THE PROMISES TO ABRAHAM NEVER YET
FULFILLED
By ROBERT GOVETT.
[The following tract was first published by
Fletcher & Son,
In
the three first Gospels we have the record of our Lord’s reply to the
Sadducees. They did not believe in any resurrection, or in the
existence of angel or spirit: Acts 23: 8.
They put, then, before our Lord a case, which to them seemed sufficient to
prove the resurrection absurd.
"Master, (Teacher) Moses wrote
unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children,
that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his
brother. There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife,
and died without children. And the second took her a wife, and he died
childless. And the third took her: and in like manner the seven also: and
they left no children, and died. Last of all the
woman died also:" Luke 20: 28-32.
The
case presented was probably not a real one: it was an extreme instance,
designed to test a principle. Now, if there were a resurrection, must not
strife and confusion be the result? But God is not the author of strife
and confusion. Therefore the resurrection is impossible. And Moses
himself is a witness against it.
Our
Lord’s reply falls naturally into three parts
1.
THE SOURCES OF THE DIFFICULTY.
2.
ITS REMOVAL.
3.
PROOF POSITIVE OF THE RESURRECTION.
First,
then -
1. THE SOURCES OF THE DIFFICULTY.
"Ye do err; not knowing (1) the
Scriptures, nor (2) the power of God."
Unbelievers
have high thoughts of their own intelligence and knowledge. They are able
summarily to decide questions the most profound. But in reality they are
ignorant - ignorant of the truths which alone carry the real answer.
Is
there to be a resurrection? This depends upon the intentions of the Most
High. And His intents are revealed in the Scriptures. Those,
therefore, who are ignorant of the Scriptures, are unfit to pronounce upon the
question. But Holy Writ establishes the doctrine of a resurrection, as
part of God’s design.
The
Sadducees were moreover ignorant, like most unbelievers, of the power
of God. To them it was incredible, that God should be able out of a heap
of dust to restore a living frame, and one that should exist for ever.
How could it be, that a body, in part scattered to the winds, in part devoured
by other animals, should ever be restored to life?
This
unbelief arises from low views of the power of God. Did not He make the
living frame at first out of the ground? How, then, shall it be impossible to
Him to recreate it? To believe this, however, is too great a demand for
the faith of infidels. Their God suffices not
for so wonderous a feat. But Abraham believed it. It is the
foundation of the Christian faith. Ours is a God who raises the
dead. He has already effected this marvel in the
person of Christ. He will raise His people in like manner.
But
if so, how do you untie the Sadducees’ knot? We arrive then at the second
point.
2. THE
DIFFICULTY REMOVED.
"And Jesus answering said unto them, The
children of this age marry, and are given in marriage. But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age, and the
resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. For
neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the
children of God, being the children of the resurrection:" Luke 20: 24-36. (Greek.)
Their
mistake turned upon a false assumption, which our Lord drew into the
light. They took for granted - that life after resurrection
would go on as life before resurrection does. Here was
their error. In some respects, indeed, that life will resemble this
life. But the imperfections of our present existence will then pass away.
The
period in which we live is limited. Our Lord calls it, "this age."
Of
it marriage and death are the usual course.
But
it is to be succeeded by another age:
and they who enter that blest period of resurrection will not die, nor will
they marry.
Jesus
does not affirm, that in the age to come there will be neither marriage nor
death for any. He only denies it of those risen from the dead. For the prophets testify, that in the days of Messiah’s reign, there shall be
both marriage and death to the Jew and Gentile; or to nations still in the
flesh and on earth. For thus it is written:-
"Thus saith the Lord: Again there shall be heard in this
place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in
the cities of
"Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the
inner court. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her
that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of
Those
however, who are raised from the dead, whether man or woman, marry not; for
neither are they to die. As partaking of
the resurrection of bliss, they are as incapable of death, as the angels;* and as partakers
of their state of incorruption they take also the name of the angels, and are
called "the sons of God." Angels are ‘sons of
God’ by creation; the risen of mankind, will be sons by adoption.
Renewal of the soul takes place now by the Spirit of God. But until the
redemption of the body, they are not visibly adopted as God’s children: Rom. 8: 23.
[*
Here again with holy wisdom our Lord introduces a protest against the Sadducean unbelief of the existence of angels.]
From
these words of our Saviour it is certain, that there must be a resurrection of
the "just" alone: Luke 14: 14. Those who partake of this
resurrection are all sons of God. But the wicked are not sons of God.
Then none of the wicked* have part in this resurrection. There is a "resurrection of life," as well as a "resurrection of judgment:" John 5.
[* That
some who are regenerate are described in Scripture as "wicked" (1 Cor. 5: 13), we maintain that this resurrection is one
of reward for those “accounted worthy to obtain that
age”.]
And
this is more fully stated in the 20th of Revelation, in which is
announced the duration of the bliss assigned to the partakers of the first
resurrection. The resurrection of the righteous takes place upon a different
principle from that of the wicked. It is effected
by the Holy Ghost indwelling in
the believer, and because of His indwelling: Rom.
8: 11; see also 1 Thess.
4; 2 Thess. 2: 1.
The
same conclusion follows from the two different expressions employed by the
sacred writers to describe resurrection. Sometimes they speak of "the resurrection of the dead:" 1 Cor. 15: 12, 13, 21.
This expression embraces alike the
wicked and the righteous: Acts 24: 15.
But
the Scriptures teach also a resurrection "from
among the dead."* Of this Jesus was the first example. He was
"raised [out] from among the dead by the glory of the Father:" Rom. 6: 4. He went down [into Hades/Sheol] among the dead; but,
as the Righteous One, He could not be detained in their abode; but rose out
from among them: 1 Cor.
15: 12; Mark 9: 9, 10.
[*
We use the article always before "dead:"
the Greeks do not. They say - ‘From among persons dead:’ which is more
correct.]
Observe, it is not a resurrection out of death, or
out of the place of the dead, but from among persons dead.
It
will be so with partakers of the first resurrection. They will come out
from among the dead, leaving them still in Hadees,
the place of souls departed. The thirty-fifth
verse of Luke 20, gives us this
expression. "They that are
accounted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from among
the dead." Also Acts 4: 2; Phil. 3: 11. Any one can see, how great a difference of sense there is between the
expressions ‘an uprising of the
mutineers,’ and ‘an uprising from among the mutineers.’
The one rising would be evil; and the other would be good.
But
there is further proof. On what principle will any enter on this time of
joy? As "judged
worthy." This, then, is the opposite principle
to the entering on the ground of grace. Eternal life is the gift of God
to every believer: Rom. 6: 23. But
this is a special, limited time of reward granted to the believer according to his works. And to attain this,
faith alone will not suffice: as it is written -
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he
that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven:" Matt. 7:
21.
"Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the
Who
will be the judge of such fitness? Christ! When? At His coming: Rev. 3: 4; 22: 12; 2 Tim. 4.
By
"the first resurrection" is not meant
alone ‘the act of being raised from the dead;'
to those accounted worthy it is the entrance on the blessed period of the
thousand years. This is the period called also "the kingdom of heaven," or the millennial "
"There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you
yourselves thrust out. And they
shall come from the east and from the west, and from the north, and from the
south, and shall sit down in the
The
first resurrection, then, admits into the millennial reign. Therefore
Jesus having foretold the exit of His people from the gates of Hadees,
then speaks of the entry into the kingdom of heaven: Matt.
16: 18, 19. And that kingdom is to be the kingdom of glory at the
Saviour’s advent at which a specimen was given on the Mount of Transfiguration:
16: 28; 17: 1.
"Verily I say unto you, There be some
standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man
coming in his kingdom. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth
them up into a high mountain apart."
But
now we advance to the third point.
3. SCRIPTURAL PROOF OF THE
RESURRECTION FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT.
For
the removal of the Sadducees’ difficulty by the exposure of their ignorance,
was no proof from Scripture of the reality of the resurrection. And Jesus
had affirmed, that on this point they were ignorant of
the Scriptures, which discover to us God’s intentions in regard of the future.
Our
Lord, therefore, adds -
"Now that the dead are raised,* even Moses shewed at the bush,
when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all
live unto him:" 37, 38.
[* Why is it in the present tense? Does it mean that
resurrection is continually going on? No. The resurrection of the
blest is yet future, and they are to rise together.
It is in the present, because it is a question of doctrine. So we say,
"The woes of the lost are
eternal!"]
It
is generally supposed, that our Lord in these words seeks to prove the
existence of the soul after death. And it is true, that the words do
establish that doctrine. But that is not the primary import of
them. For what was the question? It was the resurrection of
the man. Is that promised in Scripture or is it not?
So
the Sadducees put it. "Therefore in the
resurrection whose wife of them is she?" "Therefore in the resurrection when they shall rise,
whose wife shall she be of them?"
So
also the Saviour states it. "In the resurrection
they neither marry nor are given in marriage." "But as touching the
resurrection of the dead have ye not read that which was spoken unto
you by God?"
It
is evident also, that the difficulty suggested by the Sadducees had no
existence, while the departed are naked spirits [i.e., disembodied souls] in Hadees. It only
begins to come to view when the body is resumed.
The
Lord’s reply then goes to establish the doctrine of the resurrection of the
body - the redemption of the whole man from the power of death and the slavery
of corruption. But whence comes the proof?
The
proof is involved in God’s words to Moses out of the burning bush, when he was
sending him to be the deliverer of
"I AM the GOD of ABRAHAM."
1.
In what sense was Jehovah the God of Abraham? Priestey suggests, that it means - ‘I am the being whom Abraham used to worship.’ But out of this view no proof of resurrection
can be drawn.
2.
It means, ‘I am the Almighty benefactor of
Abraham:’ Ex. 6: 7; Gen. 17: 7.
It is God’s past, present, future, and
eternal relation to Abraham; not Abraham’s past relation to God. It is as
though He had said - ‘It is my purpose to exhibit My
Godhead in doing good to Abraham. I am
Abraham’s Creator, I am his Preserver, I shall be his
Restorer. I shall restore him as God alone can - in resurrection.’
This Abraham believed; this Jehovah will effect. It will be a benefit to
Abraham, in a way worthy of God, and possible to Him alone. Jehovah
justified Abraham upon his believing Him. But the issue of the soul’s
justification is the body’s redemption from the effects of sin. The man
is not redeemed and justified, till his body is delivered from the curse
inflicted on Adam’s trespass. "Thou shalt
return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou
taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return:" Gen. 3: 19. The issue of justification, then,
is the undoing of this: - and that is life in resurrection. This saying
then affirms - that all that God can do of good to Abraham, as long as he is
God, he intends to do.
3.
But there is yet further force in it. Jehovah in Abraham’s lifetime had
put Himself, in his grace, under special engagements to Abraham the
justified. As soon as he believes, Jehovah by solemn rite engages
to give the
We
have especially to do with the chapter of the covenant of faith, (Gen. 15.) and the reader will do well at this
point to peruse it. When Abraham
surrenders to Lot the choice of a locality, Jehovah promises him all the
land which was then before his eyes: Gen.
13: 14-17. When Abraham has conquered the kings, and brought back
the spoil of
But
Abraham enquires, how that should be, seeing he has no heir? The Lord
replies, that he would give him an individual Heir, sprung from Himself: ver. 4. ‘This,’ says
Paul, ‘means Christ :’ Gal.
3: 16.
The
Lord then promises him a numerous seed, like the stars: Gen. 15: 5. Abraham believes it, and is
justified. By this seed shining fixedly in heaven, are intended the risen
saints, fixed in heavenly glory for ever: 1 Cor. 15: 41, 42.
Jehovah
next assures him, that He brought him out of the land of his birth, in order to
give him "this land:" verse 7.
How
should he be assured that he would possess it? The Lord gives him, as the
foundation of his confidence, two things. - 1. SACRIFICE,
or atoning death; and 2. A FORMAL COVENANT.
Abraham,
thereupon, renders God the sacrifice He commanded. Then a deep sleep
falls on the patriarch; and God speaks to him of yet another numerous Seed: 13-16.
"And God said unto Abram, ‘Know of a
surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their’s, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them
four hundred years; And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge:
and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go
to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in
the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the
Amorites is not yet full."
The
plural seed here spoken of are the people of
Then
the Lord ratifies with solemn ceremonies the possession of the land to Abraham
and to his individual Seed, which is Christ.* "Unto
thy Seed have I given this land, from the
[* Sometimes the Lord speaks of the plural
seeds of Abraham. They are to be
numerous, as the dust of the earth, and as numerous as the stars
of the sky. But where no note of
plurality is given, One Person only is meant:-
‘tis Christ. The others are "thy
seed after thee." Jesus is the seed before Abraham
was: John 8: 58.]
Now
it was in pursuance of the covenant then ratified with Abraham, that Jehovah
manifested Himself in the burning bush of the desert to Moses. He had promised, that after the four hundred years of the earthly
seed’s suffering were over, He would judge the Egyptians, and deliver
BUT JEHOVAH HAS NEVER YET FULFILLED THAT COVENANT TO ABRAHAM. He promised him the
And
Stephen said, "Men, brethren, and fathers,
hearken; the God of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in
Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, And said
unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the
land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran;
and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land,
wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no,
not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give
it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him,
when as yet he had no child."
So
says Paul - [or the Writer to the Hebrews] - : Heb. 11: 8, 13.
"By faith Abraham
when he was called to go out into the place which he should after receive for
an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went."
"These all died in faith, not having
received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth."
But
it may be said - ‘Did not Abraham receive the
fulfilment, if not in his own person, yet in his seed as represented by
And
we answer - No, in no wise!
1.
2.
Never in their palmiest days, did they possess the
land in its extent as given by the covenant, - from Nile to
3.
But the chief reply is - That it is not said, that Abraham should inherit the
land in his seed; but that he AND his
seed should possess it. "All the land
which thou seest, to THEE will I give it, and
to thy seed for ever *:" Gen.
13: 15. Besides, if so, the Scriptures could not assert, that
Abraham had never received the land. On that supposition, he has
received it in the persons of his representatives; which was
all that was promised.
[* That
is, for as long as the land remains: the word "forever,"
must be understood in this limited sense. Other Scriptures make it perfectly clear that
this present earth (land) will be destroyed and replaced with “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21: 1) – “and the sea was no more,” R.S.V.]
The
covenant of Gen. 15, moreover, confirms the
land to Christ as Abraham’s individual Heir; and no subsequent
engagement of God can make that void: Gal. 3: 17.
But Christ has never possessed the land.
The
promises of the
Look
again at the words from another point of view.
"I am the God of Abraham."
Where
was Abraham when Jehovah made the engagement with him? In
the
What
was Abraham? A living
man, consisting of body and soul [and spirit] in union. What is Abraham now! Dead! Where is he? "His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the
Where
is he? In Hadees among
the dead; as Jesus tells us in Luke:- "The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s
bosom." The rich man
"Seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom:" 16: 22, 23.
Abraham
then now is no longer where
he was when the engagement was made; nor is he what he was.
The house of his tabernacle is taken down, the tenant driven out, and gone
elsewhere. Abraham is divided; part of him in the earth; part of
him under the earth. But Abraham dead and divided is not
Abraham! Abraham is not now the living man to whom God made the
promise. Neither part of Abraham is enjoying the benefits guaranteed to
him. They cannot be enjoyed by him, so
long as he is divided. They cannot be received till Abraham is living,
and on earth once more. Neither Abraham’s dust, nor his separate spirit [or soul] can possess
the
The
Sadducee [ancient and modern] may deny this; the Gentile philosopher
vote it impossible. But Jehovah will do it. He must do
it; if he be true. Abraham cannot receive the promise of the land made to
him by God, save as raised from the dead. Then, as sure as God is
the God of truth, the two [three parts
including his animating spirit] parts of
Abraham must be brought together, in order to enjoy the land promised. But this
is RESURRECTION.
"God is not the God of
persons dead,* but of persons alive."
[*
There is no article, and this in an important manner modifies the sense.]
The
favour of God is not displayed to the dead: Psa. 78: 5, 11;
115: 17. The touch of the dead made the living unclean.
While
Abraham remains dead, Jehovah is not manifesting His favour to him.
Abraham was long ago justified in his soul. But there is no distinction
visible now between Abraham and Adam. Both have died, both been
buried. Death and corruption mark both of them out as sinners. Only
when all the effects of sin upon Abraham have been removed, will God be seen to
be the God of Abraham. And
that will be, only when Abraham’s body is restored from the tomb.
Jehovah
sealed Abraham’s body for himself by circumcision, as well as accepted his soul
[and spirit.].
He means, then, to exhibit His power of beneficence upon his body as well as
upon his soul. He must, therefore, undo the curse on it, which sent it to
the dust. That is, He must restore it to life again in resurrection.
Then He will be seen to be the God of Abraham, loading him with benefits; and
distinguishing him from the lost and the rejected, who
will still for a thousand years moulder in the dust. For
indeed, hitherto God has not done to Abraham the great things to be expected
from His promises. Was there anything in the worldly circumstances
of the life of Abraham to mark him out as a favourite of God? Little
enough! He feels the effects of famine; in
The
proof of resurrection, then, is twofold; arising out of the nature of God
on the one hand; and out of ABRAHAM on the other.
1.
While Abraham is dead, Jehovah is not displaying Himself to be the Almighty
benefactor of Abraham according to His promise. Nor is He fulfilling the
engagements He has entered into with him by covenant, (Gen. 15,) and by oath, (Gen. 22,*) to give
His servant the land of promise, in a wider extent than was ever possessed by
[* This is the basis of the observation in Heb. 6: 18, that God by "two immutable transactions" -
the covenant, and the oath - would sustain our faith.]
2.
While Abraham is dead, he is divided, and neither part of him is receiving the
fulfilment of God’s promise of possessing the land. Abraham dead is not
on the earth, where the promise is to be enjoyed. Nor can he return to
earth, till that which death has severed, life shall reunite. But then
his body and soul [and spirit] will be re-knit; and that in resurrection.
While
Abraham sleeps in death the promises are unfulfilled. But as truly as
Christ - the Singular Seed of Abraham - has been raised from among the dead, so
shall Abraham himself be. This good pleasure of the Lord was first
exhibited on Jesus, the Righteous. It shall by and bye be displayed in
Abraham, the justified by the righteousness of Christ. When Christ
descends to take the kingdom as Son of Abraham, Son of David, He shall fulfil
the covenant to the other seeds of Abraham; both the
heavenly seed, and the earthly.
Then
shall Israel, the plural seed of Abraham’s flesh enjoy the land of promise; and
it shall stretch from Nile to Euphrates, embracing even the desert in which
they wandered - then a desert no longer, but watered, verdant, and inhabited: Isa. 35. Then shall the
heavenly seed of Abraham, children of his faith, raised [out] from the dead, and "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
Then shall Abraham enjoy, not the earthly heritage alone, but shall receive
also the "better country, the heavenly;" and his poor tent shall be exchanged for the city of
the twelve foundations "whose builder and maker is
God."
From
this of course it follows, that Jesus is not coming to burn up the earth as
soon as He descends from heaven. While the Gospel of God’s grace and patience
lasts, Jesus does not leave the heaven. And till He
rises up, the resurrection of the righteous tarries. The
Gospel, then, will never fulfil to Abraham the promise of the land. The
Gospel is Christ waiting, His people falling asleep, and resurrection
tarrying. It is only when the new age of reward according to works has
arrived, that the covenant with Abraham, to be fulfilled to him in a new life,
takes effect. The millennial
kingdom of God, then, is a something quite different in principle from this
Gospel to-day. And when the new
age begins, it must last a thousand
years; during which Abraham shall be living once more; and the living God
shall be shown to be the God of Abraham, from henceforth alive for evermore.
But
what mean the words - "For all live unto him?"
The sense of them will be modified
according as we assign different extents of meaning to the word "all."
1.
Does it apply to ‘all’ - good and evil
alike? Then it will signify - that "God hath
made all things for Himself," and even the wicked will exist for
ever before Him.
But
I do not think that is the meaning.
2.
Does it refer to ‘Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?’ This sense is warranted by the previous
context. "Last
of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall
she be of the seven? For they all had her." "These all died
in faith, not having received the promises:" Heb. 11: 13.
Then
the words of our Lord will signify, that the souls of
the patriarchs, though no longer existing on earth, are still alive
before God. "I am the God of Abraham." Not "I was,"* This last would be the natural
expression, if Abraham’s soul were no longer in existence.
[* The Hebrew thus express
the present of the substantive verb. "Wherever,
either the past of the future is intended by the speaker, as the orientals are not deficient in these tenses, the verb is
not left to be supplied by the hearer," See Joshua 1: 5, 17; 1 Kings 8: 57. "Where
the substantive verb is not expressed, but the personal pronoun is immediately
conjoined with what is affirmed, the sense must, in other languages, be
exhibited by the present :"
The
sense here given is excellent.
3.
But there is yet another extent which may be assigned to the word "all." "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age, and
the resurrection from the dead." "God is not the God of persons dead,
but of those alive; for all are living unto Him." This, then, would inform us, that before God
who "calls the things that be not as though they
were," the departed who are to enjoy that day are -
though dead to men - alive before himself. And this is, I think, the
sense. It was, then, an assertion of our Lord, placed in designed
opposition to the Sadducean denial of the existence
of departed spirits.
'But will not this sense overthrow your previous
argument? If Abraham be alive already before God, how can
resurrection be proved? Will not the life of Abraham’s spirit satisfy the
expression - "I am the God of Abraham?"
'
By
no means! Abraham alive in spirit [i.e., as a disembodied soul] below* is still Abraham dead, and Abraham divided. And divided Abraham is not the man to whom the
promise was made. Only when Abraham is
alive before men in body and soul, [and spirit,] can he enjoy the land of promise. Only then is God seen to be his God.
[*
1 Sam. 28: 11, 13-15 ;
Amos 9: 2 ; Matt. 12:40.]
Thus,
then, Jesus shows Himself Prince of commentators. He discovers to us, in those simple words -
"I am the God of Abraham," the promise
of resurrection. In that bud lay concealed the flower and fruit of the
glory to come. There they lay concealed,
till the microscope of the Great Teacher drew them forth to light.
We
see, then, that a new and better age is
before us. It is to come in by resurrection - the better
resurrection. [See,
Heb. 11: 35.]
The manifestation of God’s favour will be on those who partake this kingdom of the thousand years. As yet it
is God the patient, waiting for the filling up of the world’s iniquity.
As yet it is His peoples suffering at the hands of the wicked. As yet
Christ is seated at the right hand of God, waiting till His enemies are made
His footstool. He is already in heaven, crowned - because of His
suffering of death - with glory and honour. But we see not yet the
promise fulfilled, that all things shall be set under His feet. That is
nigh at hand. And to us it is set forth
as our hope - that
we may enter into the joy of our Lord. The
Father and the Son have been working hitherto, since the Fall
introduced trouble into God’s creation-rest. But all is moving on to the
rest of God in His better sabbath of redemption. Into this sabbath-rest of the seventh thousand year - shall enter those
who have worked with God and His Christ, and suffered for them. Let us
seek this rest! Let us labour to enter it! Let us desire and strive for the prize, which the Righteous Judge shall
give in that day! Let us keep
from unrighteousness! Into the resurrection of the righteous, and the
kingdom of the saints, the unrighteous shall not enter: 1 Cor. 6: 9-11. We
are sons of God by grace, let is seek to do the works of our Father! Let
us labour to-day in His vineyard! He is not the God of grace alone: He
becomes also the Rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him: 11: 6.
Nor
let any discourage you by saying - that ‘To seek
reward is to make yourselves mercenary in spirit!’ For this reward
is to be given by the Heavenly Father to His obedient children: Matt. 6: 1-18. And Jesus sought this: Heb. 12: 2.
We
are sons of God by faith, accepted before Him in Christ, born of the
Spirit. I would ask my reader, Have you been born
of water also? God calls those who are in His ark to pass through
the waters: 1 Pet. 3. But even to
those born of the Spirit, and born out of water, there is yet a third
birth, ere they can enter the full repose of God. And what is that? THE
BIRTH OUT OF DEATH AND THE TOMB: Acts 13: 32-34.
Of those so born into the kingdom of glory it shall be true, that the least of
them shall be greater than the greatest of those born of women: Matt. 11: 11. Let us, then, flee
iniquity! Let us not settle down like Demas, content with the present
evil age! But let us seek the better one, the age of resurrection, the
day of glory, and the [millennial] reign of Christ! To those who faithfully
serve Him now shall Jesus throw open the kingdom of glory, with His words of
power - "Well done, thou good and faithful
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"
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