THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom
VOL. XX June, 1937 No. 6
Table of Contents
Christ's
Knowledge of Our Heart Sincerity
Accepted
The
History of the Church
To
the Great Pyramid*
The
Separated Life
Acceptable
Sacrifices
Timely
Advice
A
Service Well Pleasing to God
"Thou knowest all things, Thou
knowest that I love Thee." - John 21:17.
THE SWEETEST and most inspiring thought
that a Christian can hold in his heart as he faces life's responsibilities is that God
knows the sincerity of his heart devotions. To be able to look up into the face of God and
confess amid all the fluctuating experiences of one's life, "Thou knowest all things,
Thou knowest that I love Thee," is to know a refuge and a place of rest for every
glad and every "troubled hour in life. It is a precious thing to remember in hours
of vigorous and prosperous spiritual life, that God knows the sincerity of our love for
Him; for do we not feel at such times a sense of utter inability to express the depth of
love that abides in our hearts for Him. But particularly precious is this assurance that
He knoweth all things concerning our affection for Him, when we have wretchedly failed to
demonstrate that degree of love by some sad mistake in word or act. It is then that this
refuge seems most wonderfully sweet. At times when we seem lifted up into some fresh
vision of the greatness of God's love to us, and we try with our feeble words to express
our joy and gratitude, how often we have found "this poor lisping, stammering
'tongue" 'just falling back on these words coined by such a heart long ago,
"Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee." But when we have
fallen in some crisis hour, and failed to attain a victory we had so confidently
expected to have to our credit, and after trying to express some self-justifications, and
to make some apologies for our failure, being painfully humiliated because we stumbled
so -- ah then, how our heart has fled to this refuge as its final source of comfort:
"Thou knowest that I love Thee."
It is the blessed inheritance of every
loving Christian heart to claim this refuge, and to realize that in it he possesses this
last and this greatest haven of love, this final court of appeal -- God's knowledge of the
sincerity of our hearts. What a boon it is! As we attempt to live out our consecrated
lives today, endeavoring to express our devotion to God as best we can, most of us
encounter plenty of that foretold opposition promised all faithful believers. How often
we would be crushed under it if we did not remember that God knows all about us.
Many elements enter into the
experiences of God's people in days like these. All about us we may see the fulfillments
of prophecy pointing out these last days as a time of special trial for the saints of God.
From all three quarters, the world, the flesh, and the devil, influences are emanating
which might well discourage even the most valiant heart, and would do so if it did not
find faith strengthened by the assurance that God knows, and loves, and cares. But among
the peculiar and particularly severe testings of this present hour, there is a prevailing
sentiment-a skepticism or doubting of the personal sincerity of others. We live in a world
in which distrust, and the spirit of competition is rife, and these very influences all,
around us, seemingly in the very air, are sure to "try all them that dwell on the
face of the earth," including the professed people, of God. The spirit in the world
is today a spirit of alertness, ready at an instant to spring into life and ripen rapidly
into suspicion. To be on guard against others becomes in time so fixed a habit that the
love which "thinketh no evil," and which "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth, ceases to be manifested in circles where above all others it
should abound. Under such circumstances what a refuge tried and afflicted hearts may find
in the confidence that they can come into the presence of Him who knows all things, and
say to Him, "Thou knowest that I love
Thee."
Oftentimes Misrepresenting Ourselves
It cannot be denied that we are
sometimes our own worst enemy. By a decidedly wrong course persisted in we become a worse
enemy to ourselves than any other could be. But it often happens that while earnestly
desiring to bring all our ways into full accord with the will of God, our lives come far
short of expressing "the beauties of true holiness," and we are conscious of the
fact. At such times what consolation there is for the conscientious heart in the
assurance that God knows how much we wanted to "live and speak and act aright,"
and how deeply we feel the sense of humiliating failure
In the effort to live our lives in the
midst of present conditions, to bear unmoved the unfavorable judgments, which in some
measure perhaps we have brought upon ourselves, we meet the difficulty of trying to make
our true self known to others. There are many difficulties encountered in having our
motives properly interpreted. Motives we have examined as in the presence of God, may seem
questionable in the eyes of others because they judge by outward appearances. And many
times we know they would find motives better than they thought they would, if they only.
understood. There are many tangled threads in every life, inevitably so because all are
imperfect. "Mending and patchwork combined" would describe the kind of showing
most of us make; and keenly conscious of how unprofitable we are, and knowing that it is
only through His abounding mercy that we are permitted to go on seeking to prove our love
to Him, how ready we are to ask of Him,
"Dear Lord, take up my tangled
threads,
Where I have wrought in vain,
That by the skill of Thy dear hands
Some beauty may remain.
"Take all the failures, each
mistake
Of our poor human ways,
Then, Savior, for Thine own dear sake,
Make them show forth Thy praise."
And so it happens that we as often
misrepresent ourselves as others misrepresent us. Our own missteps, our own blemishes,
help to make our lives an enigma to others. The realization of this fact may at times
bring us a bitterness of spirit, or discouragement, because we have so wanted to live
out in daily life the impress of the Spirit's inworking of the character of Christ. The
sting of this bitter disappointment is in the knowledge we have of ourselves, that we are
discrediting the deeper self which, beneath these failures and seeming inconsistencies,
is after all our true self. We know that when, through all the faults and deficiencies we
have to confess, Christ's pointed question, "Lovest thou Me more than these?"
comes to us and seems to search our heart to its depths, there is that confidence within
which answers back, "Thou knowest that I love Thee."
How blessed to realize in such an hour
that we still have left this last and greatest refuge of love, this assurance of His
knowledge of our sincerity. Whatever our own poor faulty words and ways may seem to say to
others, and whatever the verdict of others may be concerning us, and whatever our own
memory may hold up before us of mistake and failure, we can still look up to Christ and
say, "Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee." And who that
really appreciates this refuge for himself, can fail to be inspired with the determination
to let such love mellow, purify, strengthen, and fill his heart to overflowing with a glad
conformity to the wish and prayer of Jesus -that we should love and sympathize with one
another even as He has continued to love and fully sympathize with us, loving us in spite
of all our lamented imperfections.
Lovest Thou Me more than These
The text we are considering here brings
before our mind that memorable day when Jesus propounded His heart-searching question to
Peter. Thrice had Peter denied his association with Jesus, and thrice he is asked to
affirm his love for Him. And we may be sure this record has not been preserved all these
years just to tell us of the overconfidence and subsequent fall of this Apostle. It is
all too often a portrait of our own self-assurance, our own claims to love Him better,
and of being more loyal to Him than are others. It is therefore full of needed lessons and
warnings, yes, and comforting encouragements also to any who make Peter's mistake and need
the same very searching: but loving question brought home to them, "Lovest thou Me
more than these?" Peter had confidently affirmed that though all should forsake
Jesus, yet he would even die with Him unafraid. By inference at least he was rating
himself much more faithful to Jesus than any of his fellow disciples. But to Jesus how
clear it was that Satan specially desired to sift Peter out of the ranks altogether, and
this boastful superiority complex expressed so boldly in Peter's claim revealed how
unaware he was of the dangers besetting him. How much he needed the warning, "Let
him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."
"So Simon Peter stood before his
risen Lord; and thrice that awful inquisition tore its way, like a relentless
search-light, through the shadows and failures of his life: 'Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou Me?' What could he say? Could he appeal to his record, and offer it in evidence as a
demonstration of his love? Ah! should he try to speak of this, the memory of his own
failures would choke him, the stains of his record would silence him. For he has as his
portion a full share of the bitter memories of an undisciplined character; immature
professions of fidelity, neutralized over and over again by unbalanced words, by jealous,
presumptions, unspiritual deeds; and upon him is even now the fresh blight of that
immeasurable error when, unmanned by excitement, his, very life, as he stood in the high
priest's palace, had seemed to break up under him, as the ice breaks up in the spring
freshet, and, heedless of consequences, lost to honor, he had repudiated his Master in
the open presence of men.
"Yes, what could he say, as the
search-light of the Savior's inquisition ploughs its way through the shadows of his life:
'Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?' Could he appeal to his companions to speak for him,
and testify on his behalf? Had they not known all the weakness of the undisciplined past,
the lapse from faith when called by Jesus to walk on the water of the sea of Galilee; the
jealous contention over who should be the greatest; the presumptuous, unseemly rebuke
spoken to Jesus just before the Last Supper; the drowsy failure in Gethsemane, when the
one request of the agonizing Jesus went unheeded, and sleep destroyed the vigil of
sympathy for which Christ longed? Had they not known the story of the last desertion,
its desperate, threefold insistence, its cowardice, its profanity? How then could he ask
them to testify, when so much in the open story of his life spoke against his love for
Jesus?
"Yet, in, the face of these
memories of an undisciplined character which forbade the appeal to his record and the
appeal to his friends, this man has still a refuge, for he is a lover of Christ. The
Savior's question does not convict this man of insincerity, however it may convict. him
of inconsistency and pierce him with penitence. 'Lovest thou Me?' The words, in
themselves so gentle, are keen as a surgeon's knife, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul :and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, laying bare the thoughts and intents of
the heart; but, like the surgeon's knife upon the living subject, the pain they cause
shows there is life and not death. 'Lovest thou Me?' It is an appeal, not to his record,
but to himself; not to his witnesses, but to himself; and the appeal is answered in the
depths of the man's self-consciousness. He cannot deny his record; there it stands,
fraught with inconsistencies, failures, weaknesses. He cannot, it may be, overcome the
prejudice in the minds -of others which these inconsistencies, failures, weaknesses may
have excited against him; but in those depths of self-consciousness, where he knows
himself as no fellow-man can know him, there is that which meets the question of Jesus,
'Lovest thou Me?' with an unfaltering 'Yes.'
"But how shall he substantiate and
prove that love? He cannot prove it from his record, blemished and discolored with many
a failure; he cannot prove it from the vouchers of his friends, for they know too well
how again and again he has been weighed in the balance of trial and found wanting. He
cannot prove it by plaintive attempts to apologize for or to minimize past failures. An
intuition tells him that were to weaken, not to strengthen his case. But, on the other
hand, he cannot deny himself; he cannot discredit his own self-consciousness. In his
self-consciousness he knows that he loves Christ. And to prove that love he. "has
still one refuge, one appeal left-the appeal to Him before whom he now stands- face to
face, and from whom has come the question, 'Lovest, thou Me, more than these?' So his love
leaps to its heroic ultimatum, and discarding arguments, apologies, and refuges of
words, appeals to Him 'to whom all hearts are open, all, desires known, and from whom no,
secrets are hid': 'Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that, I love Thee'"
Thy Gentleness hath made Me Great
How much would have been lost to us if
this experience of Peter had never been written. If we are willing to just substitute
our, own name for that of Peter in this story of vaunted loyalty and regrettable breach of
faith, we will surely feel a greatly increased sense of gratitude to God for the
gentleness with which He has disciplined us, and feel also a greater sympathy for others
who may stumble in the way. Remembering the look that brought Peter to a realization of
his failure, and that evidently saved him from Satan's clutch, and remembering that such
tenderness on the part of Jesus has been our salvation in times of terrible deflections,
surely we will find it in our hearts to emulate Him in our attitude toward fellow runners
in the race, "considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."
Each heart knows its own bitterness.
Hidden away from the sight of others there are the fiercest struggles being waged in many
a life. Beneath, a surface of what may indeed appear the most circumspect conduct there
may be for aught we know, the deepest realization that "in my flesh dwelleth no
perfect thing." The life in which love for Christ is a sentiment so deep it cannot
explain itself in words, is the life that most clearly recognizes how it has tried the
patience of Christ by the shortcomings written into every day's record. When He should
have found strength there has often been a new revelation of weakness, and denial when
He should have had a brave and loving evidence of fidelity. But over all the long years of
such incompleteness Jesus has gone on spreading the covering of His forgiving love.
Through the marvel of His forgiveness of our sins, through His patience, through the
sorrow we ought to see ofttimes on His face as He turns and looks upon us when in the
moment of weakness we have denied Him, He knits our affections closer to Himself. And,
though we still are failing and faltering, He makes us conscious of a deepening love for
Him that answers to His love for us, and finding this love for Him as the deepest and
truest part of our nature, He accepts as profoundly true our heartfelt affirmation,
"Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee."
"His loving-kindness O how
great!" Who can fail to marvel over the greatness of God's lovingkindness over
years of stumbling and failures, such as every humbled heart freely confesses. ' And
meditating on that loving tenderness as experienced by us, is surely calculated to make
us loving and tender-hearted in our attitude toward all God's children. In fact, the
real test of our appreciation of the mercy we have had extended toward us, lies in our
spontaneous exercise of this virtue where its need is greatest. To whomsoever much has
been forgiven, the same loveth much, is a beautiful truth. It means that the one who is
most conscious of being in special need of forgiveness, will never fail to let the Lord
know his depth of gratitude; and neither will the life fail to reveal in loving-kindness
to others the touch of divine compassion. Deeds are much more expressive than words. If
we rejoice in the compassion, the patience, the understanding love of Jesus as He helps us
along so that our faith fail not when Satan well-nigh claims us, it is well that we tell
Him He knows how fervently we love' Him. But there is still another answer He will look
for, and an answer that must be just as readily given Him. He is still saying to us,
"Go thou and do likewise." "I have given you an example to follow, I want
you to love others as I have loved you, to forgive as I have forgiven your imperfections,
and to patiently bear with one another as I have borne patiently with you."
And how can we best do this? Perhaps in
no better way than to just remember that the same warfare, the same sense of defeat, the
same inward joy in having a refuge in the heart of Jesus' love stirs within our brother's
breast, and without which he would sink down into utter discouragement and despair. Let
us believe that he too is trying faithfully to live at his very best, and perhaps is
grieved deeply over the fact that successes and failures alternate so swiftly in his
warfare. He too may be appearing at his worst, and be going out to weep bitterly over
another inexcusable blunder, when he had wanted so much to live and speak and act
aright. He too may be realizing that somehow his life and movements seem often stumbling
against the ideas and ways of others, and he would give much to have it ordered
otherwise. Can we fail to rejoice with such an one, when, with an abiding confidence in
God's knowledge of his sincerity, he turns his face upward to One who never, never
misunderstands or judges unjustly, and confesses to Him: "Thou knowest all things,
Thou knowest that I love Thee."
Ah yes! Jesus knows the glorious ideals
we fain would attain. He accepts the heavenward prayers which our wearied spirits
breathe out to Him under the pressure of daily trials such as are common to all His
saints. He knows us not only as we are, but as we mean to be. And so to ourselves, and no
less to our brother, there comes such a volume of comfort in the assurance we both have of
God's knowledge of our sincerity. Precious knowledge! for how could any of us entertain
any degree of assurance of being numbered among the Elect Bride of Christ, if our hearts
were not fully known and lovingly interpreted by Him who weighs our pure sincerity over
against the frailties we lament? Let us then excel in reflecting the love of God as we
journey on together, my brother and I, until we enter the happy abode awaiting those whose
sincerity God has known to mean perfect love for Him, and love for their neighbor as for
themselves. Let us then remember
"They are such dear, familiar feet
that go
Along the path with ours-feet fast or slow
And trying to keep pace - if they mistake,
Or tread upon some flower that we would take
Upon our breast, or bruise some reed
Or crush poor Hope until it bleed,
We may be mute,
Not turning quickly to impute
Grave fault; for they and we
Have such a little way to go - can be
Together such a little while along the way
We will be patient while we may."
-- Contributed.
I HAD BEEN sitting alone in the little
chapel for some time, busy at the organ in preparation for a meeting, and was about to
leave the room, when an old man who had been in the reading-room adjoining came slowly
toward me, and lifting his face toward mine, said:
"I like music. Won't you go back
and play a little more for me?"
He was eighty-four years old, as he
told me afterward. His body was bent under the burden of years, and as I seated myself
again at the organ, he came and stood beside me, fully ripe, as it seemed, for heaven.
He was alive to only one great thought-Jesus, the Savior and Master!
He had been turning the leaves of the
"Gospel Hymns" while my fingers ran over the keyboard, and presently he laid the
book before me, saying:
"Play that slowly, and I'll try to
sing it for you."
Softly and very slowly I followed him,
as with a broken voice, often scarcely audible, he tried to sing:
"Take the name of Jesus with you,
Child of sorrow and of woe;
It will joy and comfort give-you;
Take it, then where'er you go."
It was little more than a whisper song;
but as he took up the words of the chorus a glad smile spread over his face, and his voice
seemed to gather strength from his heart as he looked
rather. than sang:
"Precious name! O, how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of heaven."
It was true worship: the simple, glad
expression of a loving, loyal heart. Verily, I sat alone with a saint that day, for as the
other verses of the hymn were sung, their wondrous meaning was interpreted by the face of
the singer, and the veil seemed almost to fall away, revealing to me the things unseen.
I bad never seen the old man before; it
is not probable I shall ever see him again in the flesh; but his life touched mine with
blessing that day, for he had unconsciously brought the Master very near. God's work in
the world calls loudly for consecrated talent, vigorous minds, songful voices, physical
strength, business tact, enterprise, money, and time. We realize this, and -perhaps,
finding that we have none of these things, think that we have nothing that would be
"acceptable in God's sight." He wants the best we have, it is true; but if the,
best is very, very poor, it is acceptable to the Father, who cares more for the love which
prompts our service than for the service itself. There was no music in the old man's
voice; indeed, it could truthfully be said that he almost had no voice; but he drew a soul
a little nearer to its Savior with what he had. God , owned and blessed his weakness.
"If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and
not according to that he hath not."
- Selected.
The Early Church Fathers
THE WRITING of letters, addressed to an
individual but ofttimes written with the intent of expressing publicly certain views and
opinions, had long been a popular practice in Rome. St. Paul, following the manner of the
times, had set this example to the early Christians and it was therefore but natural that
those who followed the Apostles in point of time, and held aloft the burning torch of
Christian truth left them by those Apostles, should make use also of this
custom-established writing of letters.
We may compare with gratitude the
opportunity and blessings of our own day with the slender means of communication available
to primitive Christianity -- letters placed in the hands of slow moving travelers to be
carried to this point or that; letters to individuals or to assemblies of Christians that
might take months in reaching their destination but whose difficult and sometimes
uncertain delivery but increased their value and the joy of their possession. But may we
riot, less favorably to our own day, compare also the burning zeal of those times, the
brotherly love so full and overflowing as to lead to the experiment of a voluntary and
enthusiastic communism? We may compare too, the meeting and fellowshipping together even
under the dark wings of a possible violent death with the cool religiousness of the later
Gospel Age when the visible congregation, called the Church, merits so evidently the
prophetic implication in the query of St. Luke, "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He
find faith on the earth?"
It is then from these few accidental,
and no doubt providentially preserved letters that we learn something of that period of
the Church, the Church of the second century, which would otherwise be quite dark and
unknown. We see in these few tattered, faded fragments the Christians of that far day as
they were in ordinary life free from the artificiality and unreality which carefully
inscribed records of historians so often impart to those who once lived.' Through the
field-glass of these few warm, individual missives those distant days come close, and as
we see their lives lived .over again for us in these word pictures, instinctively we
clasp their hands in the unity of Christian faith and hope and love-that unity of spirit
whose blessed and mighty Center is neither book nor dogma but the ever-living,.
ever-loving Christ. Verily, we have passed from death to life, and this is the proof, that
we love the brethren. "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye
have love one to another."
How mighty is the pen directed' by the
earnest mind, the yearning heart, bringing to us, notwithstanding the lapse of so many
centuries, fresh incentive to holy, living and holy dying! Let us meet then a few of
these who stand high in the annals of Christianity for the effect of their lives and
teachings upon it-men of pure lives and earnest desires, each with his own particular
faults and virtues, each with his own measure of truth and error-that inevitable mixture
that permeates man's work in every instance and which even while we absorb the good of
their efforts and profit from their noble examples, causes us to turn our dissatisfied
eyes upward to the One altogether lovely, and away from too much dependence on man's
fallible reasoning to the Fountain of all truth as revealed in God's pure Word.
Ignatius - Foremost of Christian Martyrs
In the letters of Ignatius we view
something of the churches of Asia Minor at the beginning of the second century. He is,
even as he writes these letters, a man doomed to death, already on his last journey to the
fate that awaits him. Since he is not a Roman citizen,, he knows that the more humane
method of execution by beheading will not be granted him; he will be thrown to the wild
beasts in the arena, or, crueler still, burned alive. However, he does not shun but
greatly desires martyrdom, and he begs that the Church at Rome use no argument or
influence to save his life. He is being guarded on the way by a company of ten soldiers
whose treatment of him seems to have been -most cruel, for he declares that in spite of
kindness on his own part toward them "they only wax worse." He refers to them as
"ten leopards" with whom he must fight "as with wild beasts." Yet he
counts all his difficulties as gain, in that through them he is taught to be more
completely a disciple. Rough and unkind these soldiers must have been, but strange as it
seems, he was allowed to fellowship with the Christians of every city in which the
soldiers paused, and small groups of delegates from churches along the way met Ignatius
and continued on the journey with him. The stay in Smyrna was long enough to permit him to
write those four brief letters which throw some light on Christian years otherwise dark.
Through these letters we enter into the loving sympathy he found in those who came from
the churches of Asia to cheer him on his way-Onesimus, whom he loved, and Euplus and
Fronto; and there was Crocus, "a name very dear to me" and Burrhus.
In his letter to the Ephesian Church,
Ignatius voices praise for the sympathy shown him in sending its delegates, dwelling
especially on the love manifested to him by their Bishop, Onesimus. He compares the unity
existing in that Church to the unbroken harmony and yet individual melody of a choir. They
are helping him along the way, he declares, which he is treading in the footsteps of Paul.
The letters to the Churches at Magnesia
and Tralles commend also their unity, and rejoices that churches and bishops act in
harmony; but in the one to Rome, which bears no more definite a date than August 24
although his year of martyrdom is believed to have been about A. D. 107-109, he speaks in
another strain, making mention of his coming death and doubting if he is really worthy to
suffer thus for Christ. Do not intervene, he urges, but rather, "let me be poured out
-a libation to God." Surely, the dear ones of the Roman Church, he pleads, will not
rob him of such an opportunity. "Of what value is all the world? . . . better to die
for Christ than to rule its farthest Kingdom."
But, honest and true as we believe this
outstanding martyr to have been, and honor and reverence him as we do today even as
Christians of the centuries past have done, still, we would contrast the quieter
attitude of a St. Paul who paused to consider those on earth who so badly needed him and
accepted gladly that which he knew to be the Lord's will, that he abide and continue with
them for the furtherance of their faith. Indeed,' it became necessary later an for the
Church to reprove and restrain a very epidemic of that desire for martyrdom, too suicidal
in spirit, and though sincere, in some, a banner of egoism in others and even believed to
be efficacious in wiping out all the past sins of the martyred. Sad is ever the picture
where Satan, master hand at deception, has convinced the Christian that something of his
own must yet be added to the atoning blood shed for all on Calvary -- that anything that
can be said to be of man's effort or accomplishment is needed to purge the guilt stained
heart of sin.
"Could my tears forever flow,
Could my zeal no languor know,
These for sin could not atone,
Thou hast saved, and Thou alone."
Polycarp
One of the most interesting of all the
martyrs was Polycarp, Bishop of S-myrna. Of his early life little is known except that he
was born about the year of the fall of Jerusalem A. D. 70 and was, it is believed, a
celibate by choice. It is almost certain that he had heard St. John and had been
acquainted in his youth with Andrew at Ephesus and Philip at Hierapolis. History
possesses but one letter by Polycarp, one of the outstanding events of whose life was the
visit of Ignatius on the way to martyrdom. In a famous letter from Irenaeus, Bishop of
Lyons, to a pupil of Polycarp, many things are related that show the famous teacher and
martyr as lacking at times much of Christian gentleness and good temper that in a more
refined and enlightened day would be classed as ignorant dogmatism and crude intolerance.
Speaking of one, Marcion, whom he considered guilty of gross heresy, Polycarp exclaimed,
"He who wrests the words of the Lord according to his own pleasure, and sayeth there
is no resurrection and judgment, is the first-born of Satan. St. Paul, speaking of this
same grave heresy utters no scathing denunciation but reasons the matter calmly in
Christian forbearance and forceful utterance.
Polycarp and the churches of Asia kept
the fourteenth day of Nisan as the day of the crucifixion no matter on what day of week
it fell, claiming for this date the authority, of St. John. The western churches always
observed Friday. Anicetus, Bishop of Rome, however, did not let this difference interfere
with his warm friendship with Polycarp, but some forty years later Victor
excommunicated the Eastern churches for this practice, although some of the bishops
around Rome though agreeing in doctrine, refused to enter the dismissal. It is with
astonishment we view the spirit of Papacy so soon in the saddle.
Polycarp came back to Smyrna from Rome.
The Pagan festival was on, a time of easily aroused anger, and eleven Christians had
already been thrown to the lions. The enraged masses now cried out for the aged bishop. He
had retired to a small cottage in the country, where those officers sent to fetch him
found' him at his evening meal. After giving them food, Polycarp asked for an hour to
devote to prayer. For two hours the venerable saint prayed fervently, then mounting a
donkey, he rode to the city. Here the police captain met him and transferred him to his
chariot, offering him then clemency if he would but say Caesar was Lord. His refusal
angered them greatly. Seeming to them -but stubborn and defiant, they pushed him from
the chariot, and he walked on with a bruised limb. Led to the stadium, he was offered
freedom by the proconsul if he would revile his Christ. The aged form stood erect and
fearless, "Eighty and six years have I served Him and He hath done me no wrong. How
then can I speak evil of my King, who saved me?" Then the people cried, "Away
with this father of the Christians, the puller down of our gods," and they burned him
with fire, since the games were over and the lions were now confined. The half burned
bones of the ardent Christian teacher were then carried away by his friends, the time
being February 23, A.D. 155.
Irenaeus
Little is known of this early
Christian, probably born during the first twenty years of -the second century. His youth
was spent in Smyrna, and his teacher was Polycarp. He is pictured as having much of the
grace of Christian character, and being forced by the times into three great religious
controversies, he formulated the first complete outline of Christian theology. He
probably lived some three-score and ten years or more and died a natural death.
St. Justyn Martyr
St. Justyn, who wrote the first Apology
in defense of Christianity, was 'born A. D. 148, a heathen by birth and education, his
home in Palestine. Longing and thirsting for truth, he had earnestly searched through all
philosophy and listened to the greatest teachers still with his soul unsatisfied, for in
spite of all his effort he had not found God.
As a Platonist he had believed the
Christians guilty of all the dark deeds accredited to them by an actually guilty
heathendom and his attention was first directed to them favorably by the fearlessness with
which they braved death. Not in itself is such fearlessness a sure criterion of faith and
virtue, for even criminals have been known to face the great enemy with stoic calm, but
much of the beauty of faith and holiness must have made itself felt in many of those
martyrs to the casual, even cynical onlooker. In any case such bravery served to attract
the attention of Justyn, the philosopher, and gazing their way he began to note what
manner of people the "Galileans" really were.
His real conversion he seems to date
from a chance visit with a strange and unidentified old man whom he met one day on a walk
in the field along the shore. Whether Justyn is relating an actual meeting or is merely
drawing a, picture of a dialogue in his own mind and soul it does not matter, for that
dialogue effected his change from the role of heathen philosopher to that of an
ambassador of Christ. The venerable man, with Justyn arguing from the Platonic
teachings, made clear to him that philosophy knew nothing about the soul and had no right
to call it immortal since the world was created and therefore souls are also created. He
declared to Justyn that the opinions of the philosopher or that of any other man meant
nothing to him since reason proves that the soul partakes of life because God so wills
it-"But pray above all things that the gates of light may be opened to you; for these
things cannot be perceived or understood 'by all, but only by the man to whom God and His
Christ have imparted wisdom." The old Christian went away and Justyn now goes on to
say:
"But straightway a flame was
kindled in my soul; and a love of the prophets and of those men who are friends of Christ
possessed' me; and whilst revolving these words in'-my mind, I found this philosophy alone
to bee safe 'and profitable. Thus and for this reason am I a philosopher. Moreover, I
would wish' that all, making a resolution similar to my own, would not keep themselves
away from the words of the Savior. For they possess a terrible power in themselves, and
are sufficient to inspire those who turn aside from the path of rectitude with awe;
while the sweetest rest is afforded them who make a practice of them."
Thus quaintly and fervently did Justyn
express the new Christian philosophy that filled his heart, he who, at the half century
mark of years, was destined to die for his conviction so impressively and nobly that adown
the Gospel Age the Christian Church would speak of him with an added name, the thrilling
name of Martyr. Justyn continued to regard himself to the end of life as a philosopher,
wearing still the threadbare coat which marked all such, this giving him a better chance
to talk to those with whom he came in contact of the Christ he now so served and loved and
followed. His well-trained intellect grasped truth amid much error. As a heathen he deemed
the soul immortal, as a convert he could hold this view no more. His theology is touched
upon but lightly, or in an apologetic tone by a post-Nicean Church, for his expressions
infer too strongly that he believed the Son subordinate to the Father; and conservative
modern Churchianity feels that the demons played too large a part in his teachings -- that
teaching being that the devil was once a leading angel, was cast out of heaven for
betraying God, and is identified with the Serpent; that the other evil angels are those
who fell by illicit union with the daughters of men and their children are the demons.
With these he identified the gods of the heathen and thought the lewd tales of heathen
mythology were derived from the actual misdeeds of the demons. Intent on the deception of
mankind, these demons, he believed, imitated the prophecies and the rites and the facts of
Christ and lent their aid to such as Simon Magus. He regarded them as the authors of war,
murder, magic, uncleanness, in fact of all wickedness, and represents them as living in
constant antagonism to God and Christ, inspiring the lies against the Christians and the
hatred and persecution of the good.
While there are Christians who may
agree with Justyn Martyr even today in much of his view of Satan and his legions, still,
to much of modern Protestant ecclesiasticism the devils which Christ cast out and which
testified to their knowledge of Him, were not demons at all, but the vagaries and
hallucinations of the disordered mind of the victim. When truth covers the earth, when
the wisdom of the wise of this world shall have perished, then shall the clear
statements of God's glorious Word stand as it has ever stood, unchanged and unchangeable.
Justyn says scarcely anything of the
Church, recognizing no church officers except president and deacons and holding forth the
universal priesthood of all Christians under the great High Priest, Christ. He favored a
very simple order of service and pointed out that the Lord's Supper was a memorial to
bring the sufferings of Christ to mind, that there was no efficacy in the mere elements
themselves. He believed, as did many others in those first two centuries, in a literal
Millennium. He prefers to speak of punishment as a "boundless age," always
shunning the word "endless," and in certain passages seems to feel not at all
certain that God may not will that evil souls cease to exist. Gently tolerant of the
heathen whom he understood well, where many of the Fathers spoke of them in terms of scorn
and hatred, he regarded those of them who had lived up to the light vouchsafed them with
all the hopefulness of a St. Paul.
- Contributed.
Next of this series
TERTULLIAN OF CARTHAGE AND
OTHERS -- THE GRASPING CHURCH
"In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord
in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it
shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt." -
Isa. 19:19,20.
--------------------------------------------------
*See "A Miracle in Stone" by
Joseph Seiss; "Our Inheriance in the Great Pyramid" by C. Piazzi Smyth;
"Great Pyramid Passages" by John and Morton Edgar; and "The
Corroborative Testimony of God's. Stone Witness and Prophet. The Great Pyramid in
Egypt" (Chapter X of "Studies in the Scriptures," Vol. III) by Charles T,
Russell.
"Somber, mysterious, lofty,
ancient pile,
Enigma of remotest history,
Who set thee here beside the storied Nile,
Eternal watch to keep?
What Master Architect conceived thy plan?
Thou baffling riddle of the centuries,
Standing where Egypt's delta, like a fan,
Spreads northward, lush and green.
What skillful workman wrought in ages past,
So long ago their tools, their books, their songs,
The echo of their speech are lost to us?
No puny folk were they who set these stones
With artful nicety each in its place, .
To stand, while things like nations, kings and thrones
Grow old and crumble into dust.
Unlike the other buildings standing near,
Inferior copies of the masterpiece,
No mummied relic of Egyptian king,
Was ever found within thy mystic halls.
The writers of antiquity recount
Among their Seven Wonders thy great form,
Though knowing not what wonders thou didst hold,
To be disclosed at some far distant time.
Perhaps, when Abraham through Egypt passed
Escaping from the famine long ago,
He marveled at thy beauty much impressed,
For thou wert cased in marble white as snow.
Still in the early morning of the race,
When weeping Joseph entered Pharaoh's land,
Perhaps he dashed the teardrops from his face,
To stare at thee, amazed.
I wonder if, that day when Jesus rode
Into Jerusalem, acclaimed with palms,
The stones He said would instantly cry out,
Were thy great ponderous blocks?
That day, for more than twenty centuries,
The Promise of His coming had been hid
Within thy massive core of masonry.
And now, at last, the latter days are come,
Wherein the light of knowledge is increased;
The secret thou has guarded for so long,
Is, with much other knowledge, now released.
Our learned men find in thy passages,
The angles and proportions you possess,
A story, that for wonder hath a charm
Beyond the power of language to express.
For surely, thy Designer was no man;
The orbits of the sun, and moon, and stars
Were all familiar unto Him,
And all the course of human destiny
He knew, and marked in everlasting stone
Long centuries before it came to pass.
"In certain passages of Job we
find
A trace of reference to thee;
The mournful Jeremiah somewhere says,
The Lord set signs and wonders in the land
Of Egypt that endure unto this day.
Isaiah speaks so boldly and so plain,
As almost to point out and call thy name.
A symbol of the human race art thou:
Thy builder left thee perfected and fair,
But now, for many centuries thou hast stood,
The mighty, rugged core of thee laid bare.
Loosened by shock of earthquake years agone,
Thine ancient sheath despoiling Arabs took,
To serve some wretched business of their own.
E'en so, as Adam once in Eden stood,
His mind and body perfect, and God looked,
And loved him, and pronounced him very good.
His far descended children, now, alas,
By sin and death and sorrow, much reduced,
Please not the eye of God as Adam did.
But centuries of sorrow have an end,
And see! Already dawns the better day!
Wrongs of humanity begin to mend;
Wrongs that for justice long have cried in vain
Soon shall the poor and sorrowful rejoice,
For all shall know the message that you bring:
The Restoration promised for so long,
The new and blessed earth the prophets sing!
And some shall dwell forever with
the Lord:
Those who have trod the way of sacrifice;
But more, yea many more than all of these,
Shall live on earth restored to Paradise.
"Perhaps the future holds some
happy day
Wherein those selfsame workmen who at first
Set on with ancient geometric skill
In perfect symmetry thy snowy sheath,
Shall once more dress thee from thy mighty base
To towering top, and once more shall the chief,
The great, top cornerstone be brought
With shouting, and the song
Of "Grace, Grace Unto It" be sung.
Thereafter, for all time, thy sacred scars
The outer ones, at least, shall covered be,
The inner ones a testimony to
Thy service as a witness to our God.
"And now, I leave thee, noble
monument,
I thank thee for the story thou hast told,
Towering, half ruined, still magnificent! Chart of the Ages!
Storehouse of wonders!
Thou stable Witness to the Word of God!"
SO LONG as the Church remains amid
earthly environments and more or less subject to the enticements presented by "the
world, the flesh, .and the devil," she will find it necessary to keep fresh in mind
the real facts of the separated life God expects of His people. She will also find it
necessary to be frequently reminded that it is an important part of Christian experience
to spend and be spent in the service of God. Inasmuch as the New Testament abounds in
references to self-effacing sacrifice as a feature of our privilege in imitating Christ,
let us give consideration to some of these, turning first to the words of Jesus in the
Gospel of John "As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you; continue ye in My
love. This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay dawn his life for his friends. If I then, your Lord
and. Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have
given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." - John 15:9, 12, 13;
13:14, 15.
True Nature of Love
In these several texts Jesus distinctly
tells us to imitate Him -- "do as I have done unto you." Here He teaches us that
there will need to be a laying aside of all feelings of superiority in our approach to our
'brethren. He gives no encouragement to any one to note the soiled feet of others and then
in self-congratulation take the position that one's own are not soiled, and become
occupied in parading the infirmities of others-some of which may be real enough to be
seen, and some perhaps wholly imaginary. It is the true nature of. love to "cover a
multitude of sins." It is the spirit of true sacrificial love to believe that we
would find it better than we thought, if we only understood. Verily, the noblest trait of
Christian character springing out of loving God with all the heart, is that of loving
one's neighbor as oneself. Will not such love abounding in one's heart be manifested in:
"esteeming others better than themselves"? Will it not lead us to minimize the
defects, and "if there be any virtue, any praise, any good report" to magnify
these? With this love, which is the love of God and of Christ, really abounding in all
hearts, will it not be easier to make all needed provision and allowance for diversities,
which in the very nature of things will be found among believers so long as the Church is
in the flesh? Surely so!
We know full well why God's Word makes
love for the brethren so vital a matter, and makes our spiritual sonship dependent on our
love for them. . He has told us why, by pointing us to the Son in whom He was well
pleased. That Son pleased not Himself. He came to reveal the love of God to sinful,
selfish men. He came to completely separate His own from the world and its spirit by
implanting love for righteousness and' hatred for sin in their hearts, and He came to
unite in a compact and heavenly unity the Church He redeemed, unifying them not by creeds
and rituals but by the cords of the love wherewith He loved them. Love of self must
necessarily be eradicated from the heart before this feature of sacrificial love will
hold sway there.
United in a Bond of Benevolent Love
Between the saints who shared the
experiences of the day of Pentecost, and those of us now awaiting the completion of the
Church, there have been many differences of character, of experience,) of knowledge, and
of service, but in heart the saints have been, and the saints still are, one in faith,
because there has been faith in the one Lord. They have one hope, because waiting for
the same consummation, "that blessed hope." They have been one in love, when
the love of God has been shed abroad in their hearts, and blest be that complete tie.
When believers are rivals in their love
for the Lord, each heart absorbed with the greatness of the love and mercy by which
salvation and sonship has come to them personally, they can be, praise God, united to one
another in a bond of benevolent love which the influences of this present time of shaking
will not disturb, and which eternity will wonderfully enlarge and confirm. The highest
blessing of heaven will therefore rest on the one, who has labored by word and deed to
foster the spirit of loving consideration for others, who has by life and conduct striven
to remove barriers between brethren, by bringing them together in the bonds of Christ's
love. Barriers that will grow higher and higher whatever other remedy for discord may be
tried, will melt away before the warmth of the love of God. shed abroad in a truly
sanctified, loving, benevolent Christian heart. And, beloved, if we want to have a place
in the heart of God, the way thereto lies directly through the pierced heart of the
beloved Son of God. That heart which knew no selfishness, no enmity, but which was full to
overflowing with love to God and man. O that we may in a fuller and greater measure be
known as "imitators of God, as dear children; and walk in love even as the Anointed One loved us."
"I would not seek in earthly bliss
To find a rest apart from Thee,
Forgetful of Thy sacrifice
Which purchased life and peace for me."
-
Contributed.
"I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." - Rom. 12:1.
THE question left for us to consider,
as to the purpose the Father has in making provision for and accepting the Church's
sacrifice, being one on which there is great divergence of opinion among brethren of
undoubted consecration and faithfulness' to" .the Lord, we need not be surprised to
find the explanation largely veiled under symbolical and typical language; and when
approaching the types and symbols, we must do so with full realization that for their
understanding we must have the guidance of the same spirit that inspired them. Though our
interpretation does seem to us the only one which harmonizes all the Scriptural allusions,
and that without straining in its application of any passage, we may only ask the reader
who differs to be lenient in comparing his interpretation with the one we present. The
oneness which the Scriptures enjoin may not be attained merely by reasoning alike on this
and kindred subjects, but is ours because "in one spirit were we all baptized into
one body" (1 Cor. 12:13), therefore all having the same spirit, each member will
realize its need of every other member and all will seek to function in mutual
helpfulness.
When the plain statements of Scripture
are found to be contradictory to an interpretation, that interpretation is disproved;
but even here there is danger that it may be an individual interpretation of the plain
Scripture that contradicts, instead of the Scripture itself. Let us confess, too, in all
humility, that the- fact that we have not as yet found the Scripture that contradicts
the explanation which we accept, does not prove that there is no such Scripture. The
following is presented because to the present time we have not found any Scriptures
which to our mind seem in contradiction to it. Although some have been suggested, in each
instance it has seemed to us that the contradiction was in the thought added to the text
by the interpreter, and not in the text itself.
"Planted Together in the Likeness of His Death"
In His prayer to the Father on that
last evening before His crucifixion, recorded in John 17, our Lord declared His special
interest in those whom the Father had given Him. It was for these He prayed: "I pray
for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are
'Thine." In this prayer He declared He had sent these into the world just as the
Father had sent Him into the world. It was through their sanctification and oneness with
the Father and the Son that the world would believe. And His further declaration was that
the Father loved these chosen ones even as He loved the Son.
Thus does He exalt those who are to be
partakers with Him in all His glory -- partakers in His sufferings, partakers in His
sacrifice, partakers in His death, therefore partakers in the glory that is to follow;
planted together in the likeness of His death, raised in the likeness of His
resurrection. "If we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we suffer,
we shall also reign with Him." Would it be possible for any one to take greater honor
to himself than the Lord Himself has bestowed on His Body members, the underpriesthood?
In our previous study we found a
suggestion that the Church had a part in the tabernacle pictures, being represented in
one of the coverings of the building. All Bible students are in agreement that the main
picture of the tabernacle types, and the essential one for all to grasp and appreciate
is the representation of our Lord's acceptableness as a sacrifice for the sins of the
world. All are agreed that the Apostle Peter connects the Church with the tabernacle
picture by speaking of them as a priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9), and that under the symbol of the
anointing they are even represented as members of the High Priest's body. (Psalm 133:1,
2; 1 Cor. 12:12, 13,27; Eph. 5:29, 30.) Since the Church is invited to
sacrifice and suffer with Christ, and in view of these well known facts, would it not be
reasonable to expect the tabernacle types to show the Church's share with Jesus in the
privilege of presenting an "acceptable sacrifice"? In the New Testament there
are numerous Scriptures indicating our privilege of presenting ourselves for sacrifice
with Him on the altar. Of this order is the very symbol of our consecration. indicating
that we are baptized into His death. We note it is not "into death," but
"into His death." In fact the special hope of the Church as distinguished from
that of the world is bound up in this one point. "Know ye not, that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with
Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father,, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection. (Rom. 6:3-5.) The fact that in the verses immediately following the Apostle
suggests the thought of being, dead to sin must not be allowed to turn our minds aside
from the astounding truth that, he is asserting in,
the verses quoted above, namely, that we are to share in the death of the One who
knew no sin and who, therefore could never die to sin, but who did, die on' account of sin.
It should be unnecessary to remark that
any interpretation of this and similar passages that suggests that the Church shares in
or adds to the ransom, is false. Though the members of His Body die with Him whose death
was a sacrificial death,, the just, for the unjust, they cannot be thought of as bringing
any merit of their own for the cancellation of another's debt. When they offer themselves
and are accepted, when they consecrate and are thus "baptized for the dead," it
can neither be because the dead need any addition to the price already secured for their
release, or because this poverty-stricken Church could find the minutest fraction to add
to that price.
That Christ is a propitiation "for
our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world," we are plainly
taught, but since the Scriptures distinctly tell us that Christ has appeared in. the
presence of God on behalf of the Church, but nowhere says He has appeared for the world,
we are led to believe that He has not yet done this. When He appeared for the Church, the
acceptance was manifested by the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the waiting disciples.
When He has appeared for the world, then will the promise be fulfilled: "I will pour
out My Spirit upon all flesh." But after this first work, of appearing on behalf of
the world, there will still remain a second and necessary feature of Christ's work-the
lifting of the willing and obedient from their fallen estate to the glorious perfection
Father Adam and all his family would have enjoyed had there been no fall. It seems to us
that God has seen fit to receive ours as an acceptable
sacrifice, with Christ's, for either or both of these reasons. Having found no
Scriptural indication that the Father's acceptance will be limited to either of these
points, why should we place any limitations?
"In one Spirit were We All Baptized"
In the years preceding His being made
flesh, Jesus, watching over Israel, beheld that the blood of 'bulls and goats, though
thousands were slain, could never accomplish the redemption the loving Father had planned.
Pity for the fallen race and harmony with the Father's desires, and being prepared to
clearly discern the great truth these bloody sacrifices were intended to teach, Jesus
presented Himself in sacrifice and was found 'acceptable. "Sacrifice and offering
Thou didst not desire; Mine ears hast Thou opened [by these thousands of slain animals
whose shed blood could never take away sins].
Burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required. [When I saw this] then said I, Lo, I come." (Psa. 40:6, 7.) It
was the spirit of sacrifice that brought Him to earth to die on behalf of the fallen race,
and "in one spirit were we all baptized into one body."
It has already been clearly shown, we
trust, that our being baptized into the one body of our Lord is not thought to add in any
degree to the merit of His sacrifice. It is our privilege that is added to, and not His
efficacy. That there is a presentation of the merit does not imply actual worth or merit
of the vessel itself in which it is presented. The excellency of the power is wholly of
God and not of us. Nor can we suppose that any future work of blessing, entrusted to the
Church will cause any of God's creatures to raise his voice in praise of the earthen
vessels now being cast aside and broken, nor to consider any thus used as being anything
but "unprofitable" servants.
For those who are able to accept the
Master's prophetic statement that "All the righteous blood shed upon the earth from
the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias," was to be
"required" of the generation then living, there is no difficulty in thinking
that a righteous God has some reason for accepting the willing sacrifice of the Church.
(See Luke 11:50, 51.) The accepting of our Master's statement in this text, however, does
not induce any one to believe that the Jews who fell in the horrible massacre that
attended the destruction of their beloved city were any part of the ransom sacrifice, or
in any way detracted from the glory of the One who by hanging on the tree took away the
handwriting of ordinances that was against the Jew. Whatever then we shall find to be the
Scripturally designated purpose for which the sacrifice of the Church is to be
appropriated, we need have no fear that it will in any measure detract from the glory of
our Lord or interfere with the beauties of our loving Father's Plan.
Offerings for Sin Burned Without the Camp
Having in mind the close association of
Christ and His Body members in their sacrificial work, we turn to the Apostle's words in
Hebrews 13:11-13, where we read: "For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is
brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered
without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His
reproach." The Apostle here under inspiration gives explanation of a type which
otherwise would be dark and mysterious. After mentioning the fact that certain beasts
whose bodies were burned without the camp were offerings for sin (there were but two
thus offered), he proceeds to tell who is thus typified: "Wherefore Jesus also suffered without the gate," and,
"Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach."
Since the allusion can apply to no
other sacrifices, evidently the Apostle is here referring to the sacrifices of the Day
of Atonement as given in Leviticus 16 those of the bullock and of the goat. Aaron offered
first the bullock for himself and his 'house. Christ "appeared in the presence of God
for us"-His Body members and all the household of faith. Next he offered a goat
"taken of the congregation of the children of Israel," representing the Church
taken from the world, and all that was done with the bullock was done with the goat, and
its blood presented for the "transgressions of the children of '
Israel"-representing the world of mankind. That we may not be led astray in our
understanding of Hebrews 13:11, it is necessary to note with care the phrase "for
sin." Here we must guard, against adding any thought of our own to the phrase, as for
instance to make it read "for (providing the price for the cancellation of]
sin." The expression "for sin" is a broad one that may include anything
that will be done in connection with sin. The Savior had studied well the tabernacle
types. He saw that the blood of literal "bulls and goats could never take away
sin," wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood,
suffered without the gate." We, too, noting those same types find that on the day the
bullock was sacrificed and its body "'burned without the camp" to represent our
Lord's willing death, there was another animal-an insignificant one indeed by the side of
that perfect bullock whose blood was "brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin" and its body was "burned without the camp." Can we, like the
Master, hear the tabernacle type teaching us a lesson? If so, "let us go forth
therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach."
Two Presentations of Blood
But we hear some one say: "One
must not miss the point of this text. It is found in the phrase, 'bearing His
reproach.'" That is indeed an important point; but are there not two important
points in this text? Let us be faithful students of the Word and not miss either point. We
are to bear His reproach, but let it be by going forth unto Him without the camp."
The bullock and the goat were offerings "for sin" -- not however requiring
both to meet the sinner's penalty-that having been done in the death of the One who is the
antitype of that bullock. Inspiration is careful to use a, phrase that can apply to both
sacrifices. Both are for sin-the first representing the presentation of that corresponding
price, for us; the second showing the privilege the Church has of sharing in bringing the
benefits of that sacrifice to the world. The sacrifice at Calvary would have availed the
Church nothing if there had been no presentation of that merit on our behalf, and if there
had been no provision of grace whereby we might learn to appropriate its benefits for our
transformation into the likeness of our Lord. Likewise there must be a presentation of
that merit for the world for which Christ died, and there must be some arrangement made by
which the benefits of the life thus provided for them may be made permanently theirs.
To many, one great and insurmountable
obstacle stands in the way of the acceptance of the Lord's goat as a 'type of the Church.
Very truthfully it is claimed, "the blood of the Lord's goat is brought into the
tabernacle by the high priest"; and the question is asked, "Can that represent a
Church which has nothing to offer?" Our answer would be that since the imputation of
Christ's merit, the Church does have something to offer which is an "acceptable
sacrifice." Because this is a point which could not possibly be shown by the type,
does not militate against the acceptance of that which is pictured. In order to portray in
every detail the conditions of the sacrifice of the Church, it would have been necessary
to take a dead goat to represent us who, were "dead in trespasses and sins." The
next step then would have been to transfuse the blood of the bullock into the veins of the
goat, thus bringing it to life. The picture becomes simple and clear if we bear in mind
this truth which it could not picture. Can any one complain that the Savior is being
robbed of aught of His glory when at last the blood of the antitypical "goat of the
sin-offering that is for the people is sprinkled by the High Priest Himself "within
the veil"? Every drop of blood presented there will be that of Him who is a
"propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole
world." Blood represents life. All the life the Church has is imputed life, and
therefore when presented on the altar it is but the returning of that which she has
received at His blessed hand. With this fact in mind we can accept without reservation the
astounding assurance that "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints." Yes, we can even take now the full meaning of the original Hebrew
"yawkawr," and read: "Valuable in
the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." The world knoweth them not, but "in the sight of the Lord" the death of
these lowly ones becomes valuable, though of itself, it has but the leanness of a goat.
The life of His dearest treasure-His only begotten Son is to be presented this time not
for us, His body members, Himself and His house, the household of faith, but "for the
people," for the sins of the whole world, an acceptable sacrifice though borne in
"earthen vessels."
Partakers with Christ
This blood is no common, or unholy
thing. (Heb. 10:29.) It is because of the absolute perfection of the life laid down that
the Church can be made perfect "through the blood of the Age lasting
covenant"; and only thus could the Apostle speak of our partaking in common of the
cup which represents it. (1 Cor. 10:16.) As the adjective translated "unholy"
in Hebrews 10:29 has as its primary meaning "common," as of a thing shared in
common, some have found in this an insurmountable difficulty to the acceptance of the
thought that the Church shares in the communion cup, overlooking the fact that this word
is actually the adjective formed from the noun which is translated "communion"
in 1 Cor. 10:16. In the latter text the Apostle is urging us to appreciate the privilege
of being partners in this cup, while in the former he warns against losing sight of the
great value which attaches to it. The privilege of such a sharing is indeed not a thing to
be lightly esteemed. "Behold Israel after the flesh: have not they which eat the
sacrifices communion with the altar?" (1 Cor. 10:18.) Thayer's Greek Lexicon defines
this word communion: "a benefaction jointly contributed."
The objection also is made that the
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews definitely states that the high priest went in only
once every year, bearing the blood (Heb. 9:6, 7, 24-28), but the objection is seen to,
be without foundation when we turn to the record in Leviticus (16:14, 15, 34) and find
that the high priest did actually visit the most holy twice in the one day for the purpose
of sprinkling the blood of the bullock and later the blood of the goat. Between the two
sprinklings there, was time for the slaying of the goat. Quite evidently the writer is
thinking of this entire ceremony of the Day of Atonement, which was observed but once a year, as but one event (Lev. 16:34); and
just that closely do we find our lives and our sufferings knit with our Lord's in the New
Testament's revealing of His purpose for us. "It was necessary that the patterns of
things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these" (Heb. 9:23) -- the first alone of which sacrifices
has as yet been presented.
The difficulties in connection with our
subject which might be thought to exist regarding the 12th verse also of this same
chapter, disappear if the fact is borne in mind that the discussion is of a work done
after "having obtained eternal redemption," and not with the still later
features of God's Plan which have to do with cleansing the world from the stains of sin.
Having "obtained eternal redemption" (though not yet applied "for
all") Jesus became "Lord of all" and to Him was therefore given "all
power in heaven and earth" -yea, even "the keys of death and hades" are
His; and in association with Him, and because associated with Him, the Christ (Gal.
3:16, 29) will bless all the families of the earth, bestowing upon them the benefits of
Jesus' ransom sacrifice.
As additional evidence that the
sufferings of Christ were not yet complete with the death of Jesus, note that it was
thirty years later when Peter, writing of "the sufferings of Christ and the glory
that should follow" declared that these still are things which "the angels
desire to look into." He had suffered, He had died, but the angels recognized that
the work of the great antitypical atonement day had only begun. (1 Pet. 1:12.) Again,
our Lord's words, long after His ascension, to Saul, "I am Jesus whom thou
persecutest," Ware evidence that the sufferings of His followers are considered as
the sufferings of Christ, the Anointed. "Sanctified through the offering of the
[natural] body of Jesus Christ," henceforth "Know ye not that your [natural]
bodies are members of Christ?" - Heb. 10:10; 1 Cor. 6:15.
Those who are invited to share in the
sufferings of Christ can readily enter into the emotions of the Apostle who spoke of
himself as the one "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which
is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body's sake, which is the
Church; whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is
given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God; even the mystery which bath been hid from
ages and from generations, but now is made, manifest to His saints. To whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in
all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." - Col. 1:24-28.
This perfection will 'be the reward of
only those who are "baptized for the dead"-not for providing the price which
would meet the penalty against the dead, but for the privilege of being the ones through
whose instrumentality the benefits of Jesus' sacrifice should reach them. The Church's
baptism is into "His death," and that includes "suffering with Him" in
the experiences that lead up to "His death. "If the dead rise not again"
then all these sufferings would be of no avail-the Church would not rise to the
perfection they had been promised, nor would they have the privilege of lifting their
fellow-men to a like perfection on the human plane.
"But rejoice in so far as ye are
partakers of Christ's suffering, in order that when His glory shall be revealed ye may be
glad with exceeding joy." - 1 Pet 4:13. Literal reading.
"When I survey the wondrous cross
On which my blessed Savior died,
All earthly gain I count but loss;
How empty all its show and pride!
"I'm not my own, dear Lord-to Thee
My every power, by right, belongs,
My privilege to serve I see,
Thy praise to raise in tuneful songs.
"And so, beside Thy sacrifice,
I would lay down my little all.
'Tis lean and poor, I must confess;
I would that it were not so small.
"But then I know Thou dost accept
My grateful off'ring unto Thee;
For, Lord, 'tis love that doth it prompt,
And love is incense sweet to Thee."
"Allow one to select from among
the words and actions of the best of men, just what he prefers, and to use what he has
selected in any way he pleases, and he can poison the minds of the man's best friends
against him.
"Just a sentence without the whole
letter;
Just a saying without the circumstances;
Just an action without the reason;
Just a text without the context;
Just some judicious selections, and
some judicious omissions, and out of the man's innocence there can be created the
plausible evidence of his wickedness."
"THE TRUTH" - Magazine.
WORK WHILE it is called day" is
one of our Master's commands, and one that all His true footstep followers will delight in
obeying. Then we remember also that one of old said, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy might." And perhaps there is much of meaning in the words,
"findeth to do." This suggests a seeking for, opportunities to . work. It is not
suggestive of waiting until privileges of service are in some manner thrust upon us, butt
rather, an alertness to look for open doors which may be near at hand if we are really
seeking them. And, here is where we may expect to find it still true, "He that
seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."
In a report. received from one of our
Pilgrim brethren, some reference was made to a feature of service that had been embraced
by one of the Classes he visited, and in which he had the privilege of sharing during
his week-end with this Class. Briefly stated, his report tells of how the Sunday evenings
are used to bring comfort and opportunity for personal fellowship to .friends who by
reason of old age or illness are unable to attend the regular meetings of the Class. In
this particular Class, the Sunday services are both held between 3 and 5.30 p. m., and
thus the evenings are left open. A committee of sisters was formed to draw, up a program
of meetings one each Sunday evening in the home of a shut in member. One of the Elders
was asked to have charge of the little service, and to conduct it as he thought
best-either as a testimony meeting, or a favorite text meeting, in which each one is given
the opportunity to give a favored text, and comment briefly on it, or it might be more in
the nature of a song service. Our Pilgrim Brother was able to see that this thoughtful
service was not only bringing greatly appreciated enjoyment to those visited, but-it was
proving a real blessing to those who 'thus fellowshipped with the afflicted ones.
As a number of our friends are getting
beyond the active period of life, there are usually a few in, most large centers who are
deprived of such fellowship as may be found in the regular meetings. Thus within the
reach 'of many, as in the Class reported, an opportunity for an important service may be
found. There are other Classes in which the time for Sunday meetings is as in, this Class.
mentioned. above-held during the afternoon. In such Classes this service may be a
profitable one for the Sunday evening. But even if it meant setting aside some mid-week
evening for such a helpful ministry, the suggestion seems a good one to consider. We
therefore pass the suggestion along to the friends, and we shall be glad to hear from any
Classes who are doing a similar work, giving us any suggestions that might be passed on to
others who are also seeking to "work while it is called day."
1937 Index |