THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom
VOL. XIII JUNE 1940 NO. 6
Table of Contents
Behind the Scenes
The
Unction From the Holy One
"Call
to Remembrance the Former Days"
HOW WE MAY
GROW UP INTO CHRIST
I Know
That My Redeemer Liveth
IN THE springtime of the year Mother
Nature calls the birds from the Southland. The snow has melted away, and the days are
growing warm. The earth is waking from its long sleep. We do not see the forces that are
operating, but they are there. There is a wonderful world of invisible things, natural
things, behind the things that are seen. Throughout nature chemical action and reaction
are going on continually, yet without a sound. Behind the flowering of innumerable plants
the cells are doing their work, and down in the moist earth the roots are drawing up the
water that is essential to plant life.
Always the force of gravitation is
working soundlessly, and so are the actinic rays of the sun. We behold the visible
manifestations of these operations, and that suffices us; but we know that some great
divine power has brought all into being.
Behind the bark are saps that run
In power to life and limb.
Behind the sap the glowing sun,
Far off in spaces dim.
Behind the sun and its shining way,
The arm and the guiding rod,
Is the law of the orbs of the nebulae,
And back of the law is GOD.
Behind the gleaming fields of gold
Are sun and rain and soil,
That give reactions manifold
To man's directed toil ;
And every ripened grain that's packed
Within the harvest broad,
In embryo avers the fact
That back of it is GOD.
Behind the act is thought's rich gleam,
Behind that is the brain,
Behind the brain is the red blood stream,
From heart to the heart again.
Behind the blood as its courses go,
Whether we wake or nod,
Are the vital currents that ebb and flow,
And back of these is GOD.
Great things come out of the silences.
From the silence of space come the mighty orbs that adorn the heavens through the hours of
night. From the silent factories of the trees come oranges, peaches, apples, and other
fruits. Somewhere out of the silence come the winds that roar upon the deep and lash the
waters into foam. The silence of the mountains is big with suggestions that appeal to
the winged and soaring fancies of men. An English writer has suggested building temples to
Silence. But why build such temples when we can find them already built out in the
mountains, or in the prairies, or in the pathless woods?
When Abraham was traveling in the
wilderness, he spent much time in the silence. So did Moses when he kept the flock of
Jethro, his father-in-law. And evidently these men acquired an increased greatness by
getting in touch with great, silently operating forces. It would seem too that Jesus loved
the silence, and frequently "stepped behind the scenes" that he might enter the
more fully into the invisible workings of His Father's power, and might hear His
Father's voice assuring him of His paternal care.
Said a writer: "Thinkers brood
long in the silence, and then come forth, and their eloquence sways us. So it is with
art. We look at a fine picture and our hearts are warmed by its wondrous beauty. But do we
know the story of the picture? Years and years of thought and of tireless toil lie
back of its enrapturing beauty. Or here is a book which charms you, which thrills and
inspires you. Great thoughts lie in its pages. Do you know the hook's story? The author
lived, struggled, toiled, suffered, wept that he might
write the words which now help you.
Back of every good life-thought which blesses men, lies a dark quarry where the thought
was born and shaped into the beauty of form which makes it a blessing to the world. All
our acts are first thoughts. The artist's picture,' the poet's poem, the singer's song,
the architect's building are thoughts before they are wrought out into forms of
beauty." So, then, they first existed in the silent chambers of the mind, and they
constitute one kind of power that lies Behind the Scenes.
The Way of the
Truth-Seeker
And it is Behind the Scenes that we
find the elements of that truth which builds us up in Godlikeness. This comes not to us
in life's hurly-burlydom but in the silent places where we grasp mighty facts that at
first almost stagger the mind. The impartation of truth comes from divine revelation,
from investigation, from analysis, from synthesis, and from comparison. The world's way is
to pin its faith to a man and blindly follow a leader; but that is not the truth-seeker's
way. In arriving at his conclusions he employs both induction and deduction, both the
a-priori and the a-posteriori methods. He leaves no stone unturned. Truth to him is the
most sacred thing in the universe, and he knows that its substances and its mighty
potentialities lie behind its visible manifestations.
If we could only see a thought! If we could but hear the music of a
thought! If we could travel clown the stream of time with a thought as soon as it is born!
If we could see the great finger of a thought's possibility pointing to the future
achievement that is to come out of it! Oh the power of a thought! And at times it comes to
us arrayed in vestments of silver and gold and sparkling with beauteous gems. It may be
suggested by a single word. The English language contains some inexpressibly sweet
words, such as God, Jesus, mother, home, love,' mercy, truth; and each one of these is
calculated to inspire great thoughts in the mind.
The Apostle indicates some things that
lie Behind the Scenes. He says, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are
honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things." That is to say, he would have us look out for the
things that lie Behind the Scenes, for the very scenes of our lives are brought into being
by them.
Behind natural things both visible and
invisible lie spiritual things. "The things that are seen are temporal, but the
things that are not seen [the spiritual things] are eternal." The glory of God is one
of them. "But we all, with open [unveiled] face beholding as in a glass the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord." The glory of God is the glory of His character-His wisdom, His justice,
His love, and His power. But the quality that means the most to us is His love. His love
is the greatest transforming power in the universe. What the conception of divine love
will not do for a man's mind and heart, nothing will do. The life of Jesus on earth
preeminently stood for God's love. The world could not understand it because the world
could not enter into the sanctuary where Jesus stood. Behind the Scenes in the life of our
Lord this love was operating, but the world could see it not.
"And the Greatest
of These is Love"
When we see a man living and operating
in the spirit of love, the spirit of Christ, we know that somewhere God is Behind the
Scenes. "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in
him." (1 John 4:16.) "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and
every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love." (1 John 4:7, 8.) It is, therefore, contact with God that
supplies power to the life. To maintain this contact means to overcome the world. It
means to have the spirit of Christ working in us. And ultimately it will mean the gaining
of our great goal.
One time a man went in search of love.
He entered a busy factory and said, "Love is not here, for the noise of the machinery
would drown out the voice of love." He stood in the market place and said, "Love
is not here, for such an atmosphere would stifle the breath of love." He gazed out
over the lordly main and said, "Love is not out yonder, for the sea is too cruel for
love." He looked this way and that across the land and exclaimed, "I see not
love. Oh to find it! Oh to catch a glimpse of its bright pinions of gold!" But all
was silent, and there was no vision. And then a storm came on, and the darkness grew about
him, and he lost his way.
The wanderer was guided by a good angel
to a lonely cabin, and entering therein, he found an old man, whom he told of his quest.
Then the old man said to him, "Love cannot be found by seeking for it in any land.
Love comes into the life when all obstructions are removed. Selfishness is its deadly foe,
and dishonesty militates against it. Go home and open all the windows of your mind to God,
and God will send love to abide with you and to lead you on to the heights of
victory."
And ever we find that love walks in the
common ways of life. It is plebian in its tastes. It walked the hills and vales of Judea
and Galilee. It ministered to the sick, the lame, the palsied, and the blind. And it has
been doing good ever since. "If any man . . . loveth not his brother whom he lath
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" All the philosophical and religious
theories in the world are worthless if they lead not to the practical workings of love.
The following is an actual occurrence. A lady said to a tramp, "You look tired, but I
haven't time to bother with you just now. My son lives in the next farmhouse, and I'll
telephone him to give you something to eat." However, the man did not arrive at the
next farmhouse, and the next morning he was found on the roadside frozen to death.
Love is not mere sentimentality but is
life's working force. It is the power Behind the Scenes. "Our love or lack of love
for the brethren will prove the extent of our love for the Lord. When we appreciate what
it means to love God and to love Jesus, our hearts will increase in love for the brethren.
Jesus said that the proof of our love for Him and for the Father would be made known by
the manner in which we keep His commandments. Among His commandments is a very important
one. He said to His disciples, 'A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another. . . By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to
another.' (John 13:34, 35.) To what extent shall we love another? Jesus answers: 'This
is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.' (John 15:12.) The love
of Jesus for us was an unselfish love, a sacrificial love, a desire to do us good, with no
thought of reward from us. And He did this at a great cost to Himself. This is the kind of
love He says we must have for the brethren -- a sacrificial love." - Z., Sept. 1,
1917.
Professor Henry Drummond said:
"Love is not a thing of enthusiastic emotion. It is a rich, strong, manly, vigorous
expression of the whole round Christian character-the Christian nature in its fullest
development. And the constituents of this great character are only to be built up by
ceaseless practice. Do not quarrel, therefore, with your lot in life. Above all, do not
resent temptation; do not be perplexed because it seems to thicken around you more and
more. That is the practice which God appoints you, and it is having its work in making you
patient and humble and generous and unselfish and kind and courteous. Do not grudge the
hand that is molding the still-too-shapeless image within you. It is growing more
beautiful though you see it not.
"Love itself cannot be defined.
Light is something more than the sum of its ingredients-a glowing, dazzling, tremulous
ether. And love is something more than all its elements-a palpitating, quivering,
sensitive, living thing. By synthesis of all the colors men can make whiteness; they
cannot make light. By synthesis of all the virtues men can make virtue; they cannot make
love. We brace our wills to secure it. We try to copy those who have it. We lay down rules
about it. We watch. We pray. But these things alone will not bring love into our nature.
Love is an effect, and only as we fulfill the right conditions can we have the effect
produced. Contemplate the love of Christ, and you will love. Stand before that mirror,
reflect Christ's character, and you will be changed into the same image. There is no other
way. You cannot love to order. You can only look at the lovely object and fall in love
with it, and grow into likeness to it. Love begets love. It is a process of induction. Put
a piece of iron in the presence of an electrified body, and that piece of iron for a time
becomes electrified. It is changed into a temporary magnet in the mere presence of a
permanent magnet, and as long as you leave the two side by side, they are both magnets
alike. Remain side by side with Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, and you too
will become a permanent magnet, a permanently attractive force. That is the inevitable
effect of love."
When love is strong, faults are few.
When love rides forth to conquer, all barriers must fall. Love will not be robbed of its
final victory. In all its beauty, in all its effulgence, in all its strength, it is
accomplishing its purpose, although unperceived by the natural eye. The poet Browning
said, "God's in His heaven; all's right with the world." What he meant was that
because God exists, and God is love, all will eventually be right with the world. Love,
wisdom, justice, and power do not arrive at their objectives in a day but take their time.
Therefore, it is that God's Word uses the expression, "in the fullness of
times." (Eph. 1:10.) Ah, yes, in the fulness of times love's sway will be assured,
and love will hold the scepter both in heaven and on earth.
One met Love in the morning at the
breaking of the day. He met Love near the fountain, and Love wooed his heart away. Love
took his hand and led him out and down life's leafy lane, and he forgot about his lot, his
sadness, and his pain. And as they walked, awhile they talked, and then they sang
together, a mellow song that cheered him long like fragrance of the heather. They sang of
Faith the fearless, and they sang of Hope the true, that never leaves one cheerless and
whose wine is ever new. He did not shrink when at the brink they stood beside a river. Its
water stole around his soul, its charm was his forever. He launched his skiff, he floated
out and down its silver breast. The hills looked down in solemn peace, the waters tuned of
rest. With beaching of his boat he looked and saw Love's palace home. He is now so
satisfied with Love he ne'er again shall roam. He's now so overjoyed with Love his life
has "caught the gleam." He found the glory place of Love far down Truth's
crystal stream.
"And now abideth faith, hope,
love, these three but the greatest of these is love."
And love is, and always will be, the
mightiest of all the forces that operate Behind the Scenes.
- Contributed.
"If by any means I may advance
into the out-resurrection,
that from among the dead." - Phil 2-11 (Rotherham)
WHITSUNTIDE, WHICH is the seventh
Sunday after Easter, and the following Monday and Tuesday, has been observed for many
centuries by many Christians as the memorial of the day of Pentecost, which occurred
fifty days after the resurrection of our Lord.
On that day the Holy Spirit descended
upon the early disciples in "tongues of fire," as a visible sign of their
setting apart to the service of God, and of the beginning of a new life within them,
wherein they should "walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Not since that day has the Spirit been
visibly bestowed; yet every true child of God is aware that he has received the same
begetting. "You have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye all know it." - l
John 2:20, Emph. Diag., Sinaitic and Vatican MSS.
Why Bestowed?
What is the purpose of this begetting?
What is the meaning of the gift, and what is the intent of Him who bestows it? Is it that
the recipient might "speak with tongues," or that he should thenceforth have an
accessor an excess of emotional religious fervor? Nay; it is of far greater significance
and consequences.
Jesus, in His patient effort to make
clear to the Jewish ruler Nicodemus some of the things of the spirit world, told him that
"that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit." This statement seems basic and clear. It may be logically expanded to say:
"That which is begotten of the flesh will be born [if not stillborn] a being of
flesh; that which is begotten of the Spirit will be born [if it comes to birth] a
spirit-being," The birth follows the begetting, and partakes of its nature.
Spirit Powers
In the same conversation Jesus
explained that those "born of the Spirit" have powers of action and of
invisibility to human perception totally unknown to man. "The wind blows where it
chooses, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is
going. So it is with every one who has been born of the Spirit."
"God is a spirit";
"heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool. The nature, laws, and
conditions of the spirit world are vastly different from those of the earth. In the one
particular of temperature the physicists and astronomers tell us that the universe has a
range of tens of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit; our human life can endure a variation of
"barely' one hundred fifty degrees. We cannot conceive of life existing at four
hundred degrees below zero, or at ten thousand degrees above; yet the spirit world has
joyful existence under these and other inconceivable conditions,
If we were planning to move our
residence to, say, Africa or Australia, we should try to learn all we could about life
there-in fact to go there in our minds and so
prepare ourselves for our new environment. We would commence our new life there in anticipation; and that is exactly what the
pentecostal begetting of the Spirit is-the mental seed-planting of a new spirit-life; a
"lively hope," or new hope of life. To this embryonic spirit-life such various
Scriptures refer as: "a new creature"; "the renewing [literally, up-newing]
of your mind"; "walking in newness of life"; "set your affections on
things above"; etc., etc.
The Metamorphosis, or
Transformation
"There is a physical body, and
there is a spirit body." The change from one to the other, tremendous as it is, is a
mere detail to the power with which the begotten one has to do. The actual operation is
dismissed in the Scriptures in a few sentences. "He giveth it a body as it pleaseth
Him." "He will change the body of our humiliation into the likeness of His own
glorious body." Moreover, this change will be accomplished instantaneously,
"in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye."
But the mental, moral, and emotional
transformation from the human to the spirit nature is a far more complicated and lengthy
process, and requires the candidate's full, continuous, and careful cooperation.
Practically the whole of the New testament is devoted to describing, facilitating, and
inspiring this process. It requires rigid self-abnegation, self-discipline, and
self-sacrifice, that is, of the human self. "The flesh-desires oppose the spirit, and
the spirit-desires oppose the flesh, for these are contrary to each other; that not
whatsoever things ye may be wishing, these ye
should be doing." Every sincere candidate
for spirit-birth knows this to be true.
Are We Sincere?
What does it mean to us? Are we
carefully cherishing and cultivating that flame of life that we have received, or are
we permitting "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches" to
"quench the Spirit"? Are we "putting to death the deeds of the body"
that we may live; or are we "living after the flesh," which is
mortal-"death-doomed"? Are we "giving ourselves wholly to these things,
that our profit may be manifest to all," as the Apostle advised his "beloved
son" Timothy? Are we cultivating and bringing forth in our lives the ripening
"fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering," etc.; or are
the "works of the flesh" still all too manifest in our relationships-family,
church, business? Is our love like God's sunshine and rain, universal and
impartial-"perfect," as Jesus admonished us it should be; or is it sectional
(sectional) -- only for those who agree with us?
Self-examination
These are practical questions, of
supreme importance. They should be addressed, in all seriousness, to ourselves.
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be, in the faith"-not a creed, but the
confidence and reliance in and upon the Lord, with reason on your part for Him to have
faith in you. "Prove ye yourselves. Or do
ye not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are disapproved?"
For "if we examine ourselves, we
should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are corrected, that we may
not be condemned with the world."
"Quench not the Spirit."
------------------------------------------
(Note: Scriptural quotations in the
foregoing article follow the text of the three oldest Greek MSS., and the literal
renderings of the Emphatic Diaglott, Rotherham, and Strong's Greek Dictionary.)
"Call to remembrance the former
days, in which, after ye were illuminated,
ye endured a great fight of afflictions." - Heb. 10:32.
INTO THE lives of most Christian people
there come, at times, periods of staleness and coldness, even if not of deadness. It
seems as if the run of the tide is always on the ebb-the watermark of our Christian
vitality sinking lower and lower every day. The joys and delights of an earlier day come
less frequently-when they come they move us less deeply -- we find ourselves carrying
burdens which in other clays we would have taken to the Lord in prayer. We become more
inclined to sigh than sing -- to mutter plaints than prayers -- to segregate than
congregate-and thus from many causes (no one of which is wholly responsible for our
condition) we pass out of the bright sunshine of the truth into the darkening shadows of
doubt and uncertainty and depression.
We may not find the same joy in reading
our Bibles or in reading about the truth. We may not find ourselves responding so fully or
so willingly to the brethren whenever we meet them we may even reach the position that' we
have no pleasure in meeting with them at all. Our faces may not light up and our hearts
may not thrill at the touch of a kindred hand. There may not be the, eager sense of
expectancy as the hour for study approaches; and we may not show the same degree of desire
to be there on time. We find ourselves rather inclined to creep into the meeting and
into a back seat, just after the meeting is started, and then we get out and away as soon
as we can when it is over. And we run away just as cold as we went in. Little by little we
find it becoming easier to make excuses "not to go tonight"; because the
speaker's little ways irritate, or we find ourselves not agreeing with all that is being
said, and so on.
And then prayer in the home becomes
more difficult-the tongue seems heavy and the heart like lead -- and the words do not
come easy or without effort -- until we begin to set out on the day's journey without
asking for guidance and safe keeping; and walk off to bed without returning thanks for the
day. And so the whole daily round becomes a dark, black, thankless task, and we shed no
ray of light or happiness into the lives of others with whom we work. Our hold on
spiritual things gets weaker, and we tend to forget the promises given in the Word of
God; our mind fails to think of these things, and slowly they begin to fade away.
Spiritual sickness has set in, and it is affecting all sections of the religious life.
There is spiritual heart disease; there is spiritual short-sightedness; there is
spiritual dyspepsia; there is spiritual nervousness and touchiness. We chafe and fester
easily. Walking becomes difficult. In fact, we lie open to a thousand and one attacks of
spiritual sickness and weakness, and to spiritual death. Those of us who escape all these
things, in milder or severer form, are few in number; for from time to time we seem to '
have been purposely delivered over to these things, almost against our will or desire, to
test our zeal and the degree of our spiritual hunger.
Brethren of Long Ago
In the case of our Hebrew brethren of
long ago, the underlying cause of their sickness was "fear." They suffered from
drooping hands and paralyzed knees-the buckram and stiffening had gone out of their
resistance-they were afraid of resisting unto blood-they shrank from discipline-the rod of
correction hurt them; they whined under it-they weighed up, like Esau, the present
satisfaction against' the future blessing, and were inclined to choose for the
present-they were inclined to "neglect" the means of grace and salvation and
the things they had been taught, so that the writer chided them for their backwardness.
The days were difficult; there was no
mistake about that. They had waited for the fulfillment of promises, sand it had seemed to
tarry, and hope continually deferred had made their hearts sick.
They had believed the coming of Jesus
to be near at hand in order to inaugurate His Kingdom and to reward them for their labors
and privations, but He had seemed to tarry. And things around them were getting worse. The
gathering gloom of a day of wrath was deepening all around them; the Roman taskmaster was
beginning to goad their Jewish kinsmen to madness, and the retaliatory venom and spite
which they could not vent on the Romans'-descended on the believer. The high authorities
of Judaism were preparing for insurrection and rebellion, but they could not count on
the Christians' support, and so they became more bitter and hostile. And as thousands of
those who had tried to amalgamate the teachings of Moses and the teachings of Jesus began
to fall away again, to Judaism, or worse, their hostility took on a severer form. And not
only in Judea but in the distant places their opponents became more hostile so that,
whatever church it was to which this letter was originally sent, they were feeling
distressed: about things. It was hard for them to live in a condition of
"faith," to live in a realm of "unseen things." For nearly fifty
generations their forefathers had sought to keep the law and maintain its institutions
of worship and sacrifice.
No Safety in Physical
Touch
They had been able to approach a priest
whom they could see, in a temple they- could admire, with sacrifices upon which they would
lay their hands, and that was easy and
appealed to their fleshly senses. The songs of praise, beautifully sung, appealed to their
ears, and the elaborate ritual appealed to their eyes--here were things which gave some
delight to their senses -- and then, when to all this splendor and magnificence -- so easy
"to touch" -- was added the assurance that all this observance of pleasant
ritual and ceremony constituted them the people of Jehovah, His choice and peculiar
treasure, to whom He had made great and wonderful promises, which placed them in a unique
and singular position so different; from all peoples of the earth, it made their religion
a pleasant thing.
And now, for some considerable 'time
they had been trying to live on a different plane. The only sacrifice for sin they had
been told about, in the new order, had been offered by Jesus (instead of by a white-robed
priest), and instead of doing this every year, He had done it only once. Instead of a
morning and evening sacrifice of worship and praise offered by a priest, ascending up for
all the people of God, they themselves had had to offer their own sacrifice of praise, a
mere hymn of praise and thanksgiving. They had no beautiful temple, except as their
holiest of all was in heaven; they had no high priest except the great High Priest who was
in heaven: and Him they could neither see nor touch-it required a large measure of faith
to believe that the prayers and petitions which they had made to Him reached His ears, or
that the things they did in His name were noticed by Him. In the old days, faithfulness
to God in keeping His commandments and judgments brought great blessings to their people;
now, faithfulness to the new things, brought tribulations and persecutions and the
spoiling of their goods. Contact with invisible things was not 'an easy thing for those
worshipers whose early lives had been spent in close touch with the visible things which
had come down to them from their fathers' day. They had stepped out into an intangible
world-order, to follow an invisible Leader with nothing but promises to stand' on, with
persecution in abundance, and the time of fulfillment was long delayed; they were
getting older, and the adventurous fires of youth were burning low; the visions that
thrilled them in those days were becoming dimmed and less clear, and less inspiring.
Hence, unbelief (or a less clear belief) had gripped them and was girding them closely
around; they were weary and the race-course was long and hard; "fear" of several
kinds had settled upon heart and mind; they had lost their "rest" and peace of
mind, and found it easy to "neglect" the great salvation. They were almost ready
to give it all, up and go back to the usages and customs of their fathers.
Persecution Gloried In
They had not always been lax and tired;
there had been great days when their first love had burned bright and the fires of early
enthusiasm had been at a glowing white heat. They had accepted persecution willingly
enough then and had gloried in it. And when others were under punishment, they stood by
to support and succor, yea, even to the spoiling of their own homes and possession.
Faith inspired their works and activities; and love, prompted, their labors as they
ministered to the saints of God, in season and out of season.
In those days the vision of their
calling was clear; they knew, to the lowest depths of their hearts, that they were called
to be partakers with Christ, that He had been appointed their princely Leader to lead them
to heavenly glory, and that He had already entered heaven on their behalf, to offer
Himself as their sin-offering. They knew also that He had tasted death for every man, even
though but few had realized that this was so, and that His death was the pledge and
security of that better day of which their Prophets had spoken when a new and better
covenant should be made with the houses of Israel and Judah, though now the remnant of
Judah was spurning Him; but for the present He had gone into the presence of their God for
them, as a great High Priest of a new and better order. It was a glorious purpose which
was being worked out, full redemption through Jesus' transcending sacrifice, and ' through
that sacrifice, life, eternal life and inheritance, was promised. It was better in every
way than the institutions of their fathers, and would yield "better" results.
-- It was "better" now; it would be "better" to the end.
And thus, while the grip of the great
spiritual truths was strong upon them, their hearts were aflame with a holy response. It
was a gospel worth proclaiming, worth living for, worth dying for! It was worth all the
broken ties of husband and wife, of children, or kinsmen; it was better than all the
friendship of neighbors and countrymen; and as for suffering and scorn and odium, why,
they had gloried in it all; and they had parted with their goods without a single regret.
Heavenly Fires of
Devotion
The heavenly "illumination"
had made, everything worth while, and it was a joy to participate in the great
proclamation or confession placed before the whole nation, for it showed them the
Almighty's love for them above all peoples of the earth.
Oh! if "first enthusiasms could
last," if only the holy fire which the first contact with divine love produces could
continue to burn undimmed and undiminished, how different things could be! Long days of
waiting and unfulfilled expectations tend to damp out the flame of devotion and ready
service! And the heart cools down; the head becomes less keen. The clear sharp outline of
the big things of the Divine Plan fades slowly away, and we see things less clearly and
definitely.
Revisions and re-definitions of thought
follow as we seek to retain some grip upon the illumination which is fading into the
darker, twilight dimness. With us too there have been days of waiting. Things which we
expected did not happen. The crash of nations and fall of kingdoms, which we expected to
be instantaneous, has proved to be protracted and long drawn out.
The "gathering home" of the
saints, which we believed would be realized twenty years ago, is not yet complete, and
there is not the thrill of big things-activities such as tract-distribution, lectures,
etc., on the big scale to whip up our hearts into glowing enthusiasm. We sense the whole
world's need; yet, we can do nothing. We feel that our countrymen are dull of
apprehension; yet we are powerless. Religious men talk of "revival," but the
heavenly "fire" does not fall. Meanwhile, death, murder, suspicion, broken
faith, and a thousand evils stalk the earth; and all we can do is to wait, to wait
helplessly, unable to do anything, almost unable to say anything which will give one human
heart a moment's respite from its gnawing anxiety.
Oh, if only we could do something
effectively, to ease the tension of things in and around us, how much easier it would seem
to be! It is not the persecutor which we fear, like our Hebrew brethren of long ago, but
to us, as to them, the time seems long and the fulfillment seems tardy. And because this
seems so, the pull and drag of inertia gets into our souls. To stand at the death-bed and
be unable to relieve or soothe or assuage the death pangs, is hard to bear, but long
contact with it makes us familiar with it and less sensitive. The passing days remove us
further and further from the period of our life when the hot fires are easily kindled, and
the glowing enthusiasms can become white hot. Then, we fall into grooves of quietness
and are less demonstrative. We are harder to rouse, and our warmth does not last so long.
Our resources of helpful energy are sooner spent, and we have less to give to others who
have need of our labor of love. Each further year of waiting tends to rob us still more
of our inheritance and lessen the circumference of our little world. And because we have
found some of our brethren untrustworthy, it may have had a chilling effect on our souls.
It may have tended to develop aloofness and lack of trust, and almost lack of love to our
brethren. Oh! if time did not rob us of youth and enthusiasm and the illumination of the
former days, how much more, easily we might spend our days of waiting!
What can we do to make the last days of
our pilgrimage the best days, as they should be? What. can we do to recover the blessings
of years gone by, which perhaps the worms and locusts have almost eaten up? Can we do
any better than heed these words of Scripture: "Call to remembrance the former days
after ye were illuminated"?
- Contributed.
(To be continued)
"Speaking the Truth in love,
... grow up into Him in all things,
which is the Head, even Christ." - Eph 4:15.
IN PROPORTION as any who seek to know
God are led to see His true character, they have confidence in Him. After such have come
to the point of full consecration to the Lord, they receive the begetting of the Holy
Spirit, and become of the Church class, the sanctified in Christ Jesus, the set apart ones
- set apart by the Holy Spirit. Of these the Apostle Paul says, "God hath not given
us the spirit of fear." The New Creature must repel every attack of servile fear -
which belongs to the flesh, the fallen condition. The new mind must triumph over this
natural tendency, must cultivate trust in the Lord.
No man could do more than take away
our earthly life. No man can take away our future life. "Fear not them which kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both
soul and body." So the child of God is to be very courageous knowing that no one can
do him harm, knowing that God will not permit anything to come to him that will not be for
his good. The enlightened child of God would have no fear, or dread, of eternal torment.
He would still have proper fear such as a husband would have toward a wife, or a wife
toward a husband - a fear of displeasing or disappointing, and thus losing the esteem and
confidence of the companion.
In respect to all the brethren we
should have such fear. We should have a filial fear toward God, but not with the thought
that He would harm us or torment us or do us violence of any kind, but fear lest we should
lose our fellowship with Him. So, then, whatever fear we have of a slavish kind is not
from God. Such fear brings a snare. But love, inspired by a true knowledge of God and
begotten of His Spirit, delivers us also from the fear of man, in proportion as this love
abounds in us.
God
has given us the spirit of love, the spirit of a sound mind, the spirit of power. The
Christian knows that "all things work together for good to them that love God."
This is to him a source of power, of strength. Circumstances and conditions which would
quite overwhelm others, he may expect to have. This spirit is not only a spirit of power,
but a spirit of love - a spirit of kindness and gentleness. It is a spirit that loves to
do good, to do right, to be helpful. And so the Christian with this spirit of love and of
a sound mind becomes more and more Godlike. This enables him to have more and more
compassion for those who are out of the way. And as God sent His Son, and as the Son came
and provided the blessing of life for all at such a great cost to Himself so all who have
His spirit will strive to bless others.
EVIDENCES OF A SOUND MIND
The fall of Adam has worked ruin to
mankind, so that from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot there are none sound.
(Isa 1:5,6.) None are sound of mind or body. All are out of the way. "There is none
righteous; no, not one." (Rom 3:10.) But in proportion as we receive the Spirit of
the Lord, and in proportion as that Spirit of the Lord works in us and develops us and
influences all the conduct of life, in that same proportion we receive the spirit of a
sound mind.
This soundness of mind will teach us
how better to use our bodies. A person of unsound mind may either eat too much or eat what
does not agree with him. In proportion as we have a sound mind, it influences what we eat,
what we drink, and everything we do; it helps to regulate and control everything in life
for us. It gives us broad views of all the affairs of life. It gives us more generous
views of mankind. We recognize that mankind are under the curse, and we have a feeling of
compassion for them. We have much advantage every way, because God has opened the eyes of
our understanding.
This spirit of a sound mind makes us
more helpful. We know better how to deal with each other as brethren. We know better how
to deal with our children, with our neighbors, with the butcher, with the ice man and with
every one else. The Truth does not come to many of those who are naturally soundest of
mind, and it takes time for the Truth to bring in a measure of soundness. But we notice
that when one receives the Truth in the love of it, it has a healing effect on his mind.
He will begin to think more correctly and to act more wisely.
Then he will desire to proclaim the
Truth. The Truth is to be spoken humbly, but fearlessly. The Christian is not at liberty
to speak contrary to the Truth. If he is a professed minister of the Gospel, when the
Truth reaches him, he is not at liberty to continue to preach error just because the
congregation appointing him might not desire the Truth. A worldling in that pulpit would
have no qualms of conscience. He would say, "I am giving these people the very things
they want. They are paying my salary." That would be his attitude because he had not
received the spirit of the Truth.
One who had received the spirit of
the Truth would say, "I now see that some of the things I have been preaching for
years are injurious, dishonoring to God misrepresenting His character, and more or less
turning people away from the Truth. I have been teaching error the very opposite of what I
wish to do; I cannot longer dispense these errors. I am not the ambassador of this
denomination; I am the ambassador of God. I am not the servant of this denomination; I am
the servant of God of the Truth. If I should preach error, that which would be contrary to
the Truth, I would be guilty before God. I must stop immediately."
Such a person would lose his standing
- honor amongst men, favor, influence, etc. But all this is not to be considered. St. Paul
says that these things are all but as loss and dross, are but vile refuse, if we can only
win a place in the Kingdom. Then we shall have won the "pearl of great price."
So, then, the speaking of the Truth is essential to the Christian. In his own heart, of
course, he must have it enshrined. When he has received the Truth into his heart he will
esteem it a blessed privilege to speak it.
Our tongue is the most powerful
member of our body. Its influence is the greatest of all - the most far-reaching. It may
be an influence for good or for injury. The Apostle says that with the same tongue we may
praise God and injure men. To speak the Truth, to confess Christ before men, either
publicly or privately, is a great privilege. But in order to be a servant pleasing to the
Lord we must speak the Truth in love and without fear.
In this connection the Apostle calls
attention to the fact that we are not to expect to be mature in these respects at the
beginning of our Christian way. When we first enter the family of God, less might
reasonably be expected of us than after we had been in the family for some time. We as
dear children of God are to grow in the likeness of our dear Elder Brother, our Pattern,
our Head. We are to "grow up into Him in all things." We are to recognize that
He is the Head of the Church. And if we are to be members of that Body in glory, we must
be developed. We are to mature in the fruits of the Holy Spirit, that we may be qualified
and prepared to share in future that glorious Kingdom which is to bless the world.
"EXPRESSION DEEPENS IMPRESSION"
We are to exercise our function of
ambassadorship - we are to "show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of
darkness into His marvelous light." And in telling this Message courageously and
lovingly we should grow in grace and in knowledge. We are to proclaim the Truth, and at
the same time to grow and develop in character. Why attain a growth of character? Because
it will make us more like God. "God is love." He has other qualities; but this
quality of love is the especially predominating the overruling quality of His character.
God’s Justice operates in conjunction with His Love, and His Wisdom would not attempt
to carry out any plans that Love would not approve.
And so as we grow, the quality of
love should be more and more manifest. The Truth is to be spoken in love. This is one of
the things we should attain earliest. We are to curb, to bridle, our tongues. We are to
see that our words are loving, kind, gentle. Speaking the Truth in love, we shall not only
be accomplishing more for others but the lesson will also thus be more impressed upon our
own minds. It has been well said that "expression deepens impression." Whoever
appreciates and speaks forth these things of God in love will receive a blessing in his
own heart and mind. In helping others he will be helping himself. "He that watereth
shall be watered also himself."
NATURAL QUALITIES THAT NEED RESTRAINT
We see a difficulty in this respect
in some of the stronger characters that come into Christ. There are characters that have
less combativeness naturally, who would not be inclined to bring force to bear upon others
in connection with their ambassadorship. If their Message did not seem to be favorably
received, they would be likely to feel, "They do not like this, so I will not talk on
this subject." But those who have more combativeness are liable to manifest the force
of their disposition in the way they present the Truth. They might be too forceful they
might place the matter before others as an obligation.
But we are to remember that
consecration is not now a compulsory matter. It is an invitation. By and by force will be
needed. The ones who are now sought are merely those who have the ear to hear; and such
need only to have the word of counsel. If any use too great force in presenting the
Message, the Great King would not be so well served, and hence would not be so well
pleased.
Others may have great
approbativeness. They might have pride and wish to show off in the way of language or in
their skill in handling the Sword of the Spirit. They might give out the Message with the
idea of rousing in others the thought, "See how much he knows; he is a wonderful
digger in the Bible." This seems to be a temptation to many. They seem to like to be
in the lime-light just as others like to keep out of the lime-light. The one might have to
force himself in order to go and speak the Truth in public as an ambassador; while the
other would have to curb himself somewhat in this respect. The only way for the latter to
do is to learn to speak the Truth in humility, in love - the love of the Truth, the love
of the brethren. It is God’s Plan, we have nothing whereof to boast. We are always to
present His Plan in meekness, gentleness, brotherly-kindness, love.
The Apostle Paul urges that we
"consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." The word provoke
here means to stimulate to call forth. Love is not easily called forth to anger. It is
longsuffering. We might say, strictly speaking, that it is not the quality of love that
would be moved to anger. Yet righteous anger is not incompatible with love. God is the
highest representation we have of love - "God is Love." Yet the Scriptures
assure us that God is angry with the wicked every day. His anger is righteous indignation
against sin.
Looking to God as the Great Example,
we see that His love was manifested toward His creatures in the beginning. It was love for
humanity that provided the Garden of Eden with all its blessings and its perfect life just
as for the angels His love provided for all their blessings. But when sin came in, Love
stepped back; in other words, Justice was the special attribute of God then manifested.
Yet it was for the good of mankind that there should be this punishment for sin. Even here
God’s Love persisted, though man had by sin become an opponent of God - an enemy of
God; and Love was provoked to anger.
The Lord said through the Prophet,
"Why have they provoked Me to anger?" (Jer 8:19.) Many Scriptures speak of
God’s anger. The anger of God has been against sin. It has been resting upon the
world for six thousand years. But the Love of God has not been violated by this; therefore
Love can be provoked to anger.
"Love is not easily
provoked." It required the act of intentional disobedience on the part of Father Adam
to provoke God to anger. It was not because Mother Eve was deceived that the sentence came
upon the world. The anger of God came upon the world, and the sentence of death was
pronounced, because of Father Adam’s sin which was committed with full knowledge.
During these six thousand years of sin God’s Love has been in abeyance so to speak,
provoked to the point of withholding its manifestation.
But all the while God’s
character has not changed. He did not cause the diabolical conditions which prevailed in
the Dark Ages. Love would never sanction sin. "The wages of sin is death." And
everything that goes with death is a part of that penalty, that sentence. But God has
permitted these conditions for man’s ultimate good. This love of God, held in
abeyance, has bided its time to manifest itself to our race.
In due time God sent forth His Son to
be man’s Redeemer. He came and gave His life a willing sacrifice for human sin. In
due time the call went forth to gather the Church. And this Church is being gathered -
during this Gospel Age. In due time the Church will be exalted in Kingdom glory. In due
time that Kingdom will lift up from sin and degradation all those of mankind who are
willing to accept life on God’s terms.
CULTIVATION OF LOVE ESPECIALLY NEEDFUL
How earnestly we need to watch and
pray, that we may indeed be fitted for our great future work! There is a danger that love
will not be sufficiently strong in us for by reason of the fall sin and selfishness have
come to be preponderating influences. These principles, having the ascendency, and
operating for six thousand years have made man very lacking in love, sympathy,
brotherly-kindness and long-suffering. Now there is a greater natural tendency toward
anger, malice, strife, hatred, than toward love. Consequently, when God accepts us into
His family He tells us that one of the first requirements is love. Love must grow in our
hearts and minds; it must permeate all our thoughts, words and actions.
The Apostle in speaking of love as
respects the Church assures us that if we would be pleasing to the Lord we must develop
this grace richly. Those who possess this quality in goodly measure will not be easily
provoked to anger. Those who possess little love will be easily angered. The love which
the Lord appreciates is long-suffering. This does not mean that there would not be proper
occasions for anger in God’s people. There should be a feeling of righteous
indignation when we see injustice. Why? Because injustice is wrong. God is angry with
injustice; and so God’s people should have no sympathy with injustice in any form.
If the Lord’s people do not
cultivate the quality of justice they will get into that attitude where they will not
appreciate justice at all. While knowing what is right and what is wrong, and while
appreciating justice, we are to cultivate the quality of love. None can say that his own
estimate of justice is altogether right and the other man’s is entirely wrong. None
can say, "I do not need to cultivate this quality, but my brother needs it." But
each should think, "Here is a brother - perhaps he labors under greater disadvantages
than I have to strive against. He is a brother of mine according to the spirit. He seems
to me to be doing wrong, but I sympathize with him because he probably does not see that
it is wrong. On the other hand, it is possible that I may be wrong myself."
LET US HAVE SYMPATHY FOR ALL MEN
God has no sympathy with sin. But He
has so much sympathy for the sinner that He has provided His Son to uplift the sinners,
and has set apart a thousand years for the work of uplift. We note injustice. We ought to
note it. But it is not for us to flay, to inflict the punishments. It is for us to leave
the punishments to the Almighty. We are, therefore, to "judge nothing before the
time." We see wrongs committed. We say, "I know that to be a crime; but it is
not for me to settle with the criminal. God knows to what extent he is responsible; I do
not. It is my duty to look at him from the standpoint of sympathy. It is my duty to pray
for him and to assist him all in my power - out of his wrong views into right views. But
even in this I am to be wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove. I may know that such
conduct is wrong, but I cannot know as to the individual - how wrong he may be."
So love looks out and sees that the
whole world is in much difficulty through the fall. And love says, "Be gentle toward
all - be meek. I am ever to remember that we are in a world of sin, pain, sickness,
death." From this viewpoint love will not be easily provoked, but will think kindly
and sympathetically of others. So, dear brethren, let us grow up into our glorious Head in
all things, until, made perfect and complete, we are "presented faultless before the
presence of His glory, with exceeding joy." - Jude 24.
"The time is short! Then be thy
heart a brother’s
To every heart that needs thy help in aught.
How much they need the sympathy of others!
The time, the time is short!"
- Reprints, Nov. 1, 1916, page R5977.
(Continued from last issue)
Job 19:25
IN OUR previous study of this
affirmation of job the effort was made to show the desirability of reaching this assured
testimony in the matter of our own relation to the Lord. To this end attention was given
to the fact that our risen Savior in giving those "many infallible proofs" of
His resurrection to His immediate disciples, was at the same time furnishing us with
indubitable proof on which we too could say with confidence, "I know that my Redeemer
liveth." In His manifestations to Mary in the quietness of the garden alone, and to
Peter in some unnamed place apart, we saw how in like manner, though invisible, Jesus
still comes to us speaking words by which we may certainly know He lives, and loves, and
cares for us also.
We propose now to follow on in the same
way in considering others of these post-resurrection appearances, taking them in the order
in which they seem to have taken place. In each of these we shall find unquestionable
proof that our Redeemer lives, and that He
is fulfilling to each one of us the selfsame promise, "I will love him, and will
manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21.) Just because He is the "same Jesus"
yesterday, and today, and forever, we too may share with those "chosen
eye-witnesses" of long ago the evidences whereby every doubt may be shattered, and
every responsive fiber of our inner being greatly quickened with hope, enabling us also
to return to our appointed tasks "with great joy, even as it is said of those favored
ones who saw their Savior, and ours, ascend from them out at Bethany. - See Luke 24:50-53.
Expounding Scriptures Concerning Himself Made Hearts Burn
Two disciples, one unnamed, are the
next to be favored with an experience whereby they can affirm with assurance that their
Redeemer lives again. And once more we may see that same surprising distribution of
God's favors by which our own ways are reversed so strikingly. That there is a possibility
neither of these two disciples were of the Twelve could be gathered from Luke. In chapter
24:33 he tells us that immediately after they discovered they had seen Jesus, they
"rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered
together." This again was no accidental arrangement by which two disciples may have
taken precedence over chosen Apostles. This was the Lord's own doings, and marvelous it is
in our eyes, yea, full of lesson for us. By His granting this precedence first to Mary,
then to Peter, and now to these two brethren, how clearly Jesus is bringing the lesson
home to each one of us that we are Wholly incompetent to decide whom the Lord will select
for special recognition. Are we not by these very significant incidents made to wonder how
many of our judgments regarding fitness for His presence will be reversed when the
number of His elect Church has been completed. More important still, are we not led to
wonder if we will experience any disappointing reversal of a too lenient or partial
judgment of ourselves? This possibility is surely written plainly for us in these
actions of Jesus, and to make sure of avoiding such a disappointment when the Lord makes
manifest the secrets of all hearts, how important it is that we take to ourselves all
such lessons now.
The story of the evening walk to Emmaus
is full of lessons of which our hearts should never tire. The name of only one of these
two disciple; is given us. Why not the other? Is the omission of the other's name in any
way suggestive that we may think of that one as ourself? Are the identification marks
not clear enough to most of us for thinking of ourselves as needing and receiving some
similar corrections because so slow to learn all that the Scriptures should teach us. Let
us note a few of these. But first let us note that these two brethren were occupied with a
theme well calculated to bring Jesus to them. It was because they were absorbed in the
strange nature of His death, and so perplexed with regard to its significance that such
words as these could be written concerning them: "Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them." No occupation of mind will ever
bring the Savior so near to one's spirit as that which has to do with the meaning to
oneself of His death. And no one can make the mean ing of that sacrifice so clear, so
heart-satisfying, and precious as He, who, "beginning at Moses and all the Prophets,
expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
It has been well said, "Many of
the loveliest songs of peace and trust and hope which God's children sing in this world
have been taught in the hushed chambers of sorrow. . . . Afflictions, sanctified, soften
the asperities of life. They tame the wildness of nature. They temper human ambitions.
They reveal to men their own hearts, their own weakness, faults, blemishes, and perils.
They teach patience and submission. They deepen and
enrich our experience." And in all such "chambers of sorrow" through
which we pass, no greater word of comfort can we find than the assurance the Apostle gives
us that the Jesus of the Emmaus story is "this same Jesus" who can "be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities," because of having been "tempted in
all points like as we are."
How like Jesus it was to come to these
two discouraged followers on the very day of His triumph over death. To Him it was a
delight to walk with them on that Sabbath-day journey, and by revealing Himself to them
cause their hearts to burn with His unfolding of Scripture, and revive their hope by the
simple but significant act of breaking bread with
them. Out of similar experiences of shattered hopes and unexpected trials how many of us
have been led to know "what a Friend we have in Jesus." When through fiery
trials our pathway has lain, what encouragement has come to us as we have heard Him say,
"It is I; be not afraid." When made to feel the loneliness of the way, when none
seem able to understand us, have we not known Jesus to draw near and go with us, and in
recollecting His own lonely hours of earthly life we are given fresh courage, and led to
find in Him and His words a satisfying heart's-ease. Have we not found it true, as a writer of note has
said:
"It was in the character, not of
reproof, but of a sympathizing friend that He spoke to these disciples, so let me think of
Him as ready to sympathize with and comfort me, when I walk sad. If often does my sore
heart no good to tell its sorrow to any earthly friend. To talk over all. the incidents,
all the hopes, all the disappointments, all the 'might-have-beens' connected with it, only
deepens the gloom. 'I need a wiser friend than any just like myself can be, a friend who
understands what perplexes me, a friend who himself sees and can show me 'the bright light
that is within the cloud,' a friend who has not merely the love to sympathize with me, but
the power to help. Just such a friend is this great Christ, who sometimes seems a
stranger, but, coming to me and chasing my gloom away, reveals Himself as the very Lord
who said, 'Ye shall weep and lament while the world rejoices, but I will see you again,
and your sorrow shall be turned into joy!'
"It is just His love to me that
brings Him to my side. He comes unrecognized at first; for to me, as to these sorrowing
ones, He wears 'another form' than that in which I have known Him before. My eyes, like
theirs, are sealed with grief, are so 'holden' that I cannot recognize Him in this new
form to be the same as ever. He walks beside me, and talks with me, and makes my heart
'burn within me,' and yet, for a time, there is no 'lifting up,' till, in a moment,
somehow, the scales fall from my eyes; I know Him; and ere He goes, He leaves with me His
own deep, wonderful, satisfying, and unending peace. I am sure many of my darkest hours
have been the birthplace of my highest songs. It is often just when the water in my bottle
was completely spent, and. Hagar-like, I felt that I could only lay myself down to die,
that my eyes were opened to see the flowing spring that had been close beside me all the
time, although I knew it not. When I go mourning without the sun, a few words from the
risen Lord can easily put everything right; but I often need the darkness in order to
appreciate the light."
And then it is that like one whose ears
have heard the joyful sound, our hearts exclaim, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."
He Lives to Bring His Peace into Our Hearts
The next appearance of Jesus seems to
have been in the upper room where most of the eleven were gathered behind locked doors.
How significant His first words to them, "Peace be unto you." He had not said
these words to the women whom He met at the grave. They had not deserted Him in His hour
of trial and crucifixion and therefore needed no word suggestive of forgiveness for
unfaithfulness to Him. But how different it was with most of those He found gathered in
that upper room. Yet there was no rebuke, nothing to call to mind their shameful
desertion, not even a suggestive pause as He appeared in their midst, but "Peace be
unto you," immediately spoken. He had only His loving interest in them to speak. God
had "brought again from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep," and the
first thing He did was to comfort His flock with His word of peace.
What a wealth of meaning, of comfort
and strength, is bound up in this promise of Jesus, "These
things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace." (John 16:33.) In bequeathing His
peace to us Jesus surely meant this legacy to be one of our best witnesses of His abiding
presence with us, and those who enjoy it can testify out of a personal experience,
"In Thy presence, is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore." (Psa. 16:11.) What peace we may enjoy when we take Him at His word. But
with us, as with those disciples in the upper room, there is often a need that He should
say to us-yes, even after His word of peace has been spoken in our cars-"Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your
hearts?" Why are we so slow to take Him at His word? Because of the pleasing
presentation of the lesson we need here, we quote again from the same writer as before:
"Let me be very still as I listen
to the words that tell me that this Lord and Master is, to me also, the 'same yesterday,
and today, and forever.'
To rid me of all my misgivings, He
tells me, first, that He is no longer a dead, but a living, Christ; and He tells me, next,
that though He has entered into His glory, He is the 'same Jesus' as of old -the same in
tenderness and the same in grace. I would be a brighter Christian than I am, if I thought
of Him more as the living Christ. I sing with joy
'My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary';
but perhaps I think, not too much-I
cannot do that-but too exclusively of the Christ that died, and not sufficiently of the
Christ who lives and reigns, and is now my living
Advocate and Friend forever. At least, Paul seems to have thought so when he spoke of
the consolation of knowing the 'Christ that died, yea rather is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.' The life of my Lord, did
not end nineteen hundred years ago! Just that He might not be a local Christ, or a Christ
for one age alone, He rose into that unchanging life that knows no periods, no epochs, no
time, but is an Eternal Now; and He is with me today. I would seek to live upon a present
Christ, and find my comfort and my sanctity in that; and all the. more when I remember
that the past, the present, and the future are all in the one great Lord who is 'the same
yesterday, and today, and forever,' so that my faith can cling to the -Christ who died, my
love rest satisfied in the Christ who is risen,
and my hope expect with joy the Christ who comes again; for, to the heart that knows Him,
He is really 'all,' not merely the alpha and the omega, but all the letters between. My
faith in the Christ of history is confirmed and intensified when I see that He is the
Christ of experience also.
"How often has He said to
trembling and dispirited ones just what He said in the upper room, 'Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your
hearts?' All down the age His voice has been heard speaking
peace, and His presence bestowing it. Have I not myself had experiences of His grace
I cannot dispute, experiences I would not part with for a thousand worlds? I recognize His
words of old in the very tone in which He has spoken to my own heart many a time. To me
the Christ of history and the Christ of experience are one-'that same Jesus'; and I see
that instead of its being difficult for me to trust this Christ whom I have never seen,
because His earthly life now lies so far back in the past, it is becoming every day easier
to do it. He stands before me now in a glory He never had before, a Savior whose grace has been tested and experienced." Therefore,
"I know that my Redeemer liveth."
"My Lord, and My God"
Again we come to the same upper room.
Thomas, not being present when Jesus appeared here before, and having declared the only
condition on which he could believe that Jesus was alive again, is now to have the proof
he had demanded. There is no need for believing that Thomas critically tested the evidence
he had asked for, but rather that he spontaneously exclaimed, "My Lord, and my
God." All his doubts had vanished now, and he is satisfied that the "same
Jesus" is alive for evermore. In thinking of Thomas demanding this evidence before he
could believe, we have become accustomed to speak of him as the "doubting
Thomas," and to think of him only in that manner. But from another viewpoint his
insisting on seeing the evidence by which
he could know that the crucified Jesus was
risen again, has much in it that we may well consider. What he beheld drew from him a
statement which embodied both assurance and complete dedication. "My Lord, and my
God." And "this same Jesus" who "once to loving doubt showed hands,
and feet, and riven side," and thereby gave permanence to a disciple's faith,
continues to do the same today. And in what way can He more effectively produce in our
hearts an abiding faith in His being our personal, living Redeemer, than by opening our
vision to see Him crucified for us? What vision
will cause us to cry, "O Lamb of God, my Sacrifice," like a clear, unclouded
view of the wounds He bore for us? We turn to the Gospels and read the story of the
buffeting and the mocking, of His long-lingering agonies on the cross; or perchance we
turn to something like Dean Farrar's "Life of Christ," and with tears in our
eyes reread a vivid account of the horrors of His death by crucifixion, and from our
deepest powers of response we say, "He bore, He bore it all for me!" "My-
Lord, and my God!" The tie by which we are
bound to Him never seems stronger than when we meditate on the fact that "He bore our
sins in His own body on the tree." That sacrifice is the answer to all our doubts
concerning His acceptance of us, and we cling- to Him in the-assurance that
"If I ask Him to receive me,
Will He say me nay?
Not till earth and not till heaven
Pass away!"
Let us, then, be not faithless but
believing. "If while we were yet sinners Christ died for us," now that we have
been accepted in the Beloved One, and He stands in God's presence for us, is it not ours
to rejoice in a love 'that will not let us go? Only let ours be the complete assurance and
dedication so well expressed in the words of Thomas, and our testimony will then be one
of blessed conviction, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."
He Careth for All His Own
Our next appearance is a seashore
morning meal prepared by the hand of Jesus. His disciples had been toiling all night
without results. How very, often in after days, indeed, how often through all the days of
the Church's toiling, it has seemed as though they had "caught nothing." Times
innumerable it has seemed an utterly fruitless toiling, or one of very meager results.
But perhaps when many a weary toiler has reached "the shining
shore," a watching Savior will
astonish him with a far greater measure of success than was ever dreamed of. Meanwhile,
this appearance on the seashore has its encouraging lesson for us. In it we may find other
proofs that ours is indeed a living Savior, One whose constant care is always assured
us. Had He not taught these men that the God who cared for the sparrow, would likewise
care for them? In how many ways He had illustrated His intimate care for all their needs,
and given them His word of promise that they would never be forsaken. And now He comes to
them in a time of their need, filling their net to gladden their spirits, and inviting
them to a prepared feast with His gracious, "Come and dine."
Having promised that He would come to
us and manifest Himself to us, can we not say
of a truth, "And so we walk together, my Lord and I"? Surely one of the
lessons He wanted to teach in this seashore appearance is that He cares for us in all that
concerns us. "His loving thoughtfulness shows Him to be my brotherly Christ, who is
deeply interested in the common business of my life, and who sits down beside me as I
eat what His own bounty has provided, and what His presence sanctifies and cheers. That
fire on the coals and that abundant haul must have seemed to these disciples to say-and they say it to me 'With Me to care for you, you
will never want: be sure henceforth, that when you go forth to serve Me, I will look after
the supplies.' His interposition often comes just when human effort has completely failed.
Indeed, He lets the failure become absolutely disheartening, on very purpose to prepare
the way for manifesting His power. His ways of grace have the same inscription as His
ways in Providence, 'past finding out.'
"It is no wonder, surely, in view
of this, that God's command to me is 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct thy paths.' But if He promises to guide me not only in the broad highways of my
life, but in its smallest and obscurest paths, because even in the smallest I need to be
led, it is the least He can expect that I should ask Him to do it. Let me so honor my
Master all along; and then, when the long night is past, and in the early Morning of the
Eternal Day He provides for me a feast upon that Shore, I shall not doubt whose voice it
is I hear, whose love it is I taste. I shall know
in a moment that 'It is the Lord'-for none but He could do so gracious a thing as
that-my Lord and Master thus fulfilling to me His
promise, 'I will sup with him, and he with Me,' and saying on the shore of heaven, just
what He said on the shore of the Syrian lake, 'Come and dine.'
Have we thus learned to know Jesus? Can
we not by looking back over the years of His faithfulness bear testimony to this peculiar
personal care and guidance? Then once again it is our blessed privilege to affirm, "I
know that my Redeemer liveth."
The last manifestation of-the risen
Jesus to be witnessed by His disciples is more fully reported by Luke than by the other
Gospel writers. Both in his Gospel narrative and in the first chapter of Acts, Luke has
given us some details we may well prize very highly. And Luke is the one who preserved
these heart-cheering words for us, "This same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11.) Jesus left His beloved followers looking
"steadfastly toward heaven" as He departed from them, and He it is who has
told us that He wishes to find us with the upward look in the day of His return.
Speaking of the things we see about us today, He said, "When these things begin to
come to pass, then look up, and lift up your
heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28.) This was no intimation that
His waiting ones would be looking up into the sky overhead, but rather that theirs would
be the spirit of abounding joy as the evidences of their near deliverance increased. And
everywhere in Scripture this attitude of heart is urged as being the only consistent
reaction in keeping with a prospect so glorious. If early disciples returned from the
mount of ascension "with great joy" to take up their appointed tasks, that of
carrying the message of salvation into all, the world, what an overflow of joy should
characterize us today, when all the evidence provided us in prophetic fulfillments seems
to clearly show that soon, yes, very soon. "Reapers and sowers will together
come" in the glad Harvest Home above.
We remember that Jesus told those early
disciples that if they properly understood the reason why He should leave them, they
would rejoice. They would be glad over the coming of the Spirit and the work it would do
in preparing them for the place He said He went back to God to prepare for them. Are we
then failing to rejoice consistently? Is there anything in our vision obscuring in some
measure the joy-producing reactions we should be experiencing today? With what earnestness
and devotion we should in all of our deportment be "looking for and hastening unto the coming of the Lord," even as the
Apostle admonishes us, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." "How can I keep the longing
back" should he our habitual attitude and spirit in times like these. Holding such a
hope, consistently held and encouraged by the very signs Jesus urged us to note, should
be doing a marked work- of purification in each expectant heart. Thus will God's Spirit
witness with our spirit a blessed assurance that when the silver cord of present life
shall break, we shall then see face to face our blessed Lord, "in whom, though now we
see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of 'glory."
Blessed possibility, since it is ours to say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, . . .
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another."- Contributed by J. J. Blackburn.
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