VOL. XIII. May 1, 1930
No. 9 THE
TRUE CHURCH ANDTHE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT FURTHER
REVIEWS OF THE CHRONOLOGY "THE
DESOLATIONS OF THE SANCTUARY" IN
COMMEMORATION OF THE SAVIOR'S DEATH VOL. XIII. May 15,
1930 No. 10 "HEAR
WHAT THE SPIRIT SAITH UNTO THE CHURCHES" ANNOUNCEMENT
OF THE ANNUAL MEETING A
VISIT TO THE LAND OF PROMISE VOL. XIII. May 1, 1930 No. 9 THE TRUE
CHURCH AND "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Sprit in the bond of peace." -- Eph. 4:3 NOWHERE in the arrangements
amongst men is there anything to compare with the brotherhood and relationship provided
for and instituted in the Church of Christ. This is because all those who are admitted
into membership in Christ must first become reinstated in right relationship to God as
their Father, and to Christ as their Elder Brother, and because associated with this
sacred and holy relationship is the spirit and power of the love of God. Indeed the
brotherhood and unity of the Christian Church rests upon this basis. The term, "unity of the
spirit," is most expressive of the character of the union that was to exist amongst
Christ's followers. It was a unity that carne in connection with the administration of the
Holy Spirit. There could be no bond or union in Christ without that Spirit. It was the
spirit of adoption, illuminating, instructing and transforming. Sublime Harmony between Father and Son Prior to this giving of the
Holy Spirit, which supplied the basis for unity in the Christian Church, while the Master
was still with His followers in the flesh, He plainly indicated the importance in His mind
of the unity that should exist in His Church. It is recalled that in unburdening His soul
before the Father in those last hours of His earthly life, He earnestly prayed that His
disciples might be one as He and the Father were one. And what was the substance of this
union and harmony that existed between the Father and Himself? Surely it is a oneness of
purpose, a oneness of confidence, a oneness of sympathy, a oneness of love, a oneness of
honor, and a oneness of mutual possession. Indeed as we come to consider this beautiful
expression of the Lord's sentiment in reference to the Church, we catch a glimpse of the
glory of the blessed oneness that is ultimately to exist amongst all God's intelligent
creatures. This unity and oneness our
Lord describes as already existing between Himself and the Father, but so far as His
disciples were concerned it was only prospective; and its full accomplishment is the ideal
goal toward which we are taught to aspire. First of all, we observe that the one purpose
which is common to both the Father and the Son is the Father's purpose, which was
gradually revealed to the Son in due time and order, whose it also became by adoption. We
next notice between the Father and the Son a beautiful oneness of confidence. The Son
trusted the Father fully from the first, because it was easy and natural. Created in the
likeness of God, trust in the Being who brought Him into existence was spontaneous, and
experience served but to develop and establish it. And the Father trusted the Son fully,
because He recognized in Him inherent principles of righteousness and truth and filial
loyalty which He Himself had given Him; and as the course of time and experience developed
and the more firmly established His Son in righteousness. His confidence in Him became
firmly established. And so strong was the Father's confidence in the subsequent fidelity
of His beloved Son, that He did not hesitate to declare the results of His faithfulness
thousands of years before He even began the work of redemption. And He still declares that
the work shall in due time be gloriously accomplished. How wonderful we exclaim, and how
beautiful is this mutual confidence! Again there is a manifest
oneness of sympathy between the Father and the Son. The Son glories in the Father's plans,
saying, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God." And the Father was likewise in
loving sympathy with His Son, not permitting Him to be tried above that He was able to
bear; and not leaving Him to bear any trial alone, but always granting Him the light of
His countenance and a joyful sense of His smiling approval, except when, for our sakes, He
permitted Him for a moment to feel that He was forsaken. There was further a recognized
oneness of possession clearly expressed by our Lord, who declared, All things that the
Father hath are Mine. The oneness of honor is also important. The Father says, "Let
all men honor the Son even as they honor the Father." Church Included in Glorious Oneness Glorious and sublime oneness!
Who could suggest an improvement to its wondrous glory and completeness? But the wonder
and joy increase when we learn that it is also our privilege to come into this same
blessed oneness with God. To this end consider the exceeding great and precious promises
and see that it is ours to have the same oneness with God, of purpose, of confidence, of
sympathy, of love, of honor, and of possession. The same Plan of God is presented to and
adopted by us, and we also are invited to become co-workers with God, in carrying it out;
and in so doing we are counted in with Christ as filling up the measure of the sufferings
of the Anointed Body necessary to the accomplishment of that Plan. Our Heavenly Father
also similarly manifests His confidence in us -- in the loyalty of our hearts toward Him
and in the sincerity of our consecration to Him -- even though He recognizes our inherent
weaknesses and our inability to carry out fully our own determinations. Indeed the mutual
confidence, fellowship and work draws our hearts closer and closer to the heart of the
great Eternal, and the joyful relationship of sonship and mutual interest, confidence and
sympathy fills our hearts. While such is the oneness and
unity between the Heavenly Father and all His anointed sons, it is blessed also to mark
the same state of oneness between Christ Jesus and His anointed brethren. The Lord Jesus
does not selfishly grasp all the glory and seek to retain it for Himself, but the rather
with admiration He contemplates their acquired worthiness and says, they "are Mine
and I am glorified in them"; and He would have them all bound together with Himself
in the Father's love. He would also have them with Him beholding and sharing the glory
which the Father had given Him from the foundation of the world. Called in one hope of
their calling to serve the one Master and to become His joint-heirs in all the glorious
wealth the Father had given Him, no wonder there was to be the most profound oneness and
unity existing in the- Church of Christ. Thus Jesus prayed for His disciples, "That
they may be one as We are one." The unity of the Church rests upon exactly the same
foundation as that of the Father and the Son. Made partakers of their spirit, the Church
enters with them into the oneness of purpose, desire, affection and love. The Mystical Body Portrays Unity The Apostle Paul sought by the
most forceful metaphor to impart to the Church a sense of the oneness and closeness of the
relationship that should exist between the Lord and His followers. Another has ably
commented on the picture that St. Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 12: "It is a human figure,
the head representing the Lord, the various parts and members representing the Church. In
1 Cor. 12 this subject is grandly elaborated
and with great simplicity, the explanation given being that, 'As the body is one and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is
Christ [one Body or composed of many members]. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into
one Body [whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free].' The Apostle proceeds to call
attention to the fact that as the well being of a human body depends largely upon the
unity and harmony and co-operation of all its members, so also it is with the Church, the
Body of Christ. If one member suffer either pain or degradation or disgrace, all the
members are affected, willingly or unwillingly, and if one member is specially blessed or
comforted or refreshed, proportionately all others share the blessings. He points out
(verse 23) that we seek to cover and hide the weaknesses, blemishes, etc., of our natural
bodies and seek to relieve and help them; and that thus it should be with the Church, the
Body of Christ-the most blemished members should have special care as well as the covering
of charity -- love; 'that there be no schism [division] in the Body, but that the members
should have the same care one for another,' for the most humble as well as for the most
highly favored member -- verse 25." The Mixed Condition of Church Looking back over the history
of the Church, we ask, Has the oneness and unity as expounded and taught by Christ and the
Apostles been realized by the Church during the past nineteen centuries? No careful observer and
student of the Divine Word will dispute the claim that there has been throughout the Age
the popular or professing Church and the true witnessing Church. The former has been
composed of the masses who profess Christ and have taken the name Christian, and have had
their names enrolled on Church records, but whose lives and works do not meet the test of
bearing the cross and of walking in Christ's footsteps in the Narrow Way. The other class,
the few, have been faithful to their trust and have been identified with Christ by
consecration and personal fellowship with Him. Thus the popular or worldly Church and the
true Church have commingled all along through the Age. Jesus foretold these circumstances,
saying, "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven." Again He said
that many would come to Him in that day and claim entrance as members of the Kingdom class
on the basis of their many and wonderful works, but the Master assures us that they will
not be recognized and will not be given entrance into that class. Now then, it is manifest to
all that the oneness and unity that Christ prayed for His followers has not been realized
by the professed Church, in this mixed condition, nor could such results be expected under
the circumstances. As we have seen, it was the unity of the spirit that was to produce the
oneness amongst Christ's followers, and since that spirit has been sadly lacking so far as
the masses are concerned; the results of unity, etc., are also missing. Unity of True Church Never Broken But so far as the real Church
is concerned, those true footstep followers of Christ possessed of His Spirit, amongst
these there has been and still is the unity of the spirit, that condition of oneness and
harmony that Jesus prayed for. No matter how much these have been scattered and no matter
how much these appear to have been divided and separated outwardly, on account of the
confused elements amongst whom they have dwelt, there has been nevertheless the real unity
of the spirit on the part of the consecrated who are in personal relationship with Christ.
In other words, wherever the real disciple of Christ has come in contact with a
fellow-disciple, there is at once the spirit of fellowship, of oneness and unity realized
regardless of the fact that the two may have been associated with and worshiping in
separate associations of professing Christians. And so there exists the situation unto
this day. Jesus gave no intimation to
His followers that a time would ever come while His Church was in the flesh, when all the
true members would be separated from the unconsecrated elements and all be identified in
one arrangement or association. No, that happy state would be realized only when all the
faithful would be assembled in the Kingdom, concerning which time Jesus said, "Then
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father." To our understanding there is
no other solution to the problem of the present divided condition of God's professing
people than that presented foregoing. There is still the commingling of the faithful in
various bodies and groups that represent more or less a mixture of the consecrated and the
unconsecrated. Not a Unity of Factions but of the Members of Christ Nor do we believe the Lord
would have us grieve over the fact that millions who have professed Christ throughout the
past nineteen centuries and multitudes who still profess His name, will fail of admission
into the Church in glory. As we have seen in our study of the Divine Plan, the grace of
God has made provision for these in the great opportunity that will be given the world of
humanity in the thousand-year judgment or trial day -- the opportunity of securing
everlasting life. But let us not be
misunderstood in the foregoing: The Lord's consecrated people today are preserving the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace as they
ever have in the past; they are still praying and striving for the oneness in the true
Church that Jesus prayed should be the heritage of His true disciples. This does not mean
that the consecrated today are striving and praying for the unity of all the various
factions and groups of Bible students. Since not all of the individuals composing these
groups, possess the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ, it would be quite impossible to
have all these united in the unity of the spirit such as St. Paul urged upon the primitive
Church. Various bodies of professing Christian people might, through some process or
other, be induced to unite in. one body under one name or in one association; but unless
that uniting be that of the Spirit of Christ and based upon a unity of faith, and the
spiritual oneness described above, such a joining together would be merely artificial,
mechanical; it would be in the nature of a Church federation, and the result of human
manipulation, legislation, resolutions, etc., and would not be the unity of the Spirit at
all, nor produce the oneness that Christ prayed for His Church. Neither would there be any
special advantage so far as the true Church is concerned in the grouping or standing
together of various factions and bodies of professing Christians that represent a general
mixture, such as has been the situation throughout the Age, and such as still exists at
the present time. There might be indeed what would be called the advantage of larger
numbers, influence, prestige, and an outward show of unity, etc., but the real unity of
the spirit and spiritual oneness would exist only between those spiritually minded
individuals in that association that were really and truly Christ's by consecration and
personal relationship with Him. Let none therefore be dismayed
nor unduly sorrowful with regard to what seems to be a divided state of the Christian
Church. What appears to be the failure of the Church to enjoy the oneness and unity that
Jesus prayed for is but the failure of the outward or visible Church in its mixed
condition. The true Church known to Christ as individuals scattered here and there amongst
the various unsanctified multitudes, has always known and experienced the oneness that
accompanies the unity of the Spirit -- the oneness that exists between the Father and the
Son, and in the completion of the harvest of this Age all the faithful who have preserved
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace will be assembled in the glorified state as
the Church of the First-born; and as saith our blessed Lord, "He will gather out of
His Kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity." FURTHER
REVIEWS THE READERS of this journal
are quite well aware that we consider it the Christian duty and privilege of all the
brethren to prove all things and hold fast only that which is good, and that in so doing
we are following the example of the noble Bereans who were commended by the Apostle Paul
for their investigative and circurmspective attitude. The brethren of this associated
ministry have been free to acknowledge that they are not wiser than. the written Word;
that all we have of the treasures of truth along any line has come to us from the precious
Word of Truth, God's inspired revelation; that it is our privilege, however, to avail
ourselves of whatever assistance may be afforded by the writings and expositions of godly
men, honest and faithful students of the Bible who have offered helpful explanations of
one portion or another of the Holy Scriptures; and that we particularly hold in very high
and sacred regard the faithful ministry of Brother Russell, whose place we believe is
amongst the great servants of the Age who have edified and encouraged the Church as a
whole. Faithful Children of God Long to Know Among the subjects that have
been deemed worthy of the careful and prayerful consideration of the brethren is that of
the times and seasons, including the time periods of the Scriptures. Evidently a
considerable number of brethren have been studying along these lines with interest and
profit. What has been published in these columns has been with an earnest desire to
encourage the friends generally to look into and investigate those lines of Scripture
testimony that bear upon the various time periods which lead on, down to the last great
epoch, "The dispensation of the fullness of time," the period of the triumph of
righteousness in the earth. Thus wrote Brother Russell: "Faithful children of God
long to know when the King of glory shall come in, and the Prince of Darkness be bound;
when the children of the light shall shine forth as the sun, and the darkness be
scattered; when the saints shall be received into full Divine adoption, and the groaning
creation released from the bondage of corruption; and when our Heavenly Father's glorious
character shall be fully revealed to an astonished world, causing all who love
righteousness to bow their hearts in adoration and love and obedience. To be devoid of
such desires indicates a lack of interest in, and appreciation of God's plans." --
Vol. II, p. 17. It is recognized of course by
all, that a knowledge of just how much time was covered by certain dynasties and kingdoms
of the past is of little or no value to us, and does not concern the saints of the present
time except as such knowledge has an important bearing upon an understanding of where we
now are on the stream of time and our proximity to that glorious day, in which every
follower of Christ must feel deeply concerned. It is then from this standpoint alone that
any one could really be interested in the study of chronology. The Apostle speaks
approvingly and commendably of the holy Prophets who searched "what, or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." (1 Pet. 1 :11.) In other
words, they sought to know the meaning of certain time periods, their purpose, length,
etc., that thus their faith and hope might be strengthened. Likewise, when St. Paul
exhorts, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write
unto you . . . but ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as
a thief," he evidently had in mind that faithful watchers would be students of
chronology, "the times and seasons," in order that they might have the desired
information. -- 1Thess. 5:1, 4. Why the Review of the Times and Seasons But though this theme of
"the times and seasons" we regard as one worthy and profitable for all the
Lord's children to study, we have on the other hand sought to caution the brethren against
making too much of it, to the neglecting of some other lines equally or more important. It
is recognized also that it is possible to give too loose rein to one's imagination and to
arrive at conclusions with regard to time features that are fanciful and visionary and
that are not at all well supported by the facts and by the Scriptures. We are to let our
moderation be known in the study of this subject, as in all things, and can wisely and
safely follow the conservative course. In these recent years there
have been strong and valid reasons for carefully reviewing chronological lines. In our
study of this subject certain conclusions had been reached in past years that
circumstances and the present situation compel us to question and modify. According to the
chronological calculations of many of us in the past, there were several very important
developments and events that were expected to be in evidence before or by 1914 or 1915.
The fact that these important matters which were anticipated have not developed as
expected, furnishes abundant reason for reviewing our calculations. Yet in discussing
these chronological lines it is appropriate for us to remember that this is not a subject
over which we need have contention or strife or unkind words. It is not one of the issues
involving our justification or our sanctification or our fellowship with one another in
Christ. If we do not see eye to eye on this matter, we need not enter into a quarrel with
any, neither allow it to become a test of fellowship to any extent. Rather let us so far
as possible be exercised by the spirit of love and charity that will be glad to grant full
Christian liberty to other brethren who do not see eye to eye with us on subjects in which
no vital doctrine or principle of. righteousness is involved, and thus endeavor to provoke
one another to love and good works. Locating Commencement of Gentile Dominion In a special double number of
this journal which we term our Chronology issue,* a general review of the
entire subject, including the Parallels, Jubilees, etc., was presented. It will be
recalled that a chain of Scripture testimony has been presented which, viewed in the light
of all the facts about us, we believe justifies the conclusion that Israel's period of
servitude to the Kingdom of Babylon commenced about nineteen years earlier than what we
had previously thought, namely in the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, King of
Babylon, instead of the nineteenth year; and that the first year of. Nebuchadnezzar was
approximately 606 B. C.; that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar the universal dominion in his first year; and as he then took possession of
Jerusalem and Israel's king, Jehoiakim, and carried the beloved Daniel and others
(including princes and elders) captives to Babylon, in that year (Dan. 1:1-3), therefore,
that point of time would properly mark the beginning of the "Times of the
Gentiles," or the beginning of the lease of Gentile dominion to Nebuchadnezzar; that
it was about nineteen years later, or approximately 588 B. C., when Israel's kingdom was
entirely removed, Jerusalem destroyed, and Zedekiah with others carried away captive to
Babylon. ___________ * We will be pleased to mail free upon
request this special chronology number. ____________ The sum of this investigation,
then, causes us to recognize a discrepancy or difference of nineteen years as to the
ending of Gentile dominion; that though the lease of Gentile power would, according to
these calculations, be due to expire approximately 1915 A. D., yet the full end of their
power, including the fall of Christendom (which appears to be foreshadowed by the complete
fall of Israel's kingdom and the destruction of Jerusalem, 588 B.C.), would be due to be
looked for at a later point than 1915. The Question of the Discrepancy The question has come to us in
this form: Are we aware of the fact that Brother Russell had this matter of the
discrepancy of nineteen years brought to his attention and that it had his consideration
without his endorsement? Our reply is in the affirmative. We well know that our beloved
Brother had this particular point brought to his attention. As a matter of fact, all
ancient historians, and nearly all Bible chronologists, so reckon the matter, in harmony
with our late investigations and conclusions; namely that about the year 606 B. C. marked
the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and that nineteen years later, 588 B. C.,
Zedekiah was overthrown and Jerusalem destroyed. As Brother Russell was familiar with
ancient history and with the conclusions of chronologists, he well knew that this was the
view generally entertained. Some of the friends have
appealed to us to consider an article that appeared in the Watch Tower of October 1, 1904
entitled "The Time of Harvest";* and it is thought by some that the
testimony we have offered and tile arguments presented in support of the late conclusions
regarding the discrepancy of nineteen years, are refuted and disproved in the article
referred to. ___________ * As the article is about three pages
long, we will not take the space to quote it here, believing that the majority of the
friends have the 1904 Watch Towers in their possession, or may have access to them. We now desire to make this
statement concerning the matter: When the subject of chronology had our careful
examination some years ago and we presented the results of our investigation in these
pages, the article in the 1904 Watch Tower did not escape our attention; to the contrary,
it had our careful and reverent consideration. We did
not especially refer to this article in our treatment of the subject of chronology for the
reason that we saw nothing in it differing from or additional to that contained in Volume
II, and we realized, of course, that all the friends were familiar with all the lines
presented in the Second Volume. In treating the subject as we did, in the face of the fact
that our expectations concerning 1915 were not realized, it of course vas evident to all
that we must necessarily reach some different conclusions on some lines than those
presented in the Volume. Brother Russell Replies to Criticism Now, briefly referring to the
article in question: It opens with the quotation of a brief letter that Brother Russell
had received. The writer was one entirely unsympathetic with Brother Russell and the
letter was written in an unchristian and discourteous tone and, as Brother Russell states,
is really unworthy of respectful consideration. The letter merely refers to the fact that
Bishop Usher and Ptolemy's Canon "begin that seventy-year period nineteen years
earlier-namely in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, when he took captive Daniel and other
prominent Jews and laid the Jews' country under. tribute." The letter then goes on to
say: "Now if this, the common reckoning, be correct, it would make the Times of the
Gentiles to begin nineteen years later than you estimate, namely in B. C. 587, instead of
B. C. 606; -- and this in turn would make those times end nineteen years. later than you
have reckoned, -- in October, A. D. 1933, instead of October, 1914." Evidently this
correspondent knew nothing of and made no effort to point out the Scripture testimony
showing that Nebuchadnezzar received his world domain, thereby starting the Times of the
Gentiles, nineteen years before Zedekiah's overthrow. No Scripture testimony whatever was
offered in the letter to Brother Russell and no argument presented to support the claims
of Bishop Usher and Ptolemy's Canon regarding this reckoning. Therefore, there was really
nothing for Brother Russell to reply to and no occasion for him to present anything
different from what he had already written. In his reply, then, to the brother, he merely
reviews the deductions already drawn and the various lines such as the "Parallel
Ages," etc., that had been covered in the discussion in Volume II. One paragraph in Brother
Russell's reply touches upon and sets forth the main reason why he considered that the
seventy years and the times of the Gentiles should commence in Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth
year instead of in his first year. We quote Brother Russell's language as follows "From the foregoing it is
evident that at the time of writing Dawn II, we were fully aware that 'Ptolemy's Canon'
and 'Usher's Chronology' cut short the 'seventy years' 'desolation of the land,' and
counted them as but fifty-one years, Usher endeavoring to make the Bible account agree
with 'Ptolemy's Canon.' We, however, have followed the Bible record exactly and
persistently, and took secular history only where Bible history ended. We cannot make
seventy years' desolation of the land into fifty-one years' desolation for the sake of
harmony with Ptolemy. (Dan. 9:2; 2 Chron. 36:21.) Indeed we reject all of Ptolemy's Canon
back of the first year of Cyrus, 536 B. C. -- the farther back it goes, the greater its
errors." Herein Lies Vital Point It is most obvious from the
above statement that the main point of difficulty and the reason Brother Russell concluded
that the time from Zedekiah's overthrow to 536 B. C. was seventy years instead of
fifty-one, was, that he understood that the predicted seventy years of desolation of the land ended at 536 B. C., when
the servitude ended. And as the land did not become desolate (in the sense of a cessation
of all activity, agricultural pursuits, productivity, etc.), until near Zedekiah's
overthrow, therefore he reasoned that there must have been seventy years from the removal
of Zedekiah to the first year of Cyrus, 536 B. C. in order to fulfil the prophetical
seventy years desolation. Herein lies the pivotal point on which depends our conclusion
with regard to this subject. So far as we have been enabled to learn, the facts of
Scripture testimony were never brought to Brother Russell's attention showing that the
period of desolation, instead of ending when the captivity or servitude ended in 536 B.
C., extended on for some seventeen years longer, or to about 520 B. C.; and it is this
fact that changes the entire complexion of the conclusion to be reached. In our special issue of this
journal treating the subject of chronology, the Scriptural evidence was set forth at
considerable length showing that though the captivity and servitude ended when Cyrus
issued his proclamation, 536 B. C., yet the land did not cease to be desolate, and the
period of desolation did not end then. Agricultural pursuits were not generally resumed,
nor did the Lord prosper the fields or the building of the Temple till 520 B. C.
Therefore, this latter date appears to clearly mark the end of the predicted seventy years
of desolation. Reasoning backward, and counting approximately seventy years from 520 B.
C., brings us to 589 B. C., when Jerusalem was first besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, putting
an end to general activity in the land and starting the period of desolation. Thus, from
this standpoint we are able to find but fifty-one years between the time of the removal of
Zedekiah and 536 B. C., instead of seventy. Two Separate Periods Another point of vital
importance in this connection is this: The view we have commonly held in the past and
which appears now not to be well sustained was that Israel's servitude and the seventy
years of desolation were one and the same period, and this led us to conclude that the
2520 years of Gentile Times should be reckoned as starting with the destruction of
Jerusalem, or Zedekiah's overthrow; but our readers will recall that in the investigation
and review presented in these pages, there was clearly indicated, from a general chain of
Scripture testimony, that Israel's servitude of seventy years was a separate and distinct
period from that of the desolation; that the servitude or captivity began about nineteen
years before the removal of the kingdom -- in the first year of the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, at which time he was given to understand that he was the "head of
gold," and came into possession of his universal empire, at once going up to
Jerusalem, besieging it, taking possession of the city and making Jehoiakim a vassal king
for the remainder of his reign -- about eight years -- as were also the two kings that
followed him, covering the remainder of the time of Israel's kingdom -- about eleven
years. It thus is quite manifest that the period of servitude started about seventeen
years* before that of the desolation, and consequently would be due to end seventeen years prior to the end of the desolation
-- the captivity or servitude ending 536 B. C., and the desolation ending 520 B. C. __________ * Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar
early in the year 589 B. C., or about two years prior to the fall of the city and
Zedekiah's overthrow; thus the seventy-year desolation period is -erlv reckoned as
starting 589 B. C., or about seventeen years __________ Since the facts of Scripture
testimony, we believe, warrant the conclusion that Nebuchadnezzar's universal empire
commenced in his first year, and he assumed controllership of Israel and all nations at
that time, that point would most reasonably mark the beginning of the prophetic 2520 years
of the lease of Gentile power. Twenty-five hundred and twenty years reckoned from that
point of rime brings us indeed to approximately 1915 A. D., indicating the running out of
the Gentile lease; but as Israel's kingdom continued as a vassalage and as their last king
was not removed and the city destroyed till nineteen years after Nebuchadnezzar assumed
control, this fact would reasonably indicate the full running out of Gentile rule and
government at a later time than 1915. If the nineteen years was intended to indicate the
exact length of time of the running out of the Gentile Times from 1915 onward then that
would carry us to approximately 1933-1934; : but we do not know that this was so intended, nor do we have
positive evidence as to the exact length of the closing out of the Gentile Times beyond
1915. The suggestion that it may be 1933 is an in interesting inference. According to the Former Reckoning According to our former
calculations regarding 1915, there was no room or allowance for any gradual running out of
Gentile Times after that date, nor for any delay such as we have witnessed since 1915.
Placing Zedekiah's overthrow and the destruction of Jerusalem at 606 B. C., we said that
1915 was the parallel date, which, if true, the complete end of Gentile rule and the
destruction of Christendom should have been realized at that time. Again, we formerly
calculated that 1915 was the parallel of A. D. 70; and if this were really true, then
inasmuch as Jerusalem and the Jewish polity were destroyed in A. D. 70, we should have
witnessed the complete overthrow and the passing away of the present order of things in
Christendom by 1915, which did not take place. But reckoning the matter as
has been done in our treatment of this subject, 606 B. C. is seen to be approximately the
first year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign and marks the commencement of the lease of Gentile dominion; 1915 accordingly marks
the running out of that lease of power. But as
there was a period of nineteen years after
Nebuchadnezzar took control of the Jews before their kingdom was overthrown and Jerusalem
destroyed so we properly reason that there is such a period of time following 1915 in
which there is a gradual running out of the Times of the Gentiles, ending in the
destruction of Gentile powers represented in Christendom. This calculation fits all the
facts up to date and suggests something of a reason for the present seeming delay. Our Conclusions not Built upon In Brother Russell's reply to
the brother in 1904, he discarded the testimony of Ptolemy's Canon and Bishop Usher as
being insufficient to establish the point at issue. These two authorities were the only
proofs the correspondent offered to Brother Russell, and surely we all agree that more
substantial proofs should be required, Those reading these pages and what was set forth in
our treatment of the subject will remember that no attempt was made by us to really prove
or settle anything by Bishop Usher or Ptolemy's Canon; we merely stated that what we were
able to deduce from many Scripture statements was corroborated
by Ptolemy's Canon, and in fact, by nearly all chronologists. True enough, the attitude
expressed by Brother Russell in 1904 is quite positive as to the position taken in Volume
II on the points under discussion, but those who were close readers of Brother Russell's
writings near his death, twelve years later, will clearly remember that he was not nearly
so positive then as to the dates. Note carefully his statement in 1914: "We may not read the time features with the same absolute certainty as
doctrinal features, for time is not so definitely
stated in the Scriptures as are the basic doctrines. We are still walking by faith and not
by sight . . . . If, in the Lord's providence, the time should come twenty-five years
later, then that would be our will." In our general intercourse
with the brethren we have suggested that a sober and reasonable view be taken of the
entire situation with which we are confronted today. Let us consider for a moment what,
according to our former convictions and according to the positive position maintained by
Brother Russell in 1904 on the chronological lines, we were all expecting to see by 1914
or 1915. According to those chronological deductions, by 1915 the "Times of the
Gentiles" were to have ended in the last and final sense; the time of trouble was to
have run its course; the governments and powers of this world were all to have gone down;
the Harvest work was all to have ended; the resurrection of the Ancient Worthies was to
have taken place; the complete and final glorification of the saints was to have been
realized; and the establishment of the Kingdom, at once followed by restitution work. All
of these startling events were, according to our former conclusions, to have been realized
long before this time. In the face of all
this situation we would ask, What would be a sober and Scriptural position for us now to maintain -- sixteen years beyond October,
1914, with none of these important events in evidence? Let Brother Russell reply, and let
his words be given due consideration: Brother Russell gave Valuable Advice "If October, 1915, should
pass, and we should find ourselves still here and matters going on very much as they are
at present, and the world apparently making progress, in the way of settling disputes, and
there were no time of trouble in sight, and the nominal Church were not yet federated,
etc., we would say that evidently we have been out
somewhere in our reckoning. In that event we would look over the 'prophecies further,
to see if we could find an error. And then we would think, Have we been expecting the wrong thing at the right
time? The Lord's will might permit this." In view of the fact that we
now find ourselves substantially in the very situation described in the above statement by
Brother Russell, what could be more reasonable than that we should act upon his advice;
that in view of the failure of the events at the time we had thought, we would continue to
look to the Lord, asking His guidance while we endeavor to discover wherein some of our
conclusions of the past have not been well grounded? A little more than two years after
Brother Russell made the above statement, and about one month prior to his death, found
him carefully investigating some phases of the subject. He wrote: "Some of us were dune
strongly convinced that the Harvest would be ended by now, but our expectations must not
be allowed to weigh anything as against the facts. The fact is that the Harvest work is
going grandly on . . . . At first we were inclined to surmise that the Harvest proper had
closed in October, 1914, and that the work since going on teas a gleaning work, but the
facts seem not to bear this out." Again, in 1916, under the
heading "Our Mistake Regarding the Harvest," he wrote: "We imagined that the
Harvest work of gathering the Church would be accomplished before the end of the Gentile
Times; but nothing in the Bible so said. Our
thought was purely an inference, and now we see that it was an unjustified one." The question is, Would Brother
Russell have made the above remarks when he wrote the article in 1904? We scarcely think
that he would have so expressed himself then;
nor would any of us have been inclined to take the view in 1904 that he expressed in
September, 1916. In the article in 1904 he said, "We know of no reason for changing a
figure; to do so would spoil the harmonies and parallels so conspicuous between the Jewish
and Gospel Ages." In September, 1916, having reached the time when the Harvest was
supposed to have entirely closed and the time of trouble over, the Kingdom established and
the Church glorified. Brother Russell very wisely said, "Our expectations must not be allowed to weigh
anything as against as the facts," and he then pointed out that what we once
thought were harmonious Harvest parallels were no longer to be so considered, and he
explained that there was nothing in the Jewish Harvest parallels to indicate that the
Gospel Harvest must end in 1914. Here again we have another demonstration of how time and
events make more clear certain matters, and compel us, if we would be logical, to readjust
ourselves to the actual facts of life. What is Our Reasonable Course? In 1904, twelve years prior to
1916, there appeared to be a number of lines, including those of the great Pyramid
measurements, that gave, as we then thought, strong reasons for believing that all the
above named events would transpired around 1915 or shortly thereafter; but now, with the manifest failure of these
expectations up to date, sixteen years beyond 1914, what other reasonable course is there
open to us but to hold ourselves in readiness for
some other solution as to the time of the fulfillment of these important events -- a
solution indeed that must necessarily differ from the conclusions drawn in the 1904
article, even as Brother Russell himself substantially said: If these events fail of
occurrence at the time we have thought, then we should be prepared to acknowledge the,
failure and recognize that an error has been made and then go back over our entire scheme
of chronology, if possible to locate the error. This is simply all that the brethren of
this association have been endeavoring to do. We have been making this investigation in
humility and reverence, realizing indeed that no one can earn more of our Heavenly
Father's purposes than He is pleased to reveal; nor do we desire to know more than this. Not to Locate Exact Dates Again we cannot but be
reminded of the fact that the Lord has so providentially arranged the entire situation
that none today can feel justified in endeavoring to establish some fine chronological
system by which to determine the exact time when all the great and important events toward
which we are moving will be realized. More and more the brethren are convinced that the
study of chronology and the prophetic times and seasons was riot intended to enable them
to definitely fix the exact dates when the great events of vast importance to the Church
and the world will take place. What then is the object of the study of chronology and
prophecy? The object of such study as indicated by all the facts and circumstances of our
time, we believe is to enable the faithful watching class to approximate the time when the great transactions
are to occur; to gain a knowledge of about
where we are on the stream of time. Jesus admonished His followers to "watch,"
study, inquire, investigate, in order that they might gain such knowledge and not be
overtaken as by a thief, as would be the case with humanity at large. St. Paul also
assures the brethren that they shall not be in darkness that that day should overtake them
as a thief. But none were promised that they would know in advance the precise date, day or year when any particular
thing would happen. And Jesus gave a further key to the situation, saying, When ye see
these things begin to come to pass, then know that the end is nigh; lift up your heads and
rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh. Our conclusion then is that we are to look into
chronology and prophecy more with the thought of approximating
the time of these important events rather than that we should expect to be able to fix exact dates for the various events to occur. Nor should any today attempt
to make a test of his particular views on chronology, or to presume to measure the
spirituality of other brethren thereby. It is still the measure of the love of Christ and
the measure of the Holy Spirit we possess that determine our spiritual standing before the
Lord. If we are faithfully and obediently hearkening to the Word of the Lord, we need not
be distressed regarding the present situation in the Church or in the world. The present
mists and shadows that surround our way make it necessary for all the faithful to still
walk by faith and not by sight. Now, as the Apostle says, we see through a glass darkly,
but with the full Sunrise of the morning, with all the misunderstanding removed, with all
the clouds and darkness of the present time driven away, we shall see face to face, and
then we shall know even as we also are known. _____________ "KNOWLEDGE AND FAITH REGARDING CHRONOLOGY" We are concluding this review
with some pointed selections from Brother Russell's writings that we believe set forth the
essence of wisdom as to the proper attitude of the Lord's people under the present
circumstances. "A dear Brother inquires,
Can we feel absolutely sure that the Chronology set forth in the Dawn Studies is correct?
-- that the Harvest began in A.D. 1874 and will end in A.D. 1914 in a world-wide trouble
which will overthrow all present institutions and be followed by the reign of
righteousness of the King of Glory and His Bride, the Church? "We answer . . . that we
have never claimed our calculations to be infallibly correct; we have never claimed that
they were knowledge, nor based upon
indisputable evidence, facts, knowledge; our claim has always been that they are based on faith. We have set forth the evidences as
plainly as possible and stated the conclusions of faith we draw from them, and have
invited others to accept as much or as little of them as their hearts and heads could
endorse. "Many have examined these
evidences and accepted them; others equally bright do not endorse them . . . Possibly some
who have read the Dawns have presented our conclusions more strongly than we; but if so,
that is their own responsibility. . . . We neither urge nor insist upon our views as
infallible, nor do we smite nor abuse those who disagree; but regard as 'brethren' all
sanctified believers in the precious blood. " . . . As a matter of
fact it [the chronology] was used in practically the form we present it long before our
day, just as various prophecies were used to a different purpose by Adventists, and just
as various doctrines we hold and which see so new and fresh and different were held in
some form long ago: for instance, Election, Free Grace, Restitution, Justification,
Sanctification, Glorification, Resurrection. The work in which the Lord has been pleased
to use our humble talents has been less a work of organization than of reconstruction,
adjustment, harmonization. " . . . Suppose that A.D.
1915 should pass with the world's affairs all serene and with evidence that the 'very
elect' had not all been 'changed' and without the restoration of natural Israel under the
New Covenant. (Rom. 11:12, 15.) What then? Would not that prove our chronology wrong? Yes,
surely! And would not that produce a keen disappointment? Indeed it would! . . . What a
blow that would be! One of the strings of our 'Harp' would be quite broken! "However, dear friends,
our Harp would still have all the other strings in tune and that is what no other
aggregation of God's people on earth could boast. . . . If the Lord sees it
necessary for the arousing of the 'Virgins' to permit a false note on the time bugle, let
us take it joyfully as one of the 'all things' working together for good to those who love
Him, to the called ones according to His purpose." -- Z. '13, pp. 374, 375. "Whether you or we have
the date correct, we must all agree that the
signs of the times as we read them indicate clearly that the Master is nigh, even at the
door; and that His Kingdom is soon due to begin to take control. "The general facts are
much more valuable and important than merely the day or the year respecting these facts.
'Let brotherly love continue.' Suffer not any
dispute over a day or a year to break the most precious bond of love which binds us up
to the Lord and to all who are truly His. Be specially
careful on this point when the subject of
discussion is one respecting which we have no positive
knowledge. The rupture of fellowship may sometimes be necessary, when we 'contend
earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints' -- the faith in the Divine Plan,
in the Redeemer, in the efficacy of His death,
etc. These matters are positively stated in the
Bible -- not left to deduction, as in the case of chronology and all matters based upon
chronology." -- Z. '13, p. 342. He giveth more grace when the burdens
grow greater, "When we've exhausted our store of
endurance, "His love has no limit, His grace
has no measure, "THE DESOLATIONS OF THE SANCTUARY" EVERY consecrated disciple of
Christ faith fully walking in His steps and in the light of the Divine Lamp, realizes
that without doubt we are living in the last days of this dispensation -- near the time
when it shall be said, "His wife hath made herself ready." Every faithful
student of Holy Writ knows that our Lord and the Apostles and Prophets focused their
attention upon this particular time, and uttered many messages that were fraught with the
deepest and most solemn significance -- messages that warned the Christian to be vigilant,
watchful, and constantly on guard lest he let slip his hold upon the heavenly treasures
and all the exceeding great and precious hopes involved in his heavenly calling. Down the
corridors of time there comes the echo of the Prophet's voice, "Who may abide the day
of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?" The intimation is that not
many will abide, not many will stand -- the majority will fall. The reason is given: He
will require such purity, such holiness, that few will come up to His requirements. A test
He will impose will be like fullers' soap, which is the foe of every spot upon a garment
white. His requirements will be like those of a refiner of silver -- all the dross must be
eliminated in a furnace hot enough to insure its separation. The test will last a
considerable time, for He will sit as a refiner, giving close inspection, that the heat be
neither too great nor too little, the time neither too long nor too short. In the Midst of Fiery trials today While from the days of the
Reformation onward, the Sanctuary of the Lord has been undergoing cleansing, it is to be
noted that particularly during the last century a considerable number of godly risen have
been used of the Lord to help many to find their way out of darkness into light, and to
take a stand firmly on the side of righteousness, truth and honesty -- the side of the
Lord. Faithful under-shepherds of the Lord have, by their example and precept and in the
most forceful manner ceased not to warn their brethren in Christ light and day -- yea, and
we doubt not that it was often with tears, as they have looked forward to the closing
hours of the Church's history. In consideration of the prophetic testimony they have
seemed to sense the great trials and tests of faith in the Church's pathway. Alas, the
Lord's people throughout the world now find themselves amid those very fiery ordeals to
which the warning messages of the past have so often pointed forward. The strongest and
most subtle tests are upon the brethren. In this connection we are
making mention of a book entitled, "The Desolations of the Sanctuary," that has
come to our attention, with the suggestion that an announcement be made in these columns
as to its character, etc., that the friends in general may have the advantage of its
presentations. The book was written by two brothers in Germany, Emil and Otto Sadlack,
about two years ago. As the subject matter of the book was deemed to be of equal
importance to the English-speaking brethren, some friends in America have had it
translated, and it is just now off the press and ready for circulation. In brief, this
book is a treatise on or resume of the general circumstances and developments of the past
thirteen years since Brother Russell's death, amongst the brethren professing to be of
Present Truth, especially as those circumstances and developments have had to do with the
association or body of people in whose hands the work was left at Brother Russell's death.
The passing of our beloved Brother in 1916, as is well known, resulted in a general crisis
in the work in which we were all engaged. The change in the management and controllership
of the institution conducting the work, meant a complete change in the spirit, policy, and
methods of administration. As a result of this general sad situation -- departures,
changes, and innovations -- many problems, questions and issues of the most vital
importance, involving the Truth and the liberty of the people of God have come before the
brethren the world over. Not Preachers of Strife The readers of this journal
are well aware that we have not used these pages to review the trouble, strife, and
controversy of the past thirteen years, as it was considered that there was a higher
mission to perform. Accordingly, the following statement was made in the initial issue of
this journal, nearly twelve years ago: "The pages of this
journal shall not be used to engage in any controversy with those who may oppose us, nor
to quarrel with any one; nor shall we have either time or space to devote to evil
speaking, misrepresentation, or for slandering our brethren who may differ with us. No,
not even to our enemies shall we render such treatment, preferring to follow the example
of our Great Head, 'who, when He was reviled, reviled not again.' We trust that our hearts
and hands shall find plenty to do along the lines above indicated; namely that our mission
is to preach the Word, and that for the purpose of provoking unto love and good
works." Nor is it our thought to
introduce any change now from the proceedings of the past. But we do believe that it is
well pleasing to the Lord that we continually hold up to view the great and sublime
principles of the Lord's Word, and so far as possible present the Truth in such a form
that the prayerful and reverent reader will be helped to discern the mind of the Lord in
respect to the important and vital issues that have been called in question during the
recent years. The circulation of the book
mentioned above is not in violation of our mission, but in full harmony therewith. The
book is written in a careful and reverent spirit -- in the spirit of the Lord. The authors
we believe are godly men, men of prayer, and give evidence of having earnestly sought the
Lord's guidance and have had as their object that of assisting their brethren to
understand the significance of present developments and events, to the intent that they
might be fortified against the intrusions of evil and thereby prepared to stand and endure
the tests acceptably to the Lord in the closing hours of this evil day. Apostasy of the Last Days The book, "The
Desolations of the Sanctuary," is particularly of profit we believe in that the
present crucial trial upon the Church is carefully reviewed in the light of the
circumstances of God's people in past ages: an interesting review is made of the repeated
assaults of the Adversary on the faithful in the past and of his attempts to frustrate the
Plan of God by again and again making use of ambitious and designing men in introducing a
state of apostasy thereby desolating the Sanctuary. In this book therefore the history of
God's people is traced up to date and the present state and circumstances are shown to be
another bold attempt of the Adversary to lead God's children into bondage and to rob them
of their liberty. For this reason we are confident that this book may be found to be a
valuable aid especially to brethren who are only recently aroused to realize the condition
and circumstances that surround them. In this connection we cannot do better than quote
here a selection from the Foreword of the book Ceaseless Vigilance Necessary "Never, even for a
moment, should the watchers on Zion's lookout entertain the thought, that preparedness and
watchfulness concerning spiritual things may be permitted to relax. Even during these
times, when the Spirit of God in a special way flows through the circle of the faithful,
revealing the secrets of the Divine Plan of the Ages, absolute sobriety and watchfulness
are necessary. Has it not repeatedly happened that God's children have deprived themselves
of many blessings, merely because they did not watch sufficiently and in times of danger
they did not avail themselves of their blessed privileges? They slept and were silent,
whereas they should have watched and spoken, yea, should have cried aloud 'in the City of
Jerusalem.' To be sure, it is easier for the, flesh to look on inactively, while hostile
powers force their way into God's Sanctuary to pollute it. Simpler, and far more agreeable
is it, to be quiet, and let others fight against the desolators, thereby avoiding all the
slander, unkindness, hatred, etc. "But will the Lord say
'Well done' if we show so much fear of and respect to men, and so little reverence for
Him? Did He not entrust us with many riches over which we should watch with fear and
trembling? Would we show our thankfulness to the Giver of every good and perfect gift by
being careless or indifferent? Today we have profound reverence for the heroes of Faith,
the courageous Protestants of the past, for their faithfulness to the Lord and to His
Truth, so far as it was revealed then, but we are prone to forget, too, what a wall of
enemies they had to oppose in their day, and what a barrage of insults and persecutions
they had to bear. We say 'Yes, it was a grand time,' but, perhaps we let the 'grand time'
often go by us, without taking advantage of it and proving our own faithfulness. "We firmly believe that
we are again living in such a 'grand time,' and we very clearly see that a renewed
desolation of the Sanctuary of God is taking place. Oh, that all may yet awake and see the
things as they are; oh, that all may clearly and plainly discern their Lord, their own
selves, their privileges and responsibilities. "The following pages will
show calmly, but clearly and convincingly, what a great falling away has taken place, and
thus demonstrate to every one the necessity of waking up, discerning, deciding and acting
without delay or doubtful deliberations; and of being constrained by the love of Christ,
which breaks the fetters and removes all obstacles. At the same time these pages
will be an attempt to. help those dear ones who, though they have been delivered from
bondage, fall into unreasonable theories, speculations and daring predictions. We do not
deal with mere suppositions or unfounded assertions, but with facts which are accessible
and manifest to all. From the bottom of our hearts we wish that all of the dear ones may
be sincere enough to see these facts, and not close their eyes to them. "Although it is true that
the Lord alone can give, true Faith, and straighten out the confused sheep, it must not be
overlooked that in so doing He constantly makes use of His children. Romans 10:14, 15;
James 5:19, 20, and other Scriptures show us what our privileges and duties are. A passive
state toward the desolators of the Sanctuary, which generally leads to inactivity, can not
be well pleasing to the Lord." _______ We have arranged with the
publishers to supply the book, "The Desolations of the Sanctuary." It is
prepared in two bindings, in paper and cloth; the paper bound edition we are prepared to
send out at fifty cents a copy, postpaid; the cloth bound edition at seventy-five cents,
postpaid. "No soldier on service entangleth
himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enrolled him as a
soldier." -- 2 Tim. 2:4. THIS EARNEST exhortation of
the faithful Apostle to the Gentiles was most clearly illustrated in his noble course of
life. He shunned no danger, shrank from no labor or reproach or privation, and bravely and
cheerfully endured hardness and suffered the loss of all things temporal that he alight
win Christ and be approved of Him. As we look upon such a course and consider the
fortitude and the strength of character necessary so to run, the may well conclude that
except we be similarly supplied with the help of Divine grace, we shall not be able to
persevere to the end. St. Paul sped along in that
race, not in his own strength, but in the strength which God supplied. And the promise of
such aid is none the less ours than it was his. The Divine grace is imparted to us through
the exceeding great and precious promises of God inspiring us with new and glorious hopes
beyond the wreck and ruin of the present order of things. Permitting our minds to dwell
upon these we see in the now rapidly approaching dawn of the day of Christ a new heavens
and a new earth; and by faith we sit together with Christ in the heavenly place of glory
and honor, and together with Him are crowned with immortality. By faith we see also the
blessed privileges of such an exalted station, and the divinely appointed work in which we
will be engaged together with Christ in the uplift and recovery of the world from sin and
death. The privilege of such a
blessed work of the future, even aside from the precious thought of association with
Christ and of our blessed relationship to the Father, is a wonderful inspiration to every
benevolent heart which, even now, would fain take upon itself the burdens which it sees
oppressing others whom it loves and pities. Enter Race by Strait Gate But though inspired with such
a hope of benevolent service for the whole world in God's appointed time, and of blessed
association with Christ in it, we must remember that we have yet to "strive" for
the prize of our High Calling; and not only so, but we must strive "lawfully."
We must run our race, not only with diligence, energy, patience, and perseverance, but we
must run according to the pr prescribed rules, as otherwise our labor will be in vain. To
be in the race we must first of all have entered by the "strait gate" -- by a
full consecration of our all to the Lord, after having exercised faith in the precious
blood of Christ as our ransom price. If we have not entered by this door, we are not
counted in the race for the prize, no matter how zealously we run. This is the first rule
for those who would so run as to obtain. "Enter ye in at the strait gate; . . .
because strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be
that find it." Having so entered, the Apostle
now urges that we be filled with the Spirit of Christ, that we may not be led by the
desires of the flesh away from God and from the course which He has marked out. Then the
body must be kept under the control of the new mind, the spirit of Christ in us. The
ambitions and hopes and desires of the flesh must be kept down; and the only way to do
this is to keep filled with the spirit. "Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil
the desires of the flesh." -- Gal. 5 :16. If we are filled with the
spirit -- with the same mind that was in Jesus Christ-we will act from the same motives;
it will be our meat and drink to do the Father's will. We will engage in His work because
we love to do it, even aside from the inspiring prize at the end of our course. Christ was
so full of sympathy with humanity, and so thoroughly of one mind with the Father, that He
could not do otherwise than to devote His life to the good of others. Yet in all His
labors He strictly observed the Divine Plan. Though, like the Father, He loved the whole
world, He did not go beyond Israel to bless the Gentiles with His ministry, because the
appointed time for that work had not yet come. Likewise it is to be seen that
the Apostle Paul carefully observed the Divine order for those running in the race for the
heavenly prize. He walked in the footsteps of his Master, earnestly endeavoring to note
the readings and lessons of Divine providence' in connection with the ministry as well as
in all the affairs of life. Let all those who would so run as to obtain the prize likewise
mark the footsteps of the Master and be filled more and more with His Spirit. If so filled
with the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, we, like Him, will desire to be as free as
possible from entangling earthly affairs, and to have our time as free as possible for the
Lord's service, and then to devote all energy, ability, and effort to that service. To have the mind of Christ is
indeed the one requirement of lawful striving-a mind which humbly and faithfully submits
itself to the will of God as expressed in His great Plan of the Ages, and which devotes
all energy to the accomplishment of His will, because of an intelligent appreciation of
the ends He has in view. ________ "Blessed Lord, Thy saints defend, "Paul and Timotheus, the servants
of Jesus Christ, TRULY sublime and exalted is
the standard set before followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Consider Him," says
St. Paul, "the Apostle and High Priest of our profession" (Heb. 3:1) -- that is,
take note of Him, contemplate His conduct and example, and it will prove an uplifting
influence and force, and help one to grasp what the Divine will is concerning the pathway
of the Christian, for "He hath set us an example that we should walk in His
steps." Another Apostle, in discussing
what the love of God and the love of Christ have done for us, enjoins, "And we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren." (1 John 3:16.) The inference to be drawn
clearly is that followers of the Lord are to seek for and strive after this same quality
of love. Another clear admonition to
the effect that the conduct of the Savior is the ideal after which we are to strive is,
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 2:5.) Humility
and submission are the qualities specially under discussion in this particular admonition,
and as these are seen in the example of Jesus, they represent that which pleases God and
no doubt constitute the reason why the voice came from Heaven saying, "This is My
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." It was the spirit of loyalty
to the Divine will, the spirit of love, of holiness, in our dear Redeemer, and the
maintaining of this spirit, this influence, in active operation even unto death that won
for Him such high commendation from the Heavenly Father and constituted Him the greatest
of all saints. Saints are Those Alive toward God All of these admonitions and
descriptions constitute the foundation for the general use we find made in the New
Testament of the word "saint" as applied to consecrated followers of the Lord.
If this term was appropriate to disciples of Christ in the early Church, it should be
considered no less appropriate today. It signifies holy, set apart, sanctified believers
in Christ. There is much opposition to the use of the word today, attributable, we
believe, to two reasons. One is that the vast majority of professing Christians know that
they are not saints, not sanctified, not living as near to the Lord as they could live,
not separate, even 'in heart, from the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Such persons have
strong reasons for disliking the word "saints," realizing that it would exclude
them and nearly all of their friends and special associates in Christian work. Another
reason for opposition to the word "saints" is that in the Dark Ages it became
the custom for the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches to "canonize," or legally
set apart as objects of reverence, certain persons respecting whom, after several
centuries had elapsed, nothing specially evil was remembered, but only things esteemed as
honorable and praiseworthy. The word "saints" thus became separated from living
Christians; and indeed this may have been because there were few Christians really so
"alive toward God" as to be representatives of saintship. Another reason why
some dislike this term "saints" is that they consider it to be rather boastful
-- some would even say hypocritical; because, having lost sight of "justification by
faith" in its proper application, they have become accustomed to think of and to pray
for all Christians as "miserable sinners" -- overlooking the fact that there are
some in whom "the righteousness of the law is fulfilled," because "walking
not after the flesh, but after the spirit," the merit of Christ covers all their
unwilling shortcomings. -- Rom. 8:4, The Lord's people, however,
are to remember to apply and take pleasure in all the names and practices authorized by
Apostolic usage; and the term "saint" certainly thus approves itself to us.
Almost all of the epistles of the New Testament are addressed to the saints; and those who
can not properly apply the term to themselves can not properly apply to themselves the
exceeding great and precious promises contained in those epistles -- for all the promises
are addressed to and meant for the saints -- the sanctified in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 1:7; 1
Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:9; Eph. 1:1.) Let it be borne in mind that the word "saint"
does not apply only to those having actual perfection, as in our Lord's case, but also to
those reckoned holy through Him; and the Apostles, who were saints, and who classed
themselves with the saints of God, declared respecting themselves, "We also are men
of like passions with you." -- Acts 14:15. The term "saints,"
then, properly applied in the Church, refers to those who although originally
"children of wrath even as others," have been rescued from that condition of
condemnation, and been washed, cleansed, and thus brought into accord with God through the
forgiveness of their sins and the covering of their weaknesses and blemishes; and who in
connection with these blessings of God, and in appreciation of them, have become the
"sanctified in Christ Jesus" by making full consecration of themselves to live,
not perfect lives (an impossibility), but as nearly perfect as they may be able; the
Lord's grace making them continually "holy, acceptable to God" the Father,
through the merit of Christ Jesus. Let us not be ashamed of this name "saints";
if it present before our minds saintship, holiness, separateness from the world, that is
just the very thought which should be there continually. It is a thought which will help
us, and enable us the better to live separate from the world, as our Master indicated,
saying, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." -- John
17:16. IN
COMMEMORATION EVERY year of progress in the
Narrow Way truly brings a deeper sense of gratitude and love as upon the anniversary of
the death of our blessed Master we are privileged to call forth in a special way the
scenes associated with the closing hours of His earthly life and pilgrimage. How wonderful
is our privilege of hearing the Master say, "Blessed are your eyes for they see and
your ears for they hear"! All such truly hear and see marvelous things that lift them
up to realms above. The things of which the Lord's people have been given a vision have
meant their transference from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God's dear Son.
And as they by faith take their places as His footstep followers, bearers of the cross
after Him, they also are caused to realize that a cup has been poured for them as the
Father poured a cup for their Master. The Lord's Supper observed by
the brethren in Brooklyn on the 14th of the Jewish month Nisan, which according to the
Jewish reckoning was this year on the evening of April 11th, was truly a solemn occasion.
Once more it was a time of earnestly dwelling upon the great event of all history, the
sacrificial death of the well beloved Son of God. The words of the Apostle were called to
mind, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the
feast." The significance of the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine as
representatives of our Lord's broken body and shed blood, and of the Master as the
antitype of the Passover lamb, were considered. The Apostle's words were dwelt upon (1
Cor. 10:16, 17), and the fact that the bread and fruit of the vine not only symbolize our
Lord's body and flesh broken for us, but that since we are accepted of Him and are
reckonedly His flesh and His bones while in the earthly tabernacle, so the bread, one
loaf, represents our flesh consecrated to death with our Lord in His service. Likewise we
have a union (common union or fellowship) in the cup-our earthly lives are consecrated to
be poured out in death, that we may partake with our Lord also in His new life --
"partakers of the Divine nature." -- 2 Pet. 1:4. This review of our Lord's
death, the significance of the emblems, together with the prayers, and hymns of worship
and thanksgiving, all drew our hearts very close to the Master and caused us to appreciate
more than ever the great fact that Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. The Lord's
people everywhere were earnestly remembered in our prayers. How appropriate that our Lord
should on the eve of His death institute this beautiful Memorial! He desired His followers
to keep ever in mind the source and means of their justification, and that they might ever
be mindful of the solemn and sacred engagement into which they have entered with Him, and
in. which they have agreed to drink of His sacrificial cup and be broken as members of His
body, as with the Apostle, "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye
do spew the Lord's death till He come." Bear Brethren: Greetings in our Lord. It is now more than two years
since I began taking the "Herald." It has been of much help to me and is always
looked forward to with joy. The articles therein seem to get more and more helpful. I
would specially thank you for the issues of February 1 and 15, 1930, which are full of
inspiring messages. Three years ago I felt
absolutely confident I was on the right road for truth -- an Anglo-Catholic, consecrated
to God. During an illness later on, God permitted a dear friend to open up for me the way
of real truth. The simplicity and reasonableness of God's Plan and dealings with mankind
rang so true, and I had the insight into heavenly things. I am glad to tell you that
strength was given me to give up all associations with my religion, which had meant so
much, and to follow the new light. And during these past two years God has been very good
to me, and I have been able to read His Word and understand more and more of His wonderful
Plan. I daily pray the Heavenly
Father will direct you in all your ways and in the preparation of any future Heralds. . .
. I would like to add that the love and kindness which I have received at the hands of the
brethren who have helped me so much, and those with whom I have come in contact, has been
very wonderful -- such love as I had never seen before. Undoubtedly, for all their
goodness to me they have been comforted by our Lord's own words, "Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these My, brethren, ye have done it unto Me." May we ever remember the many
precious promises of our God, and none more beautiful than Isa. 27:3, in referring to the
vineyard of red wine (an unusual expression; the red may be significant of the blood of
the Church and the wine produced by the mighty power of the Heavenly Father). "I the
Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and
day." And may we all endeavor to live up to our privileges and in this way we shall
keep our eye on the goal; and men may take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. The Heavenly Father's richest
blessing and His abiding peace be with you. With much Christian love, E. M. Y. -- Eng. VOL. XIII. May 15, 1930 No. 10 "HEAR
WHAT THE SPIRIT SAITH "Blessed
is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein: for the time is at hand." SEVERAL important
considerations are impressed upon the mind of the reverent student of the Revelation,
particularly in its opening statement: First, it is announced that it is a Divine prophecy
-- "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His
servants things which must shortly come to pass." Second, it is not for humanity at
large, nor even for merely professing Christians -- "The Lord God of the holy
Prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be
done." "I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the
churches." "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches." (Rev. 22:6, 16; 2:7.) Third, a special blessing is pronounced upon those
who read and hear -- "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at
hand." (Rev. 1:3.) Fourth, the warning is pronounced against any attempt to prevent
an investigation and study of the Revelation -- " Seal not the sayings of the pr
prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand." -- Rev. 22:10. The foregoing items are
important tart to be borne in mind by all, as they distinctly teach that the Revelation
messages are prophetic -- "things which must shortly come to pass," and that
they are intended for the Church, and their purpose is to convey a special blessing to
those who receive them. Revelation Discloses Divine Care over Church Surely we could not hope for
any stronger encouragement to examine and study the Revelation than that represented in
the above arguments. We believe the facts will show that as God's people have given heed
to this admonition all along through the Age, and have studied the wonderful, symbolic
visions of the Revelator, they have realized a corresponding blessing-a strengthening of
their faith and hope. As many of the visions of the
Revelation describe the faithful, passing through scenes of great suffering and
persecution, the knowledge represented in the visions was doubtless intended to supply a
special need; for the Church always has needed the help and blessing that accompanies a
knowledge of the "more sure word of prophecy." We believe that it will be
acknowledged by all Bible students that there is no portion of the Bible that to so great
an extent as the Revelation reveals God's providential care and overruling of the events
of history, both good and evil, for the Church's development in grace and knowledge. There
is no doubt that the faithful, who down through the Age have studied the Revelation, have
been helped to discern the Divine overruling in connection with the affairs of the Church.
On this point the facts have been well expressed by Brother Russell: "During the Christian
Age, some of the saints sought to understand the Church's future by examining this
symbolic Book, and doubtless all who read and understood even a part of its teachings were
blessed as promised. (Rev. 1 :3.) The Book kept opening up to such, and in the days of the
Reformation was an important aid to Luther in deciding that the Papacy, of which he was a
conscientious minister, was indeed the 'Antichrist' mentioned by the Apostle, the history
of which we now see fills so large a part of that prophecy." -- Vol. I, pp. 27, 28. Has Illuminated Church's Pathway If it is reasonable to suppose
that Luther derived important aid in deciding issues of great magnitude in his day, it is
equally reasonable to suppose that other Reformers derived equal benefit and help from the
same source. Yea, verily, it is most evident that these wonderful prophecies were given
for the counseling, assisting, and protection of the Church through the long dark
centuries of her pilgrimage, and of her witnessing to the Truth. As we read the writings
of God's consecrated ones of the past, we learn that the Revelation visions have proved to
be a mighty power in the Church's history, and that. they have served to preserve the
faith of the Church in times of peril and general apostasy. We have found that the
knowledge of some of them and the testimony thereto have given birth to great reformation
movements; that they have inspired confessors, and supported martyrs to the cause of
Christ, some of whom sealed their faithfulness at the stake, while others suffered
dreadful death in other ways. A knowledge of some of these marvelous, prophetic
photographs has been largely instrumental in breaking the chains of priestcraft,
superstition, and tyranny and has brought multitudes out of the bondage to the same. As the examine the records of
those who have served the Church of Christ to leer profit throughout the Age, we find that
much prayerful consideration has been given to the visions of the Apocalypse. Considering
that our beloved Brother Russell is amongst those whose ministry has greatly edified the
Church, we are not surprised to observe that he made an exhaustive study of the Revelation
which had to do with greatly illuminating his mind. And while he did not write and publish
a specific volume* on the Revelation, nor leave any manuscripts whatever on it
at his death, yet we have in his writings the evidence showing that he wrote and published
much on the last Book of the Bible, and he stated himself in a manner not doubtful, but
positive. True, he did not expound several portions of the Book, nevertheless, from what
he did express we can be well assured that he followed the Historical line of
interpretation; that he believed that the Revelation was a history of God's people, and in
fact, of the entire Divine Plan, particularly from our Lord's First Advent forward to the
end of the Millennium. __________ * It is true that Brother Russell had
expected to write a volume on the Revelation, treating it in detail in systematic order.
However, death came to him before he was permitted to realize his expectation, and he did
not leave any manuscript bearing upon the Revelation that had not already been published
in the six volumes of Studies or in his semi-monthly journal. ___________
Our claim therefore is that
the Lord's people today may read so clearly the fulfillment of the symbols of the
Revelation in the historical records, as that by far the interpretation of the greater
portion of the Book need not be doubtful but fully established. We do agree most heartily
that there are portions of the Revelation that have not yet been fulfilled, particularly
the last four chapters of the Book, but with comparatively few exceptions, the fulfillment
of the first eighteen chapters is in the past; and who of us would assume the
responsibility of saying that we cannot understand any of the last four chapters because
their fulfillment is still future? To the contrary, the believe that all will agree that
in the light of other portions of the Bible, even though the fulfillment of the last four
chapters is still future, it is easy to understand very much of their significance, which
brings special joy and profit as they so clearly reveal to us the consummation of the
Divine Plan in the deliverance and' glorification of the Church, the resurrection of the
dead, the restitution of all the willing and obedient to human perfection and life in
paradise, with perfect harmony and peace reigning everywhere. Thus while the full
significance of the last four chapters will be realized more fully when those symbols have
been fulfilled, it is surely to our profit to study them now in the light of history and
other portions, of God's Word. Portrays Events of Last Days It is still the privilege of
earnest truth seekers to inquire into and study the Revelation of St. John. Indeed, in
consideration of all the confusion and unhappy situation in these days, it would seem that
if there were ever a time when light on the Revelation should be looked for, it would be
at the present; and that brethren occupying positions of responsibility in the Church
would be seriously remiss in doing- their duty if they neglected any source of spiritual
light and assistance that the Lord had provided. Realizing, as all the faithful
watchers must, that what remains of the Church of Christ in the flesh has been undergoing
the severest trials and is perhaps passing into the most crucial test of her earthly
career perhaps her Gethsemane experiences, we regard it as most pleasing to our Heavenly
Master to avail ourselves of all His provisions in the way of truth and grace that are
represented in His many messages. It is surely timely that the Lord's people make a
careful and sober study of the Book of Revelation. Living as we are in a period when some
of the events predicted in the Book are grandly fulfilling before our eyes on a most
gigantic scale, events, too, of vast magnitude that mark the overthrow of Satan's empire
and the ushering in of the long-promised reign of righteousness, the Kingdom of God,
surely it is appropriate for us to inquire, and to be prepared to receive whatever our
Master may be pleased to say unto us at this time, especially as He has promised to be
with His faithful people even unto the end, and has admonished, saying "Blessed is he
that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy:" Recent Studies in the Revelation For the benefit of new readers
we take occasion to call attention to the exposition of the Apocalypse which was issued in
1923 and 1924. entitled "The Revelation of Jesus Christ," in two volumes of
about 600 pages each. The preparation and
publication of the exposition which we have issued, "The Revelation of Jesus
Christ," represents many years of the most painstaking effort and careful research;
many of the Old Testament prophecies, especially that of Daniel, are exhaustively treated.
Careful consideration and due weight have been given to the able, worthy, and scholarly
expositions of the Apocalypse that have been put into the hands of the truth seeker by
godly men throughout the Age, and particularly those that have been written during the
past century-men whose writings give evidence of soundness of mind, and of a large measure
of the Lord's Spirit, by which, to our understanding, they have discerned deeply of the
Divine truth regarding the meaning of the Apocalyptic visions. Many of those who have
studied the Revelation exposition published by this association, give assurance that they
have been largely relieved of their confusion and perplexity, and have been enabled to
maintain a balance and poise of mind that has kept them free from the spirit of
fanaticism, and of fanciful speculation so prevalent at this time. In presenting our readers with
an exposition of the Revelation, we have trusted to do it in that spirit appropriate to
one who would properly handle the holy things, namely that of not claiming Divine
inspiration and infallibility, but as that of appealing to the brethren to exercise their
own personal liberty in the acceptance or rejection of what is presented, and to use the
spirit of a sound mind in receiving only that which appeals to them as being established
by Scripture and the facts of history. We merely invite the brethren to give the
exposition careful consideration, believing that they will thereby receive a blessing. ANNOUNCEMENT
OF THE June 7th, 1930 WE ARE now giving the regular
announcement of the Annual Meeting of the Pastoral Bible Institute, to be held June 7th,
at 2 p. m. at the headquarters of the Institute, 177 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, N. Y. As
the Directors are elected to serve for only one year at a time, their office expires on
the first Saturday in June. The object of this meeting is therefore that of the electing
of directors for the ensuing year, and for the consideration and transacting of any other
items of business that may come before the meeting. These yearly conferences have
always proven to be occasions of general profit and encouragement as reports of the work
and ministry of the preceding year are placed before the friends. There is always full
opportunity for all the members to freely discuss any of the features of the work that
they may desire and to make any suggestions that may seem to them good. The names of the
brethren who have been serving as directors the past year and whose term of office expires
June the 7th, are as follows BLACKBURN, J. J., Toronto, Ont. In accordance with
instructions given at the last Annual Meeting there was published in the March 15th and
April 1st issues of the "Herald," a Resolution passed at the meeting last June,
the substance, of which was that three months in advance of the election, the attention of
the members be called to their privileges of placing nominations for the Directorate, and
that such names would be published in connection with this regular announcement of the
Annual Meeting. Only one name has been placed in nomination in addition to the above, and
this brother does not wish his name to stand as a nominee for election. All the members
may be here reminded, however, that any who desire to nominate other brethren but who have
neglected to send in their advice to the office to be published in this announcement, may
yet submit them in nomination at the election in Brooklyn, June 7th. The brethren who have been
serving as directors desire to express their gratitude and appreciation first of all to
the Lord and then to the friends in general who have rendered co-operation and have given
valuable assistance in connection with the humble efforts that have been put forth to
further the general interests of the Lord and His Message. God's blessing has been much in
evidence upon the ministry in the past we believe, and there is every reason to continue
to hope for His direction and guidance in the days to come. The results are left with oar
gracious Master, in the consciousness that He is abundantly able to overrule any mistakes
and to work out and accomplish all His wise purposes without the aid of any one. It is
always desirable to have as large a number of the friends present at this Annual Meeting
as reasonably possible; but on account of the distances and unfavorable circumstances many
of course will not be permitted to be present in person. Hence provision is made whereby
all the members may have a voice in the election by indicating on a proxy form the names
of those whom they desire elected as directors for the coming year. A proxy form will be
mailed to each member before the election; and those who do not expect to be present at
the Annual Meeting should fill out the proxy form and return to this office before the
election. "And this is the record, that God
hath given to us eternal life, THE GOSPEL and the Epistles of
John, the beloved Apostle, are in a very special way the mirror of our Lord's inner life.
The writers of the other historical Gospels have given us a very faithful record of His
outstanding miracles, parables, and general ministry, but John seems to have been endowed
with certain qualities of character that made him a most suitable medium of the Holy
Spirit to record the deeper features of our Savior's life and teaching. Certain
characteristics, peculiar to the writings of John, give substantial support to the
conclusion that intuitively, or otherwise, he saw more clearly than the others the real
import of the wonder-working power and gracious words of Jesus. He it was who discovered
that the miracles they witnessed from time to time were vitally related to something much
greater than the temporary and localized relief of human suffering; he read in them a
meaning of universal significance, and so informs his readers that these occasional
exhibitions of power were but illustrations, intended to "show forth His coming
glory." Doubtless one of the reasons for John's special place in our Lord's love is
traceable to the fact that this Apostle came nearer to Jesus than the others, in that
"understanding heart" that seems to sense intuitively the real significance of
His ministry. Like the others, his vision may at times have been obscured by ambitions
centered in the prospect of an immediate position in a rulership set up there and then,
but if we may judge him on the basis of his writings, we must believe that he did not
habitually dwell on these external things, for he has preserved for us records too deeply
spiritual to emanate from a .mind much occupied with present prospects. "The Life Was the Light of Men" To John, Jesus was
pre-eminently a manifestation of God's interest in the human race. His association with
the Father in His pre-human activities, and His present co-operation with God in
redemptive love, was a most precious and important theme to the beloved disciple.
Everything about Jesus suggested to him the energy and fullness of life. It is worthy of
note that John's Gospel does not open, as the others, by introducing the Babe of lowly
birth, but with a statement that directs the mind of his reader immediately to the great
creative Agent of the Father, the Logos, the Word, at whose command "all things that
were made" sprang into existence. His creative, life-giving power, is the thing that
made the deepest impression on John, and it became the theme that distinguishes his Gospel
from the others. Indeed, it would seem that he hastened to bring this theme to us, for his
introduction of the Logos ends almost abruptly, and dispensing with any further
preliminaries he at once presented the Lord as "the life" and "the light of
men." If we turn to the Epistles of
this Apostle we immediately observe the same general thought pervading all. In fact there
seems only one real purpose in his mind as he writes again and again; namely the
reiteration of the fact that "In Him was life; and the life was the light of
men." "For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness. and
show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;
that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship
with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."
(John 1:4; 1 John 1:2, 3.) Intimate fellowship consists of a oneness of spirit that
without constraint or restraint makes common property of that in which kindred minds find
pleasure. John had a mind receptive to these sublime unfoldings of the Master's deep
revelations, and so must write them down for us -- "that your joy may be full."
What a debt we owe him for these intimate revelations and for his record of the wonderful
words of life that truly mean "life more abundant" to those who fully
appropriate them. John's writings are doubly important to us because they not only reveal
the inner life of Jesus, but they also reveal the deeper life of the faithful disciple,
who recognized that his life was "in the Son." So true is this that we might
very properly assemble the texts in which Jesus states that His life was in the Father,
and similar declarations, and then just substitute His name for the Father's and
appropriate them to ourselves by saying, "The living Savior bath sent me, and I live
by the Savior"; "I seek not mine own will, but the will of my Savior which bath
sent me"; "I am in the Savior, and the Savior in me"; "The Savior that
dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." This should, and must be true of us, if we would
claim to enjoy that life which is eternal. 1t was true of Paul, for he could write,
"I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me; for that life which I now live in
the flesh, I am living by that faith of the Son of God who loved me." When our lives
are hid with Christ in God, and we keep close to Christ as He kept close to the Father, we
too shall enter intelligently into the blessed realization that of a truth "this is
the record, that God bath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." He that hath the Son, bath Life Eternal life! God hath given us eternal life. What a profound
statement! Can we fully appreciate its real import? Had the Apostle written, "God'
hath promised us eternal life," we would have read his statement without difficulty.
Our minds would have turned at once to the future life beyond the veil, for the habit of
thought runs more easily in that direction, since we rarely have reason to associate
eternal possessions with present transitory and temporary things. But this is no slip of
the writer's pen, for he immediately repeats it, even more emphatically, "He that
hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life." (1 John 5:12.) The frequency of the present-tense
language employed, precludes any thought of overlooking the fact that in some manner these
statements are full of meaning in respect to the present, as well as the future life.
There is no possible escape or evasion. We either have or have not life, and the test of
the entire matter is our positive knowledge of vital relationship to God, through the life
that is in His Son. Let the Dead Bury Their Dead Among men the generally
accepted definition of life is very far from the Scriptural one. If a man has sufficient
physical strength to enable the organs of his body to function, even sufficiently to
barely keep him out of the grave, in the language of men he has life. If another enjoys
average health, and possesses a strong muscular body, comparatively free from sickness, he
is pointed to as a man "full of life." But all such views of life are swept
aside as erroneous by our Lord's significant statement, "Let the dead bury their
dead." In this classification He included all sorts and conditions of men; death had
passed upon all without exception. In Him alone, life had its full expression, and by
contrast all others were dead. Jesus did not measure life by a man's ability to breathe,
and eat, and move about among his fellows; neither did He measure life by days or years,
decades or cycles. With Him it was not primarily the degree or length of man's present
existence in his imperfect condition that counted; it was the kind or duality or life that
He emphasized, and this is what the Apostle is emphasizing in our text. Outside of Christ
there is no life, but in Christ we may, here and now, begin to experience this life of
which God has given us the record. John wrote with positiveness.
He knew whereof lie wrote, and therefore did not hesitate to write, "We know we have
passed from death unto life". 1 "We know He abideth in us." With him these
were actual experiences. Are they so with us? What we may here and now enjoy, may or may
not have been realized in experience, and it will be profitable to meditate on these
positive statements. The attainment of this life involves so much that it is not strange
to discover that few experience it. Both observation and Scripture show that many, even of
those who turn from sin in its various forms, fail to reach this experience in any
definite way. They have a hope, but not a full assurance of faith, a desire for life as a
future blessing, but not a present confidence of the new, resurrection life already begun.
So great a boon, the Scriptures show, is given only to those who are most faithful in
applying to themselves the searching truths of God's Word, and most receptive in heart to
the Holy Spirit's enlightening and sanctifying power. Moreover, the Scriptures also show
that this treasure once received must be zealously guarded lest it imperceptibly glide
away. Repeatedly the warning is given that the once favored recipient of this gift of
grace in Christ, may, through neglect, become a castaway from the prize, or even become as
"trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the
roots." -- Jude 12. Awake Thou that Sleepest "I am the Vine, ye are the branches,"
said Jesus. "He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit." It is all a matter of our receptivity of mind. We must be so definitely
united to the Vine that we will have strength to receive from it the power to live and
bring forth fruit unto eternal life. The facts are again stated positively -- "much
fruit" is the sure token of abiding in Him. Thus again and again we are taught that
there is something definite, real, and experimentally possible, in the enjoyment of this
eternal life which we have in and through the Son. But as we have previously noted, very
few attain it. As the Husbandman has repeatedly come to the branches, individually and
collectively, looking for fruit, how often He has had to remove the barren, fruitless
members, which under the most patient care have failed to produce "more fruit"
and "much fruit." How often the Apostle must warn that "many are weak and
sickly among you, and many asleep." (1 Cor. 11:30.) How often it has been necessary
to break the spell of lethargy that has benumbed the spiritual life, with the clarion call
of the same Apostle, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
(Eph. 5:14.) How often He who walks among the golden candlesticks, with eyes of flaming
fire, has found it necessary in His unerring classification to designate many as
"having a name that thou livest, and art dead." Indeed, how often has He stood,
as in days of old, in the very midst of His professing people, and said, "Ye will not
come to Me, that ye might have life." It is even so, and the record God has given us
reveals why it is so: Strait indeed is the gate, and narrow the way that leads to that
life which vibrates in our souls with the power that raised Christ from the dead, and few
there be that find it. The Life which is Eternal The eternal life to which John
so often refers has to do with those inexhaustible, inherent attributes of wisdom,
justice, love, and power that abound in the Father and the Son. In other words, the
meaning is, that the manifestations we have of their characters in the exercise of all
these attributes, become to us the perfect expression of the principles of eternal life.
Here then we see the need of making a sharp
distinction between existence and eternal life. "The earth abideth forever" we
are told, but it would be manifestly improper to say that God had given the earth eternal
life. If it were possible, the earthly, worldly, man might flourish like the green bay
tree forever, and yet never know life eternal. The term comprehends so much more than, an
unending duration of one's existence, and its real meaning becomes luminous to us under
the Apostle's pen, as he writes, "And the life was
manifested, and we have seen it, and bear
witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was
manifested unto us." Verily, "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." -- 1 John 1:2; John 17 :3. The Life was Manifested and We have seen It What then was the
manifestation of eternal life given to the Apostles? It was life, perfect life in action,
expressing itself through all the gracious words and acts of Jesus. It was revealed in the
devotion, obedience, fervent zeal, and sacrificing faithfulness of the Son of God. It was
manifested in the strength of character, the steadfast determination, the patient
endurance that characterized His life from Jordan to Calvary. Through Him the power and
love of God were perfectly expressed. The Spirit, received without measure, had unhindered
control. It did riot meet an unreceptive mind or a divided heart, and therefore Jesus
became a complete revelation of the Father Himself, the one great original fountain of
eternal life. Ah, yes, this is what John means when he says, "The life was manifested
and we have seen it." "And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be
full." Let us now examine ourselves
and see to what degree we have this eternal life invigorating and enriching us. Let us not
be unwise and begin "comparing ourselves among ourselves," but let us follow the
more excellent rule of searching the Word of God, for what it teaches will be the
character of the one who has, received it. To do this we properly begin with Pentecost. We
have a rightful share in that eventful day when the Spirit came upon the Church,
"For," said Peter, "the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts 2:39.) We
can not get too far away either in time or distance to get beyond the individual need of
Pentecost. The promises made by Jesus require our personal participation in Pentecost in
order to experience their fulfillment. "When the Spirit of truth is come, He will
guide you into all truth"; and again, "Ye shall receive power after that the
Holy Spirit is come upon you." The genesis of spiritual life begins as did the
genesis of earthly life, with the word, "let there be light." The revelation
that shines in the face of Jesus Christ must first illuminate our minds, revealing the way
of reconciliation, sonship, and sanctification. And if the promise is for all, then there
is also a meaning for all in the command, "Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued
with power from on high"; for as we shall see, such power becomes the evidence of our
participation in the eternal life given by the Father, through the Son. The power received at
Pentecost was real. Witness its effect upon Peter, and note its influence upon the hearers
of his message -- three thousand souls added to the Church in one day. Admitting, as we
must, that some special manifestations of miraculous power accompanied the ministry of the
Word on that occasion that we could not expect today, nevertheless, all the subsequent
ministry of the Apostles bears unmistakable evidence that they did receive power after the
Holy Spirit came upon them, and the evidence is equally clear that the same invigorating,
transforming, and enlightening power came upon many of their converts in after days. Have Ye Received the Holy Spirit since Ye Believed? What would be our reply to
this question if it were directed to us personally, by the Apostle? Would our faith
"stand in the wisdom of men," or "in the power of God"? How may we
know? The Scriptures would answer, "Ye have received an unction from the Holy One,
and ye know it." Yes, know it, by an experience that cannot be denied. We are not now
dependent upon Paul to tell us that the' Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth"; we know it.
The goodness of God has led to repentance, and
His love has captured our hearts; transformed
our lives, filled us with new hopes, new visions, new aspirations, until of a truth old
things have passed away and all things have become new. How precious to know by such a
blessed experience that we have been thus washed by the water of the Word; that the power
of God has been at work in our own hearts as a living, effective reality, proving
conclusively that the principles of eternal life are already manifest in us, for now, the
holiness of God, the perfections of His character, become the great goal toward which we
bend our every effort. Again we read, "If the
Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in
you." (Rom. 8:11.) Can we conceive of the mighty energy displayed in raising Jesus
from the tomb? -- if so, the Apostle wants us to understand that not in any. theoretical
way, but in a definite, positive manner, we are now the subjects of that same power. The
power of "God who quickeneth the dead" is really at work in our hearts,
affecting not only our hearts, but also our mortal bodies. Our inner life and our outward
conduct are bearing testimony to the fact that our participation in "His
resurrection" has already begun. This is proved by our quickened zeal for God, our
devotion to His will, our hunger for righteousness, our fervent appreciation of spiritual
things, and because of a blessed realization that, as the behold "as in a glass the
glory of the Lord we are being changed into the
name image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord." There is no
longer a listless drifting with the tide, no compromising with perversions of God's Word,
no lowering of the lofty standards of truth and righteousness, but a loyalty to God that
vindicates the assurance given, that "he that is begotten of God [who has received
the life that is in His Son] keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Strong in the Lord and in the Power of His Might Strength, courage, victory,
are words frequently used by the Holy Spirit in designating Christian character. These
elements distinguish the matured child of God from the vacillating weakling who lacks that
stamina of character that will "dare to be a Daniel" at any cost. In proportion
as these admirable qualities are displayed by us, in that same measure we are again
manifesting the life which God gives to His obedient children. Thus we are told, "God
hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind." -- Tim. 1:7. Nothing is more beautiful than
a character .well developed in these qualities. On the other hand, nothing is more pitiful
than a vacillating, compromising, slavish man or woman, deficient in the moral courage to
stand alone if need be, for that which s right. Heaven admires the heroic soul that will
suffer the loss of all things for the sake of a clear conscience. Earth may be slow to
recognize their worth in the passing moment, brut will later place the names of such on
her roll of honor. Who would not much rather be a faithful prophet of God, an object of
the wrath of an offended usurper, than to be an Obadiah, at heart more in sympathy with
the champions of truth and liberty, but afraid, or unwilling to jeopardize their
"membership in good standing" in that which their protesting conscience declares
to be wrong. How precious is the thrill of that eternal life that surges through our
being, annihilating the fear of mail that bringeth a snare, and "casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor. 10:5.) To
experience this, is to know the power of God, and to know the record true, that "God
hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." "If the Son therefore
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." -- John 8:36. "Gladly will I Toil and Suffer" "In Him was life"
and. from Him we receive our life. The water of truth with which He satisfies our longings
does become "a well of water springing up unto everlasting life," bubbling over
with, the "joys of salvation," so that "we cannot but speak the things we
have seen and heard." "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus," writes the Apostle, and the mince of our blessed Master was so full of
delight and joy in the Father's will, that it became His meat and drink. Is there not a
deep significance in His words, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down
My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of
Myself." (John 10:17, 18.) His was a wholly voluntary laying down of His life. He
needed not to be admonished, and exhorted, and warned, respecting the meaning of His
consecration covenant. Within His heart there burned such a fire of consuming love that
the sweet incense of His devotion ascended continually as a sweet perfume to God. The
Father did not have to take His offering from Him, it was freely and gladly surrendered,
needing only to be received by the Father. This is all of vital
importance to us. We have been invited to follow Him, to share with Him in sacrificial
self-denials, cross-bearing and suffering. Plainly we have been taught that it is only as
we suffer with Him, that we may entertain any hope of reigning with Him in glory. What
then is the character of our reaction toward this necessary suffering? Are we so filled
with the spirit of appreciation and joy, because that "unto us it has been given on
the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake,"
that we can say with Him that our offering is laid down wholly of our own free will? If we
honestly search our hearts, will we not have to confess that generally speaking there is
more of the submissive "grin and bear it" element in our sacrifice than of the
joy experienced by Jesus? Will we not have to admit that we m-ore often think of our
trials and self-denials, etc., as heavy crosses rather than our "meat and drink"
as they were with Jesus? Oh, can we say with Him that our life, our offering, is not taken from us, but that we lay it down of
ourselves? Must God take away from us that which we have claimed to lay on the altar, or
can He rejoice in a sacrifice so wholly voluntary and so fully given, that He needs only
to receive it as He did with Jesus? If the Spirit of God Works in Us How we need to remember that
after all, our self-denials do not have their greatest value in God's sight, as many seem
to think, from the measure of pain, or suffering, of sacrifice they represent. No indeed!
Very, often the pain, or strain, experienced is caused by some remaining reluctance to
joyfully make the sacrifice involved. Such things have their highest value with God when
borne in a quiet, meek, and even joyful acquiescence, which counts nothing a sacrifice for
His sake, and can experience surprise when others magnify the greatness of the sufferings
involved in discipleship. Thus we might continue to
examine every feature of our new life in Christ, and observe that the secret of growth in
grace, and the power of the Spirit's ministry in our experience, depends entirely upon our
knowledge of God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. What an array of
texts we would find which plainly teach us that if the Spirit of God may work unhindered
in our hearts, we will experience such a vitalizing, energizing, impelling power, as will
set our souls on fire with fervent zeal and joy. Let us then, dear brethren,
not rest content until we can testify out of a living, happy experience, that the record is true, that God hath given us eternal , and that we have this life because we have the Son. Let us
pray most earnestly, that while we are still limited in our enjoyment of this life to the
narrow confines of "this treasure in an earthen vessel," that it may
nevertheless receive through us its fullest possible manifestation. The how rich and
blessed will be our joy, when the hindering flesh is left behind, and the eternal life, of
which the present life is but little foretaste, will find its worthy expression, when we
are "clothed upon with out house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." "1 beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven." -- Luke 10:18. 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 was 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. 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 an 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 proclaims that all "His work is
perfect." 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." Satan's Expulsion from Heaven Long Ago 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. 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 opponent
of Jehovah, and that his casting does not take place till near the fall of his in the end
of this dispensation. Such as hold this view base their conclusions upon the vision of St.
John recorded in the twelfth of Revelation; of Michael, Christ, and the Satan. It is
contended that St. John seeing 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 urged
that this war between Michael and the dragon is a prophetic picture of the events and
developments that are associated with the overt Satan's empire just prior to the establish
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 dispensation. 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 connected 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 respecting His own knowledge,
in His pre-human condition, of Satan, that there and then He was a witness of Satan's fall
from high glory and privilege 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. There are other facts bearing
upon this matter that would not admit of the idea of Satan as an adversary dwelling in
heaven. For instance the holiness of Jehovah, His stability in righteousness, is
throughout the Scriptures proclaimed with great emphasis. Those who spoke as God's
mouthpieces in ancient times were constantly announcing that the God they served was
infinitely holy and righteous and could never under any circumstances be swerved or moved
from that attitude in the slightest degree. (See Exod. 3:5; Psa. 22:3; 60:6; 99:3; Isa.
6:3; 57:15; Matt. 5:8.) Not only so, but those same mouthpieces, who wrote as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit, are ever telling us that sin separates from God, that sin cannot
dwell with God; nor can those who willfully practice sin have any abiding place with Him
or even have access into His presence. (2 Chron. 24:20; Psa. 66:18; Prov. 15;2-9; 28:9;
Isa. 59:2; 64:7.) Under the circumstances of Satan's rebellion, therefore, it is utterly
unthinkable that the Adversary has had any contact whatever with the heavenly court. For
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 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
struggle 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 continues 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 prophecy 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 3 ______________ 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 a man child." The picture, as many expositors will concede,
represents the Church early in the Age, and embraces a description of those circumstances
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
represent 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 conflict between
Christianity and Paganism that took place in the first three centuries of the Age. We pause here to note that the
suggestion made by some in this connection 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, Pagans, 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 established 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 Scriptures 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 promiscuous 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 completely
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 as such 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 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
meaningful. 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 judgment 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 deliverance 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. A VISIT
TO THE LAND ON THE MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE SERIES I Many of the "Herald"
readers will remember a series of letters that were published in this journal in 1925,
written by a Sister, a member of the Toledo Class, who early in that year visited the Holy
Land. The articles giving an account of her travels proved most interesting. This Sister
has again within the past few weeks had the great privilege of visiting Palestine and at
our suggestion has submitted another series of articles reporting the tour, which we are
sure will be read with deep interest by all. -- Editorial Committee. OUT FROM her moorings at one
of the piers of the great Metropolitan City, through the New York harbor to the wide
expanse of the sea, our vessel, "The Mauretania," in the early hours of February
20th, while it is still dark, starts on her Mediterranean Cruise. I am again on my way to
that "Land of the Book"; a vision of the end of the way engages my mind and dims
the realization that I am leaving home and friends behind and venturing out upon a mighty
ocean -- a venture concerning which I seem to instinctively feel a sense of dread. We awake to find sunny skies,
balmy air, and a blue and dancing sea, and with a thankful heart for such favors we enter
into the somewhat monotonous, but restful routine upon the deep, made just a little
quieter by but half the normal quota of passengers. The depression in business in our own
country will be felt in every land, for all are bound together very closely in these last
days. By great ocean liners, by cable, by wireless, by common interests, God bath gathered
the nations; He hath assembled the kingdoms. In humbler quarters aboard the
Mauretania some fifty Jewish emigrants, proteges of the Zionist Movement, are on their way
to Palestine to swell the Hebrew population of that new, yet old land. I pause at the
open, gate -- guarded doorway and glance out on the deck reserved for them. A young mother
stands at the rail, her child in her arms, gazing longingly, it seems, not toward the land
of promise far ahead, but backward to the home and associations which every throb of the
mighty engines pushes farther away beyond the horizon; just a few ordinary emigrants, such
as may be seen on almost any ocean crossing liner, but the eye of faith beholds in them a
tree, blasted and withered throughout long centuries, now putting forth its first, tender
leaves. A prominent Jewish gentleman of Canada on board, tells me that one of the problems
of the new movement is to convince the Jew of the possibilities and probable future of
Palestine. Long centuries of disappointments, suffering, and persecution have made him
suspicious of promised good, and he is not easily won. Each day brings its blue ocean
and its glorious sunset, an hour best spent in some quiet corner of the deck, alone. The
golden curtain flung high by the departed sun glows in the west, deeper and richer than on
land. Soft, narrow rolls of dove-covered cloud stretch away on either side along the
horizon and the rolls of heavy black smoke, pouring from the four great red funnels of the
ship, join as one just beyond the rail and cast a wide, dark, velvet shadow far across the
water, now like some finely-blown roughened glass except for constant changing. The ocean
is God's -- beautiful in its quiet moods, awful in its anger, and kept for Himself by its
very majesty, its depth, and its mighty power. No mark or bound has man ever set upon it,
neither with all his ingenuity has he harnessed the power of a single wave. The ocean
belongs entirely to its Creator. Madeira Five days of sailing and we
are skirting the dark mountainous mass which is Madeira. When I reach the deck the sun is
already well up in the sky and I have missed the first glory of its appearing, for the
island is famed for its sunrise. Just ahead is the city of Funchal whose white buildings
with roofs of orange-red hug closely the shore of its blue bay, then sprawl loosely and
gracefully up the mountain-side. This island, one of a chain of five, the others save one,
mere rocky wastes, is earth's fairyland. Some great convulsion of nature in past ages
hurled a mountain upward from the bottom of the sea until its peak stood above the waters.
Its first settlers called it Madeira from its luxurious woods, since destroyed by fire.
Here Columbus married and here, it is told, received from the pilot of a disabled ship the
charts that gave him his knowledge and his desire to seek a way west. As we drop anchor
the many small boats of the diving boys are hurrying out to us. We watch them for awhile
as they skillfully dive and catch the silver coins flung into the water for them. On shore
we enter canopied, bullock-drawn sleds which slip quite easily over the smooth, round
stones which pave the city, and which are gathered in plenty along the shore, until we
reach the small railway that runs up the mountain-side through the lovely foliage and
flowers. Children all along the way toss flowers into our laps for the coins they hope to
receive. We are aware that something has been done to stop much of the begging that so
beset us on a former visit, and we are happy to feel that perhaps conditions are growing
better on this priest-ridden small island where all but two per cent of the people are
illiterate. Gibraltar A day's sail and we enter the
Straits of Gibraltar. To our right the dark shore line is the coast of Africa and to our
left that of Spain. Soon the great, natural fortress of Gibraltar itself is before us. All
crowd to the front decks and cameras click and whir. At first sight the Rock is
always something of a disappointment. To most people its name has been the symbol for
strength, stability, and great endurance, but it seems just now such an ordinary sort of a
hill, rocky and barren. At its base is the military town, and war-ships are at rest in its
expensively-built inner harbor. An aeroplane flies over us and the boom of cannons
reverberates again and again through the adjacent Spanish hills. At first we think they
are saluting our English liner, but we find they are aiming at a red target that the plane
is towing many feet behind it in the air. It is not easy to hit that mark and they fire
again and again. This stronghold, once so impregnable, so absolutely in control of the
Mediterranean, with any fleet at its mercy that dared to enter the Strait, has a new foe
now to fear, and a most formidable one. Guns commanding the waters are not enough in this
new and strange day; new fortifications have been built upon the very top with guns that
sweep the sky. After walking through some of the great galleries, built by the Moors,
which honey-comb the Rock, we drive through the gate, patrolled by British soldiers and
across the strip of neutral ground, a "no man's land," and visit the Spanish
town nearby. The contrast between this and the neat, orderly English town is painful. Sad
has been the lot of those masses where the great system pictured in such startling terms
to John on Patmos has long controlled and enslaved the people. Algiers From Gibraltar we cross the
Mediterranean to Algiers through a rough and rather unpleasant sea. We think of Paul
traversing this same body of water in the small frail crafts of that day, "in perils
of waters," and thrice ship-wrecked, counting not his very life dear, so absorbed was
he in his mission. This African city, from
earliest times an important center of trade, has its fine bay today quite filled with
boats of many kinds and front many countries, and its wharves are piled high with crates
and casks. Built upon the steep side of the mountain that slopes even to the water's edge,
with the creamy red-.roofed buildings common to eastern cities semi-circling its deep bay,
it is a pleasing view from our boat. Even before we land we can see, if we look closely,
rather high up to the right a not large, very compact section where the houses shoulder to
shoulder climb above each other as though to get a better view out over the sea. Less than
a century ago this was the headquarters of the cruelest pirates the world has ever known.
It behooved them well to watch every coming sail from these housetops for fortune or
disaster might be theirs with any advancing fleet: Their own might come, rich in stolen
goods and Christian slaves, but again it might be the ships of some outraged nation come
to bombard their stronghold. This Arab quarter, now just an unhealed sore of a beautiful
modern French city, but once rich with the loot of the sea, is visited always by tourists.
They pick their way through its narrow, tortuous streets, so steep they often become
stairways to climb the hillside, so narrow that one must hug the wall to let pass some
tiny, loaded donkey or barefooted old Arab bearing, perhaps, two carcasses of sheep across
his bent shoulders. The slippery stone paving is wet and filthy; there are horrible odors
in these dark alley-like ways to which the sun never comes, for high are the solid walls
of the buildings, and the upper stories are extended, at times meeting across the way. The
shops are dark hole-like dungeons in the wall and in front of the shelf stretched across
an opening which serves as a butcher shop we pick our way cautiously around a heap that
lies in our way-the heads and feet of slaughtered calves. It is after all a trip of
unpleasantness, even of suffering to the sensitive, yet it is well that those from
smoother walks of life have their attention directed by such experiences as this toward
the realization that the world is groaning in pain and in sore need of a deliverance. Just inside the entrance door
of an old church in Algiers, once a Mohammedan Mosque, stands a marble sarcophagus, the
tomb of a Christian martyr. Long years ago in the annals of a priest it was told how one,
refusing to renounce his faith for that of the Prophet, was thrown into the fresh concrete
of a huge building block to die in the hardening mortar. The story in time, being but
partially believed, became a tradition only. Some years ago workmen demolishing an old
building found the concrete stone, the fragments in its hollow center á proof of the
truth of the old story. Five years ago I had seen in some other place in the city a
plaster cast of the stone's center, the form, that of a human body writhing in hopeless
agony. The Riviera Our next stop is Nice. I am
not writing at length upon these Mediterranean cities which are but stepping stones along
the way; our best interest is centered upon a rock far ahead, for we are coming to Mt.
Zion and Mt. Moriah. The drive along the French
Riviera from Nice to Monte Carlo is one of the finest in the world. These cities, gleaming
white, are monuments to wealth and leisure. The latter place is unique in that its
inhabitants pay no taxes. All municipal expenses are met out of the receipts of its
gambling place. Standing on the steps of the Casino inside of which, at the long tables
filling its lofty halls sit the wealthy and the poor, venturing often a fortune or
sometimes a last franc upon the whirling wheel, their hard, set faces oblivious to all
else, I view the lovely parks and gardens and mansions about with nothing of admiration
and something of a shudder for to Monte Carlo is well applicable the Scriptural words, it
is a "whited sepulchre . . . full of dead men's bones." Naples We cross the sea again, this
time to Naples. Its famous bay is as beautiful as it has so often been described in song
and story. Standing beside it, dark and sullen, old Vesuvius, deeply-cleft where, the
former crater was torn away in the catastrophe that buried Pompeii and other cities, is
rolling its smoke still menacingly upward. We have visited the uncovered ruins of Pompeii
before and this time we take the cog railroad to the crater, the new crater as it is
called, and watch its cloud-like breath that becomes pale, amber, and rose in the morning
sun. Naples is a changed city.
Filthy streets and beggars and titter lack of refinement have given way to an air of
self-respect. Uniforms, the greenish drab of the Facisti, together with the dark blue
capes. red-striped trousers, and cockade hats of the police are everywhere. Some one
humorously remarks that there are no beggars because Mussolini has put them all in
uniform. How it has been accomplished in so short a time I do not know, but we leave
Naples with a better understanding of and a deepened respect for its premier. Athens In the center of the present
city of Athens rises a high rocky hill very slender compared to its unusual height. This
spire-like rock is known as the Acropolis, Upon its head, a broken diadem of its former
glory, sits the classic ruins of the Parthenon built by the early Greeks to their goddess
Athena. This is being gradually
restored and workingmen are busy upon it. Standing here, we look a little to the side down
upon the Areopagus, or Mar's Hill, where once the Apostle Paul addressed the Athenians. It
lies there a dark grey, empty mass of rock, but upon it in Paul's day, I am told, was a
square platform edged about with chairs or benches -- the Court of Justice. Explorations
are under way here and there throughout the city, slow and expensive, for each precious
fragment must be carefully dislodged from the earth and cleaned. They are wondering if
they may not chance to uncover that altar "To the Unknown God" whose inscription
the visiting Paul so wisely used in his declaration. But the glory of ancient
Greece was, as in other similar cases, the glory of the few. Around the wealth of marble
whose ruins we may view something of today -- Theater of Dionysus, Erechtheum. with its
famous Porch of the Maidens, Temple of Jupiter, the Market Place, and others -- were the
hovels of the poor, the slaves of the fortunate. Our hearts are made glad as we journey
here and, there today by the gradual movement toward the uplift of the masses, much more
evident now than ever before -- not so much because man is less selfish but the
downtrodden are awake and demanding their rights; a "shout" growing louder and
louder is going round the earth. "Hills" such as France and England have been
gradually melting "as wax." but in Italy only the strong hand of a Mussolini
held off the fate that befell Russia. So the new day brightens though yet dark with heavy
clouds. -- G. M. H. (To be Continued) At Lynn, Mass. The Convention held at Lynn,
Mass., April 19 and 20, surely came up to the expectations of the home Class as well as of
those who were in attendance from outside points. Several discourses and praise
and testimony services filled up the two days in which "the brethren realized they
were sitting together in heavenly places. Quoting from a brief report received from one of
the brethren in Lynn: "All the discourses were
very helpful and encouraging, and the public discourse on the subject 'The Return of the
King of Glory Soon,' was especially noteworthy. The audience listened most attentively and
there was a good number of strangers in attendance. This service as well as the 7:00
o'clock service was preceded by a musical program of vocal and instrumental selections
which was well received. "The Lynn friends were
much enthused with the result of this convention, and feel that their efforts were
especially blessed of the Father. This Class was organized only last September and their
hearts were so filled with thanksgiving because God had led them again into the freedom
that belongs to His children that they felt they would like to hold this convention as an
expression of their appreciation" At Dayton, Ohio A Brother in Dayton reports
the Convention there as follows: "The brethren who
attended the Convention in Dayton, April 20th, feel that it was a most blessed occasion,
and one which brought much of spiritual joy, love and peace to all present. Our
expectations were more than realized as we gathered in fellowship with our Lord and with
one another and feasted together upon His precious Word. There were 100 or more present,
about one half of these coming from other sections of the State. A number of those who
came from a distance and some who live in Dayton had just recently been delivered from
bondage and had come to realize the joys and blessings of true Christian liberty. Their
hearts overflowed with joy and gratitude for having found their way out of the confusion
and perplexity of human -speculation, so prevalent of recent years, and we rejoiced
together giving thanks to God for the liberty wherewith Christ makes free. "Where the
spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." "The Convention closed by
a symposium in which six brethren emphasized the importance of the Christ life, and of
letting the light that has enlightened us shine out to others, helping them out of
darkness into the light of the truth." |
