VOL.
LI. May/June 1968 No. 3
The Second Advent its nature and purpose Pentecost"And when the day of Pentecost was
fully come then were all THE
ORIGINAL national festivals established by the Mosaic law were three in number
"Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord thy
God in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and
in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not
appear before the Lord empty; every man shall give as he is able, according to
the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee." (Deut. 16:16,
17.) The same three festivals are elsewhere prescribed. (See Exod. 23:14-17;
34:18, 22, 23; Lev. 23.) And although other festivals were added in later
times, it is to the deep religious character of these three that we attribute
the salutary influence which fostered the spirit of unity amongst the Hebrew
people. The
second of these great national festivals was that known to us by the name of
the feast of Pentecost. In the
law of Moses it is called "the feast of the harvest, the first-fruits of
thy labors"; also "the feast
of weeks"; that is, the feast celebrated the day after the completion
of seven weeks from the second day of the Passover, when the sheaf of the
first-fruits of the harvest was presented before the Lord (Lev. 23:15): in
other words, the feast occurring fifty days after the second day of the
Passover. Hence its later Hebrew name, day of fifty, which becomes in Greek, day of the Pentecost (Greek, "pentekoste,"
fifty). - See Exod. 23:16; Lev. 23:15-21; Num. 28:26-31; Deut. 16:9-12. The
day of Pentecost was properly the celebration of the close of the harvest of
wheat and barley. As a sheaf of the ripening harvest had been presented at the
sanctuary on the second day of the Passover, as an acknowledgment that it was
God's gift, and as such belonged to Him, so now two wave-loaves of fine flour,
made from the gathered harvest and baked with leaven, were presented before
Jehovah. This was the distinguishing rite of the feast. The loaves were made
with leaven because they were not intended for the altar, but were a
thanksgiving offering for God's bounty in furnishing food for His people. At
the same time the priests were commanded to offer seven lambs of the first
year, ore bullock, and two rams, as a burnt-offering, with the customary meat
and drink offerings also one kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and two
lambs of the first year as a peace-offering. On the same day was a holy
convocation, and all servile labor was forbidden. It was a joyous festival to
the Lord, every one being enjoined to bring with him a free-will offering,
according as God had blessed him, and to eat it at the sanctuary with his
children, his servants, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the
widow. The
Jews also called it "the feast of the joy of the law," as occurring,
according to their tradition, on the very day when the law was given from
Mount Sinai, the fiftieth of the Exodus, from the night of the first Passover.
It must be acknowledged, however, that this cannot be clearly made out from
the sacred record, nor is there any reference to such coincidence in the Old
Testament. God, however, honored the day in a preeminent manner by choosing it
as the time for the gift of the holy spirit, and thus for the inauguration of
the Christian dispensation. The Jewish tradition, nevertheless, does beautifully
cause the feast of Pentecost to associate the old dispensation of the law with
the new dispensation of the Gospel; the organization of the Old Testament
church under Moses with a partial ministry of the spirit, with its
reorganization under the apostles with the fullness of the holy spirit. Waiting for the PromiseIt
was on this day that we find the disciples, in the words of our text, gathered
"with one accord in one place," and thus included probably not only
the apostles but also the one hundred and twenty mentioned in Acts 1:15. Ten
days before, the apostles had witnessed the ascension of Him whom they loved.
During the forty days since His resurrection, through His various
manifestations, they had gradually realized His change from human to the divine
nature. He was raised from the dead a life-giving spirit-being (1 Cor. 15:45)
and was no longer a man, of the earth, earthy. He was no longer human in any
sense or degree, but the full implications of His change were as yet unperceived
by the disciples, as we note from their question recorded in Acts 1:6. True, He
had already breathed on them, saying, "Receive ye the holy spirit."
(John 20:22.) We may not speak with certainty as to the meaning of this, but
the relationship was incomplete according to the plan and purpose of God, for
He soon "commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but
wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me."
(Acts 1:4; Luke 24:49.) The "promise of the Father" was of the
spirit, but evidently concerning that yet unexperienced ministry of the spirit
coming "upon" them for power. With this parting instruction, the Son
of God was received from their sight, nevermore to be seen until that happy
day, "face-to-face in all His glory." And
now for ten days they had "continued with one accord in prayer and
supplication,"- awaiting that they knew not what. The Spirit's DescentWhile
thus gathered, having given themselves entirely to the business of devotion,
"suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and
it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all
filled with the holy spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the
spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:2-4) It
burst upon them at once. Though they were waiting for the descent of the
spirit, yet it is not probable that they expected it in this manner. As this
was an important event, and one on which the welfare of the Church depended, it
was proper that the gift of the holy spirit should take place in some striking manner, one which even their
physical senses, such as sight or hearing, could attest so as to convince their
own minds that the promise was fulfilled, and so as deeply to impress others
with the greatness and importance of the event. The sound appeared to rush down
from the sky. It was fitted, therefore, to attract their attention no less from
the direction from which it came than on account of its suddenness and
violence. Wind in the sacred Scriptures is often put as an emblem of a divine
influence. It is invisible, yet mighty. In this place the sound as -of a gale
was emblematic of the mighty power of the spirit, and of the great effects
which its coming would accomplish among men. It does not appear that there was
any actual wind; all might have been still; but the sudden sound was like such a sweeping tempest. It was
the sound, and not the wind, that filled the house. And it is
this which makes the miracle really far more striking than the common
supposition makes it to have been. A tempest might have been terrific. A mighty
wind might have alarmed them. But there would have been nothing unusual or
remarkable in it. Such things often occurred; and the thoughts would have been
directed, of course, to the storm as an ordinary, though perhaps alarming occurrence.
But when all was still, when there was no storm, no wind, no rain, no thunder,
such a rushing sound must have arrested their attention, and directed all
minds to so unusual and unaccountable an occurrence. Possibly
the "cloven tongues like as of fire" were first seen by them in the
room before they rested on the heads of the disciples. Perhaps the fire appeared
at first as scintillations of flame, of slender and pointed appearance, moving
irregularly around the room until it became fixed on their heads. The word
"tongue" occurs often in the Scriptures to denote the member which is
the instrument of taste and speech, and also to denote language or speech
itself. The common opinion is that these tongues, or flames, were, each -one of
them, split, or forked, or cloven. But this is not the sense of the expression.
It means that they were separated or divided one from another; not one great flame,
but broken up, or cloven into many parts; and probably moving without order in
the room. ln the Syriac it is: "And there appeared unto them tongues which
divided themselves, like fire, and sat upon each of them." The old
Ethiopic version reads it: "And fire, as it were, appeared to them, and
sat on them." The fire, in the form of a gentle flame, rested upon the
head of each one. This evinced that the prodigy was directed to them, and was a very significant emblem
of the promised descent of the holy spirit. After the rushing sound, and the
appearance of the flames, they could not doubt that here was some remarkable
interposition of God. The appearance of fire, or flame, has always been
regarded as a most striking emblem of the Divinity, and was thus used on
several occasions, as recorded in the Old Testament. And now to the disciples,
the tongues would be emblematic of: first, God's presence and power; and
second, of the diversity of languages which they were about to be able to
speak. "They Were Filled with the Holy Spirit"To
be filled with any thing is a phrase denoting that all the faculties are
pervaded by it, engaged in it, or under its influence. Acts 3:10, "were
filled with wonder and amazement"; Acts 5:17, "filled with
indignation"; Acts 13:45, "'filled with envy"; verse 52,
"filled with joy and the holy spirit." The disciples were entirely
under the sacred influence of the power of God, which revealed itself in the
miraculous ability to speak languages which they had not before learned. No
such outpouring of the divine spirit had ever occurred before as respects the
children of Ad-am. Indeed, no such new 'begetting on God's part was possible
until first the sin-offering had been made and accepted. The phenomenon itself
witnessed the acceptance of the merit of the great antitypical High Priest, who
ten clays before had ascended into the antitypical Most Holy. (See Heb. 9:24.)
It is probable that this great work is referred to in Revelation 8:1-5. The only thing corresponding to this descent of the holy spirit was that upon our Lord at the time of His consecration at baptism in Jordan. He there received the holy spirit in the same sense but "without measure," He being perfect; those who received this holy spirit at Pentecost received it by measure, that is, in limited degree. (John 3:34.) Although they were all "filled" with the spirit, yet, because of weakness and imperfections of their organisms, they could only receive limited measures-these differing one from the other according to natural temperaments, etc. Fifty days previously, the resurrection of Jesus, which revealed His acceptableness to God, occurred on the same day as the offering of the barley sheaf of firstfruits, which typified Christ our Lord, as "the firstfruits of them that slept." (1 Cor. 15:20.) And now God manifests His acceptance of the Church, the body of Christ, by this remarkable manifestation of divine approval, by the outpouring of His holy spirit upon the waiting disciples who represented the Church collectively. And this on the very day that the two wave-loaves were offered in the temple, picturing the presenting of the Church before God, "a kind of first-fruits of His creatures" (James 1:18), and its acceptance through the merit of the great High Priest. Various Manifestations of the SpiritGod's
holy spirit had indeed been manifested in various ways previously, but all of
them differed from this manifestation. For instance, it was the holy power of
God which moved upon the waters in connection with the world's creation. (Gen.
1:2.) Again, as the Apostle Peter declares, "holy men of old spoke and
wrote as they were moved by the holy spirit"; mechanically. (2 Pet. 1:21.)
He further explains that what they spoke and wrote they did not comprehend,
because their utterances and writings were not for themselves but for us of the
Gospel Age. We are, therefore, to recognize the fact that the
spirit-dispensation had its beginning in Jesus, when He was thirty years of
age; but so far as others were concerned, its beginning was in the sanctified
ones at Pentecost, as recorded in this lesson. Neither are we to think that
this Pentecostal outpouring requires a repetition, for the holy spirit thus
once poured upon the Church was to abide, to continue, with the Church, not to
be withdrawn and poured out afresh repeatedly. A collective anointing was here
indicated, and its authority extends to the last called one of this Gospel Age
even "like precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments." - Psa.
133:2. It
was appropriate, that the giving of the holy spirit should be with a certain
outward demonstration and manifestation; not merely to impress and convince the
apostles and the early Church, but also for the benefit of those who should
subsequently come into relationship with the Church. Faith must have a ground
to rest upon, an assurance that there was at the beginning such a direct
recognition of the Savior's sacrifice and of the divine acceptance of the
consecrated ones who trusted in Him. The reality and certainty of this miracle
of tongues is strongly attested by the early triumphs of the Gospel. That the
Gospel was early spread over all the world, and that, too, by the apostles of
Jesus Christ, by men of Galilee, is the clear testimony of history. They
preached it in Arabia, Greece, Syria, Asia, Persia, Africa, and Rome. Yet how
could this have been affected without a miraculous power of speaking the
languages used in all those places? It requires the toil of many years to speak
in foreign languages; and the recorded success of the Gospel is one of the most
striking attestations to the fact of the miracle that could be conceived. Under
the influence of this remarkable power from God, we find Peter, who in fear had
denied his Master, now powerfully moved, in the very city of Christ's
crucifixion and in the presence of his enemies, to boldly proclaim the Word of
truth. Here it was that he used one of the two "keys" entrusted to
him (the second at Cornelius' conversion, three and one-half years later, the
first of Gentile believers) and moved thousands to acknowledge Christ. And ever
since, from its "birthday" at Pentecost, the true Church had continued
to manifest God's power and glory. Some have concluded that there were times
when the holy spirit was not in the world at all, but this was because they
were looking for it in a wrong direction or under wrong conditions. At times
the nominal church of outward professors has been so overgrown with the "tare"
element that the true "wheat" could not readily be "discerned,
yet we are confident that the Lord never left Himself without a witness, and
that even in the darkest hour of the Dark Ages there we're some of God's true
people in the world; some representatives of the body of Christ; some,
therefore, possessing the holy spirit; some who therefore constituted the salt
of the earth and the lights of the world, even though the darkness was great
around them and its influence so powerful that no record of the true Church is
to be found, but only the records of the apostasy. Fruits Superior to GiftsThe
fact that the holy spirit upon the disciples was accompanied by miraculous
manifestations or gifts, tongues, etc., does not imply any greater favor of God
toward the primitive Church, which had those gifts, than toward the Lord's
people of a later day, after those gifts had ceased; for, as the apostle points
out, it was possible for some to have those gifts without having much of the
real spirit of the Lord. He says, "Though I speak with the tongues 'of men
and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,
and have not love, I am nothing." (1
Cor. 13:1, 2.) We are, therefore, to esteem love for the Lord and for the
brethren and for the neighbor--active love, which does, as well as wishes and
says--to be the best evidence of an acceptable condition with the, Lord, the
best evidence of a filling with His
holy spirit, a far better evidence than the possession, of the
"gifts" described. Far greater, far more precious gifts of the
spirit. then, are the gifts which the spirit develops in us -- the fruits of
the spirit -- joy, peace, faith, love, etc. Jesus
has ascended to His Father, but this other "paraklete" (comforter)
has come to dwell in His people forever. The holy spirit's work is threefold.
First, with reference to Christ's immediate disciples, it was the revealer--Jesus had instructed and
opened truth to their minds, but their minds were weak, their memories
treacherous. The holy spirit comes to bring to mind Jesus' works, to strengthen
memory, to fill them with the, truth thus spoken in all its vividness and
power, and open the true meaning of what was obscure and dark. Nor is this all.
There were many things Jesus had for them, which they could not bear, were not
able to receive, before His departure. These the spirit should make known to
them; these things to come it should unfold to them. This promise is the
foundation on which; the, whole New Testament rests as the inspired truth of
God. They spoke, they wrote the things pertaining to Christ and His Kingdom, as
they were moved by the holy spirit. The
second office is that of the convictor
and regenerator. It is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, of
judgment; and as it convinces and convicts, it is to renew and lead them to
Jesus. On the day of Pentecost this power was demonstrated; thousands were
pricked in their, hearts: thousands believed in Jesus. Ever since, its presence
has been revealed in conviction and conversion. Religion advances; Jesus is
received; the Gospel is victorious only as the holy spirit brings the truth
home to the hearts of men. And this tremendous power will be recognized in the
glorious time near at hand when God shall pour out His spirit upon all flesh,
in the times of restitution long promised. The
third office is that of quickener, guide,
and comforter. To the soul penitent and believing, this blessed spirit
comes and quickens it to see and feel the fulness, and richness, and power of
the truth as it is in Jesus; stimulates it to sacrifice and labor; excites to
prayer; strengthens against temptation; supports and comforts amid .trial,
sorrow, and death. Jesus sends this divine spirit, in fulfillment of His
promise to work in His Church and thus completes the cycle of redemption.
-
W. J. Siekman The Kingdom of God"Thy kingdom come, Thy
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." ANY
who have not carefully examined this subject, with concordance and Bible in
hand, will be surprised, on doing so, to find its prominence in the Scriptures.
The Old Testament abounds with promises and prophecies in which the Kingdom
of God and its King, Messiah, figure as the very center. It was the hope of
every Israelite (Luke 3:15) that as a people God would exalt their nation under
Messiah; and when the Lord came to them, it was as their King, to establish the
long promised Kingdom of God upon the earth. In
the parables of our Lord, the Church is frequently called the kingdom; and the
Apostle speaks of it as the kingdom over which Christ now reigns, saying that
God hath translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his
dear Son. We who accept of Christ now recognize his purchased right of
dominion, and render him grateful and voluntary obedience before he forcibly
establishes it in the world. We recognize the difference between the laws of
righteousness, which he will enforce, and the kingdom of darkness supported by
the usurper, at present the prince of this world. Faith in God's promises thus
changes our allegiance, and we reckon ourselves subjects of the new prince,
and, by his favor, joint-heirs with him in that kingdom yet to be set up in
power and great glory. But
this fact by no means disannuls the promises that ultimately Christ's kingdom
shall be "from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the
earth" (Psa. 72:8); that all nations shall serve and obey him; and that
unto him every knee shall bow, of things both in heaven and on earth (Dan.
7:27; Phil. 2:10). Rather, on the contrary, the selection now of the
"little flock" confirms those promises. When
the parables of our Lord are carefully examined, it will be found that they
clearly teach that the coming or setting up of the Kingdom of God in power is
future; and, as a matter of course, not until the King comes. Thus the parable
of the young noble man going into a far country to receive a kingdom and to
return, etc. (Luke 19:11-15), clearly locates the establishment of the Kingdom
at the return of Christ. And the message sent by the Lord to the Church long
years afterward was, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee
a crown of life" (Rev. 2:10). From this it is evident that the kings who
will reign with him will not be crowned nor reign as kings in this life. The
Church at present, therefore, is not the Kingdom of God set up in power and
glory, but in its incipient, embryo condition. And so, indeed, all the
expressions of the New Testament with reference to it teach. The kingdom of
heaven now suffers violence at the hands of the world; the King was maltreated
and crucified; and whosoever will follow in his footsteps shall suffer
persecution and violence in some form. This, it will be observed, is true only
of the real Church, and not of the
nominal one. But the promise is held out that if now we (the Church, the embryo
kingdom) suffer with Christ, we also, in due time, when he takes to himself his
great power and reigns, shall be glorified and shall reign with him. With
the early Church, the promises of kingdom honor and jointheirship with the
Master were strong incentives to faithfulness under present trials and persecutions,
which they had been forewarned to expect; and in all the words of comfort and
encouragement in the Apocalypse, given to the seven churches, none shine out
more clearly and forcibly than those which declare, "To him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set
down with my Father in his throne"; and, "To him that overcometh
will I. give power over the nations." These
are promises which could not reasonably be misconstrued to apply to a present
work of grace in the heart, nor yet to a reign over the nations in the present
life; since they who would overcome must do so by death in the service,
and thus gain the kingdom honors (Rev. 20:6). But,
after a great deal of persecution had been faithfully endured by the early
Church, theories began to spread to the effect that the mission of the Church
was to conquer the world, establish the kingdom of heaven on earth and reign
over the nations before the Lord's second advent. This laid the
foundation for worldly intrigue, pomp and pride, ostentatious show and ceremony
in the Church, which was designed to impress, captivate and overawe the world,
and which led step by step to the great claims of Papacy that as God's kingdom
on earth it had a right to command the respect and obedience to its laws and
officers of every kindred, nation, and people. Under this false claim (and they
seemingly deceived themselves as well as others) Papacy for a time crowned and
uncrowned the kings of Europe, and still claims the authority which it is now
unable to enforce. The
same idea through Papacy has come down to Protestantism, which also claims,
though more vaguely, that somehow the reign of the Church is in
progress. Thus it has come to pass that the merely nominal members of the
Church-those not really converted, not really wheat, but tares, mere
imitations of the wheat-far outnumber the true disciples of Christ. And these
are much opposed to every real sacrifice and self-denial, do not suffer
persecution for righteousness' [truth's] sake, and at most hold to only a form
of fastings, etc. instead. They are really reigning with the world and are not
in the line of preparation for sharing in the real kingdom which is to be set
up by our Lord at his second presence. To
any careful observer, there is a manifest incongruity between this view and the
teaching of Jesus and the apostles. They taught that there can be no kingdom
until the King comes (Rev. 20:6; 3:21; 2 Tim. 2:12). Consequently, the kingdom
of heaven must suffer violence until that time, when it shall be set up
in glory and power. TWO PHASES OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.While
it is true, as stated by our Lord, that the Kingdom of God cometh not --
does not make its first appearance -- with outward show, in due time it is to be
made manifest to all by outward, visible, and unmistakable signs. When fully
set up, the Kingdom of God will be of two parts, a spiritual or heavenly phase
and an earthly or human phase. The spiritual will always be invisible to men,
as those composing it will be of the divine, spiritual nature, which no man
hath seen nor can see (1 Tim. 6:16; John 1:18); yet its presence and power will
be mightily manifested, chiefly through its human representatives, who will
constitute the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God. Those
who will constitute the spiritual phase of the kingdom are the overcoming
saints of the Gospel age -- the Christ, head and body -- glorified. Their
resurrection and exaltation to power precedes that of all others, because through this
class all others are to be blessed (Heb. 11:39, 40). Theirs is the first resurrection (Rev. 20:5). The great work
before this glorious anointed company-the Christ -- necessitates their
exaltation to the divine nature: no other than divine power could accomplish
it. Theirs is a work pertaining not only to this world, but to all things in
heaven and in earth -- among spiritual as well as among human beings (Matt.
28:18; Col. 1:20; Eph. 1:10; Phil. 2:10; 1 Cor. 6:3). The
work of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God will be confined to this world
and to humanity. And those so highly honored as to have a share in it will be
the most exalted and honored of God among men. These are the class whose
judgment day was previous to the Gospel age. Having been tried and found
faithful, in the awakening they will not be brought forth to judgment again,
but will at once receive the reward of their faithfulness -- an instantaneous
resurrection to perfection as men. (Others than these and the spiritual
class will be gradually raised to perfection during that Millennial
age.) Thus this class wilt be ready at once for the great work before it as the
human agents of the Christ in restoring and blessing the remainder of mankind.
As the spiritual nature is necessary to the accomplishment of the work of
Christ, so perfect human nature is appropriate for the future accomplishment of
the work to be done among men. These will minister among and be seen of men,
while the glory of their perfection will be a constant example and an incentive
to other men to strive to attain the same perfection. And that these ancient
worthies will be in the human phase of the kingdom and seen of mankind is fully
attested by Jesus' words to the unbelieving Jews who were rejecting him. He
said, "Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in
the Kingdom of God." It should be noticed also that the Master does not
mention that he or the apostles will be visible with Abraham. As a matter of
fact, men will see and mingle with the earthly phase of the kingdom, but not
with the spiritual; and some will, no doubt, be sorely vexed to find that they
rejected so great an honor. We
are not given explicit information as to the exact manner in which these two
phases of the heavenly kingdom will harmoniously operate; but we have an
illustration of the manner in which they may operate, in God's dealings
with Israel through their representatives, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, the prophets,
etc. -- though the coming manifestations of divine power will far exceed those
of that typical age; for the work of the coming age comprises the awakening of
all the dead and the restoration of the obedient to perfection. This
work will necessitate the establishment of a perfect government among men,
with perfect men in positions of control, that they may rightly order the
affairs of state. It will necessitate the appointment of proper educational
facilities of every character, as well as philanthropic measures of various
kinds. And this noble work of thus elevating the race by sure and steady steps
(under. the direction of the unseen spiritual members of the same kingdom) is
the high honor to which the ancient worthies are appointed, and for which they
will come forth prepared soon after the final wreck of the kingdoms of this
world and the binding of Satan, their prince. And as the divinely honored
representatives of the heavenly kingdom, they will soon receive the honor and
cooperation of all men. To
gain a place in the earthly phase of the kingdom of God will be to find the
gratification of every desire and ambition of the perfect human heart. It will
be a glorious and satisfying portion from the first entrance into it, and yet
the glory will accumulate as time advances and the blessed work progresses. And
when, at the end of a thousand years, the great work of restitution is
accomplished by the Christ (in great measure through the agency of these noble
human coworkers); when the whole human race (except the incorrigible - Matt.
25:46; Rev. 20:9) stands approved, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing,
in the judgment of Jehovah, these who were instrumental in the work will shine
among their fellowmen and before God and Christ and the angels, as "the
stars forever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). Their work and labor of love will
never be forgotten by their grateful fellowmen. They will be held in
"everlasting remembrance" (Psa. 112:6). But
great as will be the accumulating, glory of those perfect men who will
constitute the earthly phase of the kingdom, the glory of the heavenly will be
the glory that excelleth. While the former will shine as the stars forever,
the latter will shine as the brightness of the firmament -- as the sun (Dan.
12:3). The honors of heaven as well as of earth shall be laid at the feet of
the Christ. The human mind can approximate, but cannot clearly conceive, the
glory to be revealed in the Christ through the countless ages of eternity
(Rom. 8:18; Eph. 2:7-12). It
is through these two phases of the kingdom that the promise to Abraham is to be
verified -- "In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth
be blessed." "Thy seed shall be as the sand of the sea, and as
the stars of heaven" -- an earthly and a heavenly seed, both God's
instruments of blessing to the world. Both phases of the promises were clearly seen and intended by
God from the beginning, but only the earthly was seen by Abraham. And though
God selected from the natural seed the chief of the spiritual class (the
apostles and others), and proffered the chief blessing, the spiritual, to all
of that nation living in the due time for that heavenly call, this was just so
much beyond what Abraham ever saw in the covenant -- favor upon favor. The
promise made to Abraham, to which Stephen refers (Acts 7:5), and in which
Israel trusted, was earthly: it related to the land. God "promised that he
would give it to him for a possession," said Stephen. And God said to
Abraham, "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art,
northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which
thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make
thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the
earth, then shall thy seed be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the
length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee" (Gen.
13-1417). Stephen shows that this promise must yet be fulfilled; for he declares that God gave
Abraham "none inheritance in it [in the land], no, not so much as to set
his foot on." The
Apostle, writing of this same class of ancient worthies -- Abraham among others
-- agrees with Stephen's statement that the promise to Abraham has not yet
been fulfilled; and he goes further and shows that those earthly promises
cannot and will not be fulfilled until the still higher heavenly promises
concerning the Christ (Head and body) are fulfilled. He says of them:
"These all died in faith, not [i. e., without] having received [the fulfillment of] the
promise . . . God having provided some better thing for us [the Christ], that they without us should not be made
perfect" (Heb. 11: 13, 39, 40). Thus is shown again that the Redeemer and
Restorer is spiritual, having given up the human a ransom for all, and that
from this highly exalted spiritual class all blessings must proceed, whoever
may be honored as its instruments or agents. The
earthly phase of the kingdom is thus seen to be Israelitish; and around this
fact cluster those many prophecies which relate to the prominence of that
nation in God's plan for the future blessing of the world, when their
tabernacle, fallen in the dust, shall be restored, and Jerusalem shall be a
praise in the whole earth. We find statements by both prophets and apostles
which clearly indicate that in the times of restitution Israel as a nation will
be the first among the nations to come into harmony with the new order of
things; that the earthly Jerusalem will be rebuilt upon her old heaps; and that
their polity will be restored as in the beginning under princes or judges (Isa. 1: 26;
Psa. 45:16; Jer. 30:18). And what could be more reasonably
expected than that Israel should first of all rejoice to recognize the
prophets and patriarchs? and that their acquaintance with and long discipline
under the law should have prepared them for tractability and obedience under
the authority of the kingdom? And while Israel will be the first of the nations
to be recognized and blessed, it is written also of Israel that "The Lord
shall save the tents of Judah first." As
Jerusalem was the seat of empire under the typical Kingdom of God, it will
again occupy the same position, and be "the city of the Great King" (Psa. 48:2; Matt. 5:35). A city is a symbol of a kingdom or dominion, and so
God's Kingdom is symbolized by the New Jerusalem, the new dominion coming from
heaven to earth. At first it will consist of only the spiritual class, the
Bride of Christ, which, as seen by John, will gradually come down to earth;
that is, it will gradually come into power as the present empires break in
pieces, during the Day of the Lord. In due time, however, the earthly phase of
this city or government will be established, parts or members of which will be
the ancient worthies. There will not be two cities (governments), but one city,
one heavenly government, the one for which Abraham looked, "a city which
hath foundations" -- a government established in righteousness, being
founded upon the sure rock foundation of the righteousness of Christ the
Redeemer, the value of man's ransom which he gave, and the firmness of divine
justice, which can no more condemn the redeemed than it could previously excuse
the guilty (Rom. 8:31-34; 1 Cor. 3:11). Glorious
City of Peace! whose walls signify salvation, protection, and blessing to all
who enter it, whose foundations laid in justice can never be moved, and whose
builder and designer is God! It is in the light which will shine from this
glorious city (kingdom) of God that the nations (people) will walk on the highway
of holiness, up to perfection and to full harmony with God (Rev. 21:24). Concerning
the future glory of the earthly phase of the kingdom as represented in
Jerusalem, the prophets speak in glowing terms, saying: "Break forth into
joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted
his people, he bath redeemed Jerusalem." "Behold, I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing, and her people a joy." "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and
be glad with her, .. . that ye may . . . be delighted with the abundance of her
glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a
river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream." "At that
time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all nations shall be
gathered unto it." "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and
let us go up to the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out
of Zion [the spiritual phase] shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem [the earthly phase]" (Isa. 52:9; 65:18; 66:10-12;
Jer. 3:17; Isa. 2:3). When
considering the many precious promises of future blessing made to Israel, and
expecting an accurate fulfillment of them to that people, it is proper that we
should remember that as a people they are typical, as well as actual. In one
aspect they are typical of the whole world of mankind; and their Law Covenant,
of obedience and life, was typical of the New Covenant to be established with the world during the
Millennial and future ages. The
blood of atonement under their typical covenant, and the priesthood which
applied it to that nation, typified the blood of the New Covenant and the
Royal Priesthood which will, during the Millennium, apply its cleansings and
blessings to the whole world. Thus their priesthood typified the Christ, and
that nation typified all for
whom the real sacrifice was made, and to whom the real blessings will come --
"every man," "the whole world." The
Apostle Paul calls our attention specially to the sureness of God's promises to
Israel in the future, and shows what favors they lost by unbelief, and what
favors are still sure. He says that it was because of pride, hardness of heart
and unbelief that Israel as a people had not obtained that for which they sought -- the chief place in
divine favor and service. Paul's reference here is not to all the generaions
of Israel, from Abraham down, but to those generations living at the time of
the first advent; and his words would apply to all their generations which have
lived during the Gospel age, the age wherein the chief favor has been offered
-- the high calling to the divine nature and joint-heirship with Jesus. This
favor Israel as a people has failed to recognize and lay hold of. And though
God visited the Gentiles and called many of them through the Gospel, they, like
fleshly Israel, will fail to obtain the heavenly prize. Nevertheless, a class,
a remnant, a little flock from among all the called ones, heeds the call, and,
by obedience and self-sacrifice, makes its calling and election sure. Thus what
Israel as a people failed to obtain, and what the nominal Christian Church also
fails to obtain, is given to the elect or selected class, the faithful
"body of Christ" -- elect or chosen (according to the foreknowledge
of God) through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth (2 Thess.
2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2). Moreover,
Paul argues that though Israel lost the chief blessing, "which he seeketh
for," the chief place in God's kingdom, yet it remains that great promises
are still due to be fulfilled toward that people; for, he reasons, God's
gifts, callings, covenants, and promises are not to be turned aside
unfulfilled.. God knew the end from the beginning; he knew that Israel would
reject Messiah; and his unequivocal promises to them in view of this knowledge
give us assurance that Israel is yet to be used of the Lord in service, as his
agency in blessing the world, though
"Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for" -- the chief
favor. Paul then proceeds to show that God's covenant promises to Israel were
of such a nature as to leave it open and indefinite whether as a people they
would be the heavenly or the earthly seed--whether they would inherit and
fulfill the higher or the
lower service mentioned in the promises. God kept secret the higher spiritual
favor until due time, and the promises made to them mentioned the earthly favor
only, though he favored them by the first offer of the spiritual favors also,
and so offered them more than he had ever promised. In a word, the heavenly
promises were hidden in the earthly. These promises, says Paul, cannot fail,
and the offering of the hidden favor first, and Israel's blind rejection of it,
in no way invalidates or
disannuls the other feature of the promise. Hence he declares that though
Israel as a nation is cast off from
favor during the time the Bride of Christ is being selected from both Jews and
Gentiles, yet the time will come when, the Deliverer (Christ, Head and body)
being complete, divine favor will return to fleshly Israel, and the glorious
Deliverer will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and so all Israel will be
saved [recovered to favor], as it is written by the prophet. The Apostle's
words are: -- "Brethren,
that you may not be conceited with yourselves, I wish you not to be ignorant of this
secret, that hardness in some measure has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles
may come in [until the full number selected from the Gentiles has been
completed]. And then all Israel will be saved, as it has been written, 'The
Deliverer [Christ, Head and body] shall come out of Zion and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob.' And 'This is the covenant with them from me, when I
shall take away their sins.' In relation to the GLAD TIDINGS, indeed, they are enemies on your account;
but in regard to the election they are [still] beloved on account of the
fathers, because the gracious gifts and calling of God are not things to be
repented of. Besides, as you [Gentiles] were once disobedient to God, but have
now obtained mercy by their disobedience; so also, now, these have disobeyed so
that they may obtain mercy through your mercy [at
the hands of the glorified Church]. For God shut up together all, for disobedience,
that he might have mercy on all. [Compare Rom. 5:17-19.] O the depth of the
riches and wisdom and knowledge of God" (Rom. 11:25-33). - C. T. Russell Afterward
The Second Advent its nature and purpose"Say among the nations
that the Lord reigneth: ... he shall judge the people righteously. Let the
heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; . . the field be joyful, and all
that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord:
. . . for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with
righteousness, and the people with his truth." - Psa. 96:10-13. The
unrestrained note of pure joy which pervades those words is an indication of
the true nature of the Second Advent. The promise of our Lord to his
disciples, that although going away from them he would one day come again, has
always been in the forefront of Christian expectation and every generation has
occupied itself to greater or lesser degree with the hope and anticipation of
his appearing. In past times a certain atmosphere of gloom and apprehension was
allowed to gather around the subject, some confusion between the Second Advent
and the Last judgment, the purpose of the Lord's Return thought to be solely
the gathering to heaven of the faithful, and the immediate condemnation of all
others. Medieval theology combined the Second Advent and the Last Judgment into
one event, constrained within the bounds of a single twenty-four-hour day, and
made it more of a time of terror and destruction than one of gladness and
rejoicing like that pictured by the Psalmist. Today
it is time that saner views prevail. The Second Advent has to be seen as a
definite phase in the outworking of the Divine purpose, playing a vital part
in the progress of mankind towards the Divine ideal and the Divine image. When
the Psalmist in that noble poem devoted to the work of the Second Advent said, "He
shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.
In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the
moon endureth" (Psa. 72:6, 7), he was certainly not picturing a time
of condemnation and destruction; rather one of benevolence and construction.
Judgment upon evil things, and their elimination, is only one aspect of the
work of the Second Advent; there is also that tremendous evangelical work of
the Messianic Age which has as its object the reconciliation to God of
"whosoever will."
Only too often
is the Advent thought of in
terms of the moment of arrival of our Lord from the "right hand of the
Majesty on high" to take for himself his great power and commence his
reign. The duration of that reign, his presence with men during the whole
period of the Messianic Age, and all the wonders that Age will reveal, is
equally a part of the Advent, and the Last Judgment which comes at the close of
that Age is part of the Advent also. PURPOSE OF HUMAN CREATIONThe
necessity -- and the certainty -- of the Second Advent stems from the purpose
of human creation, that man shall eventually take his destined place in the
Divine scheme of things. The age-old prayer of the faithful, "Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt.
6:10), is an expression of this truth. The Second Advent is the necessary and
logical sequel to the First Advent. The two thousand years interval between
the two Advents has allowed the seed of the Gospel to take root in the world
and bring forth fruitage in the development of the Christian Church, that
assembly of dedicated believers which will direct the evangelical work of the
next Age. It has also seen a growth and development of thought which has led to
the understanding that enduring life can only come to man through Christ,
involving intelligent acceptance of the fact and full acquiescence in the Will
of God and the principles upon which he has founded creation. But the entrenched
power and influence of evil in the world has precluded the majority from
coming to this knowledge, and for the greater part from even hearing anything
about it, so that a catastrophic judgment upon such powers and influences must
come, a clearing of the world stage for a new scene in which Heaven's powers of
righteousness will prevail to afford all men that full knowledge of God's
ways, and opportunity to believe in Christ, which, measurably, they have so far
been denied. That is why, speaking of this Advent in which this condition will
obtain, God says through the prophet, "then will 1 turn to the people
a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him
with one consent" (Zeph. 3:9). It
is important to view the manner of our Lord's return in as accurate a fashion
as the state of contemporary knowledge permits. Things having their basis in
the spiritual world, lying outside the range of human senses, are viewed by us
at present only "as in a glass, darkly" (1 Cor. 13:12), and to
a great extent we have to visualize this great event in human history in the
trappings of material things even though we know there must be factors we can
neither conceive nor understand. It was even more difficult for the Early
Church. The New Testament was written, and the words of Jesus and his apostles
on the subject of his Advent were spoken, before men had any idea of the nature
of the spiritual world. Those writings and those words had of necessity to be
framed in terms of the cosmogony of the
day to be intelligible at all. The prevailing idea pictured Heaven as a place
situated on a globular sphere encircling the earth and not so many miles up at
that. Heavenly beings were thought to be similar to human beings with perhaps
the addition of wings to facilitate their descent to this earth, and their
return. We today still believe in the spiritual world but realize that it lies outside our material creation
-- separated from us not by distance but, as it were, on a different
wavelength. While freely acknowledging the reality of that other world we have
to admit that human bodies like our own, designed and adapted for life on this
planet, can have no place in that order of things; that the celestials who
stand around the throne of God must pursue the activities of their lives in
bodies designed for and adapted to their own environment in that world. That
is why St. Paul insists that Christians who hope one day to be united with
their Lord and "see him as he is" (1 John 3:2) must discard
this present material body - which they do at death - and appear in that world
in a new and celestial body (2 Cor. 5:1-4; 1 Car. 15:37-53). Similarly we must
not expect to behold our Lord returning at his Second Advent in the human body
which was laid in the garden tomb, for he is now the Divine Lord from the right
hand of God and he returns in the glory of his Divinity, not perceived by human
senses. Moses in the mountain could not see God; he was granted a vision, a
theophany which represented the presence of God. The disciples after the
Resurrection could not see the resurrected Jesus although for forty days he
was still present with them; only when he appeared in human form, as a
gardener, a stranger, and so on, could their eyes and their ears establish a
means of communication with their risen Lord. SECOND ADVENT SIGNSSo
it is at the Second Advent. There is nothing for the physical eyes to see,
nothing for the ears to hear, when the Son of Man breaks again into human
history. Whatever may be the spectacular manifestations of his glory later on,
during his presence in the earth when the work of his Kingdom commences, there
is no outward sign at the beginning. That is why he stressed the necessity of
watchfulness on the part of those who would be apprised of the event when it
was due to happen; why he likened his coming to that of a thief in the night,
quietly, unostentatiously, known only to the watchers. "Watch
therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.... in such an hour as
ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 24:42-44). "The day
of the Lord so cometh," says St. Paul, "as a thief in the
night ... but ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake
you as a thief" (1 Thess. 5:2-4). The clear implication is that
while the earnest believer, the "watcher," perceives the fact of the
Advent in the "signs of the times" around him, the world in general is
unimpressed and unaware. "As the days of Noah were," said Jesus, "so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, . . . And knew not until the
flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be" (Matt.
24:37-39). It will be literally true, as it was in the days preceding Jesus'
revelation of himself at his First Advent, "there standeth one among you
whom ye know not." Our
Lord's principal objective in this initial stage of his Advent is the raising
of his own Church from the dead, and the "change" of those still
living to be with him. It is obvious that since his Church, the assembly of
faithful Christians of all ages, is to be associated with him in the Messianic
work of the next Age, this resurrection must take place prior to his taking
his power as King and assuming control of the earth. "The saints shall
judge the world," says St. Paul. "They lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years," rejoins St. John. Jesus himself taught that "in
the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye
also shall sit. . . , judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (1 Cor.
6:2; Rev. 20:4; Matt. 19:28). Writing to the Thessalonians on this subject, the
Apostle Paul declared that those living at the actual time of the Advent would
not precede their departed brethren into the Lord's presence. "The
dead in Christ," he says, "shall rise first: Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up ... and so shall we ever be with the
Lord" (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). "We shall not all
sleep," he asserts in another place, "but we shall all be
changed, in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: . . . for the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15:51, 52).
Those who "sleep" are synonymous with the "dead in Christ,"
believers who have "finished the course" and like St. Paul in 2 Tim.
4:8 have laid themselves down in death to await the day of the Lord and the
promised crown of life. Following the resurrection of these to immortal life in
heaven there comes the "change" or being "caught up" -- the
expressions imply the same thing -- of those still living at the time of
the Advent. They do not sleep in death; their change is an instantaneous one
from earthly to heavenly conditions and as they close their eyes at the death
of the human body they awaken immediately to conscious realization of heavenly
life. More
or less simultaneously with these events there comes the fulfillment of the
Divine promise to Israel. Long millenniums ago it was foretold that a converted
and purified Israel is to be the earthly instrument of Divine administration
in the earth during the Day of the Lord; that Israel is to be a light to the
nations, proclaiming God's salvation to the ends of the earth (Isa. 49:6).
There are many indications in the Scriptures that a period of regathering into
the Holy Land and preparation for this destiny is a feature of the Advent
before the returned Lord declares himself to the nations, and there can be no
doubt that for many decades past such a regathering has been taking place. The
process is by no means complete, for the necessary national conversion to God
has not yet become a reality,
but the fact that after two thousand years Israel is once again a nation among
the nations is a telling point and another evidence that the days in which we
live are the early days of the Advent. THE SECOND PHASEThe
second phase of the Advent has to do with judgment. Evil and evil institutions
have flourished throughout human history and now in the end of the Age have
come to the full. In the day of their fullness they are to be overpowered and
destroyed that they oppress men no longer, and the way be opened for the
incoming righteous administration of the Lord Christ, whose kingdom is to be
established "in justice and judgment and even for ever" (Isa.
9:7). The Scriptures which describe this destruction of evil do so in highly
metaphorical language designed to convey the idea of a complete and utter
overthrow of all that would oppose the incoming kingdom. Thus the prophet
Daniel witnessed a kind of heavenly assize in which the Great Judge, the
Ancient of Days, takes his seat upon a judicial throne before which burns a
consuming fire. The evil powers
of earth in the guise of rampaging wild beasts are brought before him
and condemned to be devoured by the all-consuming flames. One easily
recognized to be the Lord Christ comes before him and is awarded the Kingship
of all the earth; that kingdom is pronounced an everlasting kingdom which shall
never pass away (Dan. 7:1-28). Under a rather more warlike metaphor John in the
book of Revelation describes the kings of the earth and all their armies drawn
up to do battle with a Rider on a white horse, one whose name is The Word of
God, coming forth from the heavens accompanied by his armies. The outcome is
the same; the kings of the earth are overcome and utterly routed (Rev.
19:11-21). More definite is the language of St. Paul; "the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God" (2 Thess. 1:7, 8) and of St.
Peter, "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are
therein shall be burned up" (2 Pet. 3:10). The
progressive dissolution of human institutions and man's increasing disability
to avert these happenings will eventually lead men more and more to accept the
fact that the powers of Heaven are taking control. "Then shall appear
the sign of the Son of man in heaven," said Jesus, speaking of this
time, "and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:30). Far more convincing than
any ocular apparition in the skies will be the logic of events; men will see
the Son of man in the signs of the times and in the sense implied by Isaiah
when, talking about the same event, he said, "The Lord hath made bare
his holy arm in the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall
see the salvation of our God" (Isa. 52:10) This is when upstanding,
righteous men will come to the front, taking up the reins of government and of
administration by sheer force of character and in the avowed power of God -and
no man will be able to say them nay. Neither will such, in the main, wish so to
do, for the benefits of their just and humane rule will become almost
immediately obvious. "It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our
God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: . . . we will be glad and
rejoice in his salvation" (Isa. 25:9). By
the time this stage is reached the fact of the Second Advent will be
universally discerned and accepted. The whole world will know that Jesus is
King and that his Kingdom is established in all the earth. Sin in the hearts
of men will not have been eradicated -- it will take the whole of the new Age
then beginning to do that -- and some there may be, at heart wedded to evil for
evil's sake, who will within themselves be bitterly opposed to the new regime;
but they will have to admit its existence and its power. From then onward the
evangelical work of the Kingdom will commence and be particularly directed to
the hearts of such. This
is not the end of the Advent; it continues throughout what the book of
Revelation calls "the thousand years," the entire duration of the Messianic
era. During that blessed and very busy time the dead must be raised, as Jesus
promised in John 5:28-29, that all may have opportunity for conversion and
reconciliation. That is the meaning of the invitation to those who come in
sight of the Holy City pictured in symbol in the book of Revelation, "the
Spirit and the bride say Come. . . . whosoever will, let him take the water of
life freely" (Rev. 22:17). It
is still true that those who will not thus come into willing acquiescence with
God's way will never enter the celestial city. "There shall in no wise enter into it any thing
that defileth, . . . worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are
written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev. 21:27). The prophet Isaiah caught a
glimpse of some such when he looked into that favored time and said, "when
thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness,"
and went on to speak of some who "will not learn righteousness; in the land of
uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the
Lord" (Isa.
26:9, 10). So at the end of that Age there has to be a Last judgment, of individuals
this time. With the passing of that final scene in the history of human
probation the Second Advent comes to a close. Its object will have been
achieved; all who can possibly be saved have been saved; our Lord Jesus will
"see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" (Isa.
53:11). In the entry of the redeemed into the everlasting years of the future
he will "deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father . . . that God
may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:24-28). -
A. O. Hudson, England Christ's Glorious Reign
The Gospel"I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God AT
ONE time it was the custom to preach discourses which foretold the worst of
bad news for all except a very select few. These were called Gospel sermons. A
consultation of any dictionary would have informed the preacher his topic was
a misrepresentation, for "gospel" is defined as "good
news," not just "good news for a few." Dictionaries are very
useful, but a Bible student is still safer if he can find his definitions in
the Bible. The
Bible tells us also the nature and the effects of that Gospel. See, for
instance, Matthew 4:23, where we read that "Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom."
He was definitely preaching an entirely different kind of kingdom from the
one with which they were familiar at the time, for otherwise it would not have
been really good news. The Roman kingdom under which they were living was to
them a kingdom of servitude, actually a curse visited upon them because of the
unfaithfulness of their forefathers. The difference is made very apparent by Mark
1:14, which says that Jesus preached "the gospel of the kingdom of
God." A
God of love
and peace could not but plan a universe where love and peace would abound (1
John 4:8; Phil. 4:9). Actually the Gospel is called in Romans 10:15 "the
gospel of peace"; and that "kingdom of peace," we are assured
by Isaiah (9:7) and Luke (1:33), will be eternal. How exceedingly
"good" is such news. Second
Corinthians 4:4 informs us of Satan's hatred for the Gospel. Two very different
ideas are given us by translators as to what Gospel it is that Satan hates. One
makes it that "the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ [Christ's
Gospel] . . . should shine unto them." A modern translation reads:
"lest the gospel of the glory of Christ [Christ's glory], should shine unto them." With
either of these Paul's definition fits, as also does that by Webster. Paul
adds the thought that the Gospel is Good News regarding the bringing of God's
favor to the subjects of the Kingdom he preached (Gal. 3:8). His zeal for it
was so great that though the holy spirit witnessed in every city that bonds and
afflictions awaited him, he permitted none of these things to move him, nor did
he count his life dear unto himself, for he felt that otherwise he could not
finish his course with joy or accomplish the service to which he was appointed,
testifying "the gospel of the grace of God." Favor from
"the God of all grace" cannot but be in very generous measure.
Back of it is the power that created all things; for Paul writes, "I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation" (Rom. 1:16). Thus he associates with the Gospel another in
whom we have full confidence as to his power and his faithfulness. The reason
for this association is made clear by 1 Corinthians 1:24, in which Paul
declares Christ is "the power of God." These verses are harmonized by
St. Paul's further words where he says that "[the cross] is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18). This
whole ground is covered again in the thirteenth chapter of Acts, reporting
Paul's discourse in a synagogue at Antioch. Acts 13:29-30 declare Jesus' death
and resurrection, and on the basis of these things the verses that follow
associate the Gospel with promises made to the Ancient Worthies, saying,
"We declare unto you glad tidings [the Gospel], how that the
promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto
us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again." A death as a
substitute for Adam was an essential, but it was also necessary that the One so
dying should be "raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25) The Gospel
is indeed "good news" for all in that we have not only a
Savior that died, but one who was also raised that all may have life --
(1 Cor. 15: 22). THE POWER OF THE GOSPELThis
subject is covered in the fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians, which opens
with, "Brethren, I declare unto you the gospel ... by which ye are
saved." But
the Apostle carries us a step further: "He [God] called you by our
gospel" (2 Thess. 2:14). The discourses that were misnamed
"Gospel" but proclaimed eternal suffering for the vast majority of
mankind, repelled us if we had love for mankind in our hearts; but as soon as
we heard the message which the inspired definition calls "Gospel,"
we were drawn, "called" by it. Paul's
definition is in Galatians 3:8: "The scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." That to us was really
good news, a godlike Gospel. For most of us the response to the call was prompt
when we understood that God's plan is for a blessing to all the families of the
earth. Beyond our power of appraisal is a call such as this, for it is "To
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." No one would dare to
think such a call were meant for him unless there were some definite evidence
given us that arrangement had been made whereby we could attain that call. It
is Brother Paul who is permitted to inform us of that means, assuring us of one
more step in the Lord's plan for us. In 1 Corinthians 4:15 he reveals that the
power of begetting is in that Gospel. "I have begotten you through
the gospel." And Peter adds two items of information regarding our
begetting: "According to his great mercy he hath begotten us again"
first, "unto a living hope"; second, "by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). Zacharias,
the father of John the Baptist, is recommended as a trustworthy prophet, for of him it is
written: "Zacharias was filled with the holy spirit, and prophesied,
saying: ' . . The Lord God of Israel .. . spake by the mouth of his holy prophets,
. . . that we should be saved from our enemies ... to perform the mercy
promised to our fathers [the Ancient Worthies], and to remember his holy covenant; the oath
which he sware to our father Abraham"' (Luke 1:67-73). Jesus, the chief heir of that
promise (Gal. 3:16), nearing the horrors of the cross, drew not back, but
"for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the
shame" (Heb. 12:2). He knew well, from experience, that "It is more
blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). So he gave his life that
all mankind might receive the gift of deliverance from the curse and a chance
for life. He anticipated bestowing the blessings promised to come through
Abraham's heir. "It
is a faithful saying, For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
If we suffer [with him], we shall also reign with him" (2 Tim. 2:11, 12).
"If ye be Christ's [suffering with him], then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29) -the promise stated in the
eighth verse, the promise of blessing all the families of the earth. Only
unselfishness and an unconditional acceptance of the joy set before us can
bring us to share with him the experiences of the cross, not only without
complaint, but with joy (Gal. 2:20; Acts 20:24; 1 Pet. 4:13).
"Every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself" from many
things, including the selfishness that would make him willing to keep this
Gospel to himself, or as if just for himself. The unselfish, as
far as there is opportunity, will share in carrying Paul's Gospel into all the
world for a witness (Matt. 24: 14); but he will do so effectively only if he
has "feet shod with the preparedness [Greek] of the Gospel of peace."
That one is not argumentative, quarrelsome, contentious. Nor should our
Gospel be a mixture of human and divine wisdom. It should be clean as was
Paul's -- "The gospel which was preached of me is not after man"
(Gal. 1:11). It was not a mixture of Paul's, nor any one else's, and God's
thoughts. It is "first pure, then peaceable" - not contentious or
argumentative (1 John 3:3; James 3:17). "The
Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it"
(Psalm 68:11), and they were "not slothful [witnesses] but followers of
them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. When God made promise
to Abraham, . . . he sware by himself, . . . willing more abundantly to
shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things.... 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"; and, note, that
hope is the promise made to Abraham; and we are the heirs, joint heirs
with Jesus of the precious promise of blessing "all the families of the
earth" (Heb. 6:12-20). "HIS SPIRIT BEARETH WITNESS WITH OUR SPIRIT"The
spirit of that promise is the spirit of the God who is Love, the one who gave
his best that the Abrahamic Covenant might be effective -- a spirit that does
not erect barriers, but accepts the Scriptural basis of fellowship, the ransom
and consecration. Hebrews 3:8 warns us not to harden our hearts as did Israel
in the wilderness, "fearing lest a promise being left us of entering
into his rest any of us should seem to come short of it. For unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them." No promise was
more familiar to them than that all inclusive one made to Father Abraham, yet
it failed to soften their hearts. This lost for them the privilege of a share
with their Messiah in the work of blessing all the families of the earth. We fear the Scriptures indicate that the
selfishness that excludes from the blessings of our fellowship any whom the
Lord takes into his fellowship will mean for us loss of life itself. On the
other hand, "Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's,
the same shall save it" (Mark 8:35;
10:29). "Let us consider one another to encourage unto love and good
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together [all who have any
claim to membership in the Master's. Body] . . . for if we sin
willfully" -- then follows that very familiar threat of the second death.
Amputated members of a body cannot be kept alive. The
urgency of the matter inspired the great Apostle to count but light afflictions
the many trials he encountered in preaching that Gospel, that he might be
"the minister [servant] of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the
Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being
sanctified by the holy spirit," the spirit of love and sacrifice.
"This is what the grammarians call the genetive of apposition. The Gentiles
are the offering . . . a bloodless sacrifice" (American
Commentary). Paul is not ignoring the necessity of justifying faith, but
warning us not to overlook the necessity of the sanctified life that the
bodies presented as a living sacrifice may be daily acceptable (Rom.
12:1, 2). The Goodspeed translation is especially clear, calling Paul
"a minister of Jesus Christ among the heathen to act as a priest of God's
Good News, to see that the heathen are an acceptable sacrifice." Only the
transforming power of that spirit can open our minds to prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God for us. "He
called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ." "Be thou a joint-sufferer of the gospel according to the
power of God" - not according to our weakness, but his power to make us
more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who strengtheneth us (Rom. 15:15, 16;
2 Thess. 2:14; 2 Tim. 1:8). What
a wonderful Gospel these Scriptures have proved to be! - a Gospel saving us,
calling us, begetting us, establishing us! Nothing more can be provided for our
eternal welfare than this message to Abraham assures us. Truly, we can say
with the Apostle: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Romans 1:16). -P.
E. Thomson Notice of Annual MeetingAll
should be aware of the fact that the affairs of our Institute are in the hands
of seven brethren who are elected from its membership to serve for a period of
one year or until their successors are elected. Our
Annual Meeting this year is scheduled to be held (D.V.) Saturday, September 28,
at 10.00 a.m., in the Central Y.M.C.A., 1315 Pacific Avenue, Atlantic City,
New Jersey. Membership
in the Pastoral Bible Institute is, and always has been, open to any
consecrated brother or sister who "is in full harmony with the purpose,
spirit, and policy of the Institute," and who intends to support it
"in all reasonable ways as he or she shall deem to be the Lord's
will." As
stated in its charter, the purpose for which the Institute was formed is
"the dissemination of Bible truths in various languages by means of the
publication of tracts, pamphlets, papers, and other religious documents, and
by the use of all other lawful means which its Board of Directors, duly
constituted, shall deem expedient for the furtherance of the purposes
stated." The
membership fee is five dollars ($5.00) which should accompany the application.
If an applicant lacks the membership fee, but is otherwise acceptable, the fee
will be paid out of a special fund provided for that purpose. In
order to participate in the election of directors at the next annual meeting,
anyone, not already a member, who desires to apply for membership should do
so promptly as, according to our bylaws, "the registration of such
membership must be made twenty days prior to the election." Members
of the Pastoral Bible Institute are hereby reminded of the privilege which is
theirs of nominating in the pages of this journal the brethren they wish to
elect as directors for the fiscal year 1968-69. The
brethren whose term of service will expire are: F. A. Essler, J. C. Jordan, A.
L. Muir, J. T. Read, P. L. Read, W. J. Siekman, and P. E. Thomson. We
very much regret that Brother Thomson has requested his name be omitted as a
candidate for directorship this year. The
brethren named above are pleased to report that a spirit of Christian love and
harmony exists in their midst; and they have every reason to believe that the
Lord has seen fit to bless their association in this ministry. They realize,
however, that those carrying on any work may fail to see opportunities for
improvement and expansion apparent to others not charged with such
responsibilities, and that for this reason changes in office sometimes have
beneficial effects. They therefore urge upon all the members of our Institute
that they make this a special occasion for prayer, that our Father's will may
be expressed in the vote of the members. If after prayerful meditation any are
led of the Lord to nominate brethren, and will forward the names and addresses
of such brethren so as to reach this office on or before August 10, 1968, such
names will be published in the September-October issue of the
"Herald," that all members may have an opportunity of voting for
them. He Knows
Entered Into Rest
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