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THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom

VOL. XXXI October 1948 No. 10
Table of Contents

Signs of the Master's Presence

"What will be the sign of Thy presence, and of the consummation of the Age?" - Matt. 24:3, Diaglott.

OF ALL THE gracious words which proceeded out of the mouth of Him who spake as never man spake, perhaps none have had a more powerful influence in the history of the Church than those uttered by the Master just as His earthly career was ending: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2, 3.) Nor can we think of any more calculated to inspire hope in His waiting followers today, or more calculated to renew their courage. How much this promise means to us can be best estimated by contrasting the poverty of soul which would be ours if it had never been vouchsafed to us, or if there were a question as to its fulfillment. How dark our gloom would then be, how forlorn our state, how void of all good cheer our prospects! Thank God for "that blessed hope and for the purifying effect it has had, and, please God, yet will have, in our lives. - Titus 2:13, 1 John 3:3.

Occupy till I come

Since the fruition of all our hopes, both for the Church and for the world, is intimately associated with the return of our Lord, it would be strange indeed, if we were not possessed of an eagerness to learn the time when this long looked for event might be expected. If the inquiry of the Apostles "What will be the sign of Thy presence?" was a proper one then, it would seem to be still more appropriate today when the evidences that we have reached "the consummation of the Age" are multiplied. Indeed, far from rebuking this spirit of inquiry our Lord, both by parable and direct exhortation, sought to encourage it. True, they were to be occupied, not idle, during His absence; but it was to be only "till He come." Till then they were to be diligently engaged in His business, each occupied with the special task to which he had been assigned. But while thus occupied, their whole attitude was to be one of joyful expectancy, of eager watchfulness for His return. "Watch, therefore, for ye know not when the Lord of the house cometh." And it is not difficult to see that this attitude of joyful expectancy would indicate at once the method and the spirit of their service. They were not to be as drudges who have no pleasure in their labor, nor as hirelings who care only for their wages. On the contrary their labor was to be bright with hope, with the hope of a great happiness to come. They were to do all they did as in the sight of a Master who, though absent from them for a time, was sure to return, and who, meanwhile, would be present with them in spirit, and much concerned in the success of their labors. - Luke 19:13; Mark 13:33-37.

The Glorious Hope Obscured

Those of our readers who are at all acquainted with the pages of history are aware that after the Apostles fell asleep the Adversary succeeded in obscuring this glorious hope. The effect on the life and health of the Church, as might have been expected, was most disastrous, and it was not until the doctrine of our Lord's Second Advent was restored to a foremost place in its preaching and teaching that the Church began to recover from the state of apostasy into which, except for a few devout souls, it fell. As we ponder the record of those times we may see that the Adversary did not accomplish this beclouding of the Church's brightest hope by means of a direct attack-an open denial of the fact that our Lord would return -- but rather by an indirect method, by an undermining of the doctrine. He allowed the doctrine to remain, but twisted its import and so corrupted its meaning as to rob it of its power. Under his leadership questions were raised as to the object of our Lord's return, and after a while the glorious hope was changed into a dreadful fear. Instead of a joyful, longing, expectancy for her beloved Bridegroom to return to claim her for His own, and thereafter to introduce "times of refreshing," those "times of restitution" spoken by the mouth of all God's holy Prophets since the world began, the Church was filled with grave forebodings.

Symbolic Scriptures were so wrested and misapplied; that the precious promise seemed to take on the character of a dire threat. Under the circumstances we do not wonder that instead of cherishing it in their hearts, men did their best to forget it. Thank God for the light now shining, which enables us to look for the return of the Lord with the same exultation of spirit that is manifest' in the prophetic utterance of David

"Let the heavens be glad,
And let the earth rejoice;
And let men say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth.
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
Let the fields rejoice, and all that are therein.
Then shall the trees of the wood sing aloud
At the presence of Jehovah,
Because He cometh to judge the earth.
O give thanks unto Jehovah, for He is good;
For His mercy endureth forever." - l Chron. 16:31-34.

If there is any lingering doubt in the mind of any of our readers as to the magnificent object of our Lord's return we suggest a re-reading of the sixth chapter of "The Divine Plan of the Ages." Indeed, we believe that all who have not read that chapter in recent months would be advantaged in doing so now, in connection with this article. There the evidence is conclusively shown that our Lord's return is "manifestly the hope of the Church and the world."

The Glorious Hope Restored

Once the truth concerning the object of our Lord's Second Advent was regained by the Church the old fervency of desire for its speedy accomplishment was restored. St. John's plea: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" well expressed the sentiment which again prevailed, and the old spirit of inquiry as to how and when was revived. Much searching of the Scriptures ensued, and light was granted on various matters. The whole story of those thrilling days cannot be told here. Those who would learn it, or those who would refresh their memory concerning it are referred to Brother Russell's luminous expositions in the six volumes of Scripture Studies and the Watch Tower. Here we must content ourselves with noting three outstanding convictions resulting from those Bible studies.

One of these was the realization that our Lord is no longer a man; that while He had been put to death flesh (a flesh being) He had been raised spirit (a spirit being), and it was therefore not as a man but as a spirit being, a spirit being, moreover, of the highest order, the divine, that we should look for Him. (1 Pet. 3:18; 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1-16b. 9:28; Phil. 2:9; 1 Tim. 6:16). A natural corollary to this thought was that He would be invisible to our physical eyes, since as human beings we could not look on a spirit being except by a miracle.

Another conviction reached was in regard to the sign which would acquaint the watchers of the Lord's presence. Whatever that sign should prove to be they became convinced that its signification would be twofold: it would indicate both that the Lord had returned and that the consummation of the Age had been reached. In other words they were not to look for one sign or series of signs to indicate the Lord's presence and another sign or series of signs to tell them that the end of the Age had been reached, but that the two events (or, as they later came to understand them, the two eras) would synchronize, and one sign or series of signs announce them both. If therefore, they should recognize' a sign or signs that the Lord was present, they might understand also that the end of the Age had been reached, and conversely, and most important to notice here, if they should become aware of signs pointing unmistakably to the fact that the end of the Age had been reached, they might know also that the Lord was present.

A third conviction, closely related to the other two above mentioned, was that there were already signs sufficient to satisfy them that these two long looked for events (eras) had arrived, -- the consummation of the Age had been reached, and they were living in the days of the second presence of the Son of Man. True to these convictions the Watch Tower carried as its sub-title:

Herald of Christ's Presence

As time went on and studies progressed, the thought did not seem unreasonable that the Scriptures might contain sufficient data to enable the watchers to determine when our invisible Lord would shine forth in such a way that every eye would see Him -- they also which pierced Him. They knew, too, that when that event should transpire their own pilgrimage here must of necessity be ended, for when Christ who is our life shall be thus manifested, then shall we also with Him be manifested in glory. (Col. 3:4.) Such a reflection could not but add to, rather than detract from the zest with which this line of study was pursued. All are aware that the 'conclusions reached' pointed to 1914 as the year in which the glorification of the Church might be reasonably expected. All are aware, too, that this expectation was not realized. To quote from Brother Russell: "Our thought was purely an inference, and now [Sept. 1916] we' see that it was an unjustified one" (Watch Tower Reprints Vol. 7, page R3950). Since that time various further attempts have been made to determine the date of the glorification of the Church, but all have thus far proved futile.

Cast not Away Your Confidence

Naturally this continual failure has been disappointing to many, and some, unable to understand why their expectations have failed to eventuate, have begun to question if they may not have erred also in their former conclusions as to the return of the Lord. In view of this it has more than once been suggested to us that if a candid review of the subject were presented in these pages, it could not fail to be of interest and profit to our readers. Acting in accordance with this suggestion, we propose in subsequent issues to re-examine the evidences which have hitherto seemed to us to point to our Lord's presence and to the consummation of the Age. In this connection we shall hope also to consider some of the questions which have been raised recently as to their validity. We trust to make such review in the spirit of discipleship -- the spirit of a learner not that of a master-and while presenting our own conclusions, to do so in a spirit of loving consideration of the views of any who may differ with us, and whose fellowship we would cultivate rather than mar. Let us then unite our prayers to this end. Then surely it shall come to pass that, whether or not we shall see eye to eye at the conclusion of our study, none of us will be without the blessed realization that our study was characterized by the spirit of love, without which though we have all knowledge, on this as on any subject, we shall be as nothing.

Does Christ come Before or After Millennium?

The importance of a doctrine may be judged to some extent by the proportionate space and prominence given to it in the New Testament. Measured by this standard, the theme of Christ's coming is second only to the Atonement, in the claim which it makes upon our consideration. "A real pearl of Christian truth and knowledge" is the term used by one eminent expositor in reference to it. And since the merchantmen who seek this goodly pearl are too few, it becomes those who have proved it, both by spiritual experience and scriptural study, to be, indeed, a pearl of great price, to do their utmost to set forth its excellency.

Would that such a theme might be divested of all controversial aspects! But here, as everywhere, there are schools of interpretation between which one finds himself obliged, whether he will or not, to chose. Premillennial or Postmillennial advent-Christ's coming before the Millennium or after the Millennium-is the issue which divides two great parties of biblical students.

With only kindly thoughts for those who differ with us, we humbly, but nevertheless firmly, hold with the first school on this question. To our understanding the Scriptures present clear and convincing testimony that Christ comes not after but before the Millennium, that He comes to introduce that glorious Age.

Has Antichrist come or is He yet to Appear?

Premillenarians, again, are divided into two schools, the Futurist and the Historical; the former of whom holds that Antichrist is yet to appear and that the greater part of the prophecies in the Book of Revelation awaits fulfillment; the latter maintains, with the Reformers and the expositors of the early post-reformation era, as well as outstanding preachers of more recent times, including our own dear Brother Russell, that Antichrist has already come in the bloody and blasphemous system of the Papacy, and that the visions of the Apocalypse have been continuously meeting fulfillment from the time of our Lord's ascension to the present day.

Here, again, we hold in very high esteem many of those who take the Futurist viewpoint, and freely concede their right to hold and express their views. If we cannot share them, but on the contrary express our firm adherence to the Historical interpretation, it is only because we believe the latter is more scriptural and rests upon the more obvious and simple interpretation of the Word; and also because we find that it has such verifications in fulfilled history and chronology as to compel even some of its strongest opponents to admit that it is a true interpretation --although they do not think it the complete and final one.

Manner and Time of our Lord's Parousia

This school of Historical Pre-millennialists is divided once again into two schools of thought and interpretation, the main points of difference being as to the manner and time of our Lord's parousia. One school holds to the view that our Lord will be visibly present, and, consistently with that view, believes the event still future; the other viewpoint, and the one to which we subscribe, is that our Lord's second presence is an accomplished fact and that for some years past He has been invisibly present. If, while granting those of the opposite viewpoint fullest liberty of thought and utterance, we ourselves maintain a similar right and duty, it is not because we love them less. On the contrary we regard many of them very highly, though differing in the conclusions they have reached. Both schools, without question, gladly confess the same Lord, and it certainly becomes us all, while rejoicing in the light we have, humbly to wait for greater light, assured that, in what one school would speak of as the foregleams of His approaching advent, but which we ourselves think would he better referred to as the shining of His presence, contradictory views will more and more vanish, till in our final gathering unto Him, the "watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." - Isa. 52:8.

Parousia

Since these views depend to some extent on our understanding of the word "parousia" it will be appropriate at this juncture, to consider objections which have been urged against its translation by the word "presence." One brother whose Christian character and sincerity we do not for a moment question, but with whose conclusions we can not agree, writes as follows:

"The teaching that our Lord has already cone and is invisibly present is abased largely upon the understanding that the Greek word 'parousia' is fully and solely represented by the English word 'presence,' whilst not a few appear to be under the impression that the Greek word connotes 'unseen presence.' A few remarks concerning this word, therefore, may not be out of place here. This word occurs 24 times in the N. T., and is frequently used without any reference to our Lord's return. Twenty-two times it is translated 'coming' and on two occasions 'presence.' In relation to earthly things the usual meaning of the word is 'arrival', which; we would suggest, is the nearest possible English equivalent to the Greek."

That the word "parousia" is frequently used without any reference to our Lord's return is undoubtedly true, as any one may see for himself by reference to the twenty-four places in the New Testament in which it appears. Furthermore, the impression, if any hold it, that the word denotes an "unseen" presence is doubtless erroneous. Nothing in the word "parousia" indicates whether the presence of the person or thing under discussion is seen or unseen. That must be determined by the context in every case. But that the literal meaning of "parousia" is "presence" no scholar disputes. In the two instances in which it is thus translated in the Authorized Version it is evident that the translators realized neither "coming" nor "arrival" would do. "For his [Paul's] letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." (2. Cor. 10:10.) To say that his bodily "coming" or his 'bodily "arrival" is weak would not make sense. Yet it is the same Greek word "parousia" translated "coming" in the other twenty-two places. Again, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, abut now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil. 2:12.) Manifestly the Apostle is not contrasting his "coming with his "going" or his "'arrival" with his "departure," but, as the translators themselves recognized, his "presence" with his "absence," and the obedience of the Church not at the moment of his arrival or departure, but during the period of both his presence and his absence.

For those who have not recently done so, we suggest a review of the twenty-four places in which "parousia" occurs in the New Testament. The references are given as a footnote to page 159 of Scripture Studies, Volume II, and are therefore omitted here. " Such a review we have made ourselves, and find that Brother Russell's position is sustained; "parousia" never has the thought of "coming", of "being on the way" but always, with out exception, has the sense of "presence," and the context need never be understood as out of harmony with this sense. However, on this, as on all matters, we exhort: "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." (Rom. 14:5.) "Let brotherly love continue." (Heb. 13:1.) And even if we think a. brother holding a different view from ours is incompetent to teach us on this particular subject (he may not be incompetent, but even supposing he is) let its not hastily conclude that he is therefore incompetent to teach us anything. He may have rich stores of knowledge and wisdom on other lines of Christian doctrine and experience in which we ourselves may sadly lack, acid of which it would be foolish, to say the least, for us to say we have no need. - 1 Cor. 12:21.

Why Did They Seek a Sign?

We next inquire: What occasioned this question on the part of the disciples? Why did they seek a sign in connection with His return? To us it seems that they recognized a possibility that He might be present without them knowing it. This had been the case with many at His first advent -- had been true, even, of themselves, and was still true of the great majority of their own nation, the leaders of which were at the very time plotting His destruction. They themselves had had doubts and fears as to His Messiahship for a long time. Would they experience difficulty in recognizing Him at His second advent? Some such thoughts as these, it seems to us, must have been uppermost in their minds causing them to put the question: "What shall be the sign of Thy presence?" - Matt. 24:3.

Our Lord's Reply

To the disciples' question our Lord vouchsafed a gracious reply. His followers would not be left without a sign -- one too, which would be sufficient to make them aware of His presence when the time arrived. But first many things were to take place. Long centuries were to intervene, although that discouraging fact was not dwelt on at length. False Messiahs would arise, leading many astray. The disciples were to be on guard against being themselves deceived by them. (Matt. 24:4, 5.) "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors [threats or intrigues] of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."

"The End is Not Yet"

We have emphasized these words of our Lord to call special attention to the fact that He is describing conditions which would obtain during the Gospel Age, not necessarily at its close. Another keen student of prophecy, H. Grattan Guinness, thus comments:

"Remarks on this subject are too often made, which betray a want of intelligent comprehension of the nature of the signs that are, according to Scripture, to indicate 'the time of the end.' A -careless reading of our Lord's prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives seems to be the cause of much of this misapprehension. His prediction of wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, are quoted as if they and such like things were to be the signs of the end of the Age. A little accurate attention to the order of His statements would at once show that, so far from this being the case, He mentions these as the •characteristic and common events of the entire interval prior to His coming. Wars and calamities; persecution and apostasy, martyrdom, treachery, abounding iniquity, . . . which has, as we know, extended over eighteen hundred years-all these things were to fill the interval, not to be signs of the immediate proximity of the second advent. How could things of common, constant occurrence be in themselves signs of any uncommon and unique crisis? What commoner all through the ages than wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes? These, as marking the course of the Age, can never indicate its close, to do which something distinctive is evidently requisite."

A World-Wide Witness

Another feature which must be fulfilled, declared our Lord, ere He would return, would be the world-wide preaching of the Gospel. "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matt. 24:14.) "Here again," observes Brother Russell, "our Lord clearly showed the disciples that the end of the Age was much farther off than they had supposed; that the message of His Kingdom was to be good tidings, not to Israel only, but to all nations. But this did not imply that other nations would receive the Gospel which Israel had rejected. Rather, we should expect just what we find, that as the god of this world blinded Israel, so he would blind the vast majorities of other nations, and hinder them from seeing in Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God-and he has. (1 Cor. 1:24.) If only a remnant of Israel (specially instructed for centuries under the Law) was found worthy to be of the 'royal priesthood,' what more could reasonably be expected of the heathen nations, long 'without God and having no hope'?

"It is well that we carefully note our Lord's words-that the Gospel was not to be preached to the nations to convert the nations, but as a witness to the nations, and to call, and perfect, and gather out of all nations 'the elect.' Later on 'the elect,' as the Kingdom, will bless the nations, opening their deaf ears to the Gospel, and their blinded eyes to the True Light.

"This witness has already been given; the word of the Lord, the Gospel of the Kingdom, has been published to every nation of earth. Each individual has not heard it; but that is not the statement of the prophecy. It was to be, and has been, a national proclamation."

- P. L. Read

(To be continued)

God's Insulated People

"I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." - Psalm 16:8.

THE thought in this text is that there is for a child of God a possible detachment from the world with all its enticements, and victory over all its circumstances, on condition that the Lord is given his rightful first place in the life. This means that a state of mind is possible in which old things are truly made to pass away and the whole outlook on life becomes new. It means that we can live in this world environed by all of its general conditions; and move amid its daily duties and work-a-day methods for securing a livelihood, yet live apart from it. This is the life Jesus lived and which he taught should also be true for us, saying, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." An insulation can be known by the Christian enabling him to view all, the attractions the world can offer, face all its adversity, and yet say, "None of these things move me. By setting the Lord always before our face, as the text suggests, we can be sure that he is always at our right hand, and by the sense of his presence find ourselves fully protected and completely set apart from all but him, counting his favor better than life itself. Then having been brought into the experience of this insulating joy, where no earthly aims or interests can wean our hearts away from God, nor any tribulation disturb our faith in his love and care, we too can say, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." "Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day:- the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." - Psalm 73:25; 139:12.

This detachment is the normal condition of those whose lives are placed in God's hands. How precious in his sight is an unwavering confidence in his Word. Opportunities to emulate Abraham in his unstaggered faith come to us all. Like him we are to look away from all surrounding circumstances and see nothing but the immutable promises of God on which to rely in steadfast faith, fully persuaded that he is greater than all that be against us. So also when the seemingly harmless attractions, and legitimate pursuits of daily life become a temptation likely to divert our full attention from the main business of our dedicated life, then this insulation will fortify us and give immunity from all seductive snares.

And how futile are all other things as fortifications in keeping the heart safe from the foes within and without. Only by having the heart completely filled and occupied with Christ can it be kept for him, and remain detached from all distractions and influences detrimental to spiritual life. How could we live apart from all the world and all things urispiritual except by having our face fixed on God? Only by having him at our right hand and before our face can the heart be kept true to him and life's best and happiest consummations be reached. The strength to live victoriously above the evils about us can come only from God. Not to the hills of our own resolves are we to set our face. Not to the arm of flesh are we to turn for strength to keep separated unto God amid life's many enticements. Like the Psalmist, we must learn to say, "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber." - Psalm 121:2,3.

We think of the Apostle Paul as an illustration of how we may be so insulated by Christ that nothing can swerve us from a complete devotion to him. Paul's life was wholly bound up in Christ. We see him fully attached to Christ in a devotion by which every snare set for his feet proved futile. The snares so very effective in subverting others in his day, and many since, were utterly impotent to hinder Paul. By his devotion to the power of the Cross of Christ he was effectually fortified against all of Satan's attempts to vitiate that power by adulterations of man's wisdom. The Gospel he preached, which was Christ crucified, was so deeply written into .his own grateful heart that "another gospel," though it be proclaimed by an angel from heaven could be branded anathema at once. Having but one aim in ministering to brethren of his time, that of seeing them sanctified in heart by having Christ formed in them, all the false standards of faith and practice raised by others he uncompromisingly repudiated. Having known the tyranny of the Law, even, with its "just and good" demands, no human inventions added to the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus could be introduced without his solemn warning that all such innovations led away from Christ, and inevitably dwarfed all spiritual life. This was insulation indeed.

Such, then, is the kind of insulation we all need, and which we can have only when our dedication to the will of God is complete. Christ must be our life, the One to whom we look for wisdom, justification, sanctification, and deliverance. He must be crowned as Lord of all in our deepest affections, so that the true language of our heart will be, "What have I to do with idols? I have heard him, and seen him," and henceforth all that would conflict with his will, all that is not worthy of his approval, all contrary to his spirit, and all that offends against the ties of brotherhood in the bonds of his love, must, and will be forever cast away. All for Jesus must be the rule of life.

It is by such a vision of God's will that this much to be desired detachment will come to us, fortifying us against the trials by which faith and steadfastness are tested. Then "that peace of God which passeth all conception, shall guard your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus." 'Then, too, there will be that happy realization of being "strengthened with might; -- by his spirit in the inner man," for which we pray. Trials, however great, will become "light afflictions" unworthy of thought when compared with a glory to come. Moses "endured as seeing him who is invisible," and so will we if we set the Lord always before our face. His promises renew our strength and hope, while his love holds us in Everlasting Arms. Setting our face in the direction of God's grace and love will make communion with him a great separating experience, lifting us above all innate littleness in spirit, and isolating us from all the petty and. useless war of words and confusion of opinions. Life will be viewed in its larger and more complete perspectives, being viewed more as in the holy presence of him whom we have set before our face. This is dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, and under the shadowing protection of his wings.

There are insulations entirely human in character, just as there is this isolating power of the holy spirit. The insulating human spirit deals with externals, making of these a walled enclosure' of spurious decrees. In days of the distant past it was days and meats, rites and ceremonials. Today it is theories, pet shibboleths and the like. But all such misrepresentations of God's will, and departures from the simplicity of Christ are dwarfing in their effect, and serve only to make Christ of little or no effect, hiding as they do the realities of true spiritual life. Jesus came to reveal God to men, and he threw the limiting traditions of men into oblivion by one sublime statement, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." The Apostle Paul's aim was to reveal Christ's power to redeem men and set them free in a new, resurrection life, "raised to walk in newness of life." Therefore the thing that insulates the Christian against all that is carnal and hindering in Christian life, and fortifies against all that dwarfs the stature and beclouds the vision, -is this larger spiritual understanding of spiritual principles which both Jesus and the Apostle Paul have made a protecting insulation.

In the realm of revealed truth what a saving thing a correct apprehension of God's greatness is! We know the truth of God is inexhaustible, and always progressive in so far as we are concerned, requiring an open mind, ever ready to receive it and act upon it. We know that a creed which never moves is a vain thing. Any individual who refuses to open his eyes from time to time to see light in God's light, and be ready to revise faulty conclusions and many of his preconceived ideas, may have a name to live, but like those of Sardis, the real condition is death. A soul standing today where it stood in knowledge years ago, and where it intends to stand in years to come, seeking no larger horizons than that already seen, has limited God and his Word to the very narrow confines of his own imperfect mind. This is Satan's' false insulation. Until that which is perfect has come, there will be streets of gold, gates of pearl, and crystal streams of divine revelation to be found and rejoiced in by those who are humble enough to acknowledge that they know as yet only in, part. These are they who are protected against that spiritual stagnation so unsatisfactory to him.who walks among the seven candlesticks that he spues the lukewarm from his mouth.

The holy spirit's special work is to take of the things of Jesus and reveal them to his obedient people. Through this revelation of the deeper meaning hidden in many of our Savior's words, maturity of vision is given, and the fulness of Christian stature attained. This enables the heart to weigh all vital issues with carefulness and sobriety of mind, and remain properly centered amid all that try men's souls.

Such was the life of Jesus amid all the diversified circumstances surrounding him in those days in which he was leaving footsteps for us to follow. If, then, the holy spirit's work is that of making Christ's words living oracles to us, and giving us to see how he must dwell within us in order to save, keep, and perfect us, surely herein lies the secret of our being so completely insulated by this indwelling that all the strong, beautiful virtues of Christian character will withstand every adverse wind that may blow upon us, and give us a steadfastness to principle, by a largeness of true vision, so that "the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." - 2 Cor. 4:11.

Too little emphasis is given to the work of the holy spirit in guiding, keeping, and fortifying the child of God. But those who do give proper attention to New Testament teachings regarding the infilling and empowering of the spirit know that its place in our life is a most important one. When Jesus said, "Without me ye can do nothing, he of course meant that unless he had his abode in us by the spirit we could have no safekeeping, nothing of fruitage to glorify God, nor any strength to remain in him, the true Vine. There could be no strength of character without the spirit, therefore, "if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Without this indwelling presence to "perfect, strengthen, stablish, settle," and to protect us, we would in our weakness be in a position similar to that of the daughter in unfaithful Zion mentioned in Isaiah 1:8: "And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." What a useless kind of protection from storms a garden of low-lying cucumbers would be to a cottage standing within it! The illustration is intended to teach that so it is with those who surround themselves with any equally useless and ineffectual walls of man's invention. Those who fail to put on Christ can never be strong trees of righteousness, nor come into the happy experience of knowing the Lord as their strong Tower, a shelter in the time of storm. What a contrast obtains between those around whom the Lord encamps, and those without this ample protection. Contrast a garden of lowgrowing cucumbers of man's cultivation in religious life, with the wall of defense so beautifully portrayed by the Psalmist, "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever." - Psalm 125:2.

So God surrounds, protects, insulates his people! Underneath are his everlasting arms holding them above the pull of all gravitation earthward. Over them his wings of divine power are a canopy of protection from a host of evil beings subject to the prince of devils. Around them are all the mountains filled with guardian legions, more in number and greater in power than all who may be against them. And then, as new creatures in Christ Jesus, besides having these agencies above, around, and about them, they are reinforced by the holy spirit within them, and thereby "strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man." What an insulation is ours!

In the days of ancient Israel's favor God dwelt among his people by the shekinah light within the Most Holy of their tabernacle, but now he dwells in his people even as Jesus promised, saying, "We will come unto him, and make our abode with him." - John 14:23.

Now he abides in our hearts, opening our eyes to see the wonders of his grace. Having called us into joint-heirship with Christ, he has provided us with an armor in every way equal to all the fiery darts of the evil one. We have a lamp to lighten our pathway through all of our journey from its beginnings in first principles even unto the deep things of God, by which we are made mature full-grown characters in Christ. So we are kept by the power of God unto a salvation soon to be fully accomplished for us. Inside the charmed circle of his favor there is an insulation wonderful and blessedly effective. We live not in the flesh, but in the spirit by faith. God is for us, and more than all that can be against us. In all things adverse to us, "we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Confident we are that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Rom. 8:38, 39.

"Thou grace divine encircling all,
A soundless, shoreless sea!
Wherein at last our souls must fall,
O Love of God most free!

"The saddened heart, the restless soul,
'The toil-worn frame and mind
Alike confess Thy sweet control --
O Love of God most kind!

"But not alone Thy care we claim,
Our wayward steps to win;
We know Thee by a dearer name --
O Love of God within!

"And, filled and quickened by Thy breath,
Our souls are strong and free
To rise o'er sin, and fear and death,
O Love of God to Thee."

- J. J. Blackburn

The Question Box

"Lead us not into temptation" - Matthew 6:13.

Question:

Will you please discuss that phrase in our Lord's Prayer which reads: "Lead us not into temptation"?

Answer:

The Lord's Prayer is recorded in the sixth chapter of Matthew and in the eleventh of Luke. The phrase "Lead us not into temptation" appears in both accounts. We have no reason to question its genuineness. How, then, shall we understand it?

The difficulty which some experience with this petition may be stated as follows: Temptations, tests, or trials are known to be good for us; why, then, should we request the Father not to lead us into them?

Others say: The very thought of temptation is evil; it is a suggestion to do wrong. Since our Father could not possibly be disposed to ensnare us, is it not superfluous to pray him not to do so? Indeed, would he not be grieved if we approached him with such a request?

Scholars tell us that the word "to tempt" originally meant "to try" or "to test," without indicating in the least whether the purpose of the trial was good or bad. Hence the word "attempt," which may be employed in either a good or a bad sense. So, also, the word "tentative," which is but a contraction of the word "temptative," and which we know means trial, as for example in the case of the unforgiving servant. He was forgiven the ten thousand talent debt he owed, tentatively, provisionally, with the understanding that his own character and conduct would show some correspondence to the grace of the one who had forgiven him. (Matt. 18:33-35.) In Gen. 22:1 we read that God did "tempt" Abraham, that is, he made a holy trial of Abraham's faith. In John 6:6 the word is translated "prove": "This Jesus said to prove Philip, for he himself knew what he would do." This was a good trial or temptation, intended to test and develop Philip's faith. In 2 Cor. 13:5 we read: "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. If the word had been uniformly translated, it would read: "Tempt yourselves, whether ye be in the faith."

We thus see that the word is often used in a good sense. However, its prevailing use is to denote an evil trial -- trial that would ensnare, trial that is with the purpose of alluring to wrong doing; morally insidious, seductive temptation.

Now concerning the first sort of trial, trial that s intended to have only a good result, the Apostle James exhorts: "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience." Again, he says: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." Surely, then, we are not to understand that Jesus, in the Lord's prayer, is instructing his disciples to implore their Father not to lead them into this sort of temptation.

On the other hand, if we adopt the bad sense in which the word "temptation" may be taken, another difficulty arises. How could we ask God not to lead us into a trial with the malicious intent of ensnaring us into wrong doing? God himself cannot be enticed into evil, neither, in that sense, does he tempt any man.

We believe the solution of this problem depends upon our settling the question as to who is the author of the temptations which this petition anticipates. And the next clause supplies the answer to that question. It is none other than our Adversary. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One." The one who is responsible for the temptations referred to in this petition is Satan.

Now of course our Father would not lead us, guide us, impel us, into the snares of the Adversary. On the contrary, he would lead us in an opposite direction. But if any one is led away by his uncontrolled desires, our Father's usual method of awakening such an one is to withhold, for a moment, his guiding and protecting hand. Especially does he do this with one whose heart is lifted up in pride, one who is beginning to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

We hear a good deal, these days, of "independent" Bible students. No doubt, from one standpoint, the word may be rightly used, as suggesting freedom from bondage of one sort or another, but it is quite possible to use it in a wrong sense, as indicating selfconfidence. None of our readers, we trust, are independent Bible students, in the wrong sense of the word. We are very much dependent on each other, are we not? And we are especially dependent on our Father. And that is the point of emphasis here. In the petition which has immediately preceded this one, the Christian has just finished asking the Father to forgive him his trespasses. With the remembrance of past trespasses there succeeds in his mind the realization of his weakness and the danger of further stumblings and failures. His prayer, therefore, passes naturally from the petition to be forgiven sins already committed, to a petition for guidance and protection so as to avoid sins in the future. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One."

This petition, then, is a recognition of our dependence on him, and is equivalent to asking him not to abandon us and thus leave us to resist the snares of the Evil One in our own unaided strength. It is as though we would petition our Father for our brethren and for ourselves: "Father, if today an, occasion to sin presents itself; if the enemy of our lives seeks to ensnare any of us today, grant, Father, that any one of us open to such a snare may be found walking so close to thee, that it will not be necessary for thee to chastise 'him by abandoning him to that snare; with the certain shame and humiliation which must result to him ere he is recovered out of the snare of the Adversary. But, on the contrary, deliver us, rescue us-the term is a military one, denoting the deliverance of a prisoner who had 'fallen into the hands of the enemy -- deliver us, Strong Deliverer, from the Evil One."

And his gracious word to us is that he will. As St. Peter writes: "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations" and he will do so. Moreover, as St. Paul declares: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way' of escape that ye may be able to bear it." In this confidence we rest -- not forgetting to "watch and pray."

- P. L. Read.

Of Our Calling

By ABRAM POLJAK

A Letter to his Fellow Workers

With regard to the building-up of the Jewish Christian Community I want to remind you of a chapter in my book, The Cross in the Star of David, entitled "What are we to do?" I believe that in this I have said the most important thing with regard to the question of organization, namely that not only our spiritual work but equally the organizational, even the merely technical, work has to be handed over to God completely. It says there:

"We begin a work emerging from eternity linking us to eternity . . . How shall we attain this aim? How are we going to finance it? Must we not enlist members? Must we not send out appeals to the world? Must we not busily do? No, nothing must be done by us. Only to make known that we are there. Hoist the flag!

"'The flag is flying! And he who is of the truth will see and recognize it. God himself will show it to him. We ought not to enroll people for if we enroll them, we might get persons who are not suited to this work. Let us wait until God leads the right people to us, as he of old led the Wise Men by the star to Bethlehem ... What good does our rushing do? It has no goal, just as the earth. which revolves endlessly. Let us not rush on the earth, nor with the earth

"God does not want us to help him. He only wants us to let him help us. God does not want us to serve him as a servant his master, but as a pencil in the hand of an artist. We are not to do anything, but something is to be done through us! Let us wait for the voice of God. Wait even if it delays. God does not hurry; for he is God and all eternity is his. Only the earth rushes; for it is dust and perishes like the grass of the fields: Let us be from eternity and not from the earth. One thing is needful . . . "

I wrote these words eleven years ago, in Vienna in 1936. I. must admit that I found it difficult, and still find it difficult to-day to live up to the truth I have seen, to live up to it in everyday life. I know how difficult it is to wait . . . It is much more difficult to wait than to storm forward . . . But just this waiting, matters in the work of the Kingdom of God. This one thing is needful. And with this one thing our work stands or falls: Can we make room for God in our work? Will we let him act in his good time and according to his wisdom?

We have received a calling from God. Let us follow it, as God wants it to be followed, and not as we think it right. We want to help mankind -- but if we act, though zealously yet without wisdom, if we lead ourselves instead of being led by God, we will do more damage than give help, and destroy more than buildup. We may bind up old wounds, yet inflict new one's. We may drive out one evil spirit, yet drive in seven others; and in the end everything will be much worse than it was in the beginning.

The Jewish Christian work is not our work, but God's work. We are only commissioned with limited powers and therefore have to be careful in our words, acts and thoughts. We are to be but instruments of God, his speaking tubes.

Let us be good instruments, pure speaking tubeswithout off-noises. If God wants to speak to us or through us let us not interfere by speaking in between. Let us not dim the image of God. And when he is silent, we, too, will be silent.

Let us be silent, as long as God is silent. Let us wait as long as God waits. If God takes his time, we, too have time.

JERUSALEM

Truth's Deeper Values

PART II

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." - Phil. 3:11.

ALTHOUGH THE desire of Paul to obtain that deeper and more personal knowledge of his Lord was so intense and strong that it had become the master-passion of his life, he did not in any way despise or underrate that wide array of knowledge "about" his Lord which he had proclaimed over so many long and arduous years, and at such tremendous cost to himself. It was for his own soul's sustenance, amid the conflicts of his tempestuous life, that he needed so urgently that closer intimacy with his beloved Lord. He needed it for its bracing effects at the vital centre of his life, for, without this, as the mainspring of everything, that wider activity out on the circumference would have been impossible. And it was to this same bracing, sustaining centre that he ever sought to lead every soul he had won over to the "Faith," so that they also, in knowing Christ Jesus as their Lord, would like himself both "do" and "dare for the name of their beloved Lord.

To those who were outside the Faith, he never ceased to bear a testimony concerning Jesus of Nazareth. Though Judaism was an extremely aggressive religion in that it sought proselytes among Gentiles, over both land and sea, the aggressiveness of Judaism was a small thing indeed compared with that of Paul, for he challenged all men everywhereJew and Greek-with the claims of his beloved Lord. On this side of life he was a most zealous advocate -- or defender, if needs be -- of what, for our present purposes, we shall describe as "doctrinal truth" in all its parts. The records show that he was always at the "ready" to "say on" (Acts 13:15) when opportunity presented, and that the theme of his fervent tongue was always that "God according to his promises has raised unto Israel a Savior." (Acts 13:23.) As the Lord foretold (Acts 9:15), the story of Christ crucified, raised, and exalted to God's right hand, was the constant theme presented before Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.

But it is mainly by his use of the pen (or of some amanuensis writing for him) that we can come to grips with the depth and width of his amazing analytical mind. His grasp of the fundamental principles underlying God's relationship to man outstripped all the wise (?) philosophies of his own or former days, and went deeper into the basic fundamentals of God's ways, than that of any other teacher of his day.

THE FATHER'S SINS VISITED ON CHILDREN

Both the Rabbis (in the synagogue) and the Apostles (in the church) had had before them the records of the lives and deaths of their patriarchal ancestors. They all knew that one generation had succeeded another for some twenty or thirty centuries prior to the giving of the Law, and that all these generations had lived and died in sin. Yet neither rabbi nor apostle had realized and taught that all these generations had died for Adam's one single sin, and not for their own. Though it was generally known that sin had entered into the world by one man's disobedience, no student of the Biblical history had perceived that the death that had reigned from Adam to Moses was for that one man's single sin alone, or that none of these men had sinned after the similitude of Ad'am's sin. Other rabbinic and apostolic men had known equally with Paul, that death had consistently prevailed down to the Law-giver's day, but none but he had drawn the obvious conclusion from the historic evidence as the case stood "in law." Not one of these men had realized that all these later deaths were resultant from the first man's single sin, and that, in consequence, 'the Law of God had counted them all "in" their federal father's responsibility when he underwent his test, and failed. None save Paul had comprehended that the father's condemnation was made to pass through to his progeny, and that the death that thenceforth overtook them came upon them, not for their own sins' sake, but for the father's sin.

To know about this reign of sin and death as mere matter of historic knowledge -- as the account in Genesis records it -- by rabbi or apostle was one thing, but to know and understand it in the light of eternal Law was an entirely different thing. Led by the illuminating spirit of God, it was given to Paul to read this ancient history in its relationship to the overruling claims of God, and to set out the basic philosophy underlying that history as it affected the righteous relationship of God to man, and of man as he stood before his Creator God.

Today, with Paul's own deductions to guide our thoughts, we can see that that conclusion was the one and only rightful conclusion to be drawn from the evidences appertaining to those centuries of sin and death, but until Paul brought his trained legal mind to bear, under the holy spirit's guidance, upon those evidences, neither rabbi nor apostle -- nor yet ourselves -- could have drawn the one conclusion which the evidence warranted. And when modern critics claim to disagree with Paul, modern critics, even when legally trained, begin to go astray. That is why the higher critics blunder so.

Proceeding from that first deduction Paul moved, on to the next stage of the argument. As a natural corollary to that first deduction, he then drew the obvious conclusion,, but in reverse, that as all men had been brought under condemnation as a consequence of one man's single sin, so, in like manner -- and still on the equitable basis of divinely applied Law -- all who had been condemned in the "one" who had sinned, would receive an acquittal from that condemnation through the obedience and righteousness of another "One" who had not sinned.

It was thus, that he was able to build upon the bed-rock of divine eternal law the broad foundations of his evangel of ransom and restitution. From the meagre records of that first span of human history Paul was enabled, by God, to draw forth the correct conclusions regarding the long reign of sin and death -- and for many generations, then unborn -- and to show how this whole reign of sin and death would be made to stand square with the principle of righteousness, in the most absolute sense, and with the unchanging character of the Most High God in his unique capacity as both Creator and judge of all the earth. The master historian is he that can interpret the fundamental principles that lie beneath and behind the dry bare bones of historic happenings-and thus, in this light, Paul stands forth at the very pinnacle of all the earth's master historians, for he drew forth both the principles and the philosophy which underlie all human history till its restoration is complete.

DELIVERANCE PROMISED THROUGH ABRAHAM'S SEED

Paul also knew, like all Apostolic teachers, that the restoration of men everywhere, of every generation and clime, was to be effected through Abraham's seed. But what a sordid thing that seed, on the earthly plane had proved itself to be! Unfaithfulness and waywardness had characterized them all their records through. Even with their Leader and Lawgiver in their midst, they went astray repeatedly, and on throughout the centuries they forsook their God and Covenant times without number.

Again through that stretch of history Paul proved himself the master historian, and drew therefrom both doctrine and principle concerning the Way of God towards wayward men. In rabbinic circles much specious reasoning had gained currency. They had even reached the point of turning unfaithfulness into an asset of life before God. Having buried the commandments of God beneath their jumble piles of tradition, they had overlooked the fact that God's Covenant --made with their forefathers -- was a national covenant, and that as individuals, apart from the entire nation, they had no relationship to God in any shape or form. Yet, in Jesus' day, the haughty Pharisee could thank God that he was not as other men "nor even as this publican." In his attitude of self-conceit he thought of himself as God's special favorite, no matter what was befalling (or about to befall) his nation for its sins, and that in consequence no punishment of any kind, however merited, ought to fall upon his own self-righteous shoulders.

Looking at God's dealings with Israel over their age-long history the tangled web of evidence presented many loose ends of fact and experience, which remained almost totally inexplicable. It was left to Paul to catch them up, and to bind them together to explain the rightful claims of God upon his people. God had had to punish his people repeatedly for their sins, but the self-righteous Pharisee had said he ought not to do so. They had even dared to say that their unfaithfulness had enhanced the glory and honor of God's faithfulness, and because of that, God ought not to judge them as sinners. (See Rom. 3:7.) Paul's theme at this point is the keeping of the Covenant, and provides his answer to the specious rabbinic reasoning about their standing with God. That ancient Covenant had had penal clauses incorporated into it; and were Israel to prove faithless to it, at any time, strict legality would require the other party to the covenant -- God -- to apply those penalties. To be himself faithful to the covenant God must not hesitate to inflict those penalties. To hesitate or to forbear to apply the penalties would have proven God untrue or unfaithful to his pledged and plighted word. In that case he would have been as, culpable as Israel. It was useless for the conceited Pharisee or rabbinic teacher to argue that their unrighteousness (by contrast) commended the righteousness of God, or that the truth (truthful veracity) of God was made to abound by their "lie" (untruthfulness and lack of veracity) to God's glory. That could never be. God's righteousness could take no added lustre from man's unrighteousness, at any time, or anywhere. It must shine out for itself, and from itself, everywhere, all the time.

GOD, A GOD OF JUSTICE

Was God unrighteous therefore in taking vengeance -- in meting out recompense -- upon Israel? No! says Paul, God must of necessity punish Israel for its sin, for otherwise, he too would have broken his covenant pledge, and then "how shall God judge the world"? Is it really possible that an event so farreaching as the judgment of the world had been involved in that age-long episode of Israelitish history? Paul believed so. In what way then could so universal an event hang upon an episode so localized and restricted in its scope? ' It was all contingent upon the unimpeachable character of the judge. He must be found faithful to the claims of righteousness everywhere, and in every way, even when righteousness called upon him to be severe - Rom. 11:22.

Israel had incurred the penalties of a broken covenant. Could God-would God inflict those penalties? Paul knew that he would, and thereby prove himself faithful to the covenant. God must be true, even if every man were false.

Thus again, from Paul's interpretation of history, he brings forth proof and doctrine that God was a righteous God, before whom Jew and Gentile stood condemned. Israel was due for banishment from that chosen land and for her long trail of wandering throughout the earth, till she had purged her covenant sins. From the tangled evidences of Israel's national history Paul had been enabled to understand that God was indeed a righteous God, and was thus able to construct for the help and edification of the newly established Church, a better code of doctrine than all that the rabbinic teachers had been able to formulate. He could see and understand why the nation, though sprung from Abraham's seed, must be rejected and set aside, while a smell remnant from its midst, activated by a higher form of faith and trust, would enter into greater privileges and opportunities than their fathers ever knew. In his masterly analysis of prophecy (Rom. 9, 11, 11) he was able to show why the long history of Israel had resulted in this supersession of the nation by the remnant from its midst, and to declare convincingly why, out of the same lump of clay, God was well justified in making one vessel unto honor, and the rest unto dishonor (a less or lower honor than its fellows)

In all the approach to ancient history (rabbinic or apostolic) there is no interpretation or explanation equal to Paul's. Consequently in the formulation of philosophy and doctrine based thereupon, there is none to challenge Paul's. He, more than any of "the twelve," had been entrusted with the key that unlocked the meaning of history, and which enabled him to reveal the right relationship of God to men in general -- and of God to Israel in particular. To this chosen man, because of his natural gifts, something had been given over and above what other Apostolic men had received. He, alone, of all the teachers in the Church had been able to see and understand how the episodes of historic happening stood "in law." Consequently he could show that both redemption and restitution for all men stood broad based on eternal law, and that even the punishment of Israel and her dispersal through the earth was in keeping with unsullied righteousness.

But he also knew that the severity of God to Israel was intended to be more than a punishment for her sins -- and that while she was in alien lands, God would be tempering her inmost soul, in preparation and readiness for her recall. Paul knew that God stood pledged, on oath, to bless all the nations of the earth, and that this blessing must pass to them through Abraham's seed. He knew in consequence that Israel must be recalled, rebuilt, and restored to her place in the Plan of God, so that the Word of God might be fulfilled.

THE PLAN EPITOMIZED IN JESUS

Thus, when the present calling of the double remnant class -- the "remnant" from Israel, and the "fulness" from the Gentiles -- is withdrawn, and they twain have become fully "one" in resurrection glory,.

God's favor to the cast off nation will return, and "all Israel shall be saved." This is God's promise to them when the spiritual Deliverer is complete.

This doctrine was the outer circumference of the great Gospel story which Paul had to tell, as he challenged Gentile and Jew with the claims of God, and of Christ Jesus his Lord. Its center was located in the cross of Christ, but center and circumference stood related as integral parts of the one great Plan.

In a few well-chosen words in the introduction to our text Paul brings to a fine focus all this wide and wonderful expanse of truth. In four incisive words -- "Christ Jesus my Lord" -- he presents to us an epitome of the whole Plan. In ten such words he shows the surpassing excellence of the knowledge about his Lord when compared with all the compendiums and philosophies of men. Plato and Socrates could throw no light upon the riddle of death, nor could Zoroaster or Buddha explain the proneness to sin. No Hillel or Shammai could interpret. the reasons why God and man were far apart. Only in the good news concerning Christ" was any light or any comfort to be found. Among all that was accounted rare or excellent in the world, that Gospel concerning Christ was by far the best.

Space, at this point, does not permit us to dwell on Paul's renunciation of name and fame in Israel in order to gain this more excellent knowledge about his Lord. But we can say with certainty that it held his soul in thrall. It is not merely Christ Jesus the Lord -- it is Christ Jesus my Lord -- and that pronoun makes all the difference to the text! Every name was a "title" -- but every "title" was a "name" for the beloved of his soul! Every title was an epitome of comforting truth!

Let us see what these wonderful names and titles denote. Let us first be reminded of the angelic promise concerning the holy Babe who was sent to satisfy the hopes of Israel. "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." said the heavenly visitant. (Matt. 1:21.) What a wide field of doctrine is here enshrined. "His people," laden, as we have seen, with sins-the many sins of many men, arising from transgression of their Covenant; sins, which, piling high, had almost filled their measure to the full. The whole Jewish Age, with its abortive sacrifices, passes in review in those few words. But he had come to save them from their sins. From whence had he come? Not from the ancient stock of Israel, for therefrom could no man come who could give his soul a ransom for his brother. (Psa. 49:7.) His "coming forth" was ordained "of old." He had come from "without" to take hold of the seed of Abraham to "head it up" and lead it to its rightful destiny. (Heb. 2:16.) He had come to provide the blood for the removal of the transgressions that were under the first testament (covenant) in order that a new and better covenant might supersede that of bygone days. Not yet is Israel ready to be saved in this wise, but as surely as once he died to atone for the many sins of many men, so surely will those many men turn to him, in good time, for deliverance from sin.

What glorious doctrine lies within that dear and blessed name? Thank God that Jesus-our own sure Savior from sin-shall yet save an erring nation from its shame, and set it up as a beacon light to draw the wider nations to his feet. Surely there is much good and satisfying doctrine enshrined in the excellence of that beloved Name!

CHRIST, A NAME OF DEEP IMPORT

We do well to ponder long and deeply over the next name that Jesus bears-Jesus the Christ! Perhaps we take it all too lightly upon our lips when we apply it only to the spiritually anointed company of New Testament times -- a company which we say has been inducted into Christ, by the holy spirit's unction on our souls, forgetting as we do so, that the term has another -- and an earlier meaning which associated it with Israel. It is well known that the term "Christ" is just an Anglicized form of the Greek word "Christos." Perhaps what is not so well known that this Greek word "Christos" is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew word "Mashiach," and was so used by the translators of the Septuagint. Thus our English word "Christ" is the equivalent also of the Hebrew "Mashiach." Now this word "Mashiach" is the one which is translated "Messiah" in our Authorized Version in Dan. 9:25, 26, where it stands as the title of Israel's expected Prince. That Scripture reads ". . . unto Messiah the Prince . ., and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off..." It was fulfilled in the person of our Lord. Yet that title was not extinguished by his death at Calvary. In his resurrected glory he was still "Jesus the Christ" --"Jesus the Messiah."

The term "Mashiach" had been used in earlier days of those upon whom the holy anointing oil had been poured, as in Lev. 4:5; and Lev. 6:22, where its reference is to the priest that is anointed, and to a son succeeding a father in the office of high priest. In 1 Sam. 24:11 (and in several other places), the reference is to Israel's king as "the Lord's" anointed. By slow degrees, it came, as time expired, to be held as the title of that greater Son of David who was yet to come and take the throne of his father to free the nation from its captivity as well as from its sins. This thought, at length, clearly crystallized along the lines of Israel's hopes, was beautifully expressed by Zacharias, after his term of dumbness had come to an end. - See Luke 1:68-79.

Behind this word, "Mashiach," there stands the holy offices of Israel's priests and kings, into which chosen men were inducted and established by the outpouring upon them of the holy oil of the sanctuary. This authorization as kings and priests (by this act of anointing) is therefore the first and only natural signification of the Hebrew "Mashiach"; and, because of their exact equivalency, it must also stand as the primary signification of the Greek "Christos" and the English "Christ." That this was its meaning, according to the Apostles' understanding, is clearly shown by their usage of it in the early chapters of Acts. (See chap. Acts 2:22-36; and Acts 11:38.) God had anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit, and had thus designated him as the "Christ" -- as the One sent to satisfy Israel's expectations. Hence, we may note the strenuous efforts made by the Apostles to persuade Israel to accept him even after they had crucified him.

Carried therefore to its higher level, the title "Christ" still retains its ancient meaning, and stands for the old relationship of Israel's priest or king towards- the people of Israel. Apart, therefore, from its relationship with Israel, as the chosen nation of God, the title "Christ could have no higher significance at all. Jesus, the Christ, could never be a king at all, if there were no nation over which he had been anointed to rule. A king without a people is an anachronism and absurdity, just as, but conversely, a people without a king cannot claim to be counted for a kingdom. Both king and nation are corollaries, each unit equally indispensable to the constitution of a kingdom.

TWO SEEDS NECESSARY IN GOD'S PLAN

There is no need to alter this significance when we pass onward to the larger conception of the Christ, which belongs to the later Apostolic days. The Christ -- a Christ of many individuals -- is there shown with an expanded personnel, but its intended office is still the same as theretofore. Perhaps by our classification of the Church as a house of sons, and of Israel as a house .of servants we have too often and too easily put asunder the two parts of the coming Kingdom of righteousness which God proposes to establish in the earth. The truth of all this is that both sons and servants are members of the one great household of which God is the Master-builder (Heb. 3:4), and that the Church of this present Age, and the restored Israel of the coming Age are related to each other as the two parts of Abraham's promised seed, through which all the nations of the world are to be blessed. In line with this joint association of the multi-personal King with the restored and sincleansed nation is the picture of the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven with the names of the Apostles of the Lamb on its foundation stones, and the names of the tribes of Israel over its twelve gates. That is a picture of the Seed of Abraham, duly prepared and co-ordinated, coming down to be the ever-open gateway of the nations in their approach to God.

Perhaps it may invest our use of the term "Christ" with a fuller meaning than hitherto if we can come to think of it as a title still, and that as a title it can have no proper meaning or relationship if it is separated from, the nation which is to be the earthly channel of the blessing which God has promised for the remaining nations of the earth.

Jesus the Christ, therefore, describes not only Israel's future Savior from sin, but also her future anointed King -- he for whom she has waited long. It is he "who was for to come" to head up the nation and make her complete, in constitution, as the long foretold, Kingdom of God.

Did Paul understand the "Christ to stand for all this? Obviously the hand that wrote Hebrews chapter 12, saw the matter thus! And evidently Romans 11, closes with the same underlying thought.

Here then is doctrine deep and wonderful, with Jesus himself as the soul and center of it all. No wonder Paul could say it was more "excellent" than all, the lore of Israel.

Then to complete it all, Paul sees his gracious Master as the future Lord of all. The ink could scarcely have been dry at the place on his manuscript where he had traced the course of God's chosen One from the glory he had before the world began, down to this world of sin, here to die as man's substitute, then up to the higher glory at God's right hand, where he is, in due time to be honored and adored for evermore, when every tongue in heaven and earth shall confess to the glory of God, that Jesus is Lord. There shall then be one God and one Lord to all, for evermore.

What a glorious vista of the worldwide Plan of God lies hidden therefore in the titles of our Lord -- so many things that he already has done, or has yet to do ere the whole work is complete. Nothing in the dreams or expectations of the human mind in any land or age can compare with this. It has an excellency with which nothing else can be compared. Can we really wonder that Paul left behind so willingly all the age-incrusted, petrified traditions of Israel for this vision of his Lord? And can we really wonder that he went over land and sea, by day and night so readily with willing heart and ready speech to set forth the claims of Christ Jesus his Lord before every hearing ear? "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel" he, was wont to say when men queried his urgency. This wealth of doctrine was worth all the best powers of his fiery heart and virile brain to promulgate. And to its promulgation he gave the best he had.

"MY LORD"

But when he had said all this, there is still one little word to be reckoned with. It is "Christ Jesus my Lord." Paul could most truly rejoice in the fact that Jesus had died for all, and would one day be Lord of all, but he rejoiced most of all that the Son of God had given himself for him, and made it possible for him to claim the relationship here and now. Paul laid himself as a slave at his Redeemer's feet to serve him with heart and soul, but in serving him he attempted to possess him and hold him as his own. It was just that sense of possessing him that made all the difference to Paul when presenting the truth about his Lord.

And so it must be with all who are to stand fast as promulgators and defenders of the Truth. Who among us has not seen, some brother of great intellectual capacity come speedily to the front because of his ability to explain the Chart of the Ages, and then fall away beaten and dispirited. With a mind able to recall and quote text and verse, stored with points almost to encyclopaedic fulness, knowing much -- oh, so very much -- about the Lord, and about the Plan, and yet, in the hour of test and strain losing heart and enthusiasm through lack of one essential thing. The gifted silvery tongue waxed silent because the heart had not won through the outer facades of the truth to him who is the heart and soul of, all living Truth. He could tell of Christ Jesus the Lord, but had not learned to say with Paul "Christ Jesus my Lord."

It can afford no satisfaction to any man to present himself as defender of this doctrine or that if he cannot truly say that he "knows Him" in addition to the many things he has learned "about Him" and the Plan.

Could we ever say we have learned perfectly every doctrine that Paul proclaimed, we still would need, like him, to say we needed that one thing more which human tongue can never really tell, but which, when learned emboldens one to say, "I am His, and He is mine."

- T. Holmes, Eng.

1948 Index