] persist in
striving to serve two masters; and, since they cannot hate the one, find
themselves quite unable to cleave to the other: they do not follow the Lord
with a whole heart; therefore He will not accept them, and, at last, altogether
withdraws the pleadings of His Spirit. Then the thorns choke the word,
and cover its withering remains with their luxuriant growth. Fruit may have
begun to appear, but it is never brought to perfection: these are they who are
almost saved [to enjoy the coming ‘
Lastly,
there are some who, humbled and broken-hearted through a sense of their own sinful
condition, receive the word with gratitude. These, realizing the
horrors from which they have been rescued, are willing to give up all things for the love of the Lord Who
redeemed them; to deny themselves
daily, to take up their cross and
follow Him; to count not their lives
dear, if they may but finish their
course with joy. In the hearts of
such the word grows by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that they are enabled to be witnesses for their Saviour, and to do works which shall be their joy
and crown in the day of His appearing.
A solemn thought is suggested by the mention of the
rates of increase - “some a hundredfold, some sixty,
some thirty.”
Less than thirtyfold the Lord does
not recognize: it is for every true Christian to ask himself whether the seed
sown in him can yet have borne this minimum of fruit in the conversion and
edification of others; nay, whether
he has had any proof whatever that he
is in the faith by the fulfilment in him of the Lord’s saying;- “He that believeth on Me,
as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”*
*
John 7: 38.
[300]
To
these four classes of hearers the Gospel [of the kingdom] began to be preached, first by the Lord Himself, and afterwards by
His disciples. The latter commenced their labours at
* Col. 1: 23.
Thus
was the world sown in the first age of the Church: and
during this time the prominent characteristic of the followers of Christ was an
earnest propagation of their faith in every land; though, after all, their
efforts were baffled by the generally unfavourable conditions of the human
heart, and achieved but a very, partial success.
IV
THE PARABLE
OF THE TARES
IN the second Parable there is also a Sower of good seed; but he is
followed by a malignant enemy, who [301]
comes while men are sleeping, scatters tares upon the wheat, and then steals
away unperceived. The tares used for this evil purpose are
still too well known in
This Parable is also interpreted by the Lord Himself. The field is the world, and the enemy the Devil: but
the meaning of the seed is not the same as in the first Parable; for it no longer signifies doctrines, but persons. “The good seed are the children of the Kingdom; and the tares are
the children of the Wicked One.”
The latter are those hypocrites who are found to be suitable instruments for
developing the deep and treacherous designs of Satan; who, though they know not
Christ, will foist themselves among Christians, and make it the business of their lives to spread corruption, either in doctrine or behaviour.
Many
such men crept into the Church even in apostolic times; but it is the history
of the second and third centuries which affords the
most terrible proof of the Lord’s foreknowledge. During that period multitudes
of grievous wolves entered stealthily into the fold, [302] not sparing the flock; and many arose speaking
perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Then heresies began to
spring up on all sides, heresies of every imaginable form and hue, and
resulting in sects which in manifold ways weakened or altogether destroyed the
power of the word of God, and provided an attractive but useless religion for
every kind of intellect and disposition. The universal Church became corrupt,
and has never thrown off the taints of this epoch: to the present day every Christian sect bears traces of them upon its
tenets or ritual.
Only those who are acquainted with the literature of
the second and third centuries can form any adequate conception of the
multitude of tares which during that time were manifesting themselves by their
black fruit: but the study of two works, which have come down us, will give
some idea of the principal errors which Satan was then bewildering the Church. One of these, put forth in the last quarter of the
second century, is a volume “Against Heresies,”
from the pen of Irenaeus of Lyons, a disciple of Polycarp who had himself listened to
the apostle John. The other is “A Refutation of all
Heresies,” written by Hippolytus
of Portus,
a pupil of Irenaeus, in the first half
of the third century.
From
these books we learn that, at their early dates, the
seed of nearly all subsequent errors had been imperceptibly sown in the
churches, with a resulting crop of heresies, sects, and schools, so numerous
that it would be tedious even to mention their names. And these heresies were
of all degrees, beginning with a slight admixture of evil, and going on to such
a pitch of madness that some even declared the accursed [303] serpent, the beguiler of Eve, to be the true Messiah, and actually styled themselves Ophites, or Serpent-worshippers. Another
sect held that the Scriptures did not emanate from the Supreme God, but from a
lower and malignant deity, whom they called the Demiurge, and who, as they affirmed, had caused the sacred history
to be distorted, so that the righteous in it - such as Cain, Esau, the men of Sodom, and Korah
- were made to appear wicked, and the wicked righteous. Hence they regarded Cain as the first saint mentioned in the
Bible, and from him named themselves Cainites.
During
the whole period included by this Parable violent persecutions were occurring
at intervals, and in the other continuous prophecy of the Church we shall find
them specially noticed. Here, however, there is nothing more than a very obvious allusion. The Lord feared lest His Church
should take a lesson from their oppressors, and, if at any time they had the
power, put to death obstinate heretics. Hence the
servants are ordered not to root up the tares out of the field - a commandment
which may be easily understood if we remember that “the tares are the children of the Wicked One,” and that “the field is the
world.”
In regard to
the harvest, a difficulty has arisen in the minds of many, because the command,
“Gather ye together first the tares,” seems to imply that Christ will execute judgment upon
the wicked before He deals with His Church. It is, however, impossible that
such a sequence of events could be intended, or this
passage would stand alone, and oppose itself to the general testimony of
Scripture.
As an example of that testimony, we may quote the [304] fourteenth chapter
of the Apocalypse, in which three
classes of men affected by the Lord’s return are represented as Firstfruits, Harvest, and Vintage. And, in accordance with the order of nature, the Firstfruits, as we may see by the context,
are those who will be “redeemed from the earth” before the Tribulation;
the Harvest follows at its close;
and still later comes the Vintage, the
grapes of which answer to the tares of the Parable.
And again,
in the nineteenth chapter, it is after the
Marriage Supper that John sees heaven opened an the Lord appearing, with the
whole Church in His train, to destroy them which corrupt the earth.
Indeed,
if we turn to the last of this very series Parables, we shall find the apparent
order of the second reversed: for the good fish are first picked out of the net and placed in vessels, and then the bad are cast
away.
Now
a right understanding of Scripture quickly dispels all supposed
inconsistencies: how, then, can we explain this seeming discrepancy in parables
of the same series? Probably by the following considerations.
In
the original of the command to the reapers there is no
word - such as “then,” or “afterwards” - to mark the apodosis to “Gather first.” We must, therefore, supply
one, and may do so in the next clause. For the “but”
(…) which follows is often used adversatively, and may
merely indicate an antithesis or contrast of destiny, without any reference to
order of time. Thus the command will read;- “First collect the tares,
and then bind them in bundles to burn them: but
as to the wheat, gather that into My barn.”*
* The reason why the Lord, in His description of the
harvest speaks first of the tares is sufficiently obvious;
since they are the subject of the Parable.
[305]
We
may, perhaps, add that a farmer would not be likely to
trouble himself about the tares, provided they were carefully picked out of the
wheat, until he had safely conveyed the latter to its receptacle.
Again; we
must remember that the two Parables are elementary and general: they are by no
means intended to furnish details of the end, but only to lay down the broad
principle that Christ will throughly purge His floor.
The inevitable mingling of evil and good
in the present age, and the certainty of ultimate judgment and separation, are
the great lessons which they teach.
A
peculiar Greek word, signifying “to gather by picking
out,” is used of the tares in one Parable and of the
good fish in the
other; so that the meaning may be clear from both
sides. Satan must sow his tares, and they will grow up with
the wheat, and become inextricably entangled with it until the harvest. But before the Lord gathers in His own, He will not fail
to pick out from their midst all the children of the Evil One. And again; while the Gospel net is lying in the sea of the nations, the nominal Church must needs include
multitudes of merely intellectual, of
sentimental, and of hypocritical
members, as well as real [devoted and obedient] believers.*
But as soon as the net is drawn to shore,
just as fishermen carefully select the
good fish to put into their vessels and then cast the rest away, so the Lord will take every soul of His own out of the
great masses of spurious worshippers before He consigns the latter to their
doom.
[* Keep in mind:
The word “wicked” can also describe some who have been redeemed, but are disobedient, unrepentant, and apostate believers!
“Depart I pray you,” said the Lord through
Moses, “from the tents of these WICKED men,
and touch
nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins” (verse 23) … “So they and all that appertained to them,
went down alive
into Sheol: and the earth closed upon them, and they perished
from among the assembly. … And fire came forth from the Lord, and devoured the
two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense:” (Num. 16: 26, 33, 35. R.V.). Compare with 1
Cor. 5: 9-13ff. R.V. “For what have I to do with judging them,” - wrote the Apostle Paul (‘unto
the
In passing on to interpret the remaining Parables, we
must keep one point clearly in mind. We have just seen that wheat and tares are
to grow together until [306]
the end; and, accordingly, in the seventh and last Parable
we shall find good and bad fish mingled in the same net. It is manifest,
therefore, that all the intervening Parables must also represent the Church
conditions more or less corrupt.
V
THE PARABLE
OF THE MUSTARD TREE
IN the third
similitude, a grain of mustard - proverbial in Palestine as being the smallest
of familiar seeds - is sown by a man in his field: and, with a solemn
significance, the Lord tells us that this plant although really belonging to
the class of pot-herbs, or garden vegetables, grows, nevertheless, into a tall
tree.* This is an evident intimation of something wrong: for
God would have every seed to develop according to the limits of its kind.
*
Thomson remarks that he has seen the wild
mustard as tall as the horse and his rider, and suggests that there may have been
a perennial kind which grew into a tree, just as the
castor bean sometimes does. See “The Land and the Book,”
p. 414. Very possibly there is no exaggeration in the assertion of R. Simeon
Ben Chalaphta, who says;- “A stalk of mustard was in my field, into which I was wont to climb as men climb into a fig
tree.”
In
becoming a tree the mustard throws out great branches,* so that the fowls of the air, which in the first
Parable caught up and devoured the good seed, are able to come and lodge under
its shelter. Here then, is another very ominous hint, which, had it been duly
weighed, would have checked the frequent, and undoubtedly mistaken, use of this
Parable for missionary sermons.
* Mark
4: 32.
The
grain represented the principles of the Church [307] as sown by Christ in the world: the description of
its unnatural growth signified that those principles would be abandoned as the
age rolled on - a prediction which was very manifestly
fulfilled.
For
the Lord charged His disciples to learn of Him, and be meek and lowly in heart
during their sojourn upon earth; to cast aside every
high thought, and follow their despised and rejected Master. But
Satan, by means of false teachers and errors stealthily introduced during the
period of the tares, prevailed on the great body of professing Christians to
turn from the words of golden hope, “Behold I come quickly” - inscribed, as it were,
by the Lord upon the blue veil of heaven through which He ascended - and to fix
their eyes upon earthly things. He taught them to think of the cessation
of human enmity, and of their own growing importance; and so allured their
community in the direction of an eminence to which they could attain only by
forsaking Christ and serving Mammon. Then, when the fitting moment had arrived,
he approached them, and offered the present favour of earthly kings in exchange
for the hope of the King from heaven. And, forgetful
of their Lord’s example, they accepted the offer: like Eve, they were beguiled,
and blindly consented to receive their power and influence from the Prince of
this World.
The
phase represented in the Parable began to be developed
in the early part of the fourth century, when
Now
it had been a frequent custom of the [308] polytheistic Romans to acknowledge all the gods,
while they selected one of them as a special patron and object of adoration. And, accordingly,
For his religion was dictated by motives of policy and
his desire was to weld his Christian and Pagan subjects into one people. To promote this end, a set of double-meaning symbols
was carefully prepared, or rather, a number of recognized Pagan symbols were so
adapted that those who wished might interpret them of Christ, while others
continued to explain them from their own mythology.
Among these symbols was the mystic Tau,* the famous but obscene “sign
of life,” known from the earliest antiquity throughout the whole circle
of Heathendom, and marked in baptism upon the foreheads of those who were being
initiated into the mysteries.** This was
brought into greater prominence, and for Christians was made to signify the
cross of Christ, while among the Pagans it retained its previous meaning.
*
The great Phallic
emblem. “It is high time that Christians should
understand a fact of which sceptics have long been talking and writing, namely,
that the cross was the central symbol of all ancient Paganism. What it
represents must remain untold: but it was probably made the medium of our
Lord’s death through the crafty devices of the Wicked One, into whose hands He
was for a while delivered, with a view to the future corruption of Christianity,
and the carrying on under its name of all the abominations of the Heathen.”
- “
**Another form of this symbol was the Egyptian crux ansata,
the well-known sign of the goddess Venus.
[309]
Just in the same manner the device on the standard of
Constantine, which he was reported to have seen in his vision, the Chi-Rho, was
set before the Christians as the monogram of Christ; but the Heathen easily
recognized it as a slightly altered form of the sign of Osiris, or Jupiter
Ammon.* Besides which, it was
usually set upon the top of the pole; while on the purple-silk field of the
banner below were the heads of the emperor and his sons, which might be
worshipped by the Pagans according to their custom.
*
Another
instance of
It
was probably at the same time that the custom of turning to the East was introduced into the Church. For, however this ceremony may
be explained, it is altogether Pagan, and is connected with the worship of the Sun-god. Its extreme antiquity may be known from the fact
that, when God gave directions for the arrangements of the Tabernacle and
Temple, He caused the Holy of holies in both cases to be set in the West,* in order that His people might be clearly
distinguished from the idolaters around
them.
*
The longer sides of the Tabernacle were
to face the North and South respectively, so that they extended from East to
West (Exod. 26: 18-20). The West end was to be
completely boarded, like the sides, because the Holy of holies was to be
there (vv. 22-3). But the East end was
the entrance to the
It
is only by bearing this in mind that we can understand the deep significance of
a passage in Ezekiel. That prophet, when relating how he was
caught up by the Spirit and conveyed to Jerusalem to see the abominations which
had provoked God to doom both city and Sanctuary to destruction, thus describes
the last and greatest of them;- “And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and, behold, at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the Temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the East; and they worshipped the sun toward the East.”*
*
Ezek. 8: 15, 16. The number of
the men seems to indicate that they were the High Priest and the heads of the
twenty-four orders (1 Chron. 24.).
The
confusing and corrupting effects of
[311]
Certainly,
when the Church accepted the alliance of such a man, it might well have been
said of her, as of
VI
THE PARABLE
OF THE LEAVEN
IN this Parable we see before us a woman hiding leaven
in three measures of fine meal;* so that the process of
fermentation commences, and silently proceeds, until the whole is leavened. The
interpretation of the scene depends, of course, on the meaning to be given to leaven, which has been commonly supposed to
represent pure Christianity. But such an explanation
could only have originated in the minds of men who had determined it by their
own preconceived ideas of what the future should be, and not by patient
investigation: for leaven is an unmistakable symbol of sin and corruption, as
will appear from a consideration of the following points.
*
The measures are probably seahs, three of which were contained in an ephah; while the latter seems to have been a full measure for
baking. See Gen. 18:
6; Judg. 6: 19; 1 Sam. 1: 24.
I. The nature of the leaven used by the ancients, and
its consequent figurative meaning in the Heathen as well as the Jewish world.
[312]
II. The apparent basis of the Parable in the Old
Testament.
III. The invariable use of leaven as a symbol of es` in the
Bible.
IV. And the
fact that, if a contrary meaning were given to it in this instance, such an
interpretation would involve a doctrine not to be found elsewhere in Scripture.
I. In regard to the first point, the only leaven known
to the ancients was something sour; and the effect which it produced was
incipient corruption spreading through the dough and rendering it sour, and,
unless baked at the right time; positively corrupt. Hence, in speaking of
bread, the Hebrews used “sour” for leavened,
and “sweet” for unleavened. And hence, also, leaven became a symbol of corruption both to
the Jews and to many Heathen nations.
In
the Talmud it is a frequent figure for “evil
affections and the naughtiness of the heart,” and, among other
instances, we find the following prayer;- “Lord of
ages, it is revealed and known before Thy face that we would do Thy will; but
do Thou subdue that which hinders, namely, the leaven which is in the lump.”
One of the Rabbis also says;- “Trust not a proselyte till twenty-four generations; for he holds his
leaven.”
At
II. Our Lord, Who frequently founds His sayings upon
something written in the Old Testament, appears to have taken the present
Parable from the description [313]
of the meat-oblation in the second chapter of Leviticus.
That offering, which seems to represent the devotion of Christ, our Substitute,
in service, was of fine flour; and, if the flour were in any way baked, there
is an express injunction that no leaven should be in it. Moreover, this special
command is immediately followed by the general precept;-
“For ye shall
burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire.”*
Thus the woman, by putting leaven into the fine flour, was rendering it unfit
for an offering to the Lord.
*
Levit. 2: 11.
III. We are directed to
interpret Scripture by comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and leaven
is, without a single exception, used as a familiar and well-known figure of
corruption in both Old and New Testaments.
The Israelites were to put it away from their houses
at the Passover;* God would
have none of it offered upon His altar*
and it is expressly contrasted with salt, the symbol of purity.*** Accordingly, when Amos, in bitter irony, bids the
people multiply their transgressions and provoke God still further, he tells
them that this may be done by offering a sacrifice of thanks-giving with
leaven.****
*
Exod. 12: 15, 19, 20; 13: 6, 7; Deut. 16: 3, 4. ** Levit. 2: 4, 5, 11; 5: 17; 10: 12. *** Levit. 2: 11, 13. **** Amos
4: 4, 5.
But,
perhaps, the most striking instance of the figurative significance of leaven is
to be found in the description of the Feast of Pentecost.* On that occasion two ordinary leavened loaves, made
of the corn of the year, were to be brought forth from the habitations of the [314] Israelites to the altar, as the firstfruits unto the
Lord. But,
because there was leaven in them, they could not be burnt upon the altar and
ascend from it as a sweet savour, and were, therefore, set down before it.
These loaves, perhaps, symbolized the Church - which was called into existence
on the day of Pentecost by the descent of the Holy Spirit, as a kind of
firstfruits of creation** presented
before God, but unacceptable to Him on account of the
sin which is in it.
*
Levit. 23: 15-21. ** James 1:18.
Then
seven lambs without blemish, a young bullock, and two rams, were
offered for a burnt offering, as a type of the whole devotion of our
Substitute Christ, even to the death. Each of these
sacrifices was followed by its appropriate meat and drink offering, pointing to
His perfect and willing service in daily life, His fulfilment of the second
table of the Law for us. Then a kid of the goats was slain as a sin
offering, a shadow of Christ putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Lastly, two lambs were brought
to the altar for peace offerings; to set forth Christ reconciling us to God,
and restoring us to communion with Him.
And so, after the whole work of the Saviour had been thus
represented, the two loaves were taken up and waved before the Lord, and -
although they could not, indeed, be placed upon the altar, on account of their
leaven - were, nevertheless, accepted and passed on for the use of the priest -
a wondrous type of the Church, which, spite of all her faults, shall also be
accepted in the Beloved.
The sin, then, which cleaves to us, and renders us
unfit for the presence of God, unless we be cleansed in the blood and clothed
in the righteousness of Christ, is [315]
symbolized by leaven; and, in the New Testament, the Lord gives some hints
respecting special forms of this evil by warning His disciples to beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees,* the
Sadducees,** and the
Herodians*** - three Jewish sects
which are never without their counterparts in the professing Church.
* Luke
12: 1. ** Matt. 16: 6. *** Mark 8: 15.
Passing
on from the Gospels to the Epistles of Paul, we shall find other examples of
the symbolic meaning of leaven. On two occasions the apostle, when exhorting
churches to put away evil, remarks;- “A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump.” * And to one
of these admonitions he adds the significant words;- “Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump,
even as ye are unleavened. For our Passover also
hath been sacrificed, even Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither
with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but
with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.”** It is, then, an entire absence of all leaven which God desires in the Church; and we cannot
consent to set aside the emphatic and oft-repeated meaning of the symbol in the
single instance in which it has been disputed.
*1 Cor. 5: 6; Gal. 5: 9. **1 Cor. 5: 7, 8.
IV. Again; were we in this passage to interpret leaven
of a good influence, the Parable could only mean that all evil would be
overcome by a gentle, gradual, and almost imperceptible process; and it would
thus be made to contradict the whole testimony of the Bible. For the inspired writers
repeatedly affirm that wickedness will increase, until at length it [316] shall be forcibly checked by the interference of the
Lord Himself. The mystery of lawlessness had begun to work like leaven even in
apostolic times, and it must go on until its true nature be revealed in the person of the Lawless One. It is needless to multiply passages which speak of
evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived, of love
growing cold, and faith waning; passages which predict
that the world will again become corrupt and filled with violence as in the
days of Noah, will be reeking with the
foulest crimes, like the cities of the plain, so
that the Lord will come forth out of His place
to shake terribly the earth, and to punish
its inhabitants for their iniquity.
Even in this series of Parables we are taught that
wheat and tares must both grow together to the end of the age; that the
children of the Wicked One will be left undisturbed, until the Son of Man sends
forth His angels to gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them
which do iniquity; and that, after the net has been drawn to shore, the wicked shall be severed from among the righteous, but not made like
to them.
There
is, therefore, no doubt in regard to the Scriptural
significance of leaven, and if it be accepted, the Parable falls easily into
its place. The agent in the scene is a woman - the usual symbol of a system or
Church; and the fact that she is secretly corrupting the fine flour, acting like
the enemy who sowed tares upon the wheat, proves her to be
the Harlot, and not the true Church.
The
leaven is corrupt doctrine, and is
explained for us by Matthew in the words;- “Then understood they [317] how that He bade them not
beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducces.”*
* Matt. 16: 12.
In
the previous chapter we have attempted to describe the
manner in which Christianity began to be Heathenized. The process of transformation
continued, until the truths of revelation were entirely changed by the gradual
admixture of human traditions and philosophies, which, like leaven, were not
merely corrupt in themselves, but had also the
property of imparting their own nature to that with which they were mingled.
The earthly agency by which this strange result was achieved
became more and more powerful under the name of “the
Catholic Church.” And so effectual was its organization, and so vigorous
its action, that in a short time the whole society of the Roman world was
interpenetrated with its influence, and men regarded themselves as Christians
when they were really polytheistic idolaters who had changed the names of their
gods.
The
three kinds of leaven mentioned by the Lord may be easily
distinguished in this apostasy. In both the Greek and
the Latin communities there has ever been a sufficiency of Pharisees, those who
have, perhaps, some kind of faith in what they teach, but who put their trust
in outward forms, in the traditions of men, and in the authority of their own
Church; while they look down, sometimes with pity, but more frequently in a
spirit of contempt and persecution, upon all who venture to differ from them.
And again; there is always a plentiful sprinkling of Sadducees,
men who decline, more or less, to believe [318] anything which they have not experienced, or cannot
understand; who disparage revelation, avoid all mention of the supernatural,
and are ever unwilling to speak of the atonement; who dream that the new birth
can be effected by education, human philosophy, and the practice of virtue and
philanthropy; and who, while apparently acquiescing in the doctrines and
practices of their Church, are in their hearts altogether indifferent to them;
nay, are often possessed with a bitter spirit of scepticism which resents the
very suggestion of God. When the
false religion is growing old in a land, and its authority is becoming relaxed,
these men are the fungi which draw life from its
decay: they multiply in numbers and increase in boldness, until at length they
throw off all disguise, and openly avow their real sentiments, and their hatred
of every form of worship. Such are the dregs which Romanism invariably leaves
behind it when all else has evaporated.
Of
Herodians, who would support religion by the arm of secular power, and who
consider political intrigue a fitting means for advancing the interests of
Christ’s Kingdom, it is needless to speak. Men of this class have ever been conspicuous in the communities of
apostate Churches,
and in none more than that of
But
there are also many misguided believers,
of more orthodox views, who so mind
earthly things that they are often found to be practically regarding the political
questions of the day as more important than the far weightier matters of the
heavenly Kingdom. And
they persuade themselves to such a state of mind by the false assumption that
the present work of Christ is to improve the world, forgetting that He bids us rather co-operate with Him in
gathering His elect out of it.
Such,
then, was the period of the leaven; nor have reformations or revivals, however
great their partial success, been
able to free Christendom from its pernicious influence. It is still found, to a greater or less extent,
and in one or other of its forms, in
every Church and sect: it continues
to work in the whole mass of professing Christians, though sometimes one of its developments may be more powerful, sometimes another. Hitherto the Pharisean
and Herodian elements have usually been the most prominent; but for a long time the Sadducean* has been
rapidly increasing, and this will probably be the chief agent in forcing the
mystery of lawlessness to its climax. All
three will, however, remain active until the end, and, in their final
development, are possibly represented by the three unclean spirits of the Sixth
Vial, which will drive men on to the last extreme of rebellion, and “gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”*
[* Keep in mind: The Sadducees refused to believe in the
Resurrection and Angels!]
* Rev. 16: 13, 14.
VII
THE PARABLE
OF THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD
There is now a pause in our Lord’s discourse, and the
remaining Parables are spoken to the disciples alone.
Some turning-point is indicated, and possibly a more
confined area, as though the action of this scene would, in the main, be
restricted to a few favoured countries of Christendom. And so
we seem to recognize the results brought about by the Reformation. The
ceaseless working and rapid progress of the leaven is checked; but that is all:
the leaven is not itself purged away. Only that which
had been [320] active for
evil now settles down into a cold inert mass so that the outward appearance of the nominal Church is that of a field. Nevertheless, hidden beneath its unpromising surface lies the
heavenly treasure.
The
description is wonderfully true when applied to the times of Protestant deadness which, quickly following the Reformation, lasted on with
but few signs of life to vary their monotony until it was broken by the
preaching of Wesley, Whitefield, and others. For after the
enthusiasm of the conflict with
Soon
the peoples of Christendom among whom the Reformation had triumphed were
divided off into sharply-defined sects, like fenced
fields. Each of these sects held the life-giving doctrine of the atonement: but
it was often concealed more or less by other
teachings, which in some cases seemed to have been very imperfectly purged from
the leaven.
During
this period the number of believers was usually increased
in the manner indicated by the Parable. A man would, as it were by chance,* hear [321]
the Gospel of Christ, and, having received it, would in his joy buy the whole
field, that is, accept, at any cost to himself, all the doctrines of the
community of Christians in which he had found his treasure. This
was a very characteristic feature of the times from the Reformation to the
middle of the present century: the generality of good men, after finding the
heavenly treasure in some professing body, while holding firmly, indeed, to
fundamental and vital truths, would in other matters thenceforth read the word
of God, not independently, but by the light of, and to prove the correctness
of, the doctrines which they had adopted. And
the various Protestant Churches, while conceding salvation to all believers in
Christ’s atonement, were wont, nevertheless, to preserve strongly-marked lines
of separation, and to remember their distinctive tenets.
*
The husbandman found the treasure: while
he was engaged in ordinary work, his ploughshare or mattock, perhaps, struck
upon something which proved to be valuable. It was,
then, an instance of what we call treasure-trove. And,
consequently, the interpretation of those who see Christ in the husbandman, and
His people in the treasure, leads to very strange results. Surely
our Lord did not accidentally light upon His Church, while He was about some
other business in the world! And His people can
scarcely be called treasures at the time when He finds them: they become so afterwards,
by His grace, as new creations in Him.
VIII
THE PARABLE
OF THE
IN this similitude the scene again changes: the solid field breaks
up into the ever-shifting waves of the sea, and the secret of the Kingdom [as a
reward and inheritance] is found as a pearl in its lowest depths. This points to times like those on which we seem already to
be entering; times in which the narrow boundaries of sect are becoming
indistinct, and are little noticed, while almost every man holds his own
peculiar opinions. And, just as the pearl lies far beneath the restless surface
of the waves, so, in no [322]
distant day, will the word of God be hidden beneath the many waters of
perpetually changing confessions, creeds, sects, opinions, and philosophies;
and still later, at the culmination of the great apostasy, its very existence
will be almost forgotten. The truth of God will be no more
found, as it were, accidentally - as a man unexpectedly stumbles upon
treasure-trove - but only by means of earnest inquiry.
For
in this case a merchant, who knows the value of pearls, is seeking for them;
and the reward of his diligence is the discovery of the pearl
of great price, to obtain which he gives up all that he
has. The Lord thus signifies that, even in the perilous times of the end, those who are really
desirous of truth will be guided to the great truth. But, as we learn from other prophecies, their sincerity will be sorely tested: they will have to turn away from that which
is exciting the enthusiasm of the whole world in order to begin the search; and, when they have been successful, may be required to surrender family, position, property, and even life itself, if they would possess the prize.
Since,
however, the merchant is able to
find the pearl, we are taught that
God will not leave Himself altogether
without witnesses while the Lawless One is reigning: there will yet be fishers [of men and
women], blessed
of Him, who will be empowered [with
the intelligence] to
bring up His truth from beneath the troubled waters of human opinions, and to offer it to those who are honestly
seeking for “glory and honour and immortality.”*
* We must carefully bear in mind that the merchant does not dive to bring
up the pearl from the deep, but merely purchases it from one who has previously
procured it. Great, therefore, is the mistake of interpreters who find in this
Parable a representation of Christ seeking and saving His Church.
[323]
If
we look around us, we cannot but suspect that we are living in the transitional
period between the previous Parable and that which we are now considering. Already, on every side, the fields of dogma are breaking up, and where one distinct and
unalterable law was wont to prevail,
there is nothing but uncertainty and innumerable opinions - opinions, too, which rarely claim to be derived from the revelation of God, but are avowedly based upon human
authority, whether ancient or modern, whether ecclesiastical or secular.
The
Protestant sects, as communities, attracted by human traditions and
philosophies, are ceasing to hold fast the Head, and becoming less and less
able to withstand the powerful influx of corruption. Those principles which
used to characterize them are, like houses, surprised by an inundation, already
tottering, and threatening every moment to fall through the violence of the
floods; so that shortly nothing will be seen but the tumultuous waters out of
which Satan will evoke the last great enemy of Christ.
Some
twenty or thirty years ago, the first slight advances of Secularism were viewed with alarm wherever they were discovered, and
the seven Essayists and Bishop Colenso regarded as strange teachers in the
The
scarcely noticed summer stream has swelled into a broad and foaming river, and
is bringing destruction with it from the mountains. We cannot hope to stay [324] its rapid tide; for it will prevail, until He appear unto Whom all
power is given. But we must not, therefore, remain
idle all the day: nay, we are exhorted to greater exertions as the difficulties
increase and the end approaches, lest the Lord coming suddenly should find us
sleeping. We can stand by the rushing torrent, and pull out many a one, who is being carried away by it, before his spirit is quite
extinguished: we can warn others, so that they may avoid it altogether. And by the mercy of God there are still large numbers of His
people thus employed. The energy of evil is for the present provoking some
little corresponding energy of good; but of this we
shall hear in our Lord’s second continuous prophecy. For in the Parables He
deals more especially with the general outward appearance of that which claims to be the Church
IX
THE PARABLE
OF THE NET CAST INTO THE SEA
The Lord has now completed the sad story of the
mingling of Satan’s tares with the wheat of God: it only
remains to speak of the final separation, which shall once more make it easy to
discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and
him that serveth Him not. And this time of
judgment is depicted in the Parable of the net.
The
sea here, as often in Scripture, represents the world in agitation. So the
Psalmist says of the Lord; - “Which stilleth the noise of
the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of
the peoples.”*
*
Psa. 65: 7. So, too, in Daniel’s vision, the four Gentile World-powers are seen to emerge from the raging sea.
The
net is the circle of the visible Church, all the Christian sects which are used for the gathering in of God’s people. We may, however, remark that nets do not catch all the fish of
the sea, nor is even a mere profession universal. Also that, although fish of
every kind are caught, there are at last but two sorts :
all are either good or bad.
The net is not brought to the shore,
which is the end of this age of restless confusion, until it is full: for God has fore-ordained how many of the human race shall come within
the circle of the Gospel during the times of the Gentiles. And the first indication
that it has been drawn up will be the removal of a number of believers into the
presence of their Lord: then the
separating process will be continued by a second ascension of saints, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet;
and finished by the appearing of the
Lord in glory and the destruction of the wicked. Thus the good will first be gathered into vessels, and then the bad will be cast away.
X
SUMMARY OF
THE SEVEN PARABLES
Such, then, is the first great revelation in regard to the career of the nominal Church. The Lord sows
good seed; but the bad soil of human hearts renders it for the most part
unfruitful. And where it is growing well, an enemy
causes disastrous confusion by stealthily introducing disguised children of the
Wicked One among the children of the Kingdom. Changed by this evil admixture,
the professing Church casts off her humility, and, ceasing to wait for the Lord
from heaven, strives [326]
to establish herself upon earth. Throwing aside the
cross, she desires to say, “I sit a queen, and am no widow”; and, in order to gratify her ambition, enters into a
shameful alliance with the great ones of earth, and suffers the Powers of
Darkness, the devourers of the word, to take shelter in her branches. With such
counsellors and helpers she organizes herself, and so
corrupts the whole word of God by the teachings of demons that it can no longer
be recovered, any more than fine flour can be again purified from that which
has once leavened it. After a while there follows a time of
partial revival, corresponding to the reformation of the Jews under Zerubbabel
and Joshua, but also resembling that movement in its speedy subsidence to
apathy and deadness. During this period, however, the word is able to be separated from the field, though it could not
be recovered from the leaven, and many a one comes upon it unexpectedly, and
receives it with joy as a great treasure, although in order to obtain it he
must needs buy the whole field. Then the word is again hidden;
not, however, at this time by fixed and rigid dogmas, but by opinions of
perplexing variety which are ever shifting like the waves of the sea. Yet the agitated and
threatening state of the world moves some to search earnestly for Divine
revelation and truth,
and those who do so find the pearl of great price, and if they are willing to give up all else, may possess and enjoy it. At the close of
this period the Lord suddenly begins to pass in review the whole of
Christendom, all the nations who have heard His Gospel, and by taking those who
have accepted it to Himself, and casting the obstinately rebellious into a
furnace of fire, at length effects the separation which His servants are not [327]
permitted to attempt, and finishes the mystery of God.
Who
can thoughtfully consider these Parables and refuse to admit their striking
fulfilment, thus far, in the history of the professing Church, together with
the grave inference that the days of this dispensation are numbered?
XI
THE PLAN OF
THE APOCALYPSE
Before we
examine the prophecy contained in the Epistles to the Seven Churches, it will
be necessary to have some idea of the general scheme of the Apocalypse - that
last gift of the Lord Jesus to His people, that book without a little
understanding of which it is unlikely that any Christian will be kept from the
delusions, religious and political, which are now overspreading the earth. “Blessed is he that readeth,
and they that
hear, the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein: for the time is at
hand.”
The
beloved apostle was suffering affliction, on the barren
He
was, as he tells us, “in spirit on the Lord’s day,” that is, according
to the majority of interpreters, “in spirit on the
first day of the week.” But by such an
explanation John is made to introduce a term unknown to the New Testament in
place of the invariable designation of the Christian Sabbath. Moreover, the sense
thus educed is weak and inadequate, having no apparent connection with the revelations which follow.
[328]
To
us, then, although we admit a slight grammatical difficulty,* the rendering, “I was in spirit in the Day
of the Lord,” seems far more probable,
and by adopting it we both secure a vigorous sense which bears upon the whole.
Book, and at the same time preserve for the expression, “the Lord’s day,” or the day belonging to the Lord,
that meaning which, however much subsequent usage may have departed from it, is
always retained in the Old and New Testaments.
*
We speak of it as slight, because the
Greek of the Apocalypse is by no means severe Attic, and John may have had in
mind rather the fact that he found himself in the Day of the Lord than that he was projected thither. In that case there
would be little difference between the construction of this sentence and the [Greek
words…] of the preceding verse.
A
good parallel to [the Greek words …], in the sense
of the Day of the Lord, may be found in Paul’s use of
… “man’s day” in opposition to it. See 1
Cor. 4: 3-5. The E. V.
has “man’s judgment,” which is, however, an
exposition, not a translation.
By
the words “in spirit” John explains his own condition: he was not, like Paul
on a similar occasion, uncertain in regard to it, but fully aware that he was
out of the body and on the plane of spirit. “In the Day
of the Lord,” on the contrary, has reference to the external
surroundings in which he found himself, and furnishes us with a general clue
for the interpretation of the visions. A strictly analogous description may be
found in the second verse of the fourth chapter, where he says;- “And immediately I was in spirit: and, behold, a Throne.”
If
the clause be thus understood, it contains an announcement that the vision is
for the time of the end, dealing first with Christ’s judgment of the whole
career of His Church, and then passing on to the last of the Seventy Weeks in
which He will have His great [329]
controversy with Jew and Gentile. Such a meaning will be in exact accord with
the nineteenth verse, and also, as we shall presently
see, with the whole structure of the Book.
While,
then, in spirit, and disengaged from earthly things, John suddenly heard behind
him a great voice, like that of a trumpet, saying;- “What thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the Seven Churches; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto
Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and
unto Laodicea.”
At
the sound of this voice John turned, and beheld a vision
which, at first, may have suggested to him the
What
he saw was the heavenly Sanctuary arranged for the present parenthetical
dispensation. And, consequently, all that had formerly
represented Christ was now removed, because He was present in His own person:
John beheld nothing save the Lord and the symbols of the Church for which He
had died. There were seven separate lamps of gold, connected only by their
association with a glorious Priestly Figure walking in the midst of them.
But
why this change from the one seven-branched lamp of Israelitish times?* The Lord Himself presently 330 gives the reason: each lamp represents the Church of
a particular place; so that they indicate locality, and not, as some have
supposed, the human divisions of sect, which could never be recognized in the
heavenly Sanctuary.
*
It will, perhaps, occur to the reader
that there were ten lampstands in the
In
the Temples of Zerubbabel (1 Mace. 1: 21; 4: 49) and Herod, also, we hear of
but one, which, upon the destruction of its last resting place, was carried to Rome,
and, after having graced the triumph of Titus, was deposited in the Temple of
Peace. According to one legend it was finally lost in
the Tiber, having fallen into the water from the Milvian
bridge during the headlong flight of Maxentius from
In
the previous dispensation there had been one earthly
and visible centre of worship; and, to signify this, the lamp of the Tabernacle
was in one piece. But now there is no
*
1 Cor. 1: 2.
Alas!
that Christians should so often ignore this fact of
their unity; or, if their lips confess it, convict themselves of hypocrisy by
their deeds! Yet, even though they be born again, God can only delight in them while they are walking as brethren; for they are members of Christ’s body, of His flesh and of His bones. The 331 distinctions of sect, however impossible it may be to
get rid of them in this present distress, owe their existence to human sin and
lack of love. Consequently, they will altogether disappear when the Church is
glorified, and should be kept as much as possible out
of sight in the Church militant.
Standing,
then, in the midst of the golden lamps was the majestic form of the High Priest
Who has entered into the heavens, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
John did not, however, see Him in the heavenly Holy of
holies turned toward God in intercession, but in the
He
was clad in a garment reaching down to the feet, and girt with a golden girdle.
His head and His hair were white and lustrous; His eyes like flames of fire;
His feet as brass glowing in the furnace; and an effort is
made to give some idea of the fulness and majesty of His voice by the
glorious comparison that it was as the sound of many waters. In His right 332 hand - held, perhaps, as a garland - were seven
stars; and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: while the face, in
which there was once no beauty to be desired, the visage, which was so marred
more than any man, was now resplendent as the sun shining in his strength.
And
although even this was far from being the fulness of His glory, yet the beloved
disciple was unable to bear it, and fell at His feet as dead.
Then
the Lord touched him, and again John heard the loving words, “Fear not,”
and was strengthened to receive the command;- “Write the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass after these.”* It was thus evidently implied that the revelation to be written
by the apostle would consist of three distinct parts: unless, therefore, we can
so divide the Apocalypse, it is useless to think of interpreting it.
* Dean Alford strongly supports a different rendering of this verse;- “Write the things which thou
sawest, and what things they signify, and the things which are about to happen after these.”
The change is scarcely necessary, and, if it be preferred,
does not affect our interpretation. For the exposition of
what John saw must still reveal the things that are, or the present
Church-period as symbolised by the lampstands in the Sanctuary. And the first verse of the fourth chapter still marks the transition
from this dispensation to that which shall follow it.
Now in regard to the first division there can be no
difficulty: “the
things which thou sawest”* can only refer to the vision of the heavenly
Sanctuary, by which 333
the difference between the Christian Church and the Jewish system had been
exhibited, and the solemn fact revealed that the Lord’s eyes of flame are ever
upon those who profess to be His.
*
The aorist tense …, which should be
rendered, “thou sawest,” and which is repeated in the following verse, seems to imply that the
vision had already passed away. In the fourth and succeeding chapters
the Sanctuary is altogether different. The laver, the altars, and, finally, the
ark of the covenant, reappear, showing that the
prophecy is then concerned with the Jews of the last days.
“The
things that are” - or a prophetic outline
of the phases of the nominal Church, which were to succeed each other during
the present age - naturally follow in the next chapter. They are also continued in the third, but no further:
for, in the first verse of the fourth chapter, John sees a door opened in
heaven, and hears a voice saying;- “Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass after
these.”
Then
the scene is shifted from earth to heaven and the ascent of the apostle is
doubtless a type of that translation of believers which will close “the things that are,” and announce the approaching resumption of the
suspended covenant with
For we must not forget the difference between the
previous age and the present time of grace, in that God had then a visible
Kingdom upon earth, which is 334
not the case now. Consequently,
during that period, judgment was to be executed upon
those who broke His law: vengeance, as we so often find in the Psalms was
imprecated upon all who feared Him not; and it was right to destroy His enemies
with the sword.
But the [Holy] Spirit
descended upon our Lord in the form of a harmless dove: and, accordingly, we
discover nothing in His teaching or example analogous to the slaying of the
firstborn, or the overwhelming of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; nothing
like the extirpation of the Canaanites, or the calling down of fire from heaven
to consume the adversaries. On the
contrary, when His disciples would have had Him imitate Elijah, He replied;- “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives,
but to save them.” Hence any desire of vengeance is
unlawful for believers of our age: we are required
to love our enemies; and even if we
should be persecuted to the death,
have for our prayers only such models as, “Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do”; or, “Lord, lay not this sin to
their charge.”
The [Holy] Spirit
will, however, in His dove-like form, ascend with the translated Church; and,
therefore, in the fourth chapter His influence is very differently represented
as “seven torches
of fire burning before the throne”
- an appearance which corresponds with Isaiah’s prophecy that God will, in the
times of the end, purge “the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the Spirit
of judgment, and by the Spirit of burning.”
And this
change in the form of the Heavenly Power soon manifests its solemn meaning:
for, in the sixth 335
chapter, the plagues of God begin to trouble the world, and the martyrs beneath
the altar are heard crying for vengeance. Nor does their petition seem strange
when, in the seventh chapter, we discover that Israelites are again the people
of the Lord, and that those who are sealed for
preservation are of the Twelve Tribes. And, a little
later, the commission given to the Two Witnesses to destroy
those who would hurt them, and the terrible severity with
which they exercise their power,
prove that they also are not subject to the laws now in force, but are connected with the dispensation of Moses
and Elijah.
It
will thus be seen that the plan of the Apocalypse presents no serious
difficulty, provided that we remember its threefold
division, and interpret it by means of the great clue, the prophecy of
the Seventy Weeks, We may sum up its contents as follows.
Chap. 1. is a vision of the heavenly
Sanctuary prepared for these present times.
Chaps. 2. and 3. reveal the whole career of
the visible Church, from the close of the Apostolic period until the Lord
comes.
Chaps. 4. and 5. exhibit the preparations in
heaven for the judgments of the Last Week.
Chaps. 6.
- 18.
describe the appalling culmination of wickedness in the last
seven years: they also foretell the judgments by which those who corrupt the
earth shall be destroyed, while the remnant of Israel is being purged and
delivered from the oppression of the world by such fearful signs, and wonders,
and plagues, that it shall no more be said;- “The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt; but, the
Lord liveth, that brought 336
up the children of Israel from the
land of the North, and from all the lands whither He had driven them.”
These chapters are generally consecutive: we have first the seals, the seventh
of which includes the seven trumpets; and then the last trumpet is developed into the seven vials, the final plagues by
which the wrath of God is completed. Chaps. 11.
- 15.
seem to be a parenthesis inserted for the purpose of
supplying details of the times of the seals, trumpets, and vials. The seventeenth
chapter is partly concerned with the
previous history of the Woman and the Beast, in order that the last scene in
their joint history may be better understood: the eighteenth describes the fall of
Chaps. 19.
- 22. treat of the
appearing of the Lord, of the destruction of His enemies, and of the setting up
of His [Messianic and Millennial] Kingdom. Then there is a brief notice of a rebellion
which will follow the loosing of Satan from the abyss at the end of the thousand
years, and also of the last judgment; and the prophecy closes with a
description of the heavenly city.
If
it be thus interpreted, the Revelation is no longer a sealed
book. Those portions of it which have already become
history may be explained without difficulty; while the remainder is, in general
outline at least, sufficiently easy of comprehension.
*
* * *
* * *
[PART
TWO]
CONFLICT
By THOMAS CHARLES EDWARDS, D.D.*
[* From
CHAPTER XIV (pp. 272-289)
in the author’s book: “The Epistle To The Hebrews.”]
HODDER AND
27. PATERNOSTER ROW
MDCCCLXXXVIII
-------
[PAGE 272]
“Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every
weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the Cross, despising shame,
and hath sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that hath endured such
gainsaying of sinners against themselves, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. We
have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: and ye have forgotten
the exhortation, which reasoneth with you as with sons*,
[* BOLD type
throughout is mine and used for emphasis.]
My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord,
Nor
faint when thou art reproved of Him;
For whom
the Lord loveth He chasteneth,
And
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons for what son
is there whom his father chasteneth
not? But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we had the
fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave
them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto
the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few
days chastened us as seemed good to
them; but He
for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous, but grievous: yet afterward
it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them
that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness. Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees; and
make straight paths for your feet, that that
which is lame be not
turned out of the way, but rather be healed. Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which
no man shall see the Lord:
looking carefully lest there be any
man that falleth short of the grace of
God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be
defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or
profane person, as Esau, who for
one mess of meat sold his
own birthright. For ye
know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected (for he found no place of
repentance), though he sought it diligently
with tears.” - HEB.
12: 1-17 (R.V.).
*
* *
[273]
[PART TWO]
CHAPTER
XIV
CONFLICT*
[*THIS IS THE
GREATEST DANGER FOR THOSE WHO ARE TEMPTED TO COMPROMISE
WITH GOD’S
COMMANDS AND TRUTHS: (SEE EZEKIEL 3. & 33, R.V.).]
THE author has told his readers that they have need of endurance;* but when he
connects this endurance with faith,
he describes faith, not as an enduring of present evils, but as an assurance of things hoped for in the future. His meaning undoubtedly is that assurance of the future gives strength to
endure the present. These are two
distinct aspects of faith. In the eleventh chapter both sides of faith are illustrated in the long
catalogue of believers under the Old Testament. Examples of men waiting for the
promise and having an assurance of things hoped for come first. They are Abel,
Enoch,. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and Joseph. In some measure
these witnesses of God suffered; but the more prominent feature of their faith
was expectation of a future blessing. Moses
is next mentioned. He marks a transition. In him the two qualities of faith appear to strive for the
pre-eminence. He chooses to be evil
entreated with the [274] people of God, because he knows that the enjoyment of sin is short-lived; he suffers the reproach of Christ, and looks away from it to the recompense of reward. After him conflict and
endurance are more prominent in the history of believers than assurance of the
future. Many of these later heroes of faith had a more or less dim vision of
the unseen; and in the case of those of whose faith nothing is
said in the Old Testament except that they endured, the other phase of
this spiritual power is not wanting. For the Church is one
through the ages,
and the clear eye of an earlier period
cannot be disconnected from the strong arm of a later time.
*
Heb.10: 36.
In
the twelfth chapter the two aspects of faith exemplified in the saints of
the Old Testament are urged on the Hebrew Christians. Now practically for the
first time in the Epistle the writer addresses himself to the difficulties and
discouragements of a state of conflict. In the earlier chapters
he exhorted his readers to hold fast their own individual confession of Christ.
In the later portions he exhorted them to quicken the
faith of their brethren in the Church assemblies. But
his account of the worthies of the Old Testament in the previous chapter has
revealed a special adaptedness in faith to meet the actual condition of his
readers. We gather froni the tenor of the passage
that the Church had to contend against evil men. Who they [275]
were we do not know. They were “the sinners.” Our author is
claiming for the Christian Church the right to speak of the men outside in the
language used by Jews concerning the heathen; and it is not at all unlikely
that the unbelieving Jews themselves - [as well as disobedient and
apostate Christians*] - are here meant. His readers had to endure the
gainsaying of sinners, who poured contempt on Christianity, as they had also
covered Christ Himself with shame. The Church might have to resist unto blood
in striving against the encompassing sin. Peace is to be sought and
followed after with all men, but not to the
injury of that sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.** The true people of God must go forth unto Jesus
without the camp of Judaism, bearing His reproach.*
[* See Acts 20: 30;
This
is an advance in the thought. Our author does not exhort his readers
individually to steadfastness, nor the Church
collectively to mutual oversight. He has before his eyes the conflict of the
Church against wicked men, whether in sheep’s clothing or without the fold. The
purport of the passage may be thus stated: Faith as a hope of the future is a faith to endure in the present
conflict against men. The reverse of this is equally
true and important: that faith as a strength to endure the
gainsaying of men is the faith that [276] presses on
toward the goal unto the ‘prize’ of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The
connecting link between these two representations of faith is to be found in the illustration with which the chapter opens. A race implies both a hope - [if ‘accounted worthy’ of the inheritance during the
coming ‘age’]* - and a contest.
[* See Luke 20: 35; Phil. 3: 11; cf.
Heb. 11: 35b; Rev. 2: 10, 25; 3: 10, 11, 21; 14: 12; 20: 4, 5, R.V.).]
The
hope of faith is simple and well
understood. It has been made abundantly clear in the
Epistle. It is to obtain the fulfilment of the promise made
to Abraham and renewed to other [regenerate] believers time after time, under the old covenant. “For we who believe
do enter into God’s rest.”*
“They that have been called receive the promise of the
eternal [Gk.
‘aionios’] inheritance.”** “We have
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus!”*** In the latter part of the chapter the writer speaks of his readers as having already
attained. They have come to God, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. In the first verse
he urges them to run the race, so as to secure for themselves the blessing. He
points them to Jesus, Who has run the race before them and won the crown, Who sits on the right hand of God, with authority to reward
all who reach the goal. Both representations are perfectly consistent. Men do
enter into immediate communion with God on earth; but they attain
it by effort of faith.
* Chap. 4: 3. ** Chap.
9: 15.
*** Chap. 10: 19.
[277]
Such
is the aim, of faith. The conflict is more complex and difficult to explain.
There is, first of all, a conflict in the preparatory
training, and this is twofold. We have to strive against ourselves and against
the world. We must put away our own grossness,*
as athletes rid themselves by severe training of all superfluous flesh. Then we must also put away from us the sin that surrounds us, that
quite besets us, on all sides,** whether in the world or in the Church,
as runners must have the course cleared and the crowd of onlookers that press
around removed far enough to give them the sense of breathing freely and
running unimpeded in a large space. The word “besetting” does not refer to the special sin to which every
individual is most prone. No thoughtful man but has felt himself encompassed by
sin, not merely as a temptation, but much more as an overpowering force,
silent, passive, closing in upon him on all sides, - a constant pressure from
which there is no escape. The sin and misery of the world has staggered reason
and left men utterly powerless to resist or to alleviate the infinite evil.
Faith alone surmounts these preliminary difficulties of the Christian life.
Faith delivers us from grossness of spirit, from lethargy, earthliness, stupor.
Faith will also lift us above the terrible [278] pressure of the world’s sin. Faith has the heart that
still hopes, and the hand that still saves. Faith resolutely puts away from her
whatever threatens to overwhelm and impede, and makes for herself a large room
to move freely in.
* 12:
1. ** [See Greek …] 2: 10.
Then comes the actual
contest. Our author says “contest.”*
For the conflict is against evil men. Yet it is, in a true and vital sense, not
a contest of the kind which the word naturally
suggests. Here the effort is not to be first at the goal. We run the race “through endurance.” Mental suffering is of the essence of the conflict. Our success in winning ‘the prize’
does not mean the failure of others.
The failure of our rivals does not imply that we attain the mark. In fact, the Christian life is not the competition of rivals, but the enduring of shame at the hands of
evil men, which endurance is a
discipline. Maybe we do not
sufficiently lay to heart that the discipline of life consists mainly in
overcoming rightly and well the antagonism of men. The one bitterness in the life of our Lord Himself was the malice of
the wicked. Apart from that
unrelenting hatred we may regard His short life as
serenely happy. The warning which He addressed to His
disciples was that they should beware of men. But,
though wisdom is necessary, the [279]
conflict must not be shunned. When it is over, nothing will more astonish the
man of faith than that he should have been afraid, so weak did malice prove to
be.
* [See Greek…]
To
run our course successfully, we must keep our eyes steadily fixed on Jesus.* It is true we are compassed
about with a cloud of God’s faithful witnesses. But
they are a cloud. The word signifies not merely that they are a large
multitude, but also that we cannot distinguish individuals in the immense
gathering of those who have gone before. The Church has always cherished a hope
that the saints [angels]* of heaven are near us, perhaps seeing our efforts to
follow their glorious example. Beyond this we dare not go. Personal communion
is possible to the believer on earth with One only of
the inhabitants of the spiritual world. That One is Jesus Christ. Even faith
cannot discern the individual saints that compose the cloud. But
it can look away from all of them to Jesus. It looks unto Jesus as He is and as
He was: as He is for help; as He was for a perfect
example.
Chapt. 12:
2.
[* NOTE: The words ‘the saints of heaven’ would suggest
“… that the resurrection is
past already” (2 Tim. 2: 18, R.V.)! ‘angels of
heaven are near us’ is much better.]
1.
Faith regards Jesus as He is,- the “Leader and Perfecter.” The words are an allusion to what the writer has
already told us in the Epistle concerning Jesus. He is “the Captain or Leader of our
salvation,”* [280] and “by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified!' ** He leads onward our faith till
we attain the goal, and for every advance we make in the course He strengthens,
sustains, and in the end completes our faith. The runner, when he seizes the
crown, will not be found to have been exhausted by his
efforts. High attainments demand a correspondingly great faith.
* Chapt. 2: 10. ** Chap. 10: 14. - [See Greek…]
Many
expositors think the words which we have rendered “Leader” and “Perfecter” refer
to Christ’s own faith. But the words will hardly admit
of this meaning. Others think they are intended to
convey the notion that Christ is the Author of our faith in its weak beginnings
and the Finisher of it when it attains perfection. But the use which the Apostle has made of the words “Leader of salvation” in chap. 2. seems to prove that here also he understands by
“Leader” One Who will bring our faith onward safely to the end of the course.
The distinction is rather between
rendering us certain of winning the ‘crown’ and
making our faith large and noble enough to be worthy of wearing it.
2. Faith regards Jesus as He was on
earth, the perfect example of victory through endurance.
He has acquired His power to lead onward and to make [281] perfect our faith by His own exercise of faith. He is
“Leader”
because He is “Forerunner;” ** He is “Perfecter”
because He Himself has been perfected.*** He endured a cross. The author leaves
it to his readers to imagine all that is implied in
the awful word. More is involved in the Cross
than shame. For the shame of the Cross
He could afford to despise. But there was in the
Cross what He did not despise; yea, what drew tears and strong cries from Him
in the agony of His soul. Concerning this, whatever it was, the
author is here silent, because it was
peculiar to Christ, and could never
become an example to others, except indeed in the faith that
enabled Him to endure it.
*Chap. 10: 14. ** Chap.
6: 20. *** Chap. 7: 28.
Even
in the gainsaying of men there was an element which He
did not despise, but endured.
He understood that their gainsaying was
against themselves.* It would end, not merely in putting Him to an open shame, but in their own destruction.
This caused keen suffering to His holy and loving spirit. But
He endured it, as He endured the Cross itself in all its mysterious import. He
did not permit the sin and perdition of the world to overwhelm Him. His faith
resolutely put away from Him the deadly pressure. On the one hand, He did not
despise sin; on the other, He was not crushed by its
weight. He calmly endured.
* Chap. 12: 3. - [Reading Greek …]
[282]
But He
endured through faith, as an assurance of things hoped for and the proving of
things not seen. He hoped to attain the joy which
was set before Him as the prize to be won. The connection of the
thought with the general subject of the whole passage satisfies us that the
words translated “for the joy set before Him”
are correctly so rendered, and do not mean that Christ chose the suffering and
shame of the Cross in preference to the enjoyment of sin. This also is
perfectly true, and more true of Christ than it was
even of Moses. But the Apostle’s main
idea throughout is that faith in the form of assurance and faith in the form of
enduring go together. Jesus endured because He looked
for a future joy as His recompense of reward; He attained the joy through His endurance.
But, as
more than shame was involved in His Cross, more also than joy was reserved for Him in
reward. Through His Cross He became “the Leader and Perfecter” of our faith. He was exalted to be the Sanctifier
of His people. “He has sat down on the right hand of God.”
Our
author proceeds: Weigh this in the balance.*
Compare this quality of faith with your own. Consider who He was and what you
are. When you have well understood the difference, remember that He endured, 283 as you [are
expected by Him to]
endure, by faith. He put His trust in God.** He was faithful to Him Who had constituted Him what He became through
His assumption of flesh and blood.*** He
offered prayers and supplications to Him Who was able to save Him out of death, yet piously committed Himself to the
hands of God. The gainsaying of men brought Him to the bloody death of the Cross. You also are
marshalled in battle array, in the conflict against the
sin of the world. But the Leader
only has shed His blood - as yet. Your hour may be drawing nigh! Therefore be not weary in striving to reach the goal! Faint not in enduring the conflict!
The two sides of faith are still in the
Author’s thoughts.
* Chap. 12: 3. **Chap.
2: 13. *** Chap. 3: 2.
It
would naturally occur to the readers of the Epistle to ask why they might not
end their difficulties by shunning the conflict. Why might they not enter into fellowship
with God without coming into conflict with men? But
this cannot be. Communion with God requires personal fitness of
character, and manifests itself in inward peace. This fitness, again, is the result of
discipline, and the discipline
implies endurance. “It is for discipline that ye endure.”
* [See Greek…] (Chap.
12: 7,
where the verb is indicative, not imperative).
The
word translated “discipline” suggests the notion 284 of a child with his
father. But it is noteworthy that the Apostle does not
use the word “children” in his illustration, but the word “sons.” This was occasioned partly by the fact that the citation from the
Book of Proverbs
speaks of “sons.” But, in addition to this, the author’s mind
seems to be still lingering with the remembrance of Him Who
was Son of God [or God the ‘only begotten Son’]. For discipline is the lot and privilege of all [who are] sons. Who is a son whom his father does not discipline? There might have been One.
But even He humbled Himself to learn obedience through
sufferings. Absolutely every
son undergoes discipline.
Furthermore,
the fathers of our bodies kept us under discipline, and we not only submitted,
but even gave them reverence, though their discipline was not intended to have
effect for more than the few days of our pupil-age, and though in that short
time they were liable to error in their treatment of us. How much more shall we subject ourselves to the discipline of God!
He is not only the God of all spirits and of all flesh,* but also the Father of our spirits; that is, He has created our spirit after His own likeness, and made it capable, through
discipline, of partaking in His own
holiness, which will be our true [inheritance* and] and everlasting
life. The gardener breaks the hard ground, uproots weeds, lops [285] off branches; but the consequence of his rough
treatment is that the fruit at last hangs on the bough. We are God’s tillage. Our conflict with men and their sin is watched and
guided by a [heavenly, all-knowing, and loving] Father. The fruit consists in the calm after the storm, the peace of a good conscience, the silencing of accusers, the putting wicked men to shame, the reverence which righteousness extorts
even from enemies. In
the same book from which our author has cited far-reaching instruction, we are told that “when a man’s ways
please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.”**
*
Num. 16: 22. ** Prov. 16: 7.
[* See the chosen text on the photograph. Many Christians
are today, not aware of the dangers of going down a dangerous road, which will
lead them to the loss of the promised ‘inheritance’
and ‘prize’!]
Here,
again, the Apostle addresses his readers as members of the Church in its
conflict with men. He tells them that, in doing what is incumbent upon them as
a Church towards different classes of men, they secure for themselves
individually the discipline of sons and may hope - [during
“the age to come”]* -
to reap the fruit of that discipline in peace and righteousness. The Church has a duty to perform towards the weaker brethren, towards the enemy at the gate, and towards the Esaus
whose worldliness imperils the purity of others.
[* See Heb. 6: 3-6, R.V.]
1.
There were among them weaker brethren, the nerves of whose hands and knees were
unstrung. They could neither combat a foe nor run the race. It was for 286 the Church to smooth the ruggedness of the road before
its feet, that the lame things* (for so,
with something of contempt, he names the waverers) might not be turned out of
the course by the pressure of the other runners. Rather than permit this, let
the Church lift up their drooping hands and sustain their palsied knees, that
they may be healed of their lameness.
* Chapt. 12: 13.
[See Greek …]
2. As to enemies and persecutors, it is
the duty of the Church to follow after peace with all men,
as much as in her lies. Christians may sacrifice almost anything for peace, but not their own priestly consecration, without which no man shall see the Lord Jesus at His appearing. He will be seen only by
those who eagerly expect Him unto salvation.*
* Chapt. 9:
28.
3.
The consecration of the Church is maintained by watchfulness* against
every tendency to alienation from the grace of God, to bitterness against God and the brethren, to sensuality and profane worldliness. All must watch over themselves and over all the brethren. The danger, too, increases if it is neglected. It
begins in withdrawing from the Church assemblies, where the influences of grace are manifested. It grows into the poisonous plant of a bitter
spirit, which, “like a root that beareth gall and wormwood,” spreads 287
through “a family or tribe,”**
and turns away their heart from the Lord to go and serve the gods of the
nations. “The many are defiled.” The Church as a whole becomes infected. But bitterness of spirit is not the only fruit of
selfishness. On the same tree sensuality grows, which God will
punish when the Church cannot detect its presence.***
* Chap. 12: 15. - [see Greek…]. ** Deut. 29: 28. *** Chapt. 13: 4.
From
the stem of selfishness, which will not brook the restraints
of Church communion, springs, last and most dangerous of all, the profane, worldly spirit, which denies and mocks the very idea of
consecration. It is the spirit of Esau, who
bartered the right of the first-born to the promise of the covenant for one
mess of pottage.
The author calls attention to the
incident, as it displays Esau’s contempt of the promise made to Abraham and his
own father Isaac. His thoughts never
rose above the [present] earth. “What profit
shall this birthright do to me?”* We must
distinguish between the birthright - [belonging to first-born sons] - and the blessing. The former carried with it the
great promise given to Abraham with an oath on Moriah: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”**
Possession of it did not depend on Isaac’s fond blessing. It belonged to Esau
by right of birth till he sold it to Jacob. But Isaac’s blessing, which he intended for Esau because he
loved 288 him, meant more
especially lordship over his brethren. Esau plainly distinguishes the two
things: “Is not
he rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted
me these two times: he took away my birthright, and behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.”*** When
he found that Jacob had supplanted him a second time, he cried with a great and
exceeding bitter cry, and sought diligently, not the birthright, which was of a
religious nature, but the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and
plenty of corn and wine, and the homage of his mother’s sons. But he had sold the
greater good and, by doing so, forfeited the lesser. The Apostle recognises,
beyond the subtilty of Jacob and behind the blessing of Isaac, the Divine retribution. His selling the birthright was not the
merely rash act of a sorely tempted youth. He continued to despise the covenant. When he was forty years old,
he took wives of the daughters of the Canaanites. Abraham had made
his servant swear that he would go to the city of
* Gen. 25: 32. ** Gen.
22: 18. *** Gen.
27: 36. **** Chapt. 6: 8. + Chapt.
6:
6.
THE END