THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom
VOL. XIX December, 1936 No. 12
Table of Contents
The
First Christmas
The
History of the Church
Signs
of the Master's Presence
Imitators
of God
"And
she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in
a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." - Luke 2:7.
THUS came into the world He who was
destined to revolutionize the entire order of human affairs, and upon whose shoulders
should rest, in due time, the government of all nations. And though all men were in
expectation of Him, none recognized the great significance of the event. It was just one
more, born to a Jewish mother, into a race where each mother hoped, without hope, that
her male child should be the long looked for Deliverer of His people.
So "hope springs eternal in the
human breast," and this is as it should be. "Out of the depths have I cried unto
thee, O Lord". "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do I
hope." - Psa. 130.1, 5.
Who would have believed that here came
into the world that night the Word of Life in whom the Psalmist placed his hope? But God
was not without His witnesses here as elsewhere, for "there were in the same
country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And,
lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born
this day in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was
with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:8-11, 13, 14.) And
again, did Simeon witness to the salvation of the Lord, "A light to lighten the
Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." The prophetess "gave thanks
likewise unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in
Jerusalem."
Of Lowly Birth
The fact that our Lord was born under
these circumstances was doubtless of divine arrangement, for God, in the development of
His plan of salvation has from the beginning chosen the humble of the earth to portray its
features and to proclaim its truths to them of the hearing ear.
It was no unusual thing for a traveler
in the Orient of that day or even in the present, to find quarters in the outbuildings
when the inn proper might be filled to its capacity. Luke is the only one of the
Evangelists who mentions this fact, and because of this, its truth was disputed by many
scholars, but we are no longer dependent upon Luke's Gospel alone, although the story as
told by him is convincing and needs no confirmation to the heart which has come face to
face with his Savior and has enjoyed the rest which Christ has given, based upon a perfect
reconciliation with God. He has shared this experience with the poet, who has said:
"I hear the low voice call that
bids me come, Me, even me, with all my grief opprest, With sins that burden my unquiet breast, And in my
heart the longing that is dumb, Yet beats forever, like a muffled drum, For all delights
whereof I, dispossest, Pine and repine and find nor peace nor rest This side the haven
where He bids me come.
"He bids, m come and lay my
sorrows down,
And have my sin washed white by His dear grace;
He smiles -- what matter, then, though all men frown?
Naught can assail me, held in His embrace;
And if His welcome home the end may crown,
Shall I not hasten to that heavenly place?"
The pomp and ceremonies of the life of
the great are not conducive to the growth of Christian character, to that purity of heart
which shall see God. Separation from the world becomes a necessity -- hence it was
fitting that our blessed Lord should be excluded from the inn because there was no room
for Him. Men of God have long found consolation in walking much alone. Forty years in the
desert where he could commune with God was needed to prepare Moses for his work. There was
no room in the courts of Pharaoh to develop the needed character. Abraham was called out
of Chaldea for the same reason. Men must separate themselves from the world if they would
see God.
Still No Room in the Inn
There was no room in the inn for Him
then, and neither has there been room for Him among men since He came into the world. As a
man among men He desired fellowship. He drew after Him a few of somewhat like mind, in
whom He saw material for the continuance of some phases of His work after He had
fulfilled the purpose of His coming. But one of them betrayed Him, another deserted Him,
and the rest forsook Him. Nazareth thrust Him out. Gadara besought Him to depart from
their coasts. Samaria would not receive Him. "The foxes have holes and the birds of
the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." - Scourged,
persecuted, crucified, naked, forsaken, despised, bruised for our iniquities.
At His birth they offered a stable;
during His life He was an outcast from His people. He came to them and they refused to
receive Him.
What does the world offer Him today?
After the passing of nineteen centuries the world offers Him only those things which seem
of value to it, that is the material things and the things of pomp and ceremony, fine
cathedrals, elaborate rituals and ornate creeds, while He desires to dwell in the
innermost chambers of the heart. And in place of this He is offered the manger of stone,
of ritualism and of man-devised creed. And so in the world today there is "no room in
the inn."
The World Comprehendeth Him Not
This anniversary of His birth, which
will be celebrated wherever His name is spoken, brings afresh to the minds of all who have
heard it, the beautiful story of the nativity as set forth in the language of Luke, a
most touching and wonderful narrative of an event like unto which there is no other
since the world began. Truly a turning point in history, recognized by a large portion
of the nations of the earth as the dividing line in the reckoning of time; but how deep
into the being of men and of nations does the influence of the Christ penetrate? To what
extent has the nature of man been changed in the passing of the years since His birth,
since that evening when they found there was no room for them at the inn?
The nature of man, both as nation and
individual, has remained the same, inspired by self interests, and paying homage to the
prince of this world, instead of to the Prince of Peace, instead of to Him who came to
save and to restore that which was lost. That this was His mission is a truth well
attested by the Word of God from the time the first sin was committed by man, down to the
full consummation of His Plan "in the fulness of time" as recorded in the
closing chapters of His Word -- the full restoration of man to the favor of God, when
man shall again become a pleasure to Him, for which purpose He created him, when "the
tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
The Eternal Purpose of God
This was the purpose of His birth, this
was the beginning in the development of that Plan which was devised back yonder in the
distance, before time began, before "the foundations of the earth were laid" or
the "morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
Might it not be helpful to the sincere
believer to permit his mind to go back more often to the eternities and think more
deeply of the love of God toward His creation, in that He planned for his redemption
even before He created him, and to consider too the love of the Logos for the Father in
that He was willing to enter into the plan for man's redemption, in order that He might
glorify God first and always. With Mary, the mother of Jesus, we can truly say, "My
soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior. For He that is
mighty hath done great things; and holy is His name. He has filled the hungry with good
things." - Luke 1:46, 47, 49, 53.
Tragedy forms a large part in the life
of man, even since the beginning of the race. In the wisdom of God, because man has
sinned, the highest human attainments are reached through effort, much of which lies in
the direction of suffering, either physical or mental or both. And because man sinned and
fell from the favor of God, it became necessary that a sinless One should come into the
world to redeem the race.
It was fitting to the occasion of the
birth of such a One that the hosts of heaven should be deeply interested and that one of
them should be chosen to announce the important event. It was fitting too, that this
should be made to a group of shepherds, in view of the fact that the Savior's work in some
respects was to be similar to theirs. In fact we recall that He likened Himself to a
shepherd in the care of his flock, and as the sheep know the voice of their shepherd so do
His sheep know His voice, and another will they not follow.
"Glory to God in the Highest"
Picture these shepherds with their
flocks on those Judean hills in the cool of the autumn night, watchful lest harm should
come to their charges. And on what might their minds be dwelling, and what might be the
topic of conversation? They were devout men, and to such the quiet of the night leads to a
contemplation of holy things, if the mind be acquainted with God. Many of the chosen of
Israel found their occupations in the isolation of the field or pasture. Then were they
free to commune with Him undisturbed by the activities of life around them. The shepherd
has had a notable place as the messenger of God to men.
Suddenly as these sat together,
"the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them." No wonder they were sore afraid. And as he unfolded to them the good tidings
of great joy, the multitude of the heavenly hosts could no longer restrain themselves,
but burst forth in praise to God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace good will toward men."
These were the things which they told
to Mary and which she kept and pondered in her heart. These were the things that sustained
her in the days of sorrow which followed fast and faster after His baptism in Jordan which
baptism symbolized His consecration to death and marked the beginning of His Messiahship.
This was the babe who was to "grow
up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." "Despised
and rejected of man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." He was to bear our
grief and carry our sorrows, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
"Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain"
From the human viewpoint this Man was a
sad failure, and His birth gave little cause for rejoicing to any except those
immediately concerned. From the viewpoint of the consecrated mind, the mind which has
been renewed to the point of transformation, all is changed and one gets a glimpse of the
workings of the mind of God, the great Master Mind whose ways seem so strange at times and
past finding out.
But might we not by a closer walk with
Christ come to a better understanding of His Word and a deeper sense of appreciation of
our relationship to Him, might we not know a deeper joy in our hope and be led to glorify
God as Jesus glorified Him. Might we not have a deeper understanding of God's grace as
expressed by the Apostle to the Church at Ephesus: "That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know
what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in
the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised
Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only
in this world, but also in that which is to come: and bath put all things under His feet,
and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all."
Can one wonder that when the Plan of
God was made known, "the four and twenty elders fell down before Him that sat on
the throne, and worshiped Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and
power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were
created."
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
we can also rejoice with the heavenly host and thank our heavenly Father for the measure
of understanding which is ours concerning His Plan for the restoration of man, that man
may again be for the pleasure of Him who created all things. And again can we rejoice for
the covenant of grace which provides for those who are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ and
who shall reign with Him as kings and priests during the coming Age, which seems so close
upon us. Knowing these things, what manner of persons ought we to be, for looking beyond
His birth we see that it was His death which cancelled the debt of sin, and removed the
curse of eternal death from the race, with a grand opportunity for the world of mankind
to come into harmony with His righteous principles. These promises of God are assured
because His resurrection was a guarantee of the resurrection of all men.
Thus seen we can understand why He
found it a joy to do the Father's will and why He possessed that peace of soul which He
has passed on to His fellow-sacrificers who must here and now develop that same love which
inspired our heavenly Father and our blessed Lord in developing the Plan of the Ages, the
eternal purpose of God. "What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.
[Contributed]
"For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son." - John 3:16.
IN FIELDS not far outside the sleeping
town, shepherds are guarding their flocks. The chill of the October night is in the air
and the watchers draw their garments closer about them. The sheep lie huddled together
with little movement save the occasional stretching to ease cramped limbs. From their
vaulted dome the stars shine down and in their cool light the houses, clustered solidly
together on the hillside, gleam whitely through the softened shadows. Stilled is the
beating pulse of Bethlehem after the bustling crowds of the day; all is dark save where
some fitful gleam behind closed doors proclaims a lonely vigil.
In the low-stretched field the
shepherds, tired now of the eagerly exchanged thoughts of the hour, sit silent, gazing
into the jeweled expanse above them, voicing again within their own hearts the immortal
paean of David as he guarded his father's flock in pastures not far distant, perhaps in
this selfsame place. Shine on, stars, and let your fingers of light touch with an added
gentleness the long fleece of the sleeping flocks. Shine as you have never shone before,
bathing with a holier light the quiet roofs of the darkened town. Show tonight, ye
heavens, all the wealth of your profound knowledge, for He who hung you faultlessly in the
sky, bidding you swing eternally through space to the rhythm of a perfect law, soon shall
utter a babe's first cry on earth. Greater are you tonight, oh Bethlehem, than all of
earth's proud cities! Amid your humblest surroundings, your poorest travelers, the tired
beasts of the day's journey, He who was once so rich, for man's sake becomes poor, and the
loving glance and the tender smile to bend over Him adorns but the face of Mary, wife of
the peasant Joseph, yet blessed above all women! Sing now, oh angel chorus, your,
"Glory to God in the Highest," and chant o'er the hills of Judea that promise of
peace to earth's weary.
The World that God so Loved
At the time that Christianity was born,
the human race, old and numerous and separated by religion, language, color, and
culture, occupied in its civilized aspect a strip of land some twenty degrees in width,
lying on the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean and extending east to the
Pacific Ocean. Outside this strip the rest of the world was barbarous or savage with no
settled life, written language, art, architecture, or culture, and so it is impossible to
estimate at this time the earth's population. In the eastern half of this civilized
strip lay China, India, and Japan; in the western half were the Semites, Greeks and
Romans. These two parts influenced each other but little and it was in the middle of the
western half that Christianity had its beginning and where its activities were confined
for five long centuries. Let us turn then from the Jewish cradle of this new gospel, from
the lowly babe in swaddling clothes, and gaze at mighty Rome.
Gross Darkness Covers the People
No denser darkness, no heavier fog of
moral corruption, can be found in all history than that of the land of the Caesars at
the time the new religion-new, yet with its roots planted deeply in the past, began to
dawn. We find Rome a land of white slaves whose new recruits came constantly, brought in
chains from her many wars, with bored ears and prices chalked on their bare feet; and to
these were added also, from time to time, those men who could not pay their debts. It was
not at all uncommon for a household to have as many as a thousand of these slaves, indeed,
some senators owned as many as 20,000, most of them idle, uneducated and corrupt. Some
of higher mentality, however, were trained to serve as schoolmasters, secretaries, actors,
musicians, physicians, in short, in those branches which we today are pleased to term the
"professions," and often some refined and cultivated Greek was made to obey the
most offensive orders of a vulgar and illiterate Roman. Treated often with great
cruelty by masters who possessed over them the power of life and death, looked upon as
little better than brute beasts, it was inevitable that such should lose much of the
dignity of men. With slaves so much more numerous than owners and hatred from harsh
treatment so deeply instilled into their hearts, many were the masters who lived in
constant fear, and, indeed, all Rome lived in constant dread of servile insurrections.
Even female slaves were lashed and roughly handled for the most trifling offense-a brooch
missing, a lock of hair not neatly arranged, and the offender might face death itself.
History relates that one evening the
Emperor Augustus was dining at the house of a friend when one of the slaves, carrying a
crystal goblet, stumbled and fell, breaking it into many fragments. Angered, the host
ordered that the slave be taken at once to the fish-pond and thrown in alive as food for
the lampreys, a repulsive fish that rasps away flesh with its sucker-like mouth and its
tongue. The terrified boy, escaping from the hands of his fellow-slaves, ran and threw
himself at Caesar's feet, imploring that he might die a less horrible death than that of
being eaten 'by the fishes. Customary as it was to torture slaves and put them to death,
Augustus, horrified it seems, by such cruelty, ordered that the boy be set free, that
every crystal goblet in the house of Vedius Pollio be 'broken in his presence and that the
fish-pond be at once filled up.
Great Luxury - Great Mystery
In Rome's empire the two great
extremes, enormous wealth and the most abject poverty, walked side by side. Around her
fine palaces wandered hundreds of beggars, often horribly mutilated, and with small
children maimed; the better to ply their sordid profession and move the fortunate, if
possible, to greater interest and compassion; beggars, whose numbers were constantly
increased by the Roman custom of exposing infants. In a Greek or Roman household the birth
of a child was not always a time for rejoicing. If, when the child was first shown to
the father, he stooped down and took it up in his arms, it was received by that act as a
member of the family and was then taken to the apartments of the women where it rarely, if
ever, saw its father's face. If, however, he turned away with no sign of interest, the
helpless being was doomed, probably to death, left exposed in some lonely or barren place
to the mercy of the wild beasts or first passerby.
Hand in hand with great luxury usually
goes great gluttony, and the philosophy of the Epicureans, "eat, drink, and be
merry, for tomorrow we die," had much force. Sometimes a single banquet cost the
price of an entire estate. Far lands and seas were searched for food whose value depended
on its cost and rarity rather than on its real good. The 'brains of peacocks, the tongues
of nightingales, shell-fish from almost unknown shores, rare wines, all served in dishes
of crystal and gold and silver, "embossed," says the poet, "with gems and
studs of pearls." "They eat," says the great philosopher, Seneca,
"they eat and then they vomit; they vomit, and then they eat." The women supped
at silver tables; precious stones ornamented their sandals; their necks gleamed with
priceless pearls, diamonds, and rubies; a certain Paulina wore a single pearl said to have
cost in our money some $250,000, and her second-best dress, fashioned of emeralds and
pearls, cost the equivalent of $160,000. Apicus dissolved pearls in the wine which he
drank-a supposed cure for epilepsy-and outside it all were the poor and the aged, the sick
and miserable, dying unheeded and unrelieved. Benevolence and charity were all but dead in
effete Rome; a man was thought a fool if he gave to the poor: "Give only to him who
is rich and can return favors"-and so they lolled in the baths, often open from
sunrise to sunset, and even all night. An army of slaves attended them there, rogues and
thieves amongst them, and the health and cleanliness of the body were but of secondary
consideration, the main object was but idle, voluptuous pleasure.
Cruel was that Roman world as the
Gospel morning dawned; gladiators fought to the death in the magnificent amphitheatres,
that one of Titus alone seated 80,000 spectators on cushioned and canopied benches of
marble. According to rank they were seated from the Emperor down to the lowest populace.
Back of the Emperor sat the senators, back of these the generals, then the patricians,
then the ordinary citizens, and, last of all, the people fed at the public expense and to
whom free entertainment also was given-all this to keep them quiet and submissive-the
modern "dole" of today having so historical a precedent. Supported by
contributions exacted from conquered provinces, the idle rich and the idle poor, alike,
could give themselves up to pleasure, and so the Roman people sat around the arenas
where wild beasts tore at each other, where men and wild beasts engaged in conflict,
where capital punishments were often meted out, where martyrs burned in shirts of pitchy
fire, and where gladiators fought to the death as the populace, wildly cheering, waved
handkerchiefs if they desired clemency for a fallen combatant, turned thumbs downward if
the popular whim of the crowd called for his death, and showered money into the arena upon
the victors. The games of Tragan in celebration of a victory lasted 120 days when 10,000
gladiators fought and 10,000 beasts were slain.
And so money became prized above all
things and the only test of social position; the nobility gladly wedding with the most
vulgar plebians if to their monetary advantage. Women, regarded with no reverence and
little esteem, asked only for diamonds and chariots. All worshiped at the shrine of
Mammon, and the pursuit of wealth became a national obsession, for prosperity and
success, no matter how obtained, secured position and influence. By this time about
2,000 persons alone owned the, world.
The Religion of Rome
Man is innately religious, there is in
him a hunger that has ever caused him to look out and beyond himself to some greater
Power, the created calling for his Creator in whose image he was made; that image marred,
weakened, and, in some cases, almost obliterated, it is true, but still bearing within
him a longing that, alienated from God, finds no satisfaction. And the masses of Rome were religious, but with a religion that was
national rather than personal or universal, and dwelt only with the affairs of present
life. What belief they had in a future life was shadowy and uncertain and today was of
vaster importance. And so they prayed the gods to turn away their anger and keep them in
good health and to grant good crops and to give them victory and safety in their constant
wars. The Emperor, standing far. removed from even his noblest senators, sometimes cruel
and corrupt if not half-mad, was actually deified while living, and took to himself the
high title of Pontifex Maximus - Chief Priest-he was, at once, as the historian Gibbon so
aptly puts it, "a priest, an atheist, and a god." Though the people in general
sneered now at the legends of the gods and goddesses whom their father's worshiped, the
rulers thought it expedient to hold the most elaborate rituals that a firmer grasp might
be kept on the crowd, for a people devoted to religious rites either then or today, is
bound securely to those in charge of those rites. And so a hollow, public display was made
of a creed in which its defenders themselves no more believed, for in its stead they
were entirely atheistic and superstitious, 'giving credence to sorcerers and astrologers,
and to all kinds of imposters. "I perceive," says Paul later at Athens,
"that in all things ye are too superstitious."
Such was imperial Rome. What a sad and
repellent picture! The wickedly wealthy, the rest of her citizens fed on a miserable
pittance, wasted in the games and crime of the day, dying of pestilence and starvation.
The loftiest emotions of life all missing, and in their place depraved tastes and
enjoyments, wrecking what might have been left in man of the original divine image.
Suicide became so common that it was scarcely noticed, and those whose minds were better
and more meditative fled to caves and solitude to escape it all. Despotism! debased
and illiterate people! cruel slavery! lowered womankind!-is this then the glory of Rome
to which Gibbon refers? There were, indeed, its miles of broad paved roads, its 17,000
palaces, its 9,000 'baths, its theatres sand its amphitheatres, the gilded roof of its
capitol, costing $15,000,000 of our money. There was that great empire, so vast that
the Mediterranean Sea which it enclosed, became a small inland lake, edged with banks,
adorned with temples and palaces of superb beauty. There were the white ships flecking
this sea, and on land the glory of fruit and harvest. But what of the heart and soul of it
all? The Apostle Paul touches that soul with a brief pen-picture in Romans, a glimpse into
a dark abyss from which we shrink appalled.
Herein then lies the Christian's deep
interest in far-off Pagan Rome -- these were the conditions that Christianity found on
that world stage as she entered and, having found, attempting no public reforms, began her
impassioned appeal on individual hearts alone. And the action and reaction of
Christianity upon the world and the world upon Christianity forms the subject matter of
that which we are pleased to term Church History-that History a steady and unbroken
chain of events from then until now.
"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform.
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides 'upon the storm.
"Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
"Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work-in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain."
Next of this series
"SEEKERS AFTER GOD"
" . . . meaning them (men) to seek for God on the chance of
finding Him in their groping for Him." - Moffatt's Translation.
"What will be the sign of Thy
presence, and of the consummation of the Age?" - Matt. 24:3, Diaglott.
IN THE four previous installments of
this series we have expressed the following convictions:
1. The object of Messiah's second
advent is a glorious one;-not the destruction or enslavement of our race, but the
salvation of both Church and remainder of mankind. - John 14:2, 3: 1 Chron. 16:31, 34.
2. Since the Millennial Age is to, be a
time of restoration, and since the retention of Jesus in heaven is to be only until that
time, it follows that His second advent must take place before, not after, the Millennium.
- Acts 3:21; Rev. 20:4,
3. Antichrist must first come--and has;
the predictions concerning him having been abundantly fulfilled in the Papal system. -
Dan. 7:26; 2 Thess. 2:1-12.
4. Christ's second advent is to
synchronize with the end of the Age: any sign, therefore, which denotes the end of the
Age must also constitute evidence of His presence. - Matt. 24:3; Mark 13:4; Luke 21:7.
5. The year 1914 was not the date for
the glorification of the Church. The date for this event is not to be ascertained from
the parallels of the Jewish and Gospel Ages, a fact realized by Brother Russell before he
died, who admitted his "inference" on this subject was
"unjustified." (Watch Tower Reprints, Volume VII, page R5950.) Some, failing to
profit from Brother Russell's experience, have attempted to recalculate the time features
of those "parallels," not realizing that his mistake was not one of arithmetic
but of Scripture interpretation. Their repeated failures to determine the date for the
glorification of the Church should not be permitted to becloud our vision, so as to
prevent us (from, recognizing such signs as there may- be which denote the end of the Age
and the presence of the Lord.
6. The word "parousia" is
correctly translated "presence"; it does not have the thought of "being
on the way," nor does it refer to a "moment" of arrival. Its meaning is
established in Phil. 2:12 where the "period" of the Apostle's
"'presence" is contrasted with the "period" of his
"absence."
7. At our Lord's first advent many
failed to learn from the signs which attested Him that Messiah was in their midst. Even
the disciples had been slow to recognize Him, and had needed a revelation from the Father
to enable them to do so. (Matt. 16:16, 17.) The possibility that at His Second advent they
might experience a similar difficulty was probably back of their question: What will be
the sign of Thy presence? If the indications of His presence were to be so plain that
none could fail to recognize Him, there would seem to be no point to their question; no
sign or signs would be necessary. On the other hand, if there was a possibility of His
being present unrecognized, the same as had proved to be the case at His first advent,
then a sign which would reveal His presence to them would be most desirable. What, Lord,
will that sign be?
8. Our Lord's reply is seen to be
divided into two main sections, namely (1) a description of the long interval which must
elapse before the end of the Age and the period of His presence would be reached and (2) a
description of the end of the Age and period of His presence.
9. The long interval between the first
and second advents, known as the Gospel Age, was to be a time of tribulation. In the world
it would be marked by wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes. The world would also
hate His true disciples, and in many cases they would undergo martyrdom. In the Church a
great falling away would take place. False teachers would arise, deceiving many; and
because iniquity (opposition to God's laws of truth, righteousness, justice, and love)
would everywhere prevail, the love of many (the
many, the great majority) of Christ's professed followers would wax cold.
Notwithstanding all this, God's "good news" would be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations. - Matt. 24:3-14.
The Time of the End
"Immediately "after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken." - Matt. 24:29.
To what tribulation do these words of
our Master refer? Is it the tribulation with which the Jewish Age closed in A. D. 70? If
so, we should look for the events symbolized by the darkening of the sun and moon, etc.,
to follow immediately after that date. Those expositors who find the complete and final
fulfillment of nearly every feature of our Lord's great prophecy to have occurred in
connection with the overthrow of the Jewish polity do thus interpret. By the darkening
of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, and shaking of the powers of heaven these
understand "the passing away of the Jewish Church and nation, or the Old Testament
order of things, with all the lights, privileges, powers, and dignities belonging to
it."
Others, again, expect these words of
our Lord to have their fulfillment in the future. They have noted that this Gospel Age is
to close in a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation, and believe it
will be after the tribulation of those clays, those days in the close of the Gospel Age
that the darkening of the sun and moon, etc., will take place.
Neither of these views appeals to us as
correct. 'The correct interpretation, we think, is that presented by Brother Russell, in
Scripture Studies, Vol. IV, pages 583, 584. There he observes: "The tribulation 'of
those days' should be clearly distinguished from the tribulation at the end of those
days, in which this Age and harvest will close." Then, after pointing out that
"the entire Gospel Age has been a period of tribulation," he proceeds to
identify the tribulation of our text with the persecutions of Papal Rome which ended
"'practically in 1776 and actually in 1799 when the Pope anti his authority were
humiliated before the world."
If this understanding be correct, it
would mean that the predictions concerning the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling
stars and the shaking of the heavens, would have their fulfillment in the period
immediately following the closing years of the eighteenth century, that period spoken of
by Daniel the Prophet as "the time of the end." - Dan. 8:17; 11:35, 40; 12:4,
9.
This viewpoint finds confirmation in
Brother Streeter's exposition of the parallel passage recorded in the Book of
Revelation. In Rev. 6:12-14 St. John writes: "And I beheld when He had opened the
sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of
hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a
fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven
departed as a scroll when it is rolled together." Under the previous seal, the fifth,
St. John heard the martyr cry, "How long." In. interpreting this martyr cry,
Brother Streeter expressed his belief that "it terminated with the Papacy's dominion
over the saints at the end of the eighteenth century," and then goes on to say,
"we would expect that the events described under the sixth seal would begin to meet their fulfillment about that time."
The French Revolution
The great earthquake- seen under the
sixth seal (which should not be confounded with the mighty earthquake, seen under the
seventh seal, the seventh trumpet and the seventh vial, Rev. 16:18) is not mentioned in
the great prophecy of our Lord (Matt. 24) we are now considering. However its
identification in history will be valuable as an additional confirmation of the
correctness of the view presented foregoing, that the "time of the end" is the
period in which we should look for the occurrences in the sun, moon, stars, and heavens.
We may profitably, therefore, digress to that extent.
"In a literal earthquake,"
comments Brother Streeter, "the surface of the earth in a great section of country
is violently disturbed -- mountains, hills, valleys, forests, and rocks being removed out
of their places. The fulfillment can be found only in violent civil, political, and
religious agitations and changes. The inevitable conclusion is that the French Revolution,
beginning in 1789, is referred to. It was the French government that more than any other
for centuries upheld and carried out the Papal decrees of persecution of the saints, and
as in the visions [of the Revelation] we now reach the end of Papacy's power in this
direction, we would look for momentous disturbances in the French Government." - Rev.
Exp. Vol. 1, page 329.
To quote from Brother Russell in this
connection: "In the symbolic language of Revelation, the French Revolution was
indeed a 'great earthquake' -a social shock so great that all 'Christendom' trembled until
it was over; and that terrible and sudden outburst of a single nation's wrath, only a
century ago [from 1897, the date he wrote these words], may give some idea of the fury of
the coming storm, when the wrath of all the angry nations will burst the 'bands of law
and order and cause a reign of universal anarchy. . . . A nation intoxicated with
Babylon's wine of false doctrines in church and state, and long bound by priestcraft and
superstition, there vomited forth its pollution and spent the force of its maddened rage.
In fact the French Revolution seems referred to by our Lord iii His revelation to John on
Patmos as a prelude to, and an illustration of, the great crisis crow approaching. It
should be observed, also, that the same causes which operated to bring about that great
calamity, are now operating to produce a similar, but far more extensive revolution, a
revolution which will be world-wide."
"That times have not so changed as
to make such a calamity either impossible or improbable in our day is too manifest to
require proof. . . . Some have the erroneous idea that the world has-outgrown the
barbarities of earlier days, and they rest in fancied security and assume that such
calamities as have occurred inn the past could not befall the world again; but the fact is
that our nineteenth (and twentieth) century refinement is a very thin veneer, easily
peeled off; sound judgment and an acquaintance with the facts of even recent history and
with the present feverish pulse of humanity are sufficient to guarantee the possibility of
a duplication of the past, even without the sure word of prophecy, which foretells a
time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation."
Literal Darkening of Sun and Moon and Falling of Stars
Coming now to the darkening of the sun
and moon and the falling of the stars, the question arises: "Are these signs to be
regarded as literal or as symbolic? and have they yet been fulfilled?" The answer is:
"They have had a literal fulfillment and are now having a symbolic fulfillment much
more momentous. On May 19, 1780 (still in those days, the 1260 years of Papal power, but
after that power had begun to wane and the brunt of the tribulation had passed) a
phenomenal- darkening of the sun occurred, for which scientists of that time and since
have never been able to account." "The darkening of the moon at its full the
night following seems to have been little less remarkable than the darkening of the
sun." That these were no ordinary occurrences is well established. Amongst the
formidable array of competent testimony which Brother Russell has assembled on pages
585-590 of "Scripture Studies," Vol. IV, we note that of Herschel and Webster.
"The noted astronomer Herschel, says: 'The dark day in Northern America was one of
those wonderful phenomena of nature which will always be read of with interest, but which
philosophy is at a loss to explain." "Noah Webster, LL.D., wrote in 1843, in the
'New Haven Herald,' concerning this dark day, and said: 'I stood and viewed the
phenomenon. No satisfactory cause has yet been assigned.'"
"Half a century passed before the
next sign appeared, the falling of the stars from heaven, as when a fig tree casteth her
unripe fruit when shaken of a mighty wind. Our Lord's words found a fulfillment (though
not their complete and only fulfillment, as we shall see later) in the wonderful meteoric
showers of the early morning of Nov. 13, 1833." Amongst other testimonies to this
occurrence we quote the following, as given by Brother Russell, "Scripture
Studies," Vol. IV, page 589: "Mr. Henry Dana Ward, at the time a New York
merchant, later an author and Episcopalian minister, wrote: 'No philosopher or scholar
has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that of yesterday morning. A Prophet
eighteen hundred years ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble to understand
falling stars to mean falling stars... . Truly the stars of heaven fell unto the, earth as
in the Apocalypse. The language of the Prophet has always been received as metaphorical;
yesterday it was literally fulfilled.' - Journal of Commerce, Nov. 14, 1833."
Symbolic Fulfillments
"While these literal signs served
their designed purpose in drawing general attention to the Time of the End, we
believe," continues Brother Russell, "that the symbolic fulfillments are no less
striking and even more interesting to those whose mental and spiritual perceptives are
awakened so as to enable them to appreciate them.
"The sun as a symbol represents
the Gospel light, the truth-and thus Christ Jesus. The moon as a symbol represents the
light of the Mosaic Law. As the moon is a reflection of the light of the sun, so the Law
was the shadow or reflection beforehand of the Gospel. The stars as symbols represent
the inspired teachers of the Church-the Apostles. The heavens . . . represent
Christendom. A combination of these symbols is found in Revelation (12:1) where the
'woman' symbolizing the early Church is represented as clothed with the sun, that is,
resplendent in the full, clear light of the unclouded Gospel. The moon under her feet
represents that the Law which supports her is nevertheless not the source of her light.
The twelve stars about her head as a crown represent her divinely appointed and inspired
teachers -- the twelve Apostles.
"With this outline of the meaning
of these symbols 'before our minds, let us examine afresh this feature of our Lord's
great prophecy of the signs which are to indicate the end of this Age.
"Wherever we look we can recognize
the fact that while God's consecrated people are being specially fed and enlightened at
the present time, yet with the nominal church it is not so. Its sun is being darkened; its
moon is being turned into blood; and its stars are falling. The center of the gospel light
has from the first been the cross of Christ, the ransom; and however boldly Papacy set up
the competitive sacrifice of the Mass, the saints of God have always held fast to this
blessed center of all God's promises and of all His people's hopes. They have held to it,
even though its philosophy has been almost entirely hidden from their view.
"True, there have been a few all
along who, not understanding the ransom, and unable to harmonize it with other truths, and
especially with their errors, rejected it. These, however, were rare exceptions to the
rule. But . . . today only a small minority of the professed ministers of the cross
recognize its value or preach it. On the contrary, much of the teaching now aims to
disclaim and disprove that we were 'bought with a price, even the precious blood of
Christ,' and substitutes for this the theory of Evolution . . . which denies the
Scriptural doctrine of a primal fall and of a ransom from it."
"As the sunlight of the ransom
becomes obscured, so the moonlight of the Mosaic Law, which in its sacrifices foreshadowed
the ransom, must of necessity become obscured also. It is no longer uncommon for
public teachers to refer -to the bloody sacrifices of Israel, required by their Law, as
barbaric. Once, when they saw by the true light of the Word of God, they appreciated the
Apostle's statement that Israel's sacrifices were foreshadowings of 'better sacrifices'
for sin; but now, refusing the antitype, the ransom, and denying original sin, and all
need therefore of sacrifices for it, the typical sacrifices are repudiated also and
esteemed barbaric. Thus the darkening of the Gospel sunlight results in the darkening of
the moonlight. 'The moon shall be turned into blood.' And Joel (Joel 2:10) adds that 'the
stars shall withdraw their shining,' which signifies that when the Gospel light is
obscured, and the Law comes to be regarded as a meaningless and barbaric ceremony of
blood, then the teachings of the God ordained twelve stars of the Church (the Apostles)
will also fade from view cease to be recognized guides or lights. . . .
"In our Lord's prophecy these true
star-lights are reckoned in as part of the Gospel sunlight, darkened, withdrawn from
shining; while the false stars, the worldly-wise, man-ordained lights of the present
heavens are represented as making a great display in coming down to earthly
conditions; -- abandoning their once somewhat spiritual eminence, and in their teachings
coming down to the level of earthly moralists and philosophers-to the
Christian-citizenship-politics level. . . .
"Who cannot see these signs
fulfilling on every hand today! But the sun and moon and twelve stars are only partly
obscured as yet; and comparatively few of the false stars have fallen from every
pretense of Gospel shining to the level of the comprehension of the masses to whom they
shine."
Upon the Earth Distress of Nations
"Coincidentally, Luke (Luke 21:25,
26) adds other signs of this time: 'Upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity;
the sea and the waves [the restless and lawless elements] roaring; men's hearts failing
them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth [society]
for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.'
"The roaring sea and waves
symbolize the restless masses of humanity, curbed, but not fully restrained, by the
laws and regulations of society. Every one has heard some of this 'roaring' for the past
twenty years [sixty years now], with occasional stormy outbreaks dashing like
tidal-waves against the earth (social order) and seeking to swallow it up. Restrained for
a time, these waves are gathering weight and force; and, as prophetically shown, it is
only a question of a few years until all the mountains (kingdoms) are 'removed and
carried into the midst of the sea,' in anarchy. (Psalm 46:1, 2.) Every newspaper, not
under the control of wealth, voices the roar of the restless 'sea' class; ' and the
others, though unwillingly, must give the echo of the roaring as matters of news, This it
is, that in a period of comparative peace, is causing 'distress of nations with
perplexity.''
"And it is as men begin to realize
that the sea roar and unrest is due largely to the wane of superstition and of
ecclesiastical influence. and as they more and more see the powers of heaven (sectarian
creeds and systems) shaken, that their hearts are failing them for fear, -- in
apprehension of the things which are coming on the earth [society]: for strenuous efforts
now being made to re-establish and unify sectarian power and influence, will be in great
measure successful only for a short time; for it will surely disintegrate
completely."
"Our Father, while our hearts
unlearn
The creeds that wrong Thy Name,
Still let our hallowed altars burn
With faith's undying flame.
"If 'mid the gathering storms of
doubt
Our hearts grow faint and cold,
The strength we cannot live without
Thy love will not withhold.
"Our prayers accept; our sins
forgive;
Our youthful zeal renew;
Shape us for holier lives to live,
And nobler work to do."
[Contributed]
"Become therefore imitators of
God, as dear children; and walk in love, even as the Anointed One loved us." - Eph.
5:1, 2.
THESE WORDS may be regarded as
indicating the great purpose of our lives. God's purpose concerning us is that we be
conformed to the image of His own dear Son. (Rom. 8:29.) Our purpose concerning ourselves
in our walk and conversation should be to become "imitators of God as dear
children." In choosing this similitude the Apostle has selected one which we can
fully understand and appreciate, for it is one we may see illustrated before our eyes
quite frequently. It is in the very nature of things for a child to imitate its parents.
The child of a carpenter will probably be happiest when he can get a hammer and a few
nails and play at imitating his father. The child of a soldier will as naturally do his
imitating with tin soldiers, and the child of a merchant will arrange his make-believe
store. It is a fact we are all familiar with, and the beauty of it is in that the child
will be doing all this imitating, not because it is urged to do so by some compulsion
contrary to its own will, but because it finds a pleasure in doing so, just because it loves to imitate its father. If therefore we
desire this true imitation of God, let us see to it that we imitate Him as children, and
as dear children.
A dear child is surely not only a child who is an
object of much affection, but a child who particularly reciprocates this feeling, and
who thereby renders the parent's love all the more fervent by the warmth of its response
to it. It then follows that the child that loves most truly will imitate most
successfully. In the human family there are children disposed to waywardness, who do not
respond to the affection lavished on them, and likewise among God's children. Thus God
is represented as asking regarding Ephraim, "Is Ephraim a dear son, is he a
pleasant child?" But how differently God speaks regarding Jesus, "This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." He was a dear Son, and a pleasant Child, and
such we are called to be.
"The Meekness and Gentleness of Christ"
In our text the Apostle would have us
consider well the character of God's dear Son. In the last verse of the preceding chapter
and in the one immediately following the scripture we are considering, Paul makes
reference to Christ, and to characteristics of His which we should seek to imitate in
our own daily life. Kindness to others, tenderheartedness, forgiving others even as God
forgives us, these are the qualities dear children
of God should covet.
"Be ye kind," Paul urges,
"one to another, tenderhearted." It is not a negative abstaining from being
unkind that is here suggested, 'but a positive urge to be kind. And there is such a volume of
illustration of this active kindness in the life of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels. The
Master-hand which drew the picture as given in the story of the "Good Samaritan"
was but leaving a portrait of Himself. How tender was Jesus when the woman who "was a
sinner" came to His feet -the woman whom Simon rebuked so unkindly. The gentlest word
language could supply was used by our Lord: "Daughter,
be of good cheer, thy faith bath saved thee." When a loyal, but weak and
sinning disciple had so grievously disowned Him, how compassionate He was, as evidenced
in His message later "Go tell My disciples, and
Peter." A boasting spirit must be reproved, and a denial with cursing must 'be
confessed, but how kindly Jesus gave the needed rebuke and secured the confession:
"Simon, son of Jonas, lowest thou Me more than
these?" Is it surprising to see the results of this kindness extended to Peter?
Surely not! And so we might continue to examine Christ's life, beholding Him showing
kindness in a multitude of similar ways, and find in these records examples sufficiently
varied as to cover all the circumstances in which we ourselves should reveal this
lovingkindness of spirit.
In general Christian service, and
especially in that service more directly concerned with assisting one another in putting
on the virtues of Christlikeness, how much of manifest failure may be attributed to a
real lack of the "gentleness of Christ." Is it not saddening to think of how
much actual unkindness is shown from time to time by brethren in their relations one with
another? How often unfriendly gossip magnifies faults that true charity should cover,
"and not turn the small 'hole in our brother's coat' into a gaping rent." Paul
tells how to deal with such things, and deal with them as Jesus' example teaches us we
should: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted." "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of
Christ." (Gal. 6:1, 2.) But as it has been well said, "How few have the true kindness to tell a brother faithfully but
tenderly of a fault-an unpleasant task which, however, neither Jesus nor His Apostle,
St. Paul, ever shrunk from, just because they were so truly kind! Or, again, when
Christians do attempt to speak the truth to each other's face instead of behind their
back, how often it is done in such a harsh censorious way that those who should be helped
are repelled, and a feeling of annoyance and resentment is awakened. Or peradventure the
bruised reed is broken, and the smoking flax quenched. Well might the Psalmist pray that
if the righteous did smite him friendly, and reprove him, their precious balms might not
break his head. I am afraid there are a good many heads broken by these well-meant but
clumsy ministrations." How much need there is of remembering the Scriptural
admonition: "Be ye kindly affectioned one
to another."
Forgiving One Another for Christ's Sake
The next feature of the character of
God as exhibited in Christ which Paul mentions is His readiness to forgive us for
Christ's sake: "Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you." Here indeed the obligation to imitate Christ is peculiarly strong; for we have
had so much forgiven us, and stand continually in need of forgiveness for our daily
trespasses. All we ourselves possess of grace and blessedness comes from the forgiving
love of God through Christ. We came to know Him first in the exercise of His mercy, and we
should therefore bear in mind that in exercising this same spirit toward our fellows, we
are imitating the gracious ministry of Jesus Christ, in which He so beautifully exhibits
the Father's character to us. In mastering a resentful and acrimonious spirit we do not
merely gain a moral triumph, in overcoming our own carnal tendency, but we gain the
spiritual victory of emulating in some degree the crowning grace of God's character. God
reveals His wonderful character in fullest measure in. the exercise of His love and mercy,
and we remember that Jesus Himself has laid down the rule that in merciful compassion
toward those who illtreat us, we are most like our Heavenly Father. "But I say unto
you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. . . . Be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father which is in heaven is perfect." - Matt. 5:44, 45, 48.
It must of course be conceded that
there is an anger, a positive displeasure, which is not wrong in the Christian. But the
true child of God must watch his reactions to ill-treatment lest a "root of
bitterness" spring up and grow into a serious spirit of resentment. Hatred of the
sin, but love for the sinner is God's way, and in this we are to imitate Him in
circumstances where righteous indignation may be properly exercised. God has "a
righteous indignation against sin; and an anger of this sort is the only kind compatible
with God's character. It is the only kind, therefore, that the children of God should
cultivate or exercise. While anger in the nature of hatred, malice, strife, envy should be
put away by all who are seeking to be copies of God's dear Son, anger in the sense of
righteous indignation against wrong-doing, sin in its various forms, is proper; and
although it should be used with great moderation, backed by love, there are circumstances
and conditions in which it would be wrong not to have righteous anger and use it."
But certain it is, that none but those living in the very love of God will possess the
fine discernment of mind and spirit necessary to distinguish between righteous and
unrighteous anger.
The Power of Stillness
In the matter of personal injury done
us by others, which involves only oneself, we should follow the example of Jesus, and turn
the other . cheek. Referring to His suffering without retaliation, it has been said,
"There is no spectacle in all the Bible so sublime as the silent Savior answering
not a word to the men who were maligning Him, and whom He could have laid prostrate at His
feet by one look of Divine power, or one word of fiery rebuke. But He let them say and do
their worst, and He stood in the power of stillness -- God's holy silent Lamb." We
may well pray for a larger measure of this spirit of God's dear Son, as it was revealed --
"The day when Jesus stood alone
And felt the hearts of men like stone,
And knew He came but to atone
That day 'He held His peace.'
"They witnessed falsely to His
word,
They bound Him with a cruel cord,
And mockingly proclaimed Him Lord;
'But Jesus held His peace.'
"'They spat upon Him in the face,
They dragged Him on from place to place,
They heaped upon Him all disgrace;
'But Jesus held His peace.'
"My friend, have you for far much
less,
'With rage, which you called righteousness,
Resented slights with great distress?
Your Savior 'held His peace.' "
What most of us need is more of the
spirit of one who was seeking to follow the example of Jesus, and who said, "For
thirty years I have tried to see the face of Christ in those with whom I differed."
Surely it must follow that "when this spirit actuates us, we shall be preserved
from a narrow bigotry and an easy-going tolerance, from passionate vindictiveness and
everything that would mar or injure our testimony for Him who came not to destroy men's
lives but to save them."
Love Planted in the Heart
The Apostle has now led us to the third
thing in which he would have us seek to be imitators of God. We are admonished to
"walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor." The Apostle began this
lesson with stressing kindness, but he has now advanced to the highest of all
attainments-love. Kindness may lie on the surface of one's life, and have to do mainly
with outward conduct; but love is something of the heart, and its domain is within, from
where it drives out all our inherent selfishness. Thus is made possible the infilling of
the love of God, which as we are elsewhere told, should be "shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." In that beautiful treatise on love, 1
Corinthians, chapter thirteen, the Apostle shows clearly that without the warmth of. love
controlling the life, nothing else counts with God. If His love is not flowing into our
lives and flooding our minds there can never be anything of the "dear children" character about us, for
the reason that the real evidence of sonship is lacking. Of love we can say no less than
John has said of its importance: "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God
in him." "God is love," therefore it is His very essence, and the one who
possesses most of this quality will be the most faithful imitator of God. It may be
laid down as the criterion of Christian character and progress that just so far as this
love of God becomes the dominant thing in the conduct-all other motives being made
subservient to it-just so far are we being conformed to the image of God.
"Walk in Love." And how may
we become imitators of God in this outstanding attribute of His character? We know we
cannot create this love by a mere effort of our will. "Every good and perfect
gift" must come from God, and this love He must therefore plant in our hearts. Then
we may cherish it and foster it by exposing ourselves to all the influences favorable to
its full development. The disposition to love God, the brethren, the groaning creation,
our enemies, will come to us from above, because we are begotten of God and therefore
receive of His characteristics. There should also be a conscious growing in the
disposition or feeling of a new love for all with whom we have to do, and thus
"walk in love."
But to walk means progress, exercise.
So love grows by exercise. God plants the impulses in our minds, gives us explicit
instructions in His Word, and continually points us to Jesus the perfect Example,
saying, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Then too we must
continually exercise ourselves in connection with these agencies emanating from God. And
what opportunities for this exercise of the Godlike quality of love are every day
afforded us! If we will but give ourselves over to the power of God's implanted love,
and follow the promptings of His Spirit and Word, growth in love there will most surely
be.
If instead of checking these impulses
we encourage them, and go on learning to love, not merely "in word, but in deed and
in truth," our disposition to love will be strengthened by loving deeds and words.
Many are the Scriptures in support of this. The strong bearing with the infirmities of
the weak, are made still stronger. The one who extends kindness grows still kinder. He who
forgives others because God for Christ's sake has forgiven him, becomes still more
compassionate. When any of the impulses of the Spirit are followed, Godlikeness is sure
to be the result.
"Think on These Things"
Among the many Scriptural exhortations
made particularly important to God's people today, which should be diligently followed by
all who desire to "walk in love" with their brethren and with God as His dear
children, few are more appropriate than the familiar words found in Phil. 4:8, 9:
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard,
and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." Well may each one ask
himself today, How would my habits of thought and conversation stand up under this test?
Who of us can claim no special need of the rebuke these words of Paul administer?
Certainly we will never grow in the love of Christ until we make these exhortations our
daily rule. In this connection we quote words which may be pondered with profit by all who
truly desire to walk in love
"We may help greatly in the
cultivation of love by watching against that spirit of frigid reserve which is so
prevalent amongst worldly people, or that spirit of reckless independence which savors of
Cain, but not of Christ, 'Am I my brother's keeper?' Love grows by cultivating habits of
fellowship and sympathy with those with whom such relations are possible, and by
cultivating habits of compassion, by putting on as St. Paul says, 'bowels of mercies' for
those with whom fellowship is impossible. We may foster love negatively also by watching
against the narrowing instincts of selfishness, or against anything that tends to render
us self-absorbed, for charity seeketh not her own; and to seek our own is to strangle the
life of love at its very birth.
"It is well, too, ever to
endeavor, to look at the lovelier side of human character, for most men have a lovelier
slide, and in Christian men this is the divine element. Let us recognize the divine
element, and love it, even while we may sometimes be pained and disappointed by the human.
And when we cannot love with the love of congeniality, let us love with the love of
compassion, responding to the divine instincts of pity, which are sure to make themselves
felt within, by prompt efforts to benefit those over whom our hearts yearn; thus our love
will grow strong by exercise, and be kept burning hot, as it has free course, and comes
fresh into our nature as from the very heart of God."
Christ a Sacrifice of Sweet-smelling Savor
The final thought suggested to us in
the texts we have been considering brings us to the sacrificing love of God and Christ.
And in this Paul would have us imitators of God. No truth of inspiration is more wonderful
than the revelation of the sacrificial love of God and His dear Son. The Atonement, of
which God is the Author and Jesus the Medium of its accomplishment, is a stupendous act of
self-sacrifice on the part of both.
Here we are brought face to face with a
mystery we cannot hope to fully understand until all knowledge is ours. Surely it was a
sacrifice on the part of God when He gave His only begotten Son. Selfishness is no part of
God's character. He fulfils His will in His creatures by making them partakers of His own
blessedness, and for this end all were created, and nothing less than this would satisfy
the loving heart of God. This is true because "God is love." Men seek for
greatness and satisfaction in self-assertion, and in seeking their own ends. But God shows
us that in self-denial and self-forgetfulness lies the true secret of happiness. The
statement of Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," is profoundly
true. The noblest joy one can have is found in the exercise of the benevolent
sacrificing quality of heart. This is the meaning of the Master's words, "Whosoever
will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find
it." - Matt. 16:25.
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