THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom
VOL. X. February 1, 1927 No. 3
Table of Contents
OUTLOOK
AND REVIEW IN THE OPENING OF 1927
PRINCE
LUCIFER'S FALL FROM HEAVEN
THE
GLORIFICATION OF THE CHURCH
WORKS
OF DARKNESS AND WORKS OF LIGHT
VOL. X. February 15, 1927 No. 4
Table of Contents
HEAVENLY
TREASURES LAID UP THROUGH TRIAL AND DISCIPLINE
"THE
LAND BEYOND THE SEA"
THE
BASIS OF MEMBERSHIP IN CHRIST
THE
GLORIFICATION OF THE CHURCH
"PUT
ON, THY BEAUTIFUL ROBES"
WALKING
WORTHY OF OUR VOCATION
VOL. X. February 1, 1927 No. 3
THOUGH the opening of the year 1927 finds the whole world still
strug-gling in trouble, sorrow and death, and groaning together in pain, waiting for
deliverance, it is to be observed that here and there leaders of thought are looking
hopefully and courageously into the future and are speaking worlds of encouragement as
best they can to their fellow-men, bidding them accept the optimistic outlook, at least so
far as the immediate future is concerned. Thus reads a portion of an Editorial in
"The New York Times" of recent date:
"Americans at least have reason to, say goodbye to 1926 as to a
friend who has treated them well. By every test the twelvemonth has been one of unexampled
prosperity in the United States. It is needless to dilate here upon the records made in
every department of finance, industry, and trade. They are set forth in ample detail in
many end-of-the-year publications. Nor can it be a matter of indifference to people in
this country that the authentic information from Europe points to her steady climb back to
financial stability and restored commerce. Figures recently made public by the National
Foreign Trade Council shown that for the first time since 1913 the total world trade has
got back to pre-war valuations. Of course, they should have been much greater by this
time, and would have been except for the immense destruction of labor and capital during
the four years of fighting. But at all events the corner has been turned.
"Not only in the great rewards which the past year brought to
workers and business men and the vast organizations of industry in the United States has a
new mark been set. If we have freely received, we have also freely given. Never in a
single year has there been philanthropy so great and varied. By legacies and by direct
gifts, unprecedented amounts of money have been devoted to education, to religion, to
hospitals, to the endowment of scientific research, to charity in its manifold and most
beneficent forms."
"In the Spirit of the League"
A further Editorial in the same newspaper speaks in the same spirit,
of the German-Italian situation which a year ago was so threatening:
"German-Italian relations show a remarkable improvement over
condi-tions last February when Mussolini hurled his challenge across the Brenner Pass,
pointed to 42,000,000 Italians solidly ranged behind him in defense of inalienable rights
in the Tyrol, and threatened to collect two eyes for one. The new treaty of arbitration
between Berlin and Rome evi-dently received overwhelming approbation in Germany. Even the
German Socialists, who so strongly disapprove of Fascist 'blood, force, and barbar-ism'
and take comfort in the thought that at least Herr Stresemann's signature does not appear
with Mussolini's, accept a treaty which 'guards against warlike conflicts.'
"The new treaty is co-extensive with the arbitral obligations
assumed by Germany and Italy under the Covenant of the League, but is limited in time . .
. . The treaty is only one more item in the rapid development of the 'regional' method of
practicing peace encouraged by the League. At Geneva sits the tribunal of last resort; but
Geneva can ask for nothing better than that its agenda shall not be burdened with issues.
which can be disposed of in the lower instances. If Germany and Italy agree to practice
the node of the League as between themselves, it is obviously a far happier condition than
if the outside world must be called in to help keep the peace:'
Peace Can Come Only by Changing Hearts of Men
From one standpoint it is of course a blessing to mankind that there
are those in their midst who are largely exercised by the faculty of hope, and who are
earnestly endeavoring to present the bright rather than the dark side of life. This is
true even though we as the Lord's children know from His Word of revelation that all at
tempts of man to bolster up the present order of things and to establish confidence in
man's ability and achievements will utterly fail, and only the Kingdom of God will
finally succeed. In fact the Lord's providence has so ordered the affairs of the nations,
and so supervised the progress of events that men shall known comparatively little in
advance of the great catastrophe with which the present Age closes. Admitting that the new
year opens with the outlook comparatively peaceful on the surface throughout the world,
nevertheless it is a well-known fact that the nations of the earth are not at peace
inwardly and there is scarcely any portion of the world where the circumstances could not
quickly develop a state of hostility and war. The governments of the earth have not yet
became peaceable and peace loving. They are not ready by any means to dispense with the
vast array of armaments of war. On this point President Coolidge recently expressed the
unvarnished truth in a speech at Trenton, N. J. before the Trenton Historical Society. He
said:
"As it is necessary to change the heart of the individual, so it
is necessary to. change the heart of nations. This has often been referred to as moral
disarmament. The mistake that is being made in its application lies in the fact that it
does not come first.
"If the world had complete change of heart, complete moral
disarmament, complete mutual understanding, complete sympathy, we would have little need
of armaments ands no need at all for international treaties limiting their use and size.
It is because all nations are in danger from this source that we ought to provide such
artificial barriers as are possible for the protection of the peace and welfare of
humanity.
"It is because the spirit of avarice, of jealousy, of hate and
of revenge are not yet eliminated from the hearts of (the nations that it is well for them
to take counsel together, that they may devise means for protecting themselves from these
evil counselors, that they may deliver themselves from their control and come more
completely under the dominion of benevolence, kindliness, charitableness and good will.
"Altogether too much of international relationship is based on
fear. Na-tions rejoice in the fact (that they have the courage to fight each other. When
will the time come that they have 'the courage to trust each other?"
The question of President Coolidge can be answered only as one sees
the consummation of the Divine Plan. Is it not found in the fulfillment of our Master's
prayer, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." As we
perceive from the signs of our day that the Kingdom of God draws nigh and is even at the
doors, the time cannot be far distant when men will have the courage to trust each other,
when they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Evidently Mr. Coolidge recognizes the principle that the Scriptures so clearly enunciates,
namely that before the nations will be prepared to disarm and trust each (other, there
must be a change of heart on the part of the individual from that of selfishness to that
of love.
Man's Ways Not God's Ways
Strange as it may seem, however, few who profess to be in touch with
God's revelation understand His way of effecting this change in the hearts of men, and are
trusting in human energy and efforts to bring about the results. At a gathering of more
than 5,000 Episcopalians from the churches in Washington and neighborhood at the
Washington Auditorium recently, the Right Rev. Thomas Campbell Darst, Bishop of East
Carolina, said:
"America is God's last chance to save the world. Everywhere the
children of men are crying, 'Thy Kingdom Come,' and it is the church alone who can give
them the answer. Shall we not throw ourselves into this great adventure for God and wrest
a living world from the power of evil? . . . The program of the church is nothing less
than the program of God. The program of God means carrying out in the lives of men and of
nations that daily petition of our 'Thy Kingdom come: Thy will be done on earth:' We
wonder why after 1,900 eventful years the Kingdom has not already come. I find the answer
in my own soul. We have not put first things first we have substituted sentiment for
sacrifice; we have substituted knowledge for obedience. It is not enough to say, 'Lord,
Lord,' it is not enough to say our creed, unless we give ourselves to the furtherance of
the program of God. We see the broken nations, -- stained, torn, unhappy, suspicious,
waiting with dread for the coming of a new day. And we know there is no way to bring them
peace except the way of Jesus Christ "
One readily gathers from the above that this Christian leader
believes that the reason why the world is not converted, and the reason why the Kingdom
has not come, is that the Church has failed of doing her duty, and that since God has made
the world's deliverance dependent upon the Church in her present state, therefore He
continues to wait for the Church to get right with Him before expecting any special change
in the affairs of men for the better. How much more desirable is the Divine Program
wherein God. does not call upon the Church in her present weak condition to redeem the
world, but will in His own way and time -- (the near future we believe) -- establish His
glorious Kingdom under the whole heavens, in the hands of Christ and His glorified Bride,
and so operate mightily in the affairs of men throughout all the earth, that His Kingdom
shall become the desire of all nations, and all nations shall flow into it.
____________
NEWS FROM THE HOLY LAND
Activities in the Holy Land always interest those who hold fast to
the promises made to ancient Israel. Press reports inform us that "French and British
engineers have completed plans for a project which it is hoped will be put into execution
soon for the electrification of Palestine." And it is reported than "The Marquis
of Reading, Sir Alfred Mond, Sir Hugo Hirst, and James de Rothschild are understood to be
joining the board of directors of the Palestine Electric Corporation, Ltd., formed to
carry out the Ruthenberg scheme for the electrification of Palestine. The capital has been
fully subscribed." The plan is to cause "the waters of the eastern Mediterranean
to flow over a 250-foot ridge bordering the coast, thence through a canal cut out of solid
rock, whence the waters would hurl them-selves down in an almost sheer drop into Lake
Tiberius and the Dead Sea, more than 1,000 feet under the level of the Mediterranean.
"It is estimated that the electric energy capable of being thus
developed would be sufficient for Palestine, Syria, Asiatic Turkey and Egypt. The total
cost is placed at about $75,000,000. Able scientists have calculated the net energy at
426,000 H. P.
"'Palestine is the classic land of miracles,' said Edouard
Imbeaux, the French expert, chief author of the plan. 'I firmly believe modern science
will accomplish miracles there in its turn.'
"M. Imbeaux has sent to the Academy of Sciences a long, detailed
statement of the geographic and other conditions favoring the plain for the
electrification of Palestine. He emphasized that between the Mediter-ranean and the
enormous depression in which are situated the valley of the Jordan, Lake Tiberius, and the
Dead Sea, there is only a low ridge less than two miles wide. . . .
"Palestine to Bloom"
"Referring to the fact that Niagara Falls develops electrical
energy which serves a radius of 1,200 miles, he said:
"'If you draw a circle of 600 miles with the region in Palestine
to which I am referring as a center you will find that you will inclose Syria, all
Turkey-in-Asia; reaching to the Black Sea, and Egypt. We have in mind an extension of our
plan which would bring into its sphere all that territory. We aim at an immense
development of cotton and silk growing, fruit culture, and general agricultural progress,
which should make Pales-tine what it was in ancient times.
"'There is really no material obstacle. The work on our
preliminary scheme would take about three years. Labor is cheap. The Jews have shown at
Tel-Aviv that they are capable of tremendous tasks."'
___________
"Peace Prospects Held Bright in Palestine"
"Jerusalem, October 15. -- In contrast to the recent disturbed
and dismal conditions in Syria is the activity, prosperity, ands peace obtaining in
Palestine.
"Jerusalem, formerly a city exclusively for pilgrims and
tourists, is rapidly becoming a center for merchants and business men. Under the firm,
just and impartial rule of the British, the Jews are rebuilding their promised land,
making it, instead of a shrine where pilgrims admired holy ruins and dwelt in the glorious
past, an up-to-date and enterprising country, Jerusa-lem now consists of two cities -- the
old and the new. The new, sprung up within the last few years, consists of residential,
shopping and business quarters, Jewish settlements, schools, churches and large religious
institu-tions. It is entirely modern.
"The old city, flanked on three sides by deep valleys, is made
up of narrow, crooked streets, filled .with loaded donkeys and camels and lined with
romantic and historical buildings."
____________
"Jerusalem Gives Phone Numbers in Eleven
Languages"
"London, December 23. -- Telephone users in Jerusalem can ask
for their numbers in eleven languages and the exchanges will put them through.
"Writing in the monthly Telegraph and Telephone Journal, L. M.
Smith, superintendent of telephones in Palestine, says: 'Palestine has, in addition to the
three official languages -- English, Arabic, and Hebrew -- several other languages in
common use, such as French, German, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Russian, Armenian and
Romanian.
"'This is a formidable list, but a caller in any of these
languages can be served without much trouble in the Jerusalem exchange, where each of the
telephonists speaks at least three languages well, and can deal with simple demands for
numbers passed in five or six different tongues.'"
___________
"Straus Gives $250,000"
"New York, December 27-Announcement of the donation of $250,000
by Nathan Straus, philanthropist, for the creation of a health center in Jerusalem, was
made today by Mrs. Irma L. Linheim, national president, at the third annual conference of
Hadasan, the Women's Zionist Organi-zation of America.
"One of the features of the health center, the first of its kind
in the Near East, will be a milk pasteurizing plant"
"I beheld Satan as lightning fall from
heaven." -- Luke 10:18.
THE BIBLE record consistently asserts that associated with the
preva-lence of sin and death is the working of an evil and malevolent influence amongst
mankind emanating from what the Scriptures term, "your adver-sary the Devil."
So powerful and far-reaching are these activities of the Evil One in the systematic
organization of evil that the entire present order of things in the earth has been well
named the Empire of Satan. This designation is in full keeping with the words of Christ:
"The prince of this world cometh and l hath nothing in Me"; and with St. Paul's
description: "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe
not," etc. But, neither the Lord nor the Apostle had the thought that Satan had
gained the ascendancy over Jehovah or that he had in any sense over powered Him. Both
Jesus and St. Paul recognized the well defined purpose of God in permitting the Adversary
to exercise such power, which is of temporary duration.
The fact that considerable is said in, the Bible with regard to the
Adver-sary, is strong evidence that the information is important to God's people that it
is well for them to know not only of the existence of Satan, but something of his history,
purposes, and methods, and also of God's design to ultimately overthrow and destroy not
only :every evil, but Satan himself. -- Heb. 2:14; Rev. 20:2.
Nothing in the sacred Record teaches that God created Satan an evil,
wicked opponent to Himself and His righteous government. Such a thought would be entirely
inconsistent with the Divine character; for if God had constituted Satan am evil being in
his original creation, then the responsibility for the reign of sin and death would rest
largely with God Himself. Whereas the Scriptures most definitely affirm that Jehovah is an
infinitely holy God. He can do no evil. More than this, His Word pro-claims that all
"His work is perfect."
Those who have carefully studied the subject of Satan's history and
his relationship to creation on this earth have no difficulty in understanding the Bible
explanation that the Adversary in his original creation teas amongst the righteous the
perfect and Holy, and that his deflection, occurred as the result of the exercise of his
own will in pursuing a course contrary to the will of God. Another has remarked:
"To be created perfect, and to remain perfect are two entirely
different propositions. God has not been pleased to create any of His intelligent
creatures mere machines, incapable of change of motive and conduct. On the contrary, He
has been pleased to create all the morally intelligent of His creatures after His own
likeness or image, with perfect liberty to follow the right. the true, the pure, the good,
according to His own example and precept; but with power also to alter or reverse their
course in these respects, and to become rebels against His law of righteousness."
Pride and Ambition Leads to Rebellion
As many will agree, the Scriptures refer to different orders and
various grades amongst the heavenly host, and all under the rule of love. How long these
holy ones were associated) together before man's creation we may not know. There are
certain pointed Scripture texts which teach that Satan in his original creation was
constituted one of high rank and more glorious than some of the others. Some have remarked
with good reason, we believe, that Satan's deflection and disobedience began in the
com-mencement of human history. Being one of great intelligence and of exalted rank,
Satan. may have reasoned out the possibilities that were before him in the first perfect
pair upon the earth, and he may there and then have entertained the first selfish and
ambitious thought or suggestion, and have concluded that if he could in "some manner
but capture the newly created human pair, and, alienate them from God, then he could
through them set up a special kingdom or dominion of his own, of which he would be the god
or lord, usurping the place and the honor of Jehovah respecting mankind and the earth. It
was his prosecution of this criminal ambition that gave to him his present name, Satan --
adversary of God. He did not meditate nor attempt to usurp God's dominion over the angels.
Such an attempt would have been absurd, since all of the angels were intimately acquainted
with God, and knew Satan as one of themselves. Hence, they would not have thought of
consenting to become his servants and followers, very much preferring, and being
thoroughly satisfied with, and in no sense rebellious toward the just, loving, and wise
administration of Jehovah Almighty."
In support of the above suggestion we have the forceful description
of Satan and his attitude at the time he began to depart from the path of obedience, as
follows: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art
thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou host said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of Gods: I will
sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee,
and consider thee, saying, Is this the man, that made the earth to tremble, that did)
shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof;
that opened. not the house of his prisoners?" (Isa. 14:12-17.) While the Prophet in
the above language is describing the breaking of the power of Babylon, there can be little
doubt that his language was intended to be a description of Satan's course in originally
departing from God, and prophetic of his ultimate downfall.
Satan's Expulsion From Heaven Long Ago
But whatever the process by which Satan left his holy state of
harmony and fellowship with God, he has remained in opposition to God all along down the
stream of time since; and as the Scriptures teach, he has been joined in his deflection
and disobedience by others of the angelic host. (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Luke 8:30, 33.) This
sympathy and assistance have no doubt given encouragement to the great Adversary and
helped him to establish and fortify himself at the head of a great system and empire of
evil, which at the set time in God's Plan is doomed to overthrow and destruction.
While Jesus acknowledged Satan to be the prince of this world, and
St. Paul calls him the god of this world, we would not conclude that Satan has all of this
time been occupying a station in heaven or has been recognized of God in any sense as a
proper ruler. Nor would we think that the Adver-sary has had any connection or contact
whatever with the heavenly court. As God Himself is holy and His dwelling place holy, it
would be entirely incompatible with reason to think that God would allow an unholy and
depraved being to have any occupancy in His presence.
The War Between Michael and the Dragon
Some endeavor to maintain that Satan was not cast forth from heaven
or the presence of God at the time of his rebellion, but that he has remained in heaven
during all the ages since he became an opponent of Jehovah, and that his casting forth
does not take place till near the fall of his empire in the end of this dispensation. Such
as hold this view base their conclusions upon the symbolic vision of St. John recorded in
the twelfth chapter of Revelation, of Michael, Christ, and the dragon, Satan. It is
contended that St. John seeing this vision some sixty years after our Lord's First Advent,
proves that Satan was still in heaven and in contact with the heavenly court. It is
further urged that this war between Michael and the dragon is a prophetic picture of the
events and developments that are associated with the overthrow of Satan's empire just
prior to the establishment of the Kingdom of God; in other words, that the war in heaven
was symbolic of the last great conflict between. Christ and Satan in the end of this
dispen-sation.
We do not believe that this view is found to be the Scriptural one
when all the testimony of God's Word is brought to bear upon the subject. The Scriptures
truly refer to the end of this dispensation when Satan is to be cast out; when he is to be
bound and his empire overthrown, but none of these statements can refer to his being cast
out of heaven or out of God's presence. Satan's empire is not in heaven. It is referred to
as being con-nected merely with this earth; therefore, the fall, the casting out, the
overthrow that Satan is to experience in the close of this dispensation has no reference
to nor connection with the time when Satan originally became a rebel and was evicted and
cast out from the heavenly court. The words of Jesus should be sufficient on this point:
"I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Surely our Lord in this language is
explaining respec-ting His own knowledge, in His pre-human condition, of Satan, that there
and then He had been a witness of Satan's fall from high glory and privi-lege and position
to his present attitude of chief adversary of God. In other words He beheld, Satan as a
bright one, cast forth from the heavenly realm. It matters not to us that we did not
ourselves see Satan fall from his glorious condition; our Master did, and He has borne
testimony not only respecting Satan's personality, but also respecting his fall from
brightness and honor.
A Symbolic Picture
As for the Apocalyptic vision of the war between Christ and Satan, it
appears not to be a picture of the end of this Age, nor of the final overthrow of Satan's
kingdom. It is not a prophecy of the last great strug-gle between truth and error, light
and darkness; by any means. Nothing is said about Satan being overthrown at the time of
this symbolic war, nothing about Satan being restrained or bound at that time, nor is
there anything recorded about Christ's Kingdom superseding that of Satan at the time of
the war. To the contrary, the context shows (verses 12-17) that the Adversary after this
war with Michael continued very active in the earth. The true interpretation of this
vision of the war between Christ and Satan is found only as we examine and view it in
connection with associated visions. For it is one of the links in the great chain of
symbolic pictures and if we attempt to lift the link out of its place in the chain .and to
fit it in somewhere else, we will be doing violence to this. great symbolic pro-phecy as a
whole.
In our exposition of the Book of Revelation there is set forth what
we regard as a harmonious and satisfactory interpretation of the war between Michael and
the dragon.* First, it is important to remember that we are dealing with a description
that is highly symbolical. We find the setting of the picture not in connection with
events in the end of this Age, but to the contrary, in close proximity to those
developments and circumstances that quickly followed the Apostolic period:
______________
*
See "The Revelation of Jesus Christ," Volume II, Chapter 8.
________________
The vision of the war in heaven is closely associated with the vision
of the woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, upon her head a crown
of twelve stars, and, travailing, in birth "to be delivered of å man child."
The Picture, as many expositors will concede, represents the Church early in the Age, and
embraces a description of those circum-stances that led to giving birth to the Papal
system and the exaltation of the Roman bishop as the chief religious ruler of the world --
Pontifex Maximus.
The Conflict Between Christianity and Paganism
To our understanding the dragon having seven heads and ten horns,
described as the Devil and Satan, is symbolical of the Pagan Roman Empire with its seven
different forms of government and its ten kingdoms into which it was finally divided. The
angels associated with the dragon would rep resent those elements and forces of Paganism,
priests and rulers under the direction of Pagan Rome. As the name Michael is one of the
titles of Christ, we would understand this designation as used here to represent the
Gospel movement, Christianity; and Michael's angels would be those various agencies and,
forces of Christianity on earth at the time under consideration. The war of the vision is
symbolic of the bitter con-flict between Christianity and Paganism that took place in the
first three centuries of the Age.
We pause here to note that the suggestion made lay some in this
connec-tion is not unreasonable, Namely that the symbols of this picture may have been
drawn from an actual scene and conflict that may have taken place between Michael and
Satan in the far remote antiquity in connection with Satan's original deflection and
rebellion, at which time he was deposed and cast out of heaven. However, we need not
speculate as to this, since the Bible is silent as to the details of just what occurred.
We have merely the bare statement of our Lord already referred to, that He saw Satan
fall from heaven.
"We have in this symbolic vision, then, an obedient archangel,
and the holy angels, his followers on the one hand; and the great fallen angel, Satan, and
the unholy angels, his followers on the other, represented as engaging in a conflict, a
war with one another, in which Satan, unable to hold his ground, is at length cast out of
heaven, and dejected with his angels to earth. That these holy and unholy heavenly hosts
are employed as symbols of men, is very evident
from the fact that the overcomers among the 'many called' ones in the conflict are
described as not loving their lives unto death, which could be said only of men and of
martyrs, not of heavenly angels. This is also seen from the fact that they are described
as overcoming in the war -- not through the use of worldly weapons, but 'by the blood of
the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.' Satan and the fallen angels symbolize
unbelievers, Pagan, antagonists to Christ and His cause, who endeavor by persecuting
Christ's followers to suppress their testimony, and thus to maintain the supremacy of the Pagan
religion."
It has been further observed that Paganism, being at the time of the
vision's fulfillment the highest type of idolatry, is the religion through which he,
Satan, succeeded to the greatest extent in blinding and deceiving humanity. "After
the cessation of persecution which took place under the Pagan rulers, the Roman government
became what is generally termed by historians, Christian Rome, and continued in Eastern
Rome for over a thousand years, and in the Western, for over two centuries. At the close
of the latter time the Western Empire had become divided, Papacy had come into existence,
and had begun to exert a controlling influence and rule in and
from the city of Rome over the kingdoms into which the Western Empire was divided. It
was during these two centuries that a paganized form of Christianity gradually developed,
out of which there was estab-lished the great Papal apostasy.
The Fall of Paganism
The victory of Michael over the dragon and the casting of the dragon
out of heaven to the earth is symbolical then of the triumph of Christianity over
Paganism; the deposing and casting out of the Pagan rulers from the position of spiritual
control. The warning of verse 12 concerning the wrath of the dragon, as he is deposed on
earth, would represent the activities of those elements and forces of Paganism under
Satan's direction. "Incapable of repentance." says Mr. Elliott, "that evil
spirit is represented in Scrip-tures as only gathering fresh malice against Christ
Himself, and Christ's cause and Church, from each partial victory they might have gained
over him; and the terrible consciousness of the ceaseless shortening of his respite from
the sentence of God's final judgment . . . . 'Knowing
that his time is short.' may here mean simply, persuaded . . . . Now it is reasonable to
suppose that the Devil knows not, any more than the angels in heaven, the exact time of
the last judgment; and might thus anticipate, as the early Christians did [erroneously],
that it would follow speedily on the breaking up of the Pagan Roman Empire.''
The dejection or deposing of Satan and his angels was to be a woe to
the earth in the sense that the decline of the Pagan party into a minority was to
exasperate the priests and rulers and lead them to more violent methods to overwhelm their
antagonists and reinstate themselves in authority. History clearly shows that this is
exactly what followed, and that the Pagan priests and their abettors who had been defeated
in their attempt to maintain their idol worship, and who had fallen into a minority were
represented by .the dragon following the woman. "Their following after her denotes
their attempt to join her society by a profession of Christianity: . . . Eusebius asserts,
'that two great evils distinguished the reign of Constantine -- the violence of profligate
and insatiable men, who harassed every condition of life; and the indescribable hypocrisy
of those who entered the Church and
deceitfully assumed the Christian name.' And he represents their promis-cuous assumption
of the new religion as occasioned in a large degree by the Emperor's treating the mere
profession as a satisfactory proof of a genuine conversion
. . . . It was natural that crowds of the worldly should be drawn to the Church when
Christianity became the religion of the court, and a profession of it a passport to office
and honor."
Even from the brief review given above it seems quite evident that
there is nothing about the symbolical war of St. John's vision to indicate that Satan had
maintained his place in God's presence in heaven up to the time of the vision's
fulfillment, subsequent to Christ's First Advent. Nor is there anything about the vision
of the war that has any reference to either Satan's original fall and expulsion from God's
presence or to his final overthrow and the downfall of his kingdom in the end of this Age;
but as above noted was intended as a symbolic prophecy that had its fulfillment in the
early part of the Age.
Now Is the Judgment of This World
Some have seized upon our Lord's words: "Now is the judgment of
this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out," and have taken them to
mean that at that time in connection with the giving of His redemptive sacrifice Satan was
cast out of heaven from God's presence. But the words of the Master would not seem to bear
out such a thought. Jesus made no reference to Satan being cast out of heaven. Rather He
had, already acknowledged Satan as the prince or ruler of this world, and without doubt
had reference to the fact of his dethronement from his present position as world emperor,
and of his being bound and conpletely restrained. Evidently the words of Jesus above
noted, were prophetic, and by the use of the word "now," He meant the same as in
His previous expression, "The hour is
come." But a little space of time now intervened until this would be
accomplished. The judgment of this world, so to speak, was in the balance and would
speedily be decided. The first trial took place in Eden, Father Adam being the one who was
on trial, and the world of mankind, still in his loins, was in a certain sense on trial,
in the balance, with him. That trial, as we know, resulted in disaster to Adam and all his
posterity. "By one man's disobedience sin entered into the world, and death as a
result of sin, and so death passed upon all men for all [through inherited weaknesses] are
sinners." (Rom. 5:12.) That judgment (trial and sentence) of the world was unto
death; and Adamic death had reigned up to the time that our Lord spoke, for more than
4,100 years. But now under Divine providence, under the grace of God, a substitute or
ransom had been found, acceptable to God, and willing to give His life. ,a ransom for Adam
and his race. This One was now on trial, and the fate of the whole world was in the
balance and depended upon His victory. Hence as our Lord expressed it, now the world's "krisis," or trial, was
at its climax, and His decision to be faithful to the Father's will, and to despise the
present life in obedience to that will, determined that trial favorably to the world; for
the Apostle declares that as the world's condemnation was unto death through Adam, so the
world's justification is unto life through Christ -- that so far as the Divine law was
concerned Jesus paid the full penalty for the whole world, and hence will have both the
right and the opportunity, not only to, rescue mankind from the tomb by an awakening, but
also to rescue fully and completely so many as will accept the favor, by raising them up
-- fully out of sin and death to perfection and harmony with God during and at the close
of the Millennial Age. -- Rom. 5:18,19..
The Prince of This World Cast Out
Our Lord's other statement is quite in accord with this: "Now
shall the prince of this world be cast out." That is to say, the trial now in
progress in My own person will result not only in a reversal and cancellation of the
Divine sentence of mankind unto death, but it will also result in the overthrow of the
present rule of evil in the hands of Satan, the prince of this world. He shall be cast
out; he shall be chained for the period of My Millennial reign, and shall subsequently be
destroyed. Since the whole. matter of the world's judgment and the removal of its present
captor through sin was dependent upon our Lord's victory, it was quite proper that He
should date all those results from that "hour," notwithstanding the fact that it
would be centuries before these things would be accomplished-the binding of Satan, the
release of mankind from the Adamic sentence through the instrumentalities of the
Millennial Kingdom (Christ and the glorified Church), into the glorious liberty (from
these things) which belongs to all sons of God, whatever their plane of being. Not that we
are to suppose that all men will avail themselves of these heavenly mercies and
privileges, but that all are to have a full opportunity to do so; so that whosoever will
die the Second Death will die for his own sins and not through inherited imperfections-not
because the fathers ate the sour grape of sin. -- Jer. 31:29, 30; 1 John 5:16.
When He Shall Be Bound
The fulfilling .therefore of the words of Jesus concerning the
casting out of Satan will mean the fulfilling of that other symbolic picture mentioned in
Revelation 20:1-3. The binding of Satan with the great chain, and his imprisonment in the
abyss is all figurative; but the figures are all meaning-ful. To us they signify a
complete restraint of Satan and all his powers of evil. The great chain represents
restraint. The word abyss, in our common version rendered "bottomless pit,"
represents oblivion. The seal upon it represents Divine care that none shall interfere
with God's arrangement, but that it shall all be carried out strictly in accordance with
the Divine pre-arrangement. Our suggestion respecting the influence of the increased light
of the present time is that a preliminary restraint of evil results from turning on the
light of truth, which makes the evil the more manifest and the less able to deceive. But
this is not all, by any means. The thought is that the great King, who is now about to
take full control of the world, has full power to bind, to restrain Satan and every, evil
power and influence, that nothing may hurt or injure that which is good throughout the
Millennial Age, as has been the case during the present Age, when the Kingdom of Heaven
(the Church in its incipient state) suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force,
misusing the members of the Body of Christ, even as they misused also the Head of the Body
-- our Lord.
As the picture in Revelation goes on to show, Satan will make another
attempt to lead mankind astray from the path of obedience and loyalty to God in the
conclusion of the Millennial reign and at that time the judg-ment of God will be quickly
manifest in the complete destruction of the Adversary and all who are in sympathy with
him.
"As An Angel of Light"
Who of all those who now love God and love truth and righteousness
will not acknowledge the wisdom and justice of God in the ultimate complete removal of
every influence and person that would work injury or do violence to others of God's
creatures! St. Paul addressing the Church calls attention to the fact that the Adversary
was the source of much of their trouble and distress. Yet, it is to be remembered that
Satan never appears to God's people as their enemy. The Apostle puts us on our guard
rather that we are to expect the Adversary's temptations along the line of an angel of
light-a minister of the truth. He always affects to be a helper and not a hinderer of the
Lord's people. He would show them how to get along in the world much more smoothly and
much more happily. He would bless them. He would turn their narrow, rugged path into a
path of roses. He would be their friend, their counselor, their guide. Only after they had
followed him awhile would they find, when well under his power, that he is a murderer from
the beginning and abode not in the truth. It is most important; therefore, that all those
struggling in the Narrow Way shall be vigilant and intensely on guard against the wily and
ingenious deceptions of the Evil One. But the same Apostle bids the Lord's people lift up
their heads hopefully, saying, "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet
shortly." Yea, surely, the night is far spent, the day is closely approaching; and
with the dawn of the morning comes first the
delive-rance of all the faithful Church. That deliverance will forever place them beyond
every influence and attack of Satan. And joined to their Lord in His all-powerful dominion
they shall, have the blessed privilege of assisting all others. of mankind to full freedom
from all the evil effects of the darkness and blindness of Satan.
PART I
"Behold 1 show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed." --1 Cor. 15:51 52
ALL WHO are familiar with the teaching of the Scriptures concerning
the Church of Christ recognize that it occupies a unique and distinguished place in the
Divine Program; her call being to a most exalted station, exceedingly glorious and honor
able, as the Bride and joint-heir of God's dear Son. Since God has highly exalted His Son
above all the hosts of heaven and earth, placing Him at His own right hand, making Him
partaker of His own nature and throne, and since we shall be like Him, and He has said,
"I will receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also," we have
the most perfect assurance that the Church's position in the purpose of God is truly an
extraordinary one.
We are not therefore surprised to find in the sacred record much
space devoted to the Church's present experience of preparation for her future glory; and
to find ,that the Divine procedure in dealing with the Church is altogether of a different
character from that which is to .be followed in bringing about the world's redemption and
deliverance in the future Age. "Transformed by the renewing of your mind" is
perhaps one of the most signal descriptions of the present work of preparation. Other
expressions of similar import are such as the following: "Conformed to the image of
God's dear Son," "Sanctification of the Spirit," "Be renewed in the
spirit of your minds," "Put on the new man which after God is created in
right-eousness and true holiness," "Growing up into Christ," etc. All of
these expressions set forth from one stand point or another the work of the Spirit that
is molding and fashioning the Church for her future exaltation.
"Rapture of the Saints"
In keeping with the foregoing we should also expect to find the
Scriptures to teach that the final change and resurrection of the Church is to be also of
altogether a different character from that of humanity in general; especially as the
Church's trial will be completed at death and she is to come forth in her resurrection
upon another plane of nature the spirit plane. This we do find. In referring to the
Church passing from earthly scenes into heavenly glory, some term it the "rapture
of the saints." While this expression is not contained in the Scriptures, it may not
be considered out of harmony therewith. The word "rapture" conveys the idea of
"vio-lence of a pleasing passion; extreme joy or pleasure; ecstasy." The thought
in the expression then is that of being quickly seized by intense thrilling joy and
pleasure. And surely when the Church shall be made like her Lord and be ushered into His
presence, her sense of joy and delight will be most excelling and beyond all comparison.
There is, however, a thought fre-quently associated with the expression, "rapture of
the Church," that we regard as unscriptural, namely that the last members of the
Church are to experience their change and pass from earthly scenes without suffering or
without passing into death. We do not believe that the Scriptures sustain this thought, as
will be seen as we pursue our study of this subject.
When we recognize how much is involved in this question of the
Church's glorification, when we stop to consider as best we can just what it is going to
mean to the Church, it is seen to be one of those themes in which we may properly exercise
the most absorbing interest. The fulfillment of the exceeding great and precious promises
are most vitally concerned in the Church's glorification. We are admonished to consider
these promises, to keep them ever fresh in our hearts. Thereby they will have a
sanctifying and cleansing effect in our souls, as well as facilitate the work of
developing the character of our blessed Lord.
Holy Spirit Unfolds Mystery
Similar to other features of the Divine Plan, not all the details of
the truth relating to the resurrection of the Church have been so clearly stated in the
Scriptures as that the Church all along through the Age could fully under-stand the matter
in advance. However, as the day draws near, we realize that the light is progressive on
this feature as well as on others of God's purpose, and the unfolding of the hidden
mystery progresses gradually until it is fully disclosed. Our Lord made several references
to the resur-rection and change of the Church, but they are for the most part of an
ele-mentary character. He said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will wide you into
all truth." Consequently the Master at that time contented Himself with merely
general references to the Church's resur-rection. He mentioned the hour when all in their
graves should come forth and those that had done good would experience a resurrection unto
life, as distinguished from those who would experience a resurrection by process of
judgment. He spoke of those whom the Father had given Him that He would raise them up at
the last day. Again, He referred to those who should be recompensed at the resurrection of
the just. He spoke of those who should be accounted worthy to obtain that world and that
resurrection from the dead, being like unto the angels, etc. These various allusions to
the resurrection of the Church are thus seen to be of a general character, and we must
expect a deeper and clearer insight into the truth of this subject only as it should
become due and we should possess of the Lord's Spirit which would guide us therein
according to the Master's promise.
Accordingly we find that subsequent to the day of Pentecost, when the
Holy Spirit was given, this entire subject of the Church in the Plan of God, including the
mystery as to her change from earthly to heavenly condition, began to open up and to be
understood, And now that we are eighteen centuries beyond that time, and the great Divine
scroll has been contin-uously unfolding, this whole subject involving the change of the
Church we believe is more clearly understood than at any former period of the Age. Many of
the prophetic signs too are in evidence today which throw light upon the pathway of the
Church and indicate more or less clearly the nearness of her completion and change to the
likeness of her Lord. In other words the facts and proofs all around us enable us to
recognize that the time is fulfilled, in keeping with the Master's words, "When ye
shall see these things begin to come to pass, then lift up your heads for your deliverance
draweth nigh."
Only by Way of the Cross -- Unto Death
Faithfully following the Apostolic testimony and the guidance of the
Spirit in these times, we believe the Lord's people are able to see with consi-derable
distinctness those outstanding features relating to the resurrection of the Church: First,
that those who shall share the heavenly nature and glory as Christ's joint-heirs must pass
into death, must experience sacrificial death. Passing by the testimony and evidence that
may be gathered from the typical, sacrifices of Israel which indicate that the entire
Church is to share in sacrificial death there are many plain and pointed statements of
Scripture that leave no room for doubt as to this question. For instance we read,
"Gather My saints together unto Me, those that have made a covenant with Me by
sacrifice." This is surely a prophetic description of those who are joined with
Christ in sacrifice. Their covenant was to be dead with Him that they might also live with
Him. Then when Jesus finally came and began to unfold the mystery of the call of this Age,
He was ever associating the thought of death, of suffering unto death, with the attainment
of the blessed reward. He called attention to the cross, the symbol of death, as essential
for those who would reign with Him. "Are ye able to drink of My cup; and to be
baptized with My baptism," again implying sacrifice unto death. Jesus gave not the
slightest intimation that any of His followers could gain the Kingdom except by following
in His footsteps unto death.
Likewise the Apostles taking up the story of the cross subsequent to
the day of Pentecost were constantly identifying a life of sacrifice and suf-fering even
unto death with the hope of future glory and exaltation. "If we suffer with Him, we
shall also reign with Him." "If we have been planted together in the likeness of
His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection," No words of
inspiration come to us with greater force than those given in the last message: "Be
thou faithful unto death and' I will give thee the crown of life." We discover no
intimation in any portion of the Apostolic messages that give us the slightest ground for
supposing that even a small number of the Church in the end of this Age May escape death,
or that they will attain the crown without the complete fulfillment of their covenant by
going all the way, unto the end, in the footsteps of their Master.
Asleep in Christ.
Second, that those of the Church who from the beginning of the Age to
the time of Christ's Second Presence have finished their course in death, have not been
resurrected and passed into their reward at the moment of death, but have fallen asleep
and have remained in the death sleep until the Second Presence took place. The Apostle
Paul tells us distinctly of some of the saints who had fallen asleep in his day. The
expression concerning this sleep of course is a figurative one and is suggestive of the
thought that the saints who have died prior to the Advent of the Lord are merely waiting,
quietly resting in the death state until the appointed time should come to call them to
their promised reward.
"Behold I Show You a Mystery"
Third, that a time would, come in the end of the Age when those who
would finish their course in death need not remain in the death sleep, but would at once
experience the power of the resurrection and share in the resurrection of the just.
It is concerning this third proposition, namely the change of the
last living members of the Church, that St. Paul was speaking when he used the language
that we have quoted at the beginning of this article: "Behold, I show you a mystery;
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." Expositors in dealing with this
Scripture, this feature that concerns the last members of the Church, have expressed a
difference of opinion. It is well known that those who have accepted the view of the
literal, and fleshly manifestation of Christ at His Second Advent believe also that there
is to be an outwardly miraculous and spectacular translation of the living members of the
Church and that without suffering or without their passing into death. This understanding
is based largely upon the words of the Apostle found in 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, The language is
understood to mean that the Lord shall literally descend through the air, that there will
be a literal and, audible sound of His voice and of a literal trumpet, and at that same
instant all the dead saints in Christ of the entire Age, shall be raised; the living
saints, still on earth and not having finished their course by going into death will at
that same moment, we are told, be caught up, and so all the saints shall be united with
Christ at once and in the same instant.
We would not be able to concur in any such literal construction or
interpretation of the Apostle's words respecting the manner of Christ's revealing. We will
not here digress to discuss the manner of our Lord's Second Advent as this subject has
been exhaustively dealt with elsewhere.* Suffice it to say that the Apostle's language to
the' Thessalonians describing the Advent of Christ is of a highly figurative character,
akin to some of the symbolical descriptions in the Book of Revelation. Since the Savior is
no longer a fleshly, human being, we could not reasonably expect to look for a fleshly,
human revelation of Him to humanity at His Second Advent. The shout is symbolical and
relates to the voice of truth, the impartation of knowledge that will come in connection
with the Lord's return. The trumpet is doubtless the "seventh trumpet." In other
words the Apostle is telling us that the Lord's return is in connection with a great
announcement or proclamation of liberty from heaven, which from one standpoint covers the
entire thousand-year period of Christ's reign.
____________
*
See Herald, October 1, 1926, page 307; also Scripture Studies," Vol. 11, pages
103-172.
__________
The Dead in Christ Raised First
But now we are concerning ourselves more particularly in this
connection with the Apostle's words regarding the resurrection of the Church. An important
consideration to be observed is that the Apostle announces that the first matter to
receive the Lord's attention at His return will be that of the gathering of His Church
unto Himself. This He does by lifting them out of death. Elsewhere this same Apostle
addressing the Church indicates that the first work will be that of rewarding His
followers and uniting them to Himself in His Kingdom. (2 Thess. 2:1.) We call attention
here to the fact that our Lord gave us this same lesson in the parable of the talents
recorded in Matthew 25:14-30. The parable goes on to show that during this Gospel Age when
the Lord has been absent, He has committed certain goods to His followers. Verse 19 shows
that the first work the Master attends to on His return is that of reckoning with. His
servants. He rewards the faithful at once, and rejects the unfaithful.
Thus we would reasonably suppose that the first matter to receive the
Lord's attention at His Second Coming would be that of the rewarding of His Church.
Accordingly the Apostle goes on to explain to the Thessalo-nians that upon His return
there would be some of the saints still living on earth engaged in the work of carrying
out their consecration vows. He says, "The dead in Christ shall rise first."
Obviously the inference is that those who have died in the Lord throughout the Age, who
have fallen asleep in Christ, are the ones who shall first share the resurrection joys.
And this thought is made doubly .certain by the Apostle's language which precedes the
expression that the dead in Christ will be raised first. He says, "We, the living,
who are left over to the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who fell
asleep." (Diaglott.) Is it not so plainly stated here that there need be no question
in the minds of any about the order of procedure when the Lord returns ? The fact that
some of the saints would be still living in the flesh and their course unfinished would by
no means hinder the resurrection at once of those who had already completed their race and
were sleeping in Christ.
"We Who Are Left Over"
Then after stating that the dead in Christ will tie raised first, he
says, "We, the living, who are left over." We regard these words as of peculiar
force. The words, "left over," can have but one meaning and that is that after
the raising of the "dead in Christ," there would still be those left in their
earthly pilgrimage; and. remaining, or "left over," would signify that they did
not experience their resurrection at the same instant as those men-tioned as the
"dead in Christ." But the question is asked, Why are they left over? Why do they
still remain? The answer here is plain, that it is because they have made a covenant to be
dead with Christ, to be joined with Him in sacrificial service, and that covenant must be
worked out, completed, even unto expiration in death. Not only so, but there is the work
of completing their character development. It would not be a reason-able supposition that
the moment Christ returns, all the living saints on earth would instantly or miraculously
acquire a readiness for the Master's presence in glory. They would in all probability need
further testing and trials for their strengthening and rounding out of character, and a
ripening preparatory to their share in the glorious resurrection.
But a further question is appropriate here: What of these left over
ones -- as they each in the regular way finish their course in death and complete their
sacrifice after the Master has come and is present? Will these need to sleep for at least
a brief space in death before they experience their resurrection with all the others? Not
so, we answer, for it is in this connection that those other words of the Apostle apply :
"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." This is the mystery that
the Apostle says he is explaining, namely that there will be some of the Church in the end
of the Age who will not need to remain in the sleep of death for a time as others will
have done prior to the Master's return.
Bearing in mind the explicit teachings of the Scriptures that all the
members of the Church must in order to attain the prize of the heavenly crown pass by way
of sacrifice into death, their sacrifice must be completely consumed, we would not
understand the Apostle to mean that some of the faithful at the end of the Age would not
need to die, when he says, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed." In fact he does not say that they will not die, but that they will not need
to remain in the sleep of death. The mystery then that he is unfolding is that the saints
from the beginning of the Age, as they have finished their course in death have fallen
asleep and remained in that condition until the Lord's return, but that such will not be
the case with those who happen to be living at the time the Second Presence of the Lord
takes place. There would be no need for these to remain in the sleep of death, but the
time of their resurrection having arrived, the moment of finishing their course in death
would be the moment of their change, when they would surely share in His resurrection and
in the resurrection of all the blessed and holy.
Not at the Same Instant -- But in the Same Period of His
Parousia
Some who hold to the view that the sleeping and the living saints are
to be glorified, at the same instant, immediately at Christ's return, lay special emphasis
on the words: "Then we, the living, who are left over, shall at the same time with
them, be caught away in clouds." This expression is construed to mean that at exactly
the same moment when the sleeping ones are raised, the saints still living on earth will
experience their change. Examining critically the Apostle's statement we do not believe
the above interpretation is justified. A critical rendering of the passage in the Emphatic
Diaglott is as follows, "Afterwards we the living ones those being left over, at the
same time with them shall be caught away in clouds." In other words the thought is,
those living ones still left over at the same time the sleeping ones are raised, shall
afterwards be caught away in the clouds. The term "afterwards" conveys
unmistakably the thought of something following what had been referred to as taking place
before; and since the Apostle has just mentioned that the dead in Christ would be raised
"first" and that "afterwards" the living ones being left over should
be dealt with, he is most certainly conveying the thought of the glorification of the
Church in two divisions: first, those, the dead ones, and afterwards the living ones.
But even if we were to admit the construction of the Apostle's words
to be that the living ones would at the same time as
the others be caught away, etc., we would still have sufficient grounds for believing that
the Apostle could not have had in mind that exactly the same instant the dead in Christ
were raised; the living ones would also be raised. We have only to keep in mind what we
have learned concerning the significance of the term, "time." It is frequently
used with reference to an indefinite period or space; and in support of this suggestion we
have but to recall what we have found the Scriptures to teach concerning a time or period
in the close of this Age when Christ will be secretly present (Matt. 24:37-39) and
conducting a work of searching, testing, and sifting of His people, otherwise called a
harvest work. And this period in which this work is going on is properly designated the
harvest time. It is the time of the
"parousia" or presence of the Master preliminary to the establishment of His
Kingdom. That the Master would be present ilk the time of the harvest is clearly implied
by various Scriptures. In the harvest of the Jewish Age Christ was present as the chief
supervising reaper. Likewise in the harvest of this Age, the same Master was to be present
as the chief reaper, directing the work of testing, purifying, and gathering the wheat
class unto Himself.
Recalling now the Apostle's words that "we, the living, who are
left over, shall at the same time with them, be caught away in the clouds," is it not
evident that this language must be interpreted in the light of what we have just seen
foregoing, namely that the Church is to experience glorification in this period of time
preliminary to the establishing of His Kingdom in glory? First the dead in Christ come
forth, then "afterwards" during this same time or period of His secret presence,
the living members of the Church, finishing their course one by one in sacrificial death,
shall be gathered unto the Lord to be forever with Him in the air -- in the spiritual
realm.
(Continued in next issue)
"For brethren, ye have
been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love
serve one another. For all the law is ful-filled in one word, even in this; thou shall
lave thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be
not consumed one of another. This 1 say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil
the lust of the flesh." -- Gal. 5:13-16.
OF ALL people of the earth Christians alone may know the value and
meaning of the truth and the liberty which it brings to those who receive it into good and
honest hearts. For only these are familiar with the Divine revelation which sets forth
God's viewpoint respecting the truth and liberty which He has provided for those accepted
into His family as sons. We believe that many professing Christians have sung,
"Onward Christian soldiers, battling for the right," who but imperfectly
comprehended the meaning of their words -- the significance of the Christian's battle
which is one in the interest of the truth and for freedom in the highest and best sense of
the expression.
Jesus said, that which doth make manifest is light; and this is in
full harmony with our experiences in life. We are reminded here of an illustra-tion used
by Oliver Wendell Holmes, to show the power of the truth and its effects upon those who
are not of the truth, not of the light, but of darkness:
"Have you ever, when walking about out of doors, found some big
flat stone that has lain no one knows how long, just where you found it, surrounded by
grass that forms as it were a little fence around it -- and have you not, obeying some
sort of feeling; thought that it has been there long enough, put your stick or your finger
or the foot under its edge and overturned it?
"What a scene, and what an unexpected and disagreeable
"surprise for a little colony, the very existence of which you did mot imagine before
you observed the sudden confusion and anguish of its inhabitants when over-turning the
stone? No sooner is the stone overturned, and the wholesome daylight entered to the
compressed and light shy society of creeping things under it, than every one of them:
possessing legs --- and many of them have a whole lot -- run wildly about and push against
each other and everything in their way, and it ends with a universal general rush for the
subterranean hiding places from a circuit poisoned by the sunlight.
"Never imagine that you can overturn an old lie without causing
a terrible confusion and alarm among the sickening little world living under it!
"Every real idea and every real subject bring one or another to
gasp. And having regained the breath he will probably begin to misuse it for blas-phemy.
These are the best proofs you can get that you have expressed a truth for which the time
was ripe."
Light, Truth, Makes Manifest
From time to time the Lord has allowed the world to follow its own
wisdom into dense darkness, and then has suddenly turned on the light, producing very much
the effect described in the foregoing illustration. It was thus in Elijah's day, and
through many of the Prophets God caused the light to shine and brought corresponding
testings. But at our Lord's First Advent, when the great Light came into the world and was
displayed in the midst of those who had claimed to be the people of God, the child-ren of
the light, it demonstrated that many of them were really children of darkness who loved
not the light, loved not the truth. Similarly, in the days of the Reformation which came
after centuries of the reign of a dreadful apostasy; the light was turned on, and the
accumulated errors and darkness considerably removed, to the advantage of those who loved
the light, but to the disturbance of those who loved the darkness. And today conditions
are very much the same: the light of truth still finds comparatively few even in
enlightened Christendom to appreciate the riches of God's grace and take a fuller view of
the love and mercy of God, manifested in the great redemptive work of Christ, to be
accomplished in the "times of restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all
the holy prophets." -- Acts 3:19-21.
The works of darkness, sin, wickedness, selfishness of the past and
present, are associated with error, ignorance, and superstition; likewise the works of
light, righteousness, holiness, and love are associated with truth, knowledge, and right
conceptions of God. And this implies that those who come to know God and the truth, throw
off the works of darkness and sin. Jesus said that it was the truth that brought liberty,
freedom: "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." The
unregenerate world knows something of the quality of liberty, though they know not of the
liberty from the bondage to sin. Our civilization basing itself partly on an appreciation
of the principles of justice and partly upon the lessons from history, attempts so to
shape the laws of the land as to secure the rights of all. It is not surprising, however,
that with selfishness a ruling element in all hearts by nature -- neither the laws nor the
practices of the most civi-lized are perfect; that is to say, the largest amount of
protection and the largest amount of individual liberty are not always secured. It is
worthy of note that all the liberty there is in the world today has been paid for; none of
it has been attained without sacrificers. Why? Because selfishness is so entrenched in the
race that those who possess power, authority, privilege, opportunity, would hold these for
themselves to the disadvantage of others, to the enslavement of others, were not the
rights and liberties fought for. Looking back over the history of the nations, without
approv-ing of wars, every reasoning mind can see, nevertheless, that only through wars
have liberties come to the race. The mistake that is being made by many today is the
supposition that humanity would ever be able to attain the condition of absolute equality
and unselfishness through laws or wars or any other means within the power of Adam's race.
The Scriptures point out to us that there is a limit beyond which we must not expect
selfish humanity to make progress-that any progress beyond that limit must come from on
high, through the establishment of the Kingdom of God's dear Son.
The Christian's Fight
If the world's liberty has required fighting for, much more may we
who take the still higher ground of the Bible, and who strive for the "liberty
wherewith Christ makes free," expect to battle. (Gal. 5:1.) For although this very
Scripture declares that Christ gives this freedom, the Word shows us that He gives it only
to those who desire it and who will fight for it. Their battle is not to be with carnal
weapons which the law of love for-bids, yet their warfare is to be mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds of error. Against what, then, do they battle ? We answer
that their chief fight is against the fallen tendencies of their own beings. They find
that, through the long centuries of the fall, sin has become inbred and entrenched in
their flesh to such a degree that it necessitates a warfare in the new mind. They get the
new mind or disposition through hearkening to the Word of the Lord, which, while speaking
peace and forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ, invites to a newness of nature and
a joint-heirship with Christ through a full consecration of all to the Divine service --
to the service of righteousness and truth. The making of the consecration on the part of
the believer was his entering upon the career of a good soldier of the Lord Jesus. It was
his engagement to battle against sin and selfishness everywhere, according to the rules
laid down by the chief Captain.
To the surprise of every soldier he finds that some of his greatest
battles are within. True he finds the world an opponent to his full devotion of time and
talent and influence to the service of the Truth. The world is not prepared for such an
extreme, which more or less reproves it of sin and selfishness: the world, therefore;
sneers and cries "hypocrite," "saint," etc., and seeks to turn aside
the consecrated. To be a good soldier he must be prepared for this and have on the sandals
of preparation afforded by the Gospel, else the difficulties strewn in his path by worldly
opposition would soon make him so foot sore that he would be disposed to turn back,
notwithstanding the term of his enlistment "even unto death." The Adver-sary
also is a foe who must be reckoned with, and whose subtle attacks may be encountered in
various, ways. The Christian soldier has the assu-rance of his Captain that all the arts
of the Adversary are known to Him, and that all his interests shall be guarded so long as
he is loyal to his Captain and faithful to his consecration and enlistment.
But, as we have said, the chiefest of all the Christian soldier's
opponents is the human foe the weaknesses and cravings and demands and subtle
persecutions, etc., of the fallen conditions of his own mind and body. To his surprise he
finds himself a slave to his own weaknesses, and that he must battle daily, hourly almost,
for victory, in order to attain fully the liberty wherewith Christ makes free indeed. From
this standpoint all battles against our own fleshly weaknesses, our own selfish instincts
and propensities, are (battles for liberty, battles for right, battles on the Lord's side.
Our great Captain is not so much wishing us to fight His battles as wishing us to fight
the good flight of faith in ourselves, and in this smatter He is ready to assist us, and
without Him we can do nothing. True, our battles extend beyond ourselves sometimes when,
either amongst the Lord's brethren, the Church, we need to battle for the Truth, the
right, or in our contact with the world we may sometimes find hostilities necessary.
"If Ye Bite and Devour"
Amongst the Lord's people, even in the Apostles' day, there was a
ten-dency at times to fight each other rather than to fight the Devil and the spirit of
the world and the weaknesses within. The organs of combative-ness and destructiveness,
which would serve a Christian soldier in good stead if directed against his own weaknesses
and blemishes, are sadly out of place when ignoring his own weaknesses, he merely becomes
conten-tious with the brethren -- often over nothing, or over questions whose importance
he exaggerates, because of his contentious spirit. Such should remember the Scriptural
statement that greater is he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a city. (Prov.
16:32.) The Apostle refers to that misdirection of Christian energy which bites and
devours one another and tends to the destruction of all that is spiritual amongst the
Lord's people. Not that the Apostle favored slackness as respects the important principles
of the Divine revelation, for he himself urged that we contend earnestly for the faith
once delivered to the saints. (Jude 3.) But this earnest conten-ding is not to be done in
a biting and devouring manner -- it is to be with patience and longsuffering, brotherly
kindness, love.
The Lord's people have enlisted as New Creatures, Spirit begotten, to
walk [to live] not after the flesh but after the Spirit, and must continually recognize
this fact, and keep watch that they are walking in line with the spirit of truth, and must
know that in so doing they will not be fulfilling the desires of their fallen flesh. The
Apostle states this as a positive rule, without exception, that the flesh, the natural
inclinations, tendencies, lusts or desires, are contrary to the Spirit, and likewise the
Spirit desires are contrary to the flesh. These two desires being opposed one to the other
we cannot gratify both, and whichever is gratified it will be so at the expense of the
other. If we ever want to attain to the true liberty wherewith Christ makes free we should
know that it can be only by a persistent warfare of the new mind against every sinful
tendency and inclination of the old nature. It is not the new will warring against the
old, for the old will we have reckoned dead. It is the new will warring against the flesh,
which the old will used to control, and which flesh still has its evil tendencies.
The new will, therefore, needs all the sustaining strength and
assistance which it can secure. Many of these are provided for it as food, nourish-ment,
strength, through the Word of God, whose exceeding great and precious promises are given
in order that the new will may be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might through
faith, and conquer in all of its battles with the flesh.
The Apostle's declaration, "Ye cannot do the things which ye
would," is in full accord with all our experiences. We can sometimes do as we would
in some things, we can gain the victory over the flesh; but there are certain weaknesses,
failings, blemishes in our flesh which are so powerful that the new mind never gets as
complete a mastery over them as it desires. Nevertheless in all the battles being waged
the new mind grows stronger and stronger while the flesh grows weaker and weaker. The
Scriptural proposition, however, is that we must expect to have more or less of these
battles until our dying moments. Thank God that will be the end of the strife, for in the
resurrection we are promised new bodies, perfect, complete, in which the new mind will be
able to exercise itself without conflict. That is the rest which remains for the people of
God, and associated with it will be various other blessings, honors, dignities and
responsibilities which the Lord has promised.
"Ye Are Not Under the Law"
The Jewish Law was prominent before the minds of the early Church,
because the majority had come to Christ through Judaism. The Law had its requirements and
exactions and condemnations, and it was difficult for the early Church to comprehend the
liberty which was properly theirs in Christ. Their minds would waver as between the gift
of grace in Christ and the rewards of the Law, and hence they were continually in trouble
because of a realization of the imperfection of their flesh. The Apostle urges the point
that those who have accepted Christ are no longer under the Law Covenant, hoping for
eternal life under its impossible conditions. The Law could only approve that which was
perfect,. and while believers realize that their hearts, their wills, their intentions are
perfect, they realize also the imperfection of their flesh.
The Apostle's argument therefore is, "If ye be led of the Spirit
then are ye not under the Law." (Gal. 5:18.) That is to say, you who have accepted
Christ, and who are now walking according to the new mind to the best of your ability, are
following the lead of the Spirit, and you have nothing to do with the Law, and it cannot
condemn you as imperfect because of your fleshly weaknesses, for you are protected under
the robe of Christ's righteousness, and the Divine arrangement is that so long as you are
following the Spirit, following the new mind, seeking to walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit, that long you are justified, approved of the Lord, and the imperfections
of your flesh that are contrary to your best endeavors are not charged to your account,
but to the Lord Jesus' account. Those unwilling imperfections were all laid upon Him who
bore our sins in His own body on the tree, as His perfections have been applied to us
through faith to cover those unwilling blemishes.
"Against Such There Is No Law"
While the Law Covenant was nailed to Jesus' cross, it does not mean
that there is no law covering the Lord's people. The very essence of the Divine law is
love for God and for man, and the Apostle points out that our course as Christians walking
after the Spirit of Christ would be condemned by no law of God; but on the contrary, if
neglecting our consecration to the Lord we walk after the flesh, there would be
condemnation against us because judged according to the Spirit, the intention of our
hearts, we are either approved or disapproved by the Divine law of love.
The works of the flesh the Apostle enumerates, and they are all
violations of the law of love under which the New Creatures in Christ are being examined;
they all come under the head of selfishness and imply injury to our fellow-creatures. He
enumerates these: adultery, fornication, unclean-ness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, malice, wrath, strife, divisions, heresies, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. The Apostle points out that any one
begotten of the Spirit who walks, that is who lives, along the lines of these works of the
flesh need have no hope of any share in the Kingdom of Heaven. He does not say that all
such would share in the Second Death; but we know of a surety how such conduct persisted
in would ultimately result in the Second Death. It is sufficient for our purpose, however,
to leave the matter where the Apostle does, and to note that there is no prospect for a
share in the Kingdom for any who do these works of the flesh and of the devil.
It is unfortunate for
some that they seem unable to realize the scope of this testimony; they seem to think of
adultery, drunkenness and murder as being the crimes that would debar from a share in the
Kingdom. They overlook the fact that the Lord defined adultery to be a desire to do evil
where only the opportunity is lacking; that He defined murder as repre-sented in that
condition of heart which hates a brother. They overlook the statement of the Apostle in
this very list that the spirit of variance, the spirit of ambition and jealousy, the
spirit of envy and division, are spirits of the flesh and in opposition to the New
Creature led. by the Holy Spirit. O, if all of the Lord's people could have in mind these
searching tests and apply them to their own lives, what a profit would result, what a
blessing, what a fleeing from these weaknesses of the old nature, what a fighting against
them for the liberty of the New Creature and its final attainment to glory, honor, and
immortality with their Lord in the Kingdom.!
The Fruit of the Spirit
Having pointed out to us what would constitute walking after the
flesh, the Apostle next indicates the conditions and experiences which should assure the
Loral's people that they are not only soldiers of the cross and followers of the Lamb, but
that they are fighting a good fight, gaining victories over the flesh. He suggests that if
we are begotten of the Spirit and guided thereby there will be a fruitage in our life
which will be manifest to ourselves and should to some extent also be apparent to others.
This "fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsufering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance."
There is no law of God against these things, these qualities, these
characteristics of the new nature, and very rarely will any law amongst men be found in.
opposition to them, although indirectly those who practice these things will be unpopular
with the world as well as with the Adversary, and have trying experiences as a result --
experiences, how-ever, which persevered in will work out a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. On the contrary, he who lacks such fruit in his heart, in his mind, in
his experiences, lacks the evidence which he should have of his faithfulness as a good
soldier in warring against the old nature. He lacks therefore the full assurance of faith,
without which as a New Creature he could not have peace and joy. It will be observed that
all these fruits of the Spirit are contrary to selfishness. If the Lord's people could but
come to the place where daily, morning, noon and night, they would have self-examinations
to see to what extent they are growing these fruits of the Spirit and to what extent they
are rooting out the works of the flesh, it would be to the comfort and joy of all who are
in the right condition. Though it might be to the discouragement of others, it would be a
discouragement which eventually would be to them advantageous and .in the end would hinder
them from making shipwreck.
"Crucified the Flesh"
Pursuing his subject, showing why we should fight against our natural
desires and inclinations toward things that are selfish and sinful, the Apostle declares
that they that are Christ's [His consecrated ones, pro-spective members of His Bride] have
crucified the flesh, with the passions and lusts thereof. What does he mean? that those
who have accepted Christ as their sin offering, believing that the crucified One paid
their ransom price, have counted their flesh in as though crucified with Christ, saying,
Since sin cost the crucifixion of our Redeemer, we will be opposed to sin and dead to sin
forever. The thought is that whoever has clearly and intelligently accepted Christ as his
Savior from sin will be so opposed to sin that he will count his own flesh as condemned to
death and be hoping for the new body, the spiritual, and be willing that his flesh should
die a lingering death until the last gasp, so strong will be his opposition to sin and
everything allied therewith, so strong will his sympathy be with God and the Redeemer, and
the holiness which they represent.
"If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit,"
the Apostle adds. That is to say, begotten of the Spirit we reckon ourselves New
Creatures, spirit beings, not yet perfect. To us old things are passed away, the things of
sin, and all things have become new in harmony with the exceeding great and precious hopes
which have been begotten in us by the Lord's promises. If these be true, let us walk, let
us live our daily life accordingly, in harmony with this thought as New Creatures in
Christ, not as men ener-gized by their ambitions or projects, not as taking pleasure in
the things contrary to the new nature.
"Provoking One Another"
As before suggested, while our difficulties arise from our own fallen
flesh, they are apt to manifest themselves in the affairs of the Church. The old spirit of
selfishness inclines to be ambitious for influence, power, authority, glory amongst the
brethren, overlooking the fact that such vainglory and envyings are entirely contrary to
the Spirit of the Lord, by which we have been begotten -- entirely overlooking the fact
that while this ambitious spirit dominates us in any measure we are unfit for the Kingdom
and will have proportionately less and less of the Lord's favor and blessing and guidance
in our hearts and heads. Hence the Apostle urges, "Let us not be vainglorious,
provoking one another, envying one another." Whoever manifests a vainglorious spirit
tempts another in the same direction through retaliation, and thus there is a provoking or
inciting to an evil course; whereas the Apostle urges, on the contrary, that the New
Creatures in Christ should provoke or incite one another to love and good works, that
would be to their mutual advantage and development.
"God Is Not Mocked"
The Apostle in this same Epistle adds a solemn thought: "Be not
deceived, God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." We
might succeed in deceiving ourselves, possibly succeed in deceiving others into thinking
that we are spiritual, walking after the Spirit, while really heady, high-minded,
vainglorious and envious, but, says the Apostle, we could never deceive God. For such to
claim that they were walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh would be mocking
God, would imply that God could not read the heart and discern the motive. And the Apostle
suggests that in God's arrangement we are sure to reap, the very crop we sow. If, in our
daily intercourse with the family, the brethren and the world, we allow the envious,
selfish, vainglorious, ambi-tious spirit to control, with more or less of anger, hatred,
strife, and dissen-sion, we may surely expect the legitimate crop will not become the
reverse of this; instead of finding ourselves in the resurrection copies of God's dear
Son, we will find ourselves wholly unfit for the company of the Elect.
But, on the other hand, if we sow to the Spirit -- that is, if in the
daily affairs of life we seek to have our hearts and minds in full accord and sympathy
with the Spirit of the Lord, as presented to us in His Word and exemplified in our
Redeemer and the Apostles -- then we may have the assurance with God that He will not
forget us however weak we may be, however insignificant according to the flesh, but we
will be remembered of Him in the resurrection and be granted a share with all the
overcomers in His Kingdom; we will reap of the Spirit the, spiritual body, as the Apostle
intimates; "For he that soweth unto his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption,
death; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
VOL. X. February 15, 1927 No. 4
"That the trial of your
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." --
1 Pet. 1:7.
WHEN the Master urged upon His followers to lay up treasure in
heaven, He was evidently calling attention to an opportunity and privilege of which they
should avail themselves in the present life. And He was emphasizing the fact that in
becoming His disciples they were assuming a most sacred and solemn responsibility, the
faithful discharging of which was to signify a radical change in their lives -- their
hearts, purposes, and motives. In other words there was to be a complete transformation of
character to that of the likeness of the Savior Himself. Surely it was the part that each
disciple would perform in effecting this transformation -- that diligent, faithful effort
in co-operator. with the Lord -- that was to constitute the foundation or basis on which
the heavenly treasures were to be laid up.
The present life therefore is the time for laying up heavenly
treasures which cannot be stolen from us and which cannot corrupt; and our Lord and the
gracious things which He has in reservation for them that love Him -- the Elect -- are our
treasures. Not only so, but the store of them surely becomes larger and larger as we seek
to set our affections on things above and not on the things of earth. But just now we wish
to think of these heavenly things in respect to our earthly life, and to note the
impor-tance of laying up some heavenly treasure while on earth.
Until the Servants of God Are Sealed
Though to our understanding of the Scriptures we are living in very
close proximity to the end of this dispensation, the severest of the trouble, that to
which the Prophets of the Bible have so frequently pointed, has evi-dently not yet passed.
And the Lord is pleased to permit a comparatively tranquil period at the present which may
mot be of long duration. It is the time, we believe, when the winds of trouble are to some
extent being held in restraint so that the worst or severity of the trouble upon the
nations is not allowed to break, "until the servants of God are sealed in their
foreheads." The thought would seem to be that just as soon as the sealing process or
perfecting of the Church has been accomplished the restraint will be released and the
predicted storm will be allowed to follow, over-whelming the entire present order of
things.
We know not to what extent the saints may be permitted to share in
the distress and suffering of the world's final trouble; but the thought is most certainly
conveyed in the Scriptures that the closing days of the Church's career are to be days of
special and severe trial to test and to prove who shall be worthy; and that their sealing,
their having committed to them the secrets of the Divine purpose, is to fortify and
prepare them to stand in the presence of the fiery ordeals and tests of the present and
until their earthly career is finished. This is not a pleasant prospect some will say, but
we have only to answer that all of our Heavenly Father's provisions for us are agreeable
when we are rightly in harmony with Him and His precious Word. The Lord's people are
symbolically represented as being enabled through this time of stress and trouble to stand
upon the sea of glass and to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, the meanwhile harping
upon their harps -- making melody from the Word of God and greatly rejoicing therein.
Source of Some Severe Trials
Many have had the thought that the severest trial upon the Church in
the last times was to come from the unbelieving world outside and in connection with
persecutions from the civil powers. But we seriously doubt whether this is the correct
view. While conceding that the saints may in the near future experience severe testing
from persecutions emanating from a combination of civil and religious powers, we must
acknowledge that both Scripture and history teach that the Church's severest trials have
come from within her own ranks, as a result of the usurpations and intrusions of the
wolfish and ambitious, and from brethren arising in the Church "speaking perverse
things and seeking to draw away disciples after themselves." And in these recent
years brethren in the Lord. Have suffered most crucial tests from this same source within
the Church's sacred precincts. The depriving of brethren in Christ of their liberty to
think and decide all matters of faith and doctrine and the instituting of unscriptural
tests of fellowship, always result in a crisis and in the most searching trial and
distress upon the Church; for those whose consecration is to God have the spirit of
loyalty to Him, and ever realize it their duty to resist all encroachments of error and
usurpation and to render allegiance to none but Christ. Such is the state of testing and
trial through which the Church is passing in these days, as the faithful earnestly strive
to lay up the heavenly treasure. And since the Lord's people are not to think strange of
it, it is proper that it should be called to their attention repeatedly, and that they be
helped in their preparation for it. He shall give His messengers charge concerning thee
[the Christ], and in their hands they shall bear thee up [the feet members] lest ye
stumble against stones and difficulties in this evil day.
Sealed in Heart and Forehead
The Scriptures refer to sealing of the Holy Spirit as necessarily
essential to membership in the Lord's family at all. Whoever does not receive the seal,
the impress of the Holy Spirit, will not be a copy of God's dear Son in heart, in
character, and cannot be associated with Him in the Kingdom. The sealing process is a
gradual one, the impression becoming more permanent daily. Though the sealing in the
forehead is not identical with the sealing in the heart, the two are closely related. All
who develop the Christ character must have both. Many of the Lord's dear people
through-out the past who have had the seal of the Lord upon their hearts and characters
did not experience so largely of the sealing in the forehead, did not have the same degree
of intellectual knowledge of God and His glorious Plan that is possible for His faithful
of the present time, which seems necessary in connection with the crucial trials now upon
the Church.
The question with each one of us should be, How am I prospering? How
am I profiting by these provisions which the Lord has made for my, preparation for the
present trials and tests? Am I living carelessly, thought-lessly? Am I improving or am I
wasting the precious moments, the blessed hours, the golden opportunities presented to me
by God's favor? Surely the Lord has been faithful in all of His engagements; surely He is
doing for us exceedingly more abundantly than we' could ask or think; surely if we fail to
make our calling and election sure, the fault will not be His, for He is faithful who has
called us, He also will do it. If, therefore, He has done all that He has promised and all
that is necessary and all that is proper for our aid, if there be any failure in the
matter it will surely be our own fault; it will be because we have not been giving proper
and sufficient place to the work of the Spirit, and have not been experiencing the
sealing, the impressing of the Spirit as He intended. It is well that we should see how
the Lord placed the responsibility upon us, as is implied in His direction that we work
out our salvation with fear and trembling, remem-bering that it is God that worketh in us
to will and to do His good pleasure. All our blessings come from God, and come to us as
gifts; but these gifts, to be of value to us in the end, must be received, must be used,
must be appropriated, must be worked out in mind and heart, and so far as possible in our
mortal bodies. The inspiration of God's promise first worked in us to will and to do His
will, to lay down our all at His feet; and secondly, as we followed on, these promises
continued to work in us to the point of doing service, putting into practice our good
wills, good intentions-and only those who do put them into practice will get the eventual
blessing of the Kingdom.
"O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing My Great
Redeemer's Praise"
It is well that we have the sentiment here expressed; and the desire
to praise the Lord a thousand-fold more than we have ability; but we do well to remember
that the Lord looks for something more than songs and thankfulness: He looks for evidences
of appreciation of His grace and His promises, He looks for evidences of our appropriation
of these, in harmony with His design in giving them. If, then He has fulfilled His promise
that at His Second Presence He will gird Himself as a servant and come forth to serve
those who hear His knock and open their hearts to receive Him, we may properly infer that
the strengthening food He has provided for His people is in some sense of the word
necessary to them. It is so necessary that if they receive it not, if they feed not upon
it, if they are not made thereby strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, it will
ultimately be greatly to their disadvantage.
These suggestions we make because we observe that some who rejoice
greatly in the bountiful supply provided by the Lord and who love to sing of His
blessings, mercies, etc., seem not to be giving sufficiency of attention to the repast
itself -- to the faithful application of the Truth to themselves. The illustration is
applicable here of the man who purchased an encyclopedia and never used it, but often
praised it and took great pleasure in it, with the thought that the information was there
if ever he should need it. Some of the Lord's dear people seem disposed to do after this
manner with the precious things of Divine truth which are now in their hands. They would
keep their helps to Bible study, they would praise them, they would talk about them to
their friends, but many of them neglect to read -- many permit the cares of this life, the
deceitfulness of riches, etc., to consume their time, the precious moments, the precious
hours, the golden opportunities, so that they do not feast upon the viands provided by the
Lord. The time is surely at hand when the rejoicings of this class seem less and less as
the subtle tests and delusions of the present become more searching and prevalent. We fear
that many will not have the sufficiency of foundation for their faith and love to endure
the crucial experiences of this hour.
We Must Eat of the Heavenly Manna
The important question before all the consecrated today is, How are
these trying conditions finding us? Can we look up to the Lord and say that we have been
faithful over the few things committed to our care and have done what we could to advance
the honor of the Lord's name, and to assist fellow brethren in Christ to discern the
Lord's will and to recognize the problems before the Church now and meet them in a manner
well pleasing to the Lord? And can we thankfully acknowledge that we have received into
good and honest hearts the precious message of the Truth, and that we have the thing in
our minds which we are not only able to appreciate ourselves, but are able to communicate
to others. These are very important questions for every follower of Christ, for it takes
time to lay up this spiritual food in reserve, so that we could not only have it for the
immediate present, but also enough for the coming emergencies.
Let us remember that it is not sufficient that we have the Bible, and
the helpful writings of faithful men of God upon our shelves or upon our tables. We need
to use them, we need to partake of this bread, this refresh-ment which our present Lord
has supplied to us. Just as in the case of Israel of old journeying in the wilderness to
the promised land: manna, food from heaven, was provided to nourish and strengthen them
for the daily pilgrimage. But there were certain specific instructions given con-cerning
the manna. The manna must be gathered every day. This instruc-tion must be followed if
this food from heaven should be of any value to them. But not only were the children of
Israel to put themselves about to gather up the manna; if they had done this and no more
it would have been of no profit -- they would have received no strength from it. They must
appropriate the manna to their physical needs by eating it if they would receive benefit
from it -- life and strength to perform the daily task. Furthermore, they were not to
gather up more manna than was needed for each day; otherwise, decay and decomposition
would set in. This also has its lesson. The observations of another writing on this
subject are of much interest here: "It is our privilege, day by day, to enter into
the preciousness of Christ, as the One who came down from heaven to give life unto the
world. But if any, in forgetfulness of this, should be found hoarding up for tomorrow,
that is, laying up truth beyond his present need, instead of turning it to profit in the
way of renewing strength, it will surely become corrupt. This is a salutary lesson for us.
It is a deeply solemn thing to learn truth; for there is not a principle which we profess
to have learnt which we shall not have to prove practically. God will not have us
theorists. One often trembles to hear persons make high professions and use expressions of
intense devotedness whether in prayer or otherwise, lest, when the hour of trial comes,
there may not be the needed spiritual power to carry out what the lips have uttered.
Having the Theory Without the Power of Religion
"There is a great danger of the intellect's outstripping the
conscience and the affections. Hence it is that so many seem, at first, to make such rapid
progress up to a certain point; but there they stop short and appear to retrograde. Like
an Israelite gathering up more manna than he required for one day's food. He might appear
to be accumulating the heavenly food far more diligently than others; yet every particle
beyond the day's supply was not only useless, but far worse than useless, inasmuch as it
'bred worms.' Thus it is with the Christian. He must use what he gets. He must feed upon
Christ as a matter of actual need, and the need is brought out in actual service. The
character and ways of God, the preciousness and beauty of Christ, and the living depths of
the Word are only unfolded to faith and need. It is as we use what we receive that more
will be given. The path of the believer is to be a practical one; and here it is that so
many of us come short. It will often be found that those who get on most rapidly in theory
are the slowest in the practical and experimental elements, because it is more a work of
intellect than of heart and conscience. We should ever remember that Christianity is not a
set of opinions, a system of dogmas, or a number of views. It is pre-eminently a living
reality -- a per-sonal, practical, powerful thing, telling itself out in all the scenes
and cir-cumstances of daily life, shedding its hallowed influence over the entire
character and course, and imparting its heavenly tone to every relationship which one may
be called of God to fill. In a word, it is that which flows from being associated and
occupied with Christ. This is Christianity. There may be clear views, correct notions,
sound-principles, without any fellowship with Jesus; but an orthodox creed without Christ
will prove a cold, barren, dead thing.
Make Christ Habitual Food
"Christian reader, see carefully to it that you are not only
saved by Christ, but also living on Him. Make Him the daily portion of your soul. Seek Him
'early,' seek Him 'only.' When anything solicits your attention, ask the question, 'Will
this bring Christ to my heart? Will it unfold Him to my affections or draw me near to His
Person?' If not, reject it at once: yes, reject it, though it present itself under the
most specious appearance and with the most commanding authority. If your honest purpose be
to get on in the Divine life, to progress in spirituality, to cultivate personal
acquain-tance with Christ, then challenge your heart solemnly and faithfully as to this.
Make Christ your habitual food. Go, gather the marina that falls on the dew-drops, and
feed upon it with an appetite sharpened by a diligent walk with God through the desert.
May the rich grace of God, the Holy Spirit, abundantly strengthen you in all this!"
Some Are Weak and Sickly, Others Strong
Looking over the mass of Christian profession today including those
who have come to receive the designation of "Truth people," what startling and
enormous failures are at once observed along the lines set forth above of properly feeding
upon and assimilating the Word of God, so that it, through the power of the eternal Spirit
becomes in the believer a living force and energy, vitalizing all the activities and
exercises of life. Many are spiritually tired, weary and sleepy, lacking spiritual
strength. Others are lean and sickly because they are not nourished by the Living Word of
God. Jesus truly said, "The words I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are
life." But the spirituality and life which His words contain are realized only by
those who feed upon them with devout and resigned hearts and renewed spirits.
On the other hand, there come to our attention those who are
"awake to righteousness" and are walking in the Spirit, as a result of feeding
upon the words of life. And He "who hath His eyes as .a flame of fire," dwelling
amongst the seven golden candlesticks finds even in Laodicea as in Sardis, a few names of
those who have not defiled their garments, and who shall walk with Him in white.
A beautiful message from one of these is before us at this moment: In
recounting how of recent date unspeakable blessings have been realized, spiritual heights
and depths never before known have been entered, and contrasting these experiences with
the spiritually impoverished state of the recent past, this letter goes on to say:
"Before that for several months I had been groping helplessly
for some-thing more than I had, knowing somehow that I was lacking, but with no clear idea
of what . . . . I came into the Truth out of the world, because my heart had been broken
by a crushing grief, knowing absolutely nothing of the Lord or His Word. Today I realize
that Brother Russell gave me credit for knowing a lot that I did not know at all. I was
honest and sincere, but I had only a form of godliness without the power; and not seeing
for so many years that there was a height of experience that I bad not achieved, I
supposed I had all there was. . . . I thank God each day for the message to Ephesus as
Brother Streeter expounded it. Those messages set my feet on the right path.
"But dear brethren I believe there are many in like condition .
. . well meaning but ignorant. You had an article in 1924, page 260, "Union With
Christ," that hit the nail squarely on the head. I believe it accounts for the lack
of spirituality, the childishness that pervades so much of the fellow-ship, the
susceptibility to error and coldness. We have occupied ourselves with the mechanics, the
bare bones of the Truth, because we thought that was all there was of it . . . . Perhaps I
do not make myself clear. My mind has traveled so far since I came in contact with you
that it is difficult to get it on paper, but my knowledge of the brethren these seventeen
years convinces me that many of us need definite, clear cut instruction along the line
suggested by the words of inspiration: abide; manifest; dwell; power of faith; power of
the Holy Spirit; knowledge of Christ; intimacy, fellowship with Him; putting on Christ;
Christ in you the hope of glory; the righteousness of God; holiness; sanctification."
The suggestions contained in the foregoing extract are of a searching
character and reveal what is the experience of many of the Lord's dear people in their
efforts to progress in the Christian life and to lay up the heavenly treasures. Again it
is the lesson of the utmost necessity for full surrender to the Lord, the lesson of
complete trust in and reliance upon Him, that is borne in upon our minds. For only those
who take God at His Word and rest wholly on the unfailing resources of His infinite power
and grace will know and experience the strength enabling. them to live the life of
obedience and submission.
"They entered not in because of unbelief," says the
Apostle, referring to Israel's failure of old. And thus he appeals to the brethren in
Christ to exercise that supreme faith that pierces every cloud, that measures up to every
test and emergency, enduring unto the end, as seeing Him who is invisible. Such truly,
through trial and discipline are laying up the good foundation against the time to come;
strengthened, developed, and ripened in those qualities of character that will bring at
last the Divine approval and a goodly share in the heavenly treasures held in reserve
where moth and rust doth not corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal.
Rev. 21:1.
"The Land
beyond the Sea!
When will life's task be o'er?
When shall we reach that soft blue shore,
O'er the dark strait whose billows foam and roar?
When shall we come to thee, calm Land beyond the Sea?
"The Land
beyond the Sea!
Sometimes across the strait,
Like a drawbridge to a castle gate,
The slanting sunbeams lie, and seem to, wait
For us to pass to thee, calm Land beyond the sea!
"The Land
beyond the Sea!
Sweet is thine endless rest,
But sweeter far that Father's Breast,
Upon thy shores eternally possest,
For Jesus reigns o'er thee, calm Land beyond the Sea!
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one
body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free;
and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
For the body is not one member, but many." -- 1 Cor. 12:13, 14.
IT MAY properly be said that no issue can more vitally concern the
true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ than that which involves the foundation and basis
of his relationship to the Savior and to fellow members of the Christ. The question that
repeatedly through the centuries has been forced before the attention of God's children is
again raised in these days: What is the Church of Christ? and what constitutes membership
in His Church? what is the basis of union and fellowship of those who become joined to
Christ? As confusing and conflicting teachings are propagated amongst professed followers
of Christ from time to time on the subject, it becomes necessary for the truly,
consecrated to seek that clarity of vision and that assurance of heart that will enable
them to pursue with a steady and firm step, the onward course which leads toward their
heavenly Home. The voice of wisdom bids us consult the divinely inspired authorities for
information on this point as well as on all subjects pertaining to our holy faith and
hope.
As It Was in the Apostolic Times
In the Apostolic period when the Church was, formed, we find no
record that either our Lord or the Apostles organized the Church after a human order, such
as has come to be so generally the practice since that time. There was no fixed creed
setting forth the minutia of the faith; there was no bondage to men in any sense -- the
only bondage was that to Christ alone; no test of fellowship, except that which involved
the great founda-tion truth represented in Christ. According to the sacred record all
belie-vers fully consecrated to the doing of the Father's will, amenable only to Christ's
will and government, recognizing and obeying none other -- these, the saints from the
beginning of the Gospel Age down to its close when all this class are sealed-constitute
"the Church of the Firstborn [whose names are written in heaven]." These are all
one in aim, hope, and suffering and in due time will be joint-heirs with Christ Jesus to
the great inheritance of the saints in light-joint-heirs with Him of the Kingdom which God
has promised to them that love Him.
Glancing backward to the days of our Lord, we find that the Church
which He began to gather during His ministry and which was recognized by the Father at
Pentecost, after the great sacrifice was consummated, was the little company of disciples
who had consecrated earthly time, talents, and life, -- a sacrifice to God. Theirs was a
"voluntary association" for mutual aid; and this society was under the laws and
government of Christ, its Head or recognized ruling authority. The bonds were bonds of
love and common interest. Since all were enlisted under the captaincy of Jesus, the hopes
and fears, the joys and sorrows, the aims and endeavors of one were those of the others;
and thus they had a far more perfect union of hearts than could possibly be had from a
union on the basis of a man-made creed. Their only union was of the Spirit; their law for
the government of each was love; and all, as a whole, were put under obedience to the
"law of the Spirit," as it was expressed in the life, actions, and words of
their Lord. Their government was the will of Him who said, "If ye love Me, keep My
commandments."
God's Organization Not Yet
Most obvious it is that the true Church was not organized by Christ
after a worldly fashion; nor will it be organized until all the members are united in
glory as the Kingdom of God. Accordingly, the Gospel Age has been the time for calling out
and testing the volunteers who are willing to sacri-fice and suffer with their Lord now,
and thus prove themselves worthy (Rev. 3:4, 5, 21 ; 2 Tim. 2:11, 12 ; Rom. 8:17) to be
organized as joint- heirs in His Kingdom at the close of the Gospel Age, when He shall
"set up" or organize His Kingdom in power and great glory, to bless and rule the
world with "Divine authority."
In the meantime, these unorganized but merely called out ones, who
are seeking to make their calling and election sure, that they may obtain a share in the
Kingdom (2 Pet. 1:10; 2 Cor. 5:9), are "a voluntary associ-ation of believers,"
drawn together for mutual assistance in seeking to know and to do the Master's will, and
not now to rule men by Divine authority; for they have as yet no such authority. In this
"voluntary association" of the consecrated, there is no imperial authority of
one over another. And no lording over God's, heritage should be permitted; for the one and
only Lord has left the instruction, "Be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master,
even Christ, and all ye are brethren." -- Matt. 23:8.
The Marks of the True Teacher
Instead of the kingly and lordly rule that prevails in the customs of
the world, and amongst some bodies of professing Christians, the Master gave all another
and an opposite rule, saying, "Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the
Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
But so shall it not be among you; but whosoever will be great among you, shall .be your
minister [literally, servant] ; and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be
servant of all [or greatest servant]. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto [to be served], but to minister [to serve], and to give His life a ransom for
many." -- Mark 10:4245.
The Lord was chief servant; and those among the Apostles who served
the Church at greatest cost to themselves -- Paul, Peter, John, and James -- are esteemed
by those who have the spirit of the truth, in, proportion to their service, and not in
proportion to their titles, their priestly vestments, or their praise among men, etc., of
which they had none.
The Church, or company of believers, probationers for coming glory,
in its "voluntary association," was indeed to recognize "teachers,"
"helps," "Apostles," etc., but not to make them. If they recognize some in their midst,
"mighty in the Scriptures," "apt to teach," able to make clear the
Divine Plan, and specially qualified to build them up in the most holy faith, they gladly
acknowledge God's favor in raising up such servants of all to assist them in the
understanding of His Word. But they should be careful always, even while rejoicing in and
thanking God for such ser-vants, to require a "thus saith the Lord" for every
point of doctrine, and to search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things be so --
whether the deductions and arguments of the teachers agree with the whole testimony of
God's revealed Plan.
Thus the Lord is the Teacher of His followers, sending those of their
own number to call attention to truths being overlooked, or to injurious errors being
entertained. The "meek" among the probationers will hear the Mas-ter's voice by
whomsoever He speaks; and these will be guided into the truth, and prepared in due time
for organization in His Kingdom. "The meek will He teach His way."-Psa. 25 :9.
The Only Test -- Are We Christians?
Neither Christ nor the Apostles gave any sanction to the disposition
on the part of some to form factions and to draw sectional lines in the Church; they gave
no encouragement to those who would impose tests of fellow-ship based on this or that
interpretation or idea that was not of an essential character. The only test of fellowship
in the Church, therefore is to be a Christian, one truly united to Christ by faith and
consecration -- not with-out a real consecration nor without the true faith -- the faith
at first delivered unto the saints by our Lord and His Apostles. In a word that faith
confesses sin and utter helplessness; it acknowledges God's loving Plan for our
redemption; it owns that our Lord's death was our ransom price and that forgiveness
(justification) and reconciliation to God and the restitution of believers come as a
result of faith in this Redeemer, when in due time that Plan is made known to each and
all. These brief statements contain the whole Gospel in the same sense that an acorn
contains an oak tree. Without this Gospel kernel, the true Gospel can never be possessed;
hence this must be insisted on as a test of Christian fellowship. This must be received,
else the Gospel is not received. When it is received, the Gospel is received. Then a work
of grace begins, a development of this Gospel truth. Built upon this foundation
represented in the foregoing, are the minor doctrines and those principles which must be
worked out in the life. Thus we are admonished by the Apostle (2 Pet. 1 :5-8) to add to
this faith various graces. and further attainments-of virtue, knowledge, temperance,
patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and
charity, love.
Now this true Gospel, this simple faith, easily understood and
confessed by the weakest babe in Christ, must also be and always equally the faith of the
most developed sons of God. This one faith and not the endless ramifications and details
of faith which leads out from it, St. Paul placed as a standard or test of all claiming
the name Christian. All the consecrated who agreed on this one standard or foundation
truth St. Paul counted as in and of the one Church. While each member was to grow in
grace, know-ledge and love, there would always be harmony and oneness in the faith and
fellowship of the Church, if all growth were kept in line and harmony with this foundation
truth. Whoever in sincerity and obedience holds to this the true and simple faith in
Christ and His finished work, is a believer, a member of the "household of
faith." Whoever with this faith fully consecrates himself to the Lord's service, is a
baptized believer, a proba-tionary member of the one true Church whose names are written
in heaven. If he runs the Christian race as he has covenanted to do, he will win the prize
and be one of the Elect in glory, granted a place with the Lord in His throne.
"Is Christ Divided"
Divisions were objected to in the one true Church and all the
Apostles taught that there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. There is one fold and
one Shepherd. (1 Cor. 12:25.) Christians are a separated class -- separate from the world,
separate from sinners, separate from all others -- in that they accept salvation through
the redeeming blood of Christ. Their sympathy and co-operation are not of force, doctrinal
or other, but merely of love and common interest as fellow pilgrims and fellow heirs. It
is not remarkable that Satan has often in the past sought to divide and separate the sheep
and to put up fences, as the various sets of interpretation (fre-quently on types, symbols
and parables) so often prove to be, which would hinder some of the sheep from following
the Shepherd into green pastures of fresh and living truth. It would be but the course of
wisdom on Satan's part to attempt to divert the attention of the true disciple away from
the fulfillment of his sacred duties. But it does seem strange that so many should be led
to think that it is a mark of spirituality to say, I belong to this leader, or, I am
following this company of leaders, or, I am receiving my instruction from such and such
brethren. The Apostle Paul on the contrary said to. some of his day, who were in danger of
this spirit of sectarianism: While one saith I am of Paul and I am of Apollos, and I of
Peter, are ye not carnal? Is it not in direct opposition to the spirit of Christ to think
or act thus? Is Christ divided? Did Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, or any one else than
Christ, die for your sin and redeem you? They as servants of Christ and the Church should
be esteemed very highly for their work's sake; but to name the Bride after any of these
leaders, or to be following any of them instead of the Bridegroom is manifestly improper.
As the factional or sectarian spirit manifested itself and had to be
met and dealt with by the Apostles, so it has continued to be the foe to the Church all
along through the Age unto our day, and is now manifest amongst the brethren, perhaps in
as large or larger a measure than at any other time in the Age. What is the remedy for
this situation? Is it not in pointing out to the brethren, even as did St. Paul, that
there is carnality somewhere; that the sacred instructions given by our Divine Master, on
the subject of love and oneness as members of His Body, is being sadly neglected. So
fre-quently tests of fellowship are instituted that are entirely unscriptural. Theories
and uncertain interpretations are frequently set up as foundation truths, and divisions
are allowed to come because all cannot see exactly alike on certain minor points that are
really of a non-essential character or not basic and do not involve the foundation of
Christian fellowship.
Only Fundamentals to be Tests of Fellowship
Surely the only remedy for circumstances such as are mentioned
foregoing is in heeding the words of inspiration on the subject of what is the basis of
our union with Christ -- our fellowship and study of the truth. That message of
inspiration comes to us in no uncertain sound, namely that it is faith in Christ's
redeeming sacrifice and consecration to the will of God. Christians should meet and study
the Word of God upon this broad basis today just as they were taught to do in the
Apostolic period. And though we are living in a time when the Church has been richly
blessed by a clearer unfolding of Divine truth than in former times, yet none of this
further unfoldment of truth, of what we term Present Truth, is to be set up and made a
test of fellowship apart from the great foundation truth represented in Christ. We are not
to attempt to sift out the Church of Christ by setting up our particular conception of
what we call Present Truth, and requiring that others shall see just as we do on various
lines of interpretation, that do not involve faith in the ransom or consecration to God.
The spirit of love if possessed in sufficient measure will prompt to the granting of full
liberty to fellow disciples, so that each one shall have the privilege of studying the
Word of God and deciding for himself and to his own satisfaction what is truth on the
various non-essentials apart from those basic elements upon which our relationship in
Christ really rests.
There are various lines of Bible study that are profitable and
interesting to the brethren, the study of which may be made a blessing to them in these
days. Amongst these are the subjects of prophecy, chronology, the Second Presence of
Christ, the glorification of the Church, etc.. As interesting as are all these subjects,
none of these points are to be regarded as the essentials or as the basis of our
fellowship. Fellow members of the Christ have been Christians, have traveled the Narrow
Way together, have dwelt in sweet communion in Christ all along through the Age without
seeing alike on the above themes; their relationship in Christ having been based upon
their faith in His vicarious sacrifice, His death and resurrection and their reception of
the Holy Spirit as a result of full surrender to God. Christians should still be united
and meet together on the same basis. The foundation of our fellowship has not changed at
all. The Holy Spirit if dwelling richly in the hearts of the saints will direct them to
love one another as brethren and to accord to each and all full personal liberty with
regard to all the items of their faith outside of those basic features already mentioned.
None in whose heart the spirit of love is abounding will attempt to impose upon his
brother a yoke of bondage, or to compel another in Christ to accept all of his particular
interpretations and applications of Scripture.
Overcoming Spirit of Division
Many of the brethren today accept as reasonably well established the
belief that we are living in the days of Christ's Second Presence. Yet there are others
just as sincere, earnest Christians who do not think this point is sufficiently well
established to regard it as truth; but we see no reason why brethren should separate and
divide over this point. We do not believe that the Holy Spirit will lead any one today who
believes Christ is present, to disfellowship another who has not come to accept this
feature. The foun-dation still remains. There are many other lines of truth of most
interesting .and profitable character on which they can agree and have sweet fellowship in
Christ. They still have the same Lord, faith and baptism; and therefore each and all
should vigorously resist the disposition toward division over points such as the Second
Presence of Christ, the glorifi-cation of the Church, questions of symbols and parables,
and various prophetical lines.
Not long since we received a communication from some friends who
having encountered the spirit of division in their midst were led to carefully and
prayerfully consider the Word of the Lord on the subject, as a result of which they
arranged the following simple statement, as an expression of what they believed to be the
mind of Christ on the subject of their communion in Him:
"First, that the Class be known as 'The Associated Bible
Students of ____.
"Second, that the basis of fellowship and study be the Word of
God, such doctrines only being regarded as fundamental to Christian belief as are set
forth therein as basic .(see 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 4: 1-6), and especially 'the ransom for
all.'
"Third, that the standard of conduct recognized and striven
after both in the Class and in the daily affairs of life be the character of our Lord and
Master epitomized in 1 Cor. 13.
"Fourth, that all who give evidence of newness of life and
attend the Class meetings with regularity are deemed to be members of the Class and
entitled to vote."
The foregoing propositions we believe savor of the spirit of a sound
mind and represent a broad, one another those sacred and solemn obligations loving,
considerate attitude becoming to all the represented in their vows of consecration.
brethren struggling in the Narrow Way. The love of Christ, the compassion of the Savior,
existing in overflowing measure in the brethren will go a long way in correcting many
unhappy circumstances and difficulties in these days and in enabling followers of the Lord
Jesus to faithfully fulfil toward one another those sacred and solemn obliations
represented in their vows of consecration. Realizing the object of Christian brethren
meeting together is to edify and build one another up in faith, hope, and love, our effort
should increasingly be to exercise that tolerance and forbearance enjoined by our Divine
Master -- "That ye love one another as I have loved you."
PART II.
"And 1 heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth:
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors;
and their works do follow them." -- Rev. 14:13.
LET THE fact that we have seen in the preceding discussion of this
sub-ject be borne in mind, namely that the first act of the Savior at His return is that
of awakening the sleeping saints and assembling them together as members of His official
body. (1 Thess. 4:16; 2 Thess. 2:1.) Further; that there is no intimation or reference
anywhere in any of the sacred writings to the effect that the attention of the Master will
be given to any other object or purpose immediately at His return than that of gathering
His faithful Church. As all the sleeping ones will have finished their course and
therefore will in every way be ready for the change, the most plausible conclusion would
be as the Apostle states, "The dead in Christ shall rise first." Then
"afterwards," the feature next having His attention, would most logically be
that of His living disciples, those still having their experiences in the Narrow Way;
those whom the Apostle mentions as remaining or being left over.
"Blessed Are Those Servants"
One of the strongest testimonies in support of the view that the
living saints will not be changed at the same instant our Lord returns, when He awakens
the sleeping members, is found in those plain Scripture statements that refer to a number
of the saints continuing in their earthly pilgrimage for a time after. the Master's
presence has become a fact and He has begun to assume His official relationship to mankind
as earth's new King. Take for example the Savior's own words found in His great prophecy.
He explicitly states that He would come and be present for a time and the fact be entirely
unknown to the world, just as the imminency of the flood in Noah's day was unknown to the
people then, as was evident by their continuance of the regular routine in human affairs
(Matt. 24:3739.) And in that connection the Lord goes on to make mention of His followers
still living: "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find
watching." (Luke 12:37.) Now let the fact be clearly observed that Jesus does not
say, I will immediately gather all those faith-ful servants to Myself and they shall at
once be united with all those sleeping saints who will already have been raised. No, that
is not the thought, for the Master explains why those servants are blessed.
He says, "He shall gird Himself and make them to sit down to
meat, and will come forth and serve them." (Luke 12:37.) Nor does this language imply
that these faithful, watching servants experience their change to the spiritual realm
instantly and sit down to eat with the Master in that spiritual existence. The context
clearly indicates that these faithful servants have associated with them others who are
less faithful and some who are altogether unfaithful. Most evidently the sitting down to
meat with the Master relates to a serving of spiritual truth, a dispensation of light and
knowledge beyond what has been the privilege of the Lord's people prior to that time of
His presence. He serves them with meat in due season, things new and old from the
storehouse; and verses 42-44 clearly present the thought of a special ministry or service
of this truth amongst His household of servants in the days of His presence. In fact, both
Luke's and Matthew's Gospels recording the Master's words obviously teach that the
interesting issues of the hour will be such as relate to the Lord's return, the change of
dispensation, etc. Not all will recognize the situation. The faithful ones who, will have
been watching and keeping their garments will be given to know, while others associated
with the faithful ones will have hazy views on the subject, and some will deny altogether,
the impending change and the imminency of the Kingdom, either by their words or by their
unholy conduct and living.
The Lamb on Mount Zion
This description therefore of the Master at His. Second Presence,
dealing with servants both faithful and unfaithful and more or less associated together as
His people, establishes we believe beyond any doubt that the living saints at our Lord's
return, are not at once and instantly assembled with the sleeping ones, whom the Apostle
says shall "rise first."
Then, as supplementary to, as well as corroborative of, the foregoing
testi-mony, let us briefly consider the vision. of St. John recorded in Rev. 14: It opens
with the words, "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him
an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their
foreheads." It seems that there can be little doubt that this vision of the
Apocalypse must find its fulfillment in the end of this dispensation, and in close
proximity to the conclusion of the Church's experience on earth. First, the opening
expression, referring to the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, denotes the presence of the
Lord. It must represent a time when His Second Advent is an accomplished fact. Not that He
will be seen in visible form on the literal Mount Zion or in any other portion of the
earth. The statement is of course figurative, highly symbolical. And as another has
truthfully observed:
"A careful study of the vision can hardly fail to produce the
conviction that the Lamb standing on Mount Zion is a symbolical representation of Christ's
assumption and exercise of kingly authority." It denotes that His official presence
is at hand. To understand the symbolism, we have only to remember that the literal Mount
Zion was the location of the throne of the typical David, and therefore is employed in the
Revelation to picture or prefigure the assumption and exercise of Divine authority by the
antitypical David, the Lord Jesus. Another has remarked, "The Lamb on Mount Zion
shows us the true David on the covenanted throne and Zion by this lifted above the hills
indeed."
With Him An Hundred Forty and Four Thousand
That the hundred and forty-four thousand having the Father's name
writ-ten in their foreheads are seen to be standing with the Lamb is most suggestive that
the time had come for the resurrection and exaltation of the faithful Church. Yet it is
evident that this vision as seen by St. John repre-sents the earlier aspect or phase of
Christ's work in the time of His secret presence; a time therefore when not all the
members of His Body will have passed into the glorified state. These whom St. John sees
standing with the Lamb would appear to represent by far the majority of the Church -- all
who had completed their race course up to the time of the vision's fulfillment when
Christ's presence became a fact. They are called the hun-dred forty and four thousand even
though the full number had not yet been glorified -- the portion or the majority who had
passed over, standing for or representing the whole; and the remainder of the hundred and
forty-four thousand continue in the earthly pilgrimage for a time, until they like the
others finish their course in death. Nor is this application of the vision merely
theoretical; pursuing our examination of the context in this chapter, there are specific
statements that some of the saints are still in the trial state, in the flesh, undergoing
severe tests. Verses 2-4 describe the fact that this phase of Christ's presence signifies
a time of great rejoicing to the faithful overcomers, in that they are enabled to clearly
understand and sing the song of redemption. The special dispensation of truth concerning
the Divine purposes and the Gospel hope for all the world is indicated; an announcement of
the world's great judgment Day is shown as due to begin to go forth. (Ver. 4-6.) But all
of this is prior to the establishment of the Kingdom, and Christ's revelation of Himself
to the world. For in that same connection (ver. 8) there is associated the announcement
that Babylon is fallen. Then a test upon the living saints is plainly manifest, verses
9-12: Will these prove faithful under this fiery ordeal, will they obey the voice of their
Divine Master and separate themselves from all contaminating influences of the
"beast"-all human headships, systems, or organizations, whether represented in a
combination of men or in some one individual assuming the prerogative of Christ the Head,
and claiming the right to control the Church in her doctrines and faith? Will these prove
themselves sufficiently loyal to Christ to become disassociated from all parties, sects
and creeds of men and recognize no head but Christ, and obey no com-mands but His?
There seems to be no question that the Harvest period of the Gospel
Age is here delineated, during which Christ is present as. the great Chief Reaper. And the
fact that some of the saints are here shown as undergoing severe testing and trial in
connection with this harvest work establishes the correctness of our conclusion that while
the sleeping saints will have been changed and united to Christ, there will still be
living in the flesh those who "remain" to finish their course.*
__________
*
For a further exhaustive treatise of the Revelation visions see "The Revelation of
Jesus Christ" in two volumes.
___________
Blessed Are the Dead Who Die in the Lord
But there is a further solemnly significant announcement in the
vision at this point: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do
"follow them." If we separate this strange and startling announcement from its
context and from related references, and attempt to grasp its meaning, we meet with much
difficulty and the matter remains mysteri-ous. As another has remarked: "Uniformly
throughout the Bible except this one instance death is represented as a dreadful disaster,
a terrible enemy, a devouring monster, and the grave as a great prison, permitted of our
loving Heavenly Father, only because men had become sinners and must be destroyed.
"In view of the general expression of enmity to death, in the
Scriptures, the above solitary text speaking of it as a blessing, is rather peculiar until
we notice that the application is limited by the word 'henceforth' ["this time,"
Diaglott.] Not always, but henceforth death may be a blessing. But notice another
limitation; it will not henceforth be a blessing to all man-kind, but only to those in the
Lord-members in particular of the Body of Christ, the Little Flock to whom it is the
Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom-to all others death will continue to be an
enemy until its final destruction in the Millennial reign. -- Hoses 13:14.
"Again, it is unusual to speak of those already dead as dying;
but the Spirit uses this seemingly incongruous expression, evidently desiring to limit the
application of the death blessing to a certain class, 'Blessed are the dead [dead to the
world -- crucified with Christ 'ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God'], who
die in the Lord from henceforth."'
They Rest From Their Labors
It is only when we consider the Revelator's statement in its proper
setting that we observe the mysterious elements disappearing. As noticed fore-going, the
vision describes the harvest time, when the Savior is present. The sleeping saints will
have been gathered to Him. Others, living ones, do not precede those who had been ready
when the Master came, but con-trariwise, they are remaining over and are engaged in a
special ministry of comfort to one another. And living in the days of the presence of the
Son of Man, they are the "dead ones" who die and are specially blessed because
they are not left in the sleep of death. Their change takes place at once, through the
power of the First Resurrection. "From henceforth," or from this time forward --
from the time of Christ's presence, when the developments recorded in the preceding verses
are in evidence, blessed are all the living members of the Church who die, for it means
the end of their earthly labors, toil, and weariness; they rest from all these "and
their works do follow them"; that is, there is really no break in their service of
the Master, because the instant of death is the instant of their change, their
resurrection. Hence their labors, their work of service, continues on in the spiritual
realm in association with their Divine Master and with all the holy ones who have passed
on before.
Some have claimed that the living saints at Christ's return will be
changed or translated without dying, at the same moment the sleeping ones are awakened,
basing their conclusion on St. Paul's statement, "We which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds," etc. There is, however, nothing in
this remark to signify that it will be at the same moment. The Apostle's words truly
affirm that the sleeping and living saints shall all be joined together with the Lord in
the air, but as we have seen from other plain declarations, the sleeping saints are to
have the precedence in point of time-the sleeping ones, or the dead in Christ, shall rise
first.
Caught Away in the Clouds
There are still others who, admitting that all the living saints at
Christ's return must die before they. experience their change, claim that at a certain set
time at the Lord's Second Presence all the "left over" "remaining"
ones will instantly die, through some special act of Divine providence -- thus
experiencing their change. Those who hold this view lay special emphasis on the Apostle's
words, "caught up together"; their thought being that the last living saints
must die in a group and be so gathered or caught up with the Lord.
Again, it does not seem to us that the Apostle's words warrant such
an understanding. There is nothing about this statement or any other Scripture to signify
the gathering of the last living members in a body or ,group. The statement surely does
say that all shall be "caught up," and when that has taken place they will of
course all be together. The words, "caught up" as used with reference to the
last members of the Church (and not with refe-rence to the sleeping saints) have the
significance of being quickly seized or snatched away. Applying. this thought to the
departure or change of the last remaining members, our understanding would be that they
are "caught away" in the sense that no time elapses between the moment they
cease to live on earth and the moment they join the others in the spiritual realm. They do
not sleep; hence are caught away, as distinguished from those who prior to our Lord's
return were not "caught away" at the moment of death; century after century has
rolled by and they have slept or waited for the Master's return to receive them unto
Himself.
Are We Living in the Time of the First Resurrection?
Considering the importance of the resurrection of the Church, that it
is referred to as "our glorious hope" and that we are admonished to cherish
"that blessed hope," it is recognized that we may very properly exercise a very
keen interest in the question of the time of
the Church's resurrection. Has the Church already experienced her resurrection? Are we
living in the time of the First Resurrection, of the blessed and holy? In answering these
questions we have only to look at whatever testimony or evidence we have bearing upon our
Lord's Second Presence. In a series of articles recently published in this journal* there
was presented at some length certain lines of proof, chronological and prophetical,
together with strong evidence deduced from the signs of the times, that we are now living
in the time of Christ's Second Presence. Whatever proof we have before us that we are
living in the days of our Lord's Second Presence logically becomes just as sound evidence
and testimony in support of the belief that the. First Resur-rection is in process of
fulfillment, inasmuch as the first work of the Second Presence is the dealing with and the
rewarding of the saints.
__________
*
See issues of the "Herald," October 15 to December 15, 1926.
__________
As we saw in our review of matters pertaining to the Lord's Second
Presence, that it means we are living in the harvest of the Age, a time when there is a
general shaking, sifting, and testing going on, we regard the claim as sound and
reasonably well established that the saints who had finished their course and fallen
asleep all along through the Age have already been .raised and associated with their
present Lord; and that the others left over or remaining are also experiencing their share
in the First Resurrection and are "caught up" as one by one they finish their
course in sacrificial death. We therefore believe that it is our happy and unspeakable
privilege today to hope to be of this latter class. Indeed, blessed are the dead then
which die in the Lord during this time, or henceforth from the time that our Lord's Second
Presence became an established fact. Raptu-rous thought we exclaim, that faithful
followers of the Lord may look forward to reaching the goal and entering abundantly into
the joys of their Lord at the expiration of their sacrifice.
Present Duty and Privilege of the Saints
It matters not to us that we may not be able to locate the exact day
or year with precision when the resurrection of the Church began to take place. What
concerns us is that there are strong evidences that we are living in that time and may
look forward expectantly and with joyful anticipation that soon all the faithful who die
in the Lord, shall have finished their course and be caught up together and be united with
all the faithful who have gone before and with their blessed Lord forever. Nor are we
concerning ourselves particularly with regard to the exact day, month, or year when all
the Church shall have passed beyond, when the last members shall have been, glorified
together with Him. The exact year when this shall have been realized need not matter, for
such information has no bearing upon and need not affect our present course and ministry
in any way. The duty and privilege of these last living members of the Church are very
clear: They are to continue to press on in the Narrow Way in the footsteps of their great
Leader. They are to be witnesses to the Truth; they are to let their light shine; they are
to make earnest endeavor to build one another up in the most holy faith. They are in every
way to live the Christian life and be faithful to their covenant with their Divine Lord.
All of these matters which involve their sacred duties and privileges
are to engage their daily attention, whether the time be one, five or ten years away when
the last of the Church shall complete their course and be gathered unto the Lord. In the
utter absence of any definite information as to the exact time when all the Church shall
have gone beyond the veil it would not seem wise to do any theorizing or speculating upon
this point. The question of deepest concern to every follower of the Lord is not, Shall I
be ready for the Lord's summons at some set time in the future, but am I ready for that
gathering together unto Him if the call comes to me today? In other words, every day
should be looked forward to as possibly our last day of experience in the flesh. And
therefore every hour should be lived in that attitude and atmosphere that we would be
willing for the Lord to conclude our privileges and opportunities here below and call us
unto Himself.
Incorruption and Immortality
"For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality," says St. Paul, speaking with regard to the resurrection of
the Church, the First Resurrection. While there, are various renderings and translations
of this text, the thought is practically the same in them all. The meaning in the two
words incorruptible and immortal is closely related; and in fact they imply the same state
or consequences. Incorruptible signifies that which is incapable of decay or dissolution.
It is distinguished from the present state, which is a corruptible one. Even the perfect
human nature is capable of corruption. Such was the first man. But the Church made like
unto Christ in her resurrection will enter a state of incorruption, that is, not capable
of corruption; a state in which decay or dissolution is impossible. Immortality signifies
deathlessness. It is the reverse of mor-tality, which means a condition subject to death,
or a state in which death is possible. And again we observe that even in the case of the
perfect human nature death is possible; but the state of immortality is one entirely
beyond the power of death. It is evidently that state of life that is peculiar to
Divinity, that which pertains to God and to our Lord Jesus Christ alone. Thus says the
Apostle, "Unto us are given exceeding great and precious promises that by these we
might become partakers of the Divine nature," which fully accords with the Apostle's
assurance that the Church shall when glorified be incorruptible and immortal.
We believe the language of the Apostle concerning this matter applies
to the entire Church, both those who have been sleeping up to our Lord's Second Presence
and others who are living and remaining over. The same general situation appertains to
both. All of these as members of Adam's family will have shared in the mortal, corruptible
state of the present life and all of these in order to share in the membership of the New
Creation must pass from the mortal to the immortal and from the corruptible to the
incorruptible. Here then is the sum of our glorious hope and though it does not yet appear
unto us what we shall be, "we know that when He shall appear we shah be like Him, for
we shall see Him as He is."
"Put on
thy beautiful robes, Bride of Christ,
For the King shall embrace thee today;
Break forth into singing; the morning has dawned,
And the shadows of night flee away.
"Shake off
the dust from thy feet, Bride of Christ;
For the Conqueror, girded with might,
Shall vanquish the foe, the dragon cast down
And the cohorts of death put to flight.
"Thou art
the Bride of His love, His elect;
Dry thy tears, for thy sorrows are past;
Lone were the hours when thy Lord was away,
But He comes with the morning at last.
"The winds
bear the noise of His chariot-wheels,
And the thunders, of victory roar;
Lift up thy beautiful gates, Bride of Christ
For the grave holds dominion no more."
"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye
light in the Lord:
walk as children of light." -- Eph. 5:8.
ST. PAUL'S Epistle to the Ephesians, deeply spiritual, appeals
specially to the consecrated. The more advanced disciples in the school of Christ
appreciate this Epistle most. The Church which is the Body of Christ is the central theme
-- such as have taken the steps of faith, obedience, and devotion that have brought them
into relationship with Christ, being made partakers of the Holy Spirit. Of these, this
same Apostle has written elsewhere, saying, "Old things have passed away" -- the
old life embrac-ing earthly hopes, aims, and ambitions; their portion in the earthly life
has been surrendered, and instead of this the heavenly portion or inheritance is set
before them as the goal of the present course of training under the direction of the
Spirit. By faith such look forward to and wait for the great deliverance with the
expectation that it will be realized in the First Resurrection.
The early portion of the Book of the Ephesians presents an
intellectual view of the Church's transformation -- the philosophy of the change from
human to spiritual, from humanity to membership in the New Creation ; the last chapters of
the book point out to us the effect of this change, not only in the development of the
character of the New Creature, the new will, but also the effect of the change upon the
mortal body, which the new mind, if sufficiently quickened and alive, will hold in check,
govern, control with more and more decision and ability as it grows stronger in the Lord
and in the power of His might. The renewed will is to keep the body under, in subjection,
with all its tendencies and proclivities that are averse to the mind of the Spirit. The
Apostle truly says in another Epistle, "Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on
eternal life." We are concerning our-selves in the present discussion with that phase
of the subject particularly Which relates to the Christian's warfare the New Creature's
battle and victory; its preservation, which is dependent upon the maintenance of its rule
over the flesh.
The Apostle wisely admonishes (Eph. 5 :6) : "Let no man deceive
you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children
of disobedience." But we should not understand him to mean that God's wrath comes
because of vain words. The things which bring the wrath are mentioned in the preceding
verses, fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, ribaldry;
for, as the Apostle explains, those in whom these characteristics are dominant, or those
in whom the characteristics are sympathized with, can have no inheritance in the Kingdom
of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words on this subject, telling you
that such things are natural, proper, excusable. They have indeed become second nature to
many of the fallen race, but if any who have become New Creatures in Christ love the
unclean things, sympathize with them, desire them, or jest about then, they are far from
the condition which is becoming to saints. Such a mental attitude on their part would
imply that then had either never been begotten of the Spirit of holiness or else they were
returning again like a sow that was washed to wallow in the mire. These things are
characteristic of the children of disobedience, but not characteristic of the children of
obedi-ence. The Apostle says elsewhere, Such were ye; but now ye are washed, but ye are
justified, but ye are sanctified through the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 6:11.) In our
lesson he exhorts, "Be ye not, therefore, partakers with them," with the
children of disobedience; for ye were once in darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.
Delight in God's Will
He proceeds to show how the children of light should walk, saying The
fruit of the Spirit, wherever it is found, is goodness and righteousness and
truth-therefore, the Holy Spirit never prompts to badness, unrighteousness,
untruthfulness. And whoever has received the Holy Spirit, whoever has been begotten of the
Lord as His child, will want to prove, to demonstrate, to ascertain thoroughly what is
acceptable unto the Lord; what the Lord will be pleased with, not merely what would not
merit severe punishment from the Lord, not merely what the Lord would wink at and not take
serious offense from, but far beyond all this! Whoever properly has the spirit of a son
must desire to know the Father's will and delight to do it, and that will is in all
purity, goodness, righteousness, truth, honesty. The influence of this determination of
the New Creature to please God, to do His will, will signify that his life, that his heart
and so far as possible every act and word of his will be in accord with goodness, in
accord with the principles of righteousness which God represents in accord with truth.
We are responsible not only for what we ourselves may do and think as
New Creatures, but our responsibility goes out beyond ourselves to the brethren, to all
who in any sense of the word come under our influence. Unholy or unclean jesting certainly
is to receive no encouragement, to pro-voke no laughter, but rather to call forth a
gentle, loving rebuke. Brother, Sister, let us set our affections on things above -- let
us walk in the light, let us think of and discuss whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good repute: Let us put away from our
conversation and from our thoughts everything that would be defiling and ensnaring to
ourselves or to others. Failure to reprove is a measurable endorsement of the wrong. A
word in season -- how good it is, how helpful! But it is equally important that the word
of reproof be wisely and lovingly given, otherwise it may do harm where we intended good;
as the Scriptures say, "Speak the truth in love."
The Holy Spirit to Shine Forth
"It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of
them in secret" -- that are done in the dark. The Apostle's intimation is that the
whole world Beth in darkness, and in the wicked one and in sin, and that the Lord's people
of the New Creation have accepted His leadership in the opposite direction; that they are
children of the light and should walk accordingly in the light, and that they should lift
up the light of truth; that they should allow the Holy Spirit to shine forth for the
reproving of the world, for the reproving of darkness, and for the setting up of a
standard of righteousness in harmony with the Lord's example. The Apostle here reminds us
of the prophetic statement, "Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee light." This should be our attitude toward all who are still
unregenerated. The world lieth in the wicked one, in sin, in darkness. Instead of having
fellowship with them in the works of darkness, instead of sharing in any improper
conversation, we are rather to reprove them and to direct them according to the above
Scripture, to awake from their stupor, from their sleep, to recognize conditions from
their true standpoint, and that, getting awake, they should realize that they are sinners;
that the wage of sin is death, and that the tendency of sin is downward -- and that they
should arise from the dead, should separate themselves from the world, not only so far as
their conduct is concerned, but so far as their conversation and their sympathies are
concerned, that all these should be turned toward the Lord, toward the truth, toward the
light. It is to those who thus separate themselves from the world and its spirit that the
Lord has promised to give light, a little and a little more and a little more, for the
path of the justified, the path of those following in the footsteps of Jesus, will shine
more and more until the perfect day.
The Seven Fold Description of the Christian's Walk
The Christian's walk of course means his course of conduct, including
thoughts and words and acts. The Apostle indicates very clearly what this work or course of the Christian should be,
outlining it in seven different ways.
(1) The New Creature should walk not according to the course of this
world, not according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now worketh
in the children of disobedience. (Eph. 2:3.) This is the walk of the world, the walk of
evil-doers, the walk of the children of wrath; it is the very opposite of the walk of the
children of the light.
(2) The New Creature should walk in good works -- "For we are
God's workmanship, created in Christ unto good works, which God has before ordained that
we should walk in them." -- Eph. 2:10.
(3) The New Creation should "walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith they are called." (Eph. 4:1.) Their vocation is the very highest of all;
they are representatives of the Lord and Master; they bear His name, and should seek in
everything to glorify it and never to dishonor it. What, we do, what we say, what we think
-- in fact, even general appearance and deportment, and where we are seen, all reflect
more or less upon the great King, whose ambassadors we are. Our vocation is that of
servants of God, and no earthly avocation should be permitted in any degree to hinder or
abridge the influence or the service which we have undertaken as children of God, as
joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord, prospective members of His Bride class, His
Kingdom class.
(4) The New Creation are to "walk not as other Gentiles
walk." (Eph. 4:17.) We are not merely to refrain from the sins, and gross
immoralities of the natural man, but we are to allow the spirit of the Apostle's advice to
pervade all of life's interests. We are to have the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of a
sound mind to direct us in our joys, in our sorrows, in our wedding celebrations, in our
funeral services -- in fact, whosoever we do we are to do to the glory of God, and are not
to be influenced by the spirit of the world, but contrariwise are to set a proper example
for the world in all matters -- in gentleness, kindness, patience, faithfulness to the
Lord and to duty. The walk of the world is on the broad road; the walk of the Church is on
the narrow path. As we progress in Christian experience, we find this path getting farther
and farther away from the broad road which the world is traveling, and whoever tries to
keep pace with the world will in many respects be apt to find himself leaving the narrow
path or otherwise disadvantaging himself as a New Creature.
(5) The New Creation are to "walk in love." (Eph. 5:2.)
Their words, their deeds, everything with which they are connected, is to be governed by
this law of the New Creation-love. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "A
new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." In
compliance with this law of love and our Lord's glorious exam-ple, the Apostle says we
ought to so love one another as to be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren. We
should be ready to lay down a few months, a few years; we should be ready at any time we
can find an opportunity of service for a brother, especially along the lines of his
spiritual or higher interests as a New Creature. This spirit of love is to control our
conduct with all; we are to love our neighbors and seek to do them good, to serve their
interests. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor," would not take advantage of
his neighbor to cheat him, to injure him in any manner. Love would not prompt its
possessor to speak evil of his neighbor, but would lead to a remembrance of the Scriptural
injunction, "Speak evil of no man." Love would do this from principle, because
it is right; but more than this, love ultimately takes such an interest that the brother
exercising it does not wish to do anything that would be harmful to another's interests,
to his welfare, but rather to do something to his honor and blessing. Love, progressing as
we walk in it, ultimately brings us to that blessed condition where we can love our
enemies and be glad of the privilege of doing good to those who despitefully use us and
persecute us.
(6) The New Creation are also instructed to walk as children of
light; their course in life is always to be with respect to the things that are just,
pure, loving, noble, kind, the things that are in harmony with the Divine character and
Word, the things that prove to be of greatest blessing to neighbors and to friends. As
children of the light every day and year will see progress; their light will be shining
more and more clearly and accomplishing the greatest good; they will not be ashamed of it,
but will set it on a candlestick, where it may give light to all in the house, to every
member of the household of faith. "Let your light so shine before men that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." -- Matt. 5 :16.
(7) The New Creation should "walk circumspectly." (Eph.
5:15.) This word circumspectly signifies to
look carefully all around at every step. The Christian cannot be a careless liver, and as
he looks around him and realizes the various pitfalls and snares, not only will he seek to
make straight paths for his feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but
additionally he will seek Divine aid and counsel and guidance that he make no mistakes,
that every step in life's pathway will be such as will have Divine approval acrd glorify
God in his body and spirit which are God's. This circumspection of our walk as New
Creatures is the more necessary because our Adversary, the Devil, is specially on the
alert to ensnare us; and our tests are permitted to be the severer as we come nearer the
goal of character. We should walk circumspectly also because we profess to be of the New
Creation, begotten of the Holy Spirit and not of the world, but separate from it; and
because our lights so shining more or less reprove the world. To walk circumspectly is to
take note of the vari-ous hindrances and stumbling stones and pitfalls; to hearken to the
instructions of the Lord's Word and to the leadings of the Holy Spirit; and thus to walk
carefully; and in so doing to develop the characters which are most pleasing to our Lord
and Head. The Apostle says this circumspection is necessary in order to our walking
"not as unwise but as wise." There is a wisdom of the world which is foolishness
with God, and there is a wisdom with God which is foolishness to the world. The wisdom of
God is to be ours, and we are to exemplify it in all the affairs of life. Hence the
faithful, the New Creatures in Christ, should be the most exemplary, the most wonderful
people in all the world, the wisest in the management of their affairs, the wisest in the
government of their children, the wisest in their eating, drinking and dressing. Not that
the world will always approve, but that the end will justify the course which the Lord's
Word directs, and which the wise of the New Creation, walking circumspectly, will take.
Children Who Are Wise
In this connection the Apostle admonishes that we redeem the time.
The thought is that of buying back the time, as though the time were already mortgaged.
And this is so: the cares of this life, its necessities, the customs of the world, our
fallen tendencies, all would absorb every hour of life in the things pertaining to this
life, whereas, as New Creatures our new hopes and aims and efforts are properly centered
upon things above, the heavenly, the King's matters. Where may we obtain the necessary
time wherewith to study and to refresh ourselves in rehearsing the blessings, the promises
and favors which are ours as New Creatures? And where may we obtain the time, for telling
these good tidings to others? If we allow the spirit of the world to direct us, we shall
have no time for any of these things and shall fail, but as wise and not as foolish
children of the Lord, we will see and appreciate the greater importance of the heavenly
things, and be ready to sacrifice our earthly interests and customs and ambitions in favor
of the heavenly. Thus we may redeem or buy back the time that we had previously spent for
worldly things; that we may henceforth spend such time in the interest of ourselves and
others of the New Creation and in the service of our Lord and Master, to whom we have
consecrated our all, which we find to be .so little over, and above the things necessary
to provide honestly for the life that now is.
How many of the Lord's people are unwise? How many allow the spirit
of the world so to enter in as to hinder them from appreciating the real wisdom and the
proper course, the proper walk in life! Surely it is time for us to cease trying to do
everything as the world does it and to be every-thing that the world will approve! It is
time for us to determine that by the grace of God we will be popular with our Father in
heaven, whether or not it makes us unpopular with everybody else in the world! It will be
sweeter far eventually to hear His voice saying, "Well done, good and faithful
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," than to have the well done of the
world and its applause, and to come short of the glorious blessing to which we have been
called!
The Present Heritage of the Saints
Instead of intoxication with the spirit of the world and its
ambitions, its craze for money and for show and outward adornment, we are to be so filled
with the Spirit of the Lord, that our chiefest joy, our chiefest blessing, will be in
giving thanks to the Lord for His goodness, in main-taining a fellowship of heart with Him
and then additionally having fel-lowship one with another, with those who are in the
Truth, in the Lord. We are to speak one to another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,
thus making melody in our hearts to the Lord. The Lord's people are not to be morose,
sullen, unhappy, always in tears. This is not the will of God con-cerning them; they are
on the contrary to be continually rejoicing, full of gladness. The basis for this is to be
their faith in the Word of God, which they all continually eat and are nourished by,
together with their fellow-ship with the Lord, which will continually be a ground for
praise and thanksgiving; and additionally, their fellowship with one another, which will
be more sweet than any earthly or selfish fellowship; more precious than any sensual
relationship, the exhilaration of the new mind continually growing stronger and more
godlike, and seeking to build up one another in the most holy faith and in
character-likeness of our Redeemer. The Apostle says that we are to give to God, even the
Father, thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; thanks for the
trials; thanks for the clouds as well as for the blessings and the sunshine; thanks for
matters that seem to be adversities, knowing that God is able to make all things work
together for good to them that love Him and has promised to do so, and that the entire
matter of needs and welfare is in the hands of our Redeemer, who is too wise to err and
too loving to be unkind, and who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able.
Well then may we rejoice.
We are exhorted also to submit ourselves one to another ,in the
reverence of the Lord, not to be dictatorial, not to be too self-assertive, not to be
anxious that our will should be done on earth or in heaven, but rather desirous that the
will of the Lord should thus be done; and we should be looking to note His leadings and
providences in and through others as well as through ourselves, and especially to heed the
instructions in His Word.
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