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THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom

VOL. XXXVIII May 1956 No. 5
Table of Contents

"Jesus in the Midst"

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

The Weekly Prayer, Praise, and Testimony Meeting

The Question Box

Christian Liberty Based on Principle

Alone with God

Recently Deceased

The Unction From the Holy One

"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.

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.

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.

"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.

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?

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."

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(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.)

- H. E. Hollister

I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

"I know that my Redeemer liveth, . . . whome I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." - Job 19:25.

IN ALL the wide field of knowledge spread before the mind of man, is there anything to compare in value to this sublime statement, "I know that my Redeemer liveth"? Nothing indeed! The sweep of eternity, and the glory of everlasting life are in those words. It is not of such knowledge that an Apostle says, "Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away," but this is eternal in its nature, and unlimited in its possible expansions. Instead of its vanishing away when time has merged into eternity, the knowledge of our great Redeemer will only then be taking on its perfect dimensions, and entering into its unhindered exercises. In this present state, while we tabernacle in the house of our pilgrimage, we can at most survey but "the outskirts of His ways," gathering some little measure of the joy that comes through knowing Him, a joy to be most wonderfully increased when "that which it perfect is come." When it shall be ours to awake in His likeness, endowed with perfect powers of reception and reaction, beholding our Redeemer as the fairest among ten thousand, and in a greatly enlarged comprehension of how much our redemption cost Him, surely we will exclaim in supreme amazement, "The half was never told!"

As we ponder these words, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," we cannot fail being impressed immediately with their clear, unqualified tone. There is no hint of possible misinformation, or any suggestion of presumptive assurance on the part of the one who makes this claim. With the utmost confidence he affirms, "I know." Neither can we fail to note the very personal tenor the words contain. It is of no general inclusion in a redeemed class he speaks, but of a distinct personal possession, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." This personal character of the statement we should not overlook. It is but another of those inspired utterances of the Scriptures manifestly intended to be appropriated by the true children of God. Being thus given by our Father, it is no presumptive act or claim on the part of His obedient child to repeat it, and say in perfect confidence, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." God does not teach um to say of Him, "The Lord is our Shepherd"; but, "The Lord is my Shepherd." Neither is it to be the timid hope that He is such, but the confident claim that the relationship is real and blessed. Therefore of Him whom we thus know as the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, we can affirm, "I know Him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him." Thus it becomes the right of each member of His Church to say in a happy assurance of being personally loved and watched over, "My Beloved is mine, and His desire is toward me." - Song of Solomon 7:10.

We must be deeply impressed also with the significance of the last' of these words, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." This is a particularly - important word indeed. It is because that last word is true that Paul can pass on to us such a word as this, "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever- liveth to make intercession for them." (Heb. 7:25.) Yes, He lives, and so we shall live also. He lives; therefore death has lost its terror and its power, and it has become our heritage to voice our victory through Him and say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" He lives, and having appeared in the presence of God for us, who aught to our charge can lay? He lives, and hidden in Him, we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus and for Him. He lives; therefore ours is a lively hope, and a blessed hope because we are to live with Him as sharers in His immortal life. Blessed truth!, "He that hath the Son bath life"-- life for the ages of the ages.

As we observe, then, the confident tone running all through these inspired words, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," what "foundations of sapphire" they are on which each heart may rest. And just here let us take in the wider sweep of the patriarch's confident affirmation-such of it as we with our spiritual hopes may rightfully appropriate. How much it means to say with job, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, . . whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." (Job 19:25-27.) How great our loss if we allow such a testimony to be vitiated by our unwillingness to take God at His word, and fail to remember in a practical way that "God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." (Heb. 6:17-20.) In view of such a foundation for faith shall we not take the Scriptural attitude and say, "We believe, therefore have we spoken," and standing on the Rock of Ages, we affirm, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."

I Will Manifest Myself to You

Among the many inspired statements by which we are furnished with a basis for our faith that our Redeemer liveth, and that all our confidence may be settled and at rest in Him, are these words we love to meditate on: "This same Jesus shall so come again." How full of comfort and strength those words must have been as they fell upon the ears of His disciples on the Mount of Olives! He had left them gazing heavenward as He returned again to the Father, there to be highly exalted above every name that is named. And how had He left them? -- depressed? dismayed? feeling sad and forsaken? No, indeed! With what surprise we read these words: "And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy." (Luke 24:52.) What words could have given them this joy more than the words spoken by the angels as Jesus passed beyond human sight? "This same Jesus," unchanged as to His character, shall be the One you shall see again; therefore, retain all your precious memories of His gracious words and acts, keep fresh in mind all you have witnessed of His love and sympathy, and know that such He remains and such He will be when He comes again to receive you unto Himself. Surely herein was the reason why they went back to assemble in the upper room in such joy. Though waiting days may seem long, and many heavy trials be their portion ere He returned, yet He had left them looking upward, not to weep, but to rejoice evermore.

Should those words mean less to us than to those disciples of long ago? The Jesus to whom - we have been drawn, and to whom we have been bound with cords of love which naught can sever, who is He but the same Jesus these dear Apostles have taught us to know as "the same yesterday, today, and forever." He is none other than the same Jesus whose instructions caused the hearts of His first followers to burn within them as they listened to Him opening up the Scriptures concerning Himself. He is the same Jesus concerning whom we gladly join ourselves with those ' early disciples, confessing, "To whom shall we go? Thou only hast the words of eternal life." These Gospel records are surely intended to bring us into the same immediate circle of close fellowship with Jesus, and under the same heart-warming and life-changing influence as those first followers experienced. Ours is no far-off, historical Jesus, largely limited like other great teachers to the generation living contemporaneously with Him. He is the same Jesus for all generations. His words were a living force nineteen hundred years ago, and are no less throbbing with energy today. His acts in those far past days are still perpetuated in the life and experience of men and women today. "As many as touched Him were made perfectly whole" is the story in the Gospel, and it is the same even now-yea, is it not our own happy experience?

He Calleth His Own by Name

Shortly before His crucifixion Jesus had made this promise to His own: "He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21.) This promise embraces the last and least of those whom He calls His own. It assures to every such one the unquestionable proof that his Redeemer lives, and loves, and cares. To the chosen Twelve many infallible, proofs of His resurrection were given, and these proofs were intended to constitute, as eye-witness testimony, the basis for our faith. But in another and most potent way we are to personally know that our' own Redeemer lives. We are not left with the, written record alone as our assurance that Jesus lives. There is an abundance of lessons stored up in the several Gospel records of His different appearances after leaving Joseph's tomb, which, if applied to our own experiences, will leave us exclaiming with Paul, "Last of all He was seen of me also," and therefore, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."

In mind we go back to those memorable days, long past now, when Peter and the others were being revived to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus from death. We recall that by several appearances and under various circumstances He established their faith in the fact of His being alive again. One by one their doubts had vanished, and they are well prepared to go forth to declare that He is alive for evermore. On the basis of their testimony we share the lively hope and the joy which came to them, and which in all after days filled them with a fervor of devotion to their risen Lord. But in this present study of those several appearances subsequent to His leaving Joseph's tomb, we will not concern ourselves with examining the testimony of those eye witnesses. Our purpose now is to note how those same manifestations by which He proved to them that He was alive may each one of them be so duplicated in our own personal experience that we also may know of a certainty "that my Redeemer liveth."

Truly God's ways are not as our ways. What a reversal of our ideas His often prove to be. The Scriptures abound with illustrations of how differently God acts from ways conforming to the wisdom of men. And nowhere is this more strikingly shown than in His choice of the favored one to whom He would first reveal Himself, and to whom He would give the first commission to proclaim His resurrection. Our choice would doubtless have been one of those destined to be His twelve "chosen witnesses" -- perhaps the loving John. But not so our Lord's choice. Neither was it a matter of mere chance. Every one of those appearances, the time, manner, and the individuals to whom He would appear, were of our Lord's own ordering; therefore, His choice of Mary for this great honor was purposely ordered, and deeply significant. Need there be any doubt of this when we gather up and weave together the threads of gold and silver of her record of devotion to Him before Gethsemane and Calvary?

Mary Magdalene was the first to visit the tomb in which Jesus had been laid. None loved Him more than she did. Her memory was stored with His gracious words, and she, as the one who had much forgiven, loved much in turn. Hers had been a true, pure, and unselfish devotion to her Lord. How well she illustrates those admirable qualities of unadulterated devotion to the person of Christ. No marvel, then, that Jesus in His responses to that love likewise illustrates how highly He values the heart worship by which He is crowned Lord of all in the affections. Thus it was that He revealed Himself first to the heart in which this pure love burned strongest. And "this same Jesus" will always come first and fullest to the heart where pure ardent love abounds, to the heart truly confessing, "All I want I find in Thee."

To Mary His first words were, "Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?" These are words of tender solicitation, yet identification requires more, but only one word more, a single word -- her name, "Mary." Ah yes, this loving heart, this unselfish heart, was the first to thrill to the words of our risen Lord, and the first to feel the inexpressible joy bound up in these words from the lips of the Good Shepherd, "He calleth His own sheep by name." How intimate He makes friendship with this loving heart now, and how greatly He adds to that blessed intimate relationship by the words that next He speaks, "My Father, and your Father; My God, and your God." Can we not believe that in all her after life those few priceless, blessed moments "in the Garden with Jesus" never lost their sanctifying influence in her life? If Jesus would preserve the fragrance of the outpoured spikenard, and send it floating down the centuries, surely He has likewise preserved for us the rare incense of this first intimate meeting in that far-away garden, to the end that all loving, pure hearted, unselfish, devoted followers might hear Him call their names, and join them each to Himself in the same blessed words, "My Father, and your Father; My God, and your God."

Is it a mere flight of emotional religion to say, "The love of Jesus what it is, none but His loved ones know"? is it compatible with strong, vigorous, and practical Christianity "to steal awhile away from every cumbering care"? And is it only a fancy that we hear Jesus say at times, "Come ye yourselves apart, and rest awhile"? Is it only a poetical but impractical ideal of Christian life that is embodied in the words, "Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord"? Is it inconsistent with the teachings and example of Jesus to say truthfully, "And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own"? Is it idleness to sit quietly meditating on His life-giving Word, yea, even though we have heard Him say, "The fields are white and ready to harvest"? To these and other similar questions we let Mary's boon answer. Better still, we will let Jesus' own conduct instruct us -- He who so often withdrew from the company of even His own disciples in order to be alone with God. And we will add to this the long line of His devoted servants of the now closing age of grace, who, like Mary, have borne testimony to the afterward of blessing sure to come to such as cultivate the inner heart qualities of adoring worship, heart-communion, and heart-hunger for Christ Himself. All these, out of a rich personal experience of intimate fellowship with Jesus, have testified with confidence and in a joy unspeakable, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Like the renowned Moody, they could say when questioned regarding their faith in a risen Christ, "Why yes, I know He is alive, I was talking with, Him this morning."

The Testimony of Knowing His Forgiving Love

Again we might well express surprise over the wide difference between our thoughts and God's higher thoughts. We come now to consider the first of our Savior's manifestations to His chosen disciples. Surely this would be the privilege of John, he who has the unique distinction of being called "the disciple whom Jesus loved. But not so. Through Mary, the first messenger to tell of His resurrection, a special message had been sent to Peter. And Peter was the first to see Him, according to Paul's order of His appearances. (See 1 Cor. 15:4-8.) And why Peter? Again we remark that each of our Lord's manifestations was of His own ordering and arrangement; therefore, a depth of significance attaches to each of them. His choice of Peter for this first joy presents no difficulty or wonder when we remember that He was indeed "the same Jesus" who had so particularly prayed for him that his "faith fail not." This seeking out Peter would prove to them all that Jesus had not changed. If not at that particular time, surely in subsequent days it would all come back to mind and gladden their hearts immeasurably. Would they not remember the loving Shepherd who "left the ninety and nine" to seek the one sheep now in special need of His care? Could they forget how "there is joy in heaven" over a repentant heart, and fail to rejoice themselves that one of their immediate circle who had "gone out and wept bitterly" should be so quickly sought out by the risen Jesus? Surely not.

THE SACREDNESS OF THE PRAYER CHAMBER

Fain would we know more about what took place at this meeting between Peter and Jesus. Had Luke and Paul not mentioned it in the brief manner they did, we would not even have known there was such a special privilege given to Peter. There would have been a complete silence concerning it, but a silence golden in its significance -- a silence which is eloquent in its meaning to us all. There are moments in our lives and in our individual relationship to Jesus, the High Priest of our profession -- moments when a soul pours out its confessions and regrets alone with Him -- that are too sacred even to Him to permit the intrusion of any other.

How much we rejoice in this for ourselves, and how greatly we need to remember it concerning every other penitent spirit. How often Jesus speaks forgiveness and peace to a broken heart as He meets such alone in the quiet prayer chamber, and there seals up the sacredness of that hour in His own heart and ours. How glad we are that we have at least been told that first "He was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve." How it helps us to know of a certainty that our Redeemer is the unchanging, loving Jesus.

We too have stumbled, O so many, many times. There have been some regrettable failures; tears of repentance have filled our eyes again and again. With shame of face we think back over mistakes we have made, and over displays of weakness we deplore. - We have had occasions over and over when we needed to go again to the comfort of this promise: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9.) And when confession has brought His answering peace into our hearts again, how we have rejoiced to say with the repentant Psalmist, "If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be reverenced." - Psa. 130:3, 4.

THE CROWNING EFFECT OF SINS FORGIVEN

God's forgiveness of our sins and shortcomings is a wonderful boon indeed, but such forgiveness is meant to be more than just a blotting out of that which has grieved Him and saddened us. The crowning effect of our being so graciously forgiven is in the sweeter and deeper joy such revelations of God's grace through Christ may bring to us. It is the heart-felt union with our High Priest into which we are brought through our conscious need of His appearing in the presence of God for us, which union in its realities and effects enables us to say confidently, thankfully, and humbly, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." And so into our lives there comes, as there came to Peter long ago, the unquestionable proof that we are individually loved and watched over by a living, loving Lord. To us as to him Jesus has come in the tenderness of a divine, understanding love, not to berate us for our mistakes, not to dishearten us by His scathing exposures of our weaknesses, but to throw around us the sacred shroud of a silence none may intrude into. and there melt our hearts with the assurances that he knows our limitations, that He still cares for us with an undiminished solicitation, and that in a love unfailing, He holds us in His own right hand, and will not let us go, These proofs of His love we have known, and therefore this testimony we may speak forth to His praise, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." - Contributed.

(To be concluded in the June issue)

- J. J. Blackburn

"Jesus in the Midst"

GOD's work in Creation and his word in Revelation, both afford astronomically long views, the one in space and the other in time. The astronomer can fix his telescope on Mars and discern its canal-like markings and deduce the possibilities of plant or animal life. So distant is it from our earth that he can tell us that it would take a plane, traveling at the supersonic speed of about five hundred miles per hour, about eight years to reach it. Adjusting his telescope, he could then point it to a universe of stars sunk in the depths of space to the unimaginable distance of one thousand million light years away. It has taken light, traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, one thousand million years to get to our planet.

Take the Bible now and read Genesis 1:1, 2: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void." What a stupendously long distance that takes us back in time; to the first beginnings, before the introduction of the long geological periods revealed in the earth's strata. But turn now to John 1:1, 3: "In the beginning was the Word. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made." How far back in time does that take us? At least one thousand million years, for creation as we have seen is at least as old as that.

TWO ETERNITIES: JESUS IN THE MIDST

In Colossians 1:15-20 we have a vision of the eternal past and the eternal future, in both of which we see Jesus occupying the central position, "in the midst. The eternal past, Col. 1:15-17: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things and by him all things consist." The last clause is rendered in the Diaglott: "In him have all things been permanently placed." Moffatt puts it: "All coheres in him."

Not only was Jesus as the Logos, the divine agent in bringing all creation into being, but his position with reference to it is central and all-important as the hub is to the wheel, all cohering in him.

The future eternity is presented in Colossians 1:19, 20: "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself {Diaglott, "reconcile in his own person"}; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven." In Ephesians, a companion epistle to Colossians, Paul expands the same idea in Eph. 1:9, 10: "Having made known unto us, the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one [Diaglott, "reunite under one head"] all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him." As in the eternal past, so in the eternal future, Jesus is in the midst, the center of authority and power. In the past, he occupied that position by virtue of his birth, as the firstborn of all creation. In the future, he occupies it by virtue of his worth, recognized and acclaimed by all creation who loudly proclaim, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." (Rev. 5:12.) The central point in this picture of two eternities is The Cross of Christ, Col. 1:20, "having made peace through the blood of his cross." Recognizing its all importance we divide our calendar into B. C. and A. D. But this dividing line is not for time only, but for eternity. Here is drawn, the inter-eternal date line, for all the ages of the ages and all the universe of universes that may have a place in the eternal purpose of God.

THE ENTRANCE OF EVIL

Parents, when they bring a child into the world, run the risk of that child becoming a heart-break both to itself and to them. The Parable of the Prodigal Son, how often has it been enacted in real life! This principle is true of God as Father, when he brought into being his family in heaven and in earth. God is love and earnestly desires his love to be reciprocated by all of his children just as does a proper earthly parent. Love, however, to be love must be spontaneous, not forced. It is of value only if it is in the free choice of the giver, to give or to withhold. The ability to love necessarily implies the ability not to love.

How long the family of God in heaven have been in existence, we have no means of knowing. If creation has been in being for one thousand million years at the least, and probably very much longer, the heavenly family of angels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, has probably existed for countless millions of years. We have no reason to believe other than that they lived in perfect accord with God and with each other during all this time. Lucifer, the bright and shining one, probably one of the very highest in rank, was the first to be deflected. And that only at and by reason of, the creation of man.

The angelic hosts were intensely interested in the creation of man and the earth, his home. In job 38:7 we are told that when God laid the foundations of the earth, "the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy." In all their long history they had never seen anything like this new development in creation before. It must have been, therefore, with the deepest concern and dismay that they viewed the fall of man. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil of which man had partaken, was symbolic of conditions that had always prevailed amongst the angels themselves. As the children of God, they of necessity possessed complete freedom of will and power of choice. Like man before he was tempted, they were constrained by the love of God so bountifully expressed in the wonders and joys and glories of his gifts and of his fellowship with them. Spontaneously they loved God, and it never entered their minds as it never entered the mind of man until the tempter put it there to do anything other than serve and obey God whole-heartedly.

For countless ages the symbolic, forbidden tree had stood as it were, in the midst of the Garden, offering not the slightest attraction to any of God's family in heaven. The first to partake was Lucifer, who seems to be referred to in Ezekiel 28:11-17 as "the anointed cherub" in charge of our first parents at their creation. To have been entrusted with this responsibility implies that he was faithful and loyal to God, as his name, Lucifer, meaning the bright and shining one, implies that he was of very high rank. Ambition, the desire for power and authority was the root cause of his fall as it would seem from Isaiah 14:12-14. Unlike the angels, man was endowed with procreative powers. Diversion of the worship of this pair from God to himself would mean possession not only of them but of the whole race. Thus he would have an empire on earth as God had in heaven. Perhaps it was in this way he said in his heart, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High."

We can better imagine than describe, the feelings of the angels as they viewed the grim tragedy and its terrible consequences. With horror they must have watched the quick growth and spread of evil. The tiny trickle of sin rapidly increased to a stream, then to a river, and as the race multiplied, to a great ocean. Then doubt regarding God seems to have taken possession of the minds of many of the angels. God was doing nothing to stop the spreading of this awful flood-tide of evil but just letting things go. Was the situation beyond his control? Where now was the infinite wisdom, the omnipotent power, the divine love which they had attributed to the Almighty? Many of the heavenly host, how many we have no means of knowing, joined with Satan in his rebellion against God. Thus it came about that things in heaven as well as things on earth, required to be reconciled to God.

TWO ROOT CAUSES OF THE FALL

When a great calamity occurs, involving the death or injury of many, it is usual to have a public inquiry into the cause to prevent repetition of the disaster. For this purpose a committee of investigation is appointed. The calamity that befell man in Eden was the greatest possible in that in it was contained all other calamities. Suppose we took up the position of an investigating committee to consider the evidence, trace the cause, and point to the cure; what should we find? Our report would be that the fall of man had two root causes, (1) ignorance of the nature of evil, and (2) ignorance of the nature of divine love.

The evidence on the second point comes first in the record given in Genesis 3:1-6: "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden, lest ye die?" "Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil." In effect the tempter was saying, "God is not all you take him for, so good and kind and loving. He is not telling you the truth. He is trying to keep something from you that would be of the greatest benefit to you." Thus was instilled into the mind through ignorance, doubt of the love of God. Sin in thought soon expressed itself in action. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof and did eat." Could she have foreseen all the terrible consequences, is there any doubt as to the course she would have taken? Ignorance of the nature of sin was thus the second cause of the fall as recorded in the evidence.

These being the causes, the remedy lies in their removal. This calls for a demonstration of the true nature of sin and a manifestation of the true nature and extent of the love of God which would place it forever beyond question. The stage could be set for an exhibition of these in one way only, and that was to permit evil, once it had started, to continue for a limited time. Only thereby could its true nature be revealed. Only thereby also, could the nature and extent of divine love be shown. This was all important. As the physical universe is held together by the law of attraction illustrated in its unit, the atom, and not by bolts and bars, so is it in the moral universe. Not by the law of commandments from without, but by the law of love operating from within, must the family of God be held together in their love and loyalty to each other and to their common Father. In the ideal earthly home we have a God-given illustration of this. In nuclear terms how impossible it is to split this atomic unit of human society and break the bonds of love that hold the family together! The source and center of this dynamic power is the parents' love. Should this be weakened, the disintegration of the family follows. How much more is this true with regard to the family of God.

THE CURE -- JESUS IN THE MIDST AT NAZARETH

The only way to accomplish the reintegration of God's family in heaven and in earth was to place Jesus in the midst of this sinful world. Here was the scene of the first great rebellion against the authority of God, and here the victory must be won. Furthermore, to secure the stabilization of the moral universe, not only for the present crisis but for all eternity, that victory must be complete, final, absolute. There are three verses which speak of Jesus in the midst of men. The first is Luke 2:46: "And it came to pass that after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions." Who was this boy so anxious to learn in the temple? Or that babe, twelve years before, lying in the manger at Bethlehem because there was no room in the inn? Or that youth, working in the shop of Joseph the carpenter at Nazareth, and later working himself as the carpenter? None on earth can supply the answer, not even his mother Mary.

But looking on, with the most intense interest, were the heavenly hosts. The same hosts who had heralded with joy his birth. They knew that he was the Holy One of God, the great Logos, who in all the past eternity had been with the Father and the medium of the expression of the Father to them. But to One so great, why this obscurity, meekness, and lowliness? If it was pride in Lucifer, who aspired to be as the Most High, that bred the first sin, what an antidote we have here in the Logos, who thus emptied himself and made himself of no reputation? What a powerful affect this must have had on them.

But there was more to it than that. In Jesus of Nazareth, the Logos was made flesh. As he had been the expression of the Father to all in heaven, so he was now to men on earth. He had come on a mission to represent God. In him, men were given a close-up view of the Father. All that he was on earth, God was in heaven. It was not the love of the Logos, but the love of God that was in question and that required to be demonstrated. Therefore was Jesus called "Immanuel," God with us. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. When we consider all that Jesus was during the thirty "silent years" from this point of view, what an insight it gives us into the nature of divine love! What meekness, what humility, what sublime condescension. Condescension -- but can there be condescension in pure love? Mother love is perhaps the purest form of earthly love. What menial offices she performs for her child, yet how utterly out of place it would be to say she condescends so to do. Yet mother love is only a tiny spark of the love of God. Because he loved his fallen children and could not come in person since he was the Eternal, Immortal, and Invisible One, he came in the Logos, his only begotten Son. And since the masses of his children were of the common people, in the enjoyment of no special privileges, he came as one of them, taking his place as it were, in the queue. How the angelic hosts must have looked on in amazement and wonder.

IN THE MIDST OF ISRAEL

In order of fulfillment, our second verse is Acts 2:22: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you." Miracles, wonders, and signs! So much did these place Jesus in the midst, that had there been newspapers in those days, his sayings and doings would have been front page news throughout the whole of his public ministry. We can well imagine the boldest of headlines, such as, "The Prophet of Nazareth feeds five thousand with five loaves and two fishes." Again, "All kinds of diseases, cured by the Prophet's touch." Again, "Ten lepers cured at the word of the Prophet." Or another one, "Even the demons are cast out by Jesus of Nazareth." Or another, "The Prophet gives sight to a man born blind." And the boldest headline of all, "Sensation! Jesus of Nazareth raises the dead!"

With what intense interest the angels would watch the Lord throughout his ministry! Acquainted with the message they themselves had given at his birth, eagerly would they watch for its fulfillment. For four thousand years they had witnessed the rapid increase in volume and intensity of the terrible flood-tide of evil. How they must have longed for God to take action in the matter, and now at last the time had come. How thrilled they must have been to see Jesus come in the power of the spirit, saying such wonderful things and doing such mighty deeds. At long last Satan and his empire would be overthrown and God's rule and authority re-established on earth. Can we imagine their bewilderment when they saw Jesus making no effort to use his power to secure possession of the throne of his father David and establish a kingdom which should extend to the ends of the earth? On the contrary, as they watched, they saw the initial popularity which he had enjoyed beginning to wane. The opposition of his adversaries they saw becoming so great and powerful that he could no longer walk openly among the people. Sinister signs began to appear and multiply, leading up to the scene depicted in our third text.

CALVARY -- JESUS IN THE MIDST

"And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha: where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst." - John 19:17, 18.

For untold ages before the creation of man, the love of the Heavenly Father, bound in love to himself and to each other every member of his great family in heaven. As they contemplated the magnitude of the range of divine blessings by which they were surrounded, each could express himself in the words of the Psalmist: "How precious are all thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand." God's love to them was like the great ocean in its fulness. So vast were his riches in glory, that giving did not impoverish him nor withholding enrich him. So great was his love that he lavished without measure priceless gifts upon his children as a loving millionaire parent might delight to give to a beloved child.

But there is one respect in which the child of the rich is at a disadvantage as compared with the offspring of the poor. Moved by deep emotions of love and gratitude, only the latter can sing, "I love the dear silver that shines in your hair and the brow that's all wrinkled and furrowed with care. I love the dear fingers so toil-worn for me." The mother love of both might be the same, but only one lived in circumstances which could bring out its full expression in self-sacrifice. Before evil entered, the angels saw the mighty ocean of God's love, but without any means of ascertaining how infinite it was in its expanse and unfathomable in its depth. This could be revealed only when John 3:16 was fulfilled: "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." Before this all God's family could give their emphatic testimony that God loved. Now they could say, "God so loved," and point to the supreme sacrifice which he made for his children, culminating at the Cross.

(To be concluded in the June issue)

- A. D. Kirkwood, Scot.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

As announced in our March issue, the Annual Meeting of the Pastoral Bible Institute, Inc., is scheduled to be held on Saturday, June 2, at 2:00 p.m., in the parlors of the Institute, 177 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, New York.

While only members of the Institute may vote (in person or by proxy), all those who love our Lord Jesus and This appearing are welcome to attend.

The Agenda will include a report by the Chairman, reviewing the activities of the Institute for the preceding period. Following his report, the election of Directors for the coming year will take place. Opportunity will also be given for the consideration of such other matters as may properly come before the meeting.

The seven brethren now serving as directors are candidates for reelection. Brother H. V. Warren, Rich Hill, Missouri, has also been nominated.

The Weekly Prayer, Praise, and Testimony Meeting

"We went ... where prayer was wont to be made."-Acts 16:13.

New subscribers are invited to write us for a free copy of the July 1955 "Herald." Therein, on page 109, a brief introduction is given, bearing directly on these Reprint excerpts, and on the value of the weekly Testimony Meeting: "The one meeting most helpful in spiritual growth."-Ed. Com.

MANNA TEXT - APRIL 26 -- HEBREWS 4:10.

"He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his."

Some of the Jews thought that they kept the ten commandments, yet to their surprise they did not get eternal life.

The teachings of Jesus and the Apostles show us that every one of the commandments of the Law had a deeper meaning than the Jews could discern, and that their failure to perceive the spirit of the Law was one of the reasons why they could not get eternal life. Take the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not kill." The Scriptures tell us that this commandment has a deeper significance than to take life. He who is angry with his brother, he who would like the opportunity to kill and who abstains from so doing merely because of fear, is in his heart a murderer.

Now as this and other commandments have a higher and deeper meaning than that which appears on the surface, so also has the fourth commandment which relates to the Sabbath day. The Apostle Paul gives us the key to this higher meaning when he says that the seventh day typifies the rest of faith for the people of God. (Heb. 4:9, 10.) Whoever abides in Christ is a Sabbath-keeper, and those who do not abide in him lose this rest and thus fail to be Sabbath keepers. There is a still further expansion of the Sabbath in its typical significance to the thousand-year day. Then humanity will be at rest from Satan, from sin, from the trials, besetments, and difficulties of the present time; and all mankind will have an opportunity of entering into this rest. The Church will enter into it first, in her resurrection. Next the Jew will enter into that rest, when he shall understand God's plan and become the recipient of God's blessing and eternal favors in the Millennial day; and finally, before its close, all the world will come under its blessed influence.

The Sabbath day was never given to the Church. A higher thought than that of physical rest is given us. God has provided for us a rest of faith in Christ's finished work. We may enjoy our rest seven days of the week, and every day in the year. If we begin to appreciate that thought, we have a rest about which the Jew knows nothing. This is an earnest of the future, when we shall be through with all our difficulties and shall remain ever in the rest of God.

The antitypical rest, into which the Lord's people enter, has two phases. We who believe enter into rest now. We have the peace of God ruling in our hearts and guiding our lives. We have the peace of faith, the rest of faith, the confidence that God will direct our course. Therefore we are contented, even though not yet satisfied. We shall not be satisfied until we enter into our complete rest. Our true rest will be that glorious, perfect condition beyond the veil, which we shall attain through the First Resurrection.

- Reprints, pp. R5071, R5072, R5388.

MANNA TEXT-MAY 3 -- HEBREWS 5:14

"Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

The Apostle here seems to have in mind some who are babes in Christ, some who have immature conceptions of God and his Plan, who lack spiritual development, contrasting them with others who are more developed, who have become men in Christ Jesus-who are "of full age," as St. Paul expressed it, mature in Christian attainment. "Strong meat" belongs to these. To gain this appreciation, it is necessary, not only to read the truth, but to think upon it, to make it our own, to strive earnestly to conform our lives to it. The Bible needs to be studied; and the Lord has never left his people without teachers of his own choosing, who were able to lead the dear sheep of the great Shepherd's fold into the green pastures where they could obtain whatever food was needed at that time. The real saints of God have never been left without all needed supplies in every age. In our own day more truth has unfolded than at any previous period of the Church's history. More and richer food is now necessary, to strengthen the Church for the peculiar conditions and testings of this day; and more has been supplied.

Those who would give proper instructions to others must be qualified to teach. The Lord has placed the various members in the Body of Christ "as it hath pleased him." To some he has given apostles and workers of miracles; to others evangelists and teachers and pastors. The Apostle Paul says, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things." (1 Cor. 13:11.) And so with every true follower of Christ. As he grows and develops, step by step, as his senses become exercised to discern good and evil-what is true, what is right, what is profitable, what is comprehended in the glorious high calling of the Church, what is included in full consecration to Christ-he more and more puts away his childish views, his immature conceptions, and becomes educated and advanced in the things of God-the deep things. A beginner, who had not learned to study the Word of God, could take it and get out of it things that would be really harmful to him. One must learn to take Bible truths in their setting-to see what they mean, how they apply, to whom they apply, etc.-or all will be confusion and contradiction. One can bring sweet music from an instrument only when he learns how to manipulate the keys, how to combine the various chords; otherwise only discord is the result.

Those who have been for some time drinking from the fountain of truth, and feeding at the table of the Lord, where the food is pure, unadulterated, nourishing, should be fully established in the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. Much of the superstructure of "gold, silver and precious stones" should be already erected, and the good work of character-building should be progressing steadily day by day. We should be able to discern clearly between truth and error on every important point. We should be so loyal to the Lord and his Word that we shall rejoice in the glorious privilege of proclaiming it at every suitable opportunity. We should know what we believe and why we believe it, and be courageous and uncompromising in declaring the truth which has so blessed our own hearts and lives.

- Reprints, pp. R5688, R5689.

MANNA TEXT-MAY 10 -- PSALM 23:5

"Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over."

The Lord's sheep, abiding in perfection of relationship with him, will lack nothing. Their every need will be supplied. This may not mean greater earthly wealth or name or fame or luxury. The Lord's sheep are new creatures, spirit beings, who are temporarily dwelling in the flesh like other people, but who are really waiting for their change, to be completed by a share in the first resurrection. The Lord's blessings to natural Israel were earthly blessings, supplying their every earthly need; but his blessings to spiritual Israel are spiritual favors. "No good thing will he withhold" from these -- yea, even chastisements and sorrowful experiences that may be necessary for their spiritual development.

This precious Psalm seems especially to apply to the Church. Thus we appropriately read that the Lord's people of the present time have an especially prepared table, where they may partake even in the presence of their enemies. That will not be true in the future; for no enemies nor anything to hurt or injure shall then be permitted. (Isaiah 11:9.) But how true it is that the Lord's consecrated people, even when misunderstood, misrepresented, defamed and opposed, are still privileged to feast at the Lord's table! The table represents God's provision for their needs-the promises of God, the assurances of his favor, etc.

Another evidence that the Psalm belongs especially to the Church of this Age is the statement, "Thou anointest my head with oil." Jesus, the Head of the Church, was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. That holy anointing oil used on the priests and kings of Israel typified the holy spirit, which came upon the Church representatively in Jesus. And this same anointing oil has come down over all the members of the Church, which is the Body of Christ, as we read in Psalm 133:2.

"My cup runneth over." The word cup is used in the Scriptures to represent a draft, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, sometimes both. The intimation is that the Lord's cup signifies bitter experiences and trials in the present time; as Jesus said, "The cup which my Father hath poured for me, shall I not drink it?" And this was the cup -- his cup -- which he offered to his disciples and which we, in becoming his disciples, propose to share with him, and which is symbolically represented in the communion cup. - 1 Cor. 10:15-17.

It is sweet and precious, in many senses of the word, to be privileged to participate in the sufferings of Christ, in any sacrifices or services for the Lord and his Cause. The sweet mingles freely with the bitter. But the Lord promises that in the future, the cup of new wine in the Kingdom shall more than compensate for any bitterness of the present time. Our cup is full, but we would not wish it one drop less.

Reprints, p. R5654.

MANNA TEXT-MAY 17 -- JOHN 16:2

"They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."

The spirit witnesses, through the Word of God, that those who are the Lord's people are separate from the world-that their hopes and aims and general spirit, disposition, are different. "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you." "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." -John 15:19; 2 Tim. 3:12.

Can our hearts testify that these words properly represent our experience in life? If so, the spirit (mind) of God is thus again witnessing with our spirit (mind) that we are his. Nor should we forget that the world spoken of by our Lord includes all the worldly minded ones, in whom the spirit of the world has a footing. In our Lord's day this was true of the nominal Jewish church: in fact, all of his persecutions came from professors of religion. Hence, we must not marvel if all who are walking in our Lord's footsteps should have a similarly disappointing experience, and find that the spirit of the world, in its most antagonistic form, will be manifested in a quarter where we might naturally expect it least-amongst those who profess to be the children of God. "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household." (Matt. 10:25.) If, therefore, we have been evilly spoken of, because of our identification with the Truth, and our service of it, we have in this an additional evidence or witness of the spirit that we are in the right pathway. And if some, for these reasons, and while doing their best to speak the truth in love, suffer therefore, happy are they, for as the Apostle said, "The spirit of glory and of God resteth on you." They have this witness of the spirit to their faithfulness in the narrow way. - 1 Peter 4:14.

Further, the holy spirit witnesses, that, "Whosoever is born [begotten) of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith." (1 John 5:4.) Let us examine our hearts, our spirits, our minds, in the light of this testimony of the holy spirit. Are we overcomers, according to this standard? The standard is that to be the Lord's we must be out of harmony with the world, in conflict with it-its aims, its hopes, its ambitions. The thought of conflict is contained in the expression, "overcometh the world." And we can readily see that no one can be an overcomer of the world who is in sympathy and affiliation with it, and its general spirit of selfishness, pride, ambition, etc. His statement is positive, that the victory which overcometh the world is our faith. The spirit thus witnesses that to be overcomers we must "walk by faith, and not by sight." We must look not at the things that are seen-popularity, worldly show, denominational greatness, etc.-but must look at the things which are not seen-the spiritual and eternal things. (2 Cor. 4:18.) We are to have the faith expressed by the poet's words:

"I would rather walk in the dark with God,
Than go with the throng in the light."

- S.S. Vol. 5, pp. E235-E238.

MANNA TEXT-MAY 24 -- 1 CORINTHIANS 13:5

"Love . . . is not easily provoked."

In the chapter from which our text is taken, St. Paul sets forth the prime necessity for the cultivation and development of Love, without which, whatever else we may attain, we shall be nothing in the sight of God. The Apostle tells us in the words of our text that love is not easily provoked. Evidently he uses the word provoked here in a very different sense from its meaning where he says that we should "consider one another to provoke unto love and good works." (Heb. 10:24.) The thought of the latter text is to incite to good works, to call forth love in others, to exert an influence favorable to righteousness. The thought in our present text, however, is that of being excited, or aroused, to anger. St. Paul declares that love is not easily thus aroused, but is long-suffering.

We might say, strictly speaking, that it is not the quality of love itself that would ever be moved to anger. Yet righteous anger -- a just indignation aroused by our love for the principles of righteousness -- is not incompatible with love. "God is love," and the Scriptures assure us that he "is angry with the wicked every day." His anger is righteous indignation against sin.

How earnestly we as children of God should watch and pray that we may indeed be fitted for our great future work -now so near! 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 in the world. These, operating for six thousand years, have made man very deficient in love, sympathy, brotherly-kindness and long-suffering. Now there is a greater tendency toward anger, malice, hatred, strife, 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, and permeate all our thoughts, words, and actions.

Let us, then, be kind and forbearing one with another, brethren, seeking to put the kindest construction upon the words, the actions, and the natural tendencies of one another, remembering our own peculiarities and foibles. Let us remember that each of us is blemished by the fall, and that those of the brethren that try us most may have had hereditary tendencies and environments in earlier life of which we are not aware, and which would make us very pitiful if we knew. Let us remember also that we may be altogether unaware of some of our own weaknesses and mannerisms, which may grate upon others. We should be much more careful to note our own mistakes and faults than those of other brethren of the Lord.

God has no sympathy with sin; but he has so much sympathy for sinners that he has provided his well-beloved Son to redeem and uplift the sinner. He has set apart a thousand years for this work of human uplift. We note injustice; we ought to note it. But it is not our province to flay, to inflict punishment. We are to "judge nothing before the time." We see acts committed that shock our moral sense. We are to say to ourselves, I believe that act to be criminal; but it is not for me to settle with that wrong-doer. God knows to what extent the individual is responsible; I do not. It is my duty as far as possible to view him from the standpoint of sympathy. It is my duty to assist him if it is in my power, if I have a proper opportunity-to help him out of his wrong views into right views. But even in this I am to be "wise as a serpent, and harmless as a dove." The conduct is wrong, but I cannot know how wrong the individual may be. Thus, beloved, shall we grow up into Christ, our glorious Head, in all things, until, made perfect and complete through his grace, we shall be presented to the Father "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing." - Eph. 5:27.

- Reprints, pp. R5603, R5604.

MANNA TEXT-MAY 31 -- ROMANS 14:21

"It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak."

Very evidently the Apostle was not in these words endeavoring to put any bounds upon the liberties of God's people. Elsewhere he declares that the liberty of Christ makes us free. But he points out that while we have liberty to do things not sinful and not injurious to ourselves, yet it is part of our privilege and of our contract with the Lord to abstain from anything which would be injurious to others; and that we should seek to regulate our lives so as to be a help to others and not use our liberty merely for the flesh, for self-gratification. We are representatives of righteousness and should so deal with others, "doing good unto all men, especially unto those who are of the household of faith." - Gal. 6:10.

Knowledge does not necessarily mean a great growth in spirituality. A mite of soap will make a very large air bubble; and so a comparatively little knowledge might puff one up greatly, without any solidity of character. There is, therefore, great advantage in measuring ones self by growth in love rather than by growth merely in knowledge -- though, of course, to be great in both knowledge and love would be the ideal condition. The Apostle inculcates this same lesson, asserting, "Though I have all knowledge and have not love I am nothing."

Knowledge without love would be an injury; and to consider it otherwise would imply that real knowledge has not yet been secured; but to the contrary of this the same Apostle says, "If any man love God, the same is known of him." (1 Cor. 13:2; 8:3.) We might have a great deal of knowledge and yet not know God and not be known or recognized by him; but no one can have a large development of true love in his character without personally knowing the Lord and having obtained the spirit of love through fellowship with him. Hence the getting of love is sure to build us up substantially (thus avoiding the inflation of pride) in all the various graces of the spirit, including meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, brotherly-kindness, knowledge, wisdom from above, and the spirit of a sound mind.

Love, after securing knowledge and liberty, will look about to see what effect the use of liberty might have upon others; and will perceive that by reason of differing mental conditions -- perceptions, reasoning faculties, etc. -- all could not have exactly the same standpoint of knowledge and appreciation of principles. Love, therefore, would forbid the use of knowledge and liberty if it perceived that their exercise would work injury to another.

"Wherefore, if meat maketh my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh forevermore, that I make not my brother to stumble." - 1 Cor. 8:13, R.V.

- Reprints, pp. R4919, R4920.

The Question Box

Psalm 110:1; Rom. 3:28; 5:1.

Question:

Please explain Psalm 110:1, which reads as follows: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool."

Answer:

We will first state our understanding of the passage and then submit Scriptural proof as to the correctness of our exposition.

(a) Explanation of text:

First, then, as to our understanding of the passage: In this verse, David, writing under the influence of God's holy spirit, reports a revelation of Jehovah's intention in regard to Messiah. In vision he, David, heard Jehovah addressing one, who though David's son, was yet his superior. David heard Jehovah say to this great One: "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."

(b) Scriptural proof as to the correctness of this interpretation:

Let us now examine the Scriptures in proof that this understanding is correct.

That the Psalm was written by David is a fact accepted by most scholars of repute. To begin with, it bears a superscription which reads: "A Psalm of David"; thus, on its very surface, it claims to have been written by him. Moreover, in the New Testament our Lord Jesus himself evidences his belief that David wrote it. (Matt. 22:43; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42.) Not only so, but Jesus declares also that when David wrote this Psalm he was "in spirit," that is to say, he was aided and guided by, or under the influence or control of, the holy spirit of God. Accepting this New Testament confirmation of the fact that David was the author of our Psalm, it follows that the expression "my Lord" means David's Lord; that is to say, David's Master, his Superior, his "Adon."

However, the first occurrence of the word Lord refers not to David's Adon, but to Jehovah. This is signified by the fact that here the word "Lord" appears, in most Bibles, in small capital letters. The meaning may be seen more clearly by reference to the Revised Version, which reads:

"Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."

Just now we referred to Matthew 22:43. Let us read that verse, together with the four verses which form its context, and note the additional light they throw on its inspired statement of the Psalmist. Commencing with Matthew 22:41 and reading from the Revised Version:

"Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What think ye of the Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in the spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord saith unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I put thine enemies underneath thy feet? If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son?"

Considering these verses carefully we note, first, that in asking the Pharisees "What think ye of the Christ?" our Lord was not asking them what they thought about himself. True, he was the Christ, but he was not, in this question, insisting on that title. Rather, he is drawing them out. It is as though he had asked: "What have your studies of the Old Testament led you to understand is to be true of the great Messiah, when he comes? Whose son, whose descendant is he to be?" There was, of course, only one reply for them to make: "The son of David." This was common knowledge. The Scriptures had established this fact beyond question. (See, for example, 2 Sam. 7:8-17; Psa. 89: 3, 4; Psa. 132:11; Amos 9:11.) Not only the Pharisees, but the masses of the people, too, were well aware that Messiah was to be of David's line. - See Matt. 1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30, 31; 21:9, 15; Luke 1:32.

Yes, all were agreed that according to the predictions of the Prophets, the Messiah was to be a son of David, and the heir of his throne. But now, having by this preliminary query prepared the way for his main question, our Lord puts it to them: "How then doth David in spirit call him Lord?" "How do you explain this remarkable language which David employs here, in Psalm 110, verse 1? What is the reason that justified -- nay, what is the reason that, under the influence of the holy spirit, impelled -- David to call him Lord?"

It is easy for us, with the New Testament in our hands, to answer our Lord's question. David's son was David's Lord, in the prophetic vision unfolded to David which he records in this Psalm, because, at the time that vision would meet its fulfillment, this great son of his would have become his Lord. Following his birth as a babe, he would have pursued the path marked out for him by the Father to, and beyond, Calvary. Highly exalted as a reward for his faithfulness, he would now become the Everlasting Father of the human race. As such he would be David's Father -- David's Life-giver. (See Isa 9:6; Rev. 22:16.) By his question, then, our Lord intimates to the Pharisees that, understanding merely that Messiah was to be a son of David, and failing to understand this verse, which declared that Messiah was also to be David's Lord, they had but a poor, outside, view of the real nature, character, and work of the long-promised Messiah. It was not a mere monarch, somewhat like David, that was needed. It was one who was fit to be David's monarch, and the monarch of all monarchs, one who would have power with God, and whose throne might be established in the hearts of - men.

This Psalm is quoted not only by our Lord in Matthew, Mark, and Luke's accounts, but also elsewhere in the New Testament. The first verse is quoted by Peter in his great sermon on the Day of Pentecost, a sermon which carried conviction to the minds of three thousand hearers. - Acts 2:34, 35, 41.

In 1 Cor. 15:25 we are told that Christ "must reign until he bath put all enemies under his feet"-language which is quite evidently borrowed from David.

Again, in the first chapter of Hebrews, verse 13 (Heb. 1:13), the inspired writer, in showing the supreme excellence of the Christian dispensation over the past, and the vast superiority of Christ over all the angelic order of beings, exclaims triumphantly in concluding his argument: "But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," as God did say to Jesus the Messiah, as you will find recorded in the 110th Psalm of David. This is the culminating point of the writer's argument, and its force rests upon the universal acknowledgment of his hearers that this Psalm referred to the Messiah, and that there was only one being in all the universe so high, so exalted, so powerful, to whom its language could be applicable, and that that Being was David's Son and David's Lord.

Nor are we left in doubt as to the occasion in the experience of our Lord when this prophetic utterance of David would meet fulfillment. Would it be when Jehovah brought him into existence as the mighty Logos? Did Jehovah then say to him: "Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Was it when his life was transferred to earth as a babe at Bethlehem? Was it when he consecrated himself at Jordan? No! it was on none of these occasions. It was when, following his death and resurrection he ascended to heaven. Have we a Scripture to prove this? Yes, indeed. Hear the writer to the Hebrews, in chapter 10, verses 12 and 13:

"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." (Heb. 10:12-13)

And again, in Ephesians 1:19-22, where the Apostle speaks of the mighty power of God:

"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand ... and put all things under his feet "

St. Peter, too, takes up a similar strain, when in 1 Peter 3:22, he speaks of the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

"Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."

Concerning the Messiah of Jewish hopes we have found in the foregoing discussion at least two things taught in the Scriptures, and condensed in Psalm 110:1:

(1) He must be a descendant of David.

(2) He must also be David's superior.

St. Paul was a man highly educated in the Old Testament Scriptures. Note the following from his pen, which testify that Jesus possessed these two qualifications:

"Remember [Timothy] that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel." - 2 Tim. 2:8.

Yes -- whatever else Timothy forgot he must remember that, and maintain it in his teaching.

Again, in Romans 1:3, 4 in what has been called the "Gospel according to St. Paul," he writes of that Gospel:

"Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

Just a word in closing. Jehovah is heard, by David, addressing Messiah: "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." How shall we understand these words?

According to an able commentator (Perowne) this expression "denotes that the person thus honored occupied the second place in the Kingdom, taking rank immediately after the king, and also sharing as viceroy in the government."

If such be the meaning, if the solemn address, "Sit thou at my right hand," is equivalent to saying, "Be thou associated with me in my kingly dignity, in my power and universal dominion," then the best comment on the passage is to be found in Daniel 7:13, 14, where one like the Son of Man comes with the clouds of heaven and is brought unto the Ancient of Days, and there is given him a kingdom and glory and a dominion, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. The two passages, the one from the Psalms and the other from Daniel, are in fact combined by our Lord himself, when, standing before the High Priest, he says: "Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven." - Matt. 26:63, 64; Mark 14:61, 62.

Question:

The Scriptures make it clear that we are justified by faith. (Rom. 3:28; 5:1.) Why does God set such a premium on faith? Why does he reckon us righteous on account of our faith? Why does he justify by faith rather than by one of the other graces? Why not by fortitude, patience, meekness, gentleness, humility; above all, why not by love? What is there in faith that gives it such value in God's sight?

Answer:

Faith is the root of all the other graces; it is in faith that they have their origin.

If in our hearts we have true faith, the manifestation of all the other graces will appear in our conduct. Our lives will be, or will become, characterized by fortitude, patience, meekness, gentleness, humility, and love. If we have in our hearts not a dead, but a living faith, we have in us the root of all the other graces; we have in us that which is already pregnant with them and which, in due time, under the guidance of and by the power of the holy spirit, will produce them all; whereas, if it were possible for our Christian life to begin with any one of them, even love, or with all of them put together, without faith, their root, being in us, they would be without hope of reaching maturity, but must inevitably wither, when subjected to a sufficiently strong test.

The Apostle Peter brings this strikingly to our attention in his second Epistle, chapter 1, verses 5-8 (2 Pet. 1:5-8). There he shows the rounded-out, well-balanced condition in which a true Christian character matures. The picture he draws is somewhat obscured in our Authorized Version by a mistranslation, so that in that Version the passage reads: "Add to your faith, virtue, and to your virtue, knowledge," etc. A better translation appears in the Revised Version. We are not to first mature faith and then to our matured faith add virtue (or fortitude) and then to our matured fortitude add knowledge, etc. The word is much more vital than "add." The faith that we bring to the Christian life is to contain in itself the seeds which will produce all these graces. As faith grows, they will grow.

In your faith supply virtue (or fortitude) reads the Revised Version, and in your fortitude knowledge, and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control, patience, or steadfastness, or endurance; and in your steadfastness, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly-kindness; and in your brotherly-kindness, supply love.

As further bearing on the fact that faith is the root of the other graces, we note the fine touch of spiritual wisdom which appears in the disciples' answer to the Lord when he instructed them in regard to the duty of forgiveness: "If thy brother trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto thee, saying, 'I repent,' thou shalt forgive him." - Luke 17:4.

Exceeding strain is this to put upon our patience, and to put upon our love -- offense crowding upon offense and injury upon injury till it has grown to a seven-fold affront. But the point of special interest just now is how the disciples received this instruction. Did they say: Lord, it will take a great deal of patience before we shall have developed characters which will be able to do this. Train us in the secret of forbearance? Or did they say: Lord, it is only when we greatly love, that we can forgive to such an extent. Increase in us therefore, this grace of love?

No! -- the Apostles did not thus reply. Instead they besought the Lord to increase their faith. (Luke 17:5.) They asked that the root might be strengthened, to brace the tree for such trial and resistance.

So must it be with us. When a great trial comes into our lives, or when we are taxed with some unusual service, or called upon to take a larger share of fellowship in the burdens and sufferings of Christ, we may be as certain as were these disciples, that the surest way for us to be fit for the strain, is to have our faith strengthened; that we must believe more, if we would do more; that our rest in him must be in a deeper repose, a calmer and more sure trust, ere we can be greatly used in his dear service.

- P. L. Read.

Christian Liberty Based on Principle

WE MUST never forget that our authorization to meet as brethren is the Master's Word: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18:20.) As this is our charter-right for meeting as the Lord's people, we must concede an equal right under it to all of God's people who may choose to meet in his name at any place and at any time. We should remember the Bible illustration of this principle: On one occasion the twelve disciples had returned from a preaching tour, and St. John said to Jesus, "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not; for he that is not against us is for us." (Luke 9:49, 50.) This one forbidden by John would correspond well with some now holding meetings other than those which we attend. What did Jesus say? "Forbid him not; for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me." - Mark 9:38-40.

Here is a general principle which will serve to guide, to instruct God's people of today respecting his will in similar matters. We, of course, think our arrangements most pleasing to the Lord, or we would not have them so. If others think differently, the responsibility is with them and with the Lord. It is not for us to forbid them, but it is for the Lord to bless them or not to bless them, according to his wisdom in the management of his work.

Some one may suggest, Would not this thought, acted upon, break up the meetings of the Lord's people into very small classes? We reply that this must depend upon the brethren themselves. They have the right to meet in twos and threes or in larger numbers. If they can find it to their advantage to meet in larger groups, no doubt they will be glad to do so. This means a great deal of liberty in the Church within the lines of the word and spirit of Jesus' teaching, directly and through his Apostles.

Brethren meeting as a class should understand that in so doing they properly waive, or make void, some of their personal liberties and privileges. Individual preferences are to be more or less subjected to class preferences. Even the majority of the class should be considerate of the wishes of the minority, and if possible, should moderate the arrangements, so that all can be accommodated and pleased in respect to speakers, and in respect to place and character of meetings. No one should selfishly consider merely his own preferences and welfare. The spirit of co-operation, the Golden Rule, the spirit of love, should prevail. And as this is true, all those filled with the spirit of the Master and living close to him will find fellowship one with another in yielding personal preferences in the interest of the whole number.

CONSCIENCE TO BE RESPECTED

The only things that may not be yielded to the will of the majority are matters of conscience. No one is to do what he believes to be sin, injustice, wrong, even though all the remainder of the brethren think it right. And no one is to leave undone what his conscience dictates, even though so directed by all the remainder of the brethren of the class.

Conscience is always to be respected -- never to be throttled or violated. Nor is any one who stands faithful to his conscience to be disesteemed therefore by his brethren, even if their consciences view the matter differently. On the contrary, his courage in standing by his convictions is to be considered estimable.

On these principles liberty may be maintained in the Body of Christ; and we shall find blessing in proportion as those of one mind can fellowship with each other. Where fellowship is not maintained, the assembling is neither desirable nor in harmony with the divine arrangement. But where the brethren find it advantageous to meet in different classes, it will usually be found, we believe, that originally too great restraint of personal liberty was exercised, and that the majority were too careless of the sentiments of the brethren constituting the minority.

But even where it may be found necessary or desirable to have more than one gathering of the Lord's people in one city, it certainly still is true that they should have one heart and one mind, and be of one brotherhood under the Anointed Head. They should consider each other's interests, and do all in their power "to provoke one another to love and to good works." - Hebrews 10:24. Reprints, p. R5501.

Alone with God

And so I find it well to come
For deeper rest to this still room;
For here the habit of the soul
Feels less the outer world's control.
And with the silence, multiplied
By these still forms on every side,
The world, that time and sense has known,
Falls off, and leaves us, God, alone.

- J. G. Whittier

Recently Deceased

Bro. E. L. Booth,* Austin, Texas. (Feb.)
Sister Amalie Collier, Puyallup, Wash. (Jan.)
Sister Lavina Fenn, Toronto, Ont. (Mar.)
Sister Alice Przychodni, Cicero, Ill. (Mar.)
Bro. A. E. Williamson; W. Orange, N.J. (Mar.)

* We regret the error in last issue giving this as Sr. E. L. Booth, who is still with us.

1956 Index