THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom
VOL. XXI March, 1938 No. 3
Table of Contents
"This Do in
Remembrance of Me"
"Who is Sufficient for
These Things?'"
The Father of the Faithful
"You Find What You
Look For"
Sanctify Them Through Thy
Truth
The Morning Prayer
The Spirit of Exclusiveness
Notice for British Friends
Messages of Encouragemen
"For as often as ye eat this
Bread, and drink this Cup,
ye do show the Lord's death till He come." -- 1 Cor. 11:26.
CHRIST OUR Passover is sacrificed
for us: there. fore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor.
5:7, 8.) Here, in one sentence, brief, but pregnant with meaning, the beloved Apostle
Paul, writing as always under the guidance and in the power of the Holy Spirit, draws our
attention to the great Antitype, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world, of
whom the Jewish Passover lamb was but a type.
How well the type prefigured our
,Lord! To begin with, the lamb selected was to
be without blemish, reminding us of the fact
that our Lord Jesus had no blemish of sin in Himself, and that He did not contract any
stain or spot of sin by His contacts with the world. As the Apostle Peter reminds us:
"We were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, . but with the precious blood
of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." - 1 Pet. 1:19.
'The blood of the typical lamb
was sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels -of the Israelite's house, but the blood of Jesus, the unforfeited life
which was made available to us by the shedding of His
blood, has been graciously applied to our
hearts, removing from us the burden of unforgiven sin, setting us free from all
consciousness of evil.
Again, in instituting the typical
Passover, we read in the 12th chapter of Exodus that the Lord said
unto Moses: "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the
first month of the year to you." How truly this feature is fulfilled in the
experience of a consecrated believer of this Gospel Age! Everything in his life dates from
the time when he came "under the blood." Before that, all is darkness; before
that, all is death. He does not care to even think of the -darkness of his unconverted
days, and when he does occasionally mention them, it is only that his Savior may be the
more magnified in the hearts and minds of those to whom he speaks; and that the contrast
of that past with his present happy state may awaken in him a still greater sense of
gratitude and devotion.
Jesus Our Passover Lamb
As the Jews fed on the literal lamb, so
we are to feed on Christ; that is to say, we are
to appropriate to ourselves, by faith, His merit, the value of His sacrifice. Not only
so, but if we would be strong spiritually, and prepared for the deliverance in the morning
of the new dispensation, we must eat of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. What
is it to "eat" of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth? Ah! this means
much more than might at first be supposed. It involves not merely a belief in the truth
concerning Christ and His atonement -- it goes beyond even a confession of that belief.
It includes a loving surrender to this and related truths, so that they are grasped by the
moral no less than by the intellectual side of our complex nature. Thus partaken of, the
truth will accomplish our sanctification; day by
day, the renewing of our minds with His precious Word will gradually transform us into His
likeness.
In the typical arrangements
bitter herbs were included, which aided and whetted the Israelites' appetite for the
lamb and unleavened bread. Commenting on this feature, Brother Russell has observed that
instead of these, "we have bitter experiences and trials which the Lord prepares for
us, and which help to wean our affections from earthly things and to give us increased
appetite to feed upon the Lamb and the unleavened Bread of Truth. We, too, are to remember
that we have here no continuing city; but as pilgrims, strangers, staff in hand, we are to
gird ourselves for our journey to the Heavenly Canaan, to all the glorious things which
God has in reservation for the Church of the First-borns, in association with our
Redeemer, as kings and priests unto God."
On the night of His betrayal,
just before His crucifixion, our Lord Jesus clearly identified Himself as the
antitypical Passover Lamb. Peter and John had been sent ahead, and in the "upper
room" to which they had been led, they had "made ready the passover." At
the appointed time, "when the hour was come," He gathered His Apostles round Him
and said: "With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
"It was necessary that as Jews they should celebrate the Passover Supper: on that
night-the night of the anniversary of the slaying of the Passover lamb in Egypt, of the
saving of the typical first-horns from the typical 'prince of this world'-Pharaoh-the same
date on which the real Passover Lamb was to be slain. But as soon as the requirements of
the type had been fulfilled, our Lord Jesus instituted a new
Memorial upon the old foundation,
saying, 'Do this in remembrance of Me.' " *
----------------------------------------
* In our January issue
we noted that the appropriate time for observing the
Memorial this year will be after six o'clock in the evening, on Thursday,
April 14th.
"This Do in
Remembrance of Me"
We recall the
circumstances of the first Memorial -- the blessing of the
Bread and the Cup, the fruit of the vine, and of our. Lord's words in connection therewith. Year by year, as
we "keep the feast," and the time of our departure draws nigh, the appropriateness of the symbols, and the humility and love of our Lord are more deeply impressed on our hearts, and the longing desire within us grows more earnest that we, too, though imperfect, may faithfully follow in His steps.
Quoting again from
our dear Brother Russell: "in presenting to
the disciples the unleavened bread as a memorial, Jesus
said, 'Take, eat; this is My Body.' The evident meaning of His words is, This symbolizes,
or represents,
My body. The bread was
not actually His body; for in no sense had His body yet
been broken. In no sense would it then
have been possible for
them to have partaken of
Him actually or antitypically, the sacrifice not being as yet finished. 'But
the picture is complete when we recognize that the
unleavened (pure, unfermented) bread represented our Lord's sinless flesh, leaven being a symbol of sin under the Law, and especially commanded to be put away at the Passover season. On another occasion Jesus gave a lesson which interprets to us
this symbol. He said, 'The Bread of God is He which cometh down from
heaven, and giveth life unto the world.' 'I am the Bread of Life.' 'I am the living Bread
which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this
Bread, he shall live forever; and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world.' - John 6:33, 35, 51.
"In order
to appreciate how we are to eat, or appropriate, this
living Bread, it is necessary for us to understand just what the bread signifies. According to our Lord's explanation of the matter, it was
His flesh which He sacrificed for us. It was not His prehuman existence as. a spirit being that was sacrificed, although that was laid down and its glory laid aside, in order that He might take our human nature. It was the fact that our Lord Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners-without any contamination from Father Adam,' and hence free from sin-that enabled Him to become the Redeemer of Adam and his race, that permitted Him to
give His life 'a Ransom for all, to be testified in due time.' - 1 Tim. 2:3-6.
"When we see
that it was the pure, spotless nature of our Lord Jesus
that was laid down on behalf of sinners, we see what
it is that we are privileged to appropriate. The
very thing that He laid down for us we are to 'eat,' appropriate to ourselves; that is to
say, His perfect human life was given to redeem all the race of man from condemnation to death, to enable them to return to.', human
perfection and everlasting life, if they would; and
we are to realize this and accept Him as our
Savior from death."
The unforfeited life of Jesus, laid down in sacrifice, for us in obedience to the Father's will, is thus seen to be that which alone has value in the Father's sight. As the Apostle
declares: "the Man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom
for all." (1 Tim. 2:6.) It is important
to observe, however, that the work of recovering
Adam and his race from the power of sin and death,. while based on that
ransom-price, goes beyond the mere provision of
the ransom.- While the provision was made now nearly
two thousand years ago, it is manifest that the work
of recovering Adam and his race from the power of
sin and death has not yet been accomplished; indeed it has scarcely begun. The only disposition thus far-of that Ransom has
been to make it available for the Church, and
this only by faith. Only by faith has even the
Church passed "from death unto life"; not even this little flock
has been fully recovered from the power of sin
and death; still less has the rest of the race. Manifestly,
then, it will require a considerable time (the
Scriptures indicate the entire thousand years of Messiah's Kingdom), to restore, to deliver, to set free, from the power of sin and
death, Adam and his children. Evident it is,
that the work of restoration, for which the foundation
was laid nearly two thousand. years ago, is still
to be accomplished. To quote once again from
our Pastor:
"In order that
any of the race of Adam might profit by the
sacrifice of Jesus, it was necessary that He should rise from the tomb on the Divine
Plane of life, that He should
ascend to the Father and deposit the sacrificial merit of
His death in the hands of Justice, and receive from the
Father 'all power in heaven and in earth.' As relates to the
world, it was necessary also that in the Father's due time He should come again to earth a glorious
divine Being, then to be to the whole world a Mediator, Prophet, Priest, and King, to
assist back
to perfection and to harmony with God all who will avail themselves of the wonderful
privileges then to be offered."
This blessing,
restoration to human perfection ('not
perfection
on the spirit plane, but on the human plane) which will be the happy portion of the
entire race (all the willing and obedient), the Church
of this Gospel Age receive now, by faith;
that is to say, human perfection is
reckoned to them by God. And the
partaking of the unleavened bread at the
Memorial season means to us, primarily, the
appropriation, by faith, of this right to perfect
human life, with all its privileges, the blessing which, at the cost of His own life, our Lord procured for us. Likewise
the fruit of the vine symbolizes our Savior's
life given for us, His human life, His' being, poured
out unto death on our behalf; and the appropriation
of this by us also signifies, primarily, our acceptance of Restitution rights and
privileges secured by our Lord's sacrifice of
these.
Two
Additional Significations
In our showing
forth the Lord's death in this, the way appointed (1 Cor.
11:26), we may not improperly associate in our minds two
additional thoughts of great beauty and solemnity: (1) Our consecration to be
"dead with Him" (Col. 2:20),
even as we remember the Apostle's words, "If we
be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him" (2 Tim. 2:11), and (2) the
oneness of spirit which obtains between fellow-members
of the Christ company.
The fruit of the
vine fitly represents. the life given by Jesus, the
sacrifice-the death.-this is
My blood [symbol of life given up in death] of the New
Covenant, shed for many for the remission of
sins"; "Drink ye all of it." (Matt.
26:27, 28.) It is by the giving up of His life as a ransom for the life of the Adamic
race, which sin had forfeited, that a right to life comes to man. (Rom. 5:18, 19.) Jesus'
shed blood is the "ransom for all"; and the dominant idea of our
"feast" is this fact and the benefits which as consecrated believers we derive
therefrom; but in addition we may remember also and rejoice in the fact that we may
(indeed we have covenanted, have we not? to) drink of His cup, even as (though beyond
their then understanding) He spake to His close disciples: "Ye shall indeed drink of
My cap." (Matt. 20:23.) Verily this is a "high calling" (Phil. 3:14), and
well might we question our ability to drink (unaided) of His cup. But our sufficiency is
of God, and so with the Apostle we too count all things loss, that we may know the power
of His resurrection, the fellowship of His
sufferings (Phil. 3:10), not repining, but all the more rejoicing at any evidence
which may come to us that the sufferings of Christ may be abounding in us. - 2 Cor. 1:5.
With regard to our second
additional thought-that of the oneness of spirit possessed by fellow-members of "His
Body," the Church (Eph. 1:23), how close to the heart of our Lord does this thought
bring us when we recall that it was just about the time when He instituted this
"remembrancer" that He offered that matchless intercessory prayer on our
behalf, that is recorded in the 17th chapter of John: "That they all may be
one." (Not His close disciples only, but us also, who have since believed.)
"As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us."
(John 17:20, 21.) What thoughts are these, which just before His passion our Lord
entertained with regard to His consecrated followers! What grand and noble hopes
respecting the mutual love, the sympathy, affection, and interest which should prevail
amongst the members of this "one Body" of our Lord!
Lovest Thou Me?
No one should come to the Lord's 'Table
lightly, carelessly, but, as the Apostle exhorts, "Let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup." (1 Cor. 11:27-29.) On the other
hand, none should absent themselves from a sense of unworthiness. Thank God for the sense
of sin, for a keen conscience about it, but let not that keep any away. "If any man
sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous," and, "If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 2:1; 1:9.) Thus cleansed, let us "draw
near," rejoicing in the pleasure and privilege of "remembering Him" in
this, the way appointed.
For our special comfort and
encouragement to thus "draw near" let us ponder the case of Peter. In the
"upper room" our Lord had reminded His disciples once .again of that which so
often before they had failed to believe, namely, that He. was going away. And when Peter
had asked, 'Lord, whither goat Thou?" Jesus had answered, "Whither T go thou
canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards." To Peter it must have
seemed that his personal loyalty was being challenged, for the pronouns are in the
singular. "Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? (I cannot speak for the others, but as
for myself) I will lay down my life for Thy sake." "Jesus answered him, 'Wilt
thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not
crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice'" - John 13:36-38.
That Peter meant all he said
there can be no doubt. There was no moment in his life when he was more completely
sincere. But alas for our self-ignorance, for the feebleness of our best
resolves-"words written on water," "tow before the fire of sudden
temptation." The morning had not dawned before he had denied His Lord three
times,-the third time with cursing and swearing. At that moment the cock crew; conscience
awoke. Had the Master heard? Peter turned his eyes to the spot in the courtyard where the
trial had already begun, and Jesus' eyes met his with a look of such pain and pity and
wounded love that Peter never forgot it till his dying day. Stabbed with a great remorse,
he passed out into the night, and his big frame was shaken with sobs. "He wept
bitterly."
"And Peter"
"Simon, son of Jonas, lowest thou
Me?" The incident from which this text is taken was the third time that our Lord had
appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, and it was not the first time that
Peter had received a message from Him. With that incomparable kindness which was part of
our Lord's being, Peter had been singled out and named in one of His messages. "Tell
the disciples and Peter," said Jesus to the
women at the grave, "that I go before them into Galilee." Knowing the
bitterness of the cup he was now drinking, knowing the sincerity of his repentance, and
that he waited for the word of forgiveness he felt could hardly be spoken, Jesus said
pointedly, "Tell the disciples and
Peter." Peter heard the message, and his heart leaped at the words. Had he heard
aright? He could hardly believe it. "Did Jesus say that? Are you quite -sure that
He named me?" 'There was no question of it. They all heard it, and these were His
words. For the first time since the denial, the night of misery was lit up by a star of
wonder and hope.
The first disciple to recognize
Jesus in the morning twilight was John, but the first disciple to race toward Him was
Peter. The boat was too slow for him. Wrapping his cloak about him, he leaped into the
sea and made for the shore. Burning with shame, but broken with a great love, he said in
his heart, "Oh, that He could know how I hate myself for what I did, and how I adore
Him!"
For our Lord Jesus a longing like
that is irresistible. Peter was already fully forgiven; but forgiveness is the greatest
gift man can receive. It cannot be lightly given; it must not be lightly received. The
soil and the setting must be prepared.
So when they had broken their
fast, in the quiet, cool, hour of the morning, Jesus turned to Peter and said,
"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?"
What did Jesus mean by "more
than these"? Some suppose that the reference is to the boats and nets and the
vocation of which these were the symbol. "Are you wedded to these things?" Do
they mean more to you than I, and the life and work for which I stand, and to which you
came so promptly at My call?
Complete Restoration
That, indeed, may be the
true interpretation, but there is another which appeals to us as more likely to be the
correct one. It was surely wise and fitting that Peter should be reminded of the boast so
rashly made, that his love and loyalty were stronger, more dependable than those of any
other disciple: "Though all should forsake Thee, yet will not I." "You remember these
words, Simon; do you still hold to them? Do
you still say that you love Me more than these?" Peter's silence on that part of the
question was significant. He remembered it only too well. As long as he lived that boast
would not be made again. The first part of the question could be answered, and he answered
it with his whole heart, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I affectionately love
Thee."
"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou Me?" The question is repeated, but the comparison is left out. "Are you
quite sure of yourself now?" Not, indeed, that the Reader of hearts doubted the
reality of his confession, but He knew also how Peter would welcome the chance of
declaring it again. The answer was the same, only more eager, more intense.
But why was the question put a
third time? Was it not enough that it should be answered twice? A great Surgeon was at
work. Does it not seem as if He gave one superfluous probe? Peter was grieved when the
question was put the third time. He felt it like a wound. The reason of the threefold
repetition was probably twofold. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Three times the
opportunity was given him of retracting, reversing that denial, cancelling it for ever.
That denial had been made in a storm of emotion,-of fear, and anger. The
passion with which the retraction is made must not be less-a flame of love and pure
devotion. Moved as he had never been before, he cried out in intense devotion and
earnestness, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I affectionately.
love Thee."
The cloud that hung over Peter
was the doubt whether, with a record like his, it would be possible for him to engage
again in the Master's service. That cloud must be gently, gradually, lifted. "Simon,
you -denied Me, but you have repented, and you are forgiven. There is work for you to do.
Feed My lambs, feed My little sheep, feed My sheep."
How large and generous and
unqualified is the trust that our Lord reposes in those who have truly repented! How
different from the spirit of the world, and from that of worldly-minded Christians! How
complete is His restoration! How full and free and final is His forgiveness! The love of
Christ truly passeth understanding. It is all-powerful-it conquers everything. The past
is forgiven and forgotten, as if it had' never been. The one, only question that our Lord
puts to any one contemplating attendance at His Table is this: "Lovest thou Me?"
"Who is Sufficient for These
Things?'"
"For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the savor of
death unto death, and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for
these things? For we are not as many who corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but
as of God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ." - -2 Cor. 2:15-17.
THIS MINISTRY, which all
the consecrated, as ambassadors for Christ, have received, is one of tremendous import. It
greatly influences the final destiny of those to whom we preach this Gospel of the
Kingdom, the tendency being either to life or to death. The Apostle's language here is another of the solemn warnings of the
inspired Word against the danger of the Second Death, and should awaken to a sense of
their danger any who have been deluded into the idea that there is no such possibility,
and are permitting the great Adversary thus to deceive them. There is an equal
responsibility on the part both of those who undertake to preach the Gospel and of those
who hear it. The truth is God's truth, and the responsibility of speaking as well as of
hearing it is very great.
The Apostle's words show that
many in his day, as in ours, failed to realize this responsibility, and, to answer their
own selfish ends, corrupted the Word of God. To willfully or recklessly corrupt the Word
of God-to vitiate its pure and holy doctrines; to add to it the vain philosophies of
ambitious men and seek, to support their theories by perverting its truths; to underrate
its exceeding great and precious promises and mystify the conditions upon which they may be realized; or to minimize or make void the solemn
warnings of the Word of God -- is indeed dangerous business, in which the faithful saints
will never engage, but in which those who fall away from the faith are usually most
active-deceiving and being deceived.
To be faithful ambassadors for
Christ -- faithful representatives of the truth and faithful proclaimers of it -- requires
great humility and simplicity of heart. It necessitates the complete ignoring of all
worldly ambitions and aims, and the cultivation of a brave spirit of endurance which will
not shrink from any reproach which fidelity to the truth may bring. And such service, the
Apostle here shows, is acceptable to God as sweet incense, no matter what may be the
effect upon those to whom we minister, whether they accept or reject the message of divine
grace. What God is looking for in us is loyalty to Him and .devotion to His
cause; and this condition of heart He appreciates, regardless of our success or failure to
secure large results. What a comfort it is amidst all discouragements to know that under all
circumstances the Spirit of Christ in us is as sweet incense to God. And the reward
of His constant approval is richer than all the unwholesome sweets of ambition gained by
corrupting the, Word of God.
To the hearer of this Gospel, the
message must prove either' a savor of life unto (or tending to) life, or a savor of death
unto (or tending to) death. His responsibility is great: there is no neutral ground; he
either receives it or rejects it. But observe that the statement is not that the
rejection of any item of truth inevitably dooms the rejecter to death, and vice versa,
but that the tendency of such a course is to
death, and of the opposite course to life, unless interrupted -- changed.
Thus, for instance, the Lord, in
reproving the Scribes and Pharisees, who rejected the Gospel and yet claimed to be the
children of God and leaders and examples of godliness to others, significantly
inquired, "How can ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna" -- the everlasting.
destruction, the Second Death? (Matt. 23:33.) In rejecting the truth so plainly brought to
their attention, and in pursuing the hypocritical course of claiming to be faithful and
devoted children of God, they were forming and establishing such characters that
repentance would, ere long, be impossible to them. Few, perhaps, clearly realize how
serious a thing it is to be making character,
and that every act and every thought leaves its impress upon the soul. Every right thought
and act tends to establish the character in righteousness, while every wrong thought and
act, and every self-deception tends to confirm and establish an unrighteous character. And
when a wrong course is adopted and persistently followed-when conscience is stifled, and when reason and Scripture are
perverted to selfish ends, until the heart is deceived and the judgment is overcome-who
can predict the repentance of such a one?
Such construct characters or
wills so out of harmony with God and righteousness as to be fit only for destruction.
(Heb. 6:4-6.) How can such "escape the condemnation of Gehenna"? for God will
not permit any one to live whose will is confirmed in unrighteousness. How responsible
then is the position of those who are building character in themselves and in others!
Remember that our characters are manifested by our habits of life; and each act, even the
smallest, tends to form some new habit, or to confirm one already established.
How important, then, that our
thoughts and actions should not be aimless, but with a purpose (1 Cor. 10:31); and, above
all, that our lives should be "transformed [reformed] by the renewing of our
minds;" that, putting aside the evil, and all influences which tend toward evil, we
should receive of the Lord, through His Word, the "spirit of a sound mind," the
"mind of Christ." In this view of the case, it is indeed a solemn thing to live,
a solemn thing to think, and to act; and it
behooves us to guard well our words, our thoughts and our actions, and ever to bear in
mind our responsibility to God, both for ourselves and for others as ambassadors for
Christ.
"And who is sufficient for these things?" Surely
none of us in our own strength. We need first of all to give ourselves to -the Lord
without reserve, and then daily to drink in more and more of His spirit by communion
with Him through His Word and in prayer; and constantly to watch and pray lest we enter
into temptation.
Let all the consecrated endeavor
more and more to realize their responsibility, both in the matter of their own character
building and also in that of building up others in the most holy faith and in the
character which is the legitimate result of that faith. The issues of eternal life and
eternal death are before us, and before those to whom we present this Gospel; and
therefore it behooves us carefully and prayerfully to present the pure truth of God in all
sincerity and in the spirit of Christ before God, ever bearing in mind that it is a savor
either of life unto life or of death unto death.
"Grant skill each sacred
theme to trace,
With loving voice and glowing tongue,
As when upon Thy words of grace
The wondering crowds enraptured hung.
"Give strength, blest Savior, in Thy might,
Illuminate our hearts, and we,
Transformed into Thine image bright,
Shall teach and love and live, like Thee."
How appropriately worded is
Paul's review of this grace of God to "the called according to His purpose." We
never get beyond the need of this reminder, "For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and
envy, hateful, and 'hating one another. But after that the kindness and love [margin,
"pity"] of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; which He shed on us abundantly, through
Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:3-7.) What a rich abundance of grace
our salvation from sin and death, and our "high calling of God in Christ"
represents! As we could never redeem ourselves from death, no more could we attain
"this great salvation" to glory, honor, and immortality, but by the grace of
God. We are, in grace, "God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus." Who that has
a true conception of the design of God in this His workings, can fail to rejoice that He
is able to work out in us that design and pattern-a character-likeness of His own dear
Son.
Christ the Message
To attain this likeness to
Christ, and thereby experience a fulfillment of the prayer, "Sanctify them through
Thy truth," it is necessary to remember that Jesus Christ did not come to earth
merely to deliver a message of hope and regeneration to men, but to be Himself the
message. Is this not the deeper meaning of Paul's statement, "But ye have not so
learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard Him, and
have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus." (Eph. 4:20, 21.) Over and over
again we find Jesus stressing this fact, that it was the receiving of Himself that was the
thing of greatest importance. How clearly He sets forth the principle that only when we
are wholly in Bin:; are we "in the truth." How plainly Ile teaches that to have
"learned Christ" is no mimic-like repetition of formulas of Belief, no crying
"Lord, Lord" in soulless and fruitless profession. His test was "If ye love
Me, keep My commandments," then "My Father will love you, and We will come unto
you and make Our abode with
you. This is the fundamental fact of all ,
sanctification. Christ in the heart keeps the heart for Christ, and Christ must fully
possess the heart to sanctify the life unto God. So it is that our new life in Christ is
lived, and so it will come to pass thatwe are made vessels meet for the Master's use, and "when grace' has well refined the heart" be fitted for His
presence and His glory.
God's message, His written Word, is a Book with a heart. It is a revelation of the heart of God, as was the
Living Word in still larger measure. How possible it is to be familiar with the language of-the Bible, ready to quote it
with ease and 'accuracy, and yet remain greatly untouched by its real heart influences. In
olden times the law was written on tables of stone, hard, without mercy or compassion in
its tone. And how possible it is to have the letter of Gospel truth written deeply enough,
but on the tables of a stony heart, a heart really untouched by a vital impress of the
Living Truth. Not in vain has it been written, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit
giveth life." Familiarity with the letter is good, but as in days long past, so it
remains ever true, "As many as touched [Him] were made perfectly whole." (Matt.
14:36.) Verily, "Christ is made unto us sanctification." (1 Cor. 1:30) Profoundly true! Blessedly
assuring to the devoted and love-mellowed heart.
Adorning the Doctrine of Christ
If we are to adorn the doctrine of Christ, three important things we must observe:
1. We must possess a heart receptive to the power of the Spirit's enlightening.
2. We must study to receive the Word in an unreserved
and joyful surrender to all its requirements.
3. We must be ready, yea, anxious to imbibe its sweetness of spirit, and its holiness.
We must find our portrait in the Scriptures, the vision of
what we were, in our inherent
deformity, and then see therein what God means' us to be by His transforming grace.' We
must then set ourselves to attain the high ideals God has declared Himself ready to work out in us and for us. We
must ever remember that it is one thing to be a channel giving utterance to truth, and a very
nitich different thing to be the subject of its power. Balaam was a channel of utterance,
but nothing more. Paul was first of all a trophy of the power of Christ the Truth, and
then the medium of its utterance. As some one has well said, "To bear the name of saint and not possess
the character of such, is to be like a sign-post pointing out directions, but never moving
on in the direction to which it points." This is not adorning the doctrine of
Christ. And not only does this failure make impossible the individual's own
sanctification, but it may indeed make that unsanctified one. a source of real peril to
others. "A lighthouse on a perilous rock," so it is said, "is a joy to the
mariner seeking. safety, but it becomes a thing of greatest peril if its light goes out.
How true of the Christian's possibilities for good or ill. No wonder the veteran servant
of Christ admonished his beloved Timothy, "Be thou an example of the believers, in
word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Tim. 4:12,)
Only then would he adorn the message. she preached to others. So it is with all who
undertake to speak the message. of the grace of God.
'So let us pray, "Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me, a
living. bright reality," and let Thy grace and power mold me and fashion me into
Thine own likeness--sanctify me wholly by Thy Word of Truth. - Contributed.
"It is good that a man should both
hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." "If we hope for that we
see not, then do we with patience wait for it." - Lam. 3:26; Rom. 8:25.
INFINITE WISDOM plans along
larger lines than the finite mind can fathom. To attempt to fathom its workings by one's
own human powers is comparable to an attempt to see when surrounded by a "great
darkness." The effort must leave one saying, "Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." (Psa. 139:6.) The stately steppings of
our God are marked in ages. How can man of a few days comprehend His infinity? There can
be no hope that those who cannot restrain their impatience when dealing with fellow man,
who like themselves work within the limits of time, will understand the majesty of the
plan of our God, either for themselves personally or for His creatures as a whole.
A human heart, possessed by a human
love, may understand and rest undisturbed in a fellow creature. The tests of delay and
separation will be successfully passed. Through the silence of years the loving mother
heart will wait for the wandering child, her faith never waveting though officious
friends should delight in putting the worst construction on the child's absence and in
reminding her of his every fault and frailty. Her hope never varies, for it is bolstered
by a memory that treasures every smallest deed of kindness, the most infinitesimal grace. The passing of the
years only serves to make more lovely every treasured memory. No night is so dark but her
eyes of faith can see in it the form of the returning prodigal; and no number of
disappointments can cause her to cease her vigils.
When shall our trust in the heavenly
Father conform to this mother love? Can any experience, or any series of experiences be
too severe to be well worth while if they teach us this lesson of trust, of rest in Him?
To repose our confidence in Him now is to bring heaven to earth. A lesson so important
deserves the very best of methods for its teaching. The most effective and the method most
frequently used of God is affliction. Our heavenly Father, however, often employs the more
simple picture method-one that modern educators now recognize as among the best. In the
fifteenth chapter of Genesis an account is given of an instance of God's use of this
method.
Out into the night God took the
childless Abram to behold in the vast panoply of heaven
the number of his unborn progeny. Not their nature, but their great number was revealed
to Abram that night. A family so vast must have a dwellng place, and this, too, God
promised. "He said unto him.
I am the Lord that brought thee out of
Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it." But the lessons of faith
had not yet all been learned. The day was coming, however, that whenever God would speak,
Abraham would without hesitation believe. But now we hear him say: "O Lord God,
whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?"
The Ancient Covenant-making Ceremony
How human to say, Whereby shall I know?
How human to say, Let me have sight first, and then I will show you my faith. Let him that
is without this fault cast the first stone. But perhaps Abram was only saying,
"Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief." Then there may have been but a shade
of doubt remaining in his mind. He wished to believe fully, therefore his desire to have a
sign. Ample provision had been made that lie might have that fulness of faith as regards
the seed, for God had established in the heavens a picture that would remain. with him the
rest of his life, a. visible reminder of the promise of a seed. Perhaps faith was only
inquiring if there could not be some similar, vivid reminder that a land was to be theirs.
In tender consideration of that growing faith God turns to the ancient form of
"cutting a covenant" (Jer. 34:18), that would, as it were, say, Though you pass
through death My promise shall not fail. Rather than wonder at Abram that he should have
required a sign, let us marvel at the love and mercy of God that, without a word of
reproof, could condescend to man's methods of swearing to His faithfulness as though
one word of all His good promises could ever fail.
The story seems' to have its beginning
in the early hours of the night; but when God said, "this land," it would seem
the stars had faded in the heavens, for Abram must have been able to look in every direction to see that
land. In response to Abram's request for a sign, he was told to take a heifer, a she-goat,
and a rain, each three years old, and a turtle-dove and a young pigeon. He divided all
these "in the midst," except the turtledove and the pigeon. All were laid in
two rows, the pieces of the divided animals over against each other, and the two birds
also apparently opposite each other.
All is now ready for the ancient
covenant-making ceremony, but a surprise awaited Abram, for instead of being asked to
follow the usual ceremony, that of walking down the lane between the pieces of the slain-animals
to meet there the other contracting party, his part is only that of waiting.
And what a long period of waiting it
was. God was teaching faith one of its most valuable lessons-that of waiting. He is
saying, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart;
wait, I say, on the Lord." It will 'be a mighty throng, as the stars of heaven, and
as the sands of the seashore, that will take up the words of Jacob: "I have waited
for Thy salvation, O Lord." Yea even now a little handful of that number can say
with David, the worthy son of Abraham, "Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O
my God, I trust in Thee: let me not be ashamed; let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea,
let none that wait on Thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Shew me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou
art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I, wait all the day." (Psa. 25:1-5.) Ours
should be the words of the Prophet: "I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face
from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him."
Learning the Value of Waiting upon God
"'There is no music in a rest, but
there is the making of music in it.' In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here
and there by 'rests,' and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God
sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and
makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives; and we lament that our voices must
be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator.
How does the musician read the 'rest'? See him 'beat the time with unvarying count, and
catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had cone between.
"Not without design does God write
the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the 'rests.'
They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy the melody, not to
change the keynote. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With the eye on
Him, we shall strike the next note full and clear. If we sadly say to ourselves, 'There is
no music in a rest,' let us not forget 'there is the making of music in it.' The making
of music is often a slow and painful process in this life. How patiently God works to
teach us! How long He waits for us to learn the lesson!"
But let us return to Abram's side. Hour
by hour the day passes with no sign. There is no voice nor movement of any kind to
indicate that God has had regard to Abram's request. Death alone reigns. Slowly the sun
rises to, its zenith and begins its journey downward-and still the token delays. The
monotony is unbroken except for the frequent assaults of unclean vultures that would prey
upon the flesh exposed to the torrid heat. The day passes into twilight without an
indication that this is not indeed a feast spread for those unclean beasts, worthy
symbols of our wily foe. Were there doubts that entered Abram's mind during that strange
vigil? Were there times when he doubted whether God had really spoken to him? Might this
not be merely the work of a deranged imagination?
We may not know what passed through
Abram's mind during the hours of God's silence, but we can sympathize with him whatever
the experiences. It all sounds very familiar to those who have placed themselves
unreservedly under the discipline of God's wisdom. How like are his hours to the days of
those who without ceasing pray, "Cone quickly, Lord Jesus"! How similar are the
temptations to doubt for those who cast their minds back over an uninterrupted six
thousand years' reign of evil! Many journeys must be made to the hilltop ere the cloud,
even though only as large as a man's hand, may be seen, telling the man of faith that his
prayer is heard.
"A Horror of Great Darkness"
The unclean birds can be given no
quarter, nor can Abram, if he would experience the end God has in view, be dismayed by
their interference and persistency, and their frequent endeavors to bear away the
sacrifice. Patiently lie must endure until the heavy veil of darkness has again obscured
all that God 'has placed before his vision of his inheritance. But mercifully the Eastern
night comes swiftly, not by the slow stages of the Occidental falling, The fulfillment
of the prayer, "Cone quickly," is his. He falls into a deep sleep, and "a
horror of great darkness fell upon him."
No more is told us of that great
darkness, perhaps because the child of faith knows better by experience than words can
tell, having learned either by those things that have come upon himself, or by being
"companions of those that are so used."
The history of his people through the
centuries in which evil would reign unfolded its dark prospect before Abram in
vision-the cruel lashings of the taskmasters whips, the anguished souls clinging to
"hopes deferred" -- the highest hopes ever held out to fallen mortals, but hopes
that were ground down under the heels of the most awful oppression ever experienced by
man. Course by course the great blocks of the pyramid must all be laid. Brick without
straw must be made; burning desert sands must be trod in the weary round with
back-breaking burdens. That must indeed be a "horror of great darkness" to
faintly suggest the laments of the mothers whose offspring were sacrificed to the
insatiable Nile. No tongue nor even vision can tell the anguish of the Israelites' portion
during those years of bondage.
Israel's History Portrayed
But the furnace of affliction is not the
only incident in this tale that was told. They were to come again into the land of
promise. Some rays of hope were to reach them there; but not until the fourth generation
could they return. Four hundred years must pass before the "iniquity of the
Amorites" had reached its full. Abram was assured that Israel would be avenged.
"That nation whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward they shall come out
with great substance. But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shale be buried in a
good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity
of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it
was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those
pieces."
Israel's entire history is summed up in
this pageantry, the furnace prefiguring the many periods of suffering and trial through
which they must pass throughout their history-their Egyptian bondage, their subjection to
heathen kings, their Babylonian captivity, as also their present dispersed and degraded
condition-but with it all was to be the lamp of God-His guidance, the same light that
later shone forth in the pillar of fire that went before them in their journeys in the
wilderness, and the Shekinah glory that for centuries marked God's presence with them.
The smoke of the furnace could never be dense enough to obliterate that light for those
who looked with the eyes of faith. Jacob endured twenty-one years of hardship in the house
of Laban, guided by the lamp of faith. Joseph knew well the burnings of the furnace of
affliction; but the dungeons of Egypt could not make him forget the guiding light of the
God of Israel. It is in such experiences that faith grows.
Rather, they could say, Nay, in all these things we are conquerors.
Preparation for Higher Service
We read that "when forty years were
expired, there appeared to Moses in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel
of the Lord in a flame of fire." What a long wait in preparation for the mission God
had for him. "When God delays, He is not inactive. He is getting ready His
instruments, He is ripening our powers; and at the appointed moment we shall arise equal
to our task. Even Jesus of Nazareth was thirty years in privacy, growing in wisdom before He
began His work.
"God is never in a hurry but spends years with those He
expects to greatly use. He never thinks the days of preparation too long or too dull.
"The hardest ingredient in
suffering is often time. A short, sharp pang is easily borne, but when a sorrow drags its
weary way through long, monotonous years, and day after day returns with the same dull
routine of hopeless agony, the heart loses its strength, and without the grace of God, is
sure to sink into the very sullenness of despair. Joseph's was a long trial, and God often
has to burn His lessons into the depths of our being by the fires of protracted pain. 'He
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,' but He knows how long, and like a true
goldsmith He stops the fires the moment He sees His image in the glowing metal. We may not
see now the outcome of the beautiful plan [for us] which God is hiding in the shadow of
His hand; it yet may be long concealed; but faith may be sure that He is sitting on the
throne, calmly waiting the hour when, with adoring rapture, we shall say, 'All things have
worked together for good.' Like; Joseph, let us be more careful to learn all the lessons
in the school of sorrow than we are anxious for the hour of deliverance. There is a
'need-be' for every lesson, and when we are ready, our deliverance will surely come, and
we shall find that we could not have stood in our place of higher service without the very
things that were taught us in the ordeal. God is educating us for the future, for higher
service and nobler blessings; and if we have the qualities that fit us for a throne,
nothing can keep us from it when God's time has come. Don't steal tomorow out of God's
hands. Give God time to speak to you and reveal His will. He is never too late learn to
wait."
"He never comes too late; He
knoweth what is best; Vex not thyself in vain; until He cometh-Rest."
The Faith that "Believes to See"
Then too we have the Scripture:
"Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you . . . blessed are all
they that wait for, Him." (Isa. 30:18.) We not only wait upon God, but what is still
more wonderful, He waits upon us. "The vision of Him waiting on us, will give new
impulse and inspiration to our waiting upon Him. It will give us unspeakable confidence
that our waiting cannot be in vain. Let us seek even now, in the spirit of waiting on God,
to find out something of what it means. He has inconceivably glorious purposes concerning
every one of His children. And you ask, 'How is it, if He waits to be gracious, that even
after I come and wait upon Him, He does not give the help I seek, but waits on longer and
longer?'
"God is a wise husbandman, 'who
waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.' He cannot gather the
fruit till it is ripe. He knows when we are spiritually ready to receive the blessing to
our profit and His glory. Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul
for His blessing. Waiting under the cloud of trial, that breaks in showers of blessings, is as needful. Be assured that if God
waits longer than you could wish, it is only to make the blessing doubly precious. God
waited four thousand years, till the fulness of time, ere He sent His Son. Our times are
in His hands; He will avenge His elect speedily; He will make haste for our help, and not
delay one hour too long."
"True faith counts on God, and
believes before it sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted
before we believe; but when we walk by faith, we need no other evidence than God's Word.
He has spoken, and according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see, because
we have believed, and this faith sustains us in. the most trying places, when everything
around us seems to contradict God's Word. The Psalmist says, 'I had fainted, unless I had
believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.' If we have the faith
that 'believes to see,' it will keep us from growing discouraged. We shall 'laugh at
impossibilities,' we shall watch with delight to see how God is going to open up a path
through the Red Sea when there is no human way out of our difficulty. It is just in such
places of severe testing that our faith grows and strengthens."
Brighter Prospects Foretold by the
"Burning Lamp"
Time would fail us for the
consideration of all the bright experiences in Israel's history when Jehovah graciously
appeared for their deliverance, as illustrated in the burning lamp-when He took there by
the hand and led them forth from the land of Egypt; their deliverance through the various
judges from the kings of Canaan; the decree of Cyrus granting their return from Babylon;
and their final deliverance from the power of Satan through Christ's glorious Kingdom. The
inheritance comes through the furnace of affliction. And is the same not true of the
spiritual seed. "We must through much tribulation enter the Kingdom."
The incident we have been examining was
the first appearance of the symbol of the glory of God since the gates of Eden closed on
Adam. As the light from the "burning lamp" shone upon Abram, a voice came:
"Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river,
the river Euphrates." (Gen. 15:18.) This is not a promise that the gates of Eden
should open again, but that its walls should be extended to take in the entire dominion of
earth and all the seed.
For a very brief period the dominion of
Solomon reached almost, but not quite to the limits mentioned in the promise above. It
still waits even a complete literal fulfillment; but the furnace and the lamp still bear
testimony that the God who promised is faithful. "The mouth of the Lord bath spoken
it," and the day will yet come when the boundaries of Israel will be pressed to these
limits, but not to stop there. Already we see in the illumination of that Lamp prospects
of the close of Israel's Double, the "land that was desolate" becoming
inhabited and the establishing there of the returning Jews. But alas this is only
preparation for the revealing of their Messiah, who will lead them to victory over every
foe. As God's purposes march grandly on to their complete fulfillment for the fleshly
house, they who are of the 'house of sons "lift up their heads and rejoice, knowing
that deliverance [for them also] draweth nigh."
It was not for one heart alone that God
that clay humbled Himself in order that He might exalt it. The lesson was for all who are
willing to learn. Our Forerunner, tested by the same furnace of affliction and guided by
the rays of the same lamp, has entered for us into heaven itself there to firmly
establish our anchor of hope. "By two immutable, things [His word and His oath], in
which it is impossible for God to lie, we have a strong consolation, who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us." - Heb. 6:18-20.
HE THAT hath a froward heart findeth no
good." Whoever would be happy must make up his mind to see only the good in others,
to hunt for the beautiful things in their characters and to ignore the ugly things; to
look for harmony and to avoid discord.
"To
hold the loving thought, as a mother does toward her children, develops the better
side. The delicate flower of manhood or womanhood will not blossom in the foggy, chilly
atmosphere of hatred, of jealous envy and condemnation. It must have the warm sun of love,
of praise, of appreciation, of encouragement, to call out its beauty and to produce the
perfect flower.
"Never allow yourself to condemn
or form a habit of criticizing others. No matter what they do, hold toward them
perpetually the kindly thought, the love thought. Determine to see only that which is good
and sweet and wholesome and lovely in them. Try to see the man or woman that God intended,
not the warped, twisted and deformed one which a vicious life may have made, and you will
generally find what you are looking for.
"You
will never find the straight by looking for the crooked, or holding the crooked
thought in mind. If you are constantly criticizing or finding fault, instead of praising or appreciating, you will ruin your
power of seeing the beautiful and the true, just as a habitual liar loses the power to
tell the truth.
"If you habitually hold the
deformed thought, the ironical, the skeptical, the pessimistic, the depreciative thought,
you will ruin your ability to see or appreciate merit, or what is good' and true." - Bible Students Monthly, Brooklyn.
TO THE well known philosopher Mark Twain is credited the
statement, "It is not those portions of the Bible which I do not understand that
give me the most trouble. Rather, it is those parts I do clearly understand. The task of
putting them into effect in my life gives me no end of trouble." With this wise
observation and honest confession most of us will readily agree as respects our own
greatest difficulty with the Scriptures. We have all felt the force of the Savior's words,
"Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man, which built his house upon a rock." (Matt. 7:24.) This important verity is
likewise driven home in those pointed words of the Apostle "Though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." (1 Cor.
13:2.) And how greatly needed is the exhortation of the familiar texts, "Be ye
doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer
of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he
being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his
deed." - James 1:22-25.
When Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy
Word is truth," He made it clear that the Word itself was the special medium of our sanctification. And the emphasis He placed upon that Word must not be overlooked: "Thy Word is Truth." By this emphasis it
is made clear that "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness," and for the knowledge of God which is eternal life, the Scriptures
must be given first place in the Christian's life. It has pleased God to use many human
instruments in the ministry of His Word, but as concerning all of these there are no
exceptions to the rule: "If they speak not according to this Word, it is because
there is no light in them." (Isa. 8:20.) And even if any should undertake to speak
that Word in its true phrase, how imperatively it demands a walk consistent with the
message declared, for so it is written: "But unto the wicked, God saith, What hast
thou to do, to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and
castest My words behind thee." - Psa. 50:16, 17.
The Truth that Sanctifies
The expression, "Thy Word is truth" is of course a very
comprehensive one. It embraces "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God." But there are outstanding truths given by inspiration, and these in a special
way constitute the foundational facts of the power of the Word to sanctify the heart and
life. What a profound truth Peter declared in his statement: "Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God." Here, according to the happy response of Jesus, was the
'best of evidence that His disciple had been taught of God. Peter's words had touched
depths far beyond the superficial. And when Jesus said, "This is life eternal, that
they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John
17:3), He was condensing a volume of truth into a few words. Again, what a summing up of all truth are His words: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life." The written Word ever points to Christ the Living Word, and constantly
reiterates the greatest of all truths, "In Him was life; and the life was the light,of
men." (John 14:6; 1:4.) These are the epitomized but profound declarations of the
Word that sanctifies. As we ponder them with attentive hearts we are ready to confess with
Peter in the long ago, "Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life." - John 6:68.
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom," writes the Apostle. (Col. 3:16.) And inn reference to His own words did
Jesus not say, "It: is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63.) In His
wonderful words of life, how firm a foundation for our faith is laid. How precious is His
assurance: "He that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out. "He that heareth
My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." "I am the door: by Me if any
man enter in, he shall be saved." "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and
they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than
all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." "He that loveth
Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him,-and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him." "Father, I will
that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am: that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast
given Me: for Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world." (John 5:24; 10:9,
27-29; 14:21-23; 17:24.) Truly, "What more can He say than to us He has said,"'
in giving us the utmost assurance that in love and grace He has accepted us, and that now
He is able to keep that which we have entrusted to Him. "He holds us in His own right
hand, and will not let us go."
"Hereby We do Know that We Know
Him"
The commands of Jesus must dwell with
equal richness in our hearts as do His precious assurances of love and faithfulness.
Indeed the test of our real devotion to Him lies in our attitude toward His commandments.
"He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." (John
14:21.) These commands must be written deep in our hearts, and the daily life exhibit that
obedience which in the sight of God is rated as "better than sacrifice, and to
hearken than the fat of rams." Do we rejoice to find the. Word abounding in
"exceeding great and precious promises"? Surely we do. Have we then, in a like
appreciation of His just and good commandments reached the place in experience where we
can say respecting these, "I will delight myself in Thy statutes: I will not forget
Thy Word. Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee"?
(Psa. 119:16, 11.) If such be our spiritual development, well indeed may we offer up the
sacrifice of praise to God that in His grace He has continued to work in us both to will
and to do of His good pleasure.
The Word of His Grace
The power which constrains or draws us
into harmony and union with Christ, and through Him, who is the Way, into our relationship
to God as sons, is above all other considerations, "the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6.) How frequently the thought
is expressed in the New Testament, that "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
Hence the more clearly we discern this truth, the more it will be an influence in the
direction of accomplishing our full sanctification. This great truth reveals to us what
was our real state as children of Adam, "children of wrath even as others." It
humbles us by its disclosures of our unworthiness of the great salvation made possible to
us in the goodness of God, and we cannot but exclaim, "0! to grace how great a
debtor!" This truth received into a heart made truly receptive, will be a
power-the power, of God working in such a heart to 'bring to full fruition every needed
grace and fruitage of the Spirit. To constantly remember these inspired words, "By
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,"
(Eph. 2:8) will prove a valuable safeguard against falling from grace, and a wonderful
help in fixing in mind that "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "For in
Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which
worketh by love." (Gal. 5:6.) Such contemplation of the grace which did much more
abound where sin abounded, will surely affect us, as its contemplation affected the
Apostle and gave, him a vision of himself, the "chief of sinners" saved by
grace.
And not only are we saved by grace, but
all that is opened tip to us in the purposes of God is a part of His abounding grace. As
the poet has beautifully expressed it:
"Not alone hath grace redeemed me,
Bought me with Christ's precious blood,
Sought me out when I, a stranger,
Wandered from the fold of God;
But beyond this great salvation
God hath shown me wondrous grace
Call'd me with a heavenly calling,
Ever to behold His face."
How appropriately worded is Paul's
review of this grace of God to "the called according to His purpose." We never
get beyond the need of this reminder, "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish,
disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy,
hateful, and 'hating one another. But after that the kindness and love [margin,
"pity"] of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; which He shed on us abundantly, through
Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:3-7.) What a rich abundance of grace
our salvation from sin and death, and our "high calling of God in Christ"
represents! As we could never redeem ourselves from death, no more could we attain
"this great salvation" to glory, honor, and immortality, but by the grace of
God. We are, in grace, "God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus." Who that has
a true conception of the design of God in this His workings, can fail to rejoice that He
is able to work out in us that design and pattern-a character-likeness of His own dear
Son.
Christ the Message
To attain this likeness to Christ, and
thereby experience a fulfillment of the prayer, "Sanctify them through Thy
truth," it is necessary to remember that Jesus Christ did not come to earth merely to
deliver a message of hope and regeneration to men, but to be Himself the message. Is this
not the deeper meaning of Paul's statement, "But ye have not so learned Christ; if so
be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by
Him, as the truth is in Jesus." (Eph. 4:20, 21.) Over and over again we find Jesus
stressing this fact, that it was the receiving of Himself that was the thing of greatest
importance. How clearly He sets forth the principle that only when we are wholly in Bin:;
are we "in the truth." How plainly Ile teaches that to have "learned
Christ" is no mimic-like repetition of formulas of Belief, no crying "Lord,
Lord" in soulless and fruitless profession. His test was "If ye love Me, keep My
commandments," then "My Father will love you, and We will come unto you and make
Our abode with you. This is the fundamental fact of all , sanctification. Christ
in the heart keeps the heart for Christ, and Christ must fully possess the heart to
sanctify the life unto God. So it is that our new life in Christ is lived, and so it will
come to pass thatwe are made vessels meet for the Master's use, and "when grace' has well refined the heart" be fitted for His
presence and His glory.
God's message, His written Word, is a Book with a heart. It is a revelation of the heart of God, as was the
Living Word in still larger measure. How possible it is to be familiar with the language of-the Bible, ready to quote it
with ease and 'accuracy, and yet remain greatly untouched by its real heart influences. In
olden times the law was written on tables of stone, hard, without mercy or compassion in
its tone. And how possible it is to have the letter of Gospel truth written deeply enough,
but on the tables of a stony heart, a heart really untouched by a vital impress of the
Living Truth. Not in vain has it been written, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit
giveth life." Familiarity with the letter is good, but as in days long past, so it
remains ever true, "As many as touched [Him] were made perfectly whole." (Matt.
14:36.) Verily, "Christ is made unto us sanctification." (1 Cor. 1:30) Profoundly true! Blessedly
assuring to the devoted and love-mellowed heart.
Adorning the Doctrine of Christ
If we are to adorn the doctrine of Christ, three important things we must observe:
1. We must possess a heart receptive to the power of the Spirit's enlightening.
2. We must study to receive the Word in an unreserved
and joyful surrender to all its requirements.
3. We must be ready, yea, anxious to imbibe its sweetness of spirit, and its holiness.
We must find our portrait in the Scriptures, the vision of what we were, in our inherent deformity, and then
see therein what God means' us to be by His transforming grace.' We must then set
ourselves to attain the high ideals God has declared
Himself ready to work out in us and for us. We must ever remember that it is one thing to be a channel giving utterance to truth, and a very
nitich different thing to be the subject of its power. Balaam was a channel of utterance,
but nothing more. Paul was first of all a trophy of the power of Christ the Truth, and
then the medium of its utterance. As some one has well said, "To bear the name of saint and not possess
the character of such, is to be like a sign-post pointing out directions, but never moving
on in the direction to which it points." This is not adorning the doctrine of
Christ. And not only does this failure make impossible the individual's own
sanctification, but it may indeed make that unsanctified one. a source of real peril to
others. "A lighthouse on a perilous rock," so it is said, "is a joy to the
mariner seeking. safety, but it becomes a thing of greatest peril if its light goes out.
How true of the Christian's possibilities for good or ill. No wonder the veteran servant
of Christ admonished his beloved Timothy, "Be thou an example of the believers, in
word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Tim. 4:12,)
Only then would he adorn the message. she preached to others. So it is with all who
undertake to speak the message. of the grace of God.
'So let us pray, "Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me, a living.
bright reality," and let Thy grace and power mold me and fashion me into Thine own
likeness--sanctify me wholly by Thy Word of Truth. - Contributed.
The Morning Prayer
"My voice shalt Thou hear
in the morning, 0 Lord;
in the morning will I direct my prayer
unto Thee and will look up." - Psa. 5:8.
"I met God in the morning
When my day was at its best,
And His presence came like sunshine
With a glory in my breast.
All day long His presence lingered,
All day long He stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O'er a very troubled sea.
Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to me sweet calm and rest.
Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind,
When I, too, had loosed the moorings,
With His presence left behind.
Now I think I know the secret
Learned from many a troubled way,
We must meet God in the morning
If we want Him through the day."
TWO MEN went up into the Temple to pray . . ."
A story so well known that it needs no repetition. Yet how often do we stop to consider
whether we ourselves are become like the man who, fasting twice in the week and giving
tithes of all he possessed, found cause for glory, not in his separateness to God, but in
his separateness from his fellowmen. "I thank Thee that I am not as other men
are." What a miserable confession to make. In looking upon his fellows he saw nothing
to emulate, no characteristics or virtues which he could desire for himself, but only
the sordid evidences of evil. The reign of sin and death was a very real thing to this
Pharisee; and with an exquisite nicety he carefully dissociated himself from it all and
explained to the Almighty that, living perforce in an evil world and amidst sinful men, he
was nevertheless not of them nor with them, and that he at least was one to whom had come
the superior inward knowledge which, separating for ever from the plebian multitude,
rendered him a fit companion for the One who dwelt in the inner sanctuary.
We read the story, we smile
pityingly at the vivid picture of this pompous Israelite, and mentally place ourselves
with the publican standing afar off, as we continue our reading. But what of the lesson
behind the parable? Is it not true that many times in the individual Christian life we
find ourselves thanking God that we are not as other men. Does it not often happen that
this wonderful separateness to God which we call consecration degenerates into a mere smug
and self-satisfied separateness from the world. And worse still, at times the
suggestion is made that in this latter day when the purpose of God in calling from the
nations a people for His Name seems to be on the brink of completion, a still more
exclusive and narrow-minded outlook is called for:-to wit, that our age-old mission as
witnesses of Jesus and ministers one to the other must be abrogated in favor of an
individual contemplation of the sacred mysteries and a refusal to extend the privilege of
fellowship and the Word of Life to all but the favored few who are accepted as being
likewise the "sealed of God." Alas; that the fruit of a one-time zealous
response to be "not conformed to this world" should be, not a transforming by
the renewing of the mind, with all the marvelous light of spiritual understanding that
transformation can bring, but a gravitation to the lowest depths of bigotry, of
self-delusion, of utter spiritual blindness which separation from our fellows must mean
when we are not separated to God.
The spirit of exclusiveness is
amongst us -- we must fight it. It is within our hearts -- we must root it out. No matter
how discouraging our experiences with those to whom we bear the Word of Life-no matter how
disappointing our efforts to serve and strengthen our brethren-we must not become
narrow or bigoted. The glorious Truth of God is too precious a heritage to be made the
tool of personal theories and party politics. Our mission is not to evolve novel
expositions and ordered theologies from the Sixty-six Books and demand acceptance of
these man-made creations as the way to God. It is not to build a creed wall behind which
is defined the only hope of salvation. We are exhorted to be sure of our foundation and to
have a reason for the faith that is in us, by all means. We are expected to be rooted and
grounded in the knowledge which has come our way and we are warned not to compromise our
understanding of
Divine Truth for the sake of
outward harmony. But above all things we are impressed, time and time again, with the
necessity for continual progress and advancement in our personal understanding of
Truth-and it is in recognizing this basic principle that we shall be able to take our
stand in the Temple, with open face and open heart worshiping the Father who dispenses His
blessings upon all who come to Him in spirit and in truth. There may be many
things-there must of necessity be many things-upon which various disciples do not see eye
to eye, and because of differences of thought there must upon occasion be a physical
separation into groups for orderly worship and service. But that mystic common-union
which binds together all who truly name the Name of Christ transcends such temporary
divisions and triumphantly demonstrates the fulfillment of the Savior's prayer "I
will . . . that they may be one." Stand then upon this sure foundation, and we shall
have cause to rejoice, not in works of righteousness which we have done, but in that
common standing in Christ which is our privilege and seal of Divine sonship. - Bible Students Monthly, London, Eng.
Notice for British Friends
At the invitation of the Bible Students
Committee. Brother P. E. Thomson will be making an extended tour of Great Britain. The
beginning of his itinerary given below is just received accompanied with the following
announcement:
"The Committee have great
pleasure in announcing that Brother Paul Thomson, of Brooklyn, will (D. V.) visit Great
Britain for several months this year for a Pilgrim Trip amongst the friends. Many brethren
are looking forward to his visit with keen anticipation, and it is earnestly desired that
none who wish to enjoy our Brother's ministry will be disappointed. If there are friends
who have not yet received a letter from the Committee inviting them' to state their
wishes but desire to meet Brother Thomson, will they please write to the office -- Bible
Students Committee, 24 Darwin Road, Welling, Kent -- as soon as possible so that they
may be included."
Itinerary
London (Forest Gate) Apr. 2, 3
Kettering Apr. 7
Welling Apr. 5
Melton Mowbray ... Apr. 8
Luton Apr. 6
Rugby Apr. 9, 10
Birmingham (Erdington) Apr. 11
Dear Friends:
It will undoubtedly bring joy to the
readers of the "Herald" that at last
Milwaukee has organized a Junior Bible Class, a blessing which has been anxiously awaited.
The Chicago Juniors have been very
considerate and most kind in helping us launch our Class and we are very thankful for
their interest. We are hopeful and very anxious to hear from a Pilgrim or any speaker that
shall chance to be passing through Milwaukee.
We are desirous of keeping in
touch with the other Classes and if you will publish this letter perhaps the secretaries
of other Classes will correspond with us.
Yours in the faith of our dear
Redeemer,
S. K., Sec.. - Wis.
[We rejoice with our dear friends of the
Junior Class in Milwaukee and elsewhere in their loving zeal and devotion to the Lord,
and assure them of our interest in their welfare and our desire to be of any assistance
possible. To any desiring to get in touch with these friends we shall be glad to supply
the address. - Ed. Com.]
Dear Brethren:
The members of the Boston Class of
Associated Bible Students have asked me to convey to you their sincere appreciation of the
services of the Pilgrim brethren from the Institute during the year 1937.
These Pilgrim visits have been a
source of help and encouragement, and we ask that you continue this service to the Boston
Glass whenever your schedules permit.
Yours in Christian love,
Associated Bible Students,
L. T., Sec. - Boston, Mass.
Dear Brethren:
I thank you for your letter of the
5th inst., with its invitation to submit some articles with a view to their publication in
the "Herald." Granted that I can find or make the necessary time, I shall be
most happy to do so. The spirit of matured brotherliness pervading the "Herald,"
its Christlike tolerance and breadth of mind, its true perspective of the vital, and now
vital in respect to the perplexing conditions amongst Bible Students in these days,
together with the interesting and spiritually profitable nature of its contents, make it
a magazine worthy of whole-hearted support.
Finding the time, while a great
obstacle, might not prove the only one. Another might be, lacking the skill of a ready
writer. I have had practically no experience in writing articles, and it may be one thing
to be able to give a talk that is helpful and interesting, and another thing to write an
article that has these qualities. I expect the difficulty will be to "boil it
down," but it is just here where the Editor's blue pencil will come in, I suppose.
My appreciation of the
"Herald" and of your helpful ministry will be an incentive to find the necessary
time to put my literary talent to the proof. After all, it is only by being willing to try all the doors of opportunity as
we come to them, that we can be sure we are following the Lord's leading. If this one does
not prove to be open, I shall have the satisfaction of knowing that I have tried.
With much love in the Lord,
Yours in His service,
Alex. D. Kirkwood - Scot.
Dear Brethren:
Enclosed list of names to whom you will.
kindly send the special issue of the "Herald" on the subject of Hell, referred
to in the February number of the "Herald." I enclose check for $ to cover cost.
The first three pages of the list
are names of preachers, taken from the telephone book; the fourth page are writers in
the open forum in our morning papers, articles of religious trend or apparent interest
along lines for social betterment. In this way I can hold up the standard, and if you
think well, I hope to continue gathering names from the various sources and send
appropriate literature. Would appreciate an expression from you', as you no doubt have had
experience along this line. The names as I have them arranged are easily clipped out and
ready to paste on wrappers.
I have a set of First, Second, and
Third Volumes of "Studies in the Scriptures" in German and an extra Third Volume, also a First Volume
in what I judge is Greek, which I picked up in second-hand book stores. They are in fair
condition. I understand they are very scarce, and if any of the brethren desire them, I
shall be pleased to mail them on request.
Praying the Master's blessings on all
efforts put forth,
Yours in Hope,
J. W. - Texas.
Dear Brethren:I am taking this
liberty of writing to you to inform you that I had one of your "Heralds" put
into my hands the other day and I was very much interested in reading the contents. I
belonged to the I.B.S.A. at one time, but left them in 1925. There are no meeting places,
around here except the one I left. I am rejoicing in the truth, and that is the reason I
am writing you. I am an old-age pensioner (76), and I have been wondering if you could
supply me with some left over copies of your "Herald," or any other good reading
which you might have left on hand. If you have none, it is all right, and I pray the
Lord's blessing on your good work.
Your sister in the Lord, Mrs. S. - Eng.
Dear Sirs:
I have been reading one of your leaflets
and find it very interesting. So am enclosing 30 cents for your book entitled "The
Divine Plan of the Ages." Also would be very grateful to receive any leaflets that
may give any information on any of the texts noted in your leaflet.
Very truly yours,
L. W. S.
- Pa.
|